The Wanderers
by D4rKn3sS
Summary: Upon their return from the Chuunin Exams in Suna, the Konoha 12 find that their home has been destroyed, all it's people gone. How will they survive in the brutal shinobi world, without their families, with only each other for support?
1. Chapter 1  Reflecting

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 1 – Reflecting

**A/N**: Since writing over twenty chapters, and on reflection, the first way I wrote this chapter was really bad. So, as hindsight is 20/20, I've rewritten it to make it easier to read, and more enjoyable. And while this chapter is shorter than all the others, the chapters get more depth as they go.

Yes, this will be a Naruto/Hinata story, but it won't be the central point. I like the couple, but good romances in action stories should be secondary to the plot. I haven't decided on other couples yet, though I am open to ideas. I do enjoy writing obscure things, so all suggestions are welcome. There won't be any character bashing, and I'm trying to keep the characters as close to the originals as possible, though a little bit more realistic in their reactions to things.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Lee would fight more often, and without his weights. Come on, the guy breaks the sound barrier.

* * *

><p>"Sensei when will we find out who made Chuunin?" Naruto tried to keep the boredom from his voice and failed, the short blonde pacing at the front of the group.<p>

On the other side of the group, a tired Kiba simply rolled his eyes. "Naruto, stop asking. We barely left Suna a day ago."

"Shut up, Kiba! They said that anyone in the fourth round could make Chuunin, even if they lost their match."

The group gave a collective sigh as the loud blonde continued to bicker with the Inuzuka heir, neither of them giving any ground. The four Konoha Jounin ignored the excitable Genin, each reflecting on the effect the exams had taken on their students.

"You wanna fight? I'll kick your ass!"

"Oh yeah? Come on Akamaru! Gatsu…"

The argument came to a halt as both Genin ending up on the ground, holding their heads in pain. The group walked past them without comment as the pink-haired demon cracked her knuckles above them.

"Sakura-chan, did you have to hit so hard? I'm still recovering" complained Naruto, his bandaged hands rubbing a small lump on his head.

"You guys, cut it out. Naruto we will be given the results when we get back to Konoha. That's two days at least."

Kakashi didn't take his eyes from his book as he continued ahead of the group, having assumed the de facto leader role in the Konoha group.

Kurenai passed Kiba and offered a hand up, "Kiba, don't antagonise him too much. Don't blame him for your match."

The bitter animal-user accepted her hand reluctantly; ignoring the barking dog beside him that he could swear was giggling at him. He brushed off the dust from his jacket and winced at the pain in his head. "I know, Kurenai-sensei. It just rubs me the wrong way that he got to proceed to the Fourth Exam and I didn't. I mean we both won that fight against the Sound Genin, but only he was in a condition to fight."

The genjutsu Jounin nodded without comment, she had to admit that Kiba had gotten the raw end of the deal in regard to their partnerships during the Third Exam; however she also knew that even if he had proceeded, Kiba wouldn't have been promoted to Chuunin.

With a youthful yell, Lee clapped the Inuzuka on the back. "Come on, Kiba-kun! We must hurry back to Konoha so that we can show everyone how youthful we have become!"

Kiba shrugged off the taijutsu's enthusiasm, he had been lucky enough to avoid it for most of the trip but like Naruto he was bored to tears as well. He just wanted to get back home so that he could begin his training anew.

oOoOoOo

They stopped at a small village that night, Kiba and Naruto eventually calming down after a threat by Kurenai to place them under her Thousand Hells genjutsu. Most of the group was relaxing, though Lee and Gai were proclaiming their 'youth' out the back by doing a bout of light sparring. Naruto sat at a nearby restaurant, comparing the local ramen to Ichiraku's back home. He felt a presence behind him and turned to just catch a glimpse of dark blue hair. "Hey, why don't you join me?" he asked to the open air.

After a few moments of indecision, the hidden figure joined him, cautiously sitting two seats apart from him.

Naruto smiled warmly and pulled apart his chopsticks. "You don't have to hide; it's not a crime to like ramen, you know."

"I…sorry, Naruto-kun" said the figure awkwardly.

He ordered a miso ramen for her and moved over two seats to sit next to her, they were the only customers in the small store.

"Hinata, who do you think will make Chuunin?" asked Naruto after a few minutes of silence, his mouth full of hot noodles and broth.

"Um…I don't know." She couldn't look him in the eye, but swallowed slowly and pushed her fingers together habitually. "I…think you…" She grew flushed and stopped talking when she realised what she wanted to say.

Naruto kept eating; he hadn't heard her last sentence. "Well there were six of us in the final round. You, me, Lee, Shino, Shikamaru and Sasuke. Though I doubt the teme would get promoted."

He finished his third bowl and reached for his fourth with a happy grin, "It would be great if both of us get to be Chuunin."

Hinata couldn't say anything back, while she had improved dramatically over the exams, she was still quite timid, particularly around her crush. She was happy to let Naruto brag about his final match with Sabaku no Gaara, the blonde was extremely proud of having won the battle of attrition over the sand-user. After a few minutes he stopped talking and stared at her without saying anything, causing her to blush even more.

"Na…Naruto-kun…what…"

He slowly reached over the counter and picked up a napkin. He dabbed it with his tongue, reached over and wiped a small bit of broth from her cheek. She froze at the touch, his rough fingers lightly brushing along her soft skin. She could feel herself go weak in the knees, the blood rushing to her face immediately. She knew she was going to faint, but his words to her during the Exam came rushing to her.

_You are only as strong as your courage takes you._

Drawing on confidence she never knew she had, she reached up and took Naruto's wrist with her hand. She then reached over and pecked him on the cheek. In her mind the scenario was perfect, serene.

The perfect plan.

She looked over at him and went to touch his wrist, but made the mistake of looking him in the eyes. He smiled his fox-like way and all her strength vanished. She collapsed into the counter, Naruto reaching over and catching her by the shoulder before she hit the floor. He gently picked her up and put some money on the counter, noting in his mind that it was the first time he had ever paid for someone else's ramen.

oOoOoOo

Later that night while the others were asleep, a figure sat on the roof of their hotel. He swore under his breath as he remembered his last match. His arm still sat in a sling as a reminder of how little he actually knew about fighting, even with his inherent talent.

"Still brooding over your match, Sasuke?"

He recognised the voice but didn't bother to turn and greet it. "Kakashi. On the road you said you wished to speak to me."

The one-eyed Jounin jumped up from the ground below and landed next to him and sat down with his Icha Icha book in hand. "You didn't listen to me before."

Sasuke scoffed and stared at the empty night sky.

"Sasuke, if you don't listen to me then how can I teach you properly? I didn't teach you the Chidori to use on a comrade."

The young Uchiha continued to stare at the night sky with a scowl on his face. "I'll use my power however I please."

Kakashi stood up and faced his brooding student, "You don't understand anything, do you? You expect to kill Itachi by yourself?"

Sasuke seized up at his traitor brother's name, his hands subconsciously tensing into fists. "I will avenge my clan, no matter the cost. The rest of you are just in the way."

"Is that what you think of us, teme?" Both of them stared as Naruto jumped onto the roof next to them. "You'd drop us at the first chance?"

Sasuke stared at his friend before reached out and grabbing the front of his collar. "You think you know me? You think you can understand me?"

Naruto grinned then laughed, "I think it doesn't matter. You can't do everything yourself. Look what happened at the Chuunin Exams. You think Lee cared about your past?"

Sasuke shoved Naruto away with a furious look on his face. "Don't remind me of that green bastard. It's hardly my fault that that fight was stacked against me from the start."

"You just don't seem to get it, do you teme?"

Sasuke glared at Naruto with contempt at his reminder of his embarrassing defeat. "What…is your point?" he asked, through barely contained hatred.

Naruto stopped grinning and stared at Sasuke's newly activated Sharingan with his bright blue eyes. "You failed because you fought for yourself. Even with all your strength, you can't win. But if you fight for someone, you can. You just can't see it. And that's why you are the weakest of us."

Naruto knocked Sasuke's hand away and jumped off the roof, disappearing back into the hotel.

Kakashi couldn't hide his astonishment at Naruto's maturity. He knew he had grown during the Exams, but this was a degree that he hadn't thought Naruto capable of, at least at his young age. _What happened during the Exams that made you grow up this much?_

Dropping to his knees, Sasuke held his head with his good arm. He whispered something that Kakashi could barely hear. "What was that, Sasuke?"

"…am I really that weak?"

_Naruto got through to him. What a scary power_.

"If you fight for others, your power is increased to levels unimaginable. You can be stronger than Itachi purely because you will have people to watch your back. He does not. If you continue along your current path he will cut you down, and your clan will have died for nothing."

He didn't respond, but Kakashi could tell that Sasuke was torn. "We should go back inside. Despite what you may currently think, there are others who care about your wellbeing, and getting a cold won't help."

* * *

><p>They spent another day on the road before their group's injuries forced them to spend a day recovering in another village half a day away from Konoha. Neji's wounds were slowing their pace considerably, as Tenten replaced the bandages around his legs. The door creaked open as she turned quickly, kunai in hand.<p>

She lowered her blade when she saw it was just Lee, who took a seat down next to his teammates. "Lee, you don't need to watch over him all the time."

He looked at his exhausted female friend, wondering if she would apply her logic to herself anytime soon. "I have to, Tenten. It's my fault Neji is like this, so I need to make sure he recovers as swiftly as possible. If he isn't better before we get back, I'll do two thousand one-hand push ups."

Tenten shook her head at his ridiculous rule, and then regretted it as a wave of fatigue hit her and she fell down next to the unconscious Hyuuga prodigy. Lee smiled in a rare moment of quiet, pulling a blanket over her body. He looked over at Neji, his eyes darkening as he remembered why his teammate had been incapacitated during the Second Exam.

_I knew you were capable of many things, Neji-kun, but to attack your cousin with such intent to kill…and your own comrades…I had no choice…_

His own injuries hadn't recovered fully either, though he had persisted purely on the adrenaline that had resulted from finally defeating his lifelong rival in battle. It had taken his most dangerous technique, which in turn had damaged him far more than anyone else had during the Exam, including his Fourth Exam fight with Sasuke.

He turned slowly as he heard the door to the room open slowly, a sad smile emerging on his face. He watched as Neji's young cousin entered the room quietly, a roll of fresh bandages and ointment in her hands.

She hesitated at the entrance, unsure on whether she should enter or not.

"You can come in, Hinata. He won't wake up for a while."

The Hyuuga heir shook her head and entered with a bow. "Th…thank you. Is he doing well? I heard his injuries were less severe than they initially thought."

Lee sighed and looked back at his teammate's injuries, ones that he had inflicted upon him. "We were still forced to spend extra time at Suna, but he should recover fully, in time."

He watched in fascination as Hinata sat down opposite him and began dressing several of Neji's wounds, with a care that Lee would imagine a mother would give to her child.

Hinata took extreme care not to irritate any of Neji's burns or damaged bones, and Lee could tell that despite her lack of training in medical techniques, she had a certain flair for it.

Once her work was finished, Hinata moved her chair back and placed her hands together, closing her eyes with a solemn look on her face.

Lee cocked his head slightly, "What are you doing?"

Hinata opened her eyes slowly and rested her white globes on her cousin's fallen form. "In our clan those who attack fellow clansmen with the intent to kill, particularly Branch House members, are stripped of both their names and abilities."

"So you were praying that he won't be put to death? I know the Hyuuga do that sometimes."

Hinata shook her head slowly, looking over at Lee's position. "I will not tell my Father anything about what happened between Neji-niisan and I. I don't wish for Neji-niisan to disappear from our world, a world that I know he loves."

Lee frowned and leant back on his chair, keeping himself balanced on Neji's bed with his feet. "So why the prayer?"

"So that he forgives me."

"Eh? Forgives you for what?"

Hinata stood up from her chair and bowed slightly to Lee on her way out. "So that he'll forgive me for taking pity on him. He has to live with the fact that I saved his life, and that will be unbearable. I'm praying that he understands, or that someday he will."

Lee watched in awe as Hinata left the room, the Hyuuga girl shutting the door behind herself quietly.

_Such humility…and against the one who was so ready to kill her. If Naruto hadn't been there…would it have gone so well? If he hadn't distracted Neji…_

* * *

><p>On the road the next day the group walked in a staggered formation, with Lee and Gai carried a stretcher with a recovering Neji. His wounds had closed over night and he was slowly regaining consciousness. Sasuke walked apart from the group, his mind thinking back to what Naruto had said to him. He was thankful that Sakura had let up on her fan-girl actions, though he couldn't work out why.<p>

She was staring at him from the other side of the group, her conversation with Shikamaru the previous night still running in her mind. _Sakura, on behalf on men everywhere, let me give you some advice. You want Sasuke? Ignore him. People want what they can't have, and Sasuke is no different._

Up near the front walked Kakashi and Naruto, with Hinata and Shino just behind them. "Naruto, you seem different this morning. Less…chaotic."

The yellow-haired Genin just grinned in response, "Kakashi-sensei, it's nothing. I'm just tired."

A bark of laughter came from the middle of the group as Kiba bounded up next to them, Akamaru sitting on top of his head. "The great Uzumaki has run out of energy? Is the sky falling?"

Hinata giggled lightly while Shino simply tapped his glasses, both happy in the knowledge that their teammate had forgiven Naruto. They still bickered and argued as they always had, but there was no spite anymore.

"Hinata."

She looked at her quiet teammate with surprise, "Yes, Shino-kun?"

"You're different." Having spent enough time with Shino, Hinata could read the sub-text of what he said. He had noticed the subtle differences in her movements since the last round of the Exams, where she had beaten a Cloud ninja.

She nodded slightly, "Hai, just a bit. I think I got stronger after my match."

"No. You are different around Naruto."

Hinata could feel herself get red, but stopped herself as she knew Naruto was nearby and didn't want to embarrass herself. "Ano…I don't know what you mean, Shino-kun."

Shino stared at her while still walking, then nodded and walked faster until he caught up to the pouting Naruto and Kiba. "Naruto."

His target turned around and glared at Shino, "What Shino? Don't tell me you agree with Kiba?"

"What? Don't be stupid Naruto. Shino's my teammate, of course he agrees with me."

Shino kept his hands in his pockets, his family training keeping his patient at remarkable levels. "Naruto. Hinata asked to speak with you."

"Oh? That's good; I wanted to talk to her about something."

Naruto turned and stepped back in line with Hinata, who couldn't believe what her teammate had done.

Kiba grinned wildly and patted Shino on the back, "Shino, you…" he was silenced at his teammates stare; loud buzzing around his neck showing that he was commanding Kiba to be quiet.

oOoOoOo

"I wanted to ask you something actually." Naruto directed her to sit down on a smooth rock, sitting next to her nervously. The group had taken a break as Neji was regaining consciousness.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?" She tried to stop herself from blushing, but was struggling against him staring at her.

_What could he want? Does he want some advice for Sakura-san? Oh please don't let it be that._

Naruto was also facing an internal struggle, though he was better at disguising his nervousness. _What if she says reacts badly? How will I be able to face her again…_

"No no, nothing is wrong. I…it's just…damnit why is this so hard?"

"I'm sure you can do it, Naruto-kun. Just take your time."

He rubbed the back of his head and grinned, "Sorry, I'm not good at this stuff." _Damnit, I never had this issue with the others. They just accepted it. Why am I so nervous to tell Hinata? Sure we worked well together during the Second Exam, but why am I more nervous then I was towards Sakura?_

"Hinata-chan, I…" He stopped himself when he saw that she was staring at him wide-eyed. "What? Is there something on my face? Did I spill something on my jacket?"

He padded himself down, trying to look for a smudge on his jacket as Hinata continued to just stare at him uncharacteristically.

_He called me Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan! What does that mean? Is he trying to ask me for a date? _

She wanted to reach over and hug him, call out yes and hold his hand. However she restrained herself, her shinobi training reminding her not to jump to conclusions. She couldn't keep a happy smile off her face as she watched through her lavender eyes as Naruto gave up looking himself over and looked back over to her.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you something, before you find out from the others."

oOoOoOo

"That's basically it. I didn't mean to hide it, but I promise that you aren't in danger."

He tried to sound confident, but inside he was petrified. He had told everyone else over the course of their trip home, besides Neji who had still been unconscious.

Most had accepted it without issue: Shikamaru had simply stated that he already knew and didn't care, as did Shino. Sakura didn't appear to care, though she did punch him for hiding something from her, and Naruto could tell that there was a part of her that felt a bit sorry for him.

Every time he talked to her he walked away with an injury, it made him consider whether he should talk to her at all anymore. Sasuke on the other hand didn't respond to him at all, still consumed in his own world.

_After this, it's done and I can move on. But Hinata's is probably the most important response, from a practical standpoint._

She had listened to him patiently, her face not revealing anything to him. But inside, several realisations dawned on her.

_That's why everyone called him a demon._

_That's why he was always alone._

_How does he keep smiling? _

While he waited for her response, he could notice the small indecisions in her face, the slight movements of her clear eyes. His face dropped slowly as he assumed the worst, "Please don't hate me, Hinata. I…I didn't mean to hide it, honestly!"

To his surprise he saw a change in Hinata. She seemed focused on something; there was no nervousness at all. He had always thought she was a weird girl, who was quiet and always acted strangely whenever he was near her. But she never gave him any cold looks, and had even occasionally shared her notes with him during their Academy years. After they had become Genin, he hadn't had any contact with her until the Exams, and she had amazed him. Her chakra control has better then Sakura, and her Byakugan had saved them several times during their teamwork in the Second Exam, the survival test.

She was still timid, but had opened up more after their encounter with Neji. He looked at her intently, then was taken aback as she reached out and hugged him fiercely, pressing his head into her neck with her hands around his neck.

"Hi…Hinata?"

He couldn't do anything except let her hug him, he had never been shown any affection like this before. She held his head close to her hair; he couldn't help but smell her dark mane of hair, finding the light flowery scent oddly comforting.

Inside Hinata's head she was petrified but equally excited that she had made such a bold move. "Naruto-kun, you don't need to apologise for anything. You don't have to be alone anymore."

She hugged him tightly one last time then released him, looking him directly in the eyes for the first time, her confidence soaring high.

"I…I don't?" _I don't understand her at all._ "That's great! I wanted to ask for you help actually."

"You do? What can I do?" She kept looking at him directly, noticing how relieved his eyes said he was, even though his smile said that nothing was wrong she knew that he was worried about how she would have responded.

"Can you help me with my training? I know your awesome chakra control will help me with the controlling the Kyuubi."

"Naruto-kun…" _Did he just ask me for a date? No, this is Naruto-kun. He says what he means._ She smiled sweetly, knowing that any time spent with him would be good. Nodding slowly, "I'd be happy to, Naruto-kun."

Back in the rest of the group, the Jounin roused their students and began heading out. Naruto noticed this and got up from his seat. He turned around and offered a hand to Hinata, "Want to walk together?"

Despite herself, Hinata still blushed when she took his hand, feeling the calluses of his rough hands.

* * *

><p>A mile outside of Konoha, and the group knew that something was wrong. They had not found any patrols, and the woods were oddly silent. Neji had woken up an hour ago, and was on his feet though still needed support from Tenten and Gai. He remained quiet, but in his eyes he was a broken failure. Naruto and Hinata were at the front, Hinata using her Byakugan to scan the area as a precaution.<p>

She turned her attention to the skies and noticed something very odd. "Kakashi-sensei, the skies are empty."

The one-eyed Jounin had put his book away, an action that had put the whole group on edge. "That's not good" he replied, sending chakra to his nose to see if he could sense anything from the area that was unusual.

"Why is that strange? Is it because there aren't any clouds?" Naruto was thoroughly confused, though he was still on edge.

Hinata smiled as she continued to walk next to him, as they had done since their conversation about the Kyuubi. "Konoha sends out and receives hawks that contain mission requests." "Oh, so no hawks are a bad thing. You're pretty smart, Hinata."

Next to them Kakashi had moved up his forehead protector, but took a moment to be amused at the two teenagers. _Naruto doesn't even realise her infatuation with him or his own feelings_. The group turned a corner in the road and came to a sudden halt as they noticed in the distance that the gates of the village were gone. Kakashi turned to his companions and nodded to them silently. Gai picked up Neji and threw him over his shoulder, while the rest of the group began to run quickly towards the village. When they got there, none of them was prepared for what they saw.

In place of the village of Konoha was a giant crater, scattered remains of buildings and the mountainside faces were in pieces on the ground.

"Wha…what the hell is this?"

**Author's Notes**:

And done. I'll try to make the chapters shorter or the same length if you guys want. I'll to do weekly or fortnightly updates, dependent on my schedule. I promise their will be more action scenes and less angst.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	2. Chapter 2 Devastation

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 2 – Devastation

**A/N**: I want to give a big shoutout to Mattwilson83 on deviantart. He writes and draws a Naruto manga called NHC (NaruHina Chronicles). You want a great NaruHina story? Read this, it is amazing. He's currently up to his 16th Volume, and it is all pure gold.

**Note**: I do want to apologise for the angst in this chapter. I think it has its uses, but I do promise that this will be the only chapter with this much in it. I'm trying to get more realistic reactions from the characters.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there wouldn't be so much Rasengan spam. Talk about beating a dead horse, with a slightly smaller horse.

* * *

><p>"Wha…what the hell is this?"<p>

The great gates of Konoha were gone; the only remains were small shards of wood imbedded deep into the ground beneath their original position. A giant expansive crater covered the area that they once knew as their home, not even the walls remained. There were no indications that there were buildings at all, small pockets of dirt and puddles of water the only signs of life.

The crater wasn't particularly deep, but the most shocking feature was what had happened to the Hokage Monuments. The mountainside had collapsed down into the graveyard of the village, with the stone faces scattered in pieces. Naruto could see that the only face that was partially intact was the Sandaime Hokage but there were so many cracks in it that is was already falling apart.

Each of the Jounin had weapons out immediately, Kakashi scanning the area with his Sharingan trying to find any signs of residual chakra.

Asuma whispered to Kurenai who put her hands together and concentrated, "Kai!" To her shock there was no genjutsu, no illusion of any kind. "It's real" she stated, still unwilling to believe it.

"They are gone. All gone."

"I don't understand, what happened to the village?"

"How could this happen?"

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" Gai's outburst silenced the teenagers, each looking to their teachers for answers.

Kakashi took a quick look around the village with his Sharingan before turning to the Genin, "We have to assume that there was an attack on the village. I want you to spread out, look for survivors, or any indicators of who could have done this."

"There is no one left."

Everyone stared at Shino, who tried to keep his cool as his bugs returned to him with their information. The bugs claimed that there were no chakra sources at all in the village, not even in forests near the Aburame compound where they bred their Kikaichu bugs.

Naruto grabbed him by the collar and balled a fist, "What do you mean? They can't all be gone! What about the old man? Or Iruka-sensei? Everyone's families?"

Kakashi reached over and pulled Naruto off, "Naruto, calm down. Don't put this on Shino; he's just doing his job."

"But Kakashi-sensei, everyone can't be…"

"Naruto. They might be. We need to prepare to accept that."

Naruto wanted to argue more, but he could see that even his teacher was shaken. "I won't accept that, but fine."

Thankful that his student had calmed down, Kakashi nodded to his fellow Jounin. They vanished as they went searching in the places that the Genin wouldn't know about. He then turned his attention to their students, all of them shaken to the core by what they could see.

oOoOoOo

Lee and Tenten had opted to stay near the gates with Neji, who could now stand on his own, though he wasn't confident enough to walk on his own yet. "It's unbelievable. Did our shinobi get to fight back at all?"

"You can't think that way, Lee. I'm sure our people put up a good fight before they died."

"I don't know, Tenten. There are no bodies, none at all."

"Maybe the enemy used gas?"

"The defensive grid would have dispersed it. It was probably infiltration."

Neji could feel his choler rising at his teammates' conversation, "Is that really what you want to talk about? What about all our families that were killed? Don't you care about them?"

Lee and Tenten looked at the injured genius with wide eyes, not realising that they had hurt his feeling. Lee stepped up and apologised, "I'm sorry, Neji-kun. We didn't lose any… sorry, we weren't thinking."

"My clan…" His thoughts ran back to his fight with Lee during the Exams, and the dreams he had had since. _I don't deserve to be called a Hyuuga. I've dishonoured our name, and now there are only two of us left. I never got to prove the Main Branch wrong._

Lee saw that he was getting depressed, so he dropped to the ground and began doing one handed push-ups. Tenten sighed and sat down on a piece of grass next to him, "Lee, what the hell are you doing?"

"Gai-sensei said that when you are down, you should train. If I can't do five hundred push-ups, then I'll do one thousand sit-ups." Lee continued to quickly do push-ups, counting them as he went.

Neji stared at his teammate for a moment, before a weak feeling in his stomach dropped him to the ground. Just before he struck the ground both Lee and Tenten caught his shoulders, propping him back up. "Maybe we should all just take it easy, okay?"

oOoOoOo

Sakura wandered through the rubble, with Sasuke walking several feet behind her. _Why did Kakashi tell me to go with her? I wanted to see if there were any remains of the underground sections of my family's compound. _

Sakura had run out of tears by the time she had reached the section of the crater she thought had been her home, she simply walked around lost in her grief. Her plan to ignore Sasuke to get his attention had been working, but she had forgotten about it after she learnt that she had lost everyone. "What are we meant to do?" she asked, to no-one in particular.

Sasuke ignored her; an odd thought came to him. _Everyone is like me, now. _

"Sasuke-kun?"

He looked up and realised that she was staring at him. "What?" he responded, still frustrated that he had been sent with her.

"How am I meant to feel? A shinobi must not show any emotion in any situation. A ninja must put the mission first and must have a heart that will allow him to not cry." She sniffed sadly as she quoted the 25th rule of shinobi. She wanted him to console her, at least say something to make her feel better. _He went through the same thing with his family, surely he understands how I feel?_

He merely looked away and stared at the area where his home once stood. _Did you have something to do with this, brother? Was this another attempt to destroy the Uchiha name?_

Sakura felt her heart crushed as Sasuke ignored her; he even started to walk away from her. "Sasuke-kun?" _I…I don't understand…why is he ignoring me? _

Sasuke turned his head back and looked at Sakura with cold eyes, "Sakura. Find your own way back."

Time seemed to stop for Sakura as the biggest realisation dawned over her. _He doesn't care at all. There is no room in his heart, only hatred. Is this what happens when everyone you love dies? Will I become like that?_

Sasuke walked away from her as Sakura collapsed onto the ground, finding fresh tears to cry as she begged for her parents to come back to her.

oOoOoOo

She had been reluctant at first, but Naruto had insisted that she should have a look around where the Hyuuga complex had been. She used her Byakugan to look underneath the ground, but she couldn't find any trace of the honourable clan. "Naruto-kun, I don't see anything at all."

Naruto swore, the sheer immensity of the damage was staggering to his mind. He could just picture where all the building were: the small street that had Ichiraku's, the building where his apartment had been, and the large space where the Hokage Tower had once been. _All this destruction. Why? Who could have done this? _He wondered if another village could have done this, but doubted that. There would have been other casualties, and there would have been evidence, they had found neither. Hinata tugged slightly on his orange jacket, and when he looked at her he could tell that she was petrified. "Hinata, are you okay?"

"Th…they are all gone, aren't they? Father, Hanabi…everyone."

_Damn, what do I say? There are no words to make this any better. _"I don't know Hinata. But if they are, we need to be strong."

She deactivated her Byakugan and looked at her crush, "Are you okay, Naruto-kun?"

_She's lost her whole family, and still worries about how I feel? I didn't have any family to lose, she knows that. _He looked at her lavender eyes and realised that she was looking to him for answers. He slung an arm around her shoulder and hugged her tightly, the same way she had hugged him on the road.

She was initially excited by the contact, until she realised that it was as much for him as it was for her.

"It's okay to cry, Hinata. I'm not going anywhere." She tried to hold back, but when she felt his tears on her hair she couldn't help herself. In her mind she could see the faces of her clan members, but what stood out was the stern look on her father's face before she had left. He had told her that if she didn't come back as a Chuunin then her position as the heir would be reviewed. _He died before I had a chance to prove that I had changed. What did we do to deserve this?_

They stood there for a long time, simply holding each other. Naruto found himself unable to put on his fake smile, the soft sobbing of Hinata into his jacket cut straight to his heart. _This is too cruel. Too damn cruel._

oOoOoOo

"I can't believe it. It…just can't be real." The Ino-Shika-Cho formation had been sent to the mountain faces, though there was no sign of what had caused the calamity.

"Do you think our families are dead?" asked Chouji in one of his rare moments where he had no appetite.

Ino turned around and glared at her fat teammate, "Don't say that, Chouji! There are no bodies, they could have just been captured…or something…"

Behind her Shikamaru dug through some rubble, trying to occupy himself with anything but thinking about his family. _Father wouldn't go down without a fight. None of them would. The fact that there are no bodies means either of two things: They were taken somewhere before the village was destroyed, or everyone was vaporised when the village was. Damnit, I may have thought my family was troublesome, but I never wanted this. _

"Shikamaru, do you think our families are alive?"

He stopped rummaging and sat down while running a tired hand on the back of his neck. "There is no easy way to deal with this. The likelihood of anyone surviving…this…" He tried to keep his sadness from spilling out, but when Ino and Chouji sat opposite him he couldn't hold it in anymore. They had each lost a family, and there was nothing to stop them from giving in to their emotions.

Chouji thought about the last time he ate with his family, his father's hearty laugh and his mother's nice smile as she served them dinner.

Ino thought about the last time she spoke with her father. They had had an argument about her participation in the Chuunin Exams. Inoichi had told her he thought she wasn't ready for it, and in retrospect she agreed with him, but she had still argued and called him filthy names. _I'll never get to apologise. _"Damnit."

"What's wrong, Ino?" asked Chouji.

"It's just that I…I'm angry at the fact that I'm angry. I'm angry at my father, at my mother, at my whole clan for dying, but that's such a horrible thing to think."

Chouji reached over and put an oversized arm around her shoulders, letting her cry into his shirt. "You want to know something, Ino? I'm angry too. I'm angry that I'll never be able to taste my mother's cooking again."

Despite her sadness Ino laughed and coughed as she thought of the complete absurdity of how they felt. "That's…just…damnit Chouji, don't make me laugh. It hurts."

Chouji smiled as Ino appeared to have cheered up slightly, though they all knew that it was only a temporary fix. Shikamaru smiled as he watched his two teammates. The last time he had spoken to his father was during their regular Shougi match. He had never beaten his father before, but knew it was good practise. _Shikamaru, tomorrow you leave for the Exams. Knowing you, you'll just want to give up and not bother. But know that if you do, you put your comrades in danger. You are the heir of our clan, and your friends are the most important resource you have._ He smiled as he thought of what his father would think of his match in the Chuunin Exams.

***Flashback***

The first match of the fourth Exam was about to commence, Shikamaru stood on one side of the sand-covered arena, while his opponent stood near the other. _Why do I have to face him? I got through the team rounds; can't I just give up and go watch the clouds? In Suna the sky looks so inviting. _

His opponent moved his sunglasses slowly as he analysed his opponent. Both Shino and Shikamaru were defensive fighters, and analytical as well, so they both knew their battle would be one of the minds. The crowd was cheering for the Konoha shinobi, most of them simply wanting to see a spectacular battle. Shikamaru looked at the crowd to where the rest of the Konoha Genin were, and noticed that the Suna Siblings sat next to them as well.

Even from this distance he could tell that the blonde girl was glaring at him fiercely. She hadn't forgiven him for the third round, where he and Sasuke had beaten her and her puppet-using brother. During the two week interval between rounds she had hounded him: demanding a rematch, trying to psych him out, she had even tried to get him drunk on some strange desert sake.

"Shikamaru."

He shook his head and looked at his opponent, noticing the small bugs running down his jacket. "What is it?"

"The match has started."

With a yawn, Shikamaru looked around and saw that it was only the two of them in the arena. "Why did you tell me? You could have just attacked, it's not like I was paying attention."

Shino began telling his bugs to sweep around from above, beyond Shikamaru's visual range. "Why? The Aburame clan fights with full force, no matter our foe. You deserve a chance to make Chuunin as well."

Shikamaru simply smiled and jumped back, putting his hands together in his clan's handseal. "Kagemane no Jutsu" He shot his shadow towards Shino, who jumped backwards outside of the shadow's range. He sent a large swarm of bugs straight at Shikamaru, who swore as he barely avoided the swarm, forced to use an explosive note to prevent them from following him.

He could see a very small shift in Shino's expression, _sadness at the loss of his bugs?_ Inside Shikamaru's mind he played out hundreds of scenarios, the majority ending with him covered in bugs begging for mercy. As he continued to run around away from the encroaching bugs, Shikamaru wanted to just give up and save himself the pain. When he used his last explosive note, a scenario finally came to him that had a higher probability of success.

He pulled out one of his two remaining kunai, taking off his jacket at the same time. Shino gestured towards Shikamaru with a finger and Shikamaru looked behind his position with a look of horror. "How the hell?" Behind him crawled a giant swarm of bugs, moving in a pincer formation to crush him with the main swarm. "How did you?"

"I don't like explaining myself. During the match I sent my bugs one at a time behind your position. This is my trump card."

Shikamaru smiled with exasperation, placing his last explosive note on the ground beneath him, sending chakra to his the souls of his feet. He jumped up just before the explosion, throwing his jacket attached to the kunai up into the air as well, disguising this with the explosion. He landed back down onto the ground, with the swarms quickly closing into his position. He tried to run through the small gap he saw towards Shino's position, but it was quickly closed as Shino walked towards him, more bugs pumping out of his sleeves.

The swarms got within a few feet before Shikamaru sighed, putting his hands together. "Checkmate."

Above them the jacket with the kunai attached exploded, but to Shino's surprise it wasn't an explosive note that was attached to the kunai. It was a flash bomb. His sunglasses shielded his eyes, but using the expansive light Shikamaru called out "Kagemane no Jutsu, successful." Spread out from underneath Shikamaru were hundreds of little spikes of shadows, each attaching themselves to the shadows of the swarming bugs, and a single tendril to Shino.

"You caught me."

Between heavy breaths Shikamaru smiled, standing up slowly. He had taken some damage when he accidently caught himself in the last explosion, and he realised that if the flash bomb had gone off a second later he would have lost. "You didn't make it easy. This was the only way to guarantee that I would get all the bugs as well."

"I miscalculated, I shouldn't have come closer."

"Probably, but I'm done. Examiner, I give up." He released the technique and rubbed his sore legs. The crowd was silent at the result, none of them expecting for him to just give up. In the stands he could see the shocked faces of his fellow Shinobi, and felt a twinge of happiness as he saw the angry expression on the crazy blonde's face. _Maybe this will keep her off my back for a while. Wait, who am I kidding? I don't get women at all_.

***End Flashback***

Shino and Kiba had been sent to the outlying forests, their tracking skills being used to look for any possible survivors. Kiba felt an overwhelming anger at the death of his clan, one that Akamaru had adopted as well, both growling uncontrollably at intervals. They couldn't smell anyone within a mile of the village, and as the two shinobi ran through the woods they found a distinct lack of animals as well. _Did Mum fight to her last breath? I can imagine her and Sis fighting side by side with their companions. Damnit, there's no trace of anyone. If this is an illusion, it's a damn cruel one._

"Kiba."

The insect user stopped on a tree branch, causing his teammate to halt a tree in front of him. "What is it Shino? Did you find something?" Akamaru barked at Kiba sharply, "What does that mean? I know the others will be fine."

"Kiba. Go ahead of me."

The Inuzuka heir looked at his fellow teammate with suspicion, until he noticed a slight quivering from his hands. "Shino, is something wrong?"

"My hive is searching around this area. Go ahead of me, I will catch up."

"I don't understand, what are you going to do?" Akamaru barked again, but Kiba didn't understand him this time.

Shino took his hands out of his pockets, reached up and removed his sunglasses, revealing his full face to his teammate for the first time. Despite how dense Kiba could be, he understood his teammate enough to understand what Shino was going to do. With a nod and a bark from Akamaru, Kiba leapt over to the next set of trees, disappearing into the forest. _I guess even the cold Shino needs to grieve at some point._ He spent the next few minutes spinning into a Tsuuga, destroying any trees he could find. He may have been wasting chakra, but it took his mind off the devastation.

oOoOoOo

The group reconvened as the sun began to set, rays of sunlight disappearing from the crater as clouds began to spread out amongst the darkening sky. Each reported that there was nothing left, not even a trace of the over-a-century old village. "We can't stay here" stated Kakashi, putting his hand up immediately to silence the inevitable protests.

Shikamaru sighed, "Where would we go?"

"That's not the problem, Shikamaru? Why do we have to abandon the village?" demanded Naruto.

"We don't have a choice. Whoever did this may still be around" said Asuma, pulling out a new cigarette from his seemingly infinite pack.

"So what? We should be looking to get some payback on the bastards that did this to our home!"

"Yeah!"

"We should stay and fight!"

With a cold stare Kakashi silenced the group, "You fools. You think you stand a chance against the enemy that destroyed our ENTIRE village? The bastards took out our whole shinobi force, including our Hokage. Do you think some VERY inexperienced Genin could succeed where they failed?"

Their eyes down, the Genin mumbled apologies to him. He shook his head slowly, _I don't blame them. The urge to kill someone for this is overwhelming._

"Where do we go? We can't assume anything anymore. The likelihood of our safehouses being secure can't be that high" said Gai, putting on a serious face.

"What about our forces outside the village? Surely there would be some shinobi on missions that wouldn't have been caught in all this." The group nodded in agreement with Shikamaru's statement; if they found others then they could be a stronger fighting force.

"We can't assume that. We have to act as if we are the last Konoha shinobi. There is a place I know of that we need to go to. It's not too far outside the village, but I want everyone on full alert. Neji, can you move well enough?"

The Hyuuga genius stretched out his hands and grimaced in pain, still needing to lean on Lee to walk. "I can't run without support, but my Byakugan still works."

"Okay, this is going to be our formation. Hinata, Naruto, Gai, Kiba and me at the front. Hinata use your Byakugan to scan the area, and Kiba use your nose to sense any foreign presences. Naruto, you and Gai are going to be our hard hitters, attack anyone you don't recognise that may threaten the group immediately."

The four of them nodded in agreement. Hinata was scared that she might miss something, but a reassuring nod from Naruto alleviated her fears. He leaned over and whispered to her, "Don't worry, I'll keep the enemy off you." She smiled warmly in return, feeling a small boost with his confidence in her.

"In the middle will be Shikamaru, Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Shino. You guys will support the others, Shino I want your bugs to be scouting the sides as we move." Shino nodded slightly, his insects still unsettled by his previous display of grief.

"At the back, will be Chouji, Kurenai, Sasuke, Asuma, Lee and Neji. Sasuke, how is your arm?" When they had initially separated, Sakura had helped him remove the bandages from his damaged arm. He had regained some mobility, and could form seals, but wouldn't be at full efficiency for several weeks. "I'm fine, Kakashi."

He didn't believe his student, but left it alone. "Neji will use his Byakugan to scan the back, but you guys are to support the middle group. I know you have injured in your group, but with two Jounin, you should be okay."

oOoOoOo

Before they went to leave, Naruto suggested that they say a few words for their fallen village. Kakashi was apprehensive about this, but understood that the group was barely holding together as it was. They stood on top of the ruined gates, the symbols for retreat covered by dirt and scattered grass.

Naruto reached up to his head and pulled off his forehead protector, running a thumb across the leaf symbol. "I…my dream was to be Hokage. I realise now it was a selfish dream. I wanted the village to recognise me, to respect me. But now…" He felt tears running down his face, in his mind flashed the people he cared about that were gone. _Iruka, Konohamaru, the old man, all gone._

Walking up next to him, Lee removed the forehead protector from around his waist. "Our village may be gone, but Konoha is not. So long as we live, our village's way of life survives. We owe it to our fallen comrades to fight our best." The rest of the group did the same gesture. Naruto grinned as he wiped his tears away. He pointed his forehead protector at the crater then fixed it back on his head, "So long as I wear this, I am a proud shinobi of Konoha. Nobody can take that away from me, I swear we will rebuild."

oOoOoOo

The trip to the next spot was uneventful, but they took their time. By the time they reached the small alcove that Kakashi pointed out, they were all dead tired. Neji was ready to collapse, his constant use of his Byakugan preventing his full recovery. The group sat down as Kakashi dug up a small symbol under an uninteresting piece of grass.

"Konoha was a proud village, but we weren't stupid. We knew that the other villages wanted our special techniques, but there was also the threat of infiltration. In response we had most of our villages techniques removed from their respective houses and stored in an undisclosed location, known only to the Hokage and leader of the Anbu."

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you know this?" asked Sakura.

He looked at her while covering up his Sharingan, there was no need for it anymore. "Until I took on students, I was the head of the Anbu. I guess that information doesn't need to be concealed anymore."

Taking a puff from a cigarette Asuma put his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder and eyed his friend, "You quit being the head of the Anbu? How did you talk my father into doing that?" He felt a wave of sadness as he mentioned his now deceased father, a reminder that even a shinobi as strong as The Professor wasn't invincible.

"It wasn't hard. I simply threatened to tell the girls of the village about his crystal ball."

Asuma laughed, and even Kurenai couldn't help but grin slightly. It took their minds off what had happened, to laugh about their friend's antics. Sasuke pushed through the others, ignoring the pain in his arm as he did. "Kakashi, did you take jutsu from every clan in Konoha?"

"I personally didn't, but the clan heads agreed it was in their best interests to hide their techniques this way." He moved his hands through a set of seals and slammed his hand onto the ground, "Doton, Chidokaku (Moving Earth Core)" A small rumbling sounded underneath his palm and he motioned for the group to stand back. After a few seconds four pillars arose from the ground, each having a symbol on them.

"Earth, Water, Fire, Lightning. Kakashi, what is this?" He patted the shoulder of his student and created three Kage Bunshin. All four of the Kakashi's lay their hands on separate pillars. "This is the security measure that I created. To my knowledge, because of my Sharingan I'm one of the only people who can use four elements. If separate people try to do this, the pillars kill those that are touching them."

"But wouldn't that let any of the Uchiha clan in?" asked Kurenai.

"Sasuke, you want to answer that?"

The Uchiha heir sighed as he thought about what his brother had told him years ago, "The Sharingan doesn't give you elementary chakra, just the ability to use the techniques."

Naruto scratched his head, confused. "But, how then can Kakashi-sensei use four elements? I thought the maximum was three?"

Each Kakashi pushed its separate element into the pillars, while Gai stepped forward and looked the real Kakashi at the lightning pillar with a serious expression, "Obito?"

With a grim smile, Kakashi nodded in response as the pillars slid back into the ground. A small altar rose in front of Kakashi, another symbol on the front of a tablet sitting on top. He turned to Asuma and tried to sound as confident as possible, "Asuma, you are the only one who can do this. The technique was designed to only respond to Sandaime's chakra, but…"

"Didn't you say that if it doesn't work, he'll die?" asked Ino, not wanting to risk her teacher's life over a few techniques.

Asuma threw his spent cigarette into the dirt, ruffling her hair as he blew smoke into the open air. "It's worth the risk. We need you guys to be stronger." He walked over and cut his hand open slightly with one of his trench knives.

"Besides, these techniques are the only things that remain of Konoha. If we keep them, our village hasn't been completely destroyed." He placed his hand on the tablet, grimacing as the tablet read his blood, which glowed a light blue.

"Don't forget about us, Asuma-sensei! We are still here, so the village isn't completely gone." Gai looked over at Lee, almost willing his student to give a 'Nice Guy' pose so he could put a sunset genjutsu behind him. But to his disappointment the group just nodded grimly, as Lee tried to keep an optimistic smile up. Asuma stepped back from the altar as a small plume of smoke came from the tablet. With a small bang sound the altar disappeared, replaced by a large chest covered in gold chains and a single piece of paper marked 'Seal'.

Without a word Kakashi opened up the chest and began removing the scrolls inside. Each was marked with the different clans and was sealed by the clan's blood. "Only a member of the clan can open their respective scroll. Now I know this must be hard for you kids, but you must know that these techniques were meant for you. So act as a Konoha shinobi and a proud member of your clan."

Each of the clan heirs got their respective scrolls, though they each responded differently.

Shino took his scroll without a word, moving away from the group so that he could grieve without showing any emotion to the others. He had a smaller hive then he normally did as his bugs were out sweeping the area, but he held some comfort that he had friends around him.

Kiba gave a low growl as he received his, showing the large fang mark on his family scroll to Akamaru, "All that remains of home, huh. A stupid piece of paper won't bring back my sister, or my mother." The small white dog barked back sadly, snuggling into Kiba's jacket.

Chouji tried not to cry as he got his family scroll, but when he saw a small preserved crumb between the scroll sheets he broke, bawling his eyes out as he walked away.

Ino took her scroll and held it close to her, wondering what her father would say to her, what advice he give in this situation.

With a sigh, Shikamaru took his scroll and stuffed in into his jacket. _Knowing Father, it'll be a blank scroll that says: 'I'll get around to it.'_

Kakashi took out the Hyuuga scroll, which was the largest, and looked at the two Hyuuga students. Neji had recovered quickly, but still had a pale look on his face. Hinata's face was still red from crying, the collar of her jacket damp and uncomfortable. "Ano…" Before she could continue, Neji put his hand up and took a step back, "Give the scroll to Hinata-sama."

"What? But Neji-niisan, you are a much better fighter then me, you can use it better" responded Hinata, not even considering her own position.

Kakashi went to say something but was cut off by Neji, "Hinata-sama, you are the heir of the Main Branch. While there may only be the two of us left, you are still the heir of the Hyuuga clan. So long as I hold this seal, you are my superior."

Naruto stepped up and grabbed Neji's collar, his hair flaring up in anger. "Don't put that crap on Hinata, you bastard! If she knew how to get rid of your seal, she would in a second!"

Lee ran up and took Naruto's hand off his teammate, standing between them defiantly. "Naruto-kun, don't hate Neji for the past. We have to work together now, we are comrades." With a tsk, Naruto stepped back next to Hinata, his anger subsiding slightly. He was still cautious about Neji, not convinced that the Branch member wouldn't attack them again if given the opportunity.

"Kakashi-sensei, please give the scroll to Hinata-sama. I have no right to it." Kakashi eyed him cautiously as he handed the gold-plated scroll to Hinata, who accepted it reluctantly. Hinata looked at it then walked over to Neji and looked him in the eyes. "Neji-niisan, we are both Hyuugas. We can both learn the techniques, and we both will continue the Hyuuga traditions." Neji seemed suspicious of her, but let it go as she put the scroll into her jacket.

Sasuke stepped forward and put his hand out, as the last clan heir he figured his family's scroll would continue the secrets of the Sharingan that his brother had never told him about. _I need to know if he was telling the truth about the Mangekyou Sharingan._ Kakashi handed him the Uchiha scroll reluctantly, unsure whether Sasuke was ready for the secrets that the Uchiha scroll no doubt possessed. With no ceremony, Sasuke ripped open the scroll, uncaring that the remaining Konoha shinobi could likely see the contents.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Sasuke slammed the scroll to the ground, revealing the contents to the others. There was no text on the scroll, just a small map with the Uchiha fan symbol on a small section next to a group of trees. "A map? The last record of my clan is a damn map?"

Kakashi got up from his kneeling position and picked up the scroll, looking at the map with interest. "Sasuke, calm down. This is likely just a map to where the real scroll is. The Uchiha clan was the most reluctant to the idea, so this doesn't surprise me." He handed the scroll back to Sasuke, "We can go there if you want. I recognise some of the markings."

With a hn he snatched the scroll from his teacher's hand. Lee, Sakura and Tenten knew that there were no scrolls for them. Lee was an orphan; Sakura's parents were civilians and Tenten's father was an armourer. Kakashi handed Asuma the Sarutobi clan scroll, took out the final scroll and closed the chest. With a single handseal the chest burst into flames, destroying all evidence that it had existed.

The group began to split apart to look at their separate scrolls, but Kakashi called them back. "Wait; there is something we need to tell Naruto."

"Are you sure about this Kakashi? It was a secret for a reason." He waved Kurenai of with his free hand, "There is no benefit to concealing it anymore."

Naruto coughed uncomfortably, getting the Jounin's attention. "If it's about the Kyuubi, everyone already knows." The teachers were surprised, but they kept their comments to themselves. If their students were still comfortable with Naruto, then they had no issue with his revealing that information either.

"That's not what Kakashi is talking about Naruto" said Kurenai, her red eyes staring at the scroll in Kakashi's hand.

"Then what is he talking about? Damnit, what are you hiding?" Naruto held his head, as if just thinking was doing his physical harm. Next to him Hinata felt like she should say something to calm him down, something to help him.

She resolved to slowly slip her hands into his, hoping that he wouldn't shrug her away. He seemed surprised by the touch, but with a slight tug and a smile he accepted the gesture. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. What did you want to tell me?"

_Now they are holding hands. To be young again._ With a smile Kakashi held the last scroll from the chest tightly, "Naruto, you weren't told who your parents were because they had many enemies, both inside and outside the village. But now, I see no need to hide who they were."

He looked at the scroll's insignia, "He wasn't part of a clan, but we put his techniques in anyway, as they were very powerful and useful to the village." He handed the scroll to Naruto, who was speechless at the fact that he was about to find out about his parents. The scroll was black outlined with no symbols on it. Along the front of it was a single name.

_Minato Namizake_

oOoOoOo

The group had decided that their first target would be Tenten's father's shop, and then afterwards they would go to the Uchiha hideout marked on Sasuke's scroll. It was a day's trip from the remains of Konoha, and they could restock their weapons as well. The group was still sombre from their experiences in the remains of Konoha, each trying to make sense of the madness that had become their world. Naruto had taken an opportunity to look into his father's scroll; there were many things inside it he didn't understand. He had initially been overcome with the knowledge that his idol was his father, then angry that it had been concealed.

Hinata had pointed out to him on the road that the Yondaime had many enemies, and it would have been for his safety. He felt honoured that he was the son of a Hokage, but felt a new weight on his shoulders. He had to surpass his father; he had to be strong for the good of the group. He opened up his father's scroll again and looked over the first jutsu that his father had created. _This is the technique that made my father known around the shinobi world. I will do my best, I have to. Father, I will perfect this technique. It'll take a lot of effort though, but you'd be proud of me, I have lots of friends to help me_.

"Naruto-kun, have you worked out what technique you are going to learn?" He smiled at his dark-haired companion, showing her the diagram on the scroll. A large name appeared at the front.

_Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>:

I may have lied when I said the chapters would be shorter. I wanted to expand on each individual reaction, and it kind of ballooned. Next chapter there will be action scenes, I promise. There will be no Rasengan in my story. I like the technique, but I think everyone is sick of it. It wouldn't be on the scroll either, as it was unfinished when Minato died.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Lacking Sight by Neo-Lifethane. A great NaruHina story that has two of the best developed OCs ever. Really well written, great jutsu inventions and action scenes. Definitely one to look for.


	3. Chapter 3 Travels

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 3 – Travels

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more multi-person combats. Think of all the potential combinations.

* * *

><p>They travelled slowly, none of the group in any huge rush to get to their next location besides Tenten. After several hours Neji had been declared fit for duty, though he was still wary of overusing his Byakugan. While keeping an eye out for any enemies, then Genin took the time to look at their separate scrolls. None of them knew what they were going to do after they reached Tenten's. Naruto had suggested that they could pay Suna a visit, as they still had a good relationship with that village after the Exams. The Jounin had dismissed the idea though; even though Konoha was gone they couldn't trust any other village at the time. For all they knew, Suna had a part in the destruction of their home, though secretly most of them doubted that.<p>

"What the hell did you say to me? I'll kick your ass!"

"Damnit, Kiba, I didn't mean it that way."

"Well how did you mean it, Naruto? I've had it, I'm taking you down!"

Kiba threw a punch at Naruto directly, who instinctively moved his head, grabbed Kiba's arm and threw up down. Kiba rolled and recovered, sending chakra to his hands to form claws as he barked orders to Akamaru. Kakashi and Asuma went to break them up, but were stopped by a hand from Gai.

"We should let them fight it out. Everyone is feeling tense; a brawl might be good for them."

They weren't thrilled at the idea, but as Naruto and Kiba wrestled on the ground they had to admit that they could use the distraction. Kakashi signalled for the group to stop, they had moved through a large grassy field where there was a running river.

_A good place as any for a break, I suppose_.

The group collectively dropped their packs; some even began cheering on the brawlers. Lee threw down his pack and stretched out his arms.

"YOSH! I'm going to go full power!" He jumped into the field of battle, catching a surprised Kiba off guard, slamming a leg into his shoulder.

"Hey, don't take my opponent Lee!"

"Naruto-kun, it will be my honour to fight you!"

At the group Neji observed his teammate, who was trying his hardest to land a strike on Naruto, who kept creating Kage Bunshin to avoid his speedy attacks.

_The secret of his speed lies with the muscles in his legs. _

Deactivating his Byakugan, Neji decided that a proper test of his fitness was in order. He sped towards Lee's position, only to be blind-sided by a Tsuuga from Kiba.

"Ha! Got you, damn Hyuuga. Not so fanc…" He in turn was blind-sided by Naruto, who drove his foot into the side of Kiba's head.

"Shouldn't we stop them, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata, worried that Naruto might get hurt fighting against so many strong opponents.

"You want to try and break them up? Be my guest. I don't care so long as…"

"KAKASHI! My eternal rival! I am inspired by our student's youthful display! Let us fight!"

The one-eyed Jounin swore and put his book away as Gai jumped into the air above them, "DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

He knew that Gai always fought seriously, so he had only a second to prepare his Sharingan before ducking under the bowl-cut ninja. Feeling a strange sense of motivation for a change, he drew back a fist and slammed it into Gai, who caught the strike and launched himself into the air.

"You want to join them, Shikamaru?"

The lazy Genin simply stared at his teammate with wide eyes, "Are you mad? That would be far too troublesome. Look at them; they are going at full strength. Oh, Lee just took off his weights. No force on this world could get me into that brawl."

Coming back from refilling their drink canisters, Ino and Sakura sat on a pair of smooth rocks to watch the escalating fight. Kakashi and Gai were moving faster then their eyes could follow a trail of clashing thunderclaps the only indicators that they were fighting at all. They noticed that even Sasuke had joined in the melee, able to get off a single fire jutsu before being unceremoniously clothes-lined by Naruto. Kurenai and Asuma stood with the rest of the Genin, none of whom seemed interested in participating, though Tenten was fiddling with a kunai as if that was enough effort on her part.

"Omote Renge!"

Lee slammed his target into the ground and landed next to the crater, the bandages from his hands strewn across the ground. He had purposefully not used it full power, but the effort was still devastating. Though he was used to that level of rotation, Kiba had still been knocked out cold. Out near the girls sat Akamaru, who was happy to simply watch and be groomed by Hinata.

Kiba caught a glimpse of his companion before he hit the ground, _damn betrayer, he knew that would happen._ Naruto was still fighting Neji, who was struggling with the dozens of clones that Naruto was sending at him. Since their last fight Naruto had learnt that as long as he didn't let Neji attack the original, he could attack with abandon. Through his Byakugan, Neji watched Lee falter slightly, dropping to one knee as the damage from opening two gates took effect. With a smirk Neji turned away from the dozen Naruto's and sped towards Lee, preparing a Jyuuken strike with a raised hand.

"Ha, don't take your eyes off me." Naruto smiled as several clones picked up each other and tossed themselves at Neji. With his Byakugan he easily detected the attack, turning on his heel as five Naruto clones slammed into his blue shield. "Kaiten!"

Naruto just grinned and put a hand up into a seal.

"Boom."

The clones all exploded as they impacted the shield, the results explosions threw Neji off balance and slammed him straight into the ground. Naruto dispelled his remaining clones and looked at the crowd, seeking out Hinata before smiled and giving her a wave. _At least I got to show him. _Hinata could only give a short wave back, though the looks that the other girls gave her was enough to cause her to blush.

"I guess that makes me the winn…"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Lee's foot slammed straight into Naruto's cheek, literally wiping the grin off his face with a spray of dirt and blood. With a less-then-graceful landing Lee stood over the small pile of his fallen comrades.

"GAI-SENSEI! I did it!"

A few feet away the taijutsu master saw his student deliver the final blow, taking immense pride that his student has proven his strength. He turned and gave Lee a 'Nice Guy' pose, weaving in a double rainbow to the sunset Genjutsu behind him.

Lee began to run at his teacher, tears in his eyes, "Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Doton, Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu (Earth Element: Suicidal Beheading)"

Kakashi hopped up from underneath the ground and leant down to look his rival in the eyes. "I guess that makes us 51-50, my favour."

Despite being a head in the ground, Gai still managing a 'Nice Guy' smile.

"That's what I expect from my eternal rival! That cool attitude is too much!"

He sharply turned his head, an impressive feat with an immobile body underground, to face his student.

"Lee! We must train harder! Increase your weights to 200 pounds!"

Lee staggered as he did the math in his head, a painful task to be sure.

_I currently have seven weights on each leg, weighing 150 pounds each. That's a quarter more then I already have on. It took me a month to move normally with my current weights._

He nodded and gave a thumbs up, "Hai, Gai-sensei! If I can't get back to my normal speed in a week, then I will do six thousand push-ups as punishment!"

Seeing that the melee was done, the group took an account of the injuries. Remarkably the worst off was Kiba, who only had a concussion, and a large chunk of his hair missing from when Sasuke had burnt it off. Holding out a hand, Hinata helped her crush up off the ground. Naruto held his sore jaw, angry that he had let his guard down at the crucial moment.

When he saw that Hinata had let him up he had the grace to blush lightly, "Gomen…sorry you had to see that."

As she watched him stand up, his jacket covered in grime and dirt, Hinata tried to stifle a giggle and failed, a light sweet laugh struck Naruto's ears.

_What a strange…wait, is she laughing at me?_

"Hey, it's not funny."

She apologised when she realised that she had lowered her defences, "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. But you shouldn't apologise, it was fun to watch."

She reached into her jacket and pulled out several large ryo notes, "Here, you should take half. I won this betting on you."

"You…you bet on me to win?"

"Of course! Asuma-sensei had bet on Neji to win, but I knew you could beat him."

Feeling embarrassed, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "That's…thanks. Who bet on Lee?"

Seeing that he wasn't going to take any of the money, Hinata put it back in her pocket before leading him back to the main group.

"Shikamaru did, of course. And surprisingly Sakura."

"Sakura? Why didn't she bet on me? I'm her teammate!"

Despite herself, Hinata felt a twang of jealously at his statement, but she blew it off.

"She said that anyone who could beat Sasuke-kun that easily was someone worth betting on."

As he thought about it, Naruto had to agree with the statement. Even he wasn't confident enough to take on Lee, at least not without his weights on.

* * *

><p><em>To utilise the Hiraishin no Jutsu, there are two obstacles that must be overcome. Primary in the equation is the strength of the seal matrix. With a powerful seal matrix the technique is grounded and the user will not reconstitute within an undefinable field. The secondary condition is the motion itself of entering and exiting the dimensional portals between sealing matrices. The user must allow themselves to be deconstructed then reconstructed instantaneously in-between the reality tear that resides between sealing matrices. <em>

Naruto read it twice with an overly serious expression.

"I don't understand any of that. Oh wait, what's this?"

Understood the neat text was a scratchy set of symbols that bore a frightening resemblance to Naruto's own shorthand.

_- Write the seals properly. Jump in-between seals using chakra. Makes you hurl first few times. _

Naruto felt a smile creep onto his face.

_Is that my mother's writing? I can't see the Yondaime of Konoha having such bad writing. _

_Feed a miniscule amount of chakra into the seal, allowing the flow to resonate within the matrices. By altering the natural state of your chakra to a field of current, reach out and grasp the secondary matrix, pulling yourself towards it akin to lightning striking a grounding rod. This is the foundation of the Hiraishin no Jutsu. _

_- Put a small amount of chakra into the seal. Picture the other seal and jump to it. Seriously Minato, you're descriptions suck._

He gave a short laugh as he imagined his red haired mother fawning over his father's work, lording over him.

_They must have really loved each other. _

Naruto felt sombre at the thought of his parents, another reminder of things that had been taken away from him.

_I wonder if I'll have something like that._ Out loud he barked, "But I wouldn't name my child after a piece of food."

"What was that, Naruto-kun?" It took him a moment to realise that Hinata had been standing at the door of his tent, her hands together nervously as she saw him without his shirt on, sitting on his sleeping mat.

"Hinata? What are you…oh crap is it morning already?" She nodded, pointing to the slowly rising light coming off the mountainside. Naruto swore under his breath and began packing up his clothes, throwing his frog hat into his bag.

"Did you not sleep, Naruto-kun?"

"What? Yeah, kind of. I was up reading my father's scroll, and I guess time got away from me. Are you packed already?"

She nodded, her bag resting against the side of Naruto's small tent. She took a moment to watch him frantically throw on his orange jacket, noting to herself that she had come a long way from her days of watching him from across a room. She gasped slightly as he began to take off his pyjama pants, turning around quickly with a beet-red face.

_I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything. _

Back in the Academy days her sister had asked her about the Byakugan and whether it could see through clothes. Hinata had been embarrassed at her sister's questioning, but later that day had attempted it while watching Naruto train. She hadn't been able to show herself outside her room for the next two days, her sister nicknaming her 'tomato-face' during that period. She knew the Hyuuga had strict rules when it came to using the Byakugan, but she also knew some of the younger Hyuuga men would use and abuse their Byakugan.

_Has Neji-niisan?_ She wondered, spinning around at a tap on her shoulder.

Naruto smiled as he indicated that she should come with him, his tent thrown into his pack by several clones while he stuffed a food bar into his mouth. Shaking her head to recuperate herself, Hinata allowed herself a smile and ran to catch up with her companion.

_He seems so carefree. I have no idea how he does it, especially considering our situation. If not for Naruto-kun, we might have fallen apart already._

* * *

><p>The village where Tenten's father's shop was located was a small town, off the side of a large collection of mountains. She told the group how the village had become quite wealthy as her father got orders from the big five villages, his weaponry was legendary. They set up a small campsite just on the outskirts of town, though Naruto had asked why they didn't just stay in the village.<p>

"You got money for a hotel?" was the response from Kakashi.

Naruto thought about it then shook his head. He had kept Gama-chan, but all their savings were destroyed with the village. They had been able to find a few emergency cache's on the way that Kakashi had known about, but their funds were pretty low.

"Father! I'm home!"

Tenten ran into her father's forge, straight into the arms of an old man who smiled as his nearly blind eyes looked at his grown-up daughter. Naruto looked at the ancient forger, noticing that even though he looked fragile, his arms held strong muscles that only a master forger would have.

"Tenten, I was so worried. I heard about Konoha and feared the worst."

She released her father and smiled, "It's okay father. These are my friends from home."

She introduced everyone, giving a short description to the near-sighted forger. When she got to Naruto he walked up and looked at him close up. Naruto was cautious but knew the old man meant no harm.

"You…I know you…Oh! Minato-sama! I'm sorry for not recognising you at first, Yondaime-sama." He bowed as much as his legs could handle.

Naruto rubbed his head awkwardly, "Ano…I'm not the Yondaime. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. He was my father."

"Oh? Well that makes sense; he's been dead for years. Wait here, I think I have something…"

The old man walked back into the forge, leaving the group wondering what he was doing. Tenten apologised to the group, "He sometimes gets confused. But he can help us, I'm sure of it."

A few minutes later he returned, holding a small sheet of paper. He handed it lightly to Naruto, "This is a commission sent to me by an Uzumaki…Kushina I think her name was. Crazy woman, flailing red hair, kept saying –ttebane."

Naruto smiled sadly, feeling the paper through his hands. "She sounds like my mother. I never knew her, but Kakashi-sensei says that is what she was like. What was the commission?"

"Ah. That one. She came here just before the Kyuubi attacked the village. Even as pregnant as she was, she made the trip. It was a commission for a sword for her husband, Minato. To celebrate the birth of their child."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of his mother's love for his father. He had pictured what they might have been like, it amused him to think about his mother doing the sort of crazy things he would do.

The old man coughed before continuing. "I made the hilt and the scabbard quickly enough. But the steel took too long to arrive and they passed away from I could complete the order."

"Do you still have it?" asked Naruto, wanting to see the blade that had been made for his father.

"I never finished it. But the weapon is still here. I could finish it, if you like. It would be my pleasure."

Naruto tried to remember how much money he had left in Gama-chan. "Ano…I don't have much money…"

The old man barked a hearty laugh, "The red-haired lady paid for it all. It would be my pleasure to finish the job and give the blade to her son."

"Really? You mean it? Yeah!" He punched the air as he remembered the sword katas he had seen in his father's scroll.

"It'll take a few days though, I need to meld the steel into the hilt."

Kakashi coughed to get the old man's attention, "We would also like to place an order for weaponry as well. Restocking kunai, shuriken mostly." He pulled out a set of bills from his pocket, handing it to the old man who counted the money and placed it inside his shirt.

"I can do that. It'll take me a week though; my back isn't what it used to be."

Sasuke gave a tsk as an indicator of what he thought of more delays. "Kakashi. When will we go to the Uchiha hideout? I need my family's scroll."

"Calm down, Sasuke. We could use a bit of a break."

Naruto grinned as he thought of what he could do in a week, "Yeah teme. We can train super hard and get really strong. I bet you won't be able to beat me."

Sasuke stared at his teammate before casually turning around and walking off. "I'm going to train. Get me when we are leaving."

The old man and Tenten went into the forge to get started as the others began making their plans. Lee and Gai were already doing pushups, Lee struggling as his new weights were up to 300 pound. Hinata couldn't help but smile as Naruto was already in a scuffle with Kiba.

_It'll be nice to relax for a little bit._

* * *

><p>Naruto let out a slow breath, unphased by the staggering chakra requirement of making two hundred clones at once. To his relief each clone had the seal tattoo on their chest, meaning that 'in theory' this would work. He had figured out the theory for Hiraishin a few days ago, and with Kakashi's help had tattooed himself with the seal necessary to activate the jutsu.<p>

_Is this how Father trained for this?_ He pondered that idea as he planted down a kunai with the seal wrapped around it on the ground beneath him.

"Okay, it's very simple. You are to flash to me. Each of you is to put in a different amount of chakra, this way I'll figure out what amount works."

The clone army nodded in agreement, preparing their hands for the technique. He had decided to use a hand seal during the training process, just to make the chakra control easier, following some advice from Hinata. She and the other girls were at the village's hot springs, while most of the guys were relaxing at their campsite.

"Any clone that does this successfully gets to have Ramen next time we find a stall." The army cheered, the clones never got to have ramen, it was always the original.

"And…GO!"

Each clone vanished with a slight yellow flash; though an instant later nearly a hundred of them reappeared at their starting position, instantly dissipating into smoke. A wave of knowledge hit Naruto like a sledgehammer, bringing him to his knees.

_What the hell? I can feel these…wait. Do I get the knowledge from the clones when they disappear? No way. Why didn't anyone tell me? _

In his accumulated memories he found that anything more than a tiny trickle of chakra into the seal would cause the jutsu to be unstable and collapse. He looked around his position; to his disappointment none of the clones had successfully reached the kunai.

"AHHHHH!"

The screams drew his attention to the sky. Above him were rapidly falling Naruto's, each at a different elevation. They crashed into the ground one at a time, sending their horrific experiences right into the original.

_Ah damnit, that hurt. Oh hey, there is a ramen stand here. What's Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei doing going into that…oh._

* * *

><p>Shikamaru walked down the streets of the village, he and Chouji had been given the recon mission, though they were bored out of their minds. Chouji had run into a barbeque vendor, causing Shikamaru to just groan and walk away.<p>

"AHHHH!"

He looked up to see the sky covered in orange.

_It's raining Narutos_ he thought, making a point to avoid the falling missiles.

_How troublesome._

"This is seriously too cool" he said, preparing his hand seal for another mass clone army.

He ran the numbers in his head and stopped, doing a recount of the clones that has dissipated.

_Two of them are still alive. But where are they? How come they didn't go to the kunai? The scroll said you could only flash between seals._

* * *

><p>Naruto #136:<p>

It had taken some effort, but #136 had landed safely onto the roof of a spiked building at the other end of the mountainside. He had barely missed several spikes piercing his chest, landing surprisingly gracefully on his feet.

_That was too close. _

A second later he fell to his knees, the clone knowledge striking him at the same time as the original.

_Ah, I see. Haha, Neji got peed on by Akamaru in his sleep. _

"Are we prepared?"

"Yes boss. The village is ripe, the women young."

#136 kept low on the roof, resisting the urge to jump down and fight the two talking bandits.

"Good. I want twenty men to stay here and keep the fortress garrisoned. If there are any ninja left from the destruction of Konoha, I want our forces to have a fall back position."

_He knows about Konoha. Something is very wrong here._

"Our men will fall apart against Konoha ninja."

The man who #136 figured was the leader waved off the statement, "I've heard that they were all killed. Our numbers can handle the remnants; remember most of our men are expendable."

_This guy…_

#136 wanted to listen to more, but the two bandits walked into a smaller building away from his.

_Damnit. If we all get the information after we dissipate, then I need to follow them and find out as much as I can. Bah, I'm hopeless at this stealth stuff. _

He dropped to the ground after making sure there were no bandits in sight, using Henge to transform into a similar figure to the subordinate he saw.

* * *

><p>Naruto #92<p>

_AHH!_ _Wait. I'm not falling. _

He checked his arms and legs, amazed that he had appeared without hurting himself.

_Thank god. A bunch of us landed within walls. That hurt damnit._

After this he looked at his surroundings, discovering that he had flashed into a dark wardrobe with very little room to move.

_How did I not end up inside a wall? Damnit, I am a lucky clone._

"I can't believe that, did he really say that?"

_What was that? It almost sounded like…_

"This is Lee we are talking about. I don't think he understand what Kurenai-sensei was talking about. He's almost as dense as Naruto."

_Hey, I'm not that dense._

"Tenten-san, Naruto-kun isn't that dense." _That's Hinata! _

"Not that dense? Didn't he take his pants off in front of you?"

"Sakura-san!"

"Ooo, you must have loved that."

"Ino-san! Please, it wasn't like that."

_I took my pants off in front of her? What the hell are the girls talking about?_

"Ino, don't tease Hinata about her little crush. She'll never want to talk about it again."

_What?_

He couldn't see them at all, and didn't dare flinch in fear that he would be discovered.

_The original might want this information, better keep listening._

"Come on Hinata, spill. Everyone's noticed that the two of you have gotten closer, what's the deal?"

"Ano…I…I don't know."

"Well that doesn't tell us anything. Why don't you make a move on him?"

"Come on, this is Naruto we are talking about. You know, I never quite understood why you liked him."

"Ano…"

"Hehe, I know why she likes him. She's probably seen his…you know…with her Byakugan."

"What? I never…"

"Really? Well then I've got nothing."

"Come on Hinata, we promise not to say anything."

"Naruto-kun is very strong…he doesn't give up. I…he was always fighting to get people to notice him."

"And that's why you love him?"

"Ino-san! I never said…"

"Oh please, it's written all over you. I even saw you two holding hands a while back."

"Oh look, she's smiling and blushing. How adorable."

"Come on Hinata, just say it."  
>"Yeah, you'll feel better."<p>

"Ano…I…"

_No way…_

"I love Naruto-kun."

_No freaking way. Wait…no damnit they are leaving. I better get this to the original. _

He put his hands into a seal, puffing into a small amount of smoke.

* * *

><p>The field was covered in Naruto's, each sparring against another using a taijutsu form on his father's scroll. The information hit them harder then the cumulative deaths of 198 clones. Every single Naruto froze, some in mid strike.<p>

"That can't be true."

"What is this?"

"Was she lying?"

The original Naruto had been sitting on the grass reading his father's scroll when he was hit with the revelation.

_I…I need to…damnit, what do I do?_

"Do I talk to her?"

"Do I keep training?"

"I want to take a nap."

The army of Naruto's turned in unison and stared at the clone.

"What?"

As the dust cleared and the clone's smoky remains dissipated, the original contemplated his position.

_I need to work this out. Who can I talk to about this…not Kakashi-sensei, not Sakura…oh wait, I know who to talk to._

He created a single clone and handed it a kunai with the Hiraishin seal wrapped around it.

"You got it boss." The clone now in charge gave a nod and put his hands together into his favourite seal.

The original smiled as his clone army expanded, with small numbers trying the Hiraishin again.

_Perfect, this way I can still get some training in. _

"So, can you help me?"

"Naruto, why did you come to me? I was happy just sitting here."

He sighed as the normally excitable Naruto sat down next to him with a hung head.

"I…it's just I don't know what to do? Come on, Shikamaru you're a smart guy."

The lazy genius sighed again, knowing that he wouldn't let this go.

"Naruto…okay fine. Give me a second."

He thought about it for exactly one second and looked back at Naruto.

"There are two solutions. You can act as if you didn't hear the information, continue your current relationship as friends, and not mention it at all."

Naruto took in this information, really thinking about what he thought of Hinata.

_Do I want that? I…_

"I don't think I want that. I…I don't know what I feel, but…"

Shikamaru felt a smile creep onto his face.

_Naruto, how do you not see it? It's right in front of your face. _

"The other option is to go speak to Hinata, ask her about the information, discuss your relationship and see how you really feel."

"How I really feel?"

Looking up at the sky, Shikamaru closed his eyes and drifted off. Naruto stared at his friend,

"Shikamaru? Hey, Shikamaru! Damnit, you are not help at all."

He got up and walked back to the village, the steady stream of clone information not bothering him as much as before.

_Hey, that clone got to the kunai. It was missing an arm, but it's progress. I guess I'll go find Hinata._

As he felt Naruto move aware, Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked back to the clouds.

_Not two weeks into our home being destroyed and we are already on repopulating. Ah, the clouds here aren't as good as the ones from Suna._

* * *

><p>Following her confronting conversation with the girls, Hinata sat in front of the village elders building on a small bench. She watched a group of villagers walk by, happily shopping around without a care in the world. She sighed as she wondered about the past week, where she was meant to be training. She and Neji had poured over the Hyuuga family scroll, trying to learn some of the more advanced Jyuuken strikes. Being the genius he was, Neji picked up several things right away. Hinata, on the other hand, had tried to learn the Kaiten but found she couldn't complete the jutsu. She had gotten fairly depressed after that, but after a pep talk from Naruto and her sensei she had decided that it might be good for her to work on her own style. But that hadn't been going well either.<p>

_And now the girls are making fun of me for liking Naruto-kun. _

Her dark thoughts were interrupted as the villagers scattered, making way for a yellow and orange blur. It took her a moment to notice, but charging towards her was the subject of her recent troubles.

"Naruto-kun! Are you okay?"

She asked because as he skidded to a stop there were beads of sweat across his front, he was breathing heavily and there were rings underneath his eyes.

He smiled and waved off her concern, "I'm fine, Hinata-chan. My training is harder then I thought, damn clones."

_Naruto-kun is trying his hardest, and I'm sitting here being sorry for myself._

Having known Hinata better over the past month, Naruto noticed her sad expression and sat down next to her.

"Hinata-chan? It's okay, I'm not hurt. What's wrong?"

She smiled sadly and looked up to him with a smile, "Nothing, nothing is wrong Naruto-kun. But if you are training, why are you here?"

Naruto winced as more 'training' hit him; the clones were getting overzealous in their practise.

"I…I wanted to ask you something. But…I'm not sure how I'm meant to ask. Or what. Damnit, this is really awkward."

She reached over and boldly placed her hands on top of his, a gesture she had started to do whenever Naruto needed to calm down or was feeling anxious. The feel of her soft hands always brought him back to reality.

"Take your time, Naruto-kun."

He put his other hand over hers, running a thumb across her light skin.

"Thanks."

"Is this about what you heard at the hot springs?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a different side of Hinata. She hadn't hesitated at all, not even in the face of her accidently confessing her crush.

"You…you knew I was there?"

He was rocked by this knowledge, though in the back of his mind his clones' 'training' was disturbing as well.

_What the hell? ARE MY CLONES EATING RAMEN? BETRAYERS!_

Hinata smiled as she thought about her decision the previous night.

_He's shown me what it's like to be strong. I need to be strong now. No more holding back because of fear._

"Naruto-kun, I have the Byakugan. I noticed your clone when he flashed into the room; the chakra signal isn't hard to notice."

Naruto instinctively put his hands up immediately in defence, "It wasn't intentional, I swear! My clones landed all over the place. Please don't hate me."

_Wait, how are the clones paying for this? No…GAMA-CHAN! You bastards!_

He expecting a punch like Sakura would deliver after he…basically talked to her about anything. Hinata on the other hand just smiled and patted his hands, "Naruto-kun, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to spy."

Naruto thought about it as he secretly plotted revenge against his rebellious clones.

"Wait. If you knew I was there…" he let the question hang as the revelation dawned on him. Hinata could only smile as she watched him work out her bold move.

_I hope he isn't mad. I don't know what I'd do if he says no. _

_She knew I was there. Ah damnit, the clones are coming in faster. _

"Hinata…I…"

He felt more nervous then when he had been first confronted by Zabuza. He hadn't had to think this hard since working out how to do the Kage Bunshin.

_How do I feel about Hinata? She's not like the others, she treats me like…_

He went to say something but caught himself looking straight into her big lavender eyes.

He felt a sharp twinge just above his stomach, _Was that from the clones? No, that's a different feeling. Maybe this is…I think it is…I've got to tell her._

"I think I…we…should…"

He almost finished his sentence until all his clones dispersed at the same time, after finally completing the first stages of Hiraishin successfully. He had instructed them to do so, but the timing couldn't have been worse. He began to fall forward before Hinata gasped and grabbed him, letting him fall softly onto the bench.

"Naruto-kun!"

Just as he passed out he saw her concerned face, the twinge in his gut hitting him harder than before.

"Hinata…I...like…"

She gasped again as he gripped her hand tightly before losing consciousness, the image of her wide eyes staying on his mind as he drifting into a dream.

* * *

><p>The attack happened a few hours later, just as the sky had darkened. Naruto clone #136 had gotten as much information he could: numbers, disposition, goals. He had dissipated as they left, though his information was essentially wasted as Naruto was still in no condition to tell anyone. Unfortunately for the bandits, the Konoha ninja had been routinely patrolling the area. That night the patrol had been Neji and Kakashi, so when the bandit horde rolled over the mountainside and charged towards the village, the ninja had already warned the villagers to evacuate. Seeing the numbers the two scouts had decided to retreat back to the village, finding as many of their companions as possible. At the gates stood most of the remnants of Konoha, each of them spoiling for a fight. Sakura and Lee had been told to help the villagers escape, and none of them had been able to find Hinata and Naruto, though Shikamaru had commented that they wouldn't need them to take care of untrained bandits.<p>

Most of the bandits had no idea what they had gotten themselves into, until the ninja began their defence. Never one for hesitation, Kiba and a transformed Akamaru charged straight down the middle of the horde, their recently improved combination attack cutting a bloody path through the unfortunately bandits. Following his destruction was a massive rolling Chouji, using kunai spikes to turn sharply, taking out any stragglers that had avoided Kiba's initial rotation. Behind him ran Neji, calmly but systematically picking off any bandits he saw leading the others. He got surrounded several times, but his training paid off as his extended Kaiten sent them all flying. On the left flank Shikamaru and Ino kept large numbers of bandits immobile with their clan's jutsu, allowing Sasuke and Tenten to destroy them systematically with fire jutsu and explosive notes respectively. Underneath the ground Kakashi used his Sharingan's Earth jutsu to collapse entire sections of the ground, crushing larger elements of the force. On the right flank were the other Jounin, spoiling for a fight.

Gai screamed about youth and jumped into the horde, calling out "Youth! Fear the beautiful Green Beast!"

The other Jounin were more composed in their fighting styles. Asuma was satisfied to defend Kurenai with his trench knives, though he did occasionally fire wind-enhanced kunai into bandits that he found unsightly. Kurenai had been running through an extensive set of seals, ending with the tiger seal.

"Fukyuu Kokuhyou." (Eternal Damnation)

Dozens of bandits held their heads screaming out in agony as Kurenai prepared her next genjutsu assault.

The battle lasted three minutes, a poor effort by Kakashi's estimation. But he was willing to let it go as he was satisfied that the Genin had improved over the past week. The field was covered with the writhing bodies of the bandits, as the ninja convened at the gates.

"Is that all of them? Kind of disappointing" said Kiba, scratching his ears absentmindedly.

"There are no more."

The group turned as Shino slowly walked towards them, his insects retreating back into his jacket.

"Shino! Where were you? We totally forgot about you."

He pushed up his sunglasses, uncaring about the absurdity of wearing sunglasses at night.

"I was at the bandit's hideout. They do not pose a threat anymore."

Kiba stepped up to his teammate, "You went there by yourself? Damnit Shino. Why?"

"Why? My insects informed me of irregular movement across the mountain. It is my duty as a ninja to defend the villagers from any and all threats. You should remember that, Kiba."

"Damnit, Shino. You take the fun out of life."

* * *

><p>Sakura fell back, her hands shaking in fear. She had stayed behind to help a small group of children, but a group of bandits had slipped past the ninja's defence. She had already taken a hit from a spear to her side, the children screaming as blood dripped down her side.<p>

_Damnit, I…I don't…I can't…_

"Konoha Buin Senpuu (Konoha Staff Whirlwind)!"

Lee crashed into the three bandits, spinning a large wooden staff that smacked right into their heads, landing stylishly in front of the wounded Sakura and civilians.

"Lee?"

He turned his head slightly, giving Sakura a customary smile, "Don't worry, Sakura-san. I will protect you from these fiends."

After seeing their companions defeat, dozens of bandits rallied to attack the bright green ninja, drawing various bladed weaponry.

Sakura got up slowly, the cut in her side keeping her movements sluggish. Lee noticed this, spinning his staff fast before driving it into the ground, offering her a hand up. She took it with thanks, drawing a kunai from her pack.

"Lee, I'm sorry you had to come here."

Lee picked up his staff and smacked it into the face of a bandit that got too bold.

"Never apologise for needing assistance, Sakura-san. We are comrades; I would gladly give my life to save yours."

"But…"

"Sakura-san, a conversation for later. I need your assistance."

He pointed the end of his staff as the small group of civilians.

"Please stay and protect them."

He looked at the bandits with a gleam in his eyes, "I will defeat them."

"Lee, there are too many of them!"

Lee worked it out in his head, he was at a twenty to one disadvantage, and Sakura was in no fighting condition.

He grinned and did a 'Nice Guy' pose to her, "Fear not, Sakura-san. I will protect all of you."

He stood his ground, letting the first few bandits charge into him with their spears. At the last possible moment he twisted his body, the spears pierced the air harmlessly as he brought his staff crashing down on a bandit with one hand while driving an elbow into another. Several more tried to attack him, only to be beaten back by his staff and fast moves.

"Damnit, why is this guy so tough?" said a frustrated bandit, their numbers dwindling past as they bounced off of Lee's defence.

Another bandit pointed his sword at Lee's waist, "Isn't that…"

"My god, I think it is."

"A Konoha ninja! I didn't think there were any left."

"We have to tell the boss." Two bandits broke off from the main group and began running back to their hideout. Lee noticed this, wondering why they were so scared of a Genin.

"Lee! We can't let them escape."

Standing his ground, Lee smacked down another overzealous bandit. They were not getting smarter, but they were more cautious after they saw the twitching bodies of their comrades.

"Why is that, Sakura-san?"

_It won't take long to take out this number if I go on offence, but I can't risk one getting through._

She winced at her side, keeping an uneasy grip on her kunai.

"If people know we survived the destruction, the other villages could come after us."

"Damnit, you are right."

He leant down and removed his weights, passing them to Sakura who dropped them immediately, staggered at how heavy they were.

"Sakura-san, keep these people safe from any other groups."

"What are you going to do you bastard? Think you can take us all out? We still outnumber you twelve to one."

_Not for long_ thought Sakura.

Lee grinned as he discarded his staff, there was no use for it considering what he was going to do.

He fuelled chakra into his mind, _Open the First Gate. Gate of Opening. KAI! _

He felt the massive burst of chakra fuelling through his arms and legs. Turning on the ball of his foot, he exploded into the group, using his immense speed without his weights and his now acquired strength to incapacitate the twelve of them within two seconds. The two fleeing bandits had gotten considerable distance; the thought of being chased down by a real ninja had spurred them forwards. Lee caught them two seconds after he defeated the group, slamming them straight into the ground with a Konoha Senpuu.

_Damnit, I didn't get to say it. Gai-sensei would be disappointed in me._

He ran back to Sakura and the civilians, which didn't take more than a few seconds. To his relief no other groups seemed to want anything to do with them, the civilians huddled in a small circle with Sakura in front of them holding her kunai with renewed vigour.

_Lee told me to protect them. He's put his faith in me._

She nearly attacked him when he reappeared, but before she did he collapsed in front of her, the damage from opening the first gate taking its toll.

"Lee!"

She dropped down and tried to help him up, but he couldn't move his legs. He reached up towards her; delirious with adrenaline he thought it was Gai.

"I did it, did you see? I'm…just going to rest for a bit…"

He lightly touched her cheek before hitting the ground face first. Sakura was initially concerned he had hurt himself, but after hearing his loud snores she sighed in relief. She felt the place on her cheek that Lee had touched, feeling an odd twinge in her stomach.

_What…what was that last bit? Was he…_

* * *

><p>Naruto was still unconscious, the overuse of his clone's Hiraishin had left him with very little chakra. Hinata sat next to him on the bench he had collapsed on, watching his chest raise and fall with his breathing.<p>

_Naruto-kun…did you mean what you said? You didn't get the chance to say it completely, but I think I understand._

Finding courage she never knew existed, she reached over and began lightly stroking his blonde hair.

"…hin..ata…"

She leapt back, petrified that he had caught her stroking him. When he didn't move, she looked closer, noticing that he was seemingly talking in his sleep. With a slow smile, she sat back down and began stroking his hair again, her new boldness even letting her look at him without blushing as much.

_He said my name in his sleep! Is he dreaming about me? Oh god, please don't let this end._

* * *

><p>"How many of us are left?"<p>

"Only the ten of us, boss. No-one else has reported back."

The leader swore, his blades held tightly in his hands as he tried to work out what had gone wrong.

"We went into this village with two hundred men, how can there be only ten of us left?"

"Perhaps they knew we were coming?"

The leader dismissed that instantly, "Impossible. I didn't tell any of the men until one hour ago. Damnit. Okay. We can still take our main objective, but we must be quick."

He looked over the faces of the men left, they were hardened and serious.

_These are real warriors, my best fighters. They will get the job done._

He pointed to a large building near the outskirts of the village, "You all know your job. Leave no survivors."

The bandits scattered quickly as the leader looked over the village one last time before walking back towards his compound.

_If not, I can always get more men. It's not like my backer cares about money._

The ten bandits moved through the empty village quickly, actively avoiding any contact with villagers to get to their goal quicker. Just as they reached their target they passed a small park with two teenagers sitting on a bench. They stopped when they noticed the forehead protectors.

"Hey, those two are ninja!"

"What, those two? They are just kids."

"Boss said to avoid contact until we get to our target."

"Are you blind? These are two kid ninjas. Think of how pleased the boss would be if we brought them back."

"Yeah. Besides, the girl ain't bad looking."

"Hey, she's just a little kid."

"Yeah, but let her fill out a bit and she's be worth a fair bit."

She had tried to shake Naruto awake when she sensed the bandits heading towards their position. That hadn't worked. She had thought to strike a tenketsu on his back to wake him up, but she didn't want to hurt him, which was always a risk with Jyuuken strikes. He had been muttering in his sleep, causing her to wonder if he was dreaming about her, he kept saying her name in an almost caring manner.

Sensing that the enemy was close, she leant down and whispered lightly into his ear, "Naruto-kun…ano…we've run out ramen."

His eyes shot open and he nearly flew up when he saw how close their faces were. He groaned immediately, his chakra levels still preventing his from moving far.

_Why is Hinata looking at me like that? Damnit, she looks just like…but why isn't she wearing…oh god what was I dreaming?_

"Naruto-kun, can you sit up?"

"Barely...what did you say about ramen?"

"Never mind that. There are ten enemies approaching us" said Hinata, her Byakugan giving her accurate intel.

Naruto tried to get up again and failed, stuck to his seat he looked at Hinata in frustration.

"I can't move very well. What are we going to do?"

_I…I can do this._

Hinata slowly stood up from the bench, taking a basic Jyuuken stance as the ten bandits appeared in front of her. They said something that she couldn't hear; she was concentrating on controlling her fear.

_I was never that strong. The weak heiress that nobody cared about. But that girl is gone. I cannot fail here. I will not fail. I will protect Naruto-kun, even if it costs me my life._

Three bandits charged her in formation, surprising Hinata with their display of teamwork. One swung a sword at her head, which she ducked under. She went to strike him in the shoulder but was forced to spin away as a spear pierced the air her chest had been. She went to put a hand on the ground to cartwheel away but was struck on the back by a staff weapon. She screamed out and was sent rolling towards Naruto as pain shot through her back.

"Hinata!"

_Damnit. I…Naruto-kun is watching._

She picked herself off the ground, feeling a small trickle of blood flow through her hair, which had lengthened during the week of training.

_I can't fail here. Naruto-kun is watching. _

She balled her fists and moulded her chakra. As she continued to remind herself that her crush was watching she felt an odd difference in the chakra that was flowing within her. Her Byakugan focused acutely on the bandits, showing her more then it ever had. She stared at the bandits, feeling a new flow of confidence.

_Naruto-kun is watching._

She felt a very sharp chakra at her fingertips, similar to her Jyuuken except much deadlier.

_Naruto-kun is watching._

From his bench, Naruto was angry at himself for not being able to help Hinata. He had faith in her, but from the look of it the bandits were very competent fighters. He watched her pick herself up from the ground and immediately noticed a distinct difference in her.

_Hinata. What are…_

As she stood up and put her hands into position, he could almost feel her Byakugan eyes move over him. Feeling a strange connection, he nodded and smiled at the back of her head.

_You can do it, Hinata._

She felt a rush of power through her as she saw his trust in her. The bandits were still cocky, in their minds she was just a little girl. But in hers, she was a vengeful angel, protecting her ward. She shifted her feet, moved her chakra to her feet and shot forward straight into the pack of bandits, lashing out with her fingers. With her Byakugan and precise chakra-control she found that she could easily avoid their slow attacks, driving her fingers into the tenketsu in their necks. To her surprise instead of shutting down their chakra points; her precise-chakra simply shredding them to pieces. In her first assault she took out five bandits in a few seconds, the other bandits stepping back as they began to realise that she was more dangerous then she looked.

Naruto could only watch in amazement as Hinata systematically destroyed the rest of the bandits, deftly avoiding any attacks while taking them out with a single strike each.

_Was Hinata always this strong? She's…damnit I've got to work harder._

He watched her as if she was seemed to dance between the bandits, her slightly longer hair shifting with her body.

Naruto stared at her fighting as he reminded himself: _I'm not a pervert, I'm not a pervert, ah damnit I need to have a cold shower after this._

The last bandit was falling back when Hinata drove her chakra into his chest, shutting down his lungs. When she looked around with Byakugan she felt relieved that none of the bandits had gotten through to Naruto, though he was crossing legs in a strange way. Her chakra seemed to subside as she stumbled back to him, feeling the strength in her legs leave her as she fell forwards towards the ground. To his credit, Naruto found the strength to run over and catch her before falling himself, though he used his body to soften her fall.

"Naruto-kun…"

She couldn't say anything more, just happy to nuzzle her head into his jacket before passing out. Naruto could only smile at the girl who was now sleeping peacefully, her hands tightly gripping the collar of his jacket. He felt himself pass out as well, but not before putting a hand on her head and thinking to himself.

_This isn't bad at all. _

* * *

><p>They spent the next week in recovery, though mainly because the villagers wanted to spoil their saviours. The bandits had been completely routed and there had been no civilian casualties, so they felt they owed the wandering ninja some niceties. Tenten's father had completed the order for the ninja with some additional weapons as well. After his practise with the staff, Lee had asked for him to make him a similar weapon, but the old man had an idea of his own. The weapon, called <em>Nashitai <em>(Without Form), was a long staff over six feet, but there were short chains segmenting the hard wood into three parts. Lee kept thanking the old man and proclaiming how youthful the weapon was until Gai punched him into silence. The others were more cordial about accepted the restocking of kunai and shuriken.

"And here you go, little Minato. The steel is one of the strongest I've made. It is exactly how the red girl asked."

He handed him a long scabbard, handle first. The scabbard was a flush red colour with dark yellow lining down the sides. The hilt was a dark red colour with black crosses stitched into it, while the guard was a round steady black. Naruto grinned as he tested the grip, feeling an odd sensation up his arm as he held the sword within its scabbard.

"The blade responds to chakra. It's like your trench blades, Asuma. But this one will adapt to any type of chakra. Go on, take the blade out."

Naruto pulled the sword out of the scabbard, feeling a satisfying weight as the long blade sat in his hand. The blade was made from shiny steel with a very slight curve on it. It was three feet long and had a group of symbols on each side of the blade. One side was the symbols for his family name, _Namizake. _

"What are these symbols here, Naruto-kun?"

He showed her the other side of the blade, reading it out to her.

"Hirameki" (Flash)

The old man smiled and sat down as his hip began to pain him.

"I figured it was appropriate, considering your father."

"And now Naruto" said Kakashi, his smile full of pride.

Naruto shuffled his feet, embarrassed at the attention his teacher was giving him. It had been difficult, but using his clones he had mastered the initial stages of Hiraishin. He couldn't use it more then three times in succession, and he always needed to hurl afterwards. Tenten handed her father a scroll, which he read then sighed as the group left his forge.

"Another order, from Suna. Tenten, start a fire."

"Hold on Father, I need to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry, but my father asked me to stay."

* * *

><p>"And you agreed?" demanded Naruto, unable to understand why she wouldn't want to come with them.<p>

Hinata put a comforting hand into his, uncaring about the brazen sign of affection.

"Naruto-kun, she wants to stay with her family. It's her decision."

He still had a stubborn look on his face, but her argument made sense even to an orphan such as him.

Kiba barked a laugh, "Really, Naruto? How whipped are you?"

"Shut your face Kiba."

"Don't give him grief, Kiba. You're just jealous."

"Hey, that's not fair Shikamaru. I could totally…"

Kiba was silenced as his normally silent teammate placed his hand on his shoulder, pulling him back into line.

"Kiba. Enough."

He went to argue more, but Akamaru barked at him and he gave up.

"Ha, Kiba. Now who's whipped?"

"You want to go, Naruto?"

* * *

><p>"You sure about this? Living as civilians will be pretty boring."<p>

"Kakashi, I'm sure they will be most youthful in the rest of their lives."

Asuma sighed with a grin, "Gai, I must admit I'll miss your madness."

Kurenai tapped him on the shoulder, her red ringed eyes not affected by his smoke.

"Asuma, we should tell the others as well."

"Have you told your teams?"

"Yeah, last night. They weren't happy but I think they understood why."

"I'm surprised they want to come with us."

Kurenai looked at the group of Genin who were crowding around Tenten.

"They are good kids. Besides, you and Gai could use the backup."

Asuma looked back at Kakashi, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Not really. We have no evidence, no leads. There are a few areas I want to check, but our main priority is getting the kids up to speed."

* * *

><p>After talking to the rest of the teenagers, Asuma and Kurenai handed their forehead protectors to Kakashi, who reluctantly accepted them, placing them into one of his pockets. Tenten took off hers, handing it to Neji with tears flowing from her eyes.<p>

"I'm sorry, guys. This isn't how I wanted this to go."

Lee threw himself into her, hugging her fiercely as Gai stood behind him with tears rolling down his face.

"Tenten! We will never forget you."

Staring at the forehead protector, Neji felt an odd sensation as he pocketed the Konoha reminder. He could see Lee release his now-former teammate, both wiping their eyes with their hands. He stepped forward and looked at her through white eyes, seeing apprehension but could tell that it was the right decision for her.

"I can't say I wouldn't make the same decision if given the option."

He extended his hand out, a rare gesture for him. Tenten was amazed that he was treating her as an equal, taking his hand with a grim smile.

The Jounin stood back from the group, both of them wearing civilian clothes that the villagers had given them.

"You know you guys can stay as well, you don't have to keep going."

Kakashi sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Would that we could. Whatever Naruto might say, we don't blame you guys. But he's also right on one account, so long as we are ninja we need to find out who destroyed our home."

Asuma grasped his comrade's hand for a final time, "It was an honour, to be sure."

"We will miss you. Keep this place safe."

He shook Kurenai's hand as well, happy to see that his two friends had decided to stay together at the least.

"You are welcome here anytime, Kakashi. All of you are. If you need shelter, we will provide it."

"That won't be necessary. We would be putting you and the villagers at risk. But we might visit, sometime in the future."

"That would be nice."

The others said their goodbyes and the group moved out, leaving the two former-Jounin and former-Genin to live out their days in relative peace.

* * *

><p>The Uchiha hideout wasn't what the group had expected. Teams Eight and Ten were still sombre after saying goodbye to their teachers, as were Neji and Lee with Tenten, but even they were surprised by what they saw. From the outside, it was a small door on the side of a hill, nothing to make it stand out at all besides some unintelligible symbols and the traditional Uchiha fan. It had taken some thought, but after a suggestion from Kakashi, Sasuke used his Sharingan to read the symbols.<p>

_Bound by blood, only the proud shall pass through the fire._

"Sasuke, what does it say?" asked Kakashi, not wanting to risk the Uchiha's ire.

During the trip Sasuke had probed him about his Sharingan, demanding to know if he had killed one of his clan to get it. Kakashi had relented and told him the tale about his childhood friend, but Sasuke was still cold towards him, more so then he was to the others. His student didn't respond to his question, simply running his hands through a set of symbols and drawing a large breath.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu"

The fire enveloped the door but instead of the wood burning it glowed a dull red after the fire died down. With a shudder the door slowly creaked open, revealing a small dark staircase.

"Do we really have to go down there?" asked Shikamaru, not wanting to bother with the whole ordeal.

"I will go in alone" said Sasuke, already stepping to enter the hideout.

Both Jounin stepped up to stop him, looking at the Uchiha heir with tired eyes.

"We need to stay as a group, young student."

"Gai is right. I know you want to keep the Uchiha secrets to yourself, and we can all promise not to encroach on your family's techniques, but we can't afford to lose anyone to traps or ambushes."

Sasuke gave a tsk but conceded the point, allowing the Jounin to go in first.

The hideout was expansive, with several rooms connected to one large room. At the back wall sat a stone table that had the names of every Uchiha carved into it. The table was nearly completely covered, Sasuke noticing with rising anger that his brother's name was etched next to his.

_You don't deserve that recognition._

On top of the table were several maps covered with dust and cobwebs, and a small collection of scrolls neatly stacked.

Each scroll appeared to be the same, _we had so many jutsu that we probably needed more then one scroll_, he figured with a proud smile.

He reached out and picked up the first black scroll as Kakashi picked up one of the maps and carefully blew the dust off it.

"What the hell?"

He felt an odd sense of déjà vu, but had no time to ponder it as Kakashi drew a kunai and placed it next to his neck.

"Care to explain this, Sasuke?"

The map contained detailed plans of Konoha, a carefully planned cross section of the defences, with several large Uchiha fans over several housing districts, and smaller ones over the police headquarters. Sasuke dropped the scroll on the table on top of the map, its contents more shocking then the map. Shikamaru picked up the scroll and read it, his eyes widening as the information sunk in.

"Shikamaru, what is it? Why is Kakashi-sensei threatening Sasuke?"

He turned to his teammate, passing him the scroll with shaking hands.

"It's…a plan."

Naruto tried to get a glimpse over Chouji's shoulder, "A plan for what?"

With a gulp, Shikamaru stared at the fan on Sasuke's back.

"A plan to take over Konoha."

* * *

><p><em>Are we in agreement? <em>

_It is unavoidable. Konoha has shunned us to the point of exile. Their insolence must be paid with a toll of blood. _

_Will your sons be joining us, my lord?_

_Sasuke is too young, and too naïve. Itachi…I cannot say. We do hold Kanako, his betrothed, but my eldest son is impossible to read. _

_He is the prodigy of the clan. We must have him fight. _

_Press the girl; she must know what his weakness is. _

_Don't bother; he'll fight even if we have to kill her._

_Enough. This meeting is adjourned. _

"This…this can't be real. It…can't be…"

* * *

><p>Kakashi removed his weapon, sheathing it as he realised that Sasuke couldn't have known about the plot, especially considering his reaction to it.<p>

Sasuke dropped to floor as the scrolls fell to the ground beneath him. The revelations were overpowering. Everything he knew about his clan had been a lie. The other scrolls had more detailed accounts. His father had plotted the downfall of his village, his cousins had fuelled instability amongst the civilians, and his mother had rallied support for the rebellion amongst the younger children.

_Is anything I know, real? Does that mean that Itachi didn't kill the clan? No, I was there. I watched him kill Mother and Father. Or did I? Was any of it real? _

He could see his memories of that fateful night flash in front of him, the strewn bodies, the broken weapons. The blood, rivers of blood. He grabbed his head and screamed, unable to shake the sense of dread that normally only came when he dreamt. His hand twitched uncontrollably, feeling a powerful urge to grab a kunai and stop the pain. He felt a light touch on both his shoulders, dispelling the nightmares slowly, bringing him back to the hideout.

"Sasuke-kun, are you injured?" asked Lee, his bandaged hand gripping Sasuke's left shoulder.

"Hey, pull yourself together, teme" said Naruto, an oddly serious look on his face as he held Sasuke's right shoulder.

_W...why are they helping me? What angle are they playing at?_

"Hey, snap out of it you moron. We came here for a reason."

Sasuke glared at his teammate until he saw the big stupid grin on Naruto's face.

_Naruto, you…_

Sasuke picked himself up off the ground, coughing as he tried to recover his composure.

_I'm an Uchiha. We are a proud clan, regardless of how we ended up._

There was only one scroll left on the stone table; Sasuke reluctantly picked it up, not sure whether he wanted to know its contents. To his relief, it was not like the others. Inside was a very detailed list of the Uchiha's fire techniques, their taijutsu styles and all the information the clan knew about the Sharingan. Sasuke looked down the scroll, stopping at the end section of the Sharingan information. Remembering the crowd that was with him, he hid the section he was reading, unsure who he could trust.

_Mangekyou Sharingan – The second level of Sharingan. Allows user to access many different S-rank doujutsu. Gained by experiencing the death of a significant other. _

He had to read it several times just to make sure, using his Sharingan to check for any hidden messages.

_He lied to me. Itachi said that you had to kill your closest friend. _

"Is that it, Sasuke? Your family's scroll?"

"Yeah."

He rolled up the scroll and stuffed it into his pocket.

"What are you going to do with those?" asked Kakashi, pointing at the scrolls around the floor.

"We can't leave these for someone else to find."

Sasuke put his hand together into the Tiger seal, spitting out small fireballs at the scrolls, destroying all the evidence of the Uchiha rebellion.

They spent a few minutes searching the hideout, Sasuke finding some old Uchiha wargear that he decided to take with him. Around his shoulder now hung a long black cloak that hit the ground as it was meant for taller Uchiha. The edges were lined with blood red talons, and the Uchiha fan in the middle. He had also found a platinum-set katana, which was simply called Sensou (War). Upon seeing Sasuke's blade, Naruto felt comfort that Hirameki was longer and more impressive looking.

"I'm done here. Let's leave."

The group turned to leave, but both Kiba and Kakashi put up their hands to halt the rest of them. Naruto went to ask until he saw Kakashi reveal his Sharingan. He unsheathed Hirameki, instinctively stepping between the entrance and Hinata, who activated her Byakugan as well, though was secretly pleased that Naruto had inherently stood to protect her.

Sasuke wondering what the others were sensing, until he felt a strange twinge in his mind.

_This chakra…no..._

Sasuke's eyes leapt to the doorway, his three-tomoed red eyes staring at the figure in a black cloak with red clouds.

"Otouto."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>:

Holy long chapter, Batman. Yeah, I'm not going to promise anything about length anymore. I like to do one 'story' or section per chapter, and this one had lots of meat to it.

I should clarify my Rasengan position from the previous chapter. Yes, there will be people who know Rasengan. But no, Naruto won't be learning it. He'll have enough ninjutsu/taijutsu to make combat fun without needing the big ball of doom. Besides, I think Hiraishin has so many more applications then Rasengan ever did. And don't worry; no-one will be overpowered without working for it. And yes, I've been a bit liberal in the interpretation of activating Mangekyou Sharingan, but trust me it'll make sense eventually.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism. Seriously, feel free to blast away.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Naruto vs Sasuke The Aftermath by Kingkakashi. Yes it's a story full of angst, but it's a pretty well written story. If you like Sasuke and Sakura don't read this though, because there is plenty of bashing. Certainly not for the faint hearted, but recommended if you have the stomach for it.


	4. Chapter 4 Revelations

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 4 – Revelations

**A/N**: I'd like to thank LeexSaku Rocks for pointing out that Lee's weights weighed just over a ton. I've gone back and done a slight edit to fix that mistake.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be a second level to the Byakugan.

* * *

><p>"Otouto."<p>

The previous hour's event were nowhere to be seen in Sasuke's mind, as the image of his elder brother filled his eyes. Seeing those Sharingan staring at him he felt all the pain, all the hatred that he had held onto bubble to surface. He roared out in anger, fuelled his chakra through his arm and dove towards his brother, screaming "DIE!"

The Chidori surprised Itachi, but it was more shocking when a hand reached out and grasped Sasuke's wrist, cancelling the lightning technique and pulling back towards the group.

"Let me go! Damnit Kakashi! He has to die!" Sasuke thrashed in his sensei's grip, requiring both Gai and Lee to step in and restrain him.

Itachi looked over at the non-Uchiha Sharingan user, "Hatake Kakashi. You prevented my brother's revenge. I am curious as to why."

"LET ME GO!"

Kakashi ignored his pupil and looked at the elder Uchiha with his Sharingan. "Uchiha Itachi. If this was any other time, I would have let Sasuke attack you. Though we both know he is nowhere never your level yet."

"Yet you stopped him."

Kakashi considered their recent discoveries. "There were documents inside this hideout that speak a truth different to what we were told."

To the rest of the group Itachi's expression remained unchanged, but to the Sharingan and Byakugan users it was as if his face was screaming sadness. He looked over the ragtag group of Konoha ninja with their weapons raised before resting his eyes on his little brother, who was more confused now then he was when their clan had been killed. Feeling his brother's glare, Sasuke stopped thrashing, his mind drifting back to the scrolls from inside the hideout. He gathered his composure before asking one simple question.

"Why are you here, Itachi?"

Itachi continued to stare at his immobilized brother, his Sharingan not able to read his brother's thought, but Itachi knew him with enough.

"I came to speak to Sasuke. Alone."

Kakashi, Naruto and Lee all raising their weapons in defence of their comrade, as Gai kept the little Uchiha heir back. "That's not going to happen. Not while we are here."

Itachi closed his eyes. "You will not have a choice." His eyes slowly opened to reveal a pinwheel shape. Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognised what his brother was going to do.

"Tsukuyomi."

* * *

><p>Sasuke watched as his brother's Sharingan spun before the world changed around them. The sky darkened to a dark red hue, with dark grey clouds sparsely populating the sky. Sasuke stared up at the sky; a strange black moon was in place of where the sun had been.<p>

"Otouto."

"Itachi. Why did you bring me here? Where are we?"

Itachi waved his hand around from under his sleeve, the sky wavering as if he were running his hand through it.

"This is the world of Tsukuyomi. Here I control space. Time. Everything."

Sasuke balled his fists, "So you can drive me slowly insane? I see through your lies."

Itachi's expression darkened as he shifted the Tsukuyomi. In place of the previous field was the Uchiha hideout, but instead of their group standing in defence, there was a large group of Uchiha clansmen, none of whom Sasuke recognised.

"What is this?"

"To understand our clan, to understand me, you must understand our history. Watch."

***MEGA-Flashback***

"This alliance is a mistaken, how can you not see that?" yelled a spiky haired man, his Sharingan glaring at the crowd.

"You may be the clan-head, but you do not control us, Madara" said a man in the crowd. The one Sasuke saw called Madara swore, his strange looking Sharingan blaring in anger.

"The hell I don't! I was named head of the clan, I am the strongest Uchiha!" He went to draw his fan before being confronted by dozens of Sharingan stares. As powerful as Madara was, he couldn't defeat all the highest placed members of his clan in battle.

"Madara, the clan has spoken. We are sick of the fighting, so are the Senju. For our children to have a future, we must reach terms."

"Bah, I spit on your terms. The Senju are weak. I refuse to sit at the same table as them."

"Then you will sit alone. Madara, the clan has spoken."

"Itachi, why are you showing me this?" Sasuke had no idea who these people were, he hadn't been told much of the clan's history.

_You'll know when you become part of the clan_, his father had said. Considering the revelations of the previous hour, he would have questioned everything his father would have told him.

"This is where our clan's pride began to tear it apart."

"Because of this Madara person?"

Itachi watched as the disgraced head of the Uchiha clan walked out of the hideout, his weapons straddled on his back, his Mangekyou Sharingan holding back barely contained anger.

_No. Despite his faults, Madara was not the cause. He believed in the superiority of the Uchiha clan, he would have never allowed the clan to progress as it did._

"Uchiha Madara was a factor, but this was only the calm before the storm. Watch."

"This is an outrage! We won't stand for this!"

Hashirama Senju sighed, feeling the weight of years of conflict with the Uchiha clan heavily on his plated shoulders. They had finally reached terms when the disgraced Uchiha head Madara challenged him to open combat. It had taken over a day, but he had emerged victorious, though if it wasn't for his wife Mito Uzumaki's sealing jutsu the Kyuubi would have killed him. He had looked at the broken body of Uchiha Madara with renewed respect, the Uchiha's blade barely deflected by his wood jutsu from piercing his heart.

_And everything fell apart after that._

"We gave the people the vote. They voted for our lord Hashirama. What is there to dispute?"

The new Uchiha clan head slammed his hand on the table, "We came to found this village as equals! But now a Senju rules and the Uchiha remain in the shadows. We are half a mind to take our leave and join another village."

The arguments continued for several minutes before Hashirama, the recently elected First Hokage placed his hands up to command silence.

"Divided we are powerless. War breeds nothing but pain and suffering. The Uchiha are just as important to the village of Konoha as the Senju. The Uchiha command respect amongst the people. Without you, our village would not survive."

The Uchiha clan head was surprised at the respect the Senju leader held for his clan. They had been fighting for a decade, yet the charismatic leader seemed to hold them almost in awe.

"What do you propose then?"

Hashirama placed a scroll on the meeting table, sliding it over to the Uchiha side with a slow grace.

"We would like the Uchiha to be the protectors of Konoha. The guardians, the arms of our forces."

The clan head opened up the scroll and showed it to his delegation.

"A police force? Is this an insult? You want us to act like your lapdogs while you give the commands?"

"You would be independent of the Hokage. You will govern yourself and not have to answer to a Senju. We will be equals in all interpretations of the word."

"I don't understand. How is this relevant?" asked Sasuke, staring at the face of the First Hokage.

"Sasuke. From this moment the Uchiha felt ostracized from Konoha. They hated. They plotted."

Sasuke felt his anger rising as his brother continued to spit on the clan name.

"What do you know of clan pride? The Senju treated us like weaklings. From what you've shown me, we were right to rebel."

Itachi glared at his foolish little brother, hoping he wasn't wasting his time.

"Then let me show you why our clan died."

The scene shifted to an underground basement, where several elders of Konoha sat with brooding expressions. The Third Hokage of Konoha puffed smoke from his pipe, processing the information that the young ninja in front of them had just given them. Itachi had tried to keep his composure, but the information had been mind-shattering.

"So the Uchiha clan plans to overthrow the Hokage?" asked one of the elders, one that Itachi recognised as the head of a secret Anbu faction that even the Hokage didn't know about.

"Is the information viable?" asked another.

Itachi continued to stare at the ground, "I was present at the clan meeting. The plans are being drafted as we speak. I must ask for mercy for my clan. They do not understand what it is they do."

"Don't be naïve. The Uchiha have been a thorn in our side ever since the village was founded."

"Is there no way to talk them out rebelling?" asked the Third, not wishing for more bloodshed.

The one-eyed elder snorted, "Peace? There is a time for peace, and a time for war. The Uchiha have declared war on us. We have the right to respond in kind."

"Please, my elders I implore you. Allow me to talk to the clan elders. Perhaps a concession can be reached?"

"I hope so, for your sake Itachi. If peace cannot be reached, I cannot guarantee your safety."

Itachi stood up, placing his Weasel mask back on before turning his back on the elders.

"It is not my safety that concerns me."

The world shifted again, this time to a place that Sasuke knew well. The sky was filled with the smell of blood; the bodies of the Uchiha clansmen littered the roads. Sasuke couldn't contain his rage as he saw what Itachi was showing him.

"Why? You claim to want to help me, why do you show me this?"

Itachi said nothing, simply pointing to a figure at the edge of the street. Sasuke looked over to see what Itachi wanted him to see, noticing two figures huddled on the road. One was a young woman, her hair a beautiful blonde colour, though cruelly stained by blood. Holding her closely was a young Itachi, tears streaming down his face as he kept apologising.

"This does not need to be like this, Itachi. You still have a place in the clan."

The young Itachi stared up at the speaker, who stood at the edge of the road with a bloodied blade. He glared at him with a three-tomoed Sharingan, before his loss overcame him. Before the clan head, his Sharingan changed to a black pinwheel within a red background.

"You…all these clan members…how can you call yourself a clan head?"

His father wiped his blade on his jacket, before sheathing it and staring at his eldest son.

"They were not with us. They would have fought against us. The Uchiha had no need for members such as these."

Itachi slowly put the woman down before standing up and drawing the katana from his back.

"To that end, you kill half the clan. You kill your brothers. You killed Kanako! Why? She had nothing to do with this. She wasn't even an Uchiha yet!"

Fugaku Uchiha activated his own Sharingan, ensuring that his eldest son could tell how serious he was.

"I did not allow your betrothal when you announced it, yet you continued to sully the Uchiha name. You will fight with us tonight, Itachi. If you still wish for the safety of your brother, you will do as I command."

Young Itachi felt his world shatter as all he could see was his father, and the threat against the last person he cared about.

"No."

Fugaku shrugged, he knew this would likely happen. Despite his son's status as the clan's resident genius, he lacked the experience that he held.

"Then you shall perish, as will your weak brother, and the Uchiha shall retake their rightful place."

The clan head went to place his hands into a seal but couldn't feel any chakra through his hands.

"No."

Stretching across from Itachi was an unfamiliar blazing red arm gripping Fugaku by the throat. He could feel his flesh burning as Itachi let the hatred flow through his body. Itachi walked slowly towards the choking clan head, his chakra arm keeping him held just above the ground. He stopped when he was face to face with the man that was once his father.

"If that is the clan's pride, then tonight the Uchiha clan will die. Perish in the knowledge that the Uchiha's downfall is because of their pursuit in power. You killed Kanako Senju, and threatened to kill your own blood Sasuke. You killed the clan."

With that statement he broke the man's neck, watching as the bloodied members of the traitorous clan began to surround him.

***End MEGA-Flashback***

Itachi cut off the memory at that point, unwilling to show his little brother how he had unemotionally killed every last member of the clan.

"I…I…how can I believe this? This is just an illusion, it has to be! You hated the clan! You killed them for your own selfish reasons."

"I did not. If I truly hated the clan, I would have killed you as well."

"You needed me! You said I was the one who was meant to kill you. To atone."

Itachi sighed; he had never wanted to have this conversation.

"I wanted you to believe that the Uchiha clan was something to be proud of. I…I didn't know what else to do. The elders would have killed you unless I made it obvious that you weren't a part of the rebellion."

"So you made me hate you? It was my entire existence to kill you! What kind…WHAT KIND OF BROTHER DOES THAT?"

Sasuke couldn't hold it in anymore, he reached out and slammed his fist into his brother's face, feeling a satisfying crunch as the bones broke in his brother's cheek. He knew it hadn't really happened, in Tsukuyomi his brother controlled everything, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Behind him his brother appeared in the cloak covered in crows, the one Sasuke attacked dissipating into nothingness. Sasuke spun around, readying another punch before he took a closer look at his brother. Itachi was on his knees, blood pouring from his face, his nose shattered into several pieces.

"W…why…" He fell to his knees, grabbing his head as he struggled to process everything.

Through his broken face, Itachi could tell that his brother had had enough.

In Tsukuyomi they had experienced over a day's worth of memories. In the real world it had been precisely 1.43 seconds, according to Shikamaru, not that he would admit to counting. Sasuke merely closed his eyes as he reaccustomed himself to the knowledge he now had about his clan. Itachi dropped to his knees as a wave of fatigue hit him. He had used more chakra then he should have, combined Tsukuyomi with the memory-recall had taken a significant toll on him. The others had no idea what happened, but they were hesitant to attack the fallen Akatsuki member.

"Sasuke? Are you okay?" asked Naruto, his sword raised in his friend's defence.

The young Uchiha shook his head, having suffered no ill effects from the Tsukuyomi he was significantly better off then his brother, who was sweating and clutching his eyes in pain.

"We…let me go Gai, I am fine."

The bowl-cut Jounin was reluctant, but even he wasn't too dense to see the change in Sasuke's body language.

Kakashi stood over Itachi with a kunai, "What did he do, Sasuke?"

Sasuke slowly walked over to his teacher and his brother, "He showed me the truth. He…he's of no threat to us."

Kakashi tore his Sharingan away from Itachi as he stared at Sasuke, trying to see whether he was under a genjutsu.

_His chakra levels are normal. He's not perspiring and his pulse is normal. He's telling the truth._

Kakashi stood back and pocketed his kunai, inspiring the others to put away their weapons too, though they still kept on guard. Naruto kept Hirameki out, but only as a precaution.

_For Sasuke to change his attitude that fast…something don't feel right._

Sasuke reached down and offered a hand to his brother, who looked up at his young brother before smiling slowly and using it to get up slowly.

"I haven't forgiven you, Itachi. But I know what it's like to need a second chance."

Itachi gave him a nod in acceptance, though Sasuke knew it was more of an apology. The Uchiha were not known for expressing their emotions.

"You haven't explained why you came here Itachi. I doubt it was to confront Sasuke after all these years" asked Kakashi.

"I never intended for Sasuke to discover the truth. My intent was to have him kill me and believe the Uchiha clan was a proud loyal member of Konoha. But with Konoha destroyed and the truth revealed, the deception had no purpose."

"How can we know he is telling the truth? He's a criminal" said Naruto.

Itachi stared at Kakashi with dark eyes, having deactivated his Sharingan as a display of trust.

"Jiraiya-sama. I was his contact in the Akatsuki. If you can find him, he can verify my allegiance."

"Who is this Jiraiya?" asked Naruto, still unsure how he felt about his friend's brother.

"One of the Sannin. He was the Third's student."

Gai laughed as he thought about the old hermit, "That crazy pervert? I suppose if anyone could survive, it would have been him. But where could we find him?"

"My last contact with him was at the crater of Konoha, two days ago."

"We can't go back home, that's over a week's travel. How did you get here so fast?"

The elder Uchiha stared at the yellow-haired boy's question, "You have no sense of danger, do you Naruto-kun."

The Genin grinned as he sheathed Hirameki and strapped it to his back. "If you were going to kill us, you wouldn't have announced yourself."

Itachi suppressed a smile as Kakashi nodded at Naruto's observation. "That may be so Naruto, but we still can't trust him. We need to find Jiraiya in any case, if he is alive."

"So we make for Konoha?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No. Even if we moved at full pace, it would take us days to get there. Jiraiya wouldn't stay in the same place for too long, especially not at the moment. The only one who can get there is Naruto."

"What? Why me…oh. Right."

Itachi looked at Kakashi with interest, "Naruto-kun would not get there in time. It would take him too long."

The group smiled as Naruto pulled out a seal-covered kunai and handed it to Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, please hold onto this. I'll need it to get back."

She smiled warmly and took it, "Hai, Naruto-kun. Please be safe." "I will, don't worry."

"How will you get there, Naruto-kun? I know of no technique that you posses which could transport you there."

Naruto stepped up and showed Itachi the tattoo on his upper chest.

"Do you know who my father is?"

"Minato Namizake, only an idiot wouldn't…oh. Fair enough, that will be sufficient."

Naruto laughed and starting leaking chakra into his seal.

"Naruto wait!"

He stared at his sensei, and then smacked himself in the head.

"Sorry, I forgot. What does this Jiraiya guy look like?"

Gai pulled out a notebook, flipped several pages and started dictating.

"Jiraiya, the Toad Hermit. 191.2cm. 87.5kg on a good day. Long white spiky hair with long red lines running down from his eyes. Blood type…"

"Gai-sensei! I think I get it. Old guy, white hair."

Sasuke stepped forward, "How will you get there? You didn't know Hiraishin when we left."

With a grin, Naruto explained how he figured his father would have set up seals all over the village, so he would aim for them, and hope for the best.

"Hope for the best? Well, you wouldn't be Naruto if you weren't doing something stupid like that" said Sasuke, standing next to his brother.

Naruto went to perform his jutsu until he was tackled into a hug by Hinata, his kunai still clutched in her hand.

"Hina…"

"That's too dangerous, Naruto-kun. I won't let you go."

He went to argue his point, but remembered the last several times he had tried such a manoeuvre.

"Hinata-chan, I'll be fine."

He patted her hair softly before peeling her off him.

"I won't die from something like this."

He gave her a wink before vanishing in a yellow flash.

* * *

><p>The group waited for just over a minute before there were several yellow flashes indicating Naruto's return. The Jounin's eyed widened when they saw who he had brought back with him. Four clones were carrying the broken body of the white-haired hermit, though they dissipated instantly after flashing, causing Jiraiya's form to drop to the ground unceremoniously. After the clones disappeared, there was another flash and the original Naruto appeared with a young woman in his arms. The short black-haired woman thanked Naruto and continued her task of healing Jiraiya, as Naruto dropped to his knees, turned his head and began throwing up.<p>

"Naruto-kun!"

Hinata ran to her crush, helping him hold his head up. Kakashi walked around Jiraiya's body and looked over at the onyx-eyed woman who was frantically trying to prevent a strange seal on his body from killing him.

"Excuse me, but you are…"

The woman stopped her medical jutsu and sighed, wiping residual blood onto her blueish-black kimono.

"I…I'm Shizune."

"Tsunade's apprentice?"

"You know her, Gai?" asked Kakashi.

"Only from the reports. Once during one of my team's youthful missions we ran into a creditor chasing after the Sannin. They had detailed descriptions of their party."

Shizune sighed as she thought of her master. She put her fingers on Jiraiya's neck, feeling a faint pulse but it was weakening.

"What happened to Jiraiya? Why is he like this? Where is Tsunade?"

The group couldn't ask Naruto what the situation had been for him to bring them both back; he was still coughing up his guts as Hinata tried to hold his blonde bangs back. Shizune sat back, her chakra levels dangerously low, though she had given Jiraiya a few more hours then he should have had.

"We came to the ruins to check the rumours. What we found…was nothing we could have imagined."

***Flashback***

They finally reached the remains of Konoha, the reality of the rumours hitting them hard. Tsunade dropped to her knees, the memories of Nawaki and Dan now amplified by the destruction of her old home. Shizune was stunned, but she hadn't known much of Konoha before leaving with Tsunade, being only eight when she left. She spent several minutes trying to talk to Tsunade, thankful that at least there was no sake around; though this was one of the few occasions she felt that she could use a drink herself.

"Tsunade! Thank goodness you survived."

Both of the medial ninja looked up as a tall man with spiky white hair landed in front of them.

"Jiraiya-sama! What are you doing here?" asked Shizune, slowing helping her master up.

Jiraiya tried to smile, to cheer up his teammate, but couldn't hold it.

"I've been here for a few days. You have good timing, we are about to have company."

The three Konoha ninja watched as two figures appeared on the horizon, slowly walking towards their position near the middle of the crater. Both Sannin's eyes widened as they recognised one of the approaching figures, while Shizune tried to remember from her master's descriptions.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the two of you survived. Disappointed, but not surprised."

Jiraiya balled a fist, while Tsunade simply looked at the pale speaker and his glasses-wearing assistant.

"Orochimaru."

Jiraiya let his anger be shown as he thought about his former teammate. Shizune felt a sting of fear as the hermit uttered the slit-eyed ninja's name.

_Him…Tsunade-sama always spoke of him as one to be feared._

"What are you doing here? Come to gloat?" asked Jiraiya.

Orochimaru put his hands up almost playfully, "Come now, Jiraiya. I've simply come to confirm the destruction of Konoha. We need not shed any unnecessary blood, since I've already achieved my goal."

"Did you do this?" demanded Tsunade through grinding teeth.

She was in a foul mood and was not willing to put up with Orochimaru's careless attitude. He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands on the purple rope around his waist.

"What if I was? Would you hate me? Loath me? Kill me?"

He licked his lips as he said the last words, his assistant Kabuto grinning as the Sound headband flashed on his head.

"What the hell did you do?" demanded Jiraiya, trying to work out how he might have pulled the attack off.

Orochimaru grinned in his usual arrogant way, waving a hand across the devastation.

"This…beauty…you would spoil it with battle?"

Seeing that the other Sannin wouldn't let up, Orochimaru shrugged and spoke a few words to his assistant.

The three Sannin faced off against each other while Kabuto moved against Tsunade's apprentice. Jiraiya felt his white hair float in the dusty wind, while Tsunade's pigtails stayed pinned at her neck. Their pale teammate still held a smug smile, though internally he knew he was at a disadvantage. A lull hung in the air before he pushed his hands together, sending dozens of snakes towards his former teammates. Befitting their names, the Sannin avoided the attack easily, Jiraiya using needles from his hair to impale them while Tsunade simply reached out and crushed them with her hands. Orochimaru ran through a set of seals before slamming his hands into the ground. A large plume of smoke appeared beneath him, causing him to vanish before their eyes. Jiraiya thought about it and nodded to Tsunade, who gathered her chakra and drove a fist into the ground beneath her, sending a large shockwave into the ground as it cracked and fell apart.

"Still naïve, Tsunade."

The two Sannin looked around for the voice before staring upwards, noticing their old friend high up in the air, but they were temporarily blinded by the sun. Tsunade tried to shield her eyes, but had to dodge out of the way as Orochimaru struck the spot she occupied with a sword protruding out of his mouth. Tsunade rolled away as Jiraiya charged up and slammed his foot into Orochimaru's back. His body waved for a moment before melting into mud, Jiraiya falling to the ground before shaking his head.

_Damnit, he was always hard to catch_.

Tsunade yelled something at him, but he didn't hear her as he felt a shiver down his spine, causing him to spin around already speeding through seals. Orochimaru stood away from them, his hands clasped together. Tsunade charged towards him, not willing to let Orochimaru get off his technique. The pale Sannin knew that she wouldn't make it though, as he felt the kinjutsu (Forbidden Jutsu) activate. Jiraiya's eyes widened as he saw what Orochimaru was attempting to do.

"Kuchiyose, Edo Tensei!"

Jiraiya swore as the first coffin rose, not willing to guess who Orochimaru was trying to bring back. He removed the scroll from his back, threw it onto the ground and slammed a palm into the middle of the seal formula. The coffin that was rising in front of Orochimaru froze for a second before slowly collapsing back into the ground.

_That was way too close_ he thought, recovering slowly from the large amount of chakra it took to stop the resurrection jutsu.

He had prepared the scroll years ago, saddened that he was forced to use it. Tsunade reached Orochimaru with a raised fist; he was still trying to figure out how Jiraiya stopped his kinjutsu so he could only barely duck under her punch. She still grazed his face slightly, which caused him to spiral away into the ground. She had a grim face as she clenched her fists, she was furious and he was a good way of venting her anger. Orochimaru picked himself up from the ground, pulled away the drooping skin from the side of his face that Tsunade struck, revealing a more feminine face.

"What…what the hell?" said Tsunade, now unsure who she was fighting.

Jiraiya rolled up his scroll and put it back onto his back.

"You completed that technique?"

The female Orochimaru licked her lips with a serpent-like tongue, "Correct. I have become what all ninja strive to be."

She opened her mouth wide; a purple snake slithered out from her throat, which in turn opened its mouth to reveal the sword from before. Orochimaru let the sword come out completely before catching it, licking his lips as the snake descended back into his throat.

Tsunade looked at her in disgust, _always spitting up things, even when we were kids. _

Jiraiya had different thoughts as he looked at Orochimaru's youthful face. He walked slowly towards the pale woman, stopping a few feet away. Orochimaru simply stared at him with his sword held in defence. He knew Jiraiya paled in comparison to his taijutsu, but years of fighting at his side had kept him weary of the tall hermit.

Jiraiya put up his hands and let his face fall into a familiar look, "What's it like being a woman? I've always wanted to know. Do you feel a spark when you…"

He was cut off as Tsunade roared behind him and drove her fist into his head, slamming his perverted body into the ground.

"YOU DAMN PERVERT! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT?"

Even Orochimaru was taken back by Tsunade's action, though he had seen it many times in the past. She drove a heel into Jiraiya's back before staring at the youthful woman.

"Put your other face on."

Orochimaru gave a high-pitched giggle, "Why should I? It removes Jiraiya from the fight."

Tsunade cut off her chakra flow, but stomped hard onto the toad hermit's back.

"You know Jiraiya. You know what he'll try to do, if you stay with that face."

Orochimaru considering it, remembered his youth with the white-haired Sannin and placed a hand back on his face, putting his old visage back on.

"You make a fair point."

* * *

><p>Shizune vs. Kabuto<p>

Kabuto kept an arrogant smile as he blocked the young woman's path towards the battlefield. He put up his hands in mock defence, "Come now, let's not interrupt them. Master Orochimaru has so been looking forward to this."

Shizune balled her fists, "Did you do this? Are the Sound responsible for this…horror?"

Kabuto could only laugh, pushing his glasses from the bridge of his nose.

"Are we? Such a curious question. At this time, you should be asking: does it matter?"

Shizune knew he was stalling for time. The balance of power was on their side, but it was a close affair. If she were to assist, then their victory would be more likely, but she had to get past Kabuto first. She had left Tonton at the previous village they had stayed at, convincing Tsunade that taking the pig to a possible warzone wouldn't be a good idea. Seeing that Kabuto wasn't going to make the first move, she pulled up her left sleeve. From a mechanism of her own design, she fired several pin-thin needles dripping with poison straight at his chest. Kabuto kept his arrogant smile as he pulled out a curved kunai and deflected them all. Shizune pulled her sleeve back as she analysed his reaction.

_He has to be close to Jounin-strength. I have to be cautious._

"Is that all? Disappointing." He put his hands together and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

_Damnit, was that a Kage Bunshin? Where is he… _

She gasped as she felt hands grab her ankles, dragging her to her knees as Kabuto appeared from behind her. She rolled away, but found she couldn't stand on her feet.

"Did you..."

Kabuto's hands glowed a steady blue similar to when she used medical jutsu.

"I am Orochimaru-sama's right hand. Is it so astounding that I know medical jutsu? Or did you think you were somehow special because you were trained by a Sannin?"

_Damnit, he cut the tendons in my ankles. I can't move without healing myself first._

He walked towards her, his hands glowing ominously as he prepared to slash her throat. She drew her chakra to her throat, "Ninpou Dokugiri" (Poison Mist)

Kabuto only had a second to leap backwards as the purple mist covered the area. Having immunity to her own poison, Shizune used the time to heal her ankles. She kept the mist up for several more seconds while she prepared her next attack. As the mist cleared she saw that Kabuto was gone again.

_He's underground again, most likely. How arrogant is this child?_

She pulled out a scalpel and cut a small part of her hand. She run through the seals and slammed her hand onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

She leapt up as her summon appeared where her hand had created the seal.

"Shizune-neechan! You look particularly ravishing this evening."

Her summon was a large tiger as tall as she was, flush white with black stripes and crystal blue eyes. In their travels they had discovered that Shizune didn't have an affinity to the slugs, as Tsunade did. It wasn't something Shizune was happy about, but she wasn't picky when it came to battles.

"Shizune-neechan, it is mighty hot here. Why don't you just take off your…"

"I'm not stripping for you, Byakko. I need your help."

"Of course! But in return, I would need to see your…"

_Does everyone else have to deal with summons like this?_

The tiger sniffed the air and grew serious, "Neechan, there appears to be a vile smelling snake six feet underneath your feet. Why you would let him see up your skirt and not me…"

Shizune jumped up as Kabuto appeared from underneath her, swiping at thin air. She landed on her tiger's back, who leapt at Kabuto with its jaws open to bit his head off. He moved slightly and swiped at the tiger with his chakra scalpel; jumping back convinced that he had just severed a group of nerves in the tiger's brain. Shizune was not concerned however, spitting several needles at him as he landed. He deflected the first group with his curved kunai, but had been unable to see the second group hidden in the first's shadow. Several needles struck him in the neck, causing him to cry out and drop to his knees.

"Shizune-neechan, this guy…has he hurt you?"

Shizune patted her furry companion with a free hand, the other holding her scalpel.

"A little bit, but I'm fine. I assume his strike his nothing to your armour?"

The snow tiger shook his head, "We tiger's are made are harder stuff then you pink-skinned. Mentioning skin…"

_He's not going to let up. _

She leant down and whispered lightly into the tiger's ear, "If you kill that guy with the glasses, I'll show you my back."

"Front and back."

"Back."

"Back and one leg."

"Back."

"Deal."

The tiger opened his mouth to reveal dozens of sharp teeth. In front of them several large metal spikes began to form, each pointing straight at the healing Kabuto. Shizune pushed her chakra into the tiger's fur, allowing him to send the spikes directly at Kabuto, who couldn't recover in time. The spikes impaled him in both his legs and through his chest, causing him to crash backwards into the ground, his glasses shattered.

"That did it!"

"No, neechan. I can still smell his blood pumping. This is odd."

A slow laugh echoed from Kabuto, who slowly reached up and wrenched the spikes out, one by one.

"You think that is enough to kill me? You and your little kitty don't bother me."

"Neechan, look at his stomach wounds."

Shizune looked at where Kabuto had pulled out the spikes, seeing the small plumes of smoke as his wounds closed themselves.

_He has a regeneration jutsu. That's going to be a pain to bypass._

Not willing to give Kabuto a chance to counter-attack, she tapped Byakko's head.

"Byakko, we are going with that."

"That? Bit harsh, but I suppose that would get rid of his healing."

The tiger indicated for her to hold on tight, leaping high into the air before slamming his paws down onto Kabuto's arms, pinning him in place. Shizune drove needles into his neck, running her hands quickly through a set of seals before slamming her hands directly into his chest.

"Suiton, Senbon Suishi no Jutsu." (Water Element, Needle Drowning Jutsu)

Kabuto struggled and convulsed as his body filled with water, the needles preventing him from vomiting up the water. He flailed at Shizune, but his regeneration didn't save him from drowning from the inside. Once he stopped moving she got off him, satisfied that her opponent was dead. Byakko grinned before reaching down and biting Kabuto's head clean off, though he spat it out immediately.

"Urgh! That tasted awful. Do you need me for anything else?"

Shizune shook her head as she turned her attention to the epic battle at the centre of the crater.

"Not at this time, thank you Byakko. I'll summon you again if I need your help."

The tiger stared at her through its blue eyes, "What about…"

Shizune waved him off, "Not now. Reverse-summon me in a few days."

The snow tiger bowed before disappearing in a large puff of smoke.

_Now how do I get out of doing that? I really don't want to give that pervert any more attention then necessary._

* * *

><p>Orochimaru vs. Jiraiya and Tsunade<p>

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" cried the three Sannin, each launched into the air as their respective summons flashed into the battlefield.

A large hissing came from Manda, angry that he had been disturbed from his feasting once again by Orochimaru.

"You dare summon me again? What the hell is this? You need me to kill a frog and a slug? How pathetic are you?"

With a puff from his pipe, Gamabunta reached back and grasped the hilt of his dagger.

"I'm a toad you overgrown piece of grass."

He looked up at Jiraiya, "That time, eh? Feels like the old days already."

"Don't get too happy baka, we aren't here to drink and get nostalgic."

Jiraiya stared as he watched his former teammate regenerate the arm that Tsunade had shattered. She stood on top of Katsuyu, healing some of the larger wounds that Orochimaru's sword had caused. The three giant monsters stared at each other for nearly a minute, waiting for the other to make the first move. Eventually Tsunade's lack of patient got the better of her, leaping off her summon straight towards Orochimaru's perched position on Manda's head. The giant snake shifted slightly, striking out against Tsunade with the edge of his tail. She instinctively put her hands up to defend herself, but the blow never landed as Katsuyu appeared between the two of them, spewing acid over Manda's tail. The great snake roared out in pain and slithered backwards while Orochimaru leapt across the gap between the monsters and began attacking Tsunade with his blade. She ducked and weaved, not wishing for a repeat performance of the previous fight. Katsuyu kept the two fighters balanced while giving her chakra to Tsunade, who had been nearly empty after summoning her. Manda felt the urge to attack both Orochimaru and Tsunade, but was instead confronted by Gamabunta's dagger thrusting towards his face. He moved his head out of the way and bit down on Gamabunta's hand, causing the giant toad to drop his dagger as the fangs went straight through.

Not wanting to see his friend die, Jiraiya finished a set of seals and placed his hands to his lips,

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Flame Missile)

The fire jutsu struck Manda in the face, who was too close to dodge, large section of his face burning away instantly. As the serpent roared in pain, Gamabunta fell back; his hand hanging uselessly as he saw that Manda had been blinded by Jiraiya's attack. Over on Katsuyu, Orochimaru had landed several blows on Tsunade which were bleeding heavily, but she in turn had struck several blows that had struck Kusanagi with a force great enough to pain his hands as he held the revered blade. Orochimaru watched as Manda was blinded by the fire attack, ducking under another punch from Tsunade before leaping off the giant slug and running towards Gamabunta. Katsuyu wanted to pursue him, but Tsunade commanded her to attack Manda, knowing that Jiraiya should be able to keep him at bay long enough for them to dispose of the purple snake.

Orochimaru slammed his hands on the ground near Gamabunta, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Several large white snakes exploded from underneath the ground, each biting Gamabunta at a different section, driving their venom into the toad. Jiraiya felt the ground shake as his summon lost his footing and fell to the ground in agony, trashing about to fight off the new threat. Seeing Orochimaru smile in victory, Jiraiya leapt off the toad's head, forming a jutsu with one hand in front of him. Orochimaru could have dodged it, but figuring it was not worth the effort, he slashed at the chakra attack with Kusanagi.

"Rasengan!"

The spinning ball struck the steel with a large thud, sending shockwaves around them as the two Sannin bounced off each other.

Manda was blind, half his face had melted off, and most of his skin was being burnt by slug acid. He had struck several blows on the giant slug, and even grazed Tsunade's leg as she struck at him, but both of his opponents being medics meant that the battle was quickly turning against him. He could smell the slug retreating backwards, but the overwhelming sense of smell was hiding the human's position. To his side, Tsunade was midair, spinning wildly towards Manda's midsection.

_She can't do much damage to me there_ he figured as he finally picked up on her scent.

"Die!" she cried as she struck.

What Manda couldn't see was that in Tsunade's hands was Gamabunta's dagger, spinning rapidly so that when the blow struck it severed the snake in two. Manda spat out large amounts of blood before collapsing to the ground. Tsunade landed in a puddle of the serpent's blood, her chakra virtually spent besides the small slug on her shoulder transferring chakra from Katsuyu. She turned her gaze to Orochimaru then winced as her wounds began to pain her more then before.

_Damnit, I have no choice. If I don't do this, I might actually die._

Tsunade put her hands together as the seal on her forehead began to unravel, preparing to regenerate her wounds. Jiraiya struggled to pick himself up from the ground; the retaliation from the Rasengan blow had forced him to land awkwardly. Gamabunta had already disappeared in a puff of smoke, his body making him useless for the rest of the battle, while Katsuyu had used up her remaining chakra and disappeared as well. Orochimaru watched Tsunade's wounds slowly burn away, understanding what it meant for their fight.

_Small wounds like that won't kill her. It would be disappointing if the world's greatest medic died to a few sword wounds. Although…_

Orochimaru winced as he saw the damage on Kusanagi had begun to crack the steel.

_I underestimated that pervert. This fight is still in their favour. The odds need to be evened._

He began to run at Tsunade, who was still healing herself, relying on Jiraiya for her defence. Jiraiya stood between the two of them, though he couldn't feel much strength in his legs as Orochimaru darted towards him. He began to prepare a fire jutsu before his eyes caught a strange look in Orochimaru's eyes.

_Where is that arrogant look…wait…_

He barely caught it in time as the Orochimaru in front of him collapsed into mud, the sword landing softly on the ground before also disappearing. Jiraiya looked around quickly for the Sannin, but couldn't find him before Orochimaru struck. From underneath the ground two snakes struck at Tsunade's ankles, dragging her down slightly. Her Sozo Saisei (Creation Rebirth) already turned the venom into harmless proteins, but she hadn't recovered enough to throw off the serpents' grip.

"Tsunade" cried out Jiraiya.

He watched in horror as Orochimaru slowly emerged from the ground behind Tsunade, Kusanagi in hand. The snakes forced Tsunade to her knees, and Jiraiya could only watch helplessly as Orochimaru brought back his arm and neatly sliced her head off her body. Despite the satisfaction of killing the legendary medic, Orochimaru felt a twinge of sadness as her blonde head struck the ground.

_We were different. But I understood your pain, Tsunade. Perhaps there is something there to be thought about later._

Jiraiya's world collapsed. More then when his student Minato had been died, when he'd heard that his three apprentices from the Rain had been killed, even more then when he'd been confronted with the fact that his home had been destroyed. He felt something he hadn't felt in years. Despair. But there was also another emotion. Fury. Jiraiya was an emotionally controlled fighter. He was an outrageous pervert all the time, but when it came to fighting his training from the Shinobi Wars gave him an emotionless mask. The second the blade fell across Tsunade's neck, the mask shattered. All he felt was a shaking fury, an uncontrollable urge to kill her murderer with his bare hands. He wiped at the blood on his side, pushing it against his palm and onto his face.

_There will be time to grieve later. Orochimaru will die. Now._

"I was right in the middle of making dinner."

"You call that food? I've trained toads that have looked more appetising."

"Don't say that Pa, ya want to keep eating? You'll eat what I put on the table."

"Fine, fine. Jiraiya-boy, why have you called us out on this lovely evening?"

Jiraiya didn't respond, he merely glared at his pale opponent, who had stepped back from Tsunade's body, seemingly unwilling to defile it anymore then he already had. Orochimaru took a look at his tall former teammate, noticing several changes in his appearance, never mind the two toads sitting on his shoulders.

_Jiraiya, you were always ugly. It is a testament to your tenacity that you've found a way to be even more of a loser._

Ma and Pa sat on Jiraiya's shoulders able to feel his emotions and experiences flow through them, instantly aware of everything that had happened so far. Not one easy to anger, even Pa felt the urge to destroy Orochimaru for what he had done.

"Jiraiya-boy, how will we do this?"

The tall hermit still couldn't answer, instead deciding that he had held back enough. In a small, still sane, part of his mind, he wondered how anger would affect Sage Mode, but didn't feel any adverse reactions as he slammed instantly into Orochimaru's chest with his fist, sending the snake Sannin spiralling away, his sword dropping to the ground beneath Jiraiya's feet. Jiraiya felt down with a bulging hand and picked up the ancient blade. Using an unholy amount of Sage Chakra, he crushed the blade into tiny pieces, feeling the residual blood from his blonde princess run down his hand.

_Tsunade-hime…I…_

Orochimaru pulled himself up from the ground, amazed at the power of Jiraiya's strike.

_I know all of Jiraiya's techniques, yet he surprised me. To crush Kusanagi…_

Using his Sage chakra, Jiraiya powered towards the recovering Sannin, landing blow after blow into his chest. Orochimaru struggled to keep up with Jiraiya's speed and strange movements that seemed to strike him even if he dodged the blows.

_Damnit, I can't…_

He tried to flee but Jiraiya spread sticky oil on the ground, causing him to be immobilised for the second Jiraiya needed to hit him with one of his strongest techniques. He stood in front of Orochimaru and put his hand out to form a Rasengan. As the Rasengan formed he pumped Sage chakra into it and reshaped it, the circle reducing in size before slamming into Orochimaru's stomach.

"Shoukyoku Naiyou Rasengan!" (Anti-Matter Rasengan)

The technique shredded Orochimaru in half, his shattered body lying beneath Jiraiya's feet, who was panting heavily. Even with Ma and Pa on his shoulders, he couldn't make enough Sage chakra to last. A loud scream came from Orochimaru's mouth as the bottom of his top half shook before hundreds of snakes exploded out of him, straight into his bottom half. The snakes pulled the bottom half into the top half as Orochimaru glared at his ugly opponent, smiling as he relished the pain. Jiraiya stared back at Orochimaru through his horizontal eyes.

_I can't win in a prolonged battle. With that body of his, he'll just outlast me. _

Orochimaru struggled to pick himself up from the ground. The Rasengan had destroyed many of his internal organs, and while his snakes were regenerating him, he was not in a good position. Jiraiya ran through his jutsu set, trying to find one that would be able to kill the Snake Sannin. He remembered that in his research into Orochimaru's immortality jutsu that if any part of him survived, he could resurrect himself, meaning virtually all of Jiraiya's techniques including Senjutsu were meaningless.

_He wouldn't take over me, it would be…too unsightly for him to consider._

He took a moment to look over at the grief-stricken form of Tsunade's apprentice, holding the princess' body while screaming out for her to not leave her behind.

_But her…he would take over her. Damnit, how can I end this? _

A flash of yellow appeared in his mind, his old student giving him the most desperate of plans. Jiraiya nodded to Ma and Pa, who conceded that it was the only way to defeat Orochimaru for good. He put his hands together and began forming the seals.

"Snake, Boar, Ram, Rabbit, Dog, Rat, Bird, Horse, Snake."

He clapped his hands together and looking over at Tsunade's body.

_You'll be at peace, while we fight for eternity. Sounds fair._

"Fuuin Jutsu. Shiki Fuujin."

Jiraiya looked behind himself as the Death God formed behind him.

_Minato, is this what you saw? This thing makes me look like a prince, even in this mode. _

"What are you trying to do, Jiraiya? You cannot defeat me, I am immortal!"

Orochimaru tried to sound confident, but his body was broken. The constant fighting with his former-teammate had worn down his already failing body.

_I need to transfer soon. Damnit, I need to retreat._

Jiraiya coughed out blood as the Death God's transparent hand slammed into his chest.

"Jiraiya-boy!" cried out Pa, feeling his student's chakra plummet. Neither he nor Ma could see the Death God, but they knew what Jiraiya was planning.

Opposite Jiraiya, Orochimaru pushing into his stomach, slowly vomiting up the White Snake that contained his true form.

_I need to go now. This form is too weak to fight with._

Jiraiya felt the Sage Chakra from the toads on his shoulders flow through his legs, shooting forward faster then Orochimaru could see. Using his arms, Jiraiya slammed the White Snake into Orochimaru's throat. He inhaled some of the snake's poison, but he knew that didn't matter anymore. With Tsunade dead, this was his only was to atone. He pushed the ghostly hand through his chest, wincing as he could feel the Death God's influence running through him. The White Snake snarled and bit at Jiraiya's arms, but to no avail as the Death God's arm pushed into his stomach.

_Ma, Pa, get off my shoulders right now!_

The toads were apprehensive, but did as their student asked, fleeing backwards before the smaller snakes could attack them.

Orochimaru tried to move away, but found both his forms immobile, the White Snake slowly slipping back into his mouth. He looked up to Jiraiya, only to widen his eyes in fear as he saw the horrifying image of the Death God. Jiraiya grinned as he began to pull out Orochimaru's soul, thinking back to the days when they were teammates.

_We couldn't see it, but you were a victim as much as any of us._

"You worthless loser! I will not die! I am immortal!"

"Orochimaru. I'm sorry I wasn't able to bring you back from your dark path. But now…at the end…"

He screamed out as Orochimaru's soul was ripped from its body and sealed into his stomach. He panted heavily as the strain hit him harder then the time Tsunade caught him peeping on her. Orochimaru's body began to turn to stone; a look of hatred mixed in with fear was stuck on his face as he began to crumble.

_Hn, in that form you almost look human. Hold down the fort, old friend. If Minato is to be believed, I'll be with you shortly. _

***End Flashback***

"How is he not dead? Doesn't that jutsu take the user's life?" asked Kakashi, his eyes wandering to the seal on Jiraiya's stomach.

Shizune wiped her head with the sleeve of her kimono, "Before he passed out, he told me that his Sage Chakra gave him some extra time before the Death God claimed his soul."

A few feet away Naruto had finally recovered, though he still had a vile taste in his mouth. Hinata stood behind him, rubbing his back as he picked himself from the ground.

"Naruto-kun, don't get up just yet."

"I…I have to, Hinata-chan."

She stared at him through her lavender eyes, and he felt his resistance crumble. He let her guide him back to the ground, "Okay, fine. I guess I can still hear them from here."

Hinata let out a breath of relief; she knew how dangerous the Hiraishin was to Naruto if he used it more then he was used to. Naruto thought about how easily Hinata could convince him to see her way.

_It's not like with Sakura, where you agree with her so that she doesn't kill you. You agree with Hinata because she makes sense. Oh god, I'm gonna puke again._

Jiraiya's breathing had gotten slower, Shizune's healing jutsu unable to stave off the Death God's toll for much longer.

"Damnit, he hasn't got long."

"We need to wake him up."

The Jounin glared at Itachi, who put up a hand to defend his statement.

"Jiraiya was in charge of the Konoha spy network. If anyone knew what happened to Konoha, it would be him. He can also prove my allegiance."

"If he wakes up, he'll have only a few minutes before he dies. It's too much to risk."

Itachi stepped forward and looked over at Shizune's glowing blue hands, "Shizune-san, you are only prolonging the inevitable. Jiraiya-sama would want this."

"How the hell do you know that? I will not lose him!"

Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"Shizune. Itachi is right. I know you have lost your master, but Jiraiya knew what he was doing. We don't have a choice."

Shizune gave instructions to the other Jounin, her medical training overriding her grief over her master as she prepared for a major operation. Kakashi placed an un-gloved hand over the seal, using his small amount of seal knowledge to attempt to counter-act the Shiki Fuujin's effects.

Shizune placed her hands over Jiraiya's heart, "Raiton: Kokoro Myaku" (Lightning Element: Heart Pulse).

Jiraiya bolted up, "Tsunade I wasn't peeping, I swear!"

His voice slurred as he struggled to accustom himself to his surroundings. Shizune struggled to keep his body from deteriorating with medical jutsu, but she knew it was a forgone conclusion.

"Wha…where am…oh god Tsunade! My hime…"

Jiraiya kept ranting until Itachi stepped into his vision, still wearing his black and red cloud cloak. "Jiraiya-sama, we require your assistance."

The hermit's head swung around as he squinted to see Itachi better.

"Itachi? What are you doing here? I told you I don't know anything about your brother. For a traitorous criminal, you are strangely affectionate. Have you already completed your mission?"

The whole group surrounded the fallen Sannin, each surprised that Itachi's story had been confirmed. Sasuke stared at his brother with a feeling he hadn't felt in many years.

_Itachi, did I ever really know you?_

Itachi waved a hand in front of Jiraiya's waving head, noticing that he wasn't following it with his eyes.

"Jiraiya-sama, we need to know about the attack on Konoha."

"No…don't feed me those bugs…why is the sky covered in cats?"

Jiraiya began to thrash as Shizune called out for help to hold him down. Kakashi, Gai, Lee and Kiba kept him down as she pulled a large needle from her kimono and drove it into his neck. The last Sannin thrashed once then calmed down, lying back down before continuing to rant about Tsunade.

"He's got maybe a minute; I can't hold it off much longer."

Itachi swore under his breath before slowing putting his hands into a tiger seal.

"Shizune-san, please keep his eyes open."

He closed his eyes before concentrating his chakra and opening them slowly.

"Tsukuyomi."

His pinwheel flashed for a second before he cancelled the jutsu, causing him to wince in pain while clutching him left eye.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke ran to his fallen brother, the final shred of hatred falling away.

Jiraiya gave a laugh before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed. Shizune's hands glowed bright before she cancelled the technique.

"He's gone."

All the Konoha shinobi bowed their heads. Despite just being told who he was, all the Genin recognised the sacrifice and held him in a high regard. They stood in silence until Itachi picked himself off the ground and wiped the blood from his eye.

"He died a noble death." "Did he give you any information before he passed?" asked Kakashi, having some knowledge of how Tsukuyomi worked from his study into the Sharingan.

Itachi offered a hand to Shizune, who took it with a tired sigh.

"We spoke for some time, though most of what he said was nonsense."

"Any information about the attack?"

"Not really. Jiraiya suspected Orochimaru, but that wasn't confirmed or denied."

"Well we know he's dead" said Shizune, still fatigued from the battle and the constant healing.

Gai looked around the group, noticing the tense nerves as the Genin felt the Jounin's discomfort.

"We should take some time, let this information set in."

Kakashi nodded, "Agreed. But we should bury Jiraiya. He deserves that much."

The others nodded while Shizune turned around and checked to make sure that Naruto was feeling better. He had stopped vomiting, but seemed to have a red complexion. She tried to figure out what could have caused that until she saw that the Hyuuga girl was still rubbing his back. She smiled sadly as she watched them, not wanting to disrupt their moment.

"You are…Naruto, right?"

The blonde looked up from the ground, quietly thanking the white-eyed girl before standing up to greet the medical Jounin.

"That's me. Something wrong, Shizune-sensei?"

She waved off his honorific, "Please, I'm no teacher."

"Okay, nee-chan."

She couldn't help but smile; _everyone calls me that. Always the big sister_.

"Naruto-kun, are you able to use Hiraishin again?"

Naruto thought about it, "Probably, why?"

Shizune dropped her head as she thought about what she was going to ask.

"I would like you to retrieve my master. She deserves to be buried next to one she cared about."

They spent two days resting, letting Shizune recover back to reasonable strength before continuing. She had resolved to accompany the group, though she struggled to keep her grief in check. Luckily the rest of the group was happy to help her through it, all of them going through their own personal grief. The group knew that should keep moving, but beyond that had no idea where they were going to go next.

"We are a large group; we can't travel on the main roads without drawing attention" argued Shikamaru, trying to convince the Jounin to use the back roads.

The Uchiha brothers stopped their own conversation and Itachi nodded at Sasuke before walking up to speak to the other Jounin. The others greeted him with subtle nods, still wary of the ex-criminal.

"Itachi, do you have any ideas on where we should go? My eternal rival here seems to think we should train ourselves before seeking out our foes."

"That's not what I said Gai. I just said it isn't reasonable to expect the teenagers to go into a combat situation."

Gai gave Kakashi a 'Nice Guy' pose with the accompanying sunset genjutsu.

"That's exactly what I said! Your cool attitude drives me to greater…"

Shizune sighed as Gai ranted on, instead focusing her attention on Itachi.

"Do you have any ideas? Any information we can use?"

"I did have a thought, Shizune-san. But it requires a lot of trust on the group's part."

"Trust? They were ready to kill you yesterday."

Itachi simply stared at his new companions, "It is not trust from you that I require. I have a plan, but I require Naruto-kun's help."

"What? Why him?" asked Shizune, well aware of Naruto's occupant.

"Does this have something to do with Akatsuki and the Kyuubi?" asked Kakashi.

Itachi was surprised at Kakashi's knowledge of his employers, but kept it to himself.

"It does. Do I have your consent?"

Kakashi was suspicious, but called Naruto over nevertheless.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei? I was just in the middle of a staring contest with Shino."

With a raised eyebrow Itachi looked over the Yellow Flash's son.

_Does he realise what his life is like? Or is this a mask? Perhaps we misjudge this boy._

Itachi looked down at the growing blonde ninja before giving him a small smile.

"How would you like to be rid of the Kyuubi?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

I'm not going to lie, I like Itachi. As a character, his story, all that. I've changed bits and pieces of the Uchiha massacre because I think that with all the different accounts, no-one really knows what happened. Considering how young Sasuke was, and the trauma involved, it isn't completely unexpected for some of his memories to be false (as the task of remembering an event alters the memory slightly). And I know that Itachi had the Mangekyou before the massacre, but with my change to its activation I felt that wouldn't make sense. Please do tell me what you think.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Colors of Life and Death by Songbird21. A great story, particularly in the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. Definitely refreshing to see them have a friendship as opposed to a rivalry. Point of interest, there is some pretty gory stuff but it's a great story.


	5. Chapter 5 Plans

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 5 – Plans

**A/N**: I was considering writing a side story to describe the Chuunin Exams in Suna. I'd like to know if that is something you'd be interested in reading.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did…um…I'd have something clever to say here.

* * *

><p>"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard" said Shizune, running a hand through her dark hair.<p>

"That's a very risky plan, with very little room for error, Itachi" said Kakashi.

The others echoed those statements; even Sasuke thought his brother was mad, though he wouldn't voice it. Naruto considered what Itachi had just proposed.

_It could certainly work, but the risk…no Itachi is right. If I can rid this world of the Kyuubi…besides, I won't die. I may not be able to be Hokage anymore, but there are…other things to do now._

He saw the others staring at him, waiting to see what his response was. He could see the apprehension on their faces, but inside he knew what he had to do.

"I'll do it."

"What? You can't! You'll die" yelled Kiba, not wanting to see his rival die for nothing.

"I won't die Kiba. You heard him, I'm an Uzumaki."

"You're an idiot."

Shikamaru put a hand on Kiba's shoulder, "That isn't up for debate. But this is Naruto we are talking about."

Naruto sighed as he watched his friends argue. He walked over to where Hinata was, wondering how she felt about it. They had done some training to help control the Kyuubi but hadn't had much success. He looked at the white-eyed girl with his trademark grin, happy when she smiled back at him.

"Hinata-san, do you believe this is a good idea?" asked Neji, staying close to his cousin since they left the hideout.

She considered the plan and looked at Naruto's grinning face.

"I…think Naruto-kun should do it."

Naruto couldn't hide his shock; he thought Hinata would be completely against anything that would put his life in danger.

"Really? You think so?"

She fidgeted with his hands, "Well…if it gets rid of the Kyuubi…I trust Naruto-kun. He will survive."

He felt a smile creep onto his face as he put his hand into a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks Hinata-chan, I'm glad you have faith in me."

His teachers came up behind him with Kakashi ruffling his hair with his hand.

"We all have faith in you, Naruto. We just don't want to lose you, that's all."

"The plan is simple in nature. My organisation, Akatsuki, has a way to seal the tailed demons. What the leader doesn't know is that they have to be sealed in a particular order, with the Kyuubi as the last. Using powerful genjutsu, I can convince him to seal the Kyuubi first, thus destroying both the Kyuubi and the threat my organisation poses."

Itachi had thought the plan through after he'd been accepted by the group, though he had his doubts over whether it could be pulled off or not.

"I thought that when a tailed beast is extracted, the host dies" said Kakashi, remembering an old conversation he had had with his sensei about his wife.

"With most hosts, yes. But every host of the Kyuubi has been an Uzumaki. And his mother survived the process, I believe he can too."

They had stopped at a small forest after telling Naruto and the group about the Uzumaki clan, letting their hair down as they discussed their new plan.

"I won't pressure Naruto into it. However he has agreed and I am short on time."

Gai stopped his training and looked at the Uchiha, "Short on time, young one?"

Itachi moved his gaze to the green-clad Jounin.

"My partner in Akatsuki believes I am finishing up some personal business with my brother before returning to work with him. For this plan to work, I must continue to act as an Akatsuki member until the plan is fully in place."

Sasuke confronted his brother with a stare, "You can't just leave. I finally forgive you and you run away?"

Itachi glared at his little brother, seeing the five-year old Sasuke rather then the 14 year old one standing in front of him.

"Otouto, there are more important things at stake then your personal feelings."

"My personal feelings?"

He felt his anger rising but it diminished as soon as his brother reached down and tapped him on the forehead.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Another time, okay?"

Sasuke felt a flush as his brother turned away from him and began discussing plans with Kakashi and Gai. Naruto barked a laugh and patted Sasuke on the head.

"Aww, that was so adorable Sasuke-chan. Would you like some flowers and a hairbrush?"

Naruto got two more laughs before Sasuke's fist buried itself into his cheek. Sasuke had a moment of triumph before Naruto disappeared into a puff of smoke and a clone slammed its foot into his chest. The Jounin ignored the brawling teenagers, sorting out how they were going to pull off Itachi's plan.

* * *

><p>A week later the group was travelling on a back road, taking the roundabout route towards the Akatsuki hideout. Itachi had properly left the previous day, a Kage Bunshin of his taking some time to train Sasuke in Uchiha techniques and genjutsu before leaving to implement the plan. Being the genius he was, Sasuke understood the techniques rapidly, able to replicate Itachi's crow form perfectly as well as other jutsu. Itachi was very proud of his little brother, though he'd never admit it. Years of training to kill the elder Uchiha had Sasuke set on working harder in competition, so Itachi wasn't above mocking him to get him more motivated.<p>

Kakashi called for the group to stop, taking a draught from a water pouch before giving the teenagers instructions on setting up a campsite. After settling on a guard rotation and sending Kiba and Sakura to set up defences, they began their training in gusto. Itachi had told them that he could be a three weeks to a month; it was highly dependent on how his organisation moved. Shizune stood across from Kakashi as he set up his own tent. She had asked Naruto to take her back to the rubble of Konoha so that she could retrieve Tonton from the nearby village, but after several clones attempts he told her that the seal was unreachable from the aftermath of the Sannin's fight. She had been depressed for several hours until she remembered the people that she had left him with. Itachi had offhandedly mentioned that it was probably better for the small pig to live with the villages then travel with the shinobi.

_He is completely different from what we were told. How could anyone believe that he could have killed his whole clan?_

Kakashi stood up and regarded the medic with his uncovered eye, "Something I can do for you?"

She sighed visibly, rubbing her legs sorely.

"I'm not used to this kind of travel. Wish I didn't have heels on."

"You didn't do this with Tsunade?"

Shizune smiled sadly as she thought of her blonde master.

"Not like this. We would spend weeks in one town or another, moving only when we couldn't borrow any more money."

Kakashi smiled through his mask and offered to help her set up her tent. He had been thankful for her assistance in keeping the teenagers in line, but he knew that more than the rest of the group she had been struggling with her grief. He knew very well what it was like to see those close to you die. He had shared several old memories with her but had also told her that they needed to appear strong to keep the group together. The two Jounin looked over at the Genin who were already training as the sun slowly set behind a nearby mountain. Naruto and Sasuke were attempting to gut each other with wooden swords that they had made, unwilling to dull their respective blades but still needing the practise. Sasuke had natural talent for the blade and was significantly faster, but Naruto was stronger and was outlasting Sasuke.

Across from them were the Hyuuga Genin, Neji showing Hinata some of the more advanced Hyuuga techniques. She had struggled with the Kaiten, but Neji was more patient then she had expected him to be. Gai ran up to Kakashi and declared another rivalry battle, but Kakashi had waved him away, pointing out that he should train some of the other Genin in taijutsu. He specifically told Gai to take aside Shino, who while being a very competent ninjutsu user and sensory type; Kakashi knew that his taijutsu was not up to par. With a thumbs up and a declaration that he wouldn't lose to his cool rival, Gai ran off, leaving the two Jounin in a dust storm. Shizune coughed as she attempted to wave the dust away from her face. Kakashi was used to Gai's antics, though he still shielded his lone eye from the bob-headed maniac.

"Is he always like that?" asked Shizune, padding down her kimono.

Kakashi smiled as he watched Gai joined by his student Lee as they attempted to convince Shino to join them. The sunglasses-wearing Genin simply stared at the teacher, understanding where the Jounin was coming from, but was still unwilling to be enthusiastic about taijutsu training.

"Unrelentingly. The world has ended when Maito Gai isn't ecstatic about everything."

She stared at the white-haired ninja before smiling and looking back over their students.

"It's nice though, in a way. Makes life seem much simpler then it is."

"Don't misunderstand him; Gai definitely understands how things are for us. He is just incredibly stubborn. He puts Naruto to shame."

They went about their own business as the Genin continued to train. The Ino-Shika-Cho combo was still working out their combination, having implemented some the new family techniques they found themselves out of sync. Shikamaru, while still lazy and tactical, was more aggressive with his shadow techniques, while Ino and Chouji had focused on more defensive techniques.

"Alright, alright fine, you win" said Naruto, Sasuke's wooden sword at his throat.

Sasuke was panting heavily while Naruto was barely sweating, both knowing that it was a closer match then it appeared. He had noticed that Sasuke had loosened up since his reunion with his brother, but when Itachi left Sasuke withdrew back into his shell.

"That was damn close, teme. I'll get you next time."

Sasuke scoffed and threw away his sword, "As if you could. I'm going to go train."

Naruto nodded, picking up Sasuke's sword before returning them to the new campsite. He noticed Hinata returning from her practise and waved to her with a wide grin. She smiled and waved back, going into her own tent before Naruto returned to his.

* * *

><p>Kakashi took out a stack of paper as he regarded the group of Genin.<p>

_These kids…this almost feels wrong getting them prepared like this. Itachi sounded confident, but…could I forgive myself if one of them were to fall?_

"Why are we here, Kakashi-sensei? I thought we were going to train for the next three weeks. I want to work on my Hiraishin."

Gai laughed at the blonde's enthusiasm, but gave the floor to Kakashi who was used to Naruto's antics.

"This is training, Naruto. This is elemental chakra training. Now you should all know that everyone has an affinity for a certain element, whether it is fire, water, earth, lightning or wind. Some ninja have secondary affinities as well, but I won't get into that now."

"Kakashi-sensei I have a question."

Kakashi waved off the blonde teenager, handing out paper to each of them.

"I'll explain as we go, Naruto. Just try to keep up. Now, we already know some of you have chakra affinities. Sasuke, you have fire and lightning affinities. It is rare to have two strong affinities, but it happens. And Naruto, you have a lightning affinity."

Naruto was taken aback by that, he had no idea.

"How do you know that? I've never used a lightning technique before. Hey, does that mean I can use Chidori? Oh oh, Kakashi-sensei teach me Chidori! Please!"

He kept ranting until coping two punches to the head, sending him face first into the dirt. He had expected Sakura's strike, but Sasuke caught him by surprise. The others just looked at Naruto's fallen body before concentrating back on their teacher.

Kakashi shook his head and continued, "Anyway, if you run some chakra through this paper, it'll tell us what element you have an affinity for. It's fairly obvious what type you are depending on the reaction, and then we can train you accordingly."

After a few minutes Naruto regained consciousness and Hinata filled him in before doing her own paper. He watched with awe as her piece of paper split itself in two before both sides got drenched in water.

"Wow, Hinata. That's amazing. So…what does that mean?"

Kakashi came over after telling Chouji and Shino that their Earth element meant that none of them could train them and they should focus on their clan jutsu.

"It means that she has both wind and water affinities. That's surprising, Hinata. There aren't many wind users in the world. There were only a few in Konoha."

She smiled at the praise levelled at her, as Naruto looked to his own paper. He concentrated hard; he was never good at chakra control. After a few minutes he had gotten nowhere, while Shizune was talking to Sakura, Shikamaru and Ino about their water affinities. According to her master's teachings, medical ninjutsu was based on water manipulation. Neji had already dismissed his lightning affinity, preferring to concentrate on Hyuuga techniques.

"Come on…"

Naruto concentrated even harder and finally put his chakra into the paper. It split in two instantly, then both pieces wrinkled in his hand. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw Naruto's paper.

"That's…unexpected. Wind and Lightning, I don't believe I've ever seen that."

"That's great, Naruto-kun" said Hinata, her own paper still in her hand.

Naruto yelled out in excitement, and looked down at the two wrinkled pieces.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, how did you know I already had an affinity to lightning?"

Kakashi took the paper from Naruto and looked at it, making sure that it had checked his chakra correctly.

"Your father had an affinity to lightning. The Hiraishin is a lightning jutsu."

"But I don't turn into lightning, or use lightning. I just kind of…flash."

His teacher let Naruto figure it out for himself as he took Sasuke and Kiba aside, telling them that he was to be their fire technique teacher. Lee was demanding more training from Gai as even though he found out he had an Earth affinity, his lack of ability in ninjutsu meant he could only continue his taijutsu training.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, what about me and Hinata? Who will train us?"

The group reconvened together as their teachers sorted out their regimes.

"Listen up. Anyone with water affinity will report to Shizune for medical ninjutsu training. Yes, even you Shikamaru. We need as many of you ready to heal Naruto when he returns. Gai will be teaching taijutsu, which all of you will have to do. I will concentrate on ninjutsu, but I will also show Sasuke and Kiba some fire jutsu that they can use. Everyone else, I want you to concentrate on your personal techniques. Remember that this is a serious fight, these are dangerous criminals and I want you all to put in your best."

Naruto finally worked out what Kakashi was talking about previously and asked the same question as before, "What about Hinata and me? We have wind affinity, who will teach us?"

"None of us know any wind techniques. Why don't you and Hinata work on your own techniques?"

Naruto pouted as he saw the others starting their training, "You just want to train the teme."

He went to say more but was cut off by Hinata, who waved her hands to get his attention.

"Naruto-kun, it's not like that. Kakashi-sensei just trusts you to work out your own techniques."

Naruto felt his frustration diminish as Hinata smiled at him. Kakashi watched as the two teenagers began talking about how they were going to train and couldn't help but be reminded of Obito and Rin all those years ago.

_What would you do if you were here?_

Shizune came over to them and began talking to Hinata about healing techniques; she had already had enough of Shikamaru. He had taken her advice immediately, but subsequently told her it was too troublesome, wanting to sleep instead. Such as it was, Shikamaru was sleeping on the ground until Akamaru peed on his face to wake him up. He sputtered and swore, but conceded that even he could do some training, even though he just wanted to watch the clouds.

* * *

><p>Sakura watched from afar at the teacher-student combination sparring. Gai had finished running drills for the day and was doing some last minute sparring with Lee before his guard duty. She watched as Lee skilfully struck at Gai's legs with the bottom-section of his staff, while throwing punches into Gai's guard.<p>

_They are fighting so fast, I can barely follow them. And they haven't taken off their weights. This was definitely the right call._

They stopped their fight and bowed to each other, Lee panting heavily while Gai wiped the sweat off his brow before giving his student a 'Nice Guy' pose and leaving. Sakura stepped into the field watching as Lee folded up his staff and placed it on the ground before stretching his legs out.

"Sakura-san, something I can do for you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the ground as he stretched out his legs.

She coughed awkwardly, unsure how she should proceed.

"I…uh…wanted to ask for something"

Lee began to do pushups while Sakura fidgeted with her long hair. Lee continued his pushups until he realised that Sakura wasn't going to say anything. He hopped up and looked at her through his dark eyes.

"Sakura-san, what service can I offer you this night?"

Sakura felt smaller then when she had been rejected by Sasuke for the last time.

"I…wanted…to ask for your help."

Lee grinned, not understanding her uncomfortableness.

"You came to me? I don't understand. What can I do for you?"

She looked at him and felt an odd feeling in her stomach.

"I was thinking…well you know how you are good at taijutsu…"

As dense as he was, Lee understood what she was asking.

"You want some training in taijutsu? Why not ask Gai-sensei, he is training all of us at the moment."

She felt a small gust of wind fly under her qipao dress, but she didn't want to show any more uncomfortableness then she always was.

"I…was watching your fight. I thought you…"

_Damnit, why can't I say it?_

Lee pulled out his notepad from his kunai pocket and began frantically writing in it.

Sakura felt a twinge of anger rise, _Is he ignoring me? Wait…why aren't I hitting him? If it was Naruto or anyone I would have just unleashed and felt better._

She waited patiently as he flipped the page and kept writing, taking moments to think before smiling and writing again. After a few minutes Sakura's patience expired, her hair rising in anger.

"What are you writing that is so damn important?"

Lee finished the final character and looked up at her. He tilted his head slightly before moving around her and staring at her head.

"Hmm…" he muttered, before taking his pencil and writing another set of characters on his notepad.

_He's still ignoring me. _

Having had enough, she reached out and plucked the notepad from Lee's hands.

He looked at her with surprise, "Sakura-san, I wasn't finished."

She glared at him with her angry wide eyes, causing him to back off. He had enough experiences with Tenten to know to avoid an angry girl. He stepped back as she flipped through his notepad. The first sets of pages were unintelligible statements about youth and spring, while the next set were taijutsu notes.

"What were you writing?" she demanded, flipping through endless recipes for spicy curries.

Lee stepped over to her and with a grace that she hadn't expected reached over and flipped the notepad to the pages he had written. Her eyes widened as she saw what he had written.

_Haruno Sakura_

_Age: 14. _

_Height: Approximately 5 foot._

_Personality: Highly intelligent. Kind and cheerful, though quick to anger. _

_Skills: Her high intelligence gives her an edge in analysis and perception. While she had no specialised skills, she has natural affinity to genjutsu and chakra control._

She looked up at Lee, unsure what to make of it.

"Lee, what is this?"

The green-clad ninja said nothing, but flipped the next page. She looked over it, almost unable to read his rapid writing.

_She knows very little effective taijutsu. She is quick to anger which distorts her form. Not only that, but her long hair makes for an easy grab for an opponent._

Her mind drifted to the first question her young teenage mind thought of.

"You…don't like my hair?"

Lee smiled as he glanced over her brushed pink hair.

"Your hair is beautiful, Sakura-san, like your namesake. But it is a tactical disadvantage in battle. If you wish to fight as a shinobi then it may be a consideration. Also your forehead protector is in a pointless position; over your head it protects little. It would be better served on your forehead."

Sakura stiffened at the comment; she was still sensitive about her forehead. She closed the notepad and handed it back to him, balling her fists slowly.

"Sakura-san, if you wish to learn proper taijutsu then your anger is wasted on small comments like that."

She stared at him and saw how serious he was, not even noting how especially thick his eyebrows were. In fact, in light of him standing up to her, she felt they had an odd charm to them. She let herself calm down, the strength in her arms leaving her.

"So what do you suggest?"

Lee put his notepad into his pocket and stepped back, readying a stance.

"Show me you are serious. I will happily teach you, but only if you are willing to work yourself to death. Youth waits for nobody, Sakura-san."

She thought about her previous battles, her constant fighting with Ino, the struggles she faced during the Second Exam at the Chuunin Exams.

_He's…he's right. _

She fingered her long pink hair, considering how it had caused her defeat in the Third Exam. She glanced at Lee and considered what he had said. Reaching into her pocket she removed a kunai, grabbed her hair at the base of her neck and with one motion cut it clean off. Lee's eyes widened as Sakura grimaced in pain whilst her hair covered her feet.

He dropped his stance and put a caring hand on her shoulder, "Sakura-san, are you okay? Are you in pain?"

Sakura panted heavily, pain still shooting into her head more then she ever had experienced. She put up her hands and in a spur of sheer willpower drove a fist into his stomach. He already had a hand up to block the strike, but still jumped back instinctively. Sakura looked up as she tried to ignore the pain in her head.

"Let's…do…this…"

Lee slowly grinned, putting a hand up and beckoning her to attack him.

* * *

><p>Shizune observed her three students as they attempted to revive their respective animals. In the past three weeks Hinata had impressed her the most, though she attributed that to her interactions with the blonde boy she hung out with. Since she had appeared in their camp a week ago covered in scratches, bruises, two black eyes, significantly less hair and a giant smile, Sakura had improved as well. Both of the girls were attempting to revive small hawks, while the blonde girl next to them was sweating heavily while attempting to heal a small fish. Shizune sighed as she remembered teaching the girls water manipulation in preparation for medical ninjutsu. Ino had gotten the offensive and defensive properties of using the water around her quickly, her naturally fiery disposition oddly effective in understanding the element. The other girls were more defensively orientated, but when they had begun medical training they powered ahead of her.<p>

Shizune wasn't happy with the interactions between Ino and Sakura, but she knew the girls were the best chance for her to continue her master's legacy.

"I got it!" cried the pink-haired girl, letting the hawk fly up and away into the sky.

Shizune smiled as the other two girls saw her success and doubled their efforts. Hinata used her Byakugan to pinpoint the areas to heal, and minutes later she watched with pride as her hawk flew away. Ino swore under her breath and worked harder, the chakra flaring over her hands. Sakura walked over to her companion and stared over Ino's shoulder. She scoffed as she noticed Ino's lack of progress.

"Hey, Ino-pig, you missed a spot. Remember you are trying to save the fish, not kill it."

The blonde's hands shook with fury as she cancelled the technique.

She spun around and screamed into Sakura's face, "Shut your goddamn face you wide-forehead ugly child."

Sakura felt her inner rage overwhelm her as she balled a fist. They came an inch from blows before Shizune calmly walked over, grasped the girls by their collars and hoisting them in the air. Compared to Tsunade's outbursts, she could easily handle two little girls, though she'd never admit that while they were thrashing around in her grip she struggled to keep them constrained.

"Let me go!" they both yelled, fists flailing at each other.

Shizune yelled out for help and Lee came bounding up from his training nearby. Through an impressive show of strength, Shizune handed him Sakura with one hand, giving him explicit instructions to not let her go. Lee didn't wish to disrespect Sakura, but seeing her state of mind slid his arms underneath hers from behind and kept her at bay whilst Shizune held onto Ino. Hinata had faded into the background, wanting to leave and talk to Naruto about her success, but couldn't fight against her caring nature.

"Now, I want to know why you two are always at each other's throats."

"Well she…"

"That cow…"

Shizune felt anger rise in her chest but she pushed it back down.

"Enough. One at a time, or I won't teach you anymore and I'll concentrate fully on Hinata."

The two girls forgot their anger for a moment at the threat, both turning their gazes to the timid girl. Hinata backed away slightly, never being comfortable with others staring at her.

"Don't you two dare take your anger out on Hinata. Now, Ino why don't you start?"

The blonde girl glared back at Sakura before taking a deep breath.

"We…were friends as little kids. But forehead-girl here decided she was too good for friendship and ended it."

Sakura thrashed in Lee's arms, but his grip was iron-tight. She knew how strong he was, and how he was relentless when given a task but mentally told herself that she would give him grief during their next session.

"That's a lie, Ino-pig!"

"Then what is the truth, Sakura?" asked her teacher, her grip lessening on the Yamanaka heir.

"I found out that we both liked Sasuke-kun and I…" she let the sentence trail off as she fell limp in Lee's hold.

She remembered the time in the field when she had declared that Ino was her rival in love.

_It seemed so right at the time. But after changing my mind on Sasuke…was I wrong? Did I throw away a friendship for nothing? Am I a horrible person?_

The girls stared at her as Sakura seemed to run through a thousand emotions at once. Finally she looked up and for the first time really looked into her opposite's eyes.

"Ino…I…"

The blonde's eyes widened when Sakura used her name without the insult. She watched in confusion as Sakura reached up and removed her forehead protector. She stared at the leaf symbol before carefully wrapping the headband around her forehead, tightening it around her hair. She smiled sadly as she looked her old friend.

"I know I said that I would only put on this headband when I refused to lose to you as a female ninja. But…I…was wrong."

"Wrong? What…about what?" asked Ino, still not understanding.

Sakura turned to her captor, "Lee-kun, you can let me go. I'm okay now."

Lee shook his head, "That's not for me to say, Sakura-san. You may be calm now, but until Shizune-sensei says otherwise, I won't move."

She stared at Lee's close face, wondering why he seemed unable to look her in the eyes.

She felt an odd smile creep onto her face, _is he nervous? He's still holding onto me, but…_

Shizune coughed to get the pink girl's attention, having let Ino go as it was clear there was more going on then a teenager's quarrel.

"Lee-san, you can let her go."

The green-clad ninja complied, almost too quickly in Hinata's observant eyes. Sakura stepped forward and offered up her right hand palm up to Ino.

"I was foolish. You can have Sasuke, I'm no longer interested. Can…can we be friends again?"

Ino stared at the girl's hand, unsure what to make of it.

She looked up into her green eyes, "You…I don't know Sakura."

Sakura retracted her hand and smiled sadly.

"I didn't expect you to forgive me just like that. You wouldn't be Ino otherwise. But…can we try?"

Seeing how sincere Sakura was, Ino couldn't get angry at her friend anymore. She removed her own protector and put it on her forehead.

"I won't lose to you, Sakura."

She turned to her teacher and gave her the most serious look she could.

"Sensei, can we start again? I think I know where I was going wrong."

Shizune dismissed Lee, summoning another set of animals and scrolls for the girls to practise on. She stared as the girls began their training anew, a new vigour apparent in both the young girls.

_I have absolutely no idea what is going on. But they are improving, so it doesn't matter. Though I should talk to Lee about girls though, or get Gai to talk to him, I think he might be confused._

* * *

><p>"So how are we meant to do this?" asked Naruto, sitting next to Hinata after the group stopped again.<p>

She took a bite of an apple and considered their problem. Most of the group had been working on elemental manipulation, so the two lone wind-affinity users felt left out. None of the Jounin knew anything about wind techniques, Kakashi lamenting the fact that Asuma was no longer with the group as he was the expert on wind-manipulation.

"I don't know, Naruto-kun. Maybe we should think about what wind is like, and try to replicate that?"

Naruto stared at the white-eyed girl before putting on his 'serious' thinking face.

"Wind…um…it uh…"

Hinata swallowed the piece of apple and smiled sweetly at him, before letting out a slight giggle. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, figuring she didn't know either. He stood up and retrieved his sword, unsheathing it and staring at the metal. Hinata joined him and looked in awe at the shiny sword. Each time he had used it she had been more drawn to him, something about him and that sword exuded power.

"You thinking of training with Hirameki?" she asked, almost willing him to do a set so she could watch.

"I was thinking of what the old man said. This sword responds to chakra. What if I tried to do this wind stuff with the sword?"

He indicated for her to stand back and dropped to a stance in his father's scroll.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun" she said with a smile.

He grinned back at her and concentrated. It had been easier then putting chakra into the paper, as his sword also consumed his chakra greedily. He saw a slight blue aura around the blade, though it fluctuated randomly.

"Well that worked" he stated, showing Hinata the blade.

She turned on her Byakugan and gasped as she saw what the blade truly looked like. She had seen Naruto's chakra before, and…other bits of him that she would never admit to seeing, but Hirameki with his chakra attached was stunning. The steel was normal, but all around it were tiny blades that were constantly shifting and firing in different directions.

"That's amazing, Naruto-kun."

He grinned at her and turned back around, "I'm gonna see what I can do with it. Might want to stand back."

She nodded and complied as Naruto held the sword high above his head and swung downwards towards the empty open field. The blue aura dissipated around the sword, but otherwise nothing had changed. Naruto brought up the sword and looked at it with disappointment.

"Well…that sucked."

He turned around and went to say something to Hinata until he saw the look on her face. She still had her Byakugan activated, but her eyes were wider then they had ever been, her mouth simply hanging open.

He cocked his head in curiosity, "Hinata-chan, what is it?"

She turned off her Byakugan and closed her mouth slowly, turning her gaze to Naruto's face.

"A…amazing…"

"What is?" he asked, unable to understand what she was surprised at.

She slowly put up a hand and pointed to the grass where Naruto had swung his sword. He looked over at the field and couldn't see what she was pointing at. "Hinata-chan, there is nothing there." She shook her head, reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, bringing him down to look at the grass closely. At the base of his feet was a very small section of grass that was shorter and darker then the rest of the grass, in a thin straight line extending dozens of feet away from him. He scrunched up his face as he tried to work out what she was getting at, looking at his sword intensely before it finally clicked.

"What…no way…"

She nodded and smiled as wide as she could. He jumped up and punched the air, sheathing Hirameki before throwing his arms around Hinata's shoulders and dancing, forcing the now-blushing girl to dance with him.

"I did it! I did it!"

He let her go but kept his grin as he looked at the hilt of his sword. He then looked back at Hinata who couldn't keep an odd smile from her face; even her hands were beet-red.

"So…what about you, Hinata-chan?"

She looked up and tried to look more composed and failed, "Me, Naruto-kun? What about me?"

"We should think about your wind thing. You don't have a sword like Hirameki. But I was thinking about it, what you did to that guy before might be a clue."

She thought about her previous fight were she had shredded her opponent's tenketsu with pinpoint chakra attacks.

"That…does sound like wind manipulation. Let's go ask Kakashi-sensei, he might know."

Naruto nodded in agreement and offered her his hand. She took it gladly, once again trying and failing to hide her happiness.

* * *

><p>"Naruto-kun, did you need me for something?"<p>

Naruto fidgeted as Hinata came out of her tent. They had stayed in the same place for four days and were going to leave in the morning, so the others were trying to take any moments of relaxation they could.

"Ano…Hinata-chan do you want to go somewhere?"

Hinata looked around at the field they were camped out in, "Where? There aren't many places around here…wait what?"

She blushed as she realised what he had asked her.

"I'd…I'd love to go with you."

Naruto smiled and breathed out in relief.

_Thank god. I was worried for a second there_.

"Where do you want to go, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde ninja smiled, simply offering his hand to her. As she took his hand, she noticed he was dressed slightly differently, and wasn't wearing his forehead protector. She felt a warm feeling flowing through her arm, and as she blinked she gasped as the world flashed into a different background. They were standing at the gate of a small village, Hinata noticing that there was a festival going on.

"Naruto-kun…where are we?"

He led her into the village as he pocketed the paper he had flashed to.

"Remember that village we passed between Tenten's village and the hideout? I put a mark here with a clone, in case we ever needed supplies. The clone told me that the festival was tonight so…"

Hinata smiled when she saw how he couldn't quite get the words out. She released his hand, slung her arm underneath his and leaned onto him.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. But what about the others?"

Naruto tried to ignore the sweet smell of her hair and failed, his heart racing while his mind simply turning blank. Hinata looked up at Naruto's flush red face and smiled.

_He didn't ask any of the others. Naruto-kun…_

Naruto coughed awkwardly and led Hinata to the first stand.

"I…um…thought maybe…well you know we've trained so hard and in a few days…well…"

Hinata padded him on the arm, "It's okay to say you want to spend time together."

"What? I didn't…well…"

She laughed softly and looked at the store he had taken her to.

"Naruto-kun, did you want to…"

He rubbed his head awkwardly as he brought out his wallet, Gama-chan.

"Well it is a festival."

It had taken three stores and several arguments, but Naruto had found an orange kimono that fit his growing form. He waited patiently outside the store where Hinata was getting changed. She had protested when Naruto had bought her kimono, but he had insisted. They only had the clothes they brought with them to Suna; none of them were civilian clothes. He watched as she walked out of the store, a small fan in hand. Hinata got grown over the past month, the time on the road hardening her form but she still made an effort to look like the heiress she was. Naruto was blown away as Hinata smiled at his staring. She wore a light purple kimono with white lining, small flower petals across the sleeves.

_Was she always so…_

"Naruto-kun…you are staring" she said, her hands fidgeting with her fan.

Naruto blinked and coughed as he looked around the festival.

"Anywhere you want to go first?"

He put his arm out in a gesture one of his sensei had shown him. Before he left to complete the plan, Itachi had talked to Naruto about his idea. Apparently his fiancé had loved festivals, and he had been more then happy to talk to Naruto about it. It was a side to his sensei he hadn't seen, but Naruto didn't complain, he was happy for the advice. She took his arm with a smile and pointed over towards the crowd of people.

"Let's go over to those stalls." Naruto nodded and led her through the crowd.

"Naruto-kun, are you okay?"

"Come on Hinata, something like that won't take me down."

The stall attendant coughed to get their attention, "Excuse me sir, you need to collect your prize for winning the competition."

"Right, right, sorry. Ano…I can't decide. Hinata-chan, what do you think?" The white-eyed girl looked over at the prizes and thought about it.

"What about that one, Naruto-kun? You could put it on Hirameki."

Naruto smiled at her thoughtfulness and took the prize she pointed out. It was a small tag that had a crystallised leaf embedded in it.

He pocketed it and led Hinata away, "I'll put it on the hilt. It'll be nice to have a reminder of home."

"I still can't believe you ate twenty-five bowls of ramen."

"I can't believe they didn't ask me to pay. Come on Hinata, we should find something for you to do."

Naruto looked around and say a stall across the main street.

"What about that one? I bet you'd be great at it!"

Hinata began to say something but couldn't as Naruto practically dragged her to the stall.

_He's so enthusiastic. _

The stall was a small game run by a smiling young man holding three cups and a ball. He explained the game to them and demonstrated it to them. Naruto proclaimed that Hinata could easily beat him, and after ten rounds and some heavy swearing by the attendant, she proved him correct even without her bloodline ability.

"That was amazing, Hinata-chan! I couldn't follow it after about the fourth round."

She blushed as she clutched her prize close to her chest. Naruto had been confused at her choice, but seeing her face as she held the plush toy fox he let it go.

_She looks really…with that thing…_

"Ah, Hinata-chan lets go over there. I want to try that one."

They went to a stall near the edge of the festival and Naruto prepared himself for the game.

"Naruto-kun, why did you choose that one?"

Naruto simply gave a smile as he dipped the brush in ink and applied it to the tag. He sealed the tag within the golden pendent and slipped it back into the silver chain.

"Naruto-kun, why did you write a Hiraishin seal on it?"

Naruto looked over at the prize he won, fingering the silver chain.

"Do you want to go somewhere quieter?"

"Sure, Naruto-kun. Lead the way."

They walked away from the festival and up a hill looking over the village. As they sat down Hinata rubbed her sore feet. They had trained all day and walked all night. She gasped as Naruto reached over and put his hands around her neck, unsure what he was doing until he released her and gave her a large grin. Around her neck hung the pendent he won from the stall, the tag with the Hiraishin seal flush against her bare skin.

"Naruto-kun…why..."

Naruto smiled and patted one of her hands, "I thought about it a lot when Itachi-sensei asked me to do…you know. I…didn't have anyone who cared about me as a kid. I didn't know what it was like to care for someone, all I got was cold stares."

"Naruto-kun…" she felt her heart break, reaching out and holding his hand in a tight grip.

"You aren't alone, Naruto-kun."

He smiled and looked straight at her eyes, "I know. That's why I wanted to give you that."

He nodded to the tag that hung around her neck.

"This way, I'll always be able to protect you. No matter where in the world you are, I can find you."

"Naruto-kun…"

She felt herself tear up and forced it back, not wanting to overdo it in front of her crush. She looked up into his smiling face right into his blue-eyes and lost it. She leant over and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tighter then she ever had. He was surprised by her hug, but returned it just as tightly.

"Hinata-chan, can I confess something?"

She released him and smiled sweetly at him, though she kept a hold of his arm as she leant onto his shoulder.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?"

He rubbed her hands softly, "I…I don't know how to say this…"

"Take your time. You'll get there."

Naruto looked out over the village as he thought of what they had been preparing for.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan. I'm happy you are here with me."

They spent a while just sitting there, until Naruto finally figured out how to say what he wanted to say.

"Hinata-chan, I'm going to tell you something, but I'm afraid you might think less of me for it."

"Naruto-kun, I could never…"

"I'm scared, Hina-chan."

_Hina-chan! No, concentrate Hinata. Concentrate._

She pulled out his arm from her and put it around her shoulder, resting her head on his chest.

"I know, Naruto-kun."

He looked down at her with surprise, "You know?"

She smiled and closed her eyes, "Even without the Byakugan, you can't fool me. I know that smile of yours."

He grinned and put up his hands, "Yeah, I guess you are right…"

"It's natural to be scared."

"Not for me. I'm Naruto Uzumaki! The son of the fourth Hokage. I'm meant to be excitable, happy, always ready to fight. But…"

She leant back and looked at his face.

"We'll protect you, Naruto-kun. You don't need to be afraid. We will give our lives to defend yours."

She snuggled into his chest, "I'll protect you. No-one is going to take my Naruto away."

He felt his heart leap at her statement, overwhelming warmth running through his body. He wanted to say more, but when he looked down he saw that Hinata had fallen asleep on his chest. Her purple kimono rose and fell with her breathing as she still held onto his hand.

_This…isn't bad at all. Is this what Itachi-sensei was talking about? She looks so…peaceful. I think I'll just stay here for a while. Though this damn rock in my butt is killing me…_

Naruto laid the petite girl onto her mattress, pulling a blanket over her purple kimono with care.

"You've had a long day, haven't you?" he whispered, before pulling back the door to her tent and walked out to their campsite.

He wanted to spend more time just sitting with her, but he had lost a bet to Shikamaru so he was on guard duty. He relieved Shino from the outskirts and set up his clones to cover the area after changing.

"Naruto-kun."

The original leapt up and almost drove a kunai into the speaker's head before realising who it was. He sighed and put away his weapon.

"Sensei, you scared me!"

The cloaked Uchiha smiled at the blonde, "There is a gap in your defence line."

"What? Where? Damnit, you clones have failed me!"

The clones around him protested but fell in line as the original glared at them.

"You didn't cover underground routes. An enemy could attack the group from within."

Naruto thought about it and dispersed his clones.

"Thanks for the advice. Is it time?"

Itachi created a clone and gave it a scroll from his cloak. The clone nodded and walked over to Kakashi's tent.

"Yes, it is. The hideout is a day's journey, but I need to 'kidnap' you now."

Naruto sighed again, "Couldn't get one more day huh?"

Itachi placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder, "Be glad you got that time with the Hyuuga girl. If this doesn't work, at least you have a nice memory to go with."

He felt a blush as he remembered the festival.

"Were…did you wait for us to come back?"

Itachi said nothing, but Naruto knew that his sensei had given him that time.

He nodded in acknowledgement, "Thank you, Itachi-sensei. It…uh…meant a lot to me."

"Remember these times, Naruto-kun. I know from experience, good things don't last."

He turned on his Sharingan and indicated for Naruto to follow. The blonde gave him a signal to wait, creating a clone before nodded for him to proceed. The clone ran towards a familiar looking tent, pulled away the door and entered. He knelt down and looked at the sleeping figure.

_She looks so peaceful. I don't want to interrupt her sleep, but I don't think she'd ever forgive me if I left without saying goodbye._

He watched the blanket raise and fall, seeing the sweet smile on her face as she clutched at the edge of her pillow.

He leant down and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hina-chan. Wake up Hina-chan."

She shifted in her sleep, reaching up and grasping his hand before bringing it down to her face and rubbing it with her cheek.

"No…Naruto-kun…I'm still innocent…give me back my pants…we can't…okay but we have to be quiet…no not there…"

_What the hell is she dreaming?_

He leant down and whispered into her ear, "Hina-chan, I have to go."

That brought her out of her sleep, reaching up and throwing her arms around his neck.

"You can't…" she looked at his eyes before releasing him, covering her cold body with the blanket.

"You're a clone. You've already left, haven't you?"

The clone smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Hina-chan. Itachi-sensei said we couldn't wait."

She pouted but let it go, still clutching the clone's hand tightly.

"I understand. Doesn't mean I'll forgive you."

Down the road Naruto felt the clone's experiences return a few minutes later. He blushed red and couldn't keep a smile off his face. Itachi noticed the change in Naruto's demeanour and stopped him.

"Did you get a goodbye kiss?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"That's a yes. Okay, I'll put you under the genjutsu now that you and your girlfriend are done."

"She's not my…shut up."

Itachi waved a hand over Naruto's face, his knowledge of genjutsu such that he didn't even need seals to place Naruto under a controlling illusion. The blonde's eyes lost their spark as Naruto became stiff and nonresponsive.

"Come Naruto-kun. Time to see if this'll work."

* * *

><p>Itachi reached the Akatsuki hideout with Naruto silently marching next to him.<p>

A figure appeared from a tree next to the entrance, "Itachi-san, did you have to do it that way?"

Itachi stared at the tall figure with his Sharingan, not willing to chance anything with his partner.

"It was the cleanest way to retrieve the Kyuubi, Kisame."

The tall figure walked into view, his blue skin and sharp teeth gleaning in the moonlight.

"But not as fun, Itachi-san. Let's just get this over with. I heard the Four-tails has shown up in the Land of Earth, and you know how I get."

Itachi ignored his partner and walked into the cave, Naruto following him obediently. Inside was a large opening with a massive statue already summoned and prepared to go.

"Itachi. Good of you to join us. Is the Kyuubi in good condition?" asked a distorted voice, belonging to an image Itachi knew well.

He kept the genjutsu layered on the leader, his great doujutsu unable to break Itachi's illusion. The ripple-pattern eyes stared at him as Kisame who had followed him inside, Samehada sitting on his back.

Kisame gave a grin, "Itachi didn't let me shave him up."

A figure on top of one of the statue's fingers gave the pair a harsh look, "There are no marks on him at all. Itachi, you impress me."

The Akatsuki pair walked Naruto to the middle of the opening and took their places.

Itachi looked at all the open spaces, "Where are the others?"

The leader looked over at him with his hands in a seal.

"Zetsu has not responded to my call. We are to assume he is either out of contact range or dead. The others will be here shortly."

Itachi turned around slowly as he saw several figures walking slowly towards the statue.

_T__hey aren't meant to be here._

The blonde cloaked figure sighed as he saw the condition of the host.

"Damnit Itachi, not a scratch on him. You and that damn Sharingan."

A short image on the left thumb scoffed behind its mask, "Shut your mouth, Deidara. You are the youngest member of Akatsuki, show some respect."

The blonde felt his anger rising as he jumped to his position.

"Don't give me that crap, Sasori-danna. If you were here my art would blow you to pieces!"

The other two ignored the young blonde and slowly took their positions.

Kisame laughed as he watched the other two, "The zombie-combo graces us with their presence finally."

The grey haired scythe-wielder scoffed at the shark man's comment.

"You're just jealous you shit-head. Jashin will eat you for breakfast and shit out whiting."

His partner glared at him through his green eyes, "Hidan, enough. Keep talking and I'll kill you."

"Bah, like you could, Kakuzu. Let's get this shit over with, I need to pray."

The others let the arguments go, preparing their hands for the sealing. Itachi looked at Naruto and commanded him to lie down and shut his eyes.

_Now Naruto-kun, we will see if your Uzumaki heritage makes this plan work._

* * *

><p>Naruto opened his eyes to a new world, not the cave that he was expecting. He stood in ankle deep water surrounded by large stone walls; large pipes ran along the roof and floor. His attention was drawn to a loud growling of in the distance.<p>

_This sound…is it…_

He began to run into the darkness, finally making it to the end of the corridor. Naruto was confronted by a giant wall of iron bars, with a large piece of paper keeping a large lock contained. The growling turned into a roar of pain as the bars began to glow an ominous red.

_This is…this must be the Kyuubi's cage._

"I suppose this is goodbye. I can't say it's been a pleasure" he said, tapping the bars with his foot.

The roaring continued, seemingly ignoring Naruto as the seal began to fluctuate and weaken. After a few minutes Naruto realised that he wasn't going anywhere. Itachi told him the sealing could take days.

_What am I meant to do in here for days? I can't train, can't talk to anyone_.

"This is not what I expected."

Naruto heard the voice behind him, turning immediately to find himself confronted by two figures.

"He's kind of short, Minato."

"Don't blame me for that, he's got your face."

"But he got your hair."

Naruto immediately recognised the man, but it took him a few moments before the connection clicked and he realised who the red-headed woman was.

"You guys…"

The blonde man smiled as Naruto began to tear up, while the woman gave a wide grin. The teenager ran towards the couple and embraced them with the hug he had waited his whole life for. They hugged for what seemed like an eternity, before Naruto released them and wiped his eyes.

"Not to spoil the moment, but how are you guys here?"

Minato looked back over to the cage, "I'm not sure. The seal was made so that we would help you control the Kyuubi. But the seal is breaking, and I can't tell why."

Naruto grinned, "Oh, the Kyuubi is being extracted from me."

"WHAT?" yelled his mother, her hair flailing in her distress.

Naruto stepped back, intimidated by his crazy-looking mother.

_I get what you used to talk about Shikamaru. Mothers are crazy_.

Minato placed a calming hand on her shoulder, "Kushina, calm down. Naruto, how did this happen?"

"It's part of a plan to get rid of the Kyuubi. Apparently the Kyuubi will be destroyed where it is going."

"And like your mother, you will survive the extraction. Clever."

Naruto rubbed his neck, embarrassed at his father's praise.

"It wasn't my plan."

He kicked at the sewer water, "Is there anywhere in here more pleasant?"

Kushina looked beneath them, her face screwing up as she saw the water damage on her skirt.

"I'm sure there is something we can do about this."

Minato raised his hand, "Anywhere in particular?"

Naruto thought about it.

"There is…somewhere I've always wanted to be."

"This is delicious!"

Minato laughed as his son continued to stuff his face.

"Your mother's cooking is the best in all of Konoha."

"Do you guys want more fish?" yelled out Kushina, wiping her hands on her apron as she washed up in the kitchen.

Minato smiled as his wife, "I think we are full, Kushina. What do you think Naruto?"

The blonde teenager looked over at his smiling father with a mouth full of noodles, "I can always eat more."

His redheaded mother grinned as she put down a plate of fish in front of her son, before smacking him on the head.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

Naruto winced and rubbed his head, swallowing his food quickly.

"Sorry…Mum."

Minato laughed, and Naruto couldn't help but be filled with happiness.

_This is what I've always wanted_.

Kushina sat down next to her husband and took his hand.

"So, Naruto. Are there any ladies in your life?"

"Kushina! He can't be more then 13."

"I'm 14, Dad" responded Naruto, his face betraying a slight blush at his mother's question.

"We were his age when we fell in love, or have you forgotten already?"

"I haven't forgotten, Kushina. But we can't expect him to have met someone already."

Naruto thought about their previous conversation, he had given them details of most of his adventures. The advantage of the sealing taking days was that he had been given something he never had before, time with his parents.

Kushina glared at her husband, "Why not? He keeps mentioning this Hyuuga girl, what about her Naruto?"

"Me and Hinata-chan? That's…" stuttered Naruto, his hands idly playing with his chopsticks.

Kushina grinned and reached over, poking Naruto's face, "Aww, Hinata-chan! What's she like? Is she a good kisser?"

"Mum!"

"Kushina, don't embarrass the boy."

The odd family laughed and talked for hours after that. Naruto talked extensively with his father about the Hiraishin, his father stating several times how impressed he was that Naruto had mastered the initial stage of the jutsu in a week.

"But I always throw up after about three or four times."

He and his father were sparring in a grass field as his mother watched them with a picnic basket.

"Have you considered not using chakra?"

"What? How is that even possible?"

Naruto ducked under his father strike and created several clones before falling back.

"Kage Bunshin? You are definitely my son."

"You used Kage Bunshin, Dad?"

Minato smiled before vanishing, taking out all of the clones in a second with a thrown Hiraishin kunai.

"No, I never had the chakra capacity for it. But learning high level jutsu, that was my thing."

Naruto flashed to the kunai in his father's hand and kicked him towards Kushina.

She laughed as Minato picked himself up from the ground, "He got you, Minato."

"You are a good fighter Naruto. What I was saying is that the next level of Hiraishin is not using chakra at all, so you don't feel the after-effects."

"How do I do that? I've already got the seal tattooed on my chest."

He showed his father his tattoo, who looked at it with approval.

"Crude, definitely efficient. What I did was store a massive amount of chakra…"

"That was taken from me!" called out Kushina, absentmindedly brushing her red hair.

"…that was taken from your mother, and stored it in the seal."

Naruto continued to spar with his father, trying out some different techniques that he'd learnt from the previous week's training.

"No, I tried that. I don't have the control to keep it there; it kept sending me into the sky."

Minato gave a short laugh, "I remember that. There is no experience like falling at 500 feet."

They finished up their fight and joined Kushina, picking up their conversation where they left off.

"So I won't be able to complete Hiraishin then?" said Naruto, depressed that he'd never be able to complete his father's technique.

Minato took a bite out of an apple and slowly stroked Kushina's hair as she slept soundlessly on his lap.

"She's always quiet when she sleeps. When she's awake she's always talking…"

He looked over at his son, "If you can't do that, no. Well…not my version."

Naruto watched his parents with a smile; _they love each other so much._

"Huh?"

Minato thought about the creation of his token jutsu.

"I don't think you were meant to know Hiraishin."

Seeing his son's depressed look, he quickly continued "But I've thought about your problem, and I think I have a solution. You should make your own Hiraishin."

"My…my own Hiraishin? But how?"

Minato shrugged and smiled as Kushina shifted in her sleep, "No idea. But you know what, Naruto? You are my son. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Naruto nodded with his usual enthusiasm, and then noticed that the outline of his parents had begun to fade.

"Hey Dad…"

Minato looked at his fading arm and smiled sadly, stroking Kushina's hair. He wanted to wake her, but they had already said their goodbyes to their son in the knowledge that the extraction could finish at any time.

"I guess time's up."

He looked at his son with pride, "I've never been as proud as I am right now. You are our son, and we love you."

Naruto gave his father a sad smile, his eyes already beginning to tear up.

"Oh and Naruto, one small bit of advice. Well, two. Talk to this Hinata girl. If you think you can like her, don't let her go."

He looked down at Kushina's peaceful face, "A woman's love…well it's indescribable."

Naruto thought about those white eyes and felt a familiar twinge.

"I…think I understand. What was the other thing?"

His parents continued to fade, as the world around them began to disappear. Minato looked at his son through his bright blue eyes.

"The last thing…oh that's right."

He smiled and winked as the last sections faded away.

"Grow your bangs out. Girls love long spiky yellow hair."

With that, his parents vanished as did the world, leaving only a white background for Naruto to sit in. He laughed at his father's last statement, and felt happy in the knowledge that his parents did love and care for him.

_Now comes the hard part, I suppose_ he thought, as a huge spike of pain hit him in the chest.

* * *

><p>The final piece of red chakra floated out of Naruto's mouth into the Gedo Mazo statue, causing the ninth eye to open completely. Naruto's body slowly drifted to the ground as the giant statue began to shake.<p>

"Oi oi, is the statue meant to be doing that?" asked Deidara, the imager on his covered eye taking rapid notice of small cracks appearing at its base.

Itachi said nothing in response, but as the statue's integrity began to collapse he dispersed into his murder of crows, swooping down and retrieving Naruto's body before flying out of the cave. He paid no attention to the group behind him, focused entirely on getting Naruto to the others in time.

"He's coming!" yelled Neji, his posting as a sentry natural due to his Byakugan.

"Are there pursuers, young student?" asked Gai, readying himself for battle.

Neji concentrated his sight on the crows approaching them, "None that I can see, but Itachi does appear to be moving faster then we thought."

Gai gave a hand signal to Shizune, who had finished preparing a gurney and was giving orders to her girls. She nodded in acknowledgement and took out a small needle, preparing for the worst. The crows flew through the Konoha ninja formation and into the medic circle, reforming into the elder Uchiha. He placed Naruto's body from his hands to the gurney tenderly before nodded to Shizune and running back to the other ninja.

"Sakura, Ino, begin healing his internal organs. Hinata run your chakra through his circulatory system, make sure there are no blockages."

The girls nodded and began their duties as Shizune drove her needle into Naruto's neck before clasping her hands together.

_Come on Naruto, hang in there_.

Hinata kept her hands on Naruto's chest, using her chakra as Shizune instructed her to.

_Naruto-kun…I can't lose you… _

They continued to operate on Naruto until Shizune placed her hands on his neck.

_Come on…come on…_

She felt a slight movement on her fingertips.

Then another.

"I've got a pulse!"

Itachi joined the defending ninja and readied his Sharingan.

"How bad is it?" asked Kakashi, his Sharingan already revealed.

They watched as four figures appeared in the field in front of them.

"It's very bad."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

I feel kind of bad for not having Kushina rant at Naruto when they were disappearing, but I thought the scene was too nice to spoil. And I know Hidan joined the Akatsuki just before Shippuden, but I wanted a known face for the fourth Akatsuki member. I also prefer Sakura with the protector on her forehead, so that's where it will be.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Students of the Snake by brown phantom. A fascinating story with a very unique premise. What if Orochimaru was good, and raised Naruto? Well-written, and a big harem, if you are into that sort of thing. Lots of bloodline powers as well. Highly recommended.


	6. Chapter 6 Defence

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 6 – Defence

**A/N**: You guys are awesome. I never expected to get 50 reviews, I'm so happy you guys are enjoying my story. I've decided to write the side story of the Chuunin Exams in Suna. I'll still be aiming to release this story weekly, so I'll work on it when I can. It'll be a reasonable length too, because there are lots of things I'm leaving out of this story that happened in Suna.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Kakashi would use more of his 'Thousand Jutsus'

* * *

><p>"It's worse then we feared" said Itachi looking out at the open field.<p>

"How bad?" asked Kakashi, his Sharingan already revealed.

The others were ready to defend Naruto with their lives, knowing that their opponent would be a very powerful criminal. They watched as four shadows jumped into the field to confront the remaining Konoha ninja.

"Very bad" responded Itachi, staring at his former partner.

Kisame bared his teeth at the Uchiha betrayer, removing Samehada from his back and pointing it at the Sharingan user.

"Itachi is mine."

The three other Akatsuki members looked at the large shark man before conceding the point.

"There appear to be a large gathering of insects before us" said the tall Akatsuki member, the ring on his left hand reading _Hoku _(North).

"Of course there are you bastard, why do you think the shit-head sent us here?" said the grey haired scythe-wielder, his ring reading _San_ (Three).

Deidara sighed as the two immortals argued with each other.

"Kakuzu, Hidan, focus on the enemy, hn. If they survived Konoha, they are worth blowing up, hn."

Hidan glared at the blonde shinobi, "Don't start going on about that art bullshit, I'll cut your face open and piss down your throat."

"Do they always argue like this?" asked Kakashi, wondering why the criminals hadn't attacked them yet.

"Most of the time. It's a wonder we got anything done at all" said Itachi with a sigh.

"Kakashi-sensei, we aren't ready to take on four of them" said Shikamaru.

Neji stared at the four cloaked figures with his Byakugan, startled by what he saw. All four of the Akatsuki members had monstrous levels of chakra, even the blonde one who couldn't be more then 16.

"We can't fight them, they would overpower us instantly" he said, taking a step back as even his pride wouldn't stop him from fearing their opponents.

Shikamaru shook his head and bit a nail nervously, taking a moment before setting down his hands into his favourite pose. Itachi continued to stare at his former teammate but could feel the fear in his comrades.

"We can't flee. They would catch us immediately at this range. No, we must fight them now."

At the other side of their defensive line, Shizune sighed in relief as Naruto began to breathe on his own. The girls had repaired most of Naruto's internal damage, and Shizune had sent Ino and Sakura to the others. She had ordered Hinata to go as well, but the young girl spent a few minutes alone with Naruto's unconscious body before reluctantly joining her teacher. Her eyes widened as she saw their opponents, who were still arguing with each other.

"Shizune-sensei, what are we going to do? Naruto-kun can't be moved yet."

The black-haired medic removed a needle from her sleeve and held it up defensively.

"I'm not sure, Hinata. Itachi said that each member is a powerhouse, we can't take them lightly."

"I've got it."

Shikamaru sat up and removed six kunai, two smoke bombs and a flash bomb. He began to give instructions to the rest of the group, aware that a lot was riding on his plan. Across from the line of shinobi, the three Akatsuki members continued to bicker until Kisame had had enough. He slammed Samehada into the ground before snarling loudly.

"Enough wasted time. Itachi must be shredded; no small fish will stop me."

Hidan reached back and retrieved his scythe, wrapping the cord around his arm, "I want the lion's share of the kills. Jashin has been disappointed of late, and I haven't reached my quota for children this week."

His partner ignored the subtle insult the Akatsuki member had given him, his green eyes regarding their opponents with interest. The ponytail boy seemed to have purpose in his eyes, given whispered instructions to the adults before starting a set of seals.

"Deidara…"

The blonde looked at the Konoha ninja before shoving his hands into the bags on each side of his waist. He grinned as he removed his hands and squeezed them tightly.

"Let's show them what real art is, hn."

He threw the objects in his hands towards the ninja, the white blobs forming into small white birds that zipped towards the Nara heir.

Deidara put up a single hand and grinned, "Art is a bang!"

The lazy genius realised what the missiles were and yelled out for the group to scatter as Deidara yelled out his favourite phrase.

"KATSU!"

The group scattered as the two birds exploded, shaking the trees behind the group as the blonde grinned wildly. The Akatsuki members shot forward, each pursuing a separate group of Konoha ninja as they were split apart by Deidara's explosions. Kisame honed in on his target, throwing Samehada towards him as he swiftly ran through a water jutsu seal set.

Deidara put a hand out and smiled as a tongue protruded from it, spitting out white clay that formed into a small hawk. He put up his seal and leapt up into the air as the clay transformed into a large hawk, launching itself into the air as the young blonde landed on its head. Using his imager he looked around and pinpointed a small group of ninja off to the south, sending himself towards them while preparing more clay with his mouth-hands. Hidan yelled out wildly and began powering towards a group that was still recovering, two of them healing the other two. Kakuzu balled his fists and began to walk towards the shinobi that had piqued his interest, his jacket moving unnaturally over his arms and chest.

* * *

><p>Kisame vs. Itachi<p>

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I did once tell you to be wary of me."

The shark man snarled as he levelled Samehada against the elder Uchiha. Itachi had his Sharingan focused on Kisame's beady eyes, remembering the battles they had fought together, how Kisame shredded his enemies. He reached into his cloak slowly before producing a kunai.

"I also told you that anyone who raises a hand against a comrade never dies a decent death."

Kisame laughed as he remembered the meeting, "You also said that we don't find out who we really are until the very end. Tell me something, Itachi."

He motioned his free hand around the giant bubble of water he had created around them.

"Do you know who you are yet?"

Itachi took a moment to consider a battle plan, not willing to get sucked into Kisame's barbs. In an unnoticeable flicker he grabbed several shuriken from his free hand and flung them at Kisame. The shark man grinned as he blocked the projectiles with his blade, disappointed with the display.

"Come now, Itachi. You know that won't work on me."

Itachi stared at his failed attack, closing his eyes slowly as he faced off against the Akatsuki member. Kisame's grin disappeared when he saw Itachi's eyes open slowly, a familiar set of eyes regarding him. Kisame knew a lot about his former partner's techniques and had seen his Sharingan in action. He felt Samehada's chakra run through his arm and his grin returned. Tsukuyomi would be useless against him, but Itachi didn't know that. He glared at the pinwheels and scowled, suddenly bored at the exchange. He switched Samehada to his other hand and began running at Itachi. The Sharingan-wielder brought up his kunai in defence but as Samehada slid towards him he burst into a murder of crows.

Kisame stood amidst the crows, reaching out and attempting to grab one before noticing that the crows were making no noise. His hand passed straight through the crow, an odd shift came out of his peripheral vision as Itachi reformed himself away from Kisame. He turned around and regarded his opponent, no longer feeling the chakra from his blade.

"This is Tsukuyomi" he stated, unsure as to how Itachi had trapped him in the genjutsu.

'Itachi' shook his head as he began to replace dozens of times around Kisame.

"There are more subtle illusions that you would not comprehend."

"How did you get past Samehada's chakra? I've never had an issue with genjutsu in the past."

Hundreds of 'Itachi's regarded Kisame through their pinwheel Sharingans. None of them were wielding weapons, but the shark-man knew that Itachi's strongest weapons were his eyes, and he was at a massive disadvantage within Itachi's world.

"Your reliance on Samehada is an exploitable weakness, Kisame. You might be immune to genjutsu…"

Kisame looked down as the blade in his hand fluctuated and thrashed before disappearing from his grasp.

"…but your blade is not."

Kisame brought up his now-empty hand and his eyes narrowed.

"Clever, Itachi. But…"

He brought his arm up to his mouth and bit down hard, his razor sharp teeth making short work of his blue skin. All the 'Itachi's sighed as they dissipated slowly, the world around him crumbling before cracking and shattering to thousands of small pieces. Kisame looked back down at his arm, satisfied that Samehada was back in his hand. His arm had been partially wrecked, but he had broken Itachi's genjutsu.

He grinned and looked up at the stiff Uchiha ninja, "You should have expected that, Itachi. Now what will you do?"

His opponent said nothing, he didn't even move as Kisame went to charge him again. Itachi slowly let a smile creep onto his face as Kisame's blade took him in the neck, severing his head from his body. Kisame's face was sprayed with blood as Itachi's body struck the ground, his head bouncing away from his feet. He took a moment to revel in the pleasure of killing a comrade before reaching down and grabbing the black-haired shinobi's head.

"That was too easy, Itachi. You should have kept me in that illusion."

"You still talk too much, Kisame."

* * *

><p>Deidara vs. Kakashi, Neji, Sakura and Lee<p>

From his high position Deidara finally found the four ninja he had been following. They had fled quickly from his first assault, but on his clay hawk he caught up to the Konoha ninja. The imager on his left eye zoomed in on the tallest one until he saw the Jounin's eyes.

He frowned as he saw the single red eye, "Another damn Sharingan. It's a damn plague."

On the ground the group had stopped running, seeing that their enemy had caught up to them but still hid with the trees as cover.

"Kakashi-sensei, he's a long range fighter."

"I see that, Lee" replied Kakashi, internally wondering how Itachi could have miscalculated so badly.

Sakura held her kunai with shaking hands, the explosions that had followed them had shaken her. Lee reached over and grasped her wrist, looking straight into her green eyes.

"It's okay, Sakura-san. Just remember that we are fighting for Naruto-kun. For all of us."

She smiled and nodded, her hands still shaking but she felt a little better. One tree over Neji stared at Deidara's aerial position with his Byakugan.

"That…thing he's riding is made up of chakra. The same stuff he has been throwing at us."

Kakashi nodded, before signalling the group to move as another small bird flew towards them before exploding violently. Above them Deidara took a calculation of how much clay he had in his bags.

_More then enough to take care of them. I need to keep my favourite for Itachi._

Frustrated as he continued to miss the group he swallowed a large portion of clay with his right hand before melding it between both of his hand-mouths. Neji's white eyes widened when he saw how much chakra was stuffed into the clay he was making.

"We've got to move" he yelled, the group following him as a small eagle honed in on the group.

"We aren't going to make it, Kakashi-sensei!" called out Lee, knowing he would be able to escape with his speed but the others didn't have his training.

Kakashi tapped Sakura on the shoulder before quickly running through a group of seals. She called the group to stop, running through her own set of seals. The eagle got closer as both of the Konoha ninja put their hands up while Deidara formed a handseal.

"Suiton: Bakusui Shouha" (Water Element: Water Wall) said Kakashi, spewing a torrent of water in front of them from a scroll between his hands.

"Suiton: Mizutate" (Water Element: Water Shield) said Sakura, putting her hands on the newly formed water to form a solid dome around the group.

"Katsu!"

The eagle exploded into the reinforced water shield, throwing the ninja back by sheer force. Sakura panted heavily as she Lee helped her up from the ground. If her sensei hadn't used his water technique, she would never have had enough water to use hers, and they might have died she figured.

"We can't keep defending, he'll outlast us" said Neji, his Byakugan showing him the amount of clay hidden within Deidara's bags. Kakashi swore as he tried to concentrate on the flying enemy.

"I know. But I'm the only long-range fighter in our group."

Lee reached back and removed his staff before tapping it on the ground.

"If you can bring him a little bit closer to the ground, Neji-kun and I can attack him while Sakura defends us with her water techniques."

Kakashi thought about it before nodding grimly. He indicated to Neji and Lee to prepare themselves as he ran through a set of seals.

"I can't promise anything, but he'll at least be moving."

He looked up at the clear sky and pointed a fist upwards.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu" (Fire Element: Great Dragon Fire Technique)

A giant dragon of fire raged towards Deidara, who laughed as he flew away from the blast. He ducked and weaved as Kakashi sent several more upwards at him. Kakashi ran through another set of seals before smiling at Sakura.

"Here's all the water you'll ever need Sakura."

She looked him confused before her mind clicked and she looked up into the sky. The spaces in the sky where Kakashi's fire techniques had dissipated, small clouds forming above their personal battlefield.

Kakashi finished his seals with a hand over his fist, "Suiton: Uramiame." (Water Element: Grudge Rain)

Deidara sighed as he saw what the Sharingan-user was doing. He felt the rain slam into his hair and cloak from the clouds above.

_I hate the rain_.

He wanted to fly out of it, his explosions would be less artistic in the rain, but his opponents wouldn't indulge his luxury. Lee sighed as well as the rain hit his hair, destroying his perfect bowl-cut hair.

"Kakashi-sensei, he isn't getting closer to us. If anything, he's getting farther away."

Having worked with Kakashi in the past, Sakura simply smiled and indicated for Lee to prepare himself.

"Lee-kun, in a few seconds you'll need to attack quickly. Try to avoid that dangerous clay."

Lee was sceptical, but trusted Sakura nevertheless.

Kakashi drew onto a large portion of his chakra before placing both hands up in the air, "Raiton: Raikouarashi." (Lightning Element: Lightning Storm)

Deidara swore as lightning began to strike between the clouds and the ground, loud crashes hurting his ears.

_If that lightning hits my clay, I'm through. Shit, why did I choose these ones as my opponents? No artistic appreciation at all._

He ordered his hawk to take him out of the hazardous lightning field, but found that every time he neared the edge he had to fall back as the lightning strikes became more accurate. Kakashi strained at the enormous chakra requirements as he kept up the lightning field.

"Go! Strike while he swoops low!"

Neji began running towards Deidara's closest position, while Lee hesitated.

"You…um…we aren't going to hit…right?"

He looked over at his teacher concerned before buckling back as Sakura lightly 'tapped' him on the head.

"Lee-kun, if you don't go after the enemy, I'm going to ban you from training for a week!"

Lee stared at the pink-haired girl in horror, "You…wouldn't!"

Feeling an odd sense of courage around her temporary tutor, Sakura pointed at Neji's advancing form.

"I would. Now go!"

Collecting himself from the ground and picking up his staff, Lee rubbed his head before smiling slowly and saluting her stiffly.

"Yes, ma'am."

As he ran off, Sakura screamed out in rage, "DON'T CALL ME MA'AM!"

It took all the concentration he had, but Kakashi was able to avoid hitting the two close-combat attackers as they waited until Deidara was close enough before they flew into the air towards him. Deidara was still concentrating on not getting by lightning, and didn't see the two jumping ninja until they were right in front of him.

"Konoha Buin Senpuu!"

"Jyuuken!" (Gentle Fist Strike)

Both strikes hit him at the same time, but to the two Genin's dismay his form collapsed into mud. They both landed onto the hawk, before Neji reached over and grabbed Lee by the collar, throwing him off the hawk with himself as he saw with his Byakugan the chakra concentrating inside it. They got to the tree line just as the hawk exploded, the shockwave slamming them into the ground nearby Sakura and Kakashi, who had just cancelling his technique. Sakura prepared a small bubble of the surrounding water to cushion their fall, helping Lee back down as he picked up his fallen staff. A short distance away on the ground, Deidara removed one hand from a bag of clay before slowly placing it onto the ground.

"Art comes in many forms, hn" he muttered, before putting his other hand into a bag to make another bird.

* * *

><p>Hidan vs. Shizune, Shino, Hinata and Sasuke<p>

Levelling his scythe at them, Hidan took a glance over the four shinobi who he had caught up with.

"A little girl, an emo, a creep and a dyke. Jashin I apologise for this pittance of an offering."

The four Konoha shinobi all reacted differently to Hidan's barbs. Shino's eyes darkened and he felt his bugs flicker in anger, though it was more about the fact that the grey-haired enemy was underestimating them. Hinata kept her Byakugan concentrated on the enemy, keeping her cool though secretly she was hurt at the attack on her height.

Sasuke didn't care about being called an emo, more concerned about the injury to his side taken by Deidara's explosion. It had been healed best it could, but Sasuke had lost a lot of chakra in the process. Shizune felt odd at being called a dyke, though it wasn't the first time considering her travels with Tsunade. Hidan fingered his chain, whispering a prayer to his god before swearing his declaration of faith and grasping his weapon with both hands.

"Well, I guess it's time. Pray as I send you to Jashin! LET'S GO CRAZY!"

"Is he insane?" asked Hinata, sensing no disturbances in her opponent's chakra flow.

"Probably" replied Shizune.

Not one to stand on ceremony, Sasuke's hands sped through seals before activating his Sharingan. His arm was covered in the chirping bird sounds as he powered his legs and sped towards Hidan. His eyes kept an eye on Hidan's movements, ducking under the wild swing of the scythe before driving his hand into Hidan's chest.

"Chidori!"

Hidan screamed out and coughed blood over Sasuke's arm. The Uchiha smiled smugly, disappointed that the Akatsuki member had fallen so easily.

"Ahh, that's a different feeling. Never been electrocuted before. Very unique."

Sasuke looked up in horror as Hidan reached up and grasped Sasuke's wrist. He pulled up his scythe and stared at Sasuke's Sharingan through his purple eyes.

"Young one, I want you to do something for me. Scream. Jashin will judge your worthiness based on your scream."

He went to slice off Sasuke's head but was forced to jump backwards while releasing the Uchiha's arm as Shizune sliced at his face with a kunai. She yelled at Sasuke to step back as she fired off several needles from her arm contraption. Not being an idiot, Hidan blocked the needles with his scythe, wincing as he felt the cut across his cheek.

"Damnit, that hurt you damn bitch! I think I'll slaughter you first. Maybe your smooth skin will give Jashin something nice to stick his…"

_Does he always keep going like this? Even Tsunade's rants weren't this bad. _

Shizune kept her distance from the wild foe, wary that she was way out of her league.

"How did he survive my attack?" asked Sasuke, knowing that he had struck the Akatsuki member's heart.

Shino turned his head to his fellow Team Eight member, "What do you see?"

Hinata looked closer at the hole in Hidan's chest, her Byakugan see nothing unordinary besides the gap.

"His heart is still beating. You missed, Sasuke-san."

He scowled and pulled out a kunai, not taking the Hyuuga's word for it. Hinata looked around the battlefield, trying to see how the other groups were doing but her range of vision was significantly smaller then Neji's. She did however notice the small chakra signals that were circling around their opponent. She turned her head to Shino who gave her the most inconspicuous of nods. She smiled and kept her distance, her orders from Shizune keeping her behind the others.

Being Shizune's apprentice, she knew she would be better served keeping the others alive with her newly-acquired medical techniques. Shizune kept firing needles at Hidan, who worked out that the needles were poisoned and it was a good idea to avoid them, her constant attacks keeping him from attacking. Sasuke placed his hands to his lips and brought his chakra up from his chest before his view was blocked by Shino, who glared at his Sharingan through his sunglasses.

Sasuke put down his hands, "Get out of my attack line, Shino."

"No" was the tactile reply.

Sasuke's anger boiled to the surface, running through the seals for his technique again before Shino reached down and grabbed his hands.

"I do not like explaining myself, Uchiha Sasuke. Patience."

"To hell with your patience. Shizune can't keep him occupied for long."

Shino nodded and pointed over at the duelling shinobi. Shizune grinned as she dodged Hidan's scythe and jumped backwards, her hands flicking under her sleeves at Hidan's feet. Hinata had thrown a set of shuriken at Hidan's face, forced him to concentrate on blocking that attack. Several needles pinned his feet to the ground as Hidan called out in pain.

"Argh! That hurt, you bitch! Damn jumping around whore!"

"Are you ready?" asked Shizune, landing back next to the three Genin.

Shino didn't respond, but placed his hands into a seal and stared at Hidan's thrashing form.

"Hijutsu: Mushidama." (Secret Technique: Insect Sphere)

Hidan noticed the buzzing around him all too late as the air turned a dark black with a blanket of insects.

"What the fu…" was all he could respond with before being covered in the insects, sucking his chakra frantically.

"Get these shits off me!"

His body was completely covered in the destruction bugs as he dropped his scythe scratching at his face and chest. Despite wearing sunglasses, Shino's eyes widened as he released the technique, calling all his insects back. They immediately came off Hidan and fly back into his jacket, leaving the crazy Akatsuki covered in bug bites.

"That hurt damnit! Damn little bugs, no fun in killing them."

"Shino-kun, why did you call them off?" asked Hinata, not able to see anything with her Byakugan.

The Aburame heir looked at one of the bugs sitting on his hand, "The bugs say his chakra is unnatural. They couldn't stand it."

He turned to the Jounin, "I must apologise, sensei. Why? I won't be particularly useful in this fight if my insects cannot attack."

Shizune looked around before patting the quiet teenager on the shoulder, an action he was thoroughly uncomfortable with but understood the social concept behind the action so he accepted it without a word.

"You don't always need to attack to be useful, Shino-kun."

She looked over behind Hidan, who was recovering his scythe before scratching his face idly.

"Katon: Daiendan." (Fire Element: Great Flame Sphere)

Hidan didn't get a chance to dodge as giant flames consumed him from behind. Sasuke understood why Shino was stopping his attack before, but now that the insects were gone he was free to use his position from behind the cloaked enemy. Hidan screamed out in agony as his cloak and skin burned wildly. Sasuke leapt back to the others and nodded smugly as he watched his target burn.

"Survive that" he muttered, wondering how his brother was faring in his own battle.

"Keep up your guard" warned Hinata, her doujutsu showing her something she had never seen before.

The flames slowly went out as Hidan's body stopped thrashing about. After a few moments his arm twitched slightly. The Konoha shinobi watched in awe and horror as the burned man slowly picked himself up off the ground. His cloak had burnt off completely, but remarkably his skin hadn't taken much damage besides some harsh black burns to his back. He reached down and grasped the chain attached to his scythe slowly before bringing it up to his other hand and cracking his neck painfully.

"Damnit that hurt far too much. Your fire techniques are almost as strong as Kakuzu's, you emo schoolboy. You'll make a nice sacrifice in Jashin's name."

In front of him the shinobi could only stare at their enemy's recovery.

"What the hell is he?" asked Shizune, reloading her sleeve launcher with care.

BREAK

Kakuzu vs. Gai, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino

"...three...four…five…interesting."

The Konoha ninja stood opposite the tall Akatsuki member, who seemed to be in no hurry to attack them. Gai had to keep himself from youthfully attacking the opponent, wary of the fact that the Genin he found himself with hadn't faced a foe of this calibre before. Shikamaru reached back into his pocket and mentally counted how many weapons he had lost in his scramble to escape the clay explosions. Akamaru growled slowly, his master was also suspicious as the ninja dog could tell how strong an opponent was. Kiba bled a little chakra to his nose, immediately regretting as he realised that he has standing next to Gai, who hadn't had a shower in several days.

_When our companion is safe, then I can relax_ he had said.

Kakuzu stared at his opponents through green eyes, finishing his calculations.

"I can get several million for the Jounin; Maito Gai is worth a fair amount to several crime circles. The children though…they are a prize in of themselves."

"Is he talking to himself?" asked Ino, having finished healing a small burn mark on Chouji's face.

Shikamaru shook his head, trying to keep his calm as his shadow snuck underneath the ground towards the tall enemy.

"He's analysing. He's a dangerous foe, we have to be careful."

Kakuzu stared at the ponytailed ninja, "You must be the Nara heir. Clever, yet unoriginal."

He slammed a fist into the ground beneath his feet, sending a shockwave outwards as the ground shattered beneath him. Shikamaru swore and cancelled his technique, unable to reach his enemy's shadow. Sensing his opportunity, Gai leapt towards Kakuzu with his foot extended outwards.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Kakuzu didn't flinch at all, simply putting up a hand that was a darker colour then the rest of his skin. Gai's foot collided with the hand and he bounced off, grimacing as he flew back and landed with the other Konoha ninja, holding his foot tenderly.

_He took that attack without flinching. I do believe I have damaged several bones in my foot. _

"I've never hit anything so hard…" he commented, waving Ino over to heal his foot.

Kakuzu put down his hand slowly as it turned back to his normal tanned skin tone. He turned his head and watched as the other ninjas watched him carefully.

_They are not idiotic like Hidan. They are cautious yet take advantage of openings, which makes them dangerous. Still, the bounties for living Konoha shinobi are worth the risk. _

He knew that Shikamaru was watching his technique, if the Nara clan was anything like they were talked about he would have figured out his technique already. He knew that Gai only used taijutsu and that the small ponytailed one used shadows. The other three were unknowns, but Kakuzu decided that they were likely worth the effort of capturing alive, if nothing else the girl would fetch a high price in the slave markets. Shikamaru stood up slowly, having worked out Kakuzu's technique finally.

He whispered to his sensei, "He hardens his skin just before the attack. There is a high probability that it is some form of Earth release, possibly a Kekkei Genkai."

Gai nodded and moved his foot, thanking Ino for her service with a thumbs up before staring at their opponent intensely.

"If blunt force doesn't work, then perhaps another type of attack will work" said Kiba, motioning for Akamaru to follow his lead.

Kakuzu observed as the red fang wearing ninja grinned wildly as his fingers grew into claws and the white dog that had jumped onto his back turned into a clone of its master.

_Ah, an Inuzuka. I'm impressive one of them survived, they aren't known for fleeing a battlefield._

Kiba threw two smoke bombs to the ground, hiding his presence as he ran through a set of handseals. Kakuzu watched with interest, hardening his whole body with a lightning fast handseal. His green eyes tried to find the feral ninja, but the smoke bombs had hidden him well.

_It matters not. No physical technique can hurt me in this state._

He felt the chakra indicator to his left, but when he went to move in defence found his feet struck to the ground. His body refused to respond to his commands, he couldn't even make handseals. It took a monumental effort, but he tilted his head to look down at his feet, swearing as he saw the black form connecting his shadow to the smoke-covered area.

"You…" he muttered, feeling the chakra signal getting closer.

"Tsuuga!" (Passing Fang)

With a great feat of strength he turned his head just before the rapidly spinning attack slammed into his side. The shadow released him just before the attack struck, not giving him enough time to defend, though he knew that the likelihood of him taking any damage was quite low. He fell back at the force of the attack, taking a quick look at himself and smiled under his mask. His cloak had been shredded to pieces, but he had taken no damage at all. He couldn't see the Konoha ninja as the spinning attack disappeared into the smoke, but he wondered how they were reacting to his appearance. Kakuzu was covered in stitches that kept his body together, with four ANBU-like masks lining his back.

He kept an eye on the ground, wary of the wandering shadow that might leave him open to a similar attack. His Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Earth Spear) required a lot of chakra when covering his entire body, and Kakuzu observed that any part that wasn't covered would be shredded by the whirlwind attack. His ears perked up as he noticed a slight change in the temperature of the air around him.

"Shi…"

"Nenshou Gatsuuga!" (Burning Fang Passing Fang)

Two spinning whirlwinds slammed into his back, covered by a cloak of fire as they drilled into his skin shield. Kakuzu yelled out in fury as he was driven into the ground by the furious attack. He still hadn't taken any damage due to the strength of his technique, but the indignation of being forced to the ground by a child was enough to enrage him.

The smoke began to clear as Kiba and Akamaru landed next to their companions, grinning wildly. Kiba sniffed the air, noticed an odd smell until he looked down and noticed his coat was on fire.

"AHHH!"

He ran around trying to put it out with his hands, flailing about wildly. Shikamaru sighed at his companion's antics; though he was satisfied enough that Kiba's attack had connected properly. As the flames began to creep towards his face Ino waved a hand over him; dumping a large amount of water onto his head. The flames were doused instantly, leaving Kiba staring at the blonde with a snarl. She in turn stared at him back with a hand on her hip, not at all intimidated by his animalistic appearance. Kiba turned his head away before shaking his head wildly. The Konoha shinobi grimaced as they were covered in spray, wiping their faces with their hands.

Gai laughed and clapped Kiba on the back, "Good job, young student. The foe cannot stand against our most youthful display."

Kiba grimaced as he recovered himself from the ground, holding his back in pain. Ino sighed, wondering for the hundredth time why she had followed this group when fleeing the explosions.

Shikamaru put his hands up for his clan's technique, "Don't get comfortable. He's not done by a long shot."

"I hit him full on, no way he survived my combination attack" bragged Kiba.

To his side Akamaru barked twice before growling softly. Kiba swore and put up his claws defensively, the others doing the same while staring at the small crater Kiba had created.

"You bastards…" muttered a deep voice.

They saw a dark-skinned hand reach up from the crater before Kakuzu pulled himself out of the crater. He hadn't taken any visible damage, but Shikamaru's sharp eyes noticed a strange white object at the masked ninja's feet. Kakuzu stared at the broken mask at his feet, the blue markings shattered as the black threads melted into liquid.

_I__ took no damage from the attack, but the fire damage destroyed my wind-natured mask. These children are more dangerous then I thought. _

His eyes widened and he drew a massive amount of chakra, grimacing in pain as his stitches began to unwind. The Konoha ninja could only watch in horror as the other three masks exploded outwards from his back, black threads forming around them. Kazuku's body restitched itself back together as the three masks formed into humanoid creatures. The mask with the red mouth had an animalistic appearance similar to a large bear. The yellow nosed mask was the tallest with large wide shoulders, while the blue marked figure had unnaturally long arms but had a general bipedal appearance.

"Now it's my turn to attack."

* * *

><p>Kisame vs. Itachi<p>

"Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri!" (Water Element: Rising Water Slicer)

A jet of water sped along the ground straight towards Itachi, who jumped up to avoid the attack. He put up a kunai to defend himself as Kisame jumped towards him, swinging Samehada wildly. He barely blocked the giant blade before having to duck under another swing, landing back on the ground next to the cracks caused by Kisame's techniques. Genjutsu had worked for a time, but Itachi knew it wasn't enough to take down the shark-man.

After many missions together, he knew much of Kisame's state of mind. He had exploited that to its fullest, and it had become a ninjutsu/taijutsu battle. Using his family's fire techniques he had burnt off the bandages but that only seemed to piss off the wild blade. Kisame crashed down into him, forcing him to transform into crows before reforming away.

Samehada stole a small piece of his chakra as he left, it had been doing that all battle. Itachi never had a particularly large chakra pool, while Kisame looked like he was taking a casual stroll for all the damage Itachi had done to him. Kisame shouldered the slowly growing blade and glared over at sound of explosions through the water shield. He had been forced to expand the shield after Itachi nearly punched through it with a giant fireball. Itachi stole a glance to the other side where he could hear Sasuke fire off a fireball of his own.

_Sasuke…hold them off till I get there._

He did a calculation of how much chakra he had and sighed, wishing once again that he didn't have to fight his former friend. Despite his love of shredding people, Kisame was fascinating company. The shark-like man had an interesting perception on life, a darker version of Itachi's own past having forced him to adapt in a brutal way. As he ducked under the blade and leapt away, throwing several shuriken at the blade, he remembered how Kisame felt about loyalty.

_It's understandable why he hates me so. To him…_

"Kisame."

His opponent snarled and pointed his sword at him.

"There is no point in speaking, Itachi. You are my prey. I will shred every cell from your body, and then find other prey."

Itachi changed his Sharingan back to its normal state, still grasping his damaged kunai.

"Kisame, it doesn't have to be like this. We need not fight for a cause like Akatsuki's."

The blue man slammed his sword into the ground before running towards his opponent and driving it towards Itachi. He barely blocked it but instead of dodging Itachi took the blow and stared at Kisame's small white eyes. With his Sharingan he could have trapped him into Tsukuyomi and broken him, at this range there would be nothing Kisame could have done to prevent it. But as he saw Kisame's slight body movements and facial expressions with his red eyes, he felt pity for the mad shark-man. Kisame was the perfect example of a shinobi that had given in to the reality of life, becoming the monster that was inbred within every human.

"Kisame…don't make me do this."

His opponent bared his teeth inches away from Itachi's face, unwilling to conceal the contempt he had for him.

"Nobody made you betray your cause. Nobody made you join Akatsuki. Nobody made you partner with me. Everything about you is a lie. It is all a lie."

Itachi sighed, realising that there really was no talking to him. He blinked and his eyes turned into their pinwheel form. Kisame's eyes widened when he realised what Itachi had planned. He stared directly at the snarling face before directing his chakra flow to his eyes.

"Amaterasu"

There was no dodging the ninjutsu at that range, the black flames covered Kisame's face and shoulders as Itachi jumped back to avoid getting burned by the eternal flames. Itachi grasped his right eye in pain as a small trickle of blood fell through his fingers. With his free eye he watched as Kisame's form dropped to the ground writhing. It was several moments before he noticed that Kisame was making no noise, and he felt the black flames were not burning their target properly.

_Shit…_

He barely had time to hide his hands in his sleeves before the writhing form of Kisame collapsed into a harmless pool of water.

"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu" (Water Element: Water Prison)

Itachi barely had a moment to spin around before being consumed by the water flowing out of Kisame's hands behind him. The Uchiha heir gave out a gasp as the air was punched out of his gut by the sheer density of the water. Kisame grinned before dropping Samehada to the ground with his free hand and placing it on the edge of the prison.

"Suiton: Nishokuzame" (Water Element: Two Feeding Sharks)

Two lines of blue chakra emerged from his hand, transforming into terrifying sharks that ripped their way through Itachi's body. Samehada thrashed on the ground, causing Kisame to wonder what had gotten the sword riled up until he saw that there was no blood in the prison.

He gasped out in pain as Itachi plunged a kunai into his back, before putting his hands to his lips, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu."

Kisame was able to pick up his blade before falling back away from Itachi, his cloak burning away from Itachi's technique. Kisame felt his chakra plummet as he was forced to take a large amount of chakra from Samehada. He could feel the rage in his sword's mind, its hilt creeping up his burning sleeve before attaching itself to his arm forcefully. He spat out a large portion of water to douse the flames, as his blue skin began to fluctuate and mutate. In front of him Itachi's eyes widened as Kisame became less like a human and more like the monster he was.

"Kisame, you…"

"You are strong prey, Itachi. I must adapt, get stronger. Samehada knows that as well, that's why we will work together as one. Itachi, you're going to need a bigger knife."

* * *

><p>Deidara vs. Kakashi, Neji, Sakura and Lee<p>

Lee attacked furiously, not giving the blonde bomber a chance to consume any more clay with his hands. Deidara struggled to keep up with the bowl-cut shinobi's speed; he had landed several blows on the Akatsuki member. Neji hovered behind Lee, waiting for his teammate to give him an opening.

Deidara stole a glance to the side and copped a blow on the shoulder for his trouble, _Shit, we are too close to the mines. _

Lee took advantage of his opponent's distraction, pumping chakra into his arm as he grabbed at the blocking enemy's hand, pulling him backwards with a loud yell.

"Neji-kun! Now!"

Neji ran forward and stood next to Lee before placing his hands near Deidara's chest. The blonde's eyes widened as he realised what was going to happen to him, he put up his free hand into his handseal. Neji canceled his attack as he recognised the seal, knowing that if it was a substitute and it exploded at this range they would both be seriously hurt. Instead he balanced on his back foot and began a spin, his chakra exploding outwards.

"Kaiten!"

Lee ducked down as the dome encompassed both of them, but to his credit he kept a hold of the bomber's arm. Deidara didn't get a chance to release his technique as the chakra dome sliced straight through his arm above the elbow, ripping it to shreds in Lee's hands. Deidara jumped back and disappeared into the ground, the trail of blood leading up to the two Genin. Neji stopped his spin and panted softly, before recovering his composure. Lee marvelled at the accuracy of his teammate's technique before looking down at the arm, dropping it in disgust as the tongue within the palm flailed wildly.

Their companions caught up with them, Sakura still healing a small burn on her arm from when Deidara had previously pierced her water shield.

"Where is he?" asked Kakashi, his constant use of his Sharingan taking its toll on him.

Neji pointed to the ground and shook his head, while Lee wiped his hands on his suit. Sakura took one look at the arm on the ground and gagged, still not used to seeing blood despite her new training as a medic.

"Does he still have one arm?" asked Kakashi.

The two Genin nodded, watching as Kakashi ran through a few seals before setting the arm on fire. They watched the tongue silently scream before melting into the ground.

"Was that necessary?" asked Sakura, taking all her willpower not to throw up at the gory scene.

"We can't take any chances with this enemy. He might have a way to reattach it, and now he can't use any seals" replied Kakashi, his Sharingan already checking the ground for chakra signals.

"No, he can still make those explosions. He uses a one-handed seal to make them explode" said Neji.

The others regrouped and reformed a defensive circle.

"Shit, shit, damnit!"

Deidara had his back to a tree, grasping the stump that was the remains of his arms. His imager showed Kakashi burning up his arm as he watched helplessly from afar. He had wasted a lot of his clay on setting up the mine field, which had been completely avoided on the observations of the Byakugan-user.

_Never thought there would be a doujutsu that would piss me off as much as the Sharingan. No art in it at all, just a blank slate. _

He grimaced as he covered the stump with a thin layer of clay to stop the bleeding. He used his functional right hand to check how much clay he had left. His left bag was completely empty, while he still had half of his right bag. He considered a plan as he tried to keep out of Neji's visual range.

_I barely have enough clay for my favourite, and they keep countering or blocking my smaller bombs. _

He let his left palm mouth chew on clay idly, stealing glances over at the group with his zoomed in imager. His palm spat out the clay and grabbed more, as Deidara saw that the group was keeping their distance in a defensive circle.

_I can't easily finish these types off. I need to use my favourite, now. _

He pulled up his palm and shoved a large amount of clay into the mouth on his face.

_Urgh, I hate this taste_.

He chewed for a minute before spitting it onto his palm. He moulded it in his palm before checking again that the group hadn't moved. He concentrated a large amount of chakra into the clay as it took on the final shape. On top of his palm sat a small butterfly, tiny little details on its wings showing the sheer amount of chakra concentrated inside it. He smiled as he released it into the air, the inconspicuous insect testing its wings before flying away.

"They'll never appreciate my art, hn. Not until it's too late, hn."

"Are you healed, Sakura?" asked Kakashi. The pink-haired girl nodded, feeling more exhausted then all the training sessions she had with Lee combined. Neji was in deep concentration, having found a new way to use his Kaiten he began to consider how he could use it for offense as opposed to defence.

_It follows a similar pattern to Jyuuken strikes. Perhaps I can create a large spear…or a more contained shield…_

His Byakugan noticed the butterfly but immediately he dismissed it as irrelevant, there was no reason to be suspicious of the tiny insect. Kakashi couldn't cover the whole field with his Sharingan to check, so he didn't catch it either. The butterfly slowly made its way towards the group, taking roundabout paths to throw off suspicion. Sakura caught a glimpse of it through her green eyes, putting out a hand for the butterfly to land on. She looked at the intricate detail on its wing with fascination, putting it up to show Lee.

The hair on the back of his neck shot up as he regarded the white butterfly, and his eyes widened as he recognised the make. He had no time to warn the others, tapping his weights with chakra to remove them before jumping towards Sakura's arm.

Away from the group, Deidara put up his hand and grinned as he moved away to shield his eyes.

"True art flashes in an instant, hn. Katsu!"

* * *

><p>Hidan vs. Shizune, Shino, Hinata and Sasuke<p>

Shizune gasped in pain and fell back, holding her arm as blood dripped down the slash in her kimono.

"Haha! Now Jashin will smite your heathen arses!"

Hidan pulled up his scythe and put out his tongue. He licked the blood from the tip of the scythe and grinned wildly.

"Ah, you do have a sweet taste."

He sighed loudly as his burnt skin began to slowly change colour. Through her Byakugan, Hinata watched in horror at Hidan took on a terrifying appearance, his skin turned to a pitch black with white bone markings across his whole body and face.

"Hinata, what is happening to him?" asked Shizune, healing her cut quickly.

"He…I'm not sure. But Shizune-sensei, I can see parts of your chakra in his system."

"What the hell is this guy?" asked Sasuke, trying to figure out how he had survived all of their attacks.

Hidan drove his scythe into his chest, pouring blood onto the ground beneath his feet. Their eyes widened as the seemingly immortal scythe-wielder called out in pain and removed his scythe, feeling the blood with his foot.

"He's doing something with the blood" observed Shino, having been unable to do much else in the battle.

Hidan circled his foot as it was drenched in his own blood, forming a perfect circle around himself before making a triangle within the circle.

"Everything is ready! Jashin! May this menial sacrifice grant you something to add to your collection."

"He's doing something odd, we should attack him" stated Shino.

"How? He seems to survive all our attacks."

Shizune wiped a bit of blood from her kimono and put it on her palm.

"We have to change our attack formation. He seems to survive all of our direct attacks."

She ran through the five seals and slammed her hand onto the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

In front of her appeared a medium sized yellow tiger, with a scroll in its mouth. The tiger nodded to its master as she took the scroll, rubbing its head affectionately before it disappeared. Their opponent was still ranting about his deity, fingering the chain around his neck as he prayed. Shizune turned to Hinata as she opened up the scroll and ran a line of blood down it.

"Hinata-san, do you remember our lesson on seal enhancements?"

The quiet girl nodded, her hands still held up defensively.

"If he can't be hurt by direct attacks, then we go with your Jyuuken. This might feel strange."

She reached out to touch her now-glowing hand to Hinata but never got there as she screamed out in pain, collapsing to the ground.

"Ahh, that felt great…" said Hidan, a long black spike poking out of his leg.

Shizune screamed again as he pulled the spike out his leg, waving the spike ceremoniously at the group. Hinata lent down and pushed Shizune's hands away from her leg, her hands glowing blue as she began to heal the impossible wound. Shino analysed their opponent's movements, his hands clenching as he struggled to work out the technique. _A_

_fter he tasted Shizune-sensei's blood, he turned into that form. Then he made that strange symbol and stabbed himself in the leg. Shizune-sensei took the same wound as he did. But because he survived all our attacks, he doesn't care, whereas sensei is now immobilised. There must be some link between his wounds and that circle, because sensei didn't take the stab wound from the scythe._

"I've worked out his technique. Any damage done in that circle is done to Shizune-sensei."

Sasuke swore as he cancelling the Chidori he was worked towards, unsure how to precede.

Shizune waved off Hinata's healing hands, "Don't bother, he won't give us an opportunity to recover. If Shino-kun is right, we have to get him out of that circle. Then Hinata-san can use the seal and take him out."

Hidan kept ranting and lightly stabbing himself in the leg, wanting to prolong the pain for as long as possible, his face a mural of pleasure emotions. Shizune continued to suffer the same wounds, blood pouring out of her leg as she struggled against the assault. Sasuke clenched his fists in anger at his inability to attack until he remembered his lessons with his brother.

"Hinata, get your technique ready. I'm going to move him now."

She turned her white eyes on Sasuke and after seeing his determination nodded and picked up the scroll next to Shizune. Their teacher gasped out in agony and clutched her side, a strike piercing her kidney, causing her to start to lose consciousness. As Hinata stood up to begin their counter-attack she reached out and grabbed her leg.

"Shizune-sensei…"

"Thirty seconds, Hinata-san. No more, you know that."

She smiled and fell face first into the dirt, the pain too much for her to bear.

"We must go now. Sasuke-kun, please move him."

The Uchiha heir nodded, his hands running through a technique his brother had taught him. He stared at Hidan through his Sharingan.

Hidan pulled up his spike and went to finish the job until just before he looked down at his feet.

"What the hell?"

Underneath his feet was a field of grass, his circle was gone. He looked around before grinning, seeing that his symbol was two feet to his left. He laughed as he walked over and planted himself back in the circle. He pulled up the spike and drove it straight into his heart, screaming out in pleasure,

"Ahh…"

He looked over as the woman in the kimono coughed up blood and stopped moving, the other three huddled over her body.

"Say hello to Jashin for me."

"Go now, Hinata" whispered Sasuke.

She nodded, placing her hand over the seal on the scroll. Her hands exploded with chakra, shooting up her arms before taking over her whole body. Shino nodded as Hinata rose, even Sasuke felt an urge to let the girl do the damage.

_One_

Her hair began to fluctuate as she ran her chakra to her hands. She ran towards Hidan's static body, his eyes oddly glossed over as he was trapped within Sasuke's genjutsu.

_Four_

She put her hands up in front of his chest and then drew one back.

"Hakke: Sanjyuunishou!" (Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms)

_Six_

She slammed her hands into his chest, feeling an overwhelming surge of power as her chakra began to shred his tenketsu. The chakra had enhanced her Byakugan to insane levels, giving her vision over several kilometres, but she forced herself to concentrate on her opponent.

_Eleven_

Hidan flew back as she finished the strikes, but she grabbed the chain of his scythe and pulled him back towards her. Her hair flailed behind her and she slammed a palm into Hidan's chest where he had stabbed himself.

_Fifteen_

"Hakke: Ketatamashii Boko" (Eight Trigrams: Piercing Hollow)

The strike blew Hidan out of Sasuke's genjutsu. Hinata jumped backwards as Hidan wrenched over and threw up on the ground, a tiny amount of blood mixed in with the vomit. His eyes widened as he watched his hands slowly turn back to their normal colour.

_Twenty-One_

Seeing herself run out of time, Hinata took all her seal chakra into her fingertips, trying her best to remember her training sessions with Naruto. She kicked Hidan in the face to force him to stand, before driving her fingers into his neck.

_Twenty-Five_

"Fuuton: Saishuu Dageki" (Wind Element: Final Strike)

Her chakra transformed into a violent wind inside his chakra system, destroying every tenketsu in its path as Hinata jumped back to her companions, panting heavily.

_Thirty_

She gasped as the chakra dissipated, dropping to her knees as she felt her strength vanish.

_Did I do it, Naruto-kun? Did I protect y…_

Using his Sharingan, Sasuke could tell that Hidan wasn't moving at all. He wasn't convinced the mad fanatic was dead, but he would have to have been close. Shino helped Hinata to her feet as Sasuke offered a hand to Shizune. She had secretly healed the wounds on her leg and kidney, but had kept up the ruse to fool their purple-eyed enemy. The Uchiha saw Hinata in a new light as she coughed violently, feeling the after-effects of the dangerous medical technique.

"I'm impressed, Hyuuga. Perhaps you aren't so…"

he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he felt a sharp sting on his back. His eyes turned back to normal as he collapsed onto the ground, a giant slash cutting through his Uchiha cloak. The others quickly glanced over as the attacking scythe drew back towards their enemy, the chain moving in his hand as he grinned wildly at their folly.

"Little girl, you can't kill me! Jashin made me immortal!"

Shino kept a kunai up defensively as Shizune dropped down and began healing Sasuke's shallow wound. Hidan pulled up the scythe and slowly licked the blood off it, his eyes widening as he swallowed the endangered blood. Hinata breathed out slowly and reactivated her Byakugan, trying to figure out whether her previous attacks had worked. Hidan looked down at his hand, and for a few moments continued to grin until he realised that his technique wasn't working.

"What the…Jashin? Have you forsaken me?"

He began convulsing, a new sensation running through his body, his blood virtually boiling under his skin.

After a few minutes Hidan picked himself off the ground, looking over himself slowly before smiling slowly.

"**Mortals…**"

* * *

><p>Kakuzu vs. Gai, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino<p>

Ino gasped as she released the water shield, the sheer amount of chakra it had taken to stop the overwhelming fire attack from the red masked creature had sapped most of her strength. Kakuzu stared at the girl with interest; unsure as to who she was, in comparison to the others. He had identified the fat boy as the Akimichi heir after he had attempted to attack him with an enlarged hand, but she hadn't revealed any of her techniques besides water techniques.

_She may just be a generic ninja, but considering her companions and the rest of the group the likelihood is quite low. I remember that the Nara and Akimichi had a companion clan, but it was so long ago I can't remember who it was. Best to keep her alive with the others, just in case. _

Shikamaru bit at his nail as he considered how they should proceed. He wanted to suggest a retreat, but considering how much their opponent talked about their worth, he knew he might go after Naruto or the other groups. He ran over their situation in his head constantly.

_Each masked creature attacks with a different type, denoted by their colour. Attacking him is pointless because of his shield, but it seems like he can't attack while manipulating the creatures. We need to focus down the creatures, one at a time. _

He reached back and removed a flash bomb from his pack. He nodded to Kiba and Chouji before giving the flash bomb to Ino.

"We going with that?" asked Chouji, coughing harshly as he picked himself up from the ground.

Kiba growled softly, he hated having to constantly dodge attacks without the opportunity to attack. Shikamaru nodded to his friend before stepping next to Gai.

"Sensei, I require your help."

The bowl-cut Jounin grinned a 'Nice Guy' smile, "What do you require, most youthful student? I feel the fire of your passion running through the air!"

Shikamaru ignored the idiotic comments and whispered behind his hand so that Kakuzu couldn't read his lips.

"I need you to distract the blue and yellow masked creatures for a few minutes. You are fast enough to dodge their attacks at short range. Just keep them off us."

Gai seemed suspicious of the Nara's plan, but deferred to his plan as he recalled the previous plans that the lazy Genin had pulled off perfectly. He took a serious look as he reached back into his pack and pulled out his beloved pair of nunchaku.

"I will attempt to take one of them out as well. If I can't in the next trading of blows, I'll do ten thousand one-finger push-ups!"

He gave Shikamaru a thumps up with the accompanying sunset illusion. The ponytailed shinobi looked at the Jounin with both disinterest and horror, before turning his attention to their opponent.

_That shadow-user boy is going to try something. He's worth more then I first believed. _

He placed his hands into a seal, sending his creatures after the shinobi. The yellow masked creature opened its mouth as Kakuzu aimed it towards the fat Genin.

"Raiton: Gian" (Lightning Element: False Darkness)

Lightning flashed directly at Chouji, who couldn't react quickly enough, the lightning striking him straight in the shoulder. Kakuzu grinned under his mask, until he saw that the Akimichi had switched himself with a log. He watched as the others began to circle around his fire mask, the ugly green clad one heading directly for the lightning and water masks while the other three seemed to keep their distance.

_You can't distract me like that. Your plan is flawed and naïve._

He swapped his seal and turned his eyes to the Genin.

The red mask opened its mouth as Kakuzu activated his technique, "Katon: Zukokku" (Fire Element: Intelligent Hard Work).

He turned away from the Genin while quickly shifting his hand seal again, "Suiton: Guraburo" (Water Element: White Flash).

The blue mask opened and fired a concentrated blast of water at Gai. The Jounin side stepped the blow with ease throwing his arms out to attack the nearby lightning creature.

Kakuzu's eyes darkened as he changed seals, "Raiton: Gian".

He sidestepped the lightning strike as well, Kakuzu noting with interest how the veins on his heads were bulging as his skin had begun turning a darker red colour. He turned his attention back to the Genin momentarily, noticing that they had survived his attack with virtually no damage. He took a quick count of his opponents before putting his together in the Earth seal, just in time as a large spinning attack came at him from behind.

"Tsuuga!"

He turned the fire masked creature around and prepared its attack for when the Inuzuka heir bounced off his shield. The whirlwind attack stopped just before it struck, a puff of smoke taking its place as a medium sized white dog flew over his head, still spinning wildly. Kakuzu looked up at the odd scene, then immediately regretted it as yellow acid struck him in the eyes. He screamed out in agony and cancelled his technique, clawing at his eyes as the dog urine burned his eyes.

"Go!" yelled Kiba, taking a moment to hear a reassuring bark from Akamaru before preparing himself to attack.

Shikamaru rapidly extended his shadow to trap the fire masked creature, capturing its shadow with ease as it couldn't move while Kakuzu was completely distracted. Ino threw the flash bomb into the air while all the Konoha ninja shielded their eyes, the momentary light source allowing Shikamaru to extend his technique all the way to Kakuzu and the other two creatures.

"Go, Chouji!" yelled Shikamaru, the sheer amount of power that Kakuzu was fighting him with was astounding.

Chouji threw two sets of kunai strung together with wire around his body before putting his hands together.

"Baika no Jutsu!" (Multi-Size Technique)

He withdrew his limbs into his now enlarged body before turning towards his target and pumping himself with chakra.

"Nikudan Hari Sensha!" (Spiked Human Bullet Tank)

He began to roll fiercely towards the black creature, the spikes leaving impact hits on the ground beneath him as he thundered towards it.

"Roll, Roll, Roll, Roll…" he repeated as he slammed straight into the masked creature's back.

Shikamaru let himself smile as he watched Chouji's attack.

_A normal direct attack wouldn't work, as the threads would just reform themselves. But..._

Chouji's massive ball form body tore through the creature before turning about and rolling towards the two masked creatures that Gai was attacking to no effect.

"Gatsuuga!"

Kiba's combination attack struck at the falling-apart fire masked creature, the threads shredding into thousands of pieces as the whirlwind ran straight through it. Kakuzu watched through stinging eyes as his second mask was destroyed, unable to do anything in his current immobilised form.

_This boy worked out the best way to destroy my masks, whilst also removing the others and myself as a threat. _

With significant effort he turned his head within the binding technique before staring at the impressive opponent.

"I've changed my mind" was all he said, but something in the tone of his voice felt wrong for Shikamaru.

"Attack him now" he ordered, still struggling to maintain his technique.

Chouji rapidly changed direction using the kunai around his body to pivot before aiming at Kakuzu. Kiba also went to attack Kakuzu while Gai was striking at the lightning and water masks with his nunchaku, finally causing a small crack in the lightning mask. Shikamaru felt a slight rumbling beneath himself and look down at the ground, only to be too late to stop the wall of threads exploding out of the ground, covering the area connecting their shadows, cancelling the effect.

Taking advantage of the situation, Kakuzu hardened his arm and punched directly into the rolling ball near him, sending Chouji crashing away holding his head in pain. The two masked creatures left jumped away from Gai before landing behind Kakuzu. The Jounin nodded in appreciation for his opponent's caution, keeping his weapon up in defence. Kakuzu's green eyes looked over the Konoha ninja before finally resting on the bowl-cut Jounin.

Demonstrating a speed he hadn't shown before, Kakuzu vanished and reappeared in front of Gai, driving a fist into his chest. Unused to his opponent's rapid change in ability, Gai felt the full impact of the hit, doubling over and throwing up blood over his arm. Not one for ceremony, Kakuzu reached up with his other arm and let the threads unravel themselves before forming into a sharp spear over his hand.

The other shinobi cried out for him to stop, a foolish notion he figured as he drove the weapon into Gai's stomach, forcing the threads to invade his body immediately. The Jounin, still recovering from the effects from opening the Gates, could do little in retaliation. He felt an odd twinge as the threads touched his heart, feeling an odd sense of calm wash over him as his body became numb. He wanted to make a grand statement, some gesture of youth before his death, but nothing came to mind. All he could see was the void within Kakuzu's eyes as the criminal ripped his beating heart from his chest and sealed it within a scroll in his free hand. Kakuzu and his creatures turned to the four Genin in perfect synchronisation as he pocketed the scroll.

"Now…I still need one more replacement."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

I'll admit; I feel like a bastard. But, such is the nature of battle unfortunately. I have taken some liberties with some of the Akatsuki member's techniques, but I figure since this is about two years before Shippuden, they might have different techniques or techniques they never got to show. I know the translations for Kakuzu's masked creatures' attacks are absurd, but they were all named after Mecha from the Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Naruto the REAL Fifth Hokage by Traban16. Quite a unique premise with Naruto becoming the Fifth Hokage. He gets powerful super-fast, but definitely an interesting story with a smart-ish Naruto.


	7. Chapter 7 Hopelessness

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 7 – Hopelessness

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more swords.

* * *

><p>Kakuzu vs. Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino<p>

The Genin watched in horror as Gai's body struck the ground, the cold stare of their enemy freezing them in place. Shikamaru's eyes fixated on Kakuzu's face, truly understanding how terrifying a foe he truly was. Chouji felt like crying out for the teacher, but they all knew that he was already gone. With the enemy still in front of them, they wouldn't be getting a break to grieve. Kiba snarled and stared over at the two creatures, spying the crack on the lightning creature's mask with a wolfish grin.

"Shikamaru, look at that one" he whispered.

The Nara heir shook himself out of his stupor and considered a new plan.

_We still have a numbers advantage, but he is far too powerful. He took out Gai-sensei with two blows. _

His eyes widened as he realised what Kakuzu had been doing the whole fight.

_He's been trying to keep us alive. He meant to capture us…but what changed?_

He looked over at the two wrecked masks, before running through a new scenario.

_I can't bind him at range for very long, and those creatures are still too powerful. Either he attacks or they do, but either way we can't hold on much longer_.

Ino kept her stare on Gai's body, unsure how she was meant to react to it. She was horrified, that she knew, but as a shinobi her father had always taught her that you work your feelings out after battle. She glanced over the creatures before her eyes landed on the blue masked creature, its long arms hanging loosely beneath it. She took a measure of her chakra reserves and took an account of the battlefield. She turned her blonde head to Shikamaru, keeping a stare that they both knew before looking back.

Shikamaru moved behind her and nodded to Chouji while holding a kunai defensively. Kakuzu watched the group cautiously, knowing that despite his previous success the children were still a threat.

_The fat one and the wild one are close combat monsters, strong enough to destroy a mask, while the Nara boy is an analyst. The girl appears to be some kind of medic. An impressive group, but I've had enough. There are always other bounties to collect on._

Kiba looked over at the remains of Team 10, unhappy they had left him out of their plan until he noticed the formation they had taken. He grinned and barked at Akamaru, who barked back at him defiantly. Ino drew a slow breath before putting her hands up in a seal, pointed at the water masked creature. Kakuzu looked at the seal curiously, trying to remember where he had seen that before. His eyes widened as he realised who the third member of the Nara-Akimichi alliance was, frantically putting his hands up in a seal to move the creature but wasn't fast enough.

"Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu" (Mind Body Switch Technique)

When she had first learnt her family's signature technique her energy floated slowly towards the enemy in a straight line. However during their preparation, Ino had discovered a way to adapt her water affinity to the technique. As a result, her energy curved around and followed the moving creature until it hit the mask straight on. Her body collapsed to the ground, being caught by Shikamaru who carefully laid her on the ground before stepping in front of her and holding up his weapon. Kakuzu grinned for a moment as he saw the blonde collapse, then grimaced holding his head, an overwhelming sense of confusion and pain taking over him.

All Ino could see was darkness within the creature's mind. This wasn't new to her; most people she entered had large portions of empty space in their minds. She created a corporeal form for herself and began to navigate her victim's mind, trying to find the nodes that would allow her to control Kakuzu's mind. Inside her technique, time meant nothing so Ino was able to take her time searching.

After what felt like years, she came upon an odd looking scene. In front of her sat a broken down house on the bank of a river. The river appeared to be flowing upstream, and the house had impossible angles that Ino couldn't perceive without her head hurting. She shook her head and set her corporeal feet on a patch of nearby grass, remembering her father's lessons on how the target's mind tries to trick invaders.

"Wh…who are you?" came a young wispy female voice.

Ino stared at the broken door on the house, watching as the young voice came from a shadowy figure that manifested slowly. It took the form of a young woman, around the age Ino's mother would have been.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

Ino wasn't sure whether she should respond or not, she was always cautious about a person's mental defences when using Shintenshin. The woman looked around and she screwed up her face before beginning to cry. Ino instinctively took a step back, before her personality overcame her and she reached out to comfort the woman. The manifestation looked up at her with green eyes, reminding her of when Sakura used to cry as a child.

"Are you here to take me away?"

Ino hesitated, before smiling politely at the woman.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The woman stood up slowly before wiping her eyes on her nondescript dress.

"I'm…I'm…I don't know. Why am I here? Who are you?"

_This is like no defence I've ever seen before. It's almost as if…_

Ino put a caring hand on the woman's shoulder, "Did the bad man put you here?"

She hoped that it wouldn't set off any defences by mentioning Kakuzu, but if this was her link to controlling the creature she had to try.

The woman had a vacant look in her eyes before nodding slowly, "He…I don't know. It's all…twisted. Wrong. I remember faces…trees…water…"

The woman reached up and held her head as she struggled to recall.

"A man…he's looking at me strangely…oh god…"

Ino could only watch at the woman's internal struggle, keeping a sympathetic face on whilst being secretly fascinated by the situation. The woman screamed before dropping her hands and looking Ino directly in the eyes.

"Please…kill me…"

Ino stood back, "I…what?"

The woman straightened up, and Ino immediately noticed the difference in her demeanour. The woman stared confidently through green eyes at the young blonde.

"His mind is too powerful. You must kill me before he takes over again."

"But…I…"

The woman frowned and stepped towards the Yamanaka heir.

"Are you a ninja? Do it now! He will consume you otherwise."

Ino was hesitant, but held out a hand before manifesting a kunai and grasping it slowly. The woman dropped to her knees and offered her neck to the teenager. She saw Ino's hesitation, placing a hand on the blonde's shaking arm.

"It's okay child. You are doing a good thing."

Ino swallowed a vile taste in her mouth before pulling her arm back.

She gasped as she returned to her body, coughing loudly before attempting to pick herself up from the ground.

"Ino? What happened?" asked Shikamaru, not taking his eyes off their enemy.

The Yamanaka blinked several times to reassociate herself with her surroundings before looking over at the Akatsuki member. Kakuzu stop thrashing his head around and put his hands down, smiling through his mask at his opponents. He put his hands into a seal and ordered the water masked creature to attack them. When nothing happened, he tried it again before taking a look over his shoulder towards the creature. The mask had shattered as the threads that kept it together began to fall apart harmlessly.

"How…"

Ino smiled sadly as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a kunai, taking a glance at the blade before looking back at Kakuzu.

"You did it!" said a surprised Chouji, not sure what she actually had done but knew that with one more creature down the odds were turning closer towards them.

Shikamaru saw the distraction that the creature's death had provided, yelling a quick order at Chouji before pocketing his kunai. Chouji nodded quickly, reaching into his pack before retrieving a small bag. He reached in and pulled out several small brown balls, throwing one each to his teammates and two to Kiba. The Inuzuka recognised the medicine, swallowing one quickly while offering one to his constant companion.

Shikamaru and Ino swallowed their pills as Akamaru's normal white fur turned a dark red colour. Kakuzu turned back in a fit of rage, unwilling to wait any longer to get his revenge for his masks.

He ordered the lightning mask to attack the wild ninja while he vanished, reappearing directly in front of Shikamaru. The teenager's eyes widened as Kakuzu drew back a fist to impale him. Just as his hand turned the darkened colour, he felt all his strength leave him, unable to move at all. Shikamaru's face changed instantly to serious and he placed his hands into his newest seal. Their shadows were connected at point-blank range, and Shikamaru concentrated as he attempted to replicate the technique he had learnt from his father's messy handwriting.

"Kage Nui no Jutsu" (Shadow Sewing Technique)

Dozens of tendrils emerged from the ground around them, wrapping themselves around Kakuzu's body, holding him tightly. Making sure that technique had bound the tall shinobi; Shikamaru jumped back and cancelled his normal shadow binding technique.

The lightning masked creature moved swiftly towards Kiba, who barked an order at Akamaru before dropping to the ground in a four-legged stance. Lightning flew out of the mask's mouth, barely missing Kiba's legs as he bounded away from the attack. Having no eyes, the mask couldn't see Akamaru jumping over the top of it, spinning wildly as he sprayed urine over the mask. Kiba barely dodged another attack before letting Akamaru jump onto his back. Kiba leapt back and put his hands together into a seal.

_Mum, you better be right about this technique. _

"Jinjuu Konbi Henge: Soutourou" (Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf)

A giant plume of smoke exploded outwards from his position as they transformed into a giant two-headed white wolf that towered over their opponent. The wolf drooled on the ground before looking at its target. The creature fired a bolt of lightning at the wolf, but in this form Kiba and Akamaru's speed was comparable to Lee's, leaping away easily. The wolf landed on its back paws then dove towards the creature, spinning wildly in a gigantic whirlwind.

"Garouga!" (Fang Wolf Fang)

Aiming for the mask using its strong sense of smell, the devastating attack slammed into the creature. The millions of threads holding it together stood no chance as the mask cracked and shattered under the attack. The wolf landed on the opposite side and howled in glee before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Akamaru ran out of the smoke, growling at the remains of the creature as the smoke cleared revealing Kiba.

He had not practised that form before, only replicating a picture from his family scroll. Unfortunately for him he had not perfectly the technique, and as he dizzily picked himself off the ground he fell back down to ground unbalanced. He swore as he struggled to pick himself off the ground, feeling a tuff of fur glance his face. He went to comfort Akamaru, until he saw that the white puppy was over by the other Konoha ninja.

The fur touched his face again, Kiba catching a glance of the greyish-white blur before it disappeared again. He spun around, feeling like he was just missing it. He heard his companion barking at him, not sure if he had properly understood the dog's barks.

"What do you mean it's on me?" he yelled at the dog.

The white animal barked sharply at its friend, running towards him across the battlefield.

"That's not…"

Kiba looked behind himself, down at his ruined coat.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

Sprouting out of the back of his pants was a long grey and white tail, flipping about wildly on its own. Kiba reached back to grab it and the tail flipped away from his hand.

"What the…stay still…damnit…"

After a few attempts he finally grasped the fur, feeling the odd texture between his fingers. He could feel his own fingers through the tail, an odd tingling as he looked at it before turning around and showing it to the arriving Akamaru. The white dog leaned up and sniffed the tail, barking once before nodding and turning his attention away from Kiba. The Inuzuka heir let go of his tail, feeling an odd sense as the wind passed through the fur. He reached into his pocket and opened the Inuzuka scroll.

"Nothing…nothing…oh come on, how did I miss that?"

He swore under his breath as he read the scratchy writing under the Garouga technique. Akamaru barked as Kiba read out the note.

"If the technique isn't perfected before transformation, then the user will adopt an aspect of the creature."

Kiba looked at the shifting tail that almost reached the ground.

_This…may take some getting used to._ _Why couldn't I have gotten the ears or something…_

Chouji swallowed the soldier pill from his hand, feeling a surge of chakra as he saw Shikamaru bind Kakuzu with his shadows. The ponytailed boy nodded to Chouji as he jumped back. Chouji smiled at his friend's confidence in him, putting his hands into a seal.

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu! Both arms!" (Partial Multi-Size Technique)

His arms extended and grew towards Kakuzu, surrounding the Akatsuki member with his palms. Still unable to move his hands, Kakuzu was unable to completely cover himself with his shield. He glared in fury at the fat ninja smiled sadly before his face became serious as his palms collapsed inwards. Kakuzu screamed out in pain as the giants palms began to crush his body, which had begun to unravel itself as the threads failed to keep up with the pressure.

Chouji grimaced as the threads from Kakuzu's body attacked his hands, but after a glance to his fallen sensei he knew that he had to end it here and now. He fuelled all his chakra to his palms, as the threads continued their attacks for just under a minute before stopping. He gave a final squeeze before his chakra gave out, his hands retreating back to their normal size as he fell to the ground, exhausted. Shikamaru and Ino jumped over to the fallen enemy, staring in disgust as the bloody remains of the powerful ninja who had killed their teacher.

"Is he dead?" asked Shikamaru, not wanting to take any risks with Akatsuki.

Ino reached back and wrapped a note around a kunai before throwing it at the remains with a dark look on her face. The kunai exploded and all evidence of Kakuzu disappeared in the small explosion. Shikamaru nodded in appreciation, running over to help his teammate to his feet as Kiba and Akamaru wandered back to the group. Kiba blushed as they gasped at his appearance.

"Don't…don't stare at it…"

Ino squealed and ran over to the Inuzuka heir. Kiba couldn't stop her if he wanted to as she reached out and felt his tail carefully, running her fingers through the grey and white fur.

"Ooo" she cooed, trying to resist the urge to bury her face in the adorable tail.

Kiba blushed at the attention and snapped away, dragging his tail away from the excited blonde.

"It's not a toy!" he claimed, his hands folded on his chest.

The tail poked up across his shoulder and rested there, as if accenting Kiba's annoyance. Ino stifled a laugh at the odd scene, before looking over to her two teammates joining them.

"I guess it's done then" said Kiba, impressed at his companion's flawless teamwork.

Shikamaru nodded before looking sadly at Gai's body.

"We…should bring him back to where Naruto is."

The Genin nodded grimly, walking slowly towards the fallen Jounin.

"Should we try to help the others?" asked Chouji as they reached down and carefully picked up Gai.

Shikamaru took a look at Gai's face, closing his eyes as he shook his head.

"We're all almost out of chakra. We would just get in the way."

Kiba wobbled as he kept up his part of holding the body. His tail had completely thrown off his balance. It didn't help that Akamaru was lagging behind him, trying to swipe at it like a cat.

_He's doing it just to spite me. I bet he's jealous._

They walked back through the forest towards where they had left Naruto, hoping that their companions would already be there, and that none of them had suffered the same fight as the once proud taijutsu master had.

* * *

><p>Kisame vs. Itachi<p>

"Suiton: Daikoudan no Jutsu!" (Water Element: Great Shark Bullet)

Itachi gasped out his last bubble of air and watched in horror as the giant shark sped towards him. He had been trapped in Kisame's giant water bubble for several minutes, unable to breath and couldn't keep up with the Akatsuki member's speed in the water. Itachi had tried to swim his water out, but it seemed to revolve around Kisame who had no problem keeping up with him. With no air his fire techniques were less then useless, and traditional genjutsu hadn't worked against Kisame's current form. His Sharingan had given him the knowledge to copy Kisame's techniques, but he didn't have the chakra to perform them.

_Wait, maybe that will work…_

He placed his hands together and concentrated as the giant shark bore down on him. He hadn't had a chance to practise this technique after copying it from a Kumogakure assassin with his Sharingan, but Kisame had presented him with no other option. He felt the pressure of the water against his eyes, but tried to ignore the attack as he activated the technique.

"Hijutsu, Garandoukara" (Secret Technique: Empty Void)

A small black orb appeared in front of his hands as the giant shark attacked struck him head on. The shark man's eyes widened as Itachi's cloak and body within began to shred, but not to the degree he had expected. The attack began to dissolve as the water around the two of them began to violently collapse into the small orb. Itachi struggled to swim away as the orb sucked in more water, the wounds he had taken from Kisame's attack keeping him from escaping his own technique's pull. Kisame had no issue keeping away from the technique, but wasn't able to produce enough water to keep up with Itachi's counter. In his advanced form he swore and swam towards the ground, planting his feet while waiting for the water to disappear.

_Clever, Itachi. But I still have the advantage._

The shark man glared at Itachi as water cascaded underneath their legs. Itachi swore as he collected himself off the ground, his cloak barely hanging onto his shoulders as the black orb disappeared.

"You have lasted longer then I would have thought, Itachi."

His beady eyes looked into the Sharingan's staring back at him, unable to keep a wild grin from his face. Itachi pulled the remains of his cloak off and threw it to the ground, revealing dark body mesh and a blue set of clothes. Itachi considered and dismissed a plan of action as he dodged another water missile from Kisame's hands. Kisame had dispersed the water barrier around them, knowing that in his current form his opponent couldn't catch up to him in speed. Itachi got off several fire attacks on Kisame while countering the shark man's attacks, but his blue skin had just regenerated.

Itachi felt his chakra reserves diminishing as the battle had taken its toll on him. His Sharingan took very little chakra to utilise, such was his skill with the doujutsu, but after using Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi he didn't have much more to work with. He sighed at the situation, having resigned himself to the fact that he would have to kill his friend, but wasn't sure he was up to the task. He reached into a pocket and removed a small scroll, opening it slowly. Kisame held back, cautious of any action that Itachi did. Itachi smeared several drops of his blood onto a seal on the scroll before closing it and placing it between his hands.

Kisame stared in interest as Itachi ran through an unfamiliar set of seals with the scroll between his hands. Itachi had already shown him several techniques he hadn't known about during their partnership, but this seemed odd even for the Uchiha heir. Itachi threw the scroll onto the ground beneath his feet, slamming a hand onto the seal. A small puff of smoke arose from the scroll as Itachi pulled up his hand, a long katana appearing in his hand. Its hilt was a golden brown with small leaves carved into its wooden wrappings. As he held it with two hands, Kisame saw that the dull-looking blade was almost as long as Samehada.

"A sword? Really? I've never seen you with anything but a kunai."

Itachi twirled the blade around and pointed it at Kisame.

"I have never had cause to bring this out. This is my blade, Kanako."

Kisame grinned and threw a water missile at Itachi. The elder Uchiha swatted at it with his blade, destroying the attack as he began to run towards Kisame. He blocked several more attacks as Kisame saw how determined he now was to attack him. When fused with Samehada his skin was iron hard, and his speed was inhuman. When he saw Itachi duck under a water slice, he instinctively put up a finned arm to block it. Itachi appeared in front of Kisame and swung his sword at his chest.

Itachi didn't smile as he activated a technique he had created in conjunction with his blade. The blade hit the blocking arm and passed straight through it, becoming intangible until it completely bypassed Kisame's defence. The long blade struck Kisame in the chest, its sharp edge slicing into his blue skin. Kisame attempted to leap back from the blade but found his strength drained as Itachi swung the blade away from Kisame, cutting deep into his opponent. Kisame called out in pain, scrambling as his wound attempted to heal itself. Itachi pointed a finger at Kisame and several tendrils emerged from the earth, holding him to the ground.

"Your…trump card?" he coughed, his wound slowly closing up as he thrashed against the stone bindings.

Itachi drove the blade into Kisame's chest with a solemn look on his face. He dragged it across the shark man's chest and removed it, holding it with a single hand. Kisame screamed in agony and glared at Itachi's face.

"I never wanted to fight you, Kisame. But you threatened my comrades, my brother. I am sorry."

Kisame laughed as he began to revert back to his normal form. Samehada slipped out of his skin and dropped next to his body, its chakra spent as it failed to heal Kisame's wounds. Itachi looked over at the blade before activating his Mangekyou. Black flames erupted on the blade, causing it to thrash and struggle as it burnt away to nothing. Kisame watched in agony as his constant companion disappeared before his eyes, laughing madly as he struggled to stay conscious. Itachi looked back at his opponent through his pinwheel eyes, sensing that his opponent was very near to death. Kisame tried to shut his eyes to stop what he knew was coming, but was too late as he saw the spinning black on red image.

Kisame groaned, but as the world around him began to darken he realised he felt no pain from his wounds. He couldn't help but laugh as the world shifted and swirled until it became the island where they had met each other for the first time. He looked down and saw that his wounds were gone, and even Samehada was on his back. He turned around and saw a familiar cloaked figure sitting on the pier. Kisame sighed, he knew he was beaten.

"Why the display, Itachi?"

The elder Uchiha didn't move, simply looking out over the ocean. Kisame walked down the pier and stood behind his former partner.

"You can't let me die?" he asked, not happy with Itachi's illusion.

"Sit down, Kisame."

"Why should I? I've lost. There's no point to any of this."

Itachi moved his head slightly and looked over a different part of the ocean through dark eyes.

"I could make you, if you like."

Kisame sighed and knelt down, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the pier. He laid Samehada on the other side of his legs and stretched out his arms.

"Are you going to answer my question, Itachi?"

"Does the answer matter?" asked the former Akatsuki member.

Kisame laughed and looked at the sharks circling around the pier.

"I guess not. I'm not sure where you are going with this though."

Itachi moved his arm over the wooden planks and his sword appeared beneath it, resting in its scabbard. Kisame looked at the golden-brown blade that had defeated him, noting how inconspicuous it was.

"Kanako was my fiancé" stated Itachi, watching two sharks fight each other over a piece of dead meat.

Kisame reached over and picked up the sword gingerly, feeling the weight in his hands. It paled in comparison to Samehada in his mind, but the characters across the scabbard read the name that Itachi had mentioned.

"You named your sword after your fiancé? I never heard of her before now."

"I had it made after her death."

Kisame nodded, placing the sword back down and looking at his own blade. Samehada seemed content to set there, though Kisame knew that it was simply a part of the illusion.

"Can I ask you one thing, Itachi? Why did you betray Akatsuki?"

Itachi kept his gaze away from the shark man, but felt a twinge of remorse as he remembered their battle.

"I never betrayed Akatsuki. I was never with them to begin with. I just…needed a place to take my mind off things."

His companion nodded in acknowledgement at Itachi's reason, understanding that much. He found himself unable to be angry with Itachi, losing the battle had given him renewed respect for his friend.

"I get that. Is that why you brought me here? To justify your actions?"

Itachi collected his legs beneath himself as he stood up, his blade disappearing as he turned away. Kisame stood up as well, not bothering to pick up Samehada.

"I brought you here to apologise."

Kisame laughed again, the two of them began to walk down the wooden planks.

"Apologise? You kill me, and then want to apologise?"

They walked for a time, neither saying anything. Eventually Itachi turned and regarded Kisame through dark eyes.

"Is there anything you'd like to do?"

Seeing that Itachi wasn't going to let him go, Kisame considered his options. He thought about the many years he had been fighting, killing people. The face of the woman he had killed to protect his village's intelligence, after she had expressed an interest in seeing him outside of work. The small child that had been his hostage before he cutting it to shreds to force a warlord to pay homage to Kiri (Mist). He smiled slowly as thought about what he truly wanted to do.

He looked at Itachi's face, "I always wanted to go fishing."

Itachi wasn't expecting that, his face only able to keep stoic for a few seconds before cracking. He smirked before laughing softly, his eyes changing from stern to his new look that he gave his brother. He nodded slowly as Kisame kept a grin on his face, the Uchiha changing the scenery with a wave.

The two of them sat on a boat in the middle of a lake, dressed to suit. Itachi took a sip of his beer and tipped his hat to block out the sun. Kisame grinned as he reached up and pulled another fish into the boat. He looked over at the Uchiha's face, both of them chewing on pieces of grass as they brought in their fishing poles.

"This seems out of context, don't you think?"

Itachi smiled as he noticed a subtle change in his friend's demeanour.

"I don't know, I think it has a certain charm to it."

Kisame laughed and reached into their bucket of fish, pulling out a medium sized fish and snapped its neck in his hands. Itachi watched with an amused yet horrified face as Kisame bit down into the fish, spilling the guts over the bottom of the boat. Itachi crept back away from the spill as Kisame grinned as he swallowed the raw fish.

"That's disgusting, Kisame."

The shark man laughed and took another bite, "Itachi-san, you never had a stomach for good food."

"Kisame, that was alive ten seconds ago. You are twisted."

Kisame finished off the fish and threw another line out to the lake. They fished for another hour before Kisame asked a question that he had been thinking about for a time.

"What was she like?"

Itachi put down his fishing pole and smiled at his friend.

"Would you like to meet her?" he asked.

Kisame shrugged, his blue skin shining in the sunlight.

"You can do that?"

Itachi smiled slowly and waved his hands, "This is Tsukuyomi."

"Fair point."

The scene faded as Kisame's eyes narrowed.

"She seemed…pleasant."

Itachi smiled sadly as the image of his lover faded.

"She was. I miss her everyday."

"Can we get this over with? I'd rather not prolong this any longer."

Itachi sighed, looking at his friend with sad eyes. Kisame laughed as he looked at his former teammate. He reached over and patted him on the shoulder.

"You are a fool, Itachi-san. I'm not happy about this, but I think I understand you now. I suppose I should thank you."

He looked up at the false night sky, smiling through sharp teeth as he remembered the battles they once fought together. Itachi watched his teammate fade away slowly, as he began to unravel the illusion. He closed his eyes and cancelled the technique completely, opening them again to the remains of their battlefield. Kisame coughed up blood and gave a final laugh before his eyes closed and he stopped thrashing. Itachi deactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan and fell to his knees, the strength leaving his limbs.

_I can't fall here…I need to find Sasuke…_

He coughed up blood over his friend's body as the wounds in his shoulders pulled him to the ground. He swore and completed a hand seal before falling unconscious. A black crow emerged from his back, crowing twice before flying up into the air. The two former Akatsuki members lay side by side, their bodies spent, one of them broken with the other lying with a smile on his face.

_I'm glad you got some peace, at least at the end, Hoshigaki Kisame._

* * *

><p>Deidara vs. Kakashi, Neji, Sakura and Lee<p>

"Lee-kun!"

The three Konoha ninja ran over to Lee's body, only just catching up to where Lee had run to. He had gotten over a mile away before throwing the clay insect as high as his arm could. The explosion has been the same size as the other bombs, but the group had watched in horror as it took on a sharp blue colour before dozens of shockwaves slammed into the ground. It had been without sound, though Deidara blocked his ears regardless. His favourite was a unique mix of techniques; clay fired at a high enough frequency that it was soundless, yet had highly destructive properties. He had designed it to assassinate well protected targets. Deidara looked back as he felt the technique finish, looking in frustration as he saw that the damage had been far off its target.

_How did they move it? Some kind of space-time ninjutsu? Did I get them?_

Sakura skidded to a stop next to Lee's body, her hands already preparing her medical technique. Lee lay in the middle of a crater, not moving as his skin burned a dark red from his technique. She ignored her teacher and Neji's arrival, focusing on trying to work out Lee's injuries. Using two fingers she cut into his green suit and pulled back the top half, gasping as she saw the state of his body. While he had taken no direct damage from the unique explosion, he had suffered the full effects of the resulting shockwaves, coupled with opening the Gates he was in a bad way. His skin was a sickly dark colour, with a line of red across his chest as a blood vessel popped underneath his skin.

Sakura placed her hands gingerly on his chest and leant her ear next to his mouth. After a few seconds she breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to his chest.

"He's breathing, barely" she told her companions, who had taken defensive positions around her.

Neji concentrated his chakra directly to his Byakugan, expanding his vision until he saw where their foe was hiding.

"Kakashi-sensei. Behind a tree, a mile south-west."

Their teacher nodded, before taking a look at Lee's body. Sakura concentrated on healing the ruptured blood vessel in Lee's body, injecting a stimulant into his side in an attempt to wake him up.

"Sakura, will he live?" asked Kakashi, slicing a finger on a kunai before placing it on his other palm.

Sakura didn't respond, but her hands glowed brighter as she began work on his ribs. Neji glanced at his teammate's body through his Byakugan, keeping his cool as he saw the extent of damage within the taijutsu ninja's body.

"We are a target here."

Kakashi nodded, placing a hand on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

A large dog appeared in front of him, slobbering on the ground as the large pit bull stared vacantly at its summoner. Kakashi nodded to the dog and placed his hand on its wide back, summoning a long platform on its back as the hound ambled towards Sakura and Lee. The pink-haired medic looked at the dog before swearing and concentrating even harder as her chakra levels plummeted. The dog sniffed at Lee's legs before barking at the girl healing him. She swung an arm at the dog, which bounced away, and continued to heal Lee valiantly.

"Sakura, let Bull take Lee. He can't stay here."

"But…"

"Sakura! Concentrate on the situation."

She glared at her teacher but stood up, letting Bull slip Lee onto his back. The dog barked and looked at the girl expectantly.

"Take Bull and Lee back to Naruto. Heal Lee as best you can, and rest."

The pink haired girl nodded and began to run towards their first location, the dog barking before running after her, keeping Lee steady on its back. Kakashi watched as the two of them disappeared into the forest, in the opposite direction their enemy was. Neji placed a hand into a Jyuuken stance as he closed the gap between the two of them.

"What now?" he asked; wary of how much chakra his teacher had left.

Kakashi looked over to the south-west.

"Has he moved?" he asked, wiping more blood onto his palm.

Neji looked over to where Deidara's last position was with his Byakugan.

"No, he hasn't. It looks like he's struggling with the loss of his arm."

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement and placed his hand back onto the ground. Several objects disappeared into the ground, causing an almost unnoticeable tremor before the two of them were left alone. Neji could see what Kakashi was doing with his Byakugan, nodded as he figured out Kakashi's plan.

Deidara grabbed at his arm, his clay barely keeping the blood contained.

_Damn bastards. At least they are gone. Shit, I need to get Kakuzu to make me a new arm._

He felt the ground beneath him tremble, his eyes widening as he realised how far he had miscalculated. He had almost no clay left, yet there were still enemies to demonstrate his art to. He jumped into the air as the rumbling got louder, barely dodging out of the way as a dog leapt out of the ground snapping at his ankle. He bounced off a tree and another dog bite at his leg, barely missing his skin. Deidara swore and clung to a nearby tree with his free hand, swinging himself up before landing with a curse.

"I hate dogs, hn."

He glared at the dogs circling around the bottom of his tree, until he noticed the headbands around the dog's heads.

_Wait, those are ninja dogs. They can cli…oh shit!_

Behind him Neji landed soundlessly before placing down his containment seal. Deidara had time to look around before staring directly into his pure white eyes glaring hatefully into his face.

"Hakke: Rokujyuuyonshou"

Deidara swore and put up his remaining arm, the tongue spitting out a small bird at the Hyuuga's face. Neji cancelled his technique immediately and began his whirl as Deidara leapt from the tree, his hand in a seal.

"Katsu!"

The explosion knocked Neji out of the tree, but other then that he hadn't taken any damage. As he fell, Neji observed the amount of clay left in Deidara's bags.

_The explosions are less powerful when less clay is used. He doesn't have much left. Kakashi, it's on you now._

Deidara landed with his feet on the ground and turned around to run away from the close combat fighter, but found himself unable to move. He looked at his feet in horror as tree branches entangled his legs slowly, Kakashi rising from the ground with his Sharingan trained on the Akatsuki member. Deidara glared at him in hatred, knowing that he was stuck in a genjutsu similar to Itachi's, but couldn't do anything about it. He had planned to train against Itachi the moment the Uchiha had defeated him, but hadn't had the time since his inception into the criminal organisation.

"It's over" stated Kakashi, as Neji landed behind the bomber with his hands already in a Jyuuken stance.

Deidara noticed that he was concerned, his feet completely immobile while he could only glare at that hateful red and black eye.

"Over?"

He laughed wildly at the thought, all the melodrama amusing him greatly. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as the blonde laughed at them. Deidara shook his head and grinned, pointing his hands tongue out.

"Art never dies, hn. It is never over. There is always another audience, hn."

He ripped his shirt off with his free hand, revealing an odd pattern on his chest. Neji watched through the blonde's back with his Byakugan as Deidara put his hand on his chest and pulled away at the string holding the symbol to his chest. They watched in horror as a large mouth opened in the blonde's chest, a long tongue waved in the Jounin's direction. Kakashi put up a kunai,

"Are all of you monsters?"

Deidara laughed and looked right into Kakashi's Sharingan specifically. By opening his chest mouth he had dispelled the genjutsu, but Kakashi wasn't aware of that.

"Tell me something, Sharingan-bastard."

The two Konoha shinobi could barely follow his fast movements as Deidara reached into his bag, grabbed the rest of his clay and shoved it into the mouth in his chest. Neji leapt to attack the Akatsuki, his hands raised.

"Wait, Neji! Don't attack him!" yelled Kakashi, watching as Deidara's body began to fade as his veins blackened and popped out of his skin.

Deidara laughed at their hesitation.

"This is the most exquisite form of art, hn. You are right not to attack, but it doesn't matter, hn. Nobody here will survive!"

Neji saw the blonde's chakra concentrating on the mouth on his chest as he continued to fade.

_Damnit, he isn't joking. Okay, concentrate. His explosions are based on clay, which he forms with a half-tiger seal. Wait, the clay is akin to Kakashi-sensei's Doton techniques. _

His eyes widened as he realised, running as fast as he could towards Kakashi.

"His technique is earth-element based! If you hit him with a lightning attack, it should short out the explosion."

Kakashi looked over at the Genin with suspicion.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he ran through the seals.

Neji shook his head and stared as Deidara was almost completely incorporeal.

"Not really, but do we have a better option?"

Kakashi thrust his hand to the ground and gathered his remaining chakra. Lightning formed around his hand into a blade as he looked at his target. Deidara stared with a smile as his chakra gathered at his heart, his technique nearly complete.

"You can't destroy art, hn. Art disappears as soon as it arrives, hn."

He went to say his favourite word, but found the words stuck in his throat. He looked over at the two conversing Konoha ninja, several feet away. He pulled up his arm to look at, noticing how it was slowly turning back to his normal skin colour.

"What the…urgh…" he coughed violently as he looked down at his chest.

His vision was blurry, but he could barely make out an arm attached to his chest.

"What…is…this…" he asked, to no-one in particular.

"But…my art…" he cried as his eyes rolled back into his head.

His body fell to the ground as Kakashi withdrew his arm from his chest. Neji walked up to his teacher slowly while deactivating his doujutsu.

"Why didn't he blow up before your attack?" he asked, feeling a rush of fatigue at his constant use of his Kekkei Genkai.

Kakashi checked to make sure the blonde was dead before covering his Sharingan with his forehead protector.

"I put him under another genjutsu. He thought we were still talking."

"Smart. What now?"

Kakashi looked around the area, trying not to show how fatigued he was in front of the elder Hyuuga.

"We should try to find the others. The other enemies are likely as strong as this boy was."

Neji nodded, keeping his calm as Kakashi burned up Deidara's body as a precaution.

_We can't have him exploding anyway. We can't take any chances with these people. _

"Can you pinpoint anyone's location?" he asked.

Neji shook his head, not ashamed to admit his fatigue.

"I can't maintain my Byakugan anymore. But when I was looking before I couldn't see anyone within a few miles. We led this one away from the others for good reason."

Kakashi sighed then felt himself begin laughing as the fatigue wore him down. Neji watched his teacher's odd display, feeling compelled to do the same but his Hyuuga training kept himself from indulging.

"We should retreat and recover. Then we can provide support" he said, using his normal white eyes to survey the area.

Kakashi nodded in agreement, picking himself up and sighing before nodded again for Neji to lead the way.

_Damn kids, I can barely keep up. I need more training_.

Sakura and Bull landed at the base camp, the medic gingerly picked up Lee and placing him on a long stone. She completely removed the top part of his suit and discarded it, reaching back into a pocket before picking out a blood replenishment pill. She pulled out his mouth, and carefully dropped the pill in his mouth. She tapped a section of his neck that forced him to swallow the pill, before going back to working on his ribs. After a few minutes she felt her knees buckle but continued her job, taking note of all the scars on his body.

_You better come out of this, Lee-kun. I won't forgive you if you leave my training half done. Hell, you wouldn't forgive yourself. _

She covered up the cut she had made and pulled back. She looked at Lee's face through hopeful eyes, her abilities as a medic taken to the limit.

_Maybe if I had worked harder…Lee-kun would have worked harder…_

A twitch caught her attention, leaning her head above his with her ear to his mouth. After what felt like years, she sighed in relief as a slight gasp of sound emerged from Lee's mouth. She laughed as his breathing became more consistent, feeling her emotions spill out as tears rolled down her face. Lee coughed softly, drawing Sakura's attention like a mother hen.

"Lee-kun?"

With a considerable effort, Lee pulled up a hand as his eyes opened slowly. She smiled and wiped her eyes as he raised his head. His hand touched her cheek as he smiled painfully.

"Sa…ku…ra-sa…n…"

She held his hand with both of hers, laughing as she watched his recovery. Lee grimaced again and tried to bring up his other hand.

"Lee-kun? What's wrong?"

Lee coughed again, his fingers pointing to his chest.

"Ri…bs…Saku…ra-san…"

She looked down at where he was pointing and gasped as she realised she was leaning on his chest. She jumped up immediately, to the sigh of her 'victim'.

"I'm so sorry, Lee-kun. Are you okay?"

Lee didn't respond, his eyes closing slowly. She put her hands to his wrist and counted in her head. Noting his steady pulse, she could see no other wounds on his body besides the old scars on his hands.

_I__ guess he just needs his rest. Kakashi-sensei said I should rest too. There might be others hurt when their fights are done._

She sat down and undid her forehead protector over her forehead. Running a hand through her dirt covered pink hair she smiled as she wondered what her mother would think of her current look. She had dried blood all over her dress and her arms were covered in scratches. The big dog that had accompanied the two ninja moved over next to her and barked before settling down next to Lee's sleeping body. Sakura took a breath before remembering the cache of soldier pills they had hidden when they had left Naruto.

_Naruto!_

She jumped up and spun around, mentally smacking herself for forgetting her friend. The gurney rocked as Naruto thrashed around in his sleep, strands of yellow hair falling to the sides as it caught on the sides.

Sakura ran over and tried to hold him down, "Naruto! Calm down!"

At her touch, he lay still. His eyes opened slowly to tired blue eyes, smiling as he saw Sakura's face.

"Hey there, Sakura."

She laughed and stood back as Naruto picked himself up slowly.

She put up a hand with a stern look, "Don't get up Naruto, you just survived more then anyone is meant to. Shizune-sensei said you shouldn't be able to move properly for at least a week."

Naruto laughed then held his ribs in pain.

"A week? Don't make me laugh, it hurts Sakura."

He looked around at his new surroundings, noting the odd similarities between the field that he had spent time with his parents in and the current area. His eyes landed on Lee's body, immediately noticing his scarred chest.

His eyes widened, "What…happened to Lee?"

Sakura looked down, sadly.

"He…was hurt fighting one of the Akatsuki members."

"What?"

Naruto swung his legs over and sat on the gurney until something clicked in his mind.

"Wait, you said one of. Itachi-sensei said there would only be one pursuer. How many were there?"

Sakura looked back at Naruto with surprise; _you aren't as dumb as we think you are Naruto. _

"There were four. We were fighting but got separated."

"No word from the others?" he asked, trying to get off the gurney.

Sakura pushed him back on, "No. Stay down Naruto, you aren't recovered yet."

The blonde ninja stared her at her face, giving a stare that would have made his father proud. Sakura stared back at him, not wanting to let him hurt himself, but in all the time she had spent with Naruto she had never been able to convince him once he set his mind on something. She broke the eye contact and sighed. Naruto grinned and her and tested his weight on the ground.

"You're going to get yourself killed, you know that?"

Naruto stumbled over to his pack, picking up his sword before groaning as he wasn't used to his body without the Kyuubi. The sword felt lighter in his hand, more receptive to his touch then before. Naruto took a deep breath and slung the sword over his shoulder.

"Naruto, where are you going to go? You don't know where the others are."

The Uzumaki survivor smirked at Sakura before testing his feet on the ground again.

"Sakura-san, I know exactly where they are. Or at least, where one of them is."

She watched as he disappeared, a small yellow flash taking his place. She sighed and walked back over to Lee's sleeping form. Popping a soldier pill into her mouth from the cache, she tried to concentrate on a meditation lesson her sensei had taught her.

_Please don't let anyone be injured. No, that's a silly thing to think about. I need to recover as quickly as possible._

* * *

><p>Hidan vs. Shizune, Shino, Hinata and Sasuke<p>

To say that Hidan had become a monster would be an inaccurate description in the Konoha shinobi's eyes. It had grown slightly taller with its skin darkening to a pitch black with the same bone markings as before, but there were small red veins popping out of them as the blood seemed to flow outside of its body.

Its weapons had changed with his body, the long spike glowed subtle dark blue as it shifted and reformed randomly in its hand. Its scythe has consolidated into a single black blade, but the red hilt had turned to bone as a human skull carving covered the end as the long blade extended to a horrifyingly dark edge.

Since its cloak had been burnt off by Sasuke, the shinobi could see all the dark red spikes poking out of its ribs as it glared at the Konoha shinobi through bronze-red pupils. Most shocking of all were the two giant skeletal arms extending from its shoulder blades, more akin to the bones of wings then anything else.

"My god…" muttered Shizune, dropping her guard slightly in horror of the image before her. The creature that was Hidan stared at the group with an emotionless expression. Sasuke winced as Hinata struggled to keep the wound on his back shut, her chakra reserves almost empty from her previous assault with the seal enhancer. She reached into her pack and removed a roll of bandages, ordering Sasuke to take off his shirt as she removed the bandages with her teeth.

She trusted Shizune and Shino to protect her as she closed the outside wound, wrapping it tightly with the bandages before sealing it with medical tape. Sasuke grimaced in pain but picked himself from the ground whilst putting his cloak back on. He picked up Sanshou from the ground, taking his place next to his companions as Hinata swallowed a chakra replacement pill and stood up slowly.

The creature watched the ninja hesitate to attack him, noting the fear that was evident across their faces.

"**Mortal children. You have but one purpose.**"

It didn't flinch as several highly toxin needles struck it in the neck, barely even registering that the attack had happened. Shizune swore as she pulled her sleeve back over her launcher, observing that the creature still had Hidan's apparent immortality.

"He shouldn't be able to use chakra" said Sasuke, his platinum blade held tightly in both hands as Hinata joined their line.

She stared at the creature through her Byakugan with fascination, unsure how to interpret what she saw.

"It's…there's nothing there."

"What do you mean?" asked Shino.

Hinata pointed at the creature slowly, "There is no chakra flow. No blood. Nothing. It makes no sense."

Sasuke laughed as he fought off exhaustion, "What about this guy makes sense? Nothing works. No techniques, no attacks, nothing."

Shizune stepped up to the Uchiha heir and slapped him lightly on the face.

"Snap out of it, Uchiha. We don't have time for this."

Sasuke felt his choler sky-rocket at the attack, but conceded the point. He sighed before stepping forward to an attack position. Shino stepped next to him and pulled him back with a stare.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I should take the front. Out of all of us, I have the most chakra."

Sasuke glared at the Aburame heir with his Sharingan, unable to understand why everyone was keeping him from attacking. Seeing Sasuke about to argue with him Shino whispered softly into his ear.

"You are our hardest hitter. The three of us will create an opening and you need to hit him with your strongest technique."

Sasuke scoffed, but backed off, letting his three companions make their preparations.

Placing its scythe on its shoulder, the creature pointed its spike at Shizune. Its bronze-red eyes regarded her with disinterest as its mouth slowly opened.

"**Death by impaling**" thundered from its mouth as the spike extended impossibly fast at Shizune, striking her directly in the chest.

She gasped and coughed blood over the ground as she put her struggled to put her hands on the spike. In response the spike fluctuated and pierced through her hands, drenching itself in her blood.

"Sensei!" called out Hinata, already on her way to help her teacher.

Shizune grimaced as she struggled to maintain her grip without losing consciousness. Using her Byakugan, Hinata watched as Shizune's chakra levels plummeted as she attempted to heal her own wound while the spike was still protruding out of her chest, unable to do anything about her hands.

"G…go!" she sputtered, grinding her teeth as she felt a wave of agony wash over her.

The three Genin nodded and rushed towards the creature with their weapons raised. Shino threw several explosive kunai at the creature, but it seemed unphased at it stared at its first target. Hinata threw several shuriken at its chest before attempting to run through a basic water attacking technique. The creature turned its head towards her and she felt the full force of its gaze on her enhanced eyes. Even without her Byakugan, she would have been able to tell what the creature truly was. She felt her vision darken as she struggled to maintain her free will against such an ungodly stare. The creature's eyes seemed to bore into her as a realisation dawned on her.

_This…only a god…_

The creature's eyes flickered as it watched the Hyuuga girl drop to her knees. Her Byakugan deactivated as her face began to gloss over.

"**Death by terror**"

Shino wanted to help his teammate as he saw her collapse to the ground, but knew he would suffer a similar fate if he didn't attack now. He sent a mental order to his insects, as well as an apology for what he was asking them to do. The hive within him buzzed in response, causing Shino to smile at their reaction. He didn't physically show the smile, but internally he was satisfied. He threw a pair of shuriken around the creature's head, pulling on the attached wires before hooking the shuriken to the ground behind it. The creature, having been satisfied with its dealing of the small dark haired girl turned its head towards the bug user.

It glared at Shino as the Genin put his hands out from his position several feet away. He watched Sasuke flank around quietly as his hive began to explode outwards from his sleeves, tracking along the wires towards the creature. It took no notice of the insects, unsatisfied that it couldn't paralyse Shino while he wore his sunglasses. Shino put his hand together into a new seal he had created, derived from a technique from his father's arsenal.

"Hijutsu: Inkouassaiki" (Secret Technique: Throat Crusher)

The bugs leapt from the wire and attacked the creature's face, stuffing themselves into its mouth and through the slits where its nose was. Shino concentrated as he felt the bugs clogging up the creature's throat. It continued to glare at him, before opening its mouth wide and shutting it tight with razor sharp teeth. Shino felt a mental cry as his bugs died in droves, the creature swallowing the hive with an emotionless expression. It still kept a tight grip on the spike impaling Shizune's chest, the young Jounin having erected two arms of water out of the ground to keep the spike steady as a strange looking lines appeared from under her mesh vest.

The creature took a final swallow then looked down at its chest as a long sword poked through its chest. Turning its head around to an impossible angle, it found itself confronted by two black and red orbs. Sasuke felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness as the creature walked forward slowly, dragging the sword out of its chest whilst maintaining its stare. Sasuke's eyes widened as his Sharingan warned him of the counter-attack, but his body couldn't react in time as the skeletal wings shot out at him.

The spiked wings impaled him through his body, lifting him high in the air before hurling him away, spraying precious Uchiha blood over the creature's body. Sasuke slammed into the ground and fell unconscious as his body bled from eight large wounds. The creature looked at his body dejectedly.

"**Death by blood loss**"

It took a step forward and let the sword inside its chest fall to the ground. Shino's face darkened as he looked over the battlefield, seeing all his fallen comrades. He felt in his pack for a kunai, observing as the creature broke off its spike from its hand, still keeping the spike in Shizune's chest but freeing up its other hand.

Shino jumped towards it in a last ditch effort, an explosive note wrapped around the kunai as he attempted to thrust it into the creature's face. The creature reached up with its free hand and let the kunai pierce through its black skin, touching the note with a finger to prevent it from exploding. Shino tried to pull away but the creature gripped his wrist and pulled him close. It opened up its mouth to an impossible angle, as a plume of purple smoke erupted from inside and covered Shino's face. It let his wrist go, watching the Aburame fall to the ground convulsing as the toxin began to overtake his body.

"**Death by poison**"

Its bronze-red eyes observed the battlefield, watching as Shizune removed the spike from her chest and fell to the ground coughing blood before laying still. Sasuke groaned then screamed as he failed to move his arms and legs, not able to feel any strength or chakra due to the wounds in his body. A black crow appeared from the sky and landed next to him, crowing loudly next to Sasuke's head. Shino couldn't move, his face in the ground next to the shattered remains of his sunglasses, having broken when he fell to the ground.

The creature took a moment before resting its eyes on the young girl who had begun to crawl away from it. It walked slowly towards her, the ground slowly burning beneath its feet as it arrived in front of the Hyuuga heir. It motioned to her with a finger, her body rising from the ground at its command. Her body turned around as it twirling a bone-like finger, watching as her white eyes widened in horror.

"**You are strong-willed, mortal**"

It took its scythe from across its shoulder and placed the blade next to her immobilised neck. Hinata could do nothing to stop the creature. She had barely survived losing her mind to its stare, and now she felt herself falling apart again.

P_lease…no…I can't…_

The creature drew back the scythe.

"**Death by decapitation**"

Hinata felt tears fall down her face as she watched helplessly as the blade swung towards her neck. She closed her eyes, trying to think of her happiest moment in anticipation of her imminent death.

The scythe sliced through the air, the creature's eyes flashing as it took an account of the situation. It had expected the blade to slice through her neck, severing her head from her body. Then it would move on and finish off the other three before leaving to find more sacrifices to slaughter. However it was to be denied as the girl was placed carefully on the ground nearby, her head cradled as it touched the grass. Hinata opened her eyes slowly, unsure why she hadn't died yet. She found herself looking at a familiar orange jacket with a flush red katana strapped to its back.

_I must be dead. He can't be here…_

The creature rested its scythe back onto its shoulder as it regarded its new prey.

"**The mortal who defied death…**"

Hinata's saviour swore as he saw the bodies around the battlefield. He couldn't tell whether they were alive or not, but created a clone before stepped forward to confront the creature. The clone leant down and placed a caring hand on Hinata's face.

"Hey, you. You okay?"

Hinata smiled through tears as she looked at Naruto's face.

"Na…Naruto-kun…you came for me?"

The clone grinned and tapped his nose unconsciously, "I woke up and had an odd feeling in my chest. I knew you were in trouble."

Hinata reached up and fingered the pendent he had given her, trying to stand up but the clone stopped her.

"Hina-chan, you need to rest. I'll take care of him."

She wanted to protest, but fell apart at her crush's face, happy to let the clone guard her.

"It's immortal, Naruto-kun. It took all our attacks without stopping or falling down" she called out to the original, who nodded grimly as it drew its sword.

The creature watched the exchange with interest, "**You would stand against a god? Foolish, foolish mortal**"

The original Naruto glared at the creature before dozens of clones appeared around the creature. His skill with Kage Bunshin had gotten to the point that he didn't need the hand seal, each clone standing with a copy of Hirameki before each dropping a kunai at their feet. Hinata's eyes widened as she recognised the seal wrapped around the kunai as the Naruto clones levelled their swords at the creature. It held up its scythe, baring its teeth at the army of blondes.

The Naruto's concentrated and drew back their blades. The army disappeared in a flash of yellow before reappearing with their blades pointed to the ground.

The original sheathed his blade as the army dispersed, muttering "Fuuton: Saishuugishiki" (Wind Element: Last Rite)

The creature stared at the original and went to attack him, but found that it couldn't move. Naruto dismissed his first clone and leant down to help Hinata. She couldn't activate her Byakugan, so she didn't know what Naruto had done. She tried to look past him, but he blocked her view purposefully, shaking his head seriously with an expression she hadn't seen for a long time. The creature began to fall apart, long lines appearing on its body as it shattered into tiny pieces. Hinata tried to get up but Naruto shook his head,

"Don't Hina-chan. I…will…uh…"

Naruto fell to the ground as a wave of exhaustion hit him, still not recovered from his 'death'. Hinata gasped and dragged herself over to him, flipping him over and checking him for injuries. Naruto had a small smile on his face and muttered as he drifted to sleep.

"No…Hina-chan…I want more ramen…nooo don't…my raaaammmeeennnnn…"

She smiled and lent her head on his chest before falling unconscious herself.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so the two-chapter-long battles come to a close. What did you guys think of the format for the battles? Do you prefer the short battles broken up over the chapter, mixed in with the other fights, or long fights like in this chapter? Remember, this is around the Sasuke Retrieval Arc time period, so they are around that sort of strength level, with some a little bit higher but that's about it.

I should be able to get the first chapter of the Suna Chuunin Exams by next week.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: A Chance to Change by Susie-Draegalia. A great time-travel story, with Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi all going back in time. Very interesting developments for Naruto growing up with Kakashi and him being pretty strong from the start. Definitely recommended.


	8. Chapter 8 Grief

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 8 – Grief

**A/N**: I do apologise for the lateness of this chapter. Three assignments for university due at the same time didn't leave me much room for writing. On the upside though, the first chapter of the Suna Chuunin Exams is up. They'll be about once a fortnight, hopefully. Feel free to check that out as a prequel to this story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Lee would use Drunken Fist more often.

* * *

><p>Naruto's eyes flickered open slowly. His body was stiff and unresponsive as he felt the cold stone that he was lying on. He struggled to sit up as he attempted to look at his surroundings. He felt a warm pulse through his exposed chest as a hand pushed him back down. The blonde went to protest until he saw the white eyes he had become so comfortable with. Hinata smiled warmly as Naruto tried to get up again.<p>

She pushed him back down, "Stay still, Naruto-kun. Your body is still recovering."

"But…"

Hinata tried to look at him sternly and failed, unable to keep the smile from her face.

"No buts. Shizune-sensei says you are lucky to be alive."

"How long was I out?"

"Two days" she responded, keeping her hand over one of the scars on his chest.

Naruto wanted to get up again, he hated staying still, but he could see something in her face that gave him pause.

"What is it, Hina-chan?"

The Hyuuga girl took her hand off his chest reluctantly, before taking a seat next to his legs.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it Naruto-kun."

The blonde stayed down at her request, but still turned his head to look at the young girl's face.

"You can tell me, Hina-chan."

"It's just…we almost lost you…the others…"

She could feel herself wanting to cry, unable to stop herself until she felt Naruto slip his hand into hers, rubbing her skin with his fingers.

"I'm not going anywhere. Not with you guys looking over me."

Hinata blushed at the touch, but held on as she felt the urge to just lie down next to him. She looked over at his face, noticing his eyes closing again as he drifted back to sleep.

"Naruto-kun?"

"I'm not asleep, I swear" he muttered, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

Hinata smiled at her blonde companion, patting his hand before trying to release it. Naruto gripped the dark haired girl's hand tightly, "Hina-chan…do you mind just…"

He tried to sound indifferent, but Hinata could tell how hard it was for the blonde shinobi.

"Would you like me to stay for a while?" she asked, her attempt to not sound hopeful failing dismally.

Naruto's kept his eyes shut, stubbornly lying in silence. He broke before she did however, finally giving her hand a squeeze.

"You're going to make me ask, aren't you?"

Feeling an odd stubborn streak that the others could only describe as 'Naruto-ish', Hinata nodded while looking away from him. Naruto sighed, but internally was intrigued by the 'new' Hinata.

"Fine. Can you please stay and keep me company? Can you talk to me so I can stay awake?"

Hinata tried to hide her excitement and failed, letting off a squeak before gripping his hand as tight as she could.

"I'd love to, Naruto-kun."

The blonde smiled at the girl's reaction, then thought about what she had just called him.

"You know, I was thinking about something Hina-chan."

She looked at his face with curiosity. Naruto blushed suddenly as her white eyes looked into his, feeling a pulse of warmth through her hands. He felt a strange pang in his chest, but coughed awkwardly to cover it up.

"I call you Hina-chan, right? What about me?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, not able to understand the nuance of Naruto's question.

The blonde blushed and glanced away, not willing to pursue it any further.

"Naruto-kun? What did you mean?" asked Hinata, leaning closer while still not understanding.

"N…nothing, don't worry about it. Let's…talk about something else. How are the others?"

Hinata sighed at his question, looking over at the others on the other side of the campsite with a sad look.

"Not good, Naruto-kun."

***Flashback***

"Sakura, get the yellow vial from my pack! Hinata, Ino, concentrate on the shoulder wounds! I want a low voltage electrical charge ready, Kakashi!"

Shizune continued to bark orders at the group as Shikamaru dabbed her forehead with a cloth, her ponytail whipping him in the face as she moved up her patient's body with her glowing blue hands. The ground beneath the healers was covered in blood as they struggled to keep their patient from bleeding out. On a slab between them lay the younger Uchiha, having suffered the worst injuries of the survivors.

While his initial wounds should have been easily treated, Shizune found that there were tiny pieces of poisoned bone embedded in his body that was slowly breaking down his system. Shizune swore silently as she threw away another chunk of bone from Sasuke's side. Her technique had been cancelled once her injury had been regenerated, her master would have been proud of the precision of her seal though Tsunade would have kept it up for the whole fight rather then just using it when suffering major injuries.

_Even if we remove all the poisoned bones and healed the wounds, he's lost far too much blood…_

She dropped another chunk of bone into the water pool they had been collecting them in, watching as her students worked valiantly to save Sasuke's life.

"We need to set up a blood transfusion" she said, already yelling orders to the others of the group to prepare another slab.

"What's Sasuke's blood type?" asked Hinata, throwing down a blanket to prevent any blood from spilling onto the slab.

"AB. He's a universal blood receiver" stated Kakashi, his body having recovered the quickest out of the remaining Jounin.

"That's not accurate" came a voice from the forest.

The group that wasn't patrolling watched as Sasuke's brother emerged from the forest, his body covered in scratches and dried blood.

"Itachi! We searched for you for hours. We had all but written you off."

The elder Uchiha turned his gaze to the speaker, looking the white-haired Jounin in the eye before grinning uncharacteristically. The group wasn't sure how to react as Itachi smiled at the rest of the group before noticing his brother's condition.

"How is he?" he asked, walking over and placing a hand on his brother's arm.

Shizune shook her head and wiped her face with the sleeve of her kimono.

"Not good. He's essentially healed, but he's lost a lot of blood. We need a donor now, otherwise he won't make it."

"What did you say about Sasuke's blood type?" asked Shikamaru, wary of the fact that the others were late coming back from their patrol.

Itachi sat down on the slab next to Sasuke's and presented his arm to the Jounin medic.

"Uchiha blood rejects all other types of blood. If you tried to transfuse Sasuke with non-Uchiha blood, he'd die."

"The Uchiha's actually went through with that? I thought that was a myth" said Kakashi.

Not wanting any particular details, Shizune unceremoniously stabbed into his arm before connecting a tube to Sasuke. Itachi swore at the pain as blood flowed from one brother to the other. Shizune placed a hand over Sasuke's face, taking a moment before sighing in relief, reaching up and undoing her ponytail. She turned her attention to Itachi, who was looking at his brother with a warm smile.

"Where were you, Itachi? We've had people out looking for you."

"It's a long story."

***Flashback within a flashback***

Itachi placed his hands together and gave a short bow. The scenery was the best he could find in the short period of time he had. It wasn't his best work by a long shot; his ability with earth techniques left much to be desired. He was still recovering from his battle after all. But he thought it was appropriate given the situation. He felt the cool sea breeze across his face as he regarded the cross in the ground.

He put down his hands and smiled, feeling an odd sense of calm release as he look at what he had carved. The cross had a line characters down the centre, pointing at the newly dug up earth.

_Hoshigaki Kisame. A man who sought the truth of the world._

He rubbed a hand across the carving, wondering if he should have used a kunai rather then the edge of Kanako. Always on his mind, he wondered what she would have thought of his actions.

_She would probably chastise me for worrying about it, and then praise me for my kindness. Kisame, I wish you could have met each other. It would seem that those close to me have a habit of dying. _

He considered the information he had received from the crow he had sent out to Sasuke. His brother was in a bad way, but his injuries didn't seem fatal so Itachi had taken his time. Nodded at the cross one last time, Itachi looked at the symbol of truth he had carved on the top of Kisame's grave.

_I will see you again, my friend. But not yet…_

***End Flashback within a flashback***

"That took you a whole day?" asked Shizune, sitting down as the fatigue of constantly healing injuries was catching up to her.

Itachi didn't respond, taking a look at the ragtag group of ninja.

"How did we end up?" he asked, not too sure he wanted to know the answer since it was his miscalculation that caused the multiple pursuers.

Kakashi put away his book reluctantly before regarding the ex-Akatsuki member.

"Most of us are fine, just exhausted. All targets were taken out. Naruto is yet to wake up again. Lee took the brunt of a dangerous explosion, but was healed properly. He should wake up within a few days, though he won't be at full strength for a few weeks. Sasuke is as you see him. Shino took a lung-full of poison gas to the face. He was able to overcome the poison, but lost his hive in the process. He…hasn't taken it well."

Itachi nodded in understanding, recognising the pain of having those closest to you die. He breathed out a sigh of relief as the pain from the transfusion became ignorable.

"So we didn't lose anyone. That's a relief."

He watched as the group became solemn, a dull silence as he saw the angry glare Neji was giving him. The Hyuuga walked up to him slowly, not willing to hide the anger in his eyes.

"My teacher is dead, Uchiha. Your error cost us one of our best warriors."

Itachi eyes dropped immediately as he realised that he hadn't been greeted by the maddeningly enthusiastic Jounin.

"Gai…was killed…" he said, feeling a stab of pain through his chest.

He had taken so many precautions for the operation, and considering the situation they were in, only one casualty was remarkable. But Itachi knew that they weren't a group that could afford any deaths, each member of their group was connected to the others. Only he and Shizune felt out of place, and the short-haired medic had no problems fitting in with the group of teenagers and their teachers.

While his brother and his blonde friend had accepted him into their group, he knew that he was still seen with suspicion. Itachi stood up from his seat, removing the tube as Shizune healed the cut on his brother. He looked at the furious eldest member of the Hyuuga clan with sad eyes.

"I am sorry for you loss. I take full responsibility. If you wish for me to leave, then I shall."

Neji stood up to Itachi, his face inches away from the Uchiha elder. He activated his Byakugan, staring directly through him to where Lee was lying unconscious.

"It was your loss too. Everyone's loss."

He glared at the Uchiha for a few moments before stepping back, sighing as he realised that there was no point blaming Itachi.

"But, you don't need to apologise. We are shinobi, this is our life. Gai-sensei died protecting his students. That's the most any shinobi can ask for themselves."

Itachi was speechless, fully prepared to be hated for his part in Gai's death. He watched as Kakashi placed a hand on the Hyuuga teenager's shoulder before nodding to Itachi. It was only for a split second, but as Itachi looked into the Jounin's uncovered eye he could tell what Kakashi was trying to convey.

_You did the best you could. The burden is not yours._

He shook his head slowly and sat back down next to his brother, watching the younger Uchiha's chest rise and fall with laboured breaths. He felt a rising anger as he saw of the grave marking where they had buried Gai.

_This is so senseless. I had us do this operation as much for myself as it was for Naruto. I just…I want to be able to sleep at night without the faces of the dead haunting me. I'm sorry, Gai. _

***End Flashback***

Hinata finished the story, patting him on the hand lightly as she stood up. She went to tell Shizune that he had awoken, but when she turned around she saw that Naruto was fast asleep, drooling slightly into the stone he was on, a smile clear on his face. Hinata sighed and sat back down, pulling out a cloth to wipe Naruto's face.

"You're like a dutiful wife" observed Ino, having finished rebuilding her tent after a training session with Kiba who had mistimed his technique, demolishing half their tents.

Hinata smiled at her companion and pulled up a blanket over Naruto's sleeping body.

Ino looked at the Uzumaki heir, "Does he know?"

Hinata nodded shyly, "In a way. I don't think he understands how I feel."

Ino sat down opposite the girl, putting her legs on Naruto's rock.

"Do you?" she asked, secretly jealous at the two Konoha ninja's relationship.

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata, curious at to what Ino was getting at.

The blonde female ninja waved a hand at Naruto, "Do you love him? I mean really love him?"

The Hyuuga girl looked at the boy she was pointing at, seeing him continue to drool into the rock while muttering incoherently in his sleep. She smiled slowly and looked back at Ino.

"I do."

Ino sighed jealously, "Do you know if he likes you back?"

Hinata shook her head, "I'd like to think he does, but I don't know."

Ino stood up and looked the blonde closely in the face.

"Well, I can't say I understand what you see in him, but good for you."

She leant down and whispered into her ear, "Next town we go to, take him out somewhere. Show him some affection. Even a dense type like Naruto will fall for you."

Hinata blushed as she thought of a date with Naruto.

Ino smiled and stepped back, "Tell us girls beforehand though, so we can do you up, okay?"

Hinata nodded with a smile, thanking Ino for her consideration while looking back at her crush.

_What do you think of me, Naruto-kun?_

* * *

><p>When Lee awoke and was given the news, he left the group without a word, immediately sitting down opposite the cross where they buried Gai. The rest of the group had offered their condolences, but the bob-haired shinobi had said nothing in return, simply staring blankly at the cross. For two days he didn't eat, drink, or talk to anybody.<p>

"I'm worried about Lee-kun" said Sakura, taking a look at their companion sitting away from the group.

Naruto nodded, having tried and failed to talk to the taijutsu fighter.

"We can't stay here forever" said Itachi, feeling an immense sense of guilt since the Genin had woken up.

Having returned from his patrol, Kakashi gave a slow sigh as he saw the other Genin sitting around idly.

"Do we know for certain that Akatsuki won't come here?"

Itachi shook his head, "Before coming to collect Naruto-kun, I tracked down and killed their tracking specialist. It was why I was away for nearly a month. But it's a risk we can't afford to take."

The others nodded as Kakashi giving orders to pack up the camp. Sakura watched as the group began to pack up, before making her way towards Lee's position. She collected her recently-ruined qipao dress in her hands before sitting down next to Lee. He didn't acknowledge her with any movement, still staring at the grave of his teacher.

After several minutes Sakura stretched out her legs, remembering the words she had been told when she was struggling with her parents' deaths.

"There are no words that can make this better. No action can get rid of the pain."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a slight twitch in Lee's face, though he still stared blankly forward. She stood up and walked over until she was opposite him, sitting down so that he couldn't see the grave. Lee's eyes were vacant, as if he wasn't even conscious anymore. Sakura picked up one of his hands and held it, frightened at how cold his hands were.

"Lee-kun, he wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

While he hadn't flinched at her touch, he moved his face slightly and stared directly into her green eyes.

Feeling the culmination of all his grief into that single moment, he opened his cracked lips; "What do you know of him? What do ANY of you know of him?"

Sakura looked at her companion sadly, crossing her legs whilst still holding onto his hand.

"I didn't get to know him. But you did."

Lee had run out of tears after the first few hours, but all he could see was the 'Nice Guy' pose his teacher had given him before their battles that day.

"I…don't know what I'm meant to do…" he muttered, his anger at her dispersing as his mind began to recollect itself.

His pink-haired friend clutched his hand sympathetically and smiled.

"Me neither. But I did have an idea."

"What?"

"Tell me about him."

Lee stared at her quietly before a sad smile formed on his face.

It took three hours, but Sakura finally convinced Lee to stand up. For about three seconds before he dropped to the ground, the loss of muscle mass provided a most comical of falls. He laughed as he struggled to work his legs, Sakura smiling while also refusing to heal him. He had protested, but thanked her nonetheless. The others came over to help him, continuing to offer their condolences.

Itachi had fallen on his knees and begged Lee's forgiveness, but the Genin had refused to hear it. Lee apologised to the group and swore that by the time they were ready to leave he would be able to walk properly. Having spent time with Lee, none of the group was surprised when he stood in formation with them, his pack on his shoulder.

"Sakura-san, I'm fine" he said, walking slowly next to the pink-haired medic.

Sakura sighed and fiddled with her pack's strap.

"Just…take it easy okay?"

Lee nodded, still testing the weights on his legs since recovering from his injuries. They were heading for a nearby village that they had used before to resupply, in a staggered formation. In the middle of the group, Naruto flinched as he received dozens of clones' worth of experience.

"Anything?" asked Hinata, her Byakugan unable to reach the range that Naruto's clones could.

Naruto sighed, his sword hilt slapping against his back beneath his pack.

"I'm going to have to impose some kind of rule with my clones. The three that reached the town had two bowls of ramen each before dissipating."

Hinata gave a short giggle as she thought about a group of Naruto's sitting in a ramen shop.

"But the town is clear. Nothing suspect, at least from what the clones could tell."

Hinata focused her Byakugan forward, seeing the edges of the town through the black and white vision. Next to her Neji nodded with his Byakugan activated, falling back to the rest of the group to tell the Jounin.

"It'll be nice to have a warm bath" said Hinata; terrified to get closer to Naruto for fear that he would smell her jacket.

Naruto laughed and nodded in agreement, "The town has some hot springs. Something about this land, every town has hot springs. We should go together once we have some time."

Hinata's face blushed immediately and she put her hands to her chest.

"T…ogeth…er?"

It took him a moment, but the advice he had received from Itachi came screaming to him when he realised what he had said.

His blush matched Hinata's as he stuttered "I…no no…I mean…"

Behind them walked the Uchiha brothers, Sasuke still sore from his recovery. They were watching the Genin in front of them with classic Uchiha amusement, stoic faces.

"Are they always like this?" asked Itachi, finding a new avenue of interaction with his brother since Kisame's death.

Sasuke scoffed, "He's as dense as a rock and she's as shy a kitten."

Itachi smiled, his red eyes watching as Naruto laughed awkwardly while Hinata walked silently next to him.

"Should we help them?" asked Itachi, wanting to see at least some happiness in their group.

Sasuke stared at his brother through his own Sharingan; Itachi had him training how long he could keep the doujutsu active. Itachi saw his brother's look and smiled, looking back at the 'couple'.

"I guess you are right. It's more fun to watch it anyway."

He glanced back and saw Lee and Sakura walking to the side of the group, Lee still a bit shaky but stubbornly refusing her help.

"And those two?" he asked of his brother.

Sasuke shrugged, "I don't pay that much attention."

Itachi smiled at his brother, "Now that's a mistake, little brother. They are your companions. They are tasked with protecting you, as you are of them. Information is power, you should know that."

Taking a glance at Sakura fussing over Lee, Sasuke thought about what his brother had said.

"Why should I care who they spend time with? If Naruto wants to be with Hinata, that's fine. If Sakura wants to hang around eyebrows, then whatever."

Itachi sighed, once again regretting that he had been the focus of Sasuke's childhood.

_You never got the chance to go through childhood crushes, and now you've been hardened by battle. _

Itachi placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, a gesture he had been using more and more since he learnt from Shizune that tapping Sasuke on the head could be considered sibling abuse.

"Maybe one day you'll meet a girl who…uh…"

Sasuke looked at his brother with a mix of annoyance and interest, knowing that while his brother had become more open since their battles he still took some getting used to.

"…ah I know. A girl who can bring you out of your shell."

The younger Uchiha ignored his brother, but later on as they approached the town he thought about the others in the group.

_Itachi knows that I intend to restart our clan. Is he trying to give me hints? I can't see him settling with a girl since he's still hung up over that Senju girl_.

* * *

><p>The village leader had been happy to let the shinobi stay in his village to recover, though provided they removed a group of raiders plaguing the townsfolk. The Konoha group had started to prepare until Lee stood in front of them with his staff in his hands.<p>

"I request to do this task. Alone."

Most of the group wasn't surprised by his request, though Kakashi still frowned at the taijutsu specialist.

"That not feasible, Lee. You don't know how many enemies there are."

Lee shrugged, his sad eyes regarding the Jounin.

"I don't care. I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but I…"

"I'll go with him, Kakashi-sensei."

The group stared at the excitable blonde ninja as he walked over and stood next to the green-clad Genin. Lee turned his head and regarded the smiling Uzumaki.

"Naruto-kun, I would prefer to go alone."

Kakashi went to protest, but held himself back when he saw how pained Lee still was.

"Are you sure about this, Lee-kun? You haven't recovered fully yet" stated Shizune, having been satisfied with Sakura's healing but was still protective of the teenagers.

Itachi turned around and began to walk away from the leader's building.

"Let them go. It'll do them good to let loose."

The other Jounin were sceptical, but seeing several of the group beginning to walk with Itachi they sighed and gave up. Kiba and Neji expressed an interest in joining the two Genin, but Lee denied their help. Hinata gave Naruto a look that he smiled at, waving off her concern, while Lee soundless began to make his way to the area the leader had pointed out to them.

"You don't have to accompany me, Naruto-kun. I can handle this" he said as they jumped through the trees.

Naruto swallowed a comment, having learnt from his parents that there were times when he shouldn't say anything. Lee told him again, and Naruto was silent, his sword bouncing on his back.

_What's your ploy, Naruto?_ he thought, as Naruto stopped him.

The blonde signalled with his hand, indicating the information his clones had given him.

"Where you spotted?" asked Lee, his staff shaking in his hands in anticipation.

Naruto shook his head, "They dispersed before being seen. It seems like there are anywhere between fifty and a hundred raiders."

He looked at Lee's face with a serious expression he had shamelessly adopted from his father.

"Are you able to do this, Lee?"

The taijutsu specialist breathed out slowly, trying to keep his hands steady.

"I…can't just sit still. I need to do…something."

Naruto smiled and patted the shinobi on the back. He pulled his sword from its scabbard and held it against his shoulder.

"Let's make it interesting then. I was initially just going to back you up. How about the most takedowns wins?"

Lee stared at the blonde's face with mixed emotions.

_I was all set on letting out my anger and he's made that fade away. What is your intention? _

Naruto's eyes flickered and he swore underneath his breath.

"They caught my last scout. They are likely setting up defences now."

Lee stood up slowly, clicking his staff into a single long piece.

"We need to take them out then."

Naruto nodded and stood up next to him, still noticing the difference in their heights despite the difference in their ages. He stretched his stiff legs, still feeling the soreness from his own recovery.

"We have to make this a fair fight though. How about this, you don't take off your weights."

Lee shrugged indifferently, "I wasn't playing too. But in the same light, you can't use clones."

The look on Naruto's face was priceless, causing even the depressed Lee to sport a tiny smile before going back to stoic. Seeing that Lee was serious, Naruto groaned and began stretching his arms.

"Well that's made this a lot harder. I'm still going to use other techniques, if that's okay with you."

The green-clad shinobi didn't respond, simply walking slowly towards the compound. Naruto swore and ran to catch up to his companion.

They had decided to split off into different directions, to 'make things more fair' in Naruto's words.

_Should I let Lee win? He could use a win. But if I get a low number, he'll think I was pandering, and get worse. Screw it, I'm going all out._

He went to create a group of clones then remembered their deal and sighed. He looked at the defences the well-armed bandits had erected inside the entrance he was looking at. There was a slight reflection off his sword in the moonlight, drawing another sigh from his lips. He didn't want to kill any of the raiders, but he couldn't help get angry at some of the things the village leader had told them about the raiders. He cracked his neck and concentrated on a seal his clones had set up and disappeared in a flash.

It had felt the same as before having the Kyuubi extracted, Naruto feeling a sense of disappointment as he arrived on the roof on the compound. The technique he had used to kill Hidan had been different to his normal Hiraishin, but since then he hadn't been able to replicate it, to his dismay. The blonde shinobi ducked instinctively as a small dagger appeared just above his head.

"Come down you bastard!" yelled one of the raiders, grabbing another dagger from his belt.

Naruto blocked a thrown shuriken with Hirameki, running chakra to his feet. He jumped high into the air as he fuelled chakra into his sword. The raiders' eyes widened as they saw the yellow blur high in the air. He swung Hirameki towards the group of raiders, hoping that his chakra still functioned the same way it had beforehand.

"Shirogai!" (White Scythe)

The blast that emerged from Hirameki was smaller and more refined then the first time with Hinata in the field, but with the disruption of the Kyuubi gone he had finally completed the technique. A long white energy slashed into the group, slamming them into the ground while shredding their weapons apart. Naruto had little interest in killing the raiders, so he had put as little chakra into the strike as possible.

Taking advantage of the raiders' confusion, Naruto threw a kunai to the doorway, just as a large group of enemies flooded in. While falling and blocking the thrown projectiles, he waited until the last raider closed the door before disappearing towards the kunai just as he hit the ground. The raiders' confusion was a great source of amusement to Naruto, who simply stood at the back of the pack and waited. Eventually he gave up waiting for them to notice him, swinging his sword again into the pack.

"Shirogai!"

_Fourteen._

Lee drove his tonfa stick into the raider's knee, forcing him to his knees before driving a kunai into his throat.

_F__ifteen._

He removed the kunai and flicked the blood off it before regarding the newly arriving group of raiders on the other side of the room. Their eyes were wide as they saw the mess. There were bodies strewn throughout the floor, blood dripping down the walls with splintered bone. Lee stared at the raiders and pocketed the kunai, taking his staff off his back again. The raiders were shouting at the green-clad shinobi, but he couldn't hear them.

He had killed before, the problems in Suna had soured his taste for it, but as he drove his staff into the neck of the raider at the front of the pack he felt nothing.

All he cared about was the counting.

Lee dodged a sword swing before moving behind the attacker, twisting his staff and wrapping the chain around the sword-wielder's neck, cracking his wrists as the raider dropped to ground, his neck shattered.

_Seventeen._

Lee didn't allow the raiders a chance to recover, leaving his segmented staff on the body of the raider as he drove his fist into the face of another sword wielder. He didn't feel any anger as he destroyed the raider group. His leg weight blocked a staff hit as he tripped a raider's feet, spinning on the ground before driving his heel into the fallen raider's sternum, the overwhelming weight of his leg making a mess of the raider's insides. He caught a punch in his palm, slowly getting up from the ground as he closed his fist around the punch, the raider screaming out in pain as the bones in his hand collapsed within his hand.

Lee slammed his forehead into the raider's face, driving the raider's nose straight into his brain, killing him instantly. He dropped the corpse's hand and turned around to find his next target. To his disappointment, the raiders had fled the room. He walked over to the body that had his staff wrapped around it, his bloody hands placing the weapon back onto his back. Looking at the doorway he placed one foot in front of the other, uncaring about the blood dripping from his bandaged hands.

_Twenty._

Naruto slammed through the door, panting heavily as he climbed off the raider who had accompanied him. He found himself in a small room with a table covered in weapons and scrolls. Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed a figure sitting on a chair at the opposite end of the room, covered in dark black armour. He grinned and pulled out his sword again from his back.

"You the boss-man?" he asked, trying to find an opening in the raider's armour with his eyes, and finding none.

The raider rose dramatically, picking up a deadly-looking axe from his side before staring at Naruto through dark eyes.

"I'll take that as a yes."

He threw a kunai at the raider, waiting for him to deflect it so he could flash to it and surprise him. To his dismay, the raider caught the kunai with an armoured gauntlet and crushed it, disrupting the seal wrapped around it. The raider smiled as he dropped the shattered remains of the metal weapon onto the ground.

"I've observed your technique already, ninja. Your sword cannot pierce my armour."

Naruto laughed awkwardly and sheathed his sword. Normally in situations where he was at a disadvantage he might attempt to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, but that was no longer an option. The raider began to ponderously walk towards Naruto, his grin widening as he drew closer to the short blonde shinobi.

_Damnit…I've only got one more Hiraishin and he's seen through that. He's right; Hirameki wouldn't pierce that armour even with my chakra…wait maybe if I fired on contact…_

Naruto reached back to remove his sword, but his ears perked up and he instinctively jumped backwards. The raider cocked his head at the ninja's reaction, before the wall next to him exploded outwards, shattered pieces of rock slamming into his armour as Lee walked through the hole, dropping the body of another raider.

"Hey, Lee. How many are you on?" asked Naruto, noticing with alarm how much blood was caked along Lee's arms.

The Genin ignored Naruto, walked slowly towards the leader with a dead expression in his eyes. The leader had the best equipment and dozens of years' worth of battle experience, yet when he looked at the face of the taijutsu shinobi he knew that he couldn't stand against him. He jumped up and backed away, his axe held up defensively. Naruto could only watch in horror as Lee attacked the leader.

Without a sound, the green-clad shinobi ran at the armoured raider, ducking under a swing of the axe before spinning behind him. Naruto could barely follow Lee's movements, and the leader certainly couldn't react to them in time. Lee's hand grabbed at the leader's armoured arms, bringing them behind the leader's back before slamming his foot into his back. The leader screamed out in agony and dropped his axe before dropping to the ground, his shoulder joints completely shattered within his armour.

Naruto went to yell at Lee for taking his mark, but stopped himself and watched in disgust as Lee began to slam his fists into the chest armour of the leader, ignoring the spikes that were piercing the sides of his hands as the armour began to cave in. Lee continued to pound the armour, even after it was clear that the leader was already dead. Naruto jumped over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, throwing him across the room with an angry look.

"He's already gone! Enough is enough, Lee!"

The taijutsu specialist landed on his feet and regarded Naruto with dead eyes. It wasn't until his eyes landed on the metal object on Naruto's forehead that he seemed to really notice Naruto's presence.

"N…Naruto-kun? What are you doing here?" he asked as he looked around his surroundings with surprise.

Naruto gave a sigh as he saw that Lee had no idea where he was.

"Nevermind that, I suppose. What was up with those attacks?"

Lee slowly looked down at the body that Naruto was pointing at, his eyes widening as he remembered what he had done. He held his head in pain, as he realised why he had kept repeating numbers to himself.

"Seventy-five…seventy-five…"

He dropped to his knees and stared at his blood covered arms.

"I…killed so many people…what have I done…"

He could feel the attack coming, but couldn't react in time as Naruto's foot collided with his head, sending him crashing into the hole Lee had created.

"What the he…" he had no time to continue his sentence as he blocked Naruto's punch, before being sent crashing to the ground again by a clone's kick from behind him.

The two Naruto's stood over Lee with serious faces.

"You want to feel sorry for yourself, go right ahead. I'm going outside" said the 'commander' Naruto.

Lee wiped his mouth and spat blood on the ground beneath the blonde's feet.

_Please let this work _thought Naruto, watching the taijutsu specialist pick himself up off the ground.

Lee glared at Naruto with anger, until something clicked in his mind as he saw the look in Naruto's blue eyes. He watched as the pair of blondes walked away from him, leading the bloody ninja away from the bodies.

"Your taijutsu is impressive, Naruto-kun. Your form is chaotic and without sense, and that is your strength."

Lee was panting as he stated his observations from their spar. Naruto was on the ground covered in bruises and long scratches on his body, yet despite the rising sun shining in his injured face he had a giant grin on his face. He didn't have to ask whether Lee was feeling better, as they had traded blows they could tell what each other was thinking. Naruto's mind was always fairly simple, as Lee had found out though he had learnt more about Naruto then the blonde would have thought.

_Naruto-kun, you are a far more complex person then you portray. But the burdens you bear…you always have to watch what you say or do, but when you fight you are…_

Naruto wasn't as perceptive at reading Lee's emotions; he had spent the majority of the fight trying not to be killed by Lee's 'light' sparring. But if there was one thing Naruto knew, it was that sometimes a good fight was all you needed to put your worries to one side.

"Thanks…I think…" groaned Naruto, trying to pick himself up from the ground and failing.

Lee sighed and gave an offering hand to the fallen blonde ninja, grateful for his intervention in the previous situation.

"We should get back, Naruto-kun."

Getting to his feet, his companion nodded in agreement, refusing Lee's offer to help him walk back. They spent the two hours on the return trip discussing how they would describe the battle, Lee wishing to avoid telling them about the slaughter, while Naruto wanted the numbers of takedowns to be more equal then the absurd seventy-five to thirty that it actually was. Taking a glance at the scratches on his arms, Naruto noticed with interest that his wounds weren't closing themselves like they used to.

_I guess I need to be more careful about how I fight, now that the Kyuubi's gone. _

It had taken them half an hour, but the two Genin had convinced their compatriots that they were okay and that the raiders were taken care of. Naruto had simply smiled and waved off the concern of Hinata, who had tried to heal his wounds almost immediately. The blonde had rubbed her head affectionately and told her he was proud of the scars he had collected, though neither Genin had any intention of telling her that they were from a 'light' sparring match. The village leader had praised the group for removing the raiders, offering the group a more then reasonable reward as well as an empty hotel building for their stay.

Kakashi, Itachi and Shizune dragged the two Genin aside once given the opportunity, and they had been forced to confess what had actually happened. Lee had been depressed the whole time, fearful that they would think less of him for his actions. To his surprise, they had been quite sympathetic to his problem, Kakashi even offering to take him out on the town to talk about their fellow deceased companion. As Lee left, Kakashi said something to Itachi that Naruto couldn't quite make out, besides the word "Mangekyou".

Giving his thanks the Jounin for their considerations, knowing that they wouldn't want him in the room anymore, Naruto departed from their 'meeting' room, nearly knocking out a patiently waiting Hinata. The girl's face was in a full blush similar to how she used to have before the Chuunin Exams. The blonde smiled at the young girl, waiting for her to say what she wanted to. She went to speak then stopped herself, unable to make a coherent thought in her mind as she looked into his blue eyes. After a few moments of awkward silence, Naruto placed a hand on her head, grinning as she blushed even further at the contact.

"Hina-chan, I've got to have a shower, I smell like death. We'll talk later, okay?"

She smiled as he rubbed her head affectionately before walking towards the male rooms. Hinata breathed out a sigh of disappointment as the blonde's back disappeared around a corner.

"Oh come on, you were so close…"

Hinata spun around to see two heads poking out from the wall, a pink-haired and blonde in a comical setting that Hinata could tell that one was sitting on the other's back. Sakura nodded in agreement with Ino's statement, pointing over to the corner Naruto had retreated to.

"Are you going to go after him?"

Hinata took a glance over to where she was pointing, tempted to activate her Byakugan and watch him but held herself back. She shook her head and looked down at the floor disappointed.

"I…can't…"

Ino jumped up, causing Sakura to crash backwards and hit her head on the floor.

"Hinata, if you can't talk to him about it then what is the point?"

Sakura swore as she held her head in pain, unable to contribute anything to the discussion whilst plotting her revenge against Ino.

Naruto grimaced as he removed his jacket, the bruises underneath his clothes were some of the most painful he had experienced, particularly without the healing factor of the Kyuubi. He went to go to the connecting bathroom to have a shower, but found himself blocked by a bandaged arm. He looked across and found himself staring in a different type of white eyes from a few moments ago.

"Naruto, I would speak with you for a moment."

"Can this wait until after I have a shower?" asked Naruto, trying to push his way past but Neji wouldn't budge.

"Now would be preferable, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto frowned at the sudden formality, taking a glance into his pupil-less eyes before sighing and indicating for him to take a seat with him. Neji sat down opposite Naruto on the table and placed his hands on his knees formally.

"What is this about?" asked Naruto, taking a cautionary sniff of his armpit before screwing up his face in disgust.

Neji stared at his blonde companion, trying to understand what his cousin saw in him.

"I would like to know what your intentions are" he stated formally, analysing each facial movement in Naruto's face.

The blonde cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "My intentions for what? Having a shower? I stink, that's why."

Neji felt a spike of frustration, but pushed it down.

"Your intentions with my cousin."

Naruto took a few moments until he realised who Neji was talking about.

"Oh, you mean Hinata. What about her?"

Neji strained the muscles in his arms then contracted them.

_Must…resist…urge…to…kill…him…_

"I'll cut to the chase. Do you like her?"

He felt his anger rising again as he read the confusion on Naruto's face. The blonde went to make what could only be another confusing statement, but Neji put up a silencing hand.

"Let me clarify. You are aware of Hinata's feelings towards you?"

With his hands on the table, Naruto nodded.

"Why do people keep asking me that? I get it, she likes me. What's your point?"

Neji could feel a presence outside their room, but ignored it as he cut to the point.

"You do realise that Hinata is the heir to the Hyuuga clan, right?"

It took him a few moments, but eventually Naruto understood why the branch member had sat him down. His face turned slightly red as he thought about what Neji was implying.

"I…think I understand what you mean."

Internally Neji felt a sigh of relief, though kept up his stern expression. He had to make a reasonable impression o the blonde.

"So Naruto-san, do you love my cousin?"

It took some concentration, but he could hear a slight thump outside the room. He saw that Naruto hadn't noticed it so he made no comment, watching with interest at the change in Naruto's expression since his question. Naruto's face went from flushed to sad in the space of a few seconds.

"I don't know. I never knew what it was like to care for someone in that way. I didn't have parents growing up, as you know."

Letting out a breath of relief, Neji relaxed his arms.

_So he's not an idiot. Well not as much as I thought. He…_

"You don't understand how you feel about Hinata then?"

Naruto shook his head and smiled at the elder Hyuuga.

"Not really. But somethings I get this strange feeling in my stomach…like I'm really hungry or nervous or something. Do you know what I mean?"

"I must confess I do not. But you must understand my position, Naruto-kun. As a branch member it is my duty to protect Hinata."

Naruto laughed, and then held his sides as he remembered the brutal kick Lee had given him in the ribs. Neji's eyes narrowed and went to protest.

Naruto put up a hand, "You don't need to protect Hinata, least of all from me."

He put a fist to his chest and stared at Neji with determined eyes.

"I may not know what it is like to care for someone, but I won't let anyone harm her. You have my word."

His Hyuuga companion stared at the statement before slowly bowing his head.

"That's all I ask. Thank you."

They both stood up from the table, Naruto waving casually at Neji before entering the bathroom, trying to remove his shirt without bumping his bruises. Neji let out a sigh as he turned his eyes towards the patch of wall that he had heard the previous thump from. He could hear Naruto turn on the water in the shower, and immediately felt a spike of chakra behind the wall. Neji grinned mischievously as he began to count in his head. Right on queue, there was another thump behind the wall, with the chakra dispersing. Neji trying to contain a smile and failed, grateful that nobody was around to see his cracking façade.

_Five seconds. She's getting better. Though I can't say I approve of her use of our family technique. _

* * *

><p>Several days later, as he was making his way back to the hotel, Naruto noticed a small shop near the hotel they were staying at, trying to read the characters across the front. He smiled as he thought of an idea, walking inside the shop quietly. An hour later he returned to the hotel with a grin on his face, taking a seat at the large table in the living room.<p>

"What's got you so happy?" asked Kiba, idly running a brush through his tail, swearing every time he hit a knot.

"I had the most genius idea" responded the blonde, smiling as he saw the girls returning from the springs in the town.

"A genius idea? From you? Naruto, we can't take a ramen chef with us" said Ino, rubbing a towel through her long blonde hair.

The Uzumaki survivor gave a mock look of anguish, but shook his head.

"That's a great idea, but no."

He stood up and unzipped his jacket. Sakura grinned as she saw Hinata's face as Naruto removed his shirt, revealing his bare chest. Hinata's eyes ran all over his chest, but she found herself drawn to a particular mark on his left pectoral muscle. Naruto pointed to the new mark on his chest with his thumb.

"Naruto-kun…that's…"

On his chest was a small black mark, one that was familiar to all of them.

"Is that permanent?" asked Sakura, secretly impressed at what he had done.

Naruto nodded as the others stared at the tattoo, understanding the symbolism behind it. It was the leaf symbol from their forehead protectors, portrayed in perfect detail just underneath one of the scars he had acquired from his fight with Lee.

"Naruto, put your shirt back on before Hinata faints" said Shikamaru, walking into the room accompanied by Chouji and Shino.

"Shikamaru-kun! I…uh…" muttered Hinata, still unable to take her eyes off Naruto.

The blonde laughed and put his shirt back on, having understood a while back about Hinata's…interest.

"So you going to tell us why you got it done?" asked Sakura, taking a seat while collecting her feet under her towel.

Naruto walked over and patted the blushing Hinata on the head before leaning on a nearby wall. He recalled an argument the group had had on the road to the village.

"Itachi-sensei is right; we can't wear our forehead protectors anymore. They draw too much attention. I hated the fact that we weren't going to be able to honour our village, and then I saw a tattoo store."

Shikamaru smirked, "That's almost poetic, Naruto."

The others nodded in agreement as Naruto put his jacket back on. Hinata leant over and asked him a question, to which he smiled and led her out of the room.

"Hey, where are you two going?" yelled out Kiba, having swallowed his pride and asked Ino to help with the brushing.

Naruto popped his head back into the room, "I'm taking Hinata to the store. She said she wanted one."

The other Genin watched as Naruto disappeared again. They looked at each other silently until Sakura stood up, straightening her towel.

"I'm gonna go get changed. Then I might do the same. Never thought I'd be admitting that Naruto had a smart idea."

Hinata smiled as she wrapped her towel back around her chest, nodding her thanks to the tattoo artist as she tried not to scratch the tender spots.

"Don't swim for a few days, and try not to rub them too much" said the tattoo lady, sanitising her instruments with her hands.

The lady leant over and whispered into her ear, "Is that your boyfriend out there?"

Hinata's face immediately turned flush red as she thought about Naruto waiting idly in the other room.

"Ano…he's…ano…"

The lady laughed and patted the girl on the back.

"That's so adorable. Was the other one for him?"

She didn't respond, but the tattoo artist could tell from the slow smile creeping onto the white-eyed girl's face. She laughed again and sent the girl out of the room. Naruto smiled as Hinata emerged, jumped up and asking immediately where she had it done. Hinata blushed and covered herself up more with the towel.

Not as dense as he once was, Naruto offered his hand without another question to the young girl, who took it gladly. As they walked out of the shop, Naruto leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"But really, where did you get it done?" To her credit, Hinata wasn't terribly surprised that Naruto hadn't completely overcome his obliviousness.

* * *

><p>They spent three more days in the village before calling a meeting to discuss their next move. Each of them had proclaimed their own frustrations, and all of them were bored out of their minds in the 'peaceful' village. There was a sober mood in the large meeting room.<p>

"Anyone have a place they want to go?" asked Shizune, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Ino put down her tea and untied her ponytail, running her hands through the blonde strands.

"What are we doing? Moving from village to village…picking off bandits for money…"

Kiba nodded in agreement, Akamaru sitting asleep on his tail across his lap.

"We aren't shinobi, we are mercenaries."

"What do you expect?" said Shikamaru; even he had felt like they weren't doing anything productive.

"We have no information about who destroyed Konoha, and we can't exactly go to the other villages for assistance."

At that, Naruto's face perked up, "What about Suna? When we left we seemed to be on good terms with them."

Kakashi shook his head sadly, "We can't rule them out as suspects. We can't trust anyone outside of our group at this time."

The group continued to sit in silence for several minutes, none of them knowing what to say after that. After a while Hinata whispered in Naruto's ear. The blonde nodded and thanked her for reminding him.

"Everyone, I sort of had an idea."

The Konoha ninja turned to Naruto, who suddenly felt embarrassed at the attention he was being given. Hinata smiled at his change in demeanour, before placing a supportive hand on his. He nodded his thanks to her and coughed to clear his throat.

"I had a thought about Uzumaki clan and the Whirlpool shinobi village."

The others remembered Itachi's description of the deceased clan, how they had been destroyed when the Whirlpool Village had been destroyed.

"What's your point?" asked Sasuke, his feet rested on the table.

Naruto turned and looked at the young Uchiha, "How does a ninja village start up?"

The shinobi's faces said everything as they realised what Naruto was suggesting.

"You mean to start a ninja village" stated Itachi, his face betraying nothing at all, though he was intrigued by the idea.

Naruto nodded as he folded his arms on his chest. Next to him Kiba barked out a laugh, slapping Naruto on the back violently.

"That's a great joke. Start a village. Please…my sides…"

The blonde turned around and glared at Kiba, taking all his effort not to glance at the greyish-white tail resting on the table. Kiba laughed again until he saw the look in Naruto's eyes.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Even for you, that's a really stupid idea, Naruto" said Sasuke.

"Hey!"

Kakashi put up his hands before the two shinobi could get in each other's faces. He looked at the tattoo on his wrist, the leaf symbol almost glowing under the candle lights in the room.

"We can't keep wandering like this. We'll lose our minds" he said, covering the tattoo back up with his glove.

The group nodded in agreement to Kakashi's statement, though they were still sceptical of Naruto's idea. Drawing a scroll containing a map of the shinobi lands from his pack, Itachi laid it out on the table in front of the group. He took a few moments to work out their current position, marking it on the map with a small cross.

He pointed to it with a finger, "The village we are staying at is located here, in the Tea Country."

He dragged his finger across the map to a small island to the east of the Fire Country. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the writing on where Itachi was pointing.

"This is where the Whirlpool village's remains are" said Itachi.

The group stared at the map; it was a two week journey at least.

"So what, we go to these ruins and built a village?" said a sceptical Kiba.

Several of the group repeated the sentiment, and even Naruto had to admit it wasn't the best idea in the world.

"Well regardless of that, there may be some resources we can use there" said Kakashi, taking another look at the map on the table.

_And we can at least put off losing our minds for a few weeks._

They began to discuss preparations, and Naruto smiled as he remembered what the last Uzumaki he had met was like.

_I__ wonder what the village would be like…_

A day down the road, they took a break along the side of a mountain. The group had been reluctant at first, but once back on the road they had been more enthusiastic. Lee was still quiet, though Sakura had made it her personal mission to make him smile whenever she could. Hinata had been concerned about Shino, who hadn't said anything since their battles so she had accompanied him on the trip. Though she hadn't admitted it to him, she still struggled to look Naruto in the eyes since 'accidently' looking through two walls, a shower curtain and a towel at him.

Away from the group, Kakashi sat down with his back to a large rock as Itachi leant down next to him.

"So how will this work?" he asked, trying to keep his nerves from showing.

With his Sharingan, Itachi could easily read the white-haired ninja's emotions.

"You don't have to do this, Kakashi. There are other ways to get stronger besides the Mangekyou."

The Jounin closed his eye and shook his head.

"I blocked out these memories years ago for a reason. I'd like to know why."

Itachi sighed, taking a seat in front of his companion before removing a scroll from his cloak and opening it between them.

"So…how will this go?" asked Kakashi.

Itachi breathed out slowly before slowly putting his hands together.

"I'll place you under a genjutsu, and then I'll activate my technique. It'll be like being in a dream, only it won't end until I end it."

Kakashi's single eye widened, a plain piece of cloth covering his Sharingan like his forehead protector had, "You'll be seeing my memories?"

"It's necessary for the jutsu. As I said, we don't have to do this…"

"…just do it."

Itachi slowly went through the seals and placed a hand in the middle of the empty scroll, black characters slowly forming under his hand. Deactivating his Sharingan that he was so used to having on all the time, Itachi removed his hand and placed it into a half tiger seal.

"I don't know how long this will take inside your memories, but it won't be more then an hour in reality."

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement, hoping it wouldn't be as he thought it would be.

"This may not end with you obtaining the Mangekyou, you do realise that?" said Itachi.

"Itachi, if you don't do it, I'm going to make you."

A smile crept onto Itachi's face as he activated the technique.

"Hijutsu: Kinenseisoku" (Hidden Technique: Living Memory).

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

That's right, it's time to delve a bit into Kakashi's past. It won't be a copy of the Kakashi Gaiden; it'll be just after Obito's death. Admittedly I wanted an excuse to write more Minato. I will also admit I shamelessly took the scene between Itachi and Kisame straight from Gladiator. I love that movie, it's my favourite.

Please review and tell me what you think. What can be improved, what you liked, I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Naruto Story Spotlight**: Love Hinata by TallMan0029. An interesting story set just after the anime filler with the waterfall scene. The two of them are forced into marriage due to Naruto seeing Hinata naked. Very enjoyable with interesting characters. Also check out his other story Sunflowers.

I'm out of stories that I've read now. From next chapter I'm gonna start recommending other things like movies or anime.


	9. Chapter 9 Memories

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 9 – Buried Memories

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Minato would still be alive.

* * *

><p>***MEGA-Flashback***<p>

They gave him a proper Uchiha funeral, even letting Kakashi and Rin attend. The Uchiha clan had considered Obito a failure of a ninja, but since his sacrifice even the rigid clan had paid their respects. The young Kakashi watched as the procession dispersed, staring at the name on the memorial stone.

_Uchiha Obito_

Both his teacher and Rin had already left, but Kakashi felt no compulsion to return to an empty house.

"Hatake Kakashi. We would speak with you."

The young Jounin turned and regarded the speaker with both his normal eye and Obito's Sharingan. He recognised the three Uchiha clansmen before him, the head of the clan Fugaku and his two Jounin bodyguards.

The three of them hadn't attended the funeral, yet each of them had their Sharingan activated as they looked down on the thirteen year old. His right eye still bled on occasion, but Rin's healing techniques were of the highest quality.

"I am expected at a war meeting, Uchiha-san. Please keep this brief." Kakashi had no such arrangement, but had little interest in pandering to the Uchiha.

Fugaku snarled in anger at the young Jounin's impudence, "Brief? You currently possess the property of the Uchiha clan, and you are being flippant?"

The silver-haired Jounin stared into the clan leader's Sharingan with his own, watching with morbid fascination at the fluctuating chakra levels in Fugaku's eyes. He didn't say anything to the three Uchiha, knowing that the first to crack in the stand off would be at a disadvantage. Eventually one of the bodyguards swore under his breath, reaching down and grabbing Kakashi by the front of his shirt.

"You bastard, how dare you act like that in front of your betters!"

Kakashi moved his gaze from the clan head to the bodyguard that grabbed him, staring at his Sharingan with his own.

"Do you consider yourselves elite because of your bloodline limit? Or because of your place as a founding clan?"

The bodyguard pulled back a fist to hit Kakashi, but was held back by Fugaku.

"Enough, Yuka. We came here to demand the return of our property."

Kakashi's eyes widened as the bodyguard placed him back down.

"You mean my eye?" he asked, already knowing the truth behind Fugaku's demand.

"That eye is property of the Uchiha clan. We expect it to be returned by the end of the day."

With that statement, the three Uchiha turned around and began to walk away. Kakashi felt his muscles constrict as he looked back at the name on the memorial stone. He turned back to the retreating backs of the Uchiha clansmen before quickly running through a set of handseals. The three Uchiha froze as they heard the loud tweeting of thousands of birds as Kakashi's hand lit up with lightning.

He stared at their backs through his Sharingan, "This eye was a gift from my fallen companion. It is mine, and mine alone."

The middle Uchiha nodded to the two bodyguards, turning around as they continued to walk away. Fugaku glared at Kakashi, his hand twitched next to his kunai pocket.

"You believe you can use that eye to the extent an Uchiha can? You believe you can compete with the Uchiha clan?"

The two shinobi stood off against each other for several moments before Kakashi cancelled his technique, standing up straight and letting out a sigh.

"I believe that Obito gave me this eye so that we could continue to fight together. I didn't ask for it, but because of him my technique has been perfected."

Fugaku could read Kakashi's emotions easily, even through the teenager's mask. He relaxed his arm muscles, folding his arms across his Jounin flak jacket.

"We are in a time of war." He considered Konoha's situation for a moment before turned away from Kakashi and the memorial stone. "Do as you will."

The clan head walked away from Kakashi, the fan on the back of his jacket getting smaller as he disappeared towards the village. Kakashi breathed out a long sigh of relief, turning back around to the memorial stone.

"You handled yourself well."

Kakashi was used to the speaker doing this, not flinching as his teacher appeared from behind the stone.

"You didn't have to come, Sensei. I had it handled."

The yellow haired Jounin smiled at his student, "You may be a Jounin, Kakashi, but don't believe that you can compete against someone with experience like Fugaku. He is the Uchiha clan head for a reason."

Kakashi was forced to agree with his teacher's point, even as he was standing off against the clan head he knew he wouldn't have been able to land a blow against him. Staring at the three-tomoed Sharingan in the elder clan head had given him a dark sinking feeling in his chest.

Kakashi stared up at the lowering sun, before letting himself indulge in a smile. He looked back at his teacher, "Sensei, you are going to be late."

Minato Namikaze was a serious man, never getting angry or flustered regardless of situation. But he had a comical appearance as he looked up at the sky, before laughing awkwardly and rubbing a hand on his neck.

"You're right. Kushina swore that she wouldn't forgive me if I was late to another meeting."

"Sensei, it's an important meeting. We now have a key advantage in the war; we need to press the advantage."

Minato nodded in agreement and disappeared, using his signature technique to travel the short distance to the Hokage building. Kakashi smiled at the thought of his teacher's wife beating him up before turning back to the memorial stone.

_Uchiha Obito_

He smiled sadly as he thought of the last thing his companion had said to him.

_I'll protect them all, Obito. This war won't let us stay in peace. There are plenty of battles left to be fought._

* * *

><p>Despite his intentions, Kakashi was an hour late for the meeting his teacher had called for. He smiled as he saw Rin's face, grateful that the girl hadn't changed too much since their compatriot's death.<p>

"I'm surprised, Kakashi."

Her tone was playful, yet sad. They both smiled as they remembered Obito's own tardiness. He hadn't meant it, but already an excuse was coming to his lips.

"Sorry, my alarm didn't work so…"

His blonde teacher looked at him with a serious yet amused face, "Kakashi, it is three o'clock in the afternoon."

The young Jounin laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. Minato shrugged and smiled at his student's change in demeanour.

"How did your meeting go?" asked Rin, having recently changed her face makeup so that her rectangle markings were now a dark red.

Their teacher reached into his flak jacket pockets, pulling out two scrolls before handing one each to the teenagers.

"It went well. Here are your new assignments."

The two teenagers took the scrolls with hesitation, neither of them wanting anything to do with the war since Obito's death.

Minato turned to Rin as she opened her scroll, "Rin you will be joining the medical corps."

The young girl's eyes widened as she read the first few lines of the scroll, "It says here that I've been given a battlefield promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin. Is that true, Sensei?"

Minato nodded, smiling in a calming manner.

"It was on my recommendation. You can't deny that your medical skills are only rivalled by other Jounin."

Rin grinned happily and showed the scroll to Kakashi, who smiled back at her under his mask.

"Congratulations Rin. We'll have to celebrate once the war is over."

Minato placed up a hand to bring their attention back to him.

"Where are you going, Kakashi?" asked Rin, taking a final glance at her scroll before rolling it up and pocketing it.

Kakashi didn't even bother looking at his scroll; rather he looked straight at his teacher.

"Sensei, I would like to be in the vanguard for the next push."

Minato didn't reveal anything on his face, but could tell how exhausted Kakashi was. He knew as much as anybody about the Sharingan and his students, and as much as anybody he understood why Kakashi had requested that assignment.

"I understand why you would want that assignment, Kakashi. I don't like it, but the Hokage agrees that you can be an asset to our forces."

He watched carefully at Kakashi's face, seeing the mix of relief and sadness across the young Jounin's face.

"I will be joining you in the vanguard. However we won't be working together directly. You will be part of an artillery unit with a selection of specialised Chuunin."

Kakashi grimaced at the idea of commanding a unit, considering how his last attempt had gone, but accepted the charge regardless. Rin patted him comfortingly on the shoulder, secretly wondering whether he had remembered her previous unintentional confession. Kakashi turned to face her and nodded, having been forced to close his red eye since he found that he couldn't turn Obito's Sharingan off like the Uchiha could.

She felt herself giggle at how ridiculous he looked. Rin reached over to Kakashi and ran her fingers underneath his forehead protector, Kakashi not able to help a tiny blush as the medic shifted the strap until it covered his scarred eye. Kakashi stared at her eyes as she removed her hands, smiling sweetly at the new Jounin.

"Thanks…Rin."

Across from them Minato couldn't help but smile at the two teenagers, though a cynical side of him couldn't help but wonder whether either of them would survive the remainder of the war. In the previous meeting, he had been given an estimation on how many casualties the last push had cost their forces. To say it was devastating would be an understatement. Their next move would have to be a final blow; otherwise Minato doubted that Konoha could participate in the war for much longer.

A loud hawk cry came from above them, the three shinobi staring up at the brown bird before looking back at each other.

"A Jounin council?" asked Kakashi, having learnt what the specific bird calls were years ago.

Minato nodded, and then felt a horrifying sense of foreboding as he turned around to be confronted by what is normally a very comforting image. Kakashi and Rin backed away as they watched their teacher being confronted by his red-headed wife. Minato attempted to laugh whilst simultaneously trying to think of what he may have done to set Kushina off.

The long red-headed Jounin was walking calmly towards her tall blonde husband, a suspiciously sweet smile across her face as she reached up and placed a hand on Minato's chest before looking directly into his eyes.

"What is it, Kushina?" he asked, having never been able to properly read his wife's emotions.

He couldn't tell whether she wanted to kill him, or just have a nice chat. He attempted to keep a warm smile as Kushina leaned her face forwards until it was inches away from his. She kept her smile steady as she continued to stare into his eyes.

"Did you forget our arrangement, Minato?"

The blonde tried to think about what she was talking about, until the look on her face gave him the clue he was looking for.

"You mean…right now?"

She nodded, taking a glance at the two confused teenagers from leaning in next to Minato's ear.

"Remember, anytime we can find…"

Minato nodded in agreement and looked over at his students, "I'll meet you guys inside. Tell the Hokage I'll be there in 20 minutes."

He felt a sharp pain in his side as Kushina dug her elbow into him, still keeping her sweet smile on her face while the petrified teenagers knew what she was really like. Minato grimaced and smiled as the students weakly,

"Sorry, make that 40 minutes."

With a weak wave he put his hand on Kushina's shoulder and they both disappeared without a trace. Kakashi and Rin looked at each other and shrugged, unsure what to make of the odd exchange.

"We should go and tell them Sensei is going to be late" said Kakashi, turning to make his way towards the meeting hall.

Rin hesitated for a moment, unsure what she was meant to do. Kakashi turned around and noticed this, walking back over and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Rin, you are a Tokubetsu Jounin now. That means you have to come along to these meetings. Come on, I'll show you the way."

The young medic smiled and nodded, letting Kakashi lead her towards the upcoming meeting.

* * *

><p>Kakashi had to suppress a smile as Minato and Kushina walked into the meeting room, an hour after they had disappeared together. Kushina's hair was messy and unkempt, and under close observation Kakashi could tell that she was wearing his teacher's flak jacket instead of her own. Standing next to her was her husband, who appeared to be slightly flushed and unable to keep a nervous smile off his face.<p>

They both apologised for their lateness and took their seats at the large meeting table near the Third Hokage, still keeping one of their hands together. The war room hadn't changed much since the previous two Shinobi World Wars, though the Hokage knew that once again he would have to send shinobi to their deaths at one of the conspicuous marks on the map laid out over the table. The collection of Jounin suppressed their amused smiles at the couple, as their leader coughed to get their attention.

"Now that Minato has decided to join us…" The yellow haired Jounin smiled awkwardly, trying to think of a good excuse and finding none. The Third Hokage stared at him before looking back over at the dozens of Jounin at the meeting table. "…we can begin."

Kakashi nodded at Rin who was seated with the other medical Jounin before taking a look around at who had been assembled.

_If my numbers are correct, this is every Jounin in our forces. What could be so important that we've risked being pushed back?_

The old leader took a puff from his pipe before letting out the smoke slowly.

"I have called this meeting to decide the Fourth Hokage."

He let the information sink in with his subordinates, proud that none of them had cried out immediately. At the left side of his position he saw the Nara heir lean back in his chair whilst crossing his arms.

"The Fourth Hokage huh…is that wise considering our current situation?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi grinned at his Jounin commander, thankful that he had subordinates that spoke their minds. Minato released Kushina's hand from his own before placing both hands on the table.

"I have to agree with Shikaku-san. A change in leadership now would result in a lowering of morale."

Kakashi observed the rest of the room, seeing many of the Jounin nodding in agreement. The Hokage put up a hand before the others could echo the two commanders' sentiments.

"This I do not dispute. However my place is in the village, and as such I won't be commanding the offensive forces anymore. This is why I wish to decide on the next Hokage, so that he may be an inspiring presence to our forces."

Kakashi felt completely out of place at the meeting, he and Rin were the only Jounin that were still children, whilst the majority of those present were their teacher's age or older. He noticed the two largest clans had several members present; there were eight Hyuuga Jounin at the table, including their current clan head whilst there were ten Uchiha clansmen including Fugaku.

Kakashi tried not to notice, but he could tell that several of the Uchiha were glaring at him with hate-filled eyes. As his teacher continued to speak with the Hokage, he could tell that the blonde commander had noticed, giving Kakashi a whisper of a smile before turning back to the Hokage.

The old man took another puff of his pipe, "I realise this is sudden, but this is tied to our battle plan."

Across the room, Hiashi Hyuuga, the clan head removed his hands from inside his robe, "I assume you have a candidate in mind, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen nodded, standing up slowly before placing his Hokage hat on the table. He removed the pipe from his mouth and looked over the room, noticing with dismay the missing Jounin that had fallen in the seemingly pointless war.

"Yes, and I believe you will agree with my choice. He is dedicated and wise, strong yet kind. Most of all, he has the Konoha Will of Fire that has been passed down since the First Hokage."

The young Jounin could tell that most of the room already knew who the Hokage was talking about; though he wasn't sure he completely understood the Hokage's reasoning. He looked over at Rin, who seemed just as confused as he was, though she seemed to be more uncomfortable sitting in the room then he did. He was still getting used to only being able to see the world through a single eye, his new Sharingan staring blankly into the dark cloth that was covering it. It didn't seem to use much chakra when idle, though he had no idea how to turn it off, or how to use it properly besides reading opponent's movements.

His eyes widened as he heard who the Hokage had nominated, immediately staring at his teacher's face. To his credit, Minato didn't show how surprised he truly was, though his wife's reaction was priceless. Kushina jumped out of her chair and punched the air with a cry of joy before throwing her arms around her husband's neck and proclaiming how proud she was. Most of the Jounin couldn't help but laugh as the red-haired Jounin hung off her shocked husband's neck, though Kakashi could tell that some of the Jounin were displeased with the Hokage's choice. Eventually Kushina remembered where she was, giving Minato a small peck on the cheek before sitting back down with a large grin on her face. Minato recovered quickly from his shock, looking over the group before staring at the current Hokage.

"I…am honoured, Hokage-sama. But I fear I do not have the experience to match the position."

On the other side of the Hokage, the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka clan heads gave a collection scoff. Shikaku pulled out a scroll and threw it on the table, "Minato, you've taken out more enemies in this war then half our forces combined. I doubt anybody in this room could stand against you in a one-to-one fight."

The yellow haired Jounin knew that he had been a major contributor to the Konoha war effort, but his eyes widened as Shikaku read out the numbers.

"We all know that Minato is strong. But I question his judgement."

The group collectively turned to the Uchiha clan head, waiting for him to clarify his position. Fugaku's gaze moved immediately to Minato's, a silent standoff between the two shinobi. Across from the Uchiha, the Hyuuga members all glared at Fugaku. Kakashi knew that the Hyuuga were not considered friends to his teacher, but their dislike for the Namikaze was outweighed by their collective dislike for the Uchiha. Hiashi nodded to his companions before he turned his white eyes to the Hokage.

"The Hyuuga clan gives their support to Namikaze Minato for the Fourth Hokage position."

Kakashi's teacher watched in awe as many of the Jounin in the room nodded their approval, even some that he would never thought would approve of him. The Hokage had asked for any other potential nominations, but the room was eerily silent. The laws of procession prevented a clan from nominating their own, so even the Uchiha had to admit that out of the potential candidates he was the most fitting. Minato had a name for himself by being a neutral voice between the clans, not taking any sides to political debates. Kakashi and Rin were as proud as they could ever be as they placed their votes with the rest of the Jounin around them.

The Hokage counted up the votes and smiled warmly at the yellow-haired Jounin.

"Namikaze Minato. Do you accept this charge?"

Kakashi watched with pride as his teacher bowed in acceptance, his wife smiling warmly as she saw her husband's life long dream fulfilled.

"It would be an honour and a privilege."

The Hokage reached out a hand and shook Minato's fair-skinned hand, looking into his compatriot's blue eyes.

"Of course this won't go through until after the war."

The Third Hokage released his hand and looked back over the group of Jounin.

"Spread word throughout our forces. The Fourth Hokage has been decided. We shall have a ceremony when time permits."

The Jounin nodded and began to proceed out of the hall, some staying behind to lend their congratulations to Minato. Kakashi suppressed a laugh as he saw Kushina lean up and whisper into Minato's ear, causing the normally fair-skinned shinobi to blush a light red. Minato whispered back to her and sent her out of the room, Kakashi barely overhearing him say that he would be along in a few minutes. Kushina smiled and waved to Rin and Kakashi on her way past, setting off in a run the moment she stepped out of the room.

_He'll probably still beat her there_ thought Kakashi.

Minato walked over to his two remaining students and placed his hands on their shoulders.

"Congratulations, Sensei" said Rin, ecstatic that her teacher that she had known for years would be her next commander.

Kakashi regarded his teacher with a smile underneath his mask, "Or should we start calling you Hokage-sama?"

Minato laughed and rubbed Kakashi's silver hair before standing back, "Not until the ceremony, Kakashi. I should get going anyway, Kushina isn't going to wait."

"She does seem to be in a rush today, Sensei" observed Rin, still tired from their previous mission.

Minato nodded in agreement and spoke a few words to the Third Hokage before smiling on his way out, disappearing the moment he stepped out of the room. Kakashi and Rin looked at each awkwardly before realising they should probably leave as well.

"Kakashi, stay a moment" said the Hokage, taking a seat back down and picking up his pipe again.

The young Jounin nodded at Rin to continue without him before turning back around to the Hokage. He hadn't had much interaction with the Third, but he had always respected the old man's decisions.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" The old veteran stared at the young Jounin, particularly at the forehead protector covering his eye. He reached down and unrolled a scroll before spinning it around and showing it to the teenager.

"I wanted to give you your shinobi files personally. I know Minato gave you your initial deployment, but we've had a few changes in plans. You will be in command of the First and Second divisions of the vanguard."

Kakashi nodded and looked over the scroll, his eyes widening as he saw how many troops would be under his command.

He looked back up at the Hokage, "Sir, why did you want to give this to me personally? Surely the commanding officer could have done that."

Hiruzen took a long puff from his pipe and regarded the short Jounin, "You are in a unique position, Kakashi. You are the son of the Konoha White Fang, and you now possess the Sharingan. You will not be without enemies…"

"…and you are giving me a warning?"

The Hokage nodded, blowing smoke out slowly.

"I am telling you to be cautious. Report to Shikaku in tomorrow after meeting with your unit, he will be debriefing the commanders."

The young Jounin nodded his thanks and turned away from the Hokage.

"And Kakashi, don't interrupt your teacher for the next little while."

Kakashi turned back and regarded the Hokage with a curious look.

"Kushina?" he asked, not quite understanding what the Hokage meant.

Hiruzen smiled as he thought about how quickly the married couple had left the room.

"They are at a…unique point in their marriage. Best not to disrupt that."

Kakashi still didn't understand, but was willing to let it go, giving his thanks to the Hokage as he collected the scroll. He thought about what he was going to do with his free time until the next push.

_I should get some training in with my Sharingan. I can't ask the Uchiha clan for help, but perhaps there are some records that Father had that can help._

* * *

><p>That night Kakashi dreamed for the first time since his father's death. He couldn't remember the dream afterwards, but he did wake up in a cold sweat to his empty house, feeling like the world was collapsing on top of him. Since his father's suicide he had been residing in his Father's room, surrounding by paintings that his mother had done before she had died.<p>

He always found himself at peace whenever in the room, though it felt strangely off was only as he looked around his room with his Sharingan eye open did he realise that his house had been infiltrated. He swore silently and pulled a kunai out from underneath his mattress, forming a reasonable assumption on what skill level the infiltrator could be, considering he had avoided all of Kakashi's precautions around his home. Kakashi watched the blue chakra shape with his Sharingan flit around the house, seemingly looking for something in particular.

_He's probably looking for me. There is nothing of value in this house. _

He looked over at his window before pulling on a wire above his bed, opening the glass silently.

_If I go outside and make noise, he'll likely follow. I don't have the chakra capacity to overuse Kage Bunshin, so that's not an option. _

He pocketed his kunai and leapt out the window in a single bound, landing silently on the street beneath his house. It was vey early in the morning, even the birds were sleeping as the moon reflected off the roofs of the houses around Kakashi's street. He wore a simple sleeping gown, but was grateful that it was the type that was easy fitting, so that he could still move around in it comfortably.

The blue shape got to his room and the young Jounin could hear the figure swear under his breath. Feeling an obligation to get it over with, Kakashi looked up at the window and whistling softly. He smiled smugly as the blue shape looked down at him through the floor, before jumping through the open window. Kakashi watched as the figure clad in dark robes landed opposite him, a pair of glowing red eyes regarding him with hate.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised" he said lazily, looking at the tall man's Sharingan with disinterest.

The infiltrator's three-tomoed Sharingan was glaring at his single Sharingan, "I've come to retrieve our property."

Kakashi placed his hands slowly into a seal, the attacker standing in a defensive position confident that he could counter any attack Kakashi could come up with. Kakashi grinned under his mask as he ran chakra into the ground, not giving the attacker a chance to react as he detonated several explosive notes buried under the ground. Across the street Kakashi watched his clone's demise, not naïve enough to believe that it had killed the attacker.

He counted silently in his head before ducking underneath several thrown kunai. Kakashi turned around and blocked another set of projectiles as he saw the attacker sitting on top of a nearby roof. He felt an odd sensation as his Sharingan watched the attacker form a set of five handseals.

_That's the Uchiha fireball technique, like Obito's. Wait…something feels different…_

The attacker placed a hand to his covered lips, Kakashi's body moving on its own as he rolled to the side. The large fireball passed by him harmlessly, Kakashi already putting his hands together in a seal.

_I know that technique. I move the chakra to my stomach and release it all at once. _

He went through the five seals and put his own hand to his lips as the attacker did the same.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The fire erupted from his mouth and clashed with the attacker's fireball; Kakashi's the same size and make as his opponent's.

_This is the Sharingan's copy technique…how scary…it almost works on its own…_

His opponent wasn't expecting Kakashi's counter attack, giving the Jounin enough time to create a Kage Bunshin to maintain the attack as he slipped around the side. He pulled out his kunai and jumped towards the Uchiha attacker, dispersing his clone to disrupt the attacker's concentration. His eyes turned to Kakashi and he barely ducked in time as Kakashi attempted to take his head off. Kakashi swung his feet around and kicked the attacker in the face quicker then he could react, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.

The short Jounin landed perfectly, pocketing his kunai as he ran through a new set of seals. Kakashi was a Jounin before he had the Sharingan, so as he activated his combination attack he wondered why the attacker had underestimated him.

_He can't be more then a Chuunin, considering his chakra levels and ninjutsu._

Kakashi slammed his hands on the ground, activating a technique he had learnt before creating the Chidori.

"Raiton: Raikoukago" (Lightning Element: Lightning Cage)

The attacker read his technique and was already trying to copy it but couldn't get the technique off in time as dozens of lightning pillars erupted around him in tight formation, close enough to the attacker that it continually ran a disrupting current through the attacker.

"Now, who sent you?" asked Kakashi, already knowing that answer, but was curious on whether the Uchiha would give him up or not.

His captive didn't say anything, simply glaring at the Jounin through his Sharingan. After a few moments it was apparent that he wasn't going to give him anything, so Kakashi shrugged and began a set of seals.

"I would take you to the Hokage, but no doubt Fugaku would claim ignorance. So…" Kakashi placed a hand to his lips, "As a Jounin, it is my duty to execute traitors in a time of war."

He brought the chakra to his stomach and released it, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu".

To his credit, the Uchiha didn't scream as the fireball struck the lightning cage, though Kakashi had to look away as the cloaked attacker burned to death. Kakashi cancelled his lightning technique and sighed, looking over his sleeping gown and seeing the dirt that covered it.

"You have impressive control over your Sharingan, Hatake Kakashi."

The Jounin hadn't felt the speaker's presence, but he recognised the voice, turning around to confront the speaker.

"Was the assassin necessary, Fugaku?"

The clan leader regarded the Jounin with plain black eyes, Kakashi feeling an overwhelming sense of calm from the clan leader. Fugaku didn't say a word, simply standing there like nothing had happened, still wearing the same cloak and jacket from the previous day's meeting.

"Should I expect you to attack me next?" asked Kakashi, reaching back to grab his kunai again.

Fugaku placed a hand up to stop the silver-haired teenager.

"That won't be necessary. Your ability with the Sharingan is sufficient."

Kakashi felt his muscles strain in anger at Fugaku's statement.

"You sent an assassin to test my Sharingan?"

Fugaku turned around and placed a hand in his robe absentmindedly, "The Uchiha clan is satisfied. Go about your business, Hatake-san."

With that, the Uchiha clan leader walked back towards the Uchiha compound, leaving Kakashi with the charred remains of his attacker. The young Jounin sighed as he considered how carefully Fugaku had chosen his words so that he hadn't admitted to any wrongdoing.

_I hope I never get into politics. Seems like far too much effort._

* * *

><p>Kakashi spent the rest of the night setting up new traps around his father's house. His teacher would probably think it unnecessary to place hundreds of explosion notes underneath the house, but Kakashi was not one to do things by half-measure. The next day he went to his teacher and asked him a question that gave the Hokage-in-waiting pause. The Namikaze and Uzumaki household was a humble affair considering both Jounin made a significant amount of money from their many missions. Kakashi also suspected that Kushina came from money before coming to the village as she seemed to have lots of assets not associated with Konoha, but didn't want to appear nosy so he made no comment. Minato turned to his wife and asked her what she thought about Kakashi's question. Kushina placed a hand to her face and thought about it for a moment.<p>

"There might be some that would take issue with it…"

She turned to Kakashi and laughed quietly, "…but if you don't get caught, who will know?"

Minato looked at his wife with horror, "Kushina! He'd be taking other people's techniques! How would you feel?"

The red-haired woman laughed again and slapped her husband on the back.

"Please! As if anyone could do my techniques."

Kakashi smiled as he saw the couple 'argue'. He had known the two of them since Minato had become his teacher, and each argument went the same way. Kushina would make a bold statement; Minato would make a rational explanation as to why she was overreacting, she would get angry and he would agree with her. Kakashi could tell they loved each other dearly, even as Kushina had Minato in a headlock between her legs and was rubbing her fist into his blonde hair.

"Should I come back later?" he asked, taking a step back to avoid any possible collateral damage.

Minato tapped Kushina's legs to indicate that he gave up; dusting himself off and she helped him up.

"There's no need, Kakashi. I believe we are finished, right?" he asked Kushina, who smiled sweetly and nodded, running her hands through her red hair to get it back to normal.

Minato indicated for Kakashi to join him at the table as Kushina excused herself out of the room.

"If you don't mind me asking, is it always like that Sensei?" asked Kakashi, making sure that Kushina was out of earshot.

Minato smiled and stretched out a sore arm.

"Pretty much. It's all in good fun. She means well."

"And I suppose that black eye last month was in good fun?"

Minato laughed and blushed slightly, "That's not fair. That was only because she was trying to learn the Hiraishin and I ended up hitting the door."

Kakashi gave his teacher his best _I-don't-believe-a-word-you're-saying_ look, prompting Minato to laugh it off.

"She would never intentionally hurt me. It's just who she is."

He put a hand on the table and sighed, "But about your problem. Kushina does make a valid point, in her own way. There are many techniques that you could copy with little resistance, but stay away from the clan-specific techniques. But you know this already know this Kakashi, why did you come to me?"

The young Jounin placed his hands on the table, smiling awkwardly as he saw Kushina bring in a tray with tea for the two of them. Minato thanked his wife with a peck on the cheek and a smile as the red-headed Jounin walked back into the kitchen. Kakashi wasn't sure how to frame his question, truly feeling his youth in front of his teacher since his promotion to Jounin. Minato smiled and sipped his tea before looking at his young student with his newly developed 'Hokage' face.

"You have concerns over your new command?"

The young Jounin nodded, not used to being so easily read.

"I don't believe the elder troops will listen to a teenager."

"Commanding troops is a difficult task. However I recommended you because I know you are up to the task."

Kakashi took a sip of his tea, noticing the fine taste of the hot drink. Kushina used to treat their team whenever they finished a mission, and her tea was the only type that Kakashi would drink.

"You believe they will follow my lead?"

Minato nodded, "If you show they you are worthy of them, they will gladly follow you. A good leader should be willing to die for any of his subordinates."

The silver-haired teenager thought about what his teacher said, both of them drinking their tea in silence. Once he finished Kakashi gave his thanks to his teacher, thanking Kushina on his way out before shutting the door behind him. In his distracted state he nearly knocked over a confused looking Rin, spinning around so he would avoid hitting her.

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed, backing away slightly so they weren't face to face.

Kakashi took a moment to look at Rin's new outfit. She had replaced her brown apron with a Jounin flak jacket, but one that was specially modified to carry medical supplies. Kakashi looked at her face, remarking at how much older she looked with the dark red markings, which she had previously told Kakashi was in memory of Obito. She seemed to blush and look away as Kakashi realised he was staring at her.

"You here to see Sensei?" he asked.

Rin nodded her head slowly, "I wanted to get his advice on a few things."

"Well he's inside, Kushina made tea."

Kakashi turned and went to leave, but Rin reached out and lightly touched him on the shoulder.

"Ano…Kakashi…could we talk later? About…"

Kakashi turned around and smiled, his normal eye noticing how awkward Rin had become around him. The young Jounin thought about his plans for the day and found a short gap.

"How about I meet you at that new ramen place around four? We can talk then."

The medic smiled warmly and nodded, giving him a short wave before knocking and entering their teacher's house. Kakashi watched her leave then thought about what the time currently was.

_Damn, I'm going to be late for the armourer. _

Rin hung her head as the young ramen chef took their empty bowls.

"So there's no chance?" she asked, still trying to keep a smile though Kakashi could tell he had just crushed her.

He tried to look sincere, a difficult task when most of your face is covered up, but he knew there was nothing he could say to make it better.

"I'm sorry, Rin. I didn't want you to get your hopes up. There is someone much better for you out there, not someone like me."

The medic turned her face to him, taking a single sniff before looking at him seriously.

"I guess you are right. I'll…I've got to go…"

Kakashi nodded and watched as the young girl walked away from the store, disappearing behind a nearby building. Kakashi sighed as he looked over at a section of the fence opposite the shop.

"You know it's pretty weird to be spying on your students…"

He watched a form melt out of the fence, a soft laugh coming from the blonde teacher as he took a seat next to his student.

"You handled yourself more mature then I would have thought, Kakashi."

Kakashi stared at his teacher as the Hokage-in-waiting ordered two large bowls of pork ramen, taking apart a pair of chopsticks in anticipation.

"Since when do you eat out?" asked Kakashi, knowing that he would never get a straight answer about his teacher's 'observational skills'.

Minato smiled as his first bowl was placed in front of him, picking up a set of noodles and testing the temperature before putting the noodles back in the soup.

"Kushina is on a scout mission until tonight. Besides, she has apparently 'blacklisted' ramen in our household."

Kakashi smiled as his teacher dug into his food, noting the evident sigh as his teacher tasted the noodles. Kakashi had tasted Kushina's ramen, and had to confess that Teuchi's ramen held no candle to hers.

"I can't imagine her refusing to cook ramen."

Minato sighed out loud as he swallowed a piece of pork.

"You know that we've been trying to have kids for a few weeks now, right? Well she read in a book that hot soup can lower your chances, so…"

Kakashi couldn't help but smile as his teacher begun his second bowl. Minato quickly finished his bowl and thanked the young chef, pulling out several bills to pay for his meal. The chef kept repeating how he couldn't take the future Hokage's money, slowly breaking under Minato's steady grin. Eventually Minato convinced the chef that it could be considered an investment in the small restaurant.

"Do you think Rin will be okay?" asked Kakashi, still unsure on whether he had picked his words carefully enough.

Minato guided Kakashi away from the store, "Rin is a strong willed girl. She won't hate you for rejecting her. She may not like you for a while, but in time you'll be close again."

Minato stopped Kakashi as they reached the silver-haired Jounin's house.

"Are you certain of your own feelings, Kakashi? Your wording was quite…final."

Kakashi nodded slowly, taking a glance at the sky noticing the clouds forming as an indicator of a late rain.

He looked back at his teacher with a pained look, "I…promised Obito that I would protect her. But…"

His teacher smiled and placed a hand on his student's shoulder.

"I understand. Now get your things together, we are checking our forces in two hours."

* * *

><p>Kakashi wanted to turn up late with some unbelievable excuse, just as Obito would, but considering how vital his units could be to the war effort, Kakashi made a point to arrive at the training ground before any of his future subordinates did. They were meeting on one of the closer training grounds to the village itself, though still far enough for some of the things Kakashi wanted to check before their deployment.<p>

Kakashi had made a point of improving his stealth skills, to the point that as he sat invisible in his tree he hid a smile as a Hyuuga Chuunin took a position nearby. He didn't notice Kakashi at all; neither did the two dozen other Chuunin that accompanied him, though there was a young woman wearing an Uchiha robe who smiled at his position with a very un-Uchiha like demeanour before conversing with several other Chuunin. Kakashi took a moment to count the numbers, taking into account an oddity that he would take care of later.

He revealed himself and popped down from the tree, landing on the ground silently before slowly walking through the group of Chuunin. The thirty shinobi that were under his command were a young group, most of them only a few years older then he was.

One of the older Chuunin turned to him and scoffed, "Is this the genius?"

Another Chuunin next to him laughed as a senbon dangled in his mouth, "Well he's certainly short enough. Must be a genius, if he got promoted before you."

"Shut your face, Shiranui! I don't see you making Jounin."

Kakashi watched the interaction with patience, knowing that the first thing he did would be judged the harshest. He wouldn't let the argument continue for too long, but he didn't want to come off as impatient. The one called Shiranui seemed to be quite a jokester, though Kakashi could tell in his movements that at least his taijutsu skills were close to Kakashi's own. Another Chuunin broke the two of them up, a rectangular guarded katana strapped to his back.

"Enough of this, Genma, Tsuma. He is our commanding officer, and we will respect that regardless of any other circumstances."

The Chuunin seemed to respect the swordsmen, as they stopped arguing and turned to actually look at Kakashi. The silver haired Jounin nodded his thanks to the swordsmen, noticing a young purple haired woman near the back blushing as the swordsman flashed her a smile. There was an even number of men and women in his command, each of them looking like they had worked with each other at one point or another. Kakashi walked through the pack and sat down on a rock facing the unit.

_This is going to be a hard sell_ he thought, taking a cautionary glance at the clouds above them.

_And it'll rain by the time we move out. Perfect._

He took a long breath while looking over the faces of the Chuunin. Most of them seemed to be at odds with having a boy barely into his teens as their commanding officer, though the Uchiha woman didn't seem to have an issue with him, a rare occurrence for her clan.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. You have all been chosen for this unit because you have a certain…propensity towards destruction."

Several of the Chuunin smiled at his statement, Kakashi already noticing he had won some of them over with his direct speech.

"We are part of the vanguard, the first and second divisions. I will speak to each of you individually about your skills and where you fit in with the unit."

"Don't you already know what our abilities are?" asked the one called Tsuma, Kakashi noticing a pair of dark looking axes hidden behind his dark blue cloak.

Kakashi turned his single eye to the loud Chuunin, "I do. However as you well know, there are abilities that are not put into scrolls and information briefs. In order to create the best formations for the unit, I need to know those small details."

The Hyuuga in the group, as well as several other clansmen seemed to take offense to the comment, but gave no verbal response. The young Jounin could tell that some of the Chuunin understood his argument, some already settling down on the grass to wait for their turn. Kakashi turned his attention to the female Uchiha shinobi, indicating that she stand before him.

The other Chuunin gave way to the soft spoken shinobi, many of them curious on what she might be able to do. The Uchiha were not known for their female shinobi, in fact if she wasn't wearing a long sleeved shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back, Kakashi wouldn't have been able to tell that she was an Uchiha. Kakashi tried to remember all the names on the scroll he had been given, but as much as he tried there was no Uchiha on his team.

_Likely a forced addition by Fugaku. I wonder why Sensei didn't inform me._

The young woman smiled sweetly at the Jounin, "What would you like to know?"

Kakashi put his hands into a ball and leaned forward on his knees.

"Your name would be a good start."

The young ninja laughed lightly and pulled out a scroll from her flak jacket. Kakashi took it without word and pocketed it; figuring it was a transfer request from Fugaku. She gave him a short courteous bow, causing several Chuunin to raise their eyebrows in interest. Kakashi gave no response, wanting to give nothing away to the Uchiha female.

"My name is Uchiha Mikoto. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Kakashi instantly realised who was in front of him, though he could tell that no-one else in the group recognised her. He decided that he would discuss it with her in a private setting, but was sweating boulders at the thought of the new matriarch of the Uchiha clan being under his command.

"And your speciality?" he asked, expecting the usual Uchiha fire abilities.

Mikoto smiled and closed her eyes, before opening a pair of red eyes Kakashi had never seen before. Kakashi had thought he knew all there was about the Sharingan, but his well trained eye saw a strange circular pinwheel shape on her dark red eyes before they changed to a set of normal three-tomoed Sharingan.

_Not just a female Uchiha shinobi, but one with a strange Sharingan. She's full of surprises. _

Behind Kakashi a Chuunin scoffed at the kunoichi's display, "Wow, an Uchiha with the Sharingan. Next thing you know she'll be telling you she is good at throwing kunai."

Most of the group laughed at the line, though the few female shinobi took note of the speaker, the purple-haired one in particularly seemed to let off an unnatural amount of killer intent at the speaker. Mikoto laughed the comment off, placing both of her hands out with her palms facing outwards.

"You may wish to stand back" she warned, her long dark hair slowly rising upwards despite there being no wind in the air.

The Chuunin around them gave them some room, Mikoto taking a glance at Kakashi with her Sharingan. She noticed he hadn't moved, but through her red eyes she saw that as a precaution he had run chakra through his legs to attach himself to the rock he was sitting on. Mikoto's face changed from a sweet smile to a slightly sadistic grin as Kakashi resisted the urge to reveal his own Sharingan to try and copy her technique.

His eye widened as a slow wind cyclone appeared from her left palm, Kakashi marvelling at her control as the wind technique became exponentially larger, throwing the leaves and rocks on the ground high up into the air. It drifted up into the air with little effort on her part before slowly dissipating back into her palm. That wasn't the technique that had amazed the Jounin though.

At the exact same time, her right palm exploded in a plume of bright orange flames, her face lighting up as the fire seemed to feed off the wind produced from her opposite palm. The fire reached down to the ground before Mikoto concentrated, the orange fire exploding into a light blue colour, Kakashi feeling his skin sizzling at the sheer heat coming from the young woman's hands. The fire slowly fizzled out into her palm with no visible burn marks on her fire-producing hand.

The Uchiha shinobi gave Kakashi another bow and smiled again, her face back to calm and seemingly innocent. Kakashi leaned back on his rock, taking a quick look at the amazed faces around the Chuunin. To be able to control elements to that degree was not that special, but to do so without handseals, and two elements at the same time was nearly unheard of. Even Kakashi, who discovered he could use four of the five elements since his acquisition of the Sharingan, couldn't control his techniques to that extent.

_No wonder she is the matriarch. I never knew someone like this existed in the Uchiha clan, even if she is the matriarch. She can't just be a Chuunin. Why does she want to be in such a hazardous unit? _

He smiled as he thought of an idea, taking a quick look around the other Chuunin. He turned back to Mikoto and stood up so that he was slightly higher than she was.

"It would appear that you are quite skilled. Thank you, Mikoto."

He spent the next half an hour watching the others demonstrate some of their skills; he noticed that nobody held back since Mikoto's display. The Hyuuga Chuunin, who called himself Hakaru, was not destructive compared to the others, but Kakashi knew that with his Byakugan he would be a vital component to their force. There were several swordsmen, but most of the force were ninjutsu fighters. One of the Chuunin had commented that if they were to be a unit focusing on mass destruction then there should be at least one Inuzuka in their unit. Kakashi grinned as he waved to a young woman quietly standing against a tree apart from the group.

Taking notice of the Jounin's attention, the oddly quiet fang-marked ninja stepped into the group, several of the group questioning whether she really was an Inuzuka. She introduced herself as Inuzuka Nagisa, in a similar manner to Mikoto. Kakashi smiled as he watched her blow a silent whistle between her fingers, the Chuunin around her jumping back in surprise as two black hounds came out of nowhere and stood silently next to her.

Kakashi had taken a special interest in her file, besides being a tracking specialist as all Inuzukas were; she was also a candidate for the ANBU. She didn't reveal her techniques, but told Kakashi that if he pointed out a target she would ensure that nothing would remain between her and her target. Kakashi believed her, he had seen the Inuzuka in battle, they were a wild devastating force, and a quiet Inuzuka would be fascinating to watch.

He watched the oldest Chuunin in the group walk in front of him, Kakashi judging him to be nearing fifty years old.

_This ought to be interesting._

The Chuunin gave Kakashi an old-school salute, his fur pauldrons shifting loudly as he put his arm down.

"Senju Jito, reporting for duty."

Kakashi noticed the dark look in the older shinobi's eyes, remembering the details about the son of the Second Hokage.

"My understanding is that you are a genjutsu specialist, correct?"

The Chuunin nodded his head, and then completely vanished from sight. Kakashi smiled as he looked around the training ground, each of the Chuunin vanishing in the same way as the Senju shinobi before the air around him darkened to a pitch black.

_I can't see, hear or sense anything. How frightening that something like this exists. But again, I have to wonder how he is just a Chuunin. _

He nodded in acknowledgement of the technique, giving a signal to end the technique. Kakashi blinked and he was back in the training ground, though at a secondary glance he noticed that the Senju shinobi hadn't moved from his position before giving Kakashi the salute. The young Jounin hung his head, embarrassed that he hadn't seen through the first genjutsu.

_This is a dangerous unit. No way am I qualified to do this._

* * *

><p>Minato laughed lightly as Kakashi put down his water, pulled his mask back up over his face.<p>

"Sounds like a fascinating bunch. It'll be a good experience for you to command them."

"But Sensei, am I the right person for the job? I know I'm a Jounin, but one of my subordinates fought in the last Shinobi World War! I may be a Jounin in strength, but I fear what may happen if I make an incorrect decision."

Minato finished filling out a form on the table and regarded his student through blue eyes.

"It is always difficult, leading men into battle. You can't afford to question your own decisions. A moment's hesitation will get your unit killed."

They both turned and stood up from the table as the Third Hokage walked into the office, smiling as he saw the large stack of paper in front of Minato.

"You know, you aren't the Hokage yet, Minato."

The blonde shinobi smiled at the current Hokage, straightening out the first stack he had signed.

"I wouldn't dream of doing your paperwork, Hokage-sama. I've seen how much you do during the day. These are mission reports from the past week."

Hiruzen walked around the table and picked up the top sheet, nodding in Kakashi's direction as he acknowledged the Jounin's bow. He frowned as he read the data outlined on the report.

"So Jiraiya's network paid off?"

Minato nodded, flipping through the papers before showing the Hokage a sheet covered in deciphered numbers.

"Kakashi you'll need to hear this too. We've been getting reports that Suna is close to pulling out of the war. They've suffered several devastating losses against Iwa, and we've gotten a report that the Kazekage is nearly to come to the table."

Kakashi took a glance at the sheet as the Hokage looked over it, reached into his robes and pulling out his ever-present pipe.

"All this senseless war, for nothing but dirt and grass. This war should never have happened."

He turned to Minato and handed him the report, lighting his pipe before taking a long draw.

"Prepare our forces, Minato. Coordinate with Shikaku, but if Suna is a step away from the table I want them at the table by this time next week."

The blonde Jounin nodded with a grim look, placing the sheet back into his neat stack before both of them turned to Kakashi. He felt quite out of place with all the war talks, he was a Jounin but had little to contribute to the discussion. However considering the Hokage's relationship with the ailing Senju clan, he felt he to ask.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I had a question…"

"…about Jito, right?" said the Hokage, his dark eyes showing his age more then his body did. "He requested to be placed in the vanguard. I won't speak to his reasons, Jito was always a closed off ninja. If he wants to tell you why, he will. Otherwise, be grateful that the Senju clan has allowed him to join your unit."

Kakashi had nothing to say in response so he simply nodded his acknowledgement, giving a courteous bow before turning to leave.

Hiruzen watched the young Jounin reach for the doorknob, breathing out a long line of smoke before saying, "A moment, if you will. I must ask that you do not speak to Fugaku about his wife's deployment."

Kakashi froze then turned around slowly, thankful that his mask was able to hide his shock. His next destination had been the Uchiha compound to speak on that very issue.

"With respect Hokage-sama, she should not be in my unit. She is at least a Jounin in strength, and has a two-year-old child to look after. A child needs his mother."

Both Hiruzen and Minato looked at each before Minato smiled and put out his hand. The Hokage smirked in amusement as he pulled out a bill and placed it in the Hokage-in-waiting's hand, quietly telling him where he could put it.

"I told you he would relent. I taught him to speak his mind, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen regarded the young Jounin with an amused look, "A rare quality in a subordinate. He reminds me of you, Minato."

The blonde shinobi barked a quiet laugh, before pointing a finger at Kakashi's stunned face.

"I was never like that at his age. At thirteen I was still chasing Kushina around the town."

The Hokage laughed as well, leaving Kakashi still stunned at the easy-going interaction between the two most powerful men in Konoha. Minato caught a glance of the clock on the wall, silently swearing as he removed the new cloak that had been made for him from the back of his chair and slinging it around his shoulders.

"I must go, unfortunately. Kushina is due back about now, and she asked for a final meeting before we get deployed, and well…you know how she gets."

The Hokage nodded to indicate he was free to leave, Kakashi watching with a grin as his teacher vanished. Hiruzen turned to Kakashi and offered to show him to the door.

"I approved Mikoto's request because I believe that she will be an asset to your unit. There were no politics in it, I can assure you. Fugaku protested, but he has no say over where our Jounin are assigned."

"So she is a Jounin. She should be leading the unit, not me."

The Hokage thought on that for a moment, then dismissed the idea.

"She is not the type to lead others into battle. Not everybody is made out to be a leader. Though if I may offer a single suggestion, she would be valuable as a second in command."

He grinned as he blew out more smoke, laughing quietly to himself as he remembered an old discussion he had previously had. Kakashi had not clue how to response so he simply thanked the Hokage for his time and left the office. Now that he didn't need to visit the Uchiha compound, and considering the likelihood of a quick deployment, he made his way to the rookery. He had told all his subordinates to expect the hawk's call at any time, and got the feeling that each of the shinobi would be there on time.

While he doubted he had their respect, he knew that each and every one of them had a reason to be in his apparent 'suicide' unit. As he walked up the stairs, Kakashi swore a silent oath to himself that he would not have another Obito. He wasn't naïve, in war there would be deaths, perhaps even his own. But he would not suffer sacrifices, even for a worthy cause.

_It's a good thing the medical corps are staying here in Konoha to receive our wounded. I'm not sure how well I would be able to take Rin being back out on the battlefield, especially in her current mental state. Damn, I'm thirteen years old and already too old for the crap._

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

That's right; Sasuke/Itachi's mum is a badass. I may have pushed up the ages of some of the Chuunin under Kakashi's command, but I wanted a nice collection of known characters combined with my own. And don't worry; Kushina doesn't beat the crap out of Minato. More like playful fighting as a sign of affection.

Please review and tell me what you think. I tend to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Note**:

Next week is a busy week, so it may take a few extra days to get the chapter out. Then again, a lot of it is action, so perhaps not. But I can't make any promises.

**Anime Spotlight**: Azumanga Daioh. Absolutely brilliant anime, hilarious at times and still a good showing of Japanese school lives. Some of the best characters in an anime, yet still adorably cute. Definitely one to check out.


	10. Chapter 10 Linebreak

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 10 – Linebreak

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there wouldn't be just one overarching bad guy.

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><p>Kakashi kept a smile to himself as he led his unit through the plains. They had left the village ahead of the main force, with a small defensive force taking position around Konoha's borders. The sky had given the group no respite from its wrath, torrential rain slamming into the group as they ran to the designating location near the edges of the River Country. Kakashi had Hakaru at the front of their group using his Byakugan to scan for any Suna scouts. The rain had forced him to shift his planned formation, as the Inuzuka in the group couldn't use her nose to track enemies with the water covering the area.<p>

During the two day journey Kakashi had gotten to know more about his subordinates. Genma, despite being a jokester, and a bad one at that, was a capable mid-range fighter who used senbon needles and taijutsu to defeat his targets. He also worked well in conjunction with a black-sword wielding Chuunin, a quiet plain-looking shinobi called Raido. The unit had a fair combination of offensive and defensive fighters, though the only genjutsu user was the Senju who had requested the transfer. Kakashi signalled for the unit to stop, pointing to a section of forest ahead of them. Hakaru put up two fingers, Kakashi getting the message immediately.

_Sensei is right. I need to show the group that I am worth leading them. Maybe this will show that I'm a Jounin for a reason. _

He put his hands together and created a Kage Bunshin, asking Hakaru where the two scouts were positioned. The group's eyes widened as both Kakashis placed their hands towards the ground, using their free hand to reveal their Sharingan. Since the rain had started there had been thundering claps of lightning, so Kakashi felt it an appropriate moment to demonstrate to the group why he was chosen to be their leader. Both of their hands erupted into light-blue lightning as each fixated on their targets, their Sharingan showing them the blue outlines of the two scouts.

_That forest would be perfect for our forces to consolidate, if Jiraiya-sama's information network is correct. _

Kakashi sent his clone after the eastern scout whilst he ran towards the other. The Jounin was extremely fast when his chakra was activated during Chidori, and as he sped into the forest he noticed that neither of the scouts had moved.

_Either they have not spotted my approach, or Jito has covered me with a genjutsu. _

His clone jumped high into the air, the Suna scout having no chance to react as the clone drove the lightning technique into his chest, killing him instantly. The rain had slowed the real Kakashi's approach, and as he drew away from his unit Kakashi could tell that he wasn't being concealed anymore. The scout jumped out of the woods, Kakashi barely able to make out a staggered line of shinobi, his eyes widening as he realised how close his group was to the retreating Suna forces.

He swore as he saw the scout getting away from him, he could feel his unit running behind him, but if he didn't do something the scout would get away and give the Suna force key intelligence on his unit. He concentrated hard on a new technique he had been working on, feeling a huge rush of chakra as he opened the first chakra gate. His speed increased three-fold as he rapidly closed the distance to the scout, lightning crashing around him as the scout turned around to face his pursuer.

Kakashi leapt into the air and thrust his lightning-covered arm towards the scout. The brown-clad scout's eyes widened as Kakashi's approach was covered by a deafening strike of lightning between them, the young Jounin feeling a giant surge of power as his attack blasted right through the scout. Kakashi took a moment to realise what he had just done before jumping back towards the tree-line, dodging dozens of projectiles thrown in his direction by the line of Suna shinobi.

When he got to the forest he was impressed that his unit had already begun setting up defences. They had set up dozens of traps for pursuers, and were already taking tabs on the Suna force. The unit collectively acknowledged his return, many of them impressed at the young Jounin's abilities.

"Those were some damn impressive moves there" said Tsuma, putting his axes back behind his cloak as he saw there were no pursuers.

The others in the unit nodded in agreement, their Hyuuga companion having told them in detail how Kakashi had taken down the scouts. He made his way over to their genjutsu-specialist, giving him thanks for covering his approach. The Senju Chuunin barely nodded in response, the rain loudly tinkering off his armour. Kakashi turned to Mikoto, who had just finished giving orders to set up a unit of scouts to patrol the forest borders.

"I want a barrier set up immediately. The Fourth will be here shortly, and I doubt Sensei would forgive us if we didn't have a warm welcome ready for him."

His second-in-command gave him a quick salute before flashing him a smile and going about her duty. It was fascinating for Kakashi to watch the Uchiha matriarch interact with the other Chuunin. Although she was the same rank and near the same age, her soft tones seemed to compel the Chuunin to obey her orders as if they had come from the Hokage himself. Kakashi suspected that the group would have been less enthusiastic if the young Jounin gave the orders, but when the twenty-year old Uchiha told them to move, they did so with gusto. Kakashi let out a long breath, feeling a thud on his back as Genma clapped him with a gloved hand.

"Way to go there, Cap. I thought of a great name for your technique."

* * *

><p>Kakashi bit at his thumbnail nervously as he counted the number of Suna shinobi in the defensive line. There was no way his unit could break that line without significant casualties. The Suna shinobi were covering their main force's retreat, this he knew, but held the higher ground against the Konoha forces. Kakashi knew that the Suna forces were aware that Konoha was bearing down on them; he hoped that his Sensei wasn't misinterpreting their movements.<p>

"There is something strange in the formation" said Hakaru, having had his Byakugan activated since they reached the edge of the tree line.

The two scouts sat in the tree for several minutes, Hakaru scanning the enemy forces quietly with his doujutsu. Eventually Kakashi's patience ran out, as he turned his uncovered eye towards the Hyuuga.

"Care to…elaborate on your statement, Hakaru?"

The scout smirked slowly, taking quiet pride in his ability to frustrate the young Jounin. Kakashi knew there was no way for him to win over the branch house member, and knew that his dislike for him wasn't entirely meant for the silver-haired Jounin.

The Hyuuga pointed at a section of several dozen Suna ninja, "Every third ninja is the same."

Kakashi stared at the shinobi across from them, unable to tell any of them apart from that distance, they all looked the same with the flak jackets and brown clothing.

"I don't see what you mean."

The Hyuuga sniggered while his white eyes stared at the Suna shinobi, "Of course you don't. There are forty copies of a ninja with a small scar above his right thumb, thirty-seven copies of a ninja with a slightly larger distance between his eyes, and fifteen copies of a ninja with a tear on the left sleeve of his shirt."

Kakashi was amazed at how much detail the Hyuuga shinobi could pick out at that distance even with the Byakugan, though he still didn't care for his attitude.

"So you are saying that there are actually three shinobi covering for nearly one hundred?"

Hakaru shook his head, standing up slowly and dropping from the tree to the ground. Kakashi sighed and followed him, secretly thankful at the opportunity to stretch his legs. Hakaru deactivated his doujutsu and knelt down on one knee, pulling a scroll from his flak jacket and opening it on the ground before taking out a pen.

"I took another scan, that entire section isn't real" he said as he wrote down a quick report to send to their commanding officers.

Kakashi took a glance at the defensive line, "A genjutsu to cover up their diminishing numbers? That's…quite clever actually."

He ran through the numbers in his head, taking into consideration the disposition of enemy troops Hakaru was writing down and how close his own unit was. Once Hakaru was finished, he leant down and wrote down his own message, before wrapping up the scroll and handing it back to Hakaru. The Hyuuga ran through a set of seals, bit his thumb and placed it on a nearby low tree branch. A small brown hawk appeared in a puff of smoke, Hakaru placing the scroll on the strap on the hawk's back. The Hyuuga nodded to the hawk, watching as it flew towards the new Hokage's position.

"Send another hawk to Mikoto. Have the unit make their way here as quick as they can."

Hakaru looked at his commanding officer with a frown, "For what purpose?"

The Jounin pushed down his anger at the insubordination, "Hakaru, I'm your commanding officer. If I give you an order, you are expected to follow it."

The Hyuuga stared down at Kakashi, wondering whether he had pushed the silver-haired boy too far. He went through the seals again, wiping his thumb on his palm. He didn't respond to Kakashi's statement, simply sending a second hawk with a new sense of respect for the Jounin. He still didn't like him, but could tell that Kakashi wasn't going to tolerate that kind of behaviour. Besides, he was a Hyuuga. He would still do his job to the best of his ability.

The unit wasn't convinced of Kakashi's plan, even as the sky had turned to night. The Jounin had outlined his plan and they had been excited by the idea, but Mikoto had quickly pointed out that they had no way of getting to the enemy lines before being noticed, thus removing their advantage and allowing the Suna forces to collapse in on them quicker then intended, cutting them to shreds.

"I know that the point of us attacking is to draw them away from the Fourth's position, but we wouldn't last very long if they know we are coming. There would be no element of surprise."

Kakashi nodded in agreement to his second-in-command, but turned to another of the group.

"But if we did get through that gap that Hakaru pointed out, then we could set up a position and deal serious damage. This could be the push that changes the fate of the war."

He looked at the Senju shinobi leaning against a nearby tree, "Jito, can you cover us as we move in?"

The group turned to the genjutsu-user, not sure what Kakashi was implying. Jito hadn't spoken to anyone in the group, and as such only Kakashi knew what his abilities were, since Jito's introduction before was entirely an illusion of his own creation. He looked over at the line of Suna shinobi with the same frown he had been wearing since meeting the group.

"It wouldn't be easy. Fooling that many shinobi would mean that I wouldn't be able to assist in the battle much" he said softly.

"But you can do it?" asked Kakashi, knowing the Senju's answer already.

Jito didn't respond, but placed his hands together in a handseal and focused on his technique. Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan, and could feel himself learning the complex genjutsu that Jito was weaving, but forced himself to look away as he regarded the rest of the group. He had been thankful that it had finally stopped raining, so that the fire-users could participate in the attack.

"I'm not one for speeches, as you all have likely worked out. Remember, we fight as a unit. We are Konoha shinobi. We protect our comrades at all costs."

Several in the group looked at each other with suspicion, but Kakashi knew that when it came down to it they would look after each other. Konoha shinobi knew that if they protected their friends, they in turn would be protected.

"We will tear straight through their lines. I want nobody holding back."

Nagisa stood up as she removed a small scroll from one of her black companion's neck, having sent it to the Hokage's command post to receive confirmation of Kakashi's plan. She handed it to Kakashi without a word, taking her position back within the group with her two hounds holding position behind her in the shadows. Kakashi opened the scroll, read the contents and then destroyed it with a small flame before his hands. He sighed as he knew what he had to say next, not happy with the order from the Hokage but still willing to comply with it.

"No prisoners."

Jito continued to run through handseals, the group noticing the tree line was beginning to waver and swirl. Genma placed a new senbon in his mouth, having broken his previous one on the way to Kakashi's position. Standing next to him, Hayate removed his sword and breathed out slowly, trying to hide his nerves. The purple-haired sword wielder, who Kakashi had learnt called herself Yugao, revealed her own plain looking sword, smiling at Hayate whilst standing next to him. Mikoto had taken it upon herself to tell the quiet swordsman about Yugao's interest in him, and the Uchiha matriarch had found it highly amusing when the two sword-wielders had found each other. They had kept it civil when in public, but Kakashi had seen them together in their downtime. Kakashi hadn't agreed with Mikoto's decision, but he did notice that both of them appeared to be more focused when on the job.

Jito placed his hands together into a fist, and muttered quietly, "Magen: Kokoni Arazu" (Demonic Illusion: False Surrounding).

The group looked around themselves, noticing that at the edges of their group there was a pitch black wall instead of the forest. Hakaru tried to look through the darkness with his Byakugan, noticing with amazement that there was only one section he could see through, the way towards the enemy line. He figured that the Senju warrior had allowed him to see through that section, to guide them through. Jito kept his hands together in the dog seal, a small bead of sweat dripping from his forehead onto his armoured chest. He gave Kakashi a slight nod; the Jounin could tell that Jito would have to maintain the technique for the whole time they were on the move.

He gave a hand signal to Mikoto and then nodded for Hakaru to lead them through with Byakugan. The Hyuuga nodded in turn and began to walk towards the enemy line, hoping that Jito's illusion would do its job. Having prepared themselves as best as possible, the group followed the Hyuuga scout without a word. They were in a tight formation, Jito was only able to cover a dozen metres each side with his powerful illusion.

"If I may, Kakashi-san should I take out the genjutsu-user first?" asked Nagisa quietly, her two black hounds trotting beside her as they crossed from the forest into the open field.

"Do you have his location?" asked Kakashi at the front of the group next to Hakaru.

The Inuzuka female nodded, her dark red painted nails growing into sharp claws slowly.

"Then by all means" said her commander, hoping that she was half as good as her file said she was.

He turned to the rest of the group as they closed the gap to the Suna shinobi. Hakaru had indicated that they were in the clear for the time being, though they could all tell how straining it was for Jito to maintain the illusionary technique.

"That goes for the rest of you as well. I don't want you to be reckless, but we are here to cause as much damage as possible."

As they neared the line, he signalled for quiet, knowing that while they may not be visible, they may still be heard. Jito was a brilliant illusionist, but even he couldn't cover every sense completely. The group stopped at Hakaru's indication that they were in front of the fake Suna shinobi, Kakashi giving the signal to Nagisa to take out the genjutsu user. The Inuzuka assassin's skin slowly changed to a flush red before fading to a coal black, her hounds vanishing into the ground as she followed into the shadows.

Hakaru watched carefully with his Byakugan, and after a few moments he put up a single hand in a fist. He watched the fakes slowly dissipate; counting the numbers until he was sure they were all gone. He saw Nagisa appear behind a stone wall, her claws removing themselves from a Suna shinobi, who Hakaru was horrified to see that he no longer had a face. Knowing that the Hyuuga was watching, she gave a signal with a bloody claw, before vanishing into the background. Hakaru put his hand up flat, Kakashi getting the signal. He tapped Jito on the shoulder, and the Senju gave no response except to release his hands from his seal. The group prepared their techniques and weapons for a final time as Kakashi drew a long breath.

_Here we go._

* * *

><p>There were four hundred Suna shinobi in the defensive line that they could see, not including the fakes that Hakaru had identified with his Byakugan. Kakashi had thirty Konoha ninja under his command, and with Jito popped a specially-prepared chakra pill, they were all ready to draw the enemy into Minato's trap. The instant Nagisa assassinated the illusionist, the Suna forces knew that they had been infiltrated as the illusions disappeared.<p>

Two hawks immediately departed for the main Suna army, only to be taken down by sharp senbon fired by Genma on the ground with pinpoint precision. Kakashi gave the signal to attack, joining his side in attacking the Sand shinobi. Since their breach was near the centre of the line, Kakashi had divided their forces into two and ordered them to spread outwards for as long as they could before folding back towards the tree line.

Kakashi blocked a thrown kunai with his own, having already sent a large fireball into a nearby brown-clad shinobi. The burning Suna Chuunin flailed around as his companions were forced to defend themselves from the onslaught. Tsuma was very much in his element, dozens of steel black axes rotating around his body as he removed an axe from a Suna shinobi's neck. Besides him one of Kakashi's unit threw half a dozen kunai into a small group of enemies, forming a handseal quickly as the small explosions engulfed the shinobi.

Kakashi nodded thanks to a Chuunin who forced the Jounin to the ground to avoid a large earthen projectile. Having copied dozens of techniques unintentionally with Sharingan during the fight, Kakashi felt the knowledge spring forth from him as he swiftly performed the handseals before driving his hands into the ground.

"Doton: Doryuusou" (Earth Element: Rising Stone Spears)

The ground rumbled as dozens of large stone spikes attacked the Suna shinobi, forcing them to fall back in time for three Chuunin to complete their preparations, a large cage of fire trapping the enemies, burning them alive. One of his Chuunin fell to the ground, his body riddled with projectiles. The surrounding unit swore collectively, redoubling their efforts as more Suna shinobi collided with their forces.

Kakashi didn't want to use the newly named 'Raikiri' (Lightning Edge) too much, as more then three times would leave him with very little chakra. He blocked a sword strike with a kunai, driving a sandaled foot into the shinobi's neck before slicing his throat open. Kakashi noted with interest as some of the reinforcing shinobi were falling to the ground with huge gaping holes in their necks, three falling at a time.

_She is not what I expected, though I cannot fault her abilities._

He swore and jumped back, a kunai with an explosion tag attached landing near his feet forcing him to back off from his attack. On his side he had lost five Chuunin so far, though they had reaped a bloody toll in return. Tsuma, the monster that he was, had broken five axes and had dozens of small cuts on his body, but in his static position there was a mounting body count around him.

He grinned wildly as his armour deflected a thrown kunai; sending one of his floating axes straight into the offending shinobi's face, the weapon flying back to Tsuma's position drenched in blood. He parried a sword strike with one axe and drove another axe into the Suna shinobi's arm, severing it at the elbow before slicing off his other arm, turning his attention to his next target as the enemy fell to the ground. The Sand shinobi screamed out in agony for a moment, then was strangely quiet.

Seeing no enemies in his immediate area, Tsuma turned back to his incapacitated foe. While he enjoyed battle immensely, he wasn't a stranger to a soldier's mercy. The Suna shinobi's face slowly smiled a bloody visage that regarded the axe-wielder with dead eyes. Tsuma didn't like the look, so he buried an axe into the foe's chest. He felt a slight resistance to the strike, and felt unnerved as the Suna shinobi's smile widened. A bright light began to shine underneath the dark brown robe and armour, Tsuma's eyes widened as he realised his error. The large explosion threw back both sides of shinobi, many of them blinded by brightness and shards of shrapnel peppered the warring shinobi. Nearby Kakashi placed his hands back into a handseal, trying to use his Sharingan to track how far away his teacher's forces were. He could barely make out a blue shape in the distance, but couldn't concentrate on it as he was forced to duck under several sand projectiles.

Mikoto's reasons for being in the vanguard were purely political for her own sake, but as she concentrated a stream of light blue flames into the Suna shinobi she had to admit she was enjoying herself. She had a constant shield of wind surrounding her body, siphoning sections of the wind off to fuel her deadly flame attacks. She had abandoned her normal calm smiling visage, adopting a war mask as she peppered a small group of Suna shinobi that was preparing a large combination attack.

Some of the enemy shinobi had worked out how dangerous she was and had attempted to concentrate on her, but her fire and wind-covered form was a nightmare to behold. She sent a large wall of orange flame into a line of Suna shinobi, as she flattened another dozen shinobi with a thundering blanket of wind pressure.

"Watch your side" warned Hayate, blocking an axe blow with his sword as Yugao defended his side with her own blade.

They worked in perfect unison, each defending the other's back whilst claiming a bloody toll on the enemy forces. Hayate was considered a prodigy of the sword by his superiors; his innate ability to find and exploit enemy weakness was almost unnatural. Yugao, on the other hand, was quicker and more defensive, preferring to deflect and parry any blows that came near herself and her partner, letting Hayate take the lion's share of the kills. Across the field of battle from the two swordsmen, Genma and Raido regarded a small contingent of Suna shinobi that had splintered off to face them.

"I'll cover you" said Genma, pulling a scroll from his flak jacket before forming a handseal with it between his fingers.

Raido nodded silently and stood defensively with his obsidian blade. Genma bit at the senbon in his mouth before finishing his handseal.

"Hari no Mai" (Dance of the Needles)

Raido blocked a thrown kunai with his sword and ran forward, as a shower of needles shot around him. The Suna shinobi struggled to defend themselves against the torrent of needles, some being struck in the shoulders or neck as Raido suddenly appeared in their midst. He kept a grim look on his face as he cut down the first enemy in front of him, who was already bleeding from dozens of small needle wounds. He noticed an enemy coming at him from the side but ignored him, parrying and attacking another Suna shinobi with his blade. Genma threw a set of senbon at the shinobi attacking Raido, his attacks striking the enemy in both eyes and the throat as he fell to the ground in agony. Feeling left out as Raido cut down another foe, Genma closed the distance with his hands in a different seal.

"Raido! Throw me a blade! I've got a wicked plan in mind."

Raido ducked under a strike and buried his sword in the stomach of an enemy before dragging it up and out his neck with a single strike. He sighed and tossed a scroll to his companion, taking a defensive position as Genma laid the scroll down on the ground.

"That's a pretty dull-looking blade, but fine I suppose this'll work too."

Raido blocked several projectiles and cut down a charging attacker as smoke began to rise from the scroll behind him. Genma smiled as he slammed a palm onto the scroll.

"Shall we have a ball?" Raido groaned at the pun as a small brown sphere appeared above them, spinning rapidly.

He jumped back to Genma's position and both of them activated their technique at the same time.

"Doton: Tsuchiengai" (Earth Element: Earth Dome) called out Raido, a thick shield of earth covering both of the Konoha shinobi.

Genma had ensured that there were no friendlies in range as he activated his technique.

"Shippuu no Mai" (Dance of the Hurricane)

Neither shinobi could see what happened but as the dome receded from around them after a few loud screams and they counted the bodies that had been impaled by the storm of needles, both of them took a long breath. Genma grinned at his companion before wiping his bloody hands on his jacket.

"Shall we break for lunch then?"

His partner rolled his eyes, before seeing the bright flames of their female companion flare high up into the air. Genma bit on his senbon and rolled up the scroll at his feet.

"I suppose not then."

The vanguard unit had taken a bloody toll on the Suna forces during the short battle. In the ten minutes they had been fighting they had killed 60 percent of the enemy forces from what they could see, though the sides of the defensive line had collapsed onto the unit quickly. Kakashi's unit had suffered casualties in return, sheer weight of numbers taking down the superior fighters of the Konoha vanguard.

Jito had experienced war before, the Second Shinobi War had a much higher body count and was a lot worse than this, however as his Hyuuga companion defended his position he cursed his own frailty. The genjutsu master had been forced to remain stationary to recover his chakra, and Hakaru was skilfully deflecting all the projectiles thrown in their direction with small blue chakra blades coming from his palms. Jito rose from his position and walked past the Hyuuga branch member, giving him the slightest of nods in thanks.

Hakaru noticed Jito's recovery and clenched a fist, his Byakugan showing him that Kakashi's half was being overwhelmed, and the young Jounin was struggling against over a dozen enemies. He swore under his breath and ran towards his commander quickly. He didn't like Kakashi for several reasons, but that didn't mean he would leave him to die. Kakashi leapt back as his stone wall was breached by several small explosions, a kunai cutting the side of his cheek as he let off a fireball into the group of Suna shinobi. He felt himself smile as Hakaru landed next to him, the Hyuuga's hands glowing a fierce blue colour.

"You seem to be in a bind, Kakashi" commented the taijutsu fighter.

The young Jounin drew a slow breath before straightening up and putting his hands together.

"Timing is everything, Hakaru" he replied dryly.

Tsuma's explosive death had taken out a significant portion of the forces opposing Kakashi's side as there were only forty shinobi left to oppose them, though it was only Kakashi and Hakaru left to fight them.

"Hakaru, do you have any area of effect techniques?"

The Hyuuga branch shook his head in response, wary of the fact that the Suna shinobi were biding their time, arrogantly waiting to counter any technique the Konoha shinobi could throw against them. Kakashi began a new set of handseals, his Sharingan showing him how afraid the Suna shinobi really were of the two shinobi.

_They are mostly Chuunin and Genin. Suna forces must be severely undermanned if this is their defensive line. _

His hand began to scream with lightning, as the enemy forces reeled back in fear. Remembering Kakashi's previous fight, Hakaru understood what Kakashi was going to do, giving the Suna shinobi a wicked grin before leaping towards them, sending dozens of shuriken and kunai into the group. The retaliation projectiles were deflected by his chakra hand blades as the Hyuuga branch member dug into a defensible position, forming a perfect sphere with his chakra blades that the oncoming shinobi seemed to bounce off of.

A Suna shinobi finished a hand seal and began to form a large wind blade to cut through the Hyuuga's defence, but Kakashi appeared in front of him before he could complete his technique, driving his lightning-charged hand through the foe's chest before turning to the next foe.

_What the hell is keeping our reinforcements?_ he thought as he moved to his next target.

Jito rubbed a stiff shoulder as he stood within a large group of Suna shinobi, hidden under a subtle illusion that was as simple to him as breathing.

_There are eighty-seven shinobi here, most of them Chuunin or higher. They've been holding back until we were less of a threat. If they attack our group, we will be crushed. _

He watched as a shinobi wearing a set of plated wrist guards and a red sash barked orders at the rest of the group; Jito could tell he was clearly the leader of the pack. The Senju warrior didn't let off a sound as he figured it might break his illusion, but he knew that he would have to once again break his oath to his long deceased father. He bit at both his thumbs, wiping the blood across his cheeks before quietly clapping his hands together.

_Forgive me, Father. _

He cut off his illusion and appeared in front of the group of shinobi, the very image of the Second Hokage with his father's fur-covered armour on his body, even changing certain bits of his face to better resemble the past Hokage. The Suna shinobi recoiled immediately at the famous image, but Jito gave them no chance at recovering as he fuelled all the chakra he could spare through his technique.

"Magen: Narakujitsuzai" (Demonic Illusion: Hellish Reality)

Jito never got used to the screams that emanated from victims of the devastating genjutsu, knowing that his personally developed technique was amongst the most dangerous forbidden in Konoha. All eighty-seven Suna shinobi suffered the same fate, each suffering a horrifying illusion personally tailored and created within their own psyche.

To their credit, most of the Suna shinobi survived longer then Jito expected, but the result was always the same with that particular genjutsu. The shinobi fell to the ground with no resistance, their faces covered in blood from their eyes and nose. None of them moved at all, Jito not needing to check the bodies to know that none of them had survived. His technique had been designed for situations exactly like that, when overwhelming numbers needed to be disposed of quickly.

The illusions created were so horrifying and incomprehensible to the victims that their brains were simply overwhelmed by the sensory input. It had been forbidden technique from the moment Jito had created it, as were many of Jito's more advanced illusion techniques. The Second Hokage knew how genjutsu users were perceived by their peers, generally with suspicion, doubt and disgust. Techniques that were so disturbing only served to deepen the hatred, as Jito had experienced.

_There may come a time when I may be forgiven for such actions. However there is still war to be fought and comrades to protect. _

Kakashi fell to the ground, his chakra spent as the last Suna shinobi fell to a blow from Hakaru's fingers. The two Konoha shinobi were soon joined by the remains of the unit, the Suna defensive line having been completely decimated by the surprise attack.

"I guess we didn't need reinforcements after all" said Hakaru, noticing with his Byakugan that the Konoha forces were still a distance away.

Kakashi looked over his unit, feeling a sense of relief as he saw Mikoto's smiling face leading a small group towards him. He then felt a horrible sense of dread as he saw Jito and Nagisa appeared within the group, noticing that only nine of them had survived.

_C__onsidering what we took out, I should be impressed. Yet, all I can feel is this horrible emptiness, nearly as bad as when Obito died. _

"Where is the Fourth?" asked Genma.

Kakashi shrugged, he had no idea, and at this point he didn't care. The reinforcements wouldn't have been any help as Kakashi's unit had a high likelihood of losing shinobi anyway, but he had to admit he wouldn't mind seeing his blonde teacher's face again. Hakaru tapped him on the shoulder, pointing a kunai at the direction of the retreating main Suna army.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi, picking himself up with a tired sigh.

"There is a shinobi approaching us."

The Jounin's eyes widened, he prayed that it wasn't who he thought it might be.

"Who is it?" asked Mikoto, popping a soldier pill and flexing her fingers in preparation.

"I don't recognise him. But he is approaching us, slowly and on his own" said Hakaru, noticing his commander giving out orders for the remains of the unit to prepare once again for a fight.

Kakashi took a pill from Mikoto and swallowed it, taking a position next to the Hyuuga scout.

"Is it the Kazekage?" he asked, petrified that he might be correct.

His companion shook his head, as the shape of the single shinobi appeared in the unit's view. At the side of the group, Jito felt a strange sense of foreboding as the figure came into view. Years of fighting had given him a good sense of when to pick his battles, and as he saw the shinobi he felt an overwhelming urge to just walk away. Nagisa's nose twitched and her hounds growled softly, each of them alarmed at the fact that there was no scent coming from the figure.

The group prepared their weapons as the Suna shinobi stopped a short distance away, Mikoto's eyes widening as she recognised the figure. The shinobi was wearing a simple plain brown robe, without any insignia except for the Sand symbol on his chest area. He was a young man, Kakashi could tell he was about the same age as Genma, but there was a strangely dead look in his eyes. The shinobi ran a pale hand through his short red hair before removing a scroll from his back and laying it down on the ground.

"We should retreat" said Mikoto, most of the unit nodding in agreement.

"Who is he?" asked Kakashi, not recognising him from their files on the Suna forces.

Beside him Hayate wiped his sword on his sleeve and stood slightly in front of his purple-haired partner defensively, "He is Sasori of the Red Sands".

Kakashi kicked himself for not recognising the young red head; he certainly knew who their opponent was, he recognised the name.

_The terror of Suna_ he thought, watching a small plume of smoke rising from the scroll in front of Sasori.

He almost ordered his unit to retreat, until he saw what their opponent was doing, realising the opportunity had passed. Sasori placed his hands out in front of him, with his fingers outstretched as he counted his opponents. The Konoha shinobi suddenly found themselves facing equal numbers of enemies as Sasori connected chakra strings from his fingers to the nine ninja puppets he had summoned. One of the puppets, a long crocodile looking creature, stayed next to the famous puppet user, Kakashi figuring that it was his defensive puppet that had yet to be penetrated in the war.

_He's cocky to think he only needs on puppet for each of us. Then again, he is famous for a reason._

Behind him he heard a soft growl before a small voice in his head told him to duck. Kakashi fell to the ground immediately, barely making it in time as a devastating whirlwind passed over his head, slamming into one of the puppets directly. If Sasori was surprised, he gave no indication as Nagisa appeared on the other side of the line, jumping around the side back to the Konoha unit as the remains of her target fell to the ground.

"He doesn't seem so scary" said Genma, pulling out a handful of senbon from his pack.

"Don't be hasty, Genma" warned Raido, not wanting to see his friend killed by the puppet master in a foolish attack.

Kakashi picked himself up from the ground and gave a quick thanks to Jito for the mental warning, before regarding the remaining puppets. They all appeared to have a human-like appearance, some of them wearing Suna headbands and flak jackets, while others had multiple limbs that ended in deadly weaponry.

"Don't get cut by his weapons, they are all coated with poison" observed Hakaru, keeping a particularly troubling insight from his Byakugan to himself as Sasori turned his gaze towards the Hyuuga shinobi.

"A Hyuuga? Fascinating. You would make a fine addition to my collection."

Even his voice gave the group the impression that Sasori was little older than them, but if the rumours were anything to go by he had killed more in the war than their entire unit combined. He twitched two of the fingers on his left hand, Kakashi only able to catch the movement of his hands because of his Sharingan. Two of the more monstrous-looking puppets flew forward unnaturally fast, the left one opening its mouth and spitting out dozens of needles at the Hyuuga shinobi as the other one circled around him with a long sword in hand.

Easily able to read the attacks, Hakaru dodged the needles and side-stepped the sword blow, moving to strike the puppets until he remembered that as objects without chakra his attacks would be useless. Kakashi and Mikoto both moved to cover him as the rest of the group faced against the other puppets.

Mikoto blew back the two puppets with a harsh wind from her hands as Kakashi put his own hands together, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

The small fireballs became exponentially larger with the wind force from Mikoto, driving the puppets back further. Hakaru cursed his own inability to damage the puppets, taking up the task of trying to figure out a weakness in Sasori's technique. The Suna shinobi seemed content to fight on multiple fronts, the task of controlling eight puppets at once being no issue as each of the puppets fought with the skills of Jounin-level shinobi.

Having already read her main attack, Sasori had no problem making his puppets dodge Nagisa's taijutsu attacks, even those directed at his body simply bounced off his defensive puppet's large shield. At the back of the group, Jito was struggling against his puppet foe, barely able to dodge the many small blades the puppet was firing at him from hidden compartments. Jito hated fighting in close quarters, but the mere fact that Sasori had sent a puppet after him meant that his genjutsu would not help him. Whenever he felt an enemy presence, Jito would layer on a camouflage illusion so that he could ambush the enemy with a more offensive illusion, but Sasori had merely noticed him as an afterthought.

_I've never come across an enemy that I couldn't at least partially influence, and yet here is one right now. _

A sword strike hit the armour on his arm, sending a shockwave through his body and he slammed a fist into the puppet's face. The puppet reeled back and fired a dozen kunai from a hidden compartment in its wrist, the Senju warrior barely able to dodge in time before the puppet attacked him once more. The other Konoha ninja were in a similar predicament, though Kakashi and Mikoto had been able to dispatch the puppets plaguing Hakaru by trapping them in an earth-dome and setting them alight.

Sasori gave a slight frown as he regarded the charred remains of the large puppets. The wooden forms of his puppets were very susceptible to their fire techniques, though not as much as normal wood. He observed the Hyuuga in the group gasp loudly; his Byakugan staring at Sasori's cloaked form. He flicked his fingers and renewed his attacks against the Konoha forces, though he gave an almost casual flick with a chakra string attached, his opponents too preoccupied to notice the slight movement.

Hakaru went to yell his revelatory observation to Kakashi, but found his voice oddly silent. Only when he placed a hand on the front of his neck, did he notice the encroaching darkness that was seeping into his vision's edges. He looked at his hand, feeling a sticky red substance on it as his legs became numb. He could see his young commander call out to him but couldn't hear him, a dull silence ringing in his ears as he fell to the ground. Sasori allowed himself a grin as his puppet lowered its bladed hand, pulling itself out of the hole beneath the Hyuuga's corpse. Kakashi ducked under a sword strike as he watched Hakaru fall to the ground with a giant gash in his throat.

_He hid a puppet under the ground. Damnit, how did we miss that?_

He watched Hayate and Yugao corner a puppet with their swords, driving it back with a barrage of strikes before Mikoto cut it off and helped them destroy the humanoid puppet with a large pillar of blue flame. In another part of the battlefield Nagisa was struggling against two animal-looking puppets with large spinning blades, her normally calm visage broken as Kakashi noticed two black forms on the ground with large sprays of red liquid around their bodies.

The Inuzuka was on the back foot against the puppets, though her speed allowed her to strike hard blows against the wooden puppets, her sharp claws digging holes into the puppets but they still attacked her without pause. Nagisa jumped back and landed on all fours, the two puppets shifting slowly in the air as Sasori was wary of the animalistic shinobi. Biting into her lip and drawing blood with a long fang, Nagisa felt a rage build inside her, the blood dripping into the ground at her feet.

_I hope they are able to look after my body. This technique takes far too much out of me. _

She rolled backwards and swiped the blood across both palms before crossing her arms across her face.

"Hijutsu Jinjuu Henge: Kageookami!" (Hidden Human Beast Transformation: Shadow Wolf)

Sasori watched with fascination as she vanished from his sight, the only indication of her existence was the blood drops on the ground from her hands. He kept the puppets idle as he turned his attention to his other puppets, figuring she had fled the battlefield. After a few moments the chakra strings attached to the two puppets fell limb, and then collapsed to the ground. Feeling a strange tug as his two puppets sat limp without strings attached, Sasori quickly reattached new strings but felt no response from the puppets.

His keen eyes noticed a very small imprint on the ground between the puppet and his fingers, but he could do nothing as both of his puppets appeared to vanish into thin air piece by piece. Fighting the other Konoha shinobi had distracted Sasori momentarily, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a huge black creature appear behind the group before shrinking back into the unconscious form of the female animalistic shinobi. Sasori had not expected such resistance from the Konoha shinobi, believing that he only needed equal numbers to take out the Konoha unit. He renewed his efforts, as the Konoha shinobi began to encircle the last three offensive puppets attacking them. The vanguard unit hadn't bothered to attack his defensive puppet, knowing that it would likely take a combined effort to take down the advanced puppet.

"Raido!" called out Genma, catching his partner by the shoulders as Raido clutched at his bleeding face.

Genma spat his senbon at the puppet that had dragged its blades across Raido's face, the thin weapon imbedding itself into a joint in the puppet's neck. Sasori felt like laughing at the pitiful attack, as if a senbon could destroy a ninja puppet. Genma's face broke into a grin as he put up a one-handed sign and placed Raido on the ground carefully.

"It's only a small prick" he muttered, the small weapon erupting in an explosion that demolished the puppet, sending large chunks of wood flying all around them.

Raido continued to scream out in pain at the long shallow cut across his face, the poison already seeping into his body. Genma leant down and took a quick glance at his friend's condition.

_I've got to get the poison out, right now. _

He removed a selection of various needles from his side pocket and rolled Raido onto his back.

"I'm sorry, Raido."

His fallen companion reached up and grabbed his jacket in a tight grip.

He coughed blood onto Genma's front, "That…was a terrible pun…seriously…"

His companion smiled and picked up curved needle. Raido nodded for him to do it, screaming out again as the needle pierced through his cheek. Across the field Jito fell back, nodded his acknowledgement at the two swordsmen who had arrived to relieve him. The puppet across from Hayate and Yugao had dozens of small blades embedded in its wooden form, Jito's projectiles unable to stop the puppets attacks.

Sasori sent the puppet straight at Yugao, bringing an arm back to reveal a long sword that thrust towards her chest. The purple-haired Chuunin read the attack easily, parrying the blade then ducking as Hayate came up beneath her and sliced his sword across the puppet's head, removing it from the rest of the body. They both jumped back as the puppet collapsed to the ground, holding up their blades defensively as they both knew that there was still another puppet to take care of.

Sasori allowed himself a grin as he noticed a small opening in their defence, flicking several fingers in their direction to attach invisible chakra strings nearby. Jito noticed the attack barely, calling out for them to move as the recently decapitated puppet's head rose ominously from the ground, flying straight towards the two swordsmen. They both turned around at the same time to see the puppet's face open up to a large hole, Hayate instinctively pushing Yugao out of the way as a large plume of purple gas covered his face from the puppet's mouth.

The swordsman tried to hold his breath, but found that the gas was seeping into his nose and mouth regardless, almost waiting patiently for him to need to breathe again. Yugao screamed out his name and threw herself at him, dragging him out of the poison cloud. Sasori moved his fingers to make the puppet follow the two, but the puppet was unable to respond as Mikoto ran towards them, blasting it away with a wind attack. Hayate fell to the ground as he was finally forced to take a breath, coughing violently as the poison made its way towards his lungs.

The Uchiha matriarch yelled for Jito to make sure that the puppet was properly destroyed as she ran over to the fallen shinobi, asking Yugao whether he had inhaled any of the poison. The sword-wielder nodded and let the second-in-command through, watching her kneel besides the coughing Hayate. He held a hand to his mouth and continued to cough, a sticky black liquid coming from him as he felt his lungs burn up inside him. Mikoto pulled back his hand and put one of her hands on his chest while the other sat on his neck.

"The poison is in your lungs, Hayate-san. This won't be pleasant" she said, trying to smile to keep Hayate calm but knew that she couldn't waste any time.

Hayate screamed out as Mikoto drove her chakra into his system, her Sharingan able to pinpoint where the poison was as she used a wind technique to force it out of his lungs. Yugao held down the thrashing Hayate, trying to tell him calm words but was petrified that she was going to lose him, only days after getting him. Behind his defensive puppet, Sasori observed the two separate medical operations with frustration, marvelling at the arrogance of the Konoha shinobi, that they could ignore him despite their successes.

He moved his final puppet to attack one of the fallen groups, but found its approach blocked by Kakashi, holding an oddly shaped kunai. The Jounin had run out of other projectiles, and was nearly out of chakra, knowing that he was the only one left to fight the puppet. Jito was disposing of the remains of the other puppets so that Sasori couldn't repeat his previous attack, and Kakashi saw that Nagisa was still unconscious away from the group. The puppet attacked the silver-haired teenager viciously, attempted to cut and slice at his body whilst also firing small needles in his direction.

Kakashi found himself hard pressed to defend himself, realising that with all his concentration focused on the single puppet Sasori was a far better fighter then Kakashi was. He spared a glance at the paper wrapped around the special kunai, remembering his mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge.

_I don't know if this'll work, but I can't think of any other options._

Using what little chakra he had left, he hurled the kunai at the attacking puppet, falling to the ground as his strength left him. Sasori grinned as he saw his victory, making the puppet reveal a large saw from its stomach and sending it straight towards the young Jounin. Unable to move, Kakashi grimaced as he prepared for the fatal attack, his arms held up defensively in front of him.

"Rasengan!"

The puppet shattered into thousands of pieces as Kakashi found himself staring at the long white and red cloak of his teacher. Minato pulled back his outstretched attacking hand and turned around, flipping the kunai in his other hand and handed it hilt-first to the young Jounin.

"You seem to have gone through some trouble" he commented with a smile, Kakashi accepting the kunai as he picked himself up from the ground.

The new Hokage seemed to be unchanged since Kakashi saw him last, though Kakashi could see the sad look in Minato's eyes as he saw the bodies of the Konoha shinobi around them. A small distance away, Genma put away his needles, having been forced to knock his companion out as he finished the procedure. He had been able to get the poison out before it travelled any further, but Genma was no medical ninja. Remembering the medical pack that he saw Kakashi pack, he turned around to find himself staring at the Fourth Hokage's smiling face.

"Ho…Hokage-sama! I didn't notice your arrival."

The blonde shinobi nodded an acknowledgement as he saw the mess on Raido's face. He put his hands together and created three Kage Bunshin, sending them silent instructions as he turned to face the red haired puppet master. Hiding behind his long defensive puppet, Sasori let out a sigh as he recognised the newest arrival. Reaching back into his cloak, he pulled out a long black scroll, placing a finger up to unravel it. He stopped himself as felt a firm grip on his hand, looking up at his attacker with an angry look.

"Enough, Sasori" came a deep voice.

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><p>Minato felt a rush as his clone's knowledge hit him, taking out one of his specialised kunai from his pocket as he learnt that Hayate, Raido and Nagisa were all safely back with the medical corps in Konoha. The ugly-looking defensive puppet disappeared into grey smoke, and the Hokage could see two figures standing side by side. Minato was flanked by the remnants of Kakashi's unit, telling Kakashi that he would explain later why the army hadn't come to reinforce his unit. Kakashi, Mikoto and Jito were all attempting to recover their chakra on the Hokage's right, while Yugao and Genma were preparing themselves, annoyed that they couldn't accompany their companions. The smoke began to clear, revealing Sasori's companion to the surprised Konoha faces.<p>

"I didn't expect to see you here" said Minato, putting away his kunai as he recognised the figure.

The tall black haired figure kept a grim look as he saw the littered Suna bodies on the battlefield.

"Quite a victory for you, Namikaze-san. Or should I call you, Hokage-sama?" he said, his blue and white hat keeping the sun out of his eyes.

Minato gave a short laugh, "Not for a little while, Kazekage-sama."

The leader of the Sand village removed his hat and passed it to an angry Sasori, giving him instructions to fall back. The puppet master went to protest until he saw the harsh look in his commander's eyes. He gave a scoff and turned around in a huff, walking away from the Konoha shinobi as they noticed a large collection of shapes approaching them behind the Suna leader. The Kazekage regarded Minato with tired eyes, weary of the constant death his shinobi were forced to experience.

Kakashi heard a sound behind him, turning around as dozens of Konoha shinobi joined their Hokage. The Kazekage glared at the leaf shinobi while his own forces made their way towards him.

"I would have thought Orochimaru would have become the Fourth Hokage. He was always the ambitious one."

Minato didn't respond, but the Kazekage could tell that something had happened between the two Konoha shinobi. The Suna intelligence network wasn't as good as the other villages, but he had still wanted to confirm Orochimaru's departure from Konoha. After a few minutes of an awkward stand-off, both forces numbering in the hundreds regarded each other with barely contained hatred.

"Neither of us wishes for another battle, Kazekage-sama" said Minato, knowing that while the Konoha army outnumbered their enemies, it would be a bloody battle, one that hasn't been seen since the beginning of the war.

The dark-haired Kazekage stared at his fellow Kage, understanding where Minato was coming from.

"Agreed. Suna did not wish to participate in this war to begin with. But…" He indicated around the battlefield with a robed hand, at the shinobi Kakashi's unit had slaughtered. "…this cannot go unanswered. What kind of Kage could I claim to be, if I cannot avenge my own men?"

Minato's face showed his sadness at the senseless violence, knowing that while Kakashi was acting under his orders he did not like what had happened.

"Yet should we fight, more will die. That doesn't help either side."

"This bloodshed cannot just be ignored, Namikaze-san."

The blonde Hokage considered the Kazekage's point for a moment, before turning around to his forces. He gave an obvious signal to his forces, making sure that the Kazekage could see. The Konoha shinobi gave their new Hokage questioning looks, but obeyed his command. The army moved backwards, leaving a considerable distance between themselves and the Suna force.

Minato indicated for several of his shinobi to stay, including Kakashi and Mikoto, who both took a place behind him. The Kazekage gave Minato a questioning look, suspicious of why the Hokage would expose himself to a swift Suna counterattack. The blonde leader stood with his five subordinates, giving them strict instructions not to provoke the Suna shinobi.

"What is your ploy, Namikaze-san?" asked the Kazekage, his forces having never fought with the Yellow Flash before, so he had little idea of what Minato could be planning.

The Hokage gave a signal for his supporting shinobi to fall back a short distance, enough that they could still support him but far enough to not impede him.

"Neither of our villages can afford another battle, Kazekage-sama. We can settle our differences here and now."

The Kazekage cocked his head with interest, curious as to where the Hokage was going with this.

"You would settle a war with a single fight?"

"Yes, I would. What better way to settle a dispute then a battle between fellow Kage?"

The Kazekage took a few minutes to discuss the proposition with several important-looking Suna Jounin.

Kakashi stepped up next to his teacher, "Are you sure about this, Sensei? The Kazekage is renowned as an immensely powerful shinobi."

Minato gave his student a slow smile and a pat on the head, watching as the Kazekage ceased his discussions and made his way back towards the Hokage.

"This is the only way to resolve the conflict with as few deaths as possible. Now stand back, and we will see whether this pays off or not."

The Kazekage stood several feet away from the Hokage, none of his advisors joining him as he regarded the Hokage.

"Your offer is acceptable. No matter the result, our forces will retreat back to our village."

Minato smiled and nodded, "As will ours."

The Hokage indicated for his own subordinates to move away, giving the two Kage space to fight. Kakashi swallowed another soldier pill and opened his Sharingan again. This was one fight that he needed to keep his eye on. Minato clenched his fists as the Kazekage placed his arms out to the sides. The Hokage knew a fair amount about the Kazekage's techniques, and had the advantage of the Kazekage not knowing many of his techniques beyond his signature ability. He removed one of his specialised kunai from his projectile pocket and ran chakra to his feet. The Kazekage shifted into a defensive stance as Minato sped towards him.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

This war may take a few chapters, I won't lie. Initially I was just going to get Kakashi the Mangekyou and go from there, but I'm having way too much fun writing this. So bear with me. There will be more Minato fighting, and even some of Kushina in battle.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Clannad. Easily one of my favourite anime. Emotional, funny, beautiful music and fascinating characters. There are some of the most beautiful and crushing scenes I've ever seen in an anime. If you aren't good with emotional anime then perhaps it isn't for you. But this is the kind of anime you don't forget.


	11. Bonus Chapter  A Night to Forget

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – A Night to Forget

**A/N**: This is a bit of a fun chapter, in thanks of everyone who is reading my story. You guys are awesome; I never thought I'd get 100 reviews. Your reviews have given me a lot of insight and I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more drinking.

* * *

><p>***Pause in MEGA-Flashback***<p>

Naruto let off a yawn and stretched out his legs underneath the large table that took up most of the room.

"How much longer will this take?" he asked, bored out of his mind while they sat around doing nothing.

Taking a bite of a piece of bread on the table, Shikamaru leant with his back on the wall.

"Shizune-sensei said that it could be months."

"Months? I don't think I can last months!"

Taking a seat down next to him, Hinata smiled as Naruto gestured wildly while in conversation with Shikamaru. She watched the others smile in amusement at the yellow-haired teenager, though many of them found themselves agreeing with his statement. It had been a month since they had discovered Kakashi and Itachi frozen in place, neither of them moving an inch when prompted. They had gone to move them, but Shizune had warned them that they might injure them if they interrupted the technique. The medic appeared to be as frustrated with the situation as the Genin, but knew that they would simply have to wait it out.

"Who's on shift?" asked Sakura, trying to look around the room to see who was missing.

"It's Shino and Neji" replied Sasuke, having taken his brother's advice and tried to talk more with his fellow shinobi.

The rest of the group was relaxing, they were forced to stay at the small village nearby their original mountain position, so that they could still monitor the two Jounin's conditions, but the group had gotten sick of living in the wilderness for weeks on end. Since his full recovery, Naruto had been training like a madman, the group commenting that he was nearing Lee's level of obsession with his training.

Naruto had told Hinata, in private, that without the Kyuubi he felt scared that he wouldn't be able to continue being a proper shinobi, as Itachi had warned that it could have been one of the side-effects of having the tailed beast removed. The young Hyuuga only needed to remind Naruto of his fight with Hidan, as well as his fight with Lee (he had tried to hide it from her, but one look with those big white eyes and he was akin to liquid paste). With an awkward laugh, Naruto conceded her point and began training in earnest. As before they had trained together, with many of the group getting caught up in their enthusiasm.

"Anyone want to do anything tonight? I'm so bored…"

"Naruto-kun, you should be patient. I'm sure Kakashi and Itachi-sensei won't be too much longer."

"I'm not a patient shinobi, Hina-chan."

Across the table, Sakura gave a laugh, remembering her previous missions with Naruto.

"You are just annoyed that there are no ramen shops in this town."

Naruto slammed a fist into the table dramatically, "Not one! We are staying in perpetual hell!"

There was a long silence as the room of Genin stared at him; everybody except for Hinata was amazed at Naruto's appropriate choice of words. Naruto stared at the strange faces, taking a few moments before understanding why they were staring at him.

"Hey, it made sense to me."

Besides him Ino stared at his face, "Its not that…it's just that we didn't expect something like that from you."

"Hey, that's not fair. I read that book you guys got me about different ways of learning."

Next to him Hinata patted him supportively, having learnt while spending time with him that Naruto learnt things quickly, he just had to be shown a different way. Sasuke watched Naruto argue his point to Ino, fascinated at how the normally idiotic blonde was able to hold his own, almost as if he was as educated as the rest of them.

_Though if memory serves, he did spend most classes standing outside in the halls for no reason. _

The door to the room flew open, Kiba walking in with a yapping Akamaru at his side. He was carrying a large tray covered with a towel, and had a suspiciously large grin on his face. He stood at the front of the room for several moments, waiting for one of them to break. Being the mountain of patience that he was, Naruto's curiosity finally overcoming him.

"Okay, what's on the tray?"

Kiba grinned widely, the group noticing that his canines were getting longer and that his hair was getting even wilder. Though initially annoyed by his unintentional transformation, he had begun to embrace some of the more animalistic traits that his clan had developed, though he still needed help to brush his tail. The Inuzuka walked over and placed the tray on the table, as the group stared at it with fascination.

Lee stood up from the table, wanting to stay and spend time with his teammates but it was time for his shift to watch the two Jounin. He walked out of the room as Naruto kept pestering Kiba to tell him what he had brought. The taijutsu user nodded to Shino as he passed him in the hallway, pointing to where the rest of the group was before making his way to join Neji at the mountain pass. Kiba removed the cloth to reveal a tray full of bottles and glasses.

"Kiba…is that…" asked Naruto, trying to read the characters on the sides of the bottles.

"How did you get those?" asked an intrigued Sakura.

Kiba sat down and let the growing Akamaru sit on a pillow next to him.

"Turns out that Henge no Jutsu is useful beyond just fighting."

"But you suck at human transformations, everyone knows that" said Naruto, already reaching out and grabbing a bottle of sake and two glasses, passing one to Hinata next to him.

The Hyuuga was initially reluctant, but as she saw that Naruto wasn't going to pressure her into it she felt compelled to let him pour her a glass.

"Kiba is proficient at Henge no Jutsu. But only into a transformation of his mother."

Kiba jumped as he saw that Shino had taken a seat next to him and poured himself a glass. The wild shinobi thought he was finally getting used to the Aburame doing that, but he was far too quiet for Kiba's taste. The group laughed as Kiba yelled at his teammate, embarrassed that Shino's statement was true. Sakura looked at the bottle passed to her, looking at the warm sake inside before sniffing it suspiciously.

"Should we be doing this? We are only fourteen."

The group waited until everyone had a drink in front of them before considering Sakura's statement. Sasuke stared at the glass that had been put in front of him, wondering what his brother would think about them drinking alcohol.

_He'd probably just give me that look of his, and then look the other way. _

"Who cares about that stuff? You only live once right?" said Kiba, barking out a laugh at Ino's face as she smelled the sake.

The whole group winced at the taste, but all finished their drinks fairly quickly, so as to save face in front of the others. Many of the clan heirs had already had sake in the past, mainly at clan meetings where it was expected of them. Naruto licked his lips at the hot drink, feeling a slight burning sensation as the alcohol went down his throat. Kiba gagged at the taste, while Sasuke felt himself almost retching at the taste. He never liked hot drinks, and rarely drank tea unless he was required to do so.

Shikamaru took a slight breath as he pounded down the rest of the small cup, feeling sombre as he remembered the times he would face off against his father in shogi matches whilst drinking sake. His father had always laughed in his deep voice at the young teenager struggling to drink the alcohol. As she took a sip, Hinata found the taste of the sake to be a rather odd vintage. Having been brought up with large amounts of drinking in the Hyuuga household, Hinata was content to pour herself another glass. Not to be outdone by the quiet pale girl, Naruto took the bottle after her and poured himself another glassful.

"Hey, look at Chouji" laughed Kiba, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Sasuke pointed out to Kiba that he had spilt the majority of his drink, to the embarrassment of the Inuzuka heir as he was forced to take another drink. At the end of the table, the large heir to the Akimichi clan had his face buried in the cloth on top of the table, snoring lightly with the empty glass in his hand. Ino reached over and poked him with a finger, Chouji not even registering the action as he muttered in his sleep.

"Who'd of thought that Chouji was such a light weight?" said Shino, who was reaching up and removing his jacket, despite the coldness of the night. The group stared at the insect user, taken back by his sudden change in demeanour as he threw back another glass of sake. The normally quiet shinobi seemed to be trying to laugh at some unspoken joke, but found that he wasn't sure how to laugh so he kept trying to find the right way to do it. While Shino had been acting uncharacteristically since the battles with the Akatsuki, this was unique even for him. Hinata went to get up from the table and help the insect user, but after he slugged down another glass the Aburame heir shot up from the table and walked out with his hands in his pockets. Hinata stood up slowly, but Naruto reached up and put a hand on her arm, shaking his head slightly.

"But…" she said, but Naruto kept his grip tight.

"Let him go, Hinata" said Shikamaru, taking another sip and letting the warm liquid run down his throat.

She looked at the Nara heir with a sad smile, nodding as she understood why she had to let Shino go.

"I…I always wanted to be a good ninja…"

Ino laughed and slapped her depressed friend on the back.

"You always wanted to get into Sasuke's pants you mean."

Sakura yelped out and swung a hand towards Ino, while the others ignored the battling girls. Naruto threw back another drink and stood up with uneasy legs.

He flicked his wrists and turned to Sakura, "You mean…these pants?"

Both girls stared as Naruto waved the white shorts in their faces; while across the table a slightly tipsy Sasuke looked down to find himself staring at his bare legs.

"NARUTO!"

Sasuke immediately stood up and went to jump across the table at the grinning blonde ninja, but Naruto was one step ahead of the Uchiha survivor. He created a clone and handed it the shorts before letting it flee out of the room. In such a rage at his embarrassment, Sasuke flew after the blonde clone, his hands sparkling with lightning. The girls stared at the empty space as they heard loud curses and crashes outside in the night. Naruto laughed loudly and sat back down, taking another glassful of sake with a wide smile.

"That was cruel, Naruto" said Sakura, thankful that she wasn't the Sasuke fan that she once was; otherwise she might not have survived such an event.

"He'll kill you once he dispenses of the clone and gets his shorts back" commented Shikamaru.

Naruto grinned and reached under the table, taking a moment before once again producing the dirt-covered white shorts of Uchiha Sasuke. The group stared at it for a moment before all breaking out into laughter. Kiba threw his head back as he grimaced at the taste of his drink.

"Did…anyone notice Sasuke's legs?"

"You spend lots of time looking at Sasuke's legs?" asked Naruto.

"Shut your mouth, Naruto!"

With a growing blush on her face from the alcohol, Sakura sighed then stifled a short laugh.

"I think I get what you mean, Kiba."

Naruto considered what they were talking about as he balked at the idea of recalling the image of Sasuke's legs. He gasped as he figured it out, to the amusement of Hinata next to him.

"Do…does Sasuke shave his legs?"

Ino shifted across the table and sat down next to a wavering Shikamaru, covering herself with a blanket to combat the slowly chilling night.

"I've always wanted to know something, Shikamaru."

The young genius was suspicious of the Yamanaka heir, but gave her a gesture to continue. Ino shook her head and took a long breath before collecting herself and staring at her teammate inches away from his face.

"What was the deal between you and that girl from the Chuunin Exams?"

Shikamaru, for all his intelligence, was not expecting that question. Were he in his normal condition, he would have just told her it was too troublesome to talk about and she would likely leave him be after a few hours of nagging. However after four glasses of sake, Shikamaru felt odd motivation in the face of the blonde kunoichi.

"You mean…Temari?"

"Ooo, she has a name…"

Shikamaru frowned at the stupid statement, "Of course she has a…just forget it."

"No, no, no…"

She shifted backwards and put her hands together.

"Please, Shikamaru…I'll be nice."

The Nara heir eyed her suspiciously, knowing that she was likely just waiting for him to say something juicy. He poured himself another drink and sighed.

"Fine, fine. What do you want to know?"

Ino threw back her drink and brushed her long blonde hair out of her face.

"Did you…you know…"

She made a crude motion with her hands, causing Naruto and Kiba to burst out laughing while Hinata felt herself blush, and not because of the alcohol. Shikamaru took a moment to give Ino his best seriously-what-the-hell-are-you-doing look, before being forced to reach up and grab her hands as her actions became more and more descriptive.

"Ino, we were fourteen. What do you think?"

She smiled as her head wobbled slightly in the air, "I saw how she looked at you after the match. I want all the details."

Shikamaru let go of her hands, absentmindedly wishing he had taken up his old teacher's smoking habit for times like this.

"She…approached me a few days before we left Suna. We had…words…and left it at that."

Ino scoffed, "That's pretty boring. Trust you to not take action."

Across from them, Naruto took another swig of his drink, but noticed an odd look in Shikamaru's eyes as Ino went back to her place besides Sakura. He turned to say something to Hinata, but the look in her white eyes told him that she had noticed as well.

"Seems kind of sad, doesn't it?" he whispered to her.

She put a hand over one of his on the table, remarking at how warm Naruto's hand was even though he had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, having noticed without a word that she had been shivering.

"He probably doesn't want to be reminded of it."

Naruto smiled and put his fingers through hers, causing the young girl to smile as she watched the blonde take another drink. After finishing his drink Naruto put down his empty glass and watched as Shikamaru picked himself up from the table and slowly wobbled out of the room, his conversation with Ino having sobered his mood. He checked to see how Chouji was doing, satisfied that the large shinobi was snoring lightly, unaware of anything going around him. Shikamaru's ears perked up as a large explosion caused the whole building to shudder.

"GIVE ME BACK MY PANTS" came a loud voice, causing Shikamaru to roll his eyes.

"I'd better go make sure Sasuke doesn't destroy the town."

The group waved him out, Kiba making an innocuous comment on how they were losing members quickly. He reached for the next bottle, not wanting to be outdone by the only male left in the room, especially one who was holding the hand of his teammate. Sakura whispered something to Ino whilst trying to act like she wasn't looking at Hinata and Naruto. The blonde kunoichi laughed and slapped the table as if Sakura had told her some hilarious tale, but none of the others paid her heed.

Kiba felt himself drifting off to sleep, having slowly become accustomed to the taste of the alcohol, but the sounds of Akamaru sleeping beside him wasn't doing him any help. He took a glance at the four remaining shinobi, noticing that Hinata was being much more open around Naruto then she normally would.

_I…should stay around to make sure he doesn't do anything to her…_

He noticed that while Hinata and Naruto had both drunk the same amount as the rest of the group, neither of them were showing any indicators of being drunk. Kiba knew that Naruto would likely not be as affected as the others, considering his inexhaustible stamina, but to see Hinata pounding them down as easily as him was unsettling. Kiba was quite suspicious of this, so much so that he felt the urge to see if there was something different about the young Hyuuga girl.

It took him more concentration to summon a little bit of chakra to his nose, immediately regretting it as he smelt a vile smell from a block over. His mind was a bit hazy, but he drew the strength to concentrate his sensing abilities towards his female companion. As Hinata finished off a glass, Kiba could tell that she was leaking out little portions of chakra as the alcohol entered her system.

_That's…quite clever. She can act however she pleases, and blame the alcohol. _

He waited a while before decided that it was clear that Hinata knew what she was doing, figuring that she had probably learnt the technique from her family at some point before the destruction of Konoha. Kiba reached down and slowly wrapped up Akamaru in his arms, noticing how heavy the white dog had become. The others had made note of how quickly the ninja dog had grown over the past few months, but Kiba couldn't see it. Though he had to note that Akamaru was too big to sit on his head anymore.

"You going?" asked Naruto, his eyes pleading with Kiba not to leave him with the girls.

"Kiba-kun has a shift in the morning, Naruto-kun" said Hinata.

Naruto made no further comment, but nodded in blind agreement as Kiba bid the group farewell. As he was leaving, Kiba could feel the slight bits of chakra coming Hinata fade away. He gave her a quick look that he knew she saw, taking comfort in the confident look she gave back to him. Naruto was completely ignorant of the exchange, happily speaking with Sakura and Ino.

"Say Sakura, you aren't interested in Sasuke anymore, right?"

Ino was living up to her reputation, having been disappointed by her discussion with Shikamaru. Sakura wasn't particularly surprised by the question; she had been surprised that Ino had held it off for so long. She had made no secret of her lack of romantic interest in Sasuke since their travels in Suna, the mere fact that she didn't leap at everything he said was evidence enough. Ino, on the other hand, had been quiet on the Sasuke front.

"I'm not. Why?"

Ino put her face inches away from the pink haired, staring into her green eyes intensely, a difficult task when her vision was quite blurry.

"What about Lee?" she asked bluntly.

Sakura's eyes widened at the question, and for the first time in weeks, she found herself unable to answer.

Naruto leant over and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, "That's a good question, Ino. You guys have been together quite a lot recently."

Sakura shoved off Naruto arm before laughing awkwardly and taking a drink from her glass. Ino continued to stare at her, and after a few minutes it was clear that Sakura had no interest in answering the question. The blonde sighed in disappointment, knowing that she wasn't going to get anything out of her.

"What about you Ino?" asked Naruto, out of the blue.

Ino found herself confused by his question, cocking her head curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Popping her head out from Naruto's side, Hinata smiled sweetly, but her eyes spoke of something more cunning then Ino would have thought her capable.

"I think he's talking about Kiba-kun, Ino-san."

The Yamanaka heir frowned at the question, but still didn't understand what they were talking about. Sakura gasped as she heard Hinata's statement, pointing an accusing finger at Ino's face.

"Hey, yeah! You're always touching that tail of his. Why don't you go kiss him?"

To her credit, Ino didn't crack under the pressure of her questions being fired back at her. She simply stood up, said her goodbyes and left the group in a huff.

"Do you think she's gone to find Kiba?" asked Naruto, completely oblivious to how Ino may have actually been feeling.

Hinata giggled beside him and passed him a glass of sake.

"I doubt it, Naruto-kun. She's probably just gone to bed."

Naruto shrugged and accepted the drink, relishing the hot taste. Sakura sighed and poured herself another glass, feeling abandoned by her friends.

_I need to meet new people…_

Sakura lasted two more rounds before she pulled a blanket over herself and fell asleep onto the table. Hinata laughed at a joke that Naruto told, feeling her face run red as she let the alcohol run through her system. She couldn't tell whether Naruto was being influenced by the alcohol, but as she saw his large smile she didn't care. More and more throughout the night she had been creeping closer to him, her willingness to wait for Naruto's response to her affections wearing thin of late. Hinata smiled sweetly as she gave in to her emotions, leaning her head into Naruto's shoulder.

To his credit, Naruto didn't balk at the touch, merely smiling and leaning his own head on top of hers. They sat with their hands together for a long time, neither needing to say anything. Naruto felt no interest in drinking more alcohol, and Hinata knew that she had drunken more then she should have at that point. Naruto could feel himself drifting off to sleep, but found that he wanted to stay awake.

"Hey, Hinata…"

The young Hyuuga shivered under Naruto's jacket, her hands clutched around his arm as she nuzzled into him.

"Wha…is…Narut…kun?" she muttered, also struggling to stay awake, though she was also struggling with her own desires.

Naruto went to speak his mind, but as his hand felt her dark hair he couldn't fathom what he wanted to say. After a few moments he gave up on the matter, simply keeping a hand in her hair. Hinata couldn't keep a grin off her face, and felt herself getting warmer as his hand moved from on top of her head to the back of her neck.

_Is he making a move? Oh my…wait…what is this feeling…_

She shifted her head slightly, Naruto's hand placed at the base of her neck beneath her hair. She could just make out his face, noticing that he had a deep blush on his face and kept taking sideways glances at her smiling face.

_Naruto-kun…_

She ran her eyes across his face, finding herself oddly drawn to his whisker-like scar across his cheeks, before something clicked in her mind as she saw the warm smile on his face. All her previous nervousness in the situation had vanished from her mind, and the normally proper Hyuuga kunoichi felt some primal instinct overtake her. She reached up behind her head and put a hand into Naruto's before getting up slightly and turning her body towards him. She could tell that Naruto was confused by what she was trying to do, but Hinata didn't give him a chance to speak.

In one quick movement she threw her leg over his so that she was sitting on top of him and planted her mouth onto his, throwing her free hand around his neck as the force of her kiss threw them both flat to the floor. If Naruto was surprised by the action, he made no effort to conceal it, but as he felt her strangely warm lips on his he felt no inclination to stop her. His mind blanked and all he could think about was the young Hyuuga girl that he was pretty sure he knew how he felt about now. He put his free hand onto her back, and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity.

Hinata eventually felt the primal need to breathe, so she broke off the kiss, staring at Naruto's eyes through her white orbs. Naruto stared back at her, and neither of them needed to say anything. Hinata wanted to kiss him again, but she barely made out a sound outside of the room, causing her to remember what she was doing. She quickly removed herself from his lap and put a finger to her mouth to indicate for him not to say anything, Naruto quickly nodded in acknowledgement as Hinata laid her head onto his chest and closing her eyes.

Naruto was thoroughly confused by the young girls actions, but reached down and pecked her lightly on the cheek before laying his head back. That final kiss was enough to send Hinata over the edge, causing her to faint into his lap which was conveniently comfortable enough to sleep on. Naruto smiled and put a caring hand onto her head before fatigue had begun to overtake him.

_It'll be interesting in the morning_ he thought as he drifted off.

"What on earth did we miss?"

Lee shrugged as he walked into the room, grimacing at the smell within the room with the four sleeping teenagers. Neji tensed as he saw the two Konoha shinobi sleeping together, Hinata head rising up and down with Naruto's chest with his jacket around her shoulders.

Lee knelt down next to them with a smile, "That's kind of cute, don't you think?"

"She's my cousin, Lee."

The taijutsu user stood up slowly and stood face to face with the Hyuuga branch member.

"You're actions to Hinata-san are always changing. I'm not the only one to have noticed, you know."

Neji stared at his black eyes, before sighing and stretching out his tired arms.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, noticing with no serious reaction that Naruto had his hands in Hinata's hair, and both of them had wide smiles as they slept peacefully.

Lee stepped back slightly before gesturing to Hinata's sleeping form.

"I want to know how you go from trying to kill the young girl, to being protective of her against Naruto-kun."

His teammate wasn't expecting the question, feeling under serious pressure as he saw the serious look in Lee's eyes. He looked over at Hinata, noticing that while Naruto had his hands in her hair, Hinata's small hands were holding onto Naruto's shirt tightly.

_She seems to be handling herself, in her own way. _

Neji sighed again, but for a different reason this time.

"You stopped me, in Suna. You stopped me from making a huge mistake. But…"

Lee stared at Neji's eyes, unsettled by the uncertainty in the genius' expression. He had worked with Neji for a long time, and even after Lee finally defeated him he had always been a stoic force in their group. Neji struggled to find the words to describe himself to Lee, but the green-clad shinobi put up his hands to stop him.

"I think I understand. You don't need to say anymore."

Neji felt a wave of relief as Lee dropped the issue, feeling like it would have been an appropriate time to smile, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

_Lee, do you really understand? I…need to protect her; I have no choice in the matter. It's not a clan matter, it's about me. I need to atone, and this is the only way to do so._

He looked over at the sleeping couple as Lee checked on Sakura, the bobbed-headed shinobi being quite respectful, but couldn't help but smile as Sakura was drooling slightly into her blanket. Lee wanted to wake up her so that she could prepare for the coming day, but found himself unable to bring himself to do so, she looked far too peaceful.

"What were they doing?" he asked, finally noticing a single bottle left on the table.

He picked it up tenderly, noticing that it was still full, unable to recognise it with a single sniff. He went to take a drink, but Neji shot out a hand and grabbed it before the liquid could pass his lips, breathing out a sigh of relief while Lee stood with his hands on his hips.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

Neji put the bottle back on the table before picking up another from the ground, showing the characters to Lee.

"Remember what you promised Guy-sensei?"

Lee's eyes widened as he read what the drink was, immediately thankful that Neji had stopped him.

"I…thank you, Neji. I don't think Guy-sensei would have approved."

Neji shook his head as he remembered the tragedy that had occurred the last time Lee had drunken alcohol. He and Guy had been able to restrain him after a horribly prolonged battle, and Guy had made Lee swear that he would never drink again unless it was under dire circumstances. Neji had fought with Lee many times before that event, but Lee had nearly killed him with little effort.

"We should find the others" said Neji, starting to gather his chakra to activate his Byakugan.

They had seen lots of damage to the other parts of the town's buildings, having seen the furious form of Uchiha Sasuke rampaging through the town, oddly without any clothes besides his underwear. They had paid little heed to him though, figuring he was sorting out his own issues.

* * *

><p>"Oh gods, my head…"<p>

They had gathered together for lunch the next day, though Chouji had offered to watch the Jounin for the group since he had the least to drink. Shizune had disapproved of the action and promised that they would regret it later. As many of the Genin had informed her, they were regretting it now. The group had laughed as Sasuke had stomped back into the guy's room with two rubbish bin lids covering his front and rear. He was covered in scratches, and glared down any comments about his situation with angry-looking Sharingan.

He eventually made his way back to the main room where he retrieved his white shorts with exhausted dispassion. Nobody but he and Naruto knew what he had been put through, and as much as the Uchiha hated to admit it, Naruto had gotten the best of him throughout the night, and they were only clones. He didn't make an issue out of it with the blonde shinobi, embarrassed that an Uchiha could be defeated so easily he swore to train three times harder to catch up to the Genin.

There was quite a sombre mood in the room as the Genin ate quickly, many of them having headaches that even their trained bodies were struggling to handle. Naruto grimaced and held his head as he passed a glass of water to Hinata next to him, the group noticing that they were sitting a bit too close to each other. The young girl accepted the drink with a pained smile, leaning over to whisper in his ear.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" she asked, her own memory in a haze.

Naruto shook his head then regretting it as pain shot straight through his head.

"Not…much…"

Hinata let her face fall as she figured that all the progress she had made in the night was for naught. Naruto, having learnt more about how to read people, noticed the change in her expression. He gave her a wide smile and slipped a hand into her hands. He leaned down until his mouth was right next to her ear so that only she could hear him.

"But I remember enough."

Hinata gasped as she realised what that meant, Naruto giving her the widest grin he could muster. He gave her hand a squeeze before turning back to the table, Hinata turning bright red as she tried her best not to faint under the knowledge. To her credit, she lasted longer than Naruto had expected. He caught her before she hit the table, picking her up gingerly in his arms as he stood up from the table.

"Is she okay?" asked Shizune, her expert eyes seeing nothing initially wrong with the young Hyuuga girl.

Naruto smiled and shook his head, this time much slower, and began to make his way towards the girls' room.

"She's just tired from last night. I'll take her back to her room."

Across from the table Sakura stood up, "I'll help you, Naruto. You shouldn't be going into our room anyway."

Naruto laughed awkwardly and let her lead him out of the room. Shizune watched the two walk out before turning her attention back to the group.

"Did something happen between those two?" she asked, having been curious about their relationship since learning about it.

The group exchanged glances, several of them having noticed the quiet shift in how the two of them interacted.

"I think its best to just leave it be" commented Shikamaru, taking a bite into the meal on the table.

Shizune thought about it for a moment before shrugging and turning to the meal.

***Resume MEGA-Flashback***

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Admittedly, this was highly amusing to write. And despite being a 'bonus' chapter, this should be considered as part of the story. I haven't had time to write a full chapter, so this was to tide you over until I can.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	12. Chapter 11 Histories

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 11 – Histories

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Sharingan would be used to copy techniques more than just using eye techniques.

* * *

><p>Even in war times, two Kage would never clash on the field of battle without there being a proper cause. While Minato hadn't been properly sworn in yet, he held the title of Hokage due to more than his military mind. His counterpart however was known as one of the strongest Kage in current times, his metallic iron sand technique driving many forces away from the Suna village.<p>

The Kazekage's robe wavered as he ducked under Minato's quick strike, moving faster than the Hokage thought he could as he drove a foot into his chest. Minato jumped back and grimaced, noticing a fine black dust surrounding the Kazekage's foot.

_That's his iron sand technique. I should keep my distance. _

The Suna leader put out his arms and black sand began to come out from within his robe, taking a mist-like formation around the Kazekage's body. Minato pulled out a second kunai and threw them both to each side of the battlefield, before putting his hands together into a handseal. The sand around the Kazekage hardened as he pointed a hand at Minato.

"Satetsu Shigure!" (Iron Sand Rain)

Minato's eyes widened, he cancelled his original technique and bit at his thumb. The black sand bullets screamed towards the young Hokage as he slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Ninpou Kuchiyose..."

A wide plume of smoke arose in front of him, the Kazekage cautiously watching as his attacks slammed into the Hokage's position. The smoke began to clear and the Kazekage swore as he saw what damage his attack had done. Minato stood up slowly and undid his handseal.

"...Hogoshatate" (Summoning Technique: Guardian Shield)

Standing in front of Minato was a wall of steel and wood, a row of large toads holding overlapping shields that protected the blonde shinobi from the attack. Minato allowed himself a breath of relief, until he saw tiny specks of black coming around and beneath his shield wall. He dismissed the wall and pictured a seal in his mind, teleporting to one of his kunai as a long iron spike barely missed hitting his side.

Taking advantage of the situation, Minato grabbed the kunai from the ground and sped towards the Kazekage. He drew back the kunai to strike at the Suna leader's throat, but found a thin wall of black sand preventing his attack. He flipped in the air and drove a fist into the wall, grimacing as he felt the iron sand was as hard as stone, and his knuckles bruising under the strength of the wall. He ducked and weaved underneath the sand's counterattack, large spikes and bullets striking at his body. Minato saw an opening and threw his kunai, the Kazekage diverting the strike with his sand so that it passed across his front.

Minato vanished again as the sand threatened to encircle him, teleporting to the thrown kunai. He grabbed it in the air and spun around, slashing directly at the Kazekage's nearby face. To his surprise, the Kazekage simply placed up a hand and took the kunai strike into his palm, staring at the Hokage face to face.

"You are fast, young Hokage" said the Kazekage, wrapping his fingers around the kunai.

With a flash, the kunai collapsed in on itself before turning into small specks of sand. Minato went to jump back from the Kazekage but found his legs stuck to the ground by grasping hands of iron sand.

"Not fast enough it would seem" said Minato with a smile.

The Kazekage frowned as he formed an iron sword in his hand, drawing it back to slit the Hokage's throat, wary of the fact that he had caught Minato so easily. The Hokage kept his smile as the blade swept at his neck, the blade piercing through his skin with ease. The Kazekage's eyes widened as he noticed a blonde speck in his peripheral vision.

"Boom" muttered Minato as he formed a handseal with his seal-covered kunai in his hands.

The Minato that had just been killed shone brightly, as the Kazekage quickly drew all his sand towards himself, but it was too late. The explosion threw back the leader of the Sand village, Minato quickly taking advantage of the situation by placing down a seal on the grass. He began to run to another part of the battlefield, dropping tiny pieces of sealed paper on the ground as he went past.

The Kazekage landed hard on the ground near the edge of the battlefield, a layer of iron sand keeping him from suffering the full brunt of the explosive clone, though he took his time getting back up from the ground. Minato finished his run and placed his kunai back in its original position, satisfied that his circle was complete. The Kazekage threw off his hat and cloak, and placed his hands together as the sand around him began to fluctuate. Minato watched him cautiously.

_Normal weapons won't work on him. He'll just dissolve them into sand and increase his attack range. _

He watched as the iron began to collect together, forming strange blocks and weapons as he Kazekage prepared his counterattack.

_Fighting at a distance won't work either; he has range and strength of arms over me. What a troublesome opponent. _

Two large squares of sand hovered above the Kazekage as a sword formed in each of his hands. He waved one of the swords at Minato and a block of iron sand shot at him faster then his previous attacks. Not wanting to reveal his seal placements, Minato flipped out of the way of the projectile and began to make an approach towards the Kazekage. He jumped out of the way of the second block, sensing that the first block was tracking him from behind, barely making it out of the way as more sand projectiles attacked him.

Minato put a palm to his side and began to form a spherical ball of pure chakra above it. The Kazekage frowned as he saw the attack; he knew that he couldn't manipulate chakra, unlike metal. He pulled one of the blocks back above his head as Minato ducked under one of his sword strikes.

"Rasengan!"

The ball of chakra slammed into the Kazekage's chest, which had been covered by a thin wall of iron sand. The wall broke apart easily under the attack, though Minato was struck by dozens of tiny iron projectiles as the Kazekage spun backwards. The Hokage jumped back, then realised his mistake as the other block of iron sand landed behind him, the Kazekage emerging from within the sand, a long spear appearing from the block into his hand. The spear lunged at Minato's back, piercing through his mesh armour just before he could use Hiraishin to teleport to his kunai. The Kazekage turned around and glared at the Hokage before putting his hands together in a strange handseal. The block of iron sand collapsed into a cloud of sand that hovered around him.

"Satetsu Futatsu no Gun" (Iron Sand: Army of Two)

The Hokage frowned as the iron sand collected together until they formed into two soldiers, ten feet tall a piece, with different armaments. One had a long spear and an axe, whilst the other had two large spiked shields and spiked armour.

"Okay, this is not good at all" said Minato.

He had heard of this technique before, from the war. Puppet masters were common in Suna, but the Kazekage's control over his large soldiers put them all to shame. The weapon soldier held its axe up high, Minato wondering what it was going to do as it was clearly out of range of him. He cursed himself as the soldier flung the giant axe at an astounding speed, the iron weapon taking him in the shoulder as he teleported away, causing him to land awkwardly on the ground.

The sand axe quickly dissipated and the resulting sand flew back to the soldier, reforming into the axe as both of them turned to Minato. The Hokage took a deep breath and placed both his hands out. He had only perfected this stage recently, but was thankful he had as the two balls of chakra began rotating wildly in his palms. He knew that attacking the soldiers was mainly pointless. As powerful as his technique was, the sand could just be reformed. The Kazekage had stayed near the middle of the battlefield, but as the weapon soldier turned to Minato the Hokage noticed a slight opening in their defences.

It took all of his concentration to keep the two techniques going, but using Hiraishin was as simple as breathing to the Namikaze shinobi. He waited until the weapon soldier began to move towards him before activating the seal on his chest. He teleported to a closer position and fuelled as much chakra as he could spare into his legs as he sped towards the Kazekage. The Suna leader was no fool; he brought both the soldier forms between Minato and himself, the shield one taking the forefront. Minato ducked under a spear thrust and threw his palms into each of the soldiers.

"Rasenrengan!" (Rasengan Barrage)

The iron sand was extremely dense and powerful, but the sheer power and rotation of the chakra attacks sent the soldiers into thousands of chunks. The Kazekage afforded himself a smile as he jumped back and activated his handseal, the iron sand already beginning to reform itself. Minato smiled as he pulled a scroll from a pocket, quickly rolling it out onto the ground and running through a fast set of handseals. He slammed both hands onto the plain parchment.

"Fuinjutsu: Kangokuraikou!" (Sealing Technique: Lightning Prison)

Minato vanished in a loud crack of lightning, and all his seals around the Kazekage in a wide circle activated with lightning at once, the sound was deafening as lightning strikes thundered down into the battlefield. The Kazekage looked around cautiously, his ears in agony, but he felt no pain or injury as the lightning passed harmlessly through him. A giant lightning strike hit the battlefield, and as quickly as it came the attack was over. Minato reappeared above the scroll and undid his handseal, quickly wrapping up the ink-covered text and placed it back into his pocket.

The Kazekage frowned and looked around, wondering what Minato had achieved with such a flashy attack. He put his hands together, but felt no response from his technique. For the first time, the Kazekage found his visage breaking as Minato glared at him with a chakra ball forming in his palm.

"Very clever, Hokage-sama."

The Kazekage put up his hands in a defensive position and waited for Minato's counter attack. The Hokage sped towards him, but before he struck, he cancelled the technique, pulling himself upright and regarded the Suna leader from a few feet away. The Kazekage frowned at Minato's drop in guard, not understanding why the Hokage hadn't pressed his advantage.

"You hesitate?" he asked cautiously, still holding his position.

Minato sighed and rubbed his shoulders sorely, "I think that should do it."

There was a dull silence for several moments, before the Kazekage, a man of solemn expression, broke out into giddy laughter. He broke his stance and stood up, as tall as his blonde counterpart. Minato smiled weakly at the Kazekage's display, hoping that his bluff would work.

"You never wished to fight to the death" observed the Kazekage.

Minato shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A display for the armies. To satisfy honour and settle debts. Besides, neither of us has played our trump cards yet."

The Kazekage frowned as he tried to work out how the young Hokage had figured out that he was holding back.

"And what is your trump card, Hokage-sama?"

Minato reached back and gestured to the figures in the background with a smile.

"My comrades. My people…" He thought about it for a moment with a slow smirk. "…but mostly my wife."

The Kazekage looked at him blankly, and then burst out laughing again.

Minato laughed with him, "I'm not kidding. She's damn scary."

"Oh I believe you. I've heard tales of the Kyuubi container, and few of them are about her sunny disposition. I would not have liked to have met her on the field of battle."

They both shared a laugh before Minato extended a hand to the leader of the Sand village. The Kazekage took it with a smile, both gripping their compatriots hand hard as they conceded the duel finished.

"We shall have peace, Hokage-sama."

"I'm glad to hear that, Kazekage-sama. Let no man say we did not fight with honour."

They released each other's hands and stepped back from each other.

"My army shall retreat back to Suna."

"And mine to Konoha, as promised."

"For Suna, the war is over. We shall keep our borders safe, but that is as far as we will go."

Minato nodded in agreement, thankful that there didn't need to be anymore fighting. The Kazekage turned to depart, but his eyebrows rose as he thought of something and turned back to the heavily breathing Hokage, the long battle having taken its toll on both of them.

"Might I have my sand back, Hokage-sama?"

Minato laughed again and threw the scroll to the Kazekage with a smile. He caught it and looked at the young Konoha leader with respect. In his eyes there weren't many shinobi who could have pressed him so, but the Namikaze shinobi had earned his admiration.

"In more peaceful times, we should converse further."

Minato smiled and nodded in agreement before giving the Kazekage a respectful bow and turned away from the battlefield.

* * *

><p>The Konoha shinobi ran to Minato's aid immediately once they he gave the signal that the fight was over. Kakashi and Mikoto kept an eye on the Suna shinobi doing the same with the Kazekage, as a Jounin let Minato lean his arm around his shoulder. Neither Kage had many visible injuries, though it was clear to Kakashi that neither had much chakra left at all, and their clothes had been torn to shreds.<p>

"Give the order to retreat" said Minato through laboured breaths.

Kakashi had never seen his teacher so exhausted, though he was suspicious of the smile on Minato's face. Shikaku nodded in compliance to the order and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Minato grimaced as he stepped towards the Konoha forces; another Jounin moving quickly to take the new Hokage's other arm.

"We should get you back to the medical corps, Sensei" said Kakashi, reaching up and covering his Sharingan with his forehead protector.

He had tried to analyse the battle with the doujutsu, and he had learnt much of his teacher's fighting style, since he was able to copy it with the Uchiha doujutsu. But he knew that none of the Kazekage's techniques would be useable since they were because of his bloodline limit. An ANBU accompanying them nodded in agreement, the fox mask hiding its identity, though most of the forces knew who they were.

"This is not a defensible position, Hokage-sama."

"I'm not coroneted yet, please don't call me that."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

A puff of smoke appeared in front of the shinobi as Shikaku appeared, joined by a shinobi with a long coat and black sunglasses and, to Kakashi's surprise, Uchiha Fugaku. The clan head stared at the group before his eyes rested on the exhausted kunoichi accompanying the young Hokage. Mikoto sighed as she saw the stern look in his eyes, knowing that she would get an earful when the others weren't around. Kakashi noticed the silent exchanged between the two Uchiha, noticing that despite her exhaustion, Mikoto had her Sharingan activated in response to Fugaku's red eyes.

"The army is in full retreat, Hokage-sama" said Shikaku, his face still stuck in its normal lazy expression.

The other shinobi accompanying him reached into his coat and pulled out an ordinary looking scroll, handing it Minato with care.

"The scout report?" asked Minato as he used a free hand to place the scroll into his pocket.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. The Aburame clan always does their duty."

The Hokage smiled, "No-one ever questioned that, Shibi-san."

The young Aburame clan head simply nodded an acknowledgement before disappearing into a cloud of insects, which flew away towards the retreating Konoha forces. The two Uchiha were still staring at each other, a common observer would have thought there was tension between them, but the seasoned shinobi knew there was something different that passed between the married couple.

"There is a clan meeting" said Fugaku.

Mikoto matched his stare, Kakashi noticing her Sharingan flickering to that odd pinwheel shape from before. Her arms were tense underneath her Uchiha clothes, and the others of the groups were quiet throughout the exchange.

"I am still on the battlefield, Fugaku" she replied, motioning for the two Jounin to assist Minato back to the Konoha lines.

Even in his exhausted state, Minato was hesitant to interfere in the dispute, though to his relief he didn't have to. Fugaku went to argue his point, however Kakashi stood in front of Mikoto, his Sharingan revealed once more.

"Fugaku, we are currently on the battlefield."

The clan head turned his gaze towards the short Jounin, Kakashi suddenly wishing he had the chakra for another Raikiri as he saw the pure hate in the Uchiha's eyes.

"This does not concern you" he said, moving out of the way of the Jounin leading the Hokage away from them.

Kakashi held his position as the Nara clan head followed the Hokage. Mikoto went to speak, but Kakashi put up a hand to stop her.

"With respect, Uchiha-san, you have no authority here. As Mikoto's commander, you require my authority to release her from her duties."

He stood a moment to stare directly into Fugaku's eyes.

"And I have no intention of doing so."

Fugaku glared at Kakashi, the silver-haired Jounin noticing a rise in the clan head's chakra levels. Mikoto placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder for him to stop, but Kakashi shrugged it off, knowing that he had to stand up to the clan head, otherwise Fugaku would walk over him.

"Uchiha Fugaku, if you wish to appeal Uchiha Mikoto's appointment under my command, you may do so. However, until such a time, if you threaten the integrity of my unit I will take you out myself."

It was a huge bluff, one that Mikoto knew that her husband would not fall for.

"Enough, Kakashi. I have duties to the clan beyond my role as a shinobi."

"But…"

Fugaku raised a hand for both of them to be quiet, before placing it back into his cloak. He deactivated his Sharingan before looking at his wife with his regular displeased look.

"I meant it in that her son requires her attention. Itachi is young, and his mother is needed."

Kakashi frowned, he didn't believe a word that the clan head spoke, but Mikoto smiled at the mention of her son and deactivated her Sharingan.

"It is fine, Kakashi. We have to reconvene at the village anyway."

The young Jounin wasn't happy, but knew that if her son required her, that took priority over his pissing match with Fugaku. He let her go, giving Fugaku a cold look as the Uchiha accompanied his second-in-command.

_It'll be a long trip back. _

He jumped as a shinobi faded into his view, the white-armoured shinobi giving Kakashi a rare smile. The Jounin took a breath of relief and put away his teacher's kunai he had readied.

"You enjoy doing that, don't you Jito?"

The Senju shinobi gave a short laugh as he began to walk back with his commander.

"Every chance I get, commander."

* * *

><p>Minato waved off the Jounin accompanying him as he entered his tent near the back of the forest. The ANBU warrior opened the flap for him and nodded in acknowledgement as the Hokage smiled at the fox masked shinobi. Minato grimaced as he removed his shredded coat and sat on a cushioned stool.<p>

"You can take off the mask now."

The ANBU reached up a gloved hand and removed the animal mask. The Hokage grinned as he was greeting by the smiling face of his red-headed wife. Kushina reached up and undid her hair tie, letting her flush red hair fall past her hips.

"Was the fox mask necessary?" asked Minato as he began to take off his shirt, Kushina tried to hide a gasp as she saw all the bruises on Minato's body.

She moved to stand behind him and removed her gloves before placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Well it's the best way to keep an eye on you."

Minato sighed as she began to massage the muscles in his shoulders, trying to not grimace as she put too much strength into it.

"Oh suck it up" she said, laughing as Minato tried to squirm away from her.

"I'm hurt!" he complained.

Kushina sighed and let her grip lesson, but still gave him grief about it.

"What will we do now?" she asked as she helped him to his bed.

He had protested that he had lots of work to do, but she had just looked at him through her blue eyes and reminded him why he had never won an argument with her in the past.

"Do you need anything?" she asked while placing a blanket over the blonde, slightly embarrassed, Hokage.

"Tell Shikaku to take the army just north of…Konoha…and tell…Kakashi…to…"

He didn't finish his sentence, drifting off to sleep as Kushina smiled warmly at the sleeping leader of the village, stroking his blonde hair whilst singing a song softly.

_A bright sky comes abound_

_The sun shines ahead_

_We come this day to start anew_

_Beginnings never end_

_The fog clears and shadows flee_

_At the sound of our call_

_We come this day to set things right_

_And make safe our home_

"You can come in" she said as she finished the song, smiling as an embarrassed Kakashi walked into the tent, trying his best to not smile at the amusing scene of the Hokage getting tucked into his bed.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion" he said as he motioned that he should probably come back later.

Kushina laughed lightly and indicated for him to follow her out of the tent.

"Our forces are in full retreat" said Kakashi, showing her how the Konoha forces were taking apart the defences they had erected.

Kushina laughed again as some of the shinobi bowed to her respectively, telling them that she wasn't anyone special.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked as Kakashi showed her out of the forest.

Kakashi smiled and waved a greeting Genma and Yugao, who were trying to do their jobs as quickly as possible so they could rush back to the village.

He turned to Kushina, "You are the wife of the Hokage. You are also a Jounin, and the container to the Kyuubi. But most of all, you are really scary."

"And that means you need to tell me?"

"Just covering my bases, Namikaze-sama."

The young Jounin had one of the fastest reaction times in Konoha, with even Minato only a slight step above him. He stood no chance as Kushina slammed her fist into his head, the silver-haired shinobi's face hitting the ground with astounding force. Kushina's face broke out into a smile as she heard Kakashi coughed sorely next to a tree. The log he had replaced himself with had been obliterated, Kakashi thankful that he had recovered enough chakra to do a substitution technique.

"You are getting better" commented Kushina as she turned around.

"But don't call me that. I'm just Kushina."

* * *

><p>"I know I say this a lot, but your wife is scary, Sensei."<p>

Minato laughed, and then grimaced at the bandages around his waist. He had gotten two hours of sleep before the group had to set out, Kakashi remarking at how much Kushina had healed in that time. She had run ahead of them, to 'set things up' in her words.

"She means well. But enough about Kushina, I want you to show it to me."

Kakashi gave his teacher a confused frown, "It, Sensei? I don't understand."

They had been walking for several hours before Kakashi had gotten a chance to speak to his teacher, a man he had known for years, yet there were always things about Minato that had confused Kakashi. His ability to say many things with few words was one of those.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Kakashi. I let you observe the battle for a reason."

Kakashi had to think about it, until he felt his forehead protector shift as it covered Obito's eye. He suddenly realised what the Hokage had meant, causing him to blush terribly at the thought.

"You wanted me to copy your technique?"

He put out his hand and concentrated, not knowing exactly how he was doing it, but the knowledge was there as the air above his palm began to shimmer as the ball of chakra formed. Minato smiled as Kakashi kept the technique up for as long as he could before the ball dissipated.

"Why did you let me copy this?" he asked.

Minato turned back to the road and the shinobi around them.

"I created the Rasengan with the intention to add my element to it. To create a new ninjutsu."

Kakashi stared at his palm with fascination. His Sharingan had given him the ability to use the technique, but even as his teacher had explained it he did not understand how he was able to do it. Minato continued to explain his reasoning. Kakashi was surprised to hear that his teacher hadn't been able to add his lightning element to the technique, and even after their long conversation he wasn't sure why. The Rasengan was not the type of technique Kakashi would generally use, it was blunter then he was used to.

"But the reason I let you copy it is simple."

He turned and smiled at his student.

"If I can't do it, perhaps you can. I have faith in you, Kakashi."

A tap on his shoulder caught Kakashi's attention, the Jounin turning to find himself confronted by Jito's white-haired visage.

"I require a word, commander."

Kakashi went to tell the Hokage, but found that the shinobi around them had disappeared, and the background had faded away to a darkening night sky.

"Is the genjutsu really necessary?" asked Kakashi, stopping his stride and taking a seat on the ground, rubbing his tired legs.

The armoured shinobi sat down opposite him, and stared at him with a solemn expression.

"I feel a…duty…to inform you of why I am under your command."

Kakashi cocked his head curiously, he thought he knew why the talented genjutsu master was in the army, but hadn't realised he had requested it specifically.

"And it is a reason you don't wish others to know. You keep many secrets, for a Senju."

Jito gave Kakashi a rare smile, but there was no warmth in it, only sadness. He gestured to the space to the right of them as a large collection of boxes attached to each other shimmered into existence in the air, each of them bearing a name. Kakashi recognised several of the names, noticing a pattern that became frighteningly clear.

"This is your family tree" he observed.

Jito nodded and enlarged the later section of it, under the name Tobirama Senju. Kakashi recognised Jito's name, as well as one female other. But what drew his attention was the name next to Jito's, and underneath his name.

"I didn't realise you have a wife and son."

Jito shook his head and dispelled the family tree, not wanting to linger on that particular section.

"Had, a wife and son. They are long gone."

Kakashi thought about it for a moment as he began to understand why Jito had volunteered to be in such a high-risk unit.

"You wish to join them?"

Again, Jito shook his head. His armour was dented and scarred from his battle with Sasori's puppet, and his white hair was covered by dirt and dried blood. Kakashi looked up and noticed two silhouettes standing behind Jito's back; one looked like a young woman and the other a boy of no more then ten years old.

Jito gave Kakashi a solemn look, "I wish to atone."

His commander didn't say anything, knowing that his ability to command the Senju warrior depended on what the genjutsu master said next.

"I am a master of my form, Hatake-san. I am not arrogant, I am simply stating truths. My father, the Second Hokage, acknowledged that I was a prodigy of genjutsu, though he was disappointed I didn't follow his footsteps as a ninjutsu user."

It took him a moment, until Kakashi realised that all throughout the battle, Jito had not used a single ninjutsu technique.

"You can't use ninjutsu" he said with fascination.

He'd never heard of such an ailment, a ninja who could still use chakra but only for genjutsu.

"A fact I have kept from the village."

"Illusions on illusions. I'm amazed you kept your sanity."

Jito sighed as he dissipated the two silhouettes with a wave.

"At times, I didn't. What I'm about to tell you, you must never repeat. And remember, I can make you believe you are a yapping puppy if it pleases me."

Kakashi gave a short laugh, causing Jito to smile in response before once again showing Kakashi the family tree.

"The Senju clan is dying. At one time we had the same numbers as the Uchiha, but the wars have not been kind to our clan."

Kakashi frowned as he looked over the names, noticing a distinct pattern in the names.

"But there are many names on the tree, how can your clan be dying?"

"Of the past three generations, I am the only youthful male left in the Senju clan."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he realised what that meant for the clan. While the bloodline would have been continued as the woman married into other clans, the Senju name would fall into obscurity. The Senju were not like some of the clans like the Inuzuka, they were a patriarchy.

"I apologise if this sounds insensitive, but what has that got to do with our unit?"

Jito stood up slowly and indicated for Kakashi to do the same. Kakashi barely came up to his armoured shoulders, yet his stance showed how much respect he held for the young Jounin.

"Everything. And nothing."

He reached up and removed his armoured gloves, Kakashi's eyes widening as he saw Jito's hands. His skin was a dark red colour with black seals across the top of his hands. Kakashi had heard of this before, but it had only been done a few times in Konoha history. He stood a step back instinctively as he stared at the genjutsu master's hands.

"You are a kinslayer" he said, curious as to why he would show him this.

Jito took a long breath and nodded, glancing at his red hands before putting his gloves back on.

"I am, to my greatest shame. You could ask me the details, but I won't give them to you. It is more then enough to simply understand why I fight the way I do."

Kakashi saw Jito in a strange new light. On the one hand, he was a criminal that even his teacher would struggle to accept. However on the other hand, Jito had protected the entire group in the battle, and slain a large portion of the enemy forces with great risk to himself.

"I believe I do."

Kakashi considered his options, before stepped forward and offering his hand to the Senju warrior. Jito stared at it with fascination. Out of all the potential outcomes of this situation, this was the least probable in his mind.

"You would accept me, despite knowing my history?"

"If you want to atone, so be it. You are a fair shinobi, and a comrade. I don't know about your history, and in my mind it does not matter. I know you will fight harder then most when it comes down to it."

Jito broke his solemn look and slowly smiled warmly, grasping Kakashi's hand. Kakashi stared at the Senju shinobi's eyes with his one normal eye, making sure that Jito truly understood his position.

"And if you wish to die, I will make sure that it is for the good of the village. I understand the meaning of sacrifice."

They released each other's hands and regarded each other, Kakashi knowing that he wouldn't have to do anything more to secure Jito's loyalty.

"But don't expect me to go easy on you. There is still a war to be fought."

* * *

><p>Minato frowned as he walked through the giant gates, wondering why the gates guards seemed so surprised to see him.<p>

"Hokage-sama! We weren't expecting you until next week" said a Hyuuga clan guard.

Minato stepped to the gate station and stared at the surprised faces.

"We send hawks that the army was returning early from the war with Suna."

The guard besides him pulled out a collection of papers, and sifted through it quickly.

"The last hawk we received was an update on Iwa's movements from last week."

Kakashi walked up to his teacher and tapped him on the shoulder before pointing at a sentry on the wall. Minato looked up and after a few seconds swore under his breath and vanished. Kakashi turned around quickly and gave the shinobi behind him two hand signals, before reaching up and moving up his forehead protector. After several seconds, Minato reappeared with his tattered cloak shifting underneath a soft wind.

"The scouts on the walls are dead."

He turned to a group of Jounin that were scanning the area.

"Shikaku, take as many shinobi as necessary and find any civilians that haven't been evacuated. I will go to the Hokage mansion and attempt to contact the Third."

The Jounin nodded in acknowledgement and vanished, Shikaku giving pointing to a large group of shinobi that followed him into the village.

Kakashi stepped up to the Hokage, "What about the rest of us, Sensei?"

Minato looked down at his student before tracking his eyes across the Konoha army that had followed behind them.

"Assume that anyone not wearing a Konoha forehead protector is an enemy. Spread out into the village and destroy any enemy threats."

The army nodded in acknowledge and leapt into the village, leaving a small selection behind as Minato turned back to them. Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage, with Jito at his side, waiting for Minato to give them specific instructions. The Fourth Hokage pulled one of his kunai and handed it to Kakashi, knowing that his student's one had been damaged in the previous battle. He leaned down so that he was face level with the young Jounin, a serious expression on his face.

"I have a suspicion I need you two to confirm."

"Do you think he's right?" asked Jito as they ran through the streets under the cover of the Senju's genjutsu.

Kakashi stared at his target with his Sharingan, trying to stay calm but the idea that the village was under attack kept his nerves on edge. They had been running through the village for several minutes and had encountered no enemy forces outside the genjutsu camouflage, and there was no structural damage to the village at all.

"The Hokage is rarely wrong about these things" he said as they leapt over a small shopping stand.

_But I hope he is this time. _

They had seen the main Konoha force shepherding confused civilians towards the Hokage monument and the shelters, Kakashi noticing without pause that they had begun carving his teacher's face into the mountain side. Minato had given up reminding people that he hadn't been coroneted yet, simply accepting that he was already being seen as the village leader. They turned a corner and skidded to a stop as they reached their destination.

"Drop your genjutsu, Jito. If there are any enemies inside, we need to draw them to us."

The shinobi complied instantly, seeing the logic in Kakashi's move, though he kept his technique ready for any civilians they might need to protect. Kakashi took a deep breath before stepping forward and throwing the double doors of the hospital wide open. Both of the shinobi swore as they saw what had happened within the large building. There were no bodies on the main hospital floor, but there were patients sitting in the lobby with various minor injuries suffered in the war. However as they saw, each of the patients had their throats cut and the floor was covered in drying blood.

"What the hell happened here?" said Kakashi to no-one in particular.

Jito walked over and knelt beside the body of a small girl, placing a hand over her small face and shutting her wide eyes. Kakashi checked the other bodies, noticing that all the cuts were the same, and all the victims had minor injuries that showed they were all patients.

"Why slaughter the patients?" asked Jito.

Kakashi stood up from the body of a Jounin who had bandages around his arms, likely suffered before his sudden death.

"I'm not sure. But some of these shinobi were very powerful fighters. To kill them in this fashion requires…I don't know…"

He looked down the corridor with his Sharingan, noticing that he couldn't see any chakra signals on the ground floor. His Sharingan couldn't pick up chakra signals as well as Mikoto's, but it was troubling that there were none at all on that floor, friendly or otherwise.

"Jito, I want you to check the rest of the building from the second floor upwards. Use extreme caution."

The Senju shinobi nodded in acknowledgement.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Kakashi reached down to his belt and removed Raido's black sword that Genma had asked him to keep an eye on. Minato had delivered the swordsman, as well as Hayate and Nagisa to the hospital, and Kakashi was scared that they had suffered the same fate as the patients in the lobby. He turned away from Jito and looked at the open sky beyond the open doors.

"I'm going to the roof. I'll check the floors from there downwards. We are short on time, Jito. Engage any enemy forces you find, but keep an eye out for survivors."

Jito nodded again and vanished, Kakashi figuring that he had reactivated his camouflage illusion. The silver-haired shinobi ran out of the doors, and with a single leap and a reasonable amount of chakra landed on the top of the roof. He held up the sword defensively, and scanned the area quickly with his Sharingan.

_Still no chakra signals. Is there anyone left in this building?_

It was in the second from the top floor when Kakashi found the first enemy body, the first bit of evidence on who had attacked their village. There were no bodies around him, and little indication of what had finally killed him, though on closer inspection Kakashi could see he likely bled out from one of the patient's counterattacks. The floor around him was splattered with blood, and there were dozens of kunai and shuriken marks on his body. He was covered with a dark cloak and hood, and he seemed to be as old as Jito by Kakashi's estimation.

He reached down and removed the body's hood, his eyes widening as he saw the forehead protector beneath the black cloth. The twin clouds on the metal plate caused the Jounin hands to tighten and he felt his choler rising rapidly at the thought of this massacre being done at the hands of another shinobi village. He hadn't found any survivors, and even the pregnant women hadn't been spared. Kakashi knew that the Hokage's suspicions were correct, a frightening thought as he pocketed the Cloud forehead protector and moved on to another room.

He made his way back down to the third level and nearly cut off Jito's head as he turned a corner and was confronted by the white fur-covered shinobi. Kakashi put down Raido's sword, then watched as the Jito in front of him dissolved and the Senju warrior stepped out from a small room next to Kakashi.

"You are on edge" he stated dryly, Kakashi merely staring at him angrily.

He wasn't frustrated with the genjutsu user himself, but there was something very wrong about what had happened here. Jito reached into his pocket and pulled out two blood-stained forehead protectors, the same as the one Kakashi had found.

"Alive?" asked his commander, knowing that out of all his subordinates Jito was the most capable of taking prisoners.

To his dismay, the Senju shinobi shook his head and handed the bloody metal plates to the young Jounin.

"Already dead. Along with dozens of patients."

Kakashi sighed, "I think I understand what has happened here."

He led Jito into the largest room of the third level, the last place they had to check. There were several bodies in there as well, patients and children with their throats cut. Kakashi frowned as he felt an odd presence in the room. Jito had noticed it as well, having already begun to weave an illusion around them to reveal the presence. The room was eerily silent, as Kakashi levelled Raido's sword defensively.

"If anyone is in here, come out!"

His Sharingan eye drew a small amount of chakra from him as a section of the wall began to fluctuate. Jito frowned, indicating to Kakashi that he had no part in what was revealing itself to them. They prepared weapons until they saw three forms in front of them. Panting heavily was the hunched form of his Inuzuka subordinate, her dark hair covered with sweat and dried blood, with the unconscious forms of Raido and Hayate under her arms as her black fur-covered skin receded back to its normal tanned colour.

Her face was snarling, and Kakashi could tell with his Sharingan that her chakra levels were dangerously low. She looked at the two Konoha shinobi through tired eyes, smiling as she recognised them before putting down her two companions to the ground gracefully. She went to stand back up, but her legs came out from under her and she slowly fell to the ground. Kakashi shot forward and caught her by the shoulders, while Jito quickly checked over their injured companions.

He took a moment before turning and giving Kakashi a rare smile, the Jounin able to see with his own eyes that both the shinobi were still breathing, with no additional injuries than the ones that sent them to the hospital in the first place. Kakashi bid Jito to bring him a chair, laying Nagisa on it with care as the Inuzuka struggled to stay awake.

"What happened here, Nagisa?" he asked, offering her a bottle of water he brought from his pack.

She took the water with a tired smile, her hands shaking lightly as the water passed her lips. She took a moment to collect herself, stretching out her sore shoulders before offering Kakashi back the water bottle.

"I'm…not sure" was her response.

Kakashi stood back and pushed his forehead protector down to cover Obito's gift.

"Start from the beginning."

He made a quick hand signal to Jito, who was about to show Nagisa the forehead protectors. He had a suspicion that he wanted to confirm.

"The Hokage dropped us off here and made sure that we were properly taken care of before leaving for the battlefield. The doctors were very kind, healing Raido and Hayate quickly enough."

She indicated to the unconscious shinobi, both of them wearing hospital gowns whilst Nagisa still wore her shinobi garb and flak jacket.

"The doctors told me I only needed rest. Raido will be left with that scar on his face."

She smiled as she remembered how the medics had marvelled at the fact that he had survived such brutish surgery.

"Apparently he was very lucky that Genma got the poison out in time. Hayate wasn't as lucky."

She looked over the now-pale looking shinobi.

"The Red Scorpion's poison broke down parts of his system before Mikoto could remove it."

Kakashi was thankful that his subordinates were safe, but he knew she was stalling. Nagisa sighed as she rubbed her tired legs.

"We were here for two days until something changed. The three of us were in a room on the fourth floor, but I felt that something was wrong. Raido and Hayate had not yet awoken, but I felt a sudden urge to get out of our room."

Both Kakashi and Jito kept their thoughts to themselves; though Kakashi made a note to recommend her to Minato for the ANBU should they survive. Considering the fact that many of the murdered patients were Jounin, all more experienced than him. As she told her tale, he realised that her skills were ill suited for an Inuzuka. She had taken the two male shinobi in her arms and transformed into some form of shadowy beast, though she wasn't specific about the details.

"There were…people…stalking the corridors. They bore no markings, nothing to suggest their motives or aims."

Kakashi swore as he heard that, a picture of what had happened forming in his mind.

Nagisa continued her tale, "We hid in the shadows. I couldn't do anything to stop them, as keeping up the camouflage was straining my chakra as it was."

Jito reached over and placed a gloved hand on the wild-shinobi's shoulder, "You did better than the rest of them."

"I didn't do enough. You don't understand. They only killed the ones they didn't need."

"They took the medics, didn't they?" asked Kakashi.

Nagisa stared at him with a sad expression for several moments before nodding slowly. Kakashi swore again, and reached into his pack.

"Why would they take the medics?" asked Jito.

He reached into his pack and pulled out the forehead protectors, as Nagisa had indicated that was all she knew. He showed her the images on the metal plates, but Nagisa immediately shook her head despite seeing the blood on them.

"This wasn't the Cloud. This was…"

"Enough, Nagisa" interrupted Kakashi. "You don't know who might be listening."

The Inuzuka nodded in compliance, asking his leave to rest and recover her chakra. Kakashi allowed her to do so as he regarded the kunai in his hand. His teacher had told him he didn't need to throw it to activate the seal. He slipped a small amount of chakra into the seal, which as a Jounin was as easy as breathing, and waited. Nagisa had found a small bed besides the ones that Jito had placed Raido and Hayate on. She had removed her flak jacket and crawled into a foetal position before slipping off into soundless sleep.

"Will the Hokage come?" asked Jito, taking a seat next to Raido's bed. Kakashi sighed and sat down next to Nagisa, noticing how strangely peaceful she looked in sleep, despite what she must have gone through. He knew what it was like to not be able to save your companions, and could only imagine how she must have felt. After fifteen minutes, Kakashi fuelled more chakra into the seal. It took the Hokage two seconds to respond to that one, the young blonde shinobi taking a few more seconds before a sad look came over his face.

"So I was right after all" he said solemnly.

Kakashi turned to Jito and gave him a silent instruction, the Senju warrior nodding in understanding before placing his hands together. Minato looked around himself with suspicion and as the background turned shadowy and black around the two of them.

"Genjutsu?" queried Minato.

He knew of Jito's abilities, likely more than the Senju realised since he had approved his application to Kakashi's unit. His student nodded in agreement and showed the Hokage the forehead protector he had taken from the corpse. Minato took the metal plate and examined it closely.

"The Cloud had a part in this?" he asked.

Kakashi shook his head, "I believe they were meant to look like they did."

Minato pocketed the forehead protector and indicated for Kakashi to sit down on a set of chairs Jito had made for them.

"Start from the beginning."

Kakashi had explained everything in detail fairly quickly, with Minato asking particular questions that drew out information Kakashi had forgotten.

"What do you think?" asked Kakashi once he was finished.

Minato took a moment to consider the facts, having told what he had encountered.

"I think you are right. I don't believe that Cloud could do this. They certainly need more medics and have tried to take them before, but this smells of something else."

"What's your plan?"

Minato placed a hand to his chin as he thought about their situation. Minato was considered a genius of his time, with even Nara Shikaku giving him due credit when it came to plan formulation. So Kakashi was surprised that it took his teacher several minutes before turned back to Kakashi.

"We are clearly being goaded into a confrontation with the Kumogakure. To cover for something or someone else."

"We can't abandon our medics" said Kakashi, knowing that Minato agreed with him.

"Can the Inuzuka girl track these figures she spoke of?"

Kakashi thought about the young Inuzuka girl sleeping with her white-streaked black hair wrapped up in her hands. She hadn't said anything about it, but Kakashi had faith in her. He felt a smile creeping onto his face as he remembered the look on her face. Minato smiled slyly as he saw the look on Kakashi's face.

"Something I should know about, Kakashi?"

The silver-haired Jounin recovered quickly, though Minato was highly amused at his young student.

"Uh…I believe she can. I have faith in her abilities."

Minato smiled and adopted his plan to fit. Luckily their forces had taken no casualties outside of Kakashi's unit in the previous fight, yet he was hesitant to meet another force in the field. But as Hokage he would not stand for such an infiltration, let alone such a massacre. Over one hundred patients in the hospital murdered, two score sentries killed at their posts, and over fifty medics and doctors taken from within their village.

"Okay, Kakashi. I have a plan, and I need you to carry it out."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. He was tired of the constant fighting from the war, but he also knew that with Suna out of the fight it would get worse before it was going to get better. His father would have done nothing less.

"We are going to take the bait and meet the Cloud army in the field."

Kakashi frowned at that, until he realised why he needed his unit.

"You want us to track down the attackers?"

Minato nodded, before telling Jito loudly to remove the genjutsu in a few minutes. He laid out his plan for Kakashi, though he left out certain details that Kakashi knew he didn't need to know to do his job.

"Two things, Sensei. How do you know the army will succeed?" he asked.

Minato waved off the concern uncharacteristically, "It will, don't concern yourself about that. What's the other thing?"

"I…don't know if one platoon will be enough."

Across from him, Minato gave him a caring laugh and patted him on the head. Kakashi hated it when Minato did that, though it was worse when Kushina did it as she seemed to rip out bits of his silver hair. The illusion around them broke apart as Minato turned and nodded his thanks to the Senju shinobi.

He turned back to Kakashi, "You have one day, and then you need to move out after the army."

Kakashi walked around and checked Nagisa's sleeping form. She seemed almost peaceful, and Kakashi smiled as he saw her drooling into the sheets. Nagisa was only two years older than him, though compared to Genin their age they were much older in terms of experience.

"There's one more I'd like to come with us" he said to Minato, who nodded before teleporting away.

* * *

><p>Kakashi encountered little resistance at the estate; none of the guards said anything to him as he stepped to the front door of the house. He knocked on the door, jumping in his skin as the door slid open quickly.<p>

"What do you want?" said the imposing figure of the Uchiha clan head.

Kakashi stood his ground, "I would like a word with Mikoto."

He noticing a twitch on Fugaku's face, but the clan head allowed him into the house regardless. Kakashi thanked Fugaku and walked into the main household, marvelling at how spacious and expensive-looking the inside of the house was. He heard a female laugh in a nearby room, causing him to turn and walk towards it. Inside sat Mikoto in a rocking chair, with a small child sitting in her arms with a large smile on his face. Kakashi remarked at how similar Itachi looked like Fugaku, and then smiled as Mikoto waved him over.

"Look, Itachi. This is my friend, Kakashi."

A young female Uchiha came into the room and picked up the young Itachi, taking him from the room with a smile. Mikoto stood up from the rocking chair and indicated for him to join her at a nearby table.

"You've come to take me to war again, haven't you?"

Kakashi smiled and accepted a cup of tea that she had poured for him. Mikoto sat back down and sipped at her own tea.

"I have" he said, laying out his plan quickly, whilst running a small amount of chakra into a seal Minato prepared for him to prevent any eavesdropping.

If Mikoto noticed it she made no comment as Kakashi finished his plan.

She thought about what he had said, "A solid plan, though quite risky."

She put down her tea and placed her hands on the table, regarding Kakashi with dark eyes.

"When do we leave?"

The young Jounin smiled at her willingness, but there was one thing he had to confirm before they set out. There was still time for Nagisa to recover her chakra, the Inuzuka giving Kakashi her confidence that she could track the real attackers.

"At dawn. But there is something I need to ask you."

"You want to know why I defy Fugaku so easily?"

Kakashi frowned at her glib speech until he realised she had sensed the seal and knew that no-one could hear them. He smiled and placed the seal on the table.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But if your own husband cannot trust you, that doesn't inspire me to."

Mikoto gave Kakashi a short laugh and poured herself another cup of tea.

"I won't bore you with Uchiha politics; though I'm sure you know more than you let on. Suffice to say, my marriage to Fugaku was a clan matter, and not of my choice."

"An arranged marriage?"

They weren't uncommon amongst the bigger clans, though they had begun to go out of fashion with so many varied shinobi in the village. Mikoto reached into her dress pocket and produced a photo that she placed on the table, sliding it towards Kakashi. It showed a younger looking Mikoto with an Uchiha in a smiling embrace, Kakashi not recognising the male figure.

Mikoto pointed to the male with a finger, "This was my lover. I come from a powerful line of Uchiha clansmen, so my hand was highly sort after within the clan. He was a 'lowborn' and not even a consideration for the family. But he was the only one who could make me laugh. He also had a beautiful singing voice, but that doesn't matter."

"And then the clan matched you with Fugaku?" asked Kakashi.

Mikoto nodded and sighed as she looked at the smiling face in the photo.

"He seemed a good man at the time, but neither my lover nor I wanted it to happen. The day before marriage, he challenged Fugaku for the leadership of the clan. If he was the leader, then there would be no disputing our love. We had kept the relationship secret from everyone. Uchiha are good at keeping secrets."

Kakashi began to get a picture of what had happened between the couple, understanding why Mikoto looked at Fugaku with a mixed look of hatred and sadness.

He handed her back the photo with a sad look, "And Fugaku killed him?"

Mikoto smiled sadly as she looked at the photo again before placing it back into her dress.

"Even as Fugaku cut him down, he smiled like there were no cares in the world. That stupid damn smile…"

Kakashi reached over and handed her a tissue box, Mikoto nodded her thanks as she dabbed at her eyes.

She put down the box and looked back at Kakashi with a serious look, "Fugaku didn't know about our love, and still does not. He is a shrewd man, but not uncaring."

"But you can't forgive him?"

Mikoto shook her head, "No, I cannot. I will care for any children even if they are his, but I will never love him."

Kakashi pushed his empty tea cup away from him and leant back in his chair.

"But why tell me this? I am a stranger in your household."

"Perhaps it is because of that. Or perhaps it is how close you were to young Obito before his death. I know you will not betray my confidence."

"And you are still willing to fight, despite your young child needing you?"

Mikoto's face changed instantly at the mention of Itachi, a warm smile passing over her as she thought of her son's face.

"I have a duty to the village, and to our friends. Fugaku may not like it, but I made a deal with him. Once the war is done, I will put away my forehead protector and being the caring housewife he apparently requires. And if I do not return…hopefully Itachi can forgive me."

She reached over the table and put her hand over the seal, crumpling it in a single grip before smiling sweetly at Kakashi.

"I shall meet you at the gate at dawn. And Kakashi…"

She closed her eyes for a second before opening them slowly, revealing the pinwheel Sharingan Kakashi had seen before. Mikoto kept a frighteningly serious look on her face as she regarded the young Jounin through her red eyes. Kakashi could tell immediately that there were things that she hadn't told him, that she wasn't going to tell him, but as he looked into the strange looking eyes he found himself not wanting to know. Mikoto broke the contact off with a smile as her eyes faded back to their regular black.

"…remember you are only as strong as those besides you. Have faith in us, and we will all come home safe."

Kakashi smiled before bowing slightly to her in respect and walking out of the room as Mikoto went to her son and the housemaid with a smile. He passed Fugaku in the hallway, seeing the suspicion in the clan head's eyes, but was relieved that it appeared that Fugaku hadn't heard any of their conversation. He would have to thank his teacher when he got the chance, but there was one more place he had to visit before their departure in several hours.

"This feels familiar" commented Kakashi as he looked over his companion.

Nagisa had recovered quickly and wore the standard outfit for Konoha shinobi, though Kakashi noticed the red fang marks on her face had black lining around them. She said she was confident that she could follow the scents from the hospital. Kakashi had found out that the scents of the medical staff lead towards Kumogakure, whereas the attacker's scents led into the Land of Snow. Jito had appeared soon after the two of them, still wearing his father's armour and fur, though Kakashi could tell that Jito seemed less solemn since the hospital.

He made no comment about it, but was thankful the Senju shinobi had agreed to accompany them. Just as the sun began to rise, Kakashi saw the form of Mikoto running towards them. She apologised for her lateness, greeting Jito and Nagisa with a smile.

She looked at Kakashi, "Didn't you have Raido's sword?"

Kakashi shook his head, "It didn't suit me. Besides, I figured Genma and Yugao could use it to defend him and Hayate."

Mikoto shrugged and nodded before taking her place besides him.

"What is our formation?" asked Jito.

Given that there were only four of them it was fairly obvious to them what it would be. Nagisa took her place at the front, Kakashi giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder before standing behind her. Mikoto stood behind him, cracking her knuckles in anticipation as her Uchiha cloak rubbed against her shoulders. Jito kept his counsel to himself at the back, knowing that he wouldn't have to do anything until they broke into enemy territory. Kakashi look a long look at the village before turning to Nagisa.

"Let's go."

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

The next chapter will be the last in the mega-flashback, I promise. It does tie into the main story, more so than just Kakashi's memories.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Black Lagoon. Fantastic anime about criminals and gives an interesting perspective on why people do bad things in a criminal environment. Fan service aside, Revy is one of my favourite characters, because she doesn't take crap from anyone. Not one for the faint-hearted, but fantastic nevertheless.


	13. Chapter 12 Pursuit

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 12 – Pursuit

**A/N**: With this chapter done, we are about a third into the story. This is a pretty long story and it only gets more interesting from here, and I'm really grateful that you guys are enjoying it.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be much larger scale battles.

* * *

><p><strong>Warning<strong>: There are some gory scenes in this chapter, so just a fair warning about that.

Kakashi hadn't been to the Land of the Snow before, but even as they struggled up the windy mountain he wished he had copied more fire techniques when they were still in Konoha. The four them of had tracked the mysterious attackers' scents to a high mountain range deep within the Land of the Snow. Kakashi was thankful that at least one of them had been prepared as he drew one of Nagisa's spare fur cloaks around his shoulders. She knew that Jito hadn't needed one, though the Senju was the least comfortable with their snow covered environment.

Mikoto had accepted hers with a smile and a subtle query over whom the cloak had originally belonged to, since the Inuzuka were not known for wearing that kind of odd fur. Nagisa hadn't responded, simply pointing up the mountain for them to continue following her. The air around them was freezing cold, with a large concealing mist keeping their progress from being as fast as Kakashi had wanted. They had encountered several packs of wolves in the mountains, but one growl from Nagisa had sent the animals running.

"Is it much further?" asked Mikoto as the group set up a small camp in a cave within the mountainside.

Nagisa poked at the fire Mikoto had lit for them, her dark slit eyes flickered in the orange flames.

"The scents are very strong here…" Kakashi noticed her arms tensing underneath her fur jacket, whilst her anger was splashed over her face. "…they cannot hide from me."

Kakashi sat down against a wall and took a bite out of a food bar whilst staring at the cave's entrance. They had been forced to take shelter within as a storm covered the mountain range, but Kakashi had wanted to rest the group anyway. They had travelled faster than Kakashi had expected, it had taken them two days to reach the mountains without rest. However it had taken them another two days to climb the mountain, Kakashi favouring caution over zealousness. Jito was standing guard at the entrance, having woven a genjutsu to cover the entrance in case the local ninja village took offence to the Konoha shinobi movements.

"Any word from the Hokage?" asked Mikoto, not completely privy to the Jounin's plan for their mission.

Kakashi shook his head and poked at the fire with a short stick, "My shadow clone is by the Hokage's side. When the battle is over, it will dissipate and give me a report."

"You wish he was here" observed the Uchiha matriarch quietly.

Kakashi frowned, and then sighed as he gazed into the orange flames. It was folly to wish that, Minato was leading the Konoha army against the Cloud village forces in a diversion for their approach. Konoha had been told that the Cloud was responsible for the attack on the village, with no-one except the four of them and the Hokage aware of the real purpose of the attack.

"He has his duty, we have ours" was his response to her question.

Jito came down from the entrance and sat down next to Mikoto, taking a long draught from his small bottle of water.

"This storm will rage for hours" he said as he put his bottle back into his pack.

Nagisa sighed, unconsciously tapping her boots on the stone floor of the cave. Kakashi had noticed that she had gotten more on edge since their departure from Konoha, but he also knew that she would still follow orders when it came down to the wire.

"We should get some sleep then" said Mikoto, offering to take the first shift.

Nagisa had offered to take it with her, but Kakashi had ordered her to get some sleep. The Inuzuka hadn't protested at the order, she needed rest more than any of them, but Kakashi felt sad at the cold look she gave him before going to sleep.

"You'd best watch yourself."

Kakashi frowned at Mikoto's comment, as the fire between them flared a bright blue before fading back to a dark orange.

"What do you mean?"

They had been on watch for several hours, the storm outside not looking like it would fade anytime soon. Mikoto looked over the sleeping forms of their two companions. They both knew that Jito wasn't entirely asleep, but he had confided in Kakashi that he rarely slept due to a hatred of what happened to him while he slept. Mikoto's eyes rested on the young sleeping form of their guide, the Chuunin's face oddly peaceful despite their mission and her waking feelings.

"It isn't good for a commander to look at his subordinate with such eyes."

Kakashi smiled sadly as he looked at Nagisa's sleeping face, before turning back to the fire. He didn't know if Mikoto was teasing him or not, their earlier conversation at her home hadn't changed their working relationship at all.

"It isn't like that."

His companion drew her cold knees up to her chin as she stared at the young Jounin through dark eyes with her cloak still across her shoulders. Mikoto went to make a comment, but Kakashi put up a hand to stop her.

"Let me finish. Nagisa reminds me of a close friend of mine, one that I've known for several years."

He placed his hands together as he looked at the storm outside.

"I don't have time to chase things like that, Mikoto. People like me…I have to make it up to her before I can even begin to act in my own interests."

Mikoto watched the emotions on Kakashi's face carefully, not entirely understanding his motivations and interests, but she dropping the issue regardless. Perhaps he didn't want to feel, or couldn't, but that was on him. She went to change the subject to something more cheery, until she saw a strange look on Kakashi's face. His arms tensed as his uncovered eye appeared to look into the fire without really seeing it. After a few minutes he finally drew a laboured breath, turning his face back to the Uchiha shinobi.

"The battle in the Land of Lightning has started. Wake the others; they need to hear this."

* * *

><p>"Is this wise, Hokage-sama?" asked Shikaku, "They have the superior position."<p>

Next to him the Yamanaka clan head looked over the Kumo forces with a stern look on his face as the elder Akimichi clan head stood beside his son, both of them readying their staffs.

"But we have superior numbers, and superior shinobi" said Hiashi, flanked by his twin brother and several of the Hyuuga clan's best warriors.

Minato was silent as the Kumo forces stood against them, analysing several weaknesses that he could already see in the Cloud shinobi lines. Behind him stood a silent Kakashi, the shadow clone taking in as much information as it could, but knowing it was merely an observer and was not to participate in the battle.

"It's nice weather for a battle though."

The group of shinobi turned as one to regard the speaker. Minato smirked as he was joined by his red-haired wife, though he had the grace to blush as she pecked him on the cheek and pinched his backside. The shinobi around him began to chuckle until she turned her face towards them and glared at them. That kept them quiet as she stood side by side with the Hokage.

"I'm surprised the Third allowed you to accompany us" said Hiashi.

Kushina scoffed and reached up behind her head, tying her hair into a long ponytail.

"Being the wife of the new Hokage has its advantages, Hiashi-san."

The Hyuuga clan head looked at Minato expectantly, but the blonde shinobi simply shrugged his shoulders. Traditionally the container of the Kyuubi rarely left the village in times of war, but having fought with the Cloud shinobi recently, Minato needed a contingency plan in case one of his suspicions was correct.

"It will be a pleasure to fight alongside you, Hokage-sama" said a newcomer, Minato turned to face his newly appointed leader of the vanguard.

Flanked by a dozen of his clansmen and wearing a dark set of blood red clothing, Fugaku looked ready to win the war all on his own. Minato nodded his thanks to the clansmen; they were very welcome in the Konoha forces, when they decided to show up. Across the field walked two large looking figures, with the large army of Cloud ninja holding their positions behind them. Minato gave a hand signal to his forces, telling them to dig in and wait for further instructions.

He turned to his advisors, "Fugaku, ready the vanguard for a quick attack. If negotiations fail, then I want your forces ready to slam through their lines. But you are not to move without a signal."

The Uchiha clan head nodded in acknowledgment of the order and began to move towards his units. He didn't like Minato, or what he stood for, but he knew that he was the best military commander Konoha had seen in decades and that his orders were always worth following.

"Hiashi, Inoichi, Chouju, ready your designated shinobi units. I want to avoid a conflict if we can, but the Cloud are not known for their peaceful ways."

His subordinates gave their acknowledgement and went about their duties as Minato began to walk out onto the battlefield to meet the two Cloud shinobi. He had instructed Shikaku to assist him in the negotiations, and Kakashi had been told to accompany them, though Shikaku had not been told why the young Jounin had been given such a position. He couldn't have stopped Kushina coming with him if he had tried, so the four of them greeted the Cloud shinobi with two large ninja armies prepared to clash together in a storm of metal and blood.

"When last we spoke, you said you would be putting the title of 'Kage' to the test. I did not believe you to be a war loving man, yet here your army stands."

Minato bowed respectfully to the Raikage, with the other Konoha shinobi following his example.

"I am sorry to hear of your father's death. He was a man of honour."

The Raikage scoffed, "Of course he was. But he exacted his toll. Iwa paid dearly for the death of our leader."

Minato looked back up at the solemn look on both the Cloud shinobi's faces. The Raikage's companion stared at the four of them and was oddly silent, though he gave Kushina a flash of a smile before regarding the blonde Hokage with a stern expression. The newly appointed Raikage pushed his companion's head down as they bowed in return to the Konoha shinobi. They straighten back up quickly.

"Now that the courtesies and formalities of war have been observed, why the hell are you here? Kumogakure has no interest in fighting a war with Konoha. We have other, more important, foes to destroy."

Not one known for his outbursts, Shikaku could no longer keep his silence.

"We are here to make you answer for your unprovoked attack on our home!" he spat, uncharacteristically.

Minato felt his heart go out to the Nara heir and army commander, Shikaku had lost a dozen clansmen in the hospital attack. He wished he didn't have to abuse the commander's emotions in the setting, but he had to buy Kakashi's unit as much time as possible. A snorted at the claim, while his companion pulled out a small notebook and began scribbling in it with a pencil.

"We ain't done no such crime, eh yo. Got the wrong fools, ya gonna get a KO."

The Konoha shinobi stared oddly at the rapping shinobi, while A reached over and slammed a fist into his face, sending him crashing into the ground.

"Shut your damn mouth, Bee!"

He turned his face back to Minato with an angry expression as his surrogate brother pulled himself up from the ground, seemingly uninjured and unsurprised by the violent outburst.

"Hokage-sama, we know nothing about an attack on your village. Withdraw your army before we are forced to destroy you."

Minato placed up a silencing hand to his three companions before stepping forwards so that he stood level with the Raikage.

"You are a man of honour, Raikage-sama. As am I."

The Raikage looked down at the slightly shorter Hokage, "What is your point?"

Minato swallowed slowly, hoping that his investigations into the Cloud village's traditions were accurate and that the new Raikage was a similar man to his father. He pulled out a kunai slowly, making sure that the Raikage knew it wasn't a threatening gesture, removed a glove before cutting into his palm. The Raikage seemed confused by the move, until he watched Minato clench his blood dripping hand into a fist and point it at the face of the Cloud leader.

"Konoha calls for a blood duel, to resolve the conflict between our two villages."

A gave Minato a suspicious look, but his companion Bee gave a short laugh as he put away his notebook.

"He got you by the short hair, bro. He don't want no big fight, just a clean old…old…"

He hesitated slightly and seemed to be stuck on the final word of his rap. His older brother ignored the bad rapping of the sunglasses-wearing shinobi, trying to remember if there was a clause he could use to get out of the blood duel. He sighed and activated a field of lightning around his right hand, lightly cutting into his left palm with his fingers before placing his fist against Minato's, tapping it lightly.

"So be it. Let it not be said that the Cloud does not respect its own traditions."

Minato smiled grimly as he withdrew his fist, cleaning the blood off with a cloth before putting his glove back on. A withdrew his fist and simply shook it violently, his blood flicking onto the ground between them.

"You did not have to come with an army to claim a blood duel, Hokage-sama."

"Of course I did. If I had come to your village alone, you would have ignored tradition and taken me hostage before ransoming me back to Konoha."

He stared directly into the Raikage's face, not intimidated by his frightening visage. There was a few seconds of silence before the Raikage stepped back and laughed out loud, his voice booming so much that it reached both the armies' ears.

"You are a shrewd man indeed, Minato Namikaze. You do not want a large scale conflict anymore than we do. So be it."

He looked at Minato's companions before waving a hand to his brother.

"Our champion shall be Killer Bee. Who will be yours?"

Minato knew that it was likely that the Eight-Tails container would be chosen by the Cloud leader, he had first hand experience on what the rapping shinobi could do. There weren't many shinobi in his force who could compete with the sword-wielder, and the conditions of the duel meant that Minato himself could not fight him. Shikaku had immediately spoken up and requested the honour, but Minato knew that the clan head, whilst extremely intelligent and strong, would struggle against Bee's power.

"I'm sorry Shikaku, but there is only one shinobi that can compete with him in his current state."

The Nara clan head frowned at the statement, until he realised who Minato was talking about. Minato turned to his companions and smiled, as his chosen champion nodded and smiled warmly back at him.

"Our champion will be Namikaze Kushina."

The two armies had given the two fighters a wide battlefield to fight on, far larger than the one Minato fought the Kazekage on. Kushina wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit, though her flak jacket was a dark red, a relic from her original, now destroyed, village. She stretched out her arm muscles as her red ponytail flickered in the soft wind that swept across the battlefield. Her opponent was writing furiously in his notebook, the gravity of the fight having not dawned on him yet.

"Old…old…brawl? No, that won't work."

Kushina finished her stretches and regarded her opponent with morbid fascination. Minato had given her all the details he could beforehand about Bee's abilities, which had only served to dramatically increase her interest in fighting him. She had a distinct lack of serious opponents in Konoha and had been sidelined for most of the war, so it was only natural for Minato to crumble to her demand to accompany them. Bee swore under his breath and put away his notebook, turning his sunglasses-covered eyes to the red-haired shinobi.

"Ain't no more time for writing rhymes. We gotta fight so that we can make things right."

Kushina sighed and put her hands together. She had been warned about his bad rapping, but as someone who knew music and could sing, it drove her mad. She went to form a seal, but Bee put up his hand before she could.

"Hold on there, red-haired lady. I got a friend within me daily. He wants to ask you something, and he ain't about asking nicely."

Kushina resisted the urge to attack him for his horrible rhyming and indicated for him to proceed. Bee gave out a short laugh as Kushina sensed a large spike in his chakra levels. She felt a strange presence and a flickering in the seal on her stomach.

**It had been a long time, Nine-Tails.**

She looked around for the deep voice, noticing that Bee hadn't moved his mouth at all.

**Odd, you were never this quiet before. **

Kushina felt a pulse in her seal, finally understanding the situation at hand.

"You allow your beast to speak freely?" she asked.

Bee looked at her with a cocked head, "Of course, ya fool. Eight-Tails and I be bros in arms. He's my…"

**Enough with you bad rapping, Bee. You have a fight to do. It does not do to make the lady wait. **

The Cloud shinobi scoffed, but conceded the point, putting up one of his hands with the second and fifth fingers extended. Kushina frowned and took a step back, placing her hands together in a handseal, figuring that the fight had now begun. She didn't like using weapons, but conceded that she could use a sword as she saw the seven blades sheathed around Bee's body. She was not particularly good at normal taijutsu, but she had her own talents and skills, not including the beast sealed within her.

Bee was still rapping across from her, and apparently arguing with the Eight-Tails within him. Kushina was not known for her patience, quickly summoning a small amount of chakra before placing her hands quickly through a handseal. Minato had informed her that the blood duel was only to the death if it was completely necessary, but Kushina was no good at holding back. Especially not in the fact of a powerful opponent.

"Fuinjutsu: Tsuchikasui Kai" (Sealing Technique: Earth Spikes Release)

She slammed a foot into the ground as dozens of large spikes came out of the ground and hovered around her body. Bee stopped his rapping and looked at her as she sent the first spike towards him. He cocked his head curiously as the projectile screamed towards him. She had said a sealing technique, yet it was clearly just a simple Earth technique. He hopped to the side as the spike flew back his face and buried itself in the ground behind him. Kushina tensed and sent the other spikes one after the other at the rapping shinobi. Bee simply danced between the projectiles, before catching two of the spikes in his hands and twirling them around aimlessly. Kushina grinned wildly as Bee gripped the projectiles in his hands as if they were swords. She put up a single hand into a handseal.

"Boom"

Bee appeared to be quite surprised when the two spikes in his hands shone brightly before exploding in his hands. The smoke covered his position quickly, but Kushina was not so naïve as to believe that her attack had taken out the Cloud shinobi. She completed a handseal before weaving her hands in front of her. A black symbol appeared following her fingers, before three more symbols joined it in the pattern. She ran through two more handseals as the smoke cleared and Bee picked himself up from the ground, with no obvious damage from the explosions.

He grinned slowly, "You call that a sting, ya fool? I'll show you a…"

Kushina completed her seal and pushed her hands into the glowing triangle of black seals.

"Fuinjutsu: Bijuudama Kai" (Sealing Technique: Tailed Beast Ball Release)

A large black orb slowly formed within the seal triangle, as Bee took a step backwards cautiously. He knew this technique, mainly because he was the only one who could do it, but here was another container performing the attack. He couldn't get hit by that, even with his resilience. Kushina completed another handseal as the orb fluctuated before a huge beam of dark light slammed into Bee's position. Kushina smiled as she took a step back as the technique vaporised the ground in its path. Minato had fought Eight-Tails container on several occasions in the war, and had been able to seal one of his attacks using her sealing techniques.

The beam dissipated quickly as Kushina dismissed the seal pattern, hoping that her attack had at least slowed down the Cloud shinobi. The dust cloud caused by the attack cleared slowly, and Kushina's eyes widened as she saw a slow bubbling red form emerge from a crater caused by her beam.

"That was harder than I thought. But now you gonna get caught."

The Eight-Tails container got to his feet, covered by the red bubbling chakra that she saw before. Kushina swore and put her hands together, she recognised the demon cloak form as two red chakra tails floated behind Bee's body. She was amazed at his control of the tailed beast within him, as he seemed to be perfectly calm and in control despite his massively surging chakra levels. She went to activate another technique, but she was forced to defend herself as Bee shot forward twice as fast as she had expected, swiping an arm towards her face.

"Lariat!"

Bee grinned as he felt the attack connect, but he stumbled towards the ground as Kushina vanished in a puff of smoke. Behind him Kushina completed a handseal and put her arms out wide. Five chains with kunai attached to them emerged from her body and slammed into Bee's cloak, though he was skilled enough to shift his body around so that he didn't get pierced by the attacks. Kushina clapped her hands together, and opened up a scroll facing Bee's back. The chains retracted back towards her before Bee could react fully, the red chakra cloak following the chains before being drawn into the scroll. Bee turned around and watched as Kushina lit the scroll on fire and destroyed it quickly, before jumping back into a defensive pose.

"You're better than you look…"

He dropped down to his hands and knees as a shockwave slammed into Kushina, Bee growling and laughing at the same time as his body was covered by the red chakra again, but Kushina was forced to jump back again as the red form seemed to create a condensed shell around his body. She frowned as she sensed how much chakra Bee was moulding, taking several leaps back as she created a large amount of chakra herself. She knew what this form was as well, but also knew that she didn't have the speed to dodge him in that state. But Kushina was in the ANBU for a reason, besides her status as the Nine-Tails container.

She put her hands together and created dozens of shadow clones, spreading out around Bee's beast form. The red beast roared loudly, sending a wave of pressurised air into the surrounding female shinobi. Hidden amongst the shadow clones, Kushina tried to think of the best way to stop him, as he reached up and swept his arm into a section of clones. The clones that survived tried their best to strike at the howling beast, but he dodged and weaved whilst destroying the clones with ease. The red beast drove a claw into the final clone, before taking a glance around the empty field, disappointed. Dozens of feet away, Kushina pulled herself out of the ground, dusting herself off as she looked at the beast from a distance.

_How the hell am I going to stop that? My attacks are for restraining, not something like this. _

The beast sniffed at the air before turning itself to face Kushina and roared in response. Kushina sighed as the shockwave blasted through her hair, nearly knocking her off her feet. She took a step back and steadied herself as Bee thundered towards her, tearing up the ground underneath his feet. She summoned all the normal chakra she could and activated a technique that only someone with her chakra capacity and lineage could accomplish.

The red-haired shinobi placed up a hand slowly as the beast dived at her with a fist raised to slam her into the ground. She caught the red fist cleanly with her open palm, her body not moving an inch as Bee skidding to a halt and struggling as Kushina closed her hand around his fist and began to crush it with her fingers. She slowly looked up at the small eyes of his beast form, slowly grinning as the beast howled in pain.

"Uzumaki-Style: Hitotsutaira" (First Level)

A slow blue aura rose from her feet, slowly covering her body as she cracked her wrist, sending the beast to his knees. Not one to wait for retaliations, Kushina pulled back a fist and slammed it into Bee's face, simultaneously letting go of his other hand. The Cloud shinobi was sent spiralling back, as Kushina let out a slow breath and adopted one of Minato's taijutsu stances. She grinned as her blue chakra floated about her, wondering if Minato could see how much control she now had over this form. Bee picked himself off the ground, still in his beast-like form, and growled angrily as he began to run towards the red-haired shinobi once again.

The Cloud shinobi was less subtle about his approach than Kushina, firing two quick dense chakra blasts from his mouth at her before leaping him into the air, claws raised. Kushina skipped away from the two blasts, letting them strike the ground with tremendous force as Bee bared both claws against her. She dodged the first claw with relative ease, driving a blue-covered foot into his other claw before slamming her forehead into Bee's face. Kushina laughed as she was sent spiralling backwards holding her head in pain. Bee was not so lucky; his body was buried several feet into the ground, his red covered body had receded back to his normal human form.

Kushina struggled to pick herself up from the ground, rubbing her head painfully as her blue chakra aura vanished. She smiled as she looked at the crater she had caused; Minato had always said that she was too destructive when she was in that state. And when he didn't think she was listening, he would comment to his friends that she was always that destructive. She reached up an arm and took a sniff at her clothes, grimacing at the smell.

"I could use a bath" she commented, to nobody in particular.

Her eyes narrowed as the crater with Bee's body exploded outwards, the Cloud shinobi driving his fists through the rubble before picking himself out of the ground. Bee dusted himself off and coughed as he slapped his stomach and stretched out his back.

"That was too close, eh yo. Shouldn't just be playing around, fool, ya fool. Time for a new form, baby."

His opponent just gave a sigh as large tentacles began to emerge from his back. She had to jump back as he grew larger as he completely his transformation into the complete Eight-Tails form. Kushina had heard that Bee had a fair amount of control over his occupant, but to be able to transform into the beast itself without losing yourself, that was beyond her understanding. She could tell it was still Bee in control, as he was still managing to rap, badly, despite his form as a giant ox-octopus hybrid monster. Her vision was covered by the waving tentacles of the gigantic monster, as she was forced to jump and dodge out of the way of his random attacks.

She had very little chakra left due to the amount of chakra she had put into that last headbutt, but even as she rolled out of the way of a tentacle strike she didn't feel a need to concede the duel. She closed her eyes, letting her well-honed instincts dodge Bee's attacks as she delved deep into her subconscious. Kushina found what she was looking for quicker than she normally did, and using her normally diplomatic abilities took what she needed. She flipped backwards a large distance away from Bee and placed her hands together in a handseal. The air around her exploded outwards as she felt a new power surge through her. She grinned as she activated her technique. Kushina didn't have much control over the Kyuubi, paling in comparison to the younger Cloud shinobi, but she had one thing that she was proud of, and that was her imagination.

She grinned wildly, "Henge no Jutsu: Kyuubi".

There were few things that caused Minato to shiver and balk, yet watching his wife transform into the Kyuubi, even just as a fake shell, was enough to set him on edge. Kushina matched her opponent in size and height, though her Kyuubi transformation had one extra tail/tentacle, her red fur shaking as she roared out loudly at Bee. The Eight-Tailed beast roared in return, but Kushina did not wait for him to attack her, instead pulling back one of her claws and striking at her opponent's large body. Bee leapt up with his tentacles and drove a fist towards the giant fox, Kushina forced to take the blow as she wrapped a claw around the ox-octopus's arm, grabbing his other fist with her claw.

She reached over and, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, bit down into his neck. She knew that since her form wasn't a proper transformation that she couldn't hold him for long, but she required time for her other technique to complete itself within her transformation. Bee roared out in pain and struggled in her grip, his tentacles thrashing and flailing at her fox form, to not avail. Kushina took as much of a risk as she could before the sheer strength of his body forced her to release him and jump back. She coughed and splattered in her fox form, trying to spit out the horrible taste of the Eight-Tails body, wishing that she hadn't done that as all she could taste in her mouth was ink.

_That wasn't fun at all. I'll be tasting that for a week, even if this is a transformation. But I bought myself the time I needed._

She summoned all the Kyuubi chakra that she had taken and pushed it to the front of her face. Her opponent seemed to be able to read what she was doing, as he opened up his mouth and began to summon a huge ball of black chakra in front of his mouth, same as Kushina was beginning to do. They both shifted their faces so that they were in each other's firing lines, as both of the black orbs began to compress. However neither of their attacks ever reached fruition.

"Iron Claw!"

The ox-octopus was sent crashing to the ground as the floating form of the Raikage came crashing down onto his head. The new Kage went to strike at his brother's monstrous form again, but Bee transformed back to his human form in a rare moment of common sense. His brother landed next to him and stood in front of him, telling him to stay down for the moment.

"Fuinjutsu: Kai!" (Sealing Technique: Release)

The giant form of the Kyuubi disappeared in a large puff of smoke, as Minato stood next to his exhausted red-haired wife.

"Minato, you are still touching my ass."

The young Hokage frowned as he slowly moved his hand so that it was touching her shoulders.

"You're my wife, Kushina. I will do what I please."

He knew that was a bad thing to say to her, but he needed to have some moments of delusional power. Kushina didn't respond with anger though, she merely smiled sweetly at her blonde husband and asked him why he had stopped her. Minato removed his hand from her shoulder and turned around, quickly indicating for Kakashi to come up to them.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kushina.

She knew what Minato was trying to do; he couldn't keep anything from her. The Raikage, not willing to wait for his subordinates, reached down and picked up his brother, unceremoniously throwing him towards the Kumo army.

"The duel is forfeit, Hokage-sama."

Minato nodded as Kakashi ran up behind him. He stared at A's face with a serious look, not sure what he should do now, considering they both had to stop their tailed beast containers from destroying the battlefield at the same time. He knew that they had not gained Kakashi's unit enough time, but he couldn't retreat without giving away the real reasons for their attack to the Konoha army. A stood his ground as Bee struggled to pick himself up from a crater in the midst of the Kumo army.

"You aren't going to retreat, are you?" asked the Cloud village leader.

Minato frowned as Kakashi led his wife back towards the army. He waited until Kakashi indicated that she was safe before he turned back to his counterpart.

"Would you?" he asked cautiously.

A shook his head, still staring at Minato with a serious look on his face.

"Not in your life, especially if I suspected you of attacking my village. Besides, on closer look, it would appear that you have brought many of your specialised ninjutsu users. Kumo will gladly take them off your hands."

The Hokage tensed, giving the Raikage an angry stare, "Over my dead body."

A scoffed at the blonde shinobi and turned his back on the Hokage, walking back quickly to his force. Minato swore under his breath and used Hiraishin to teleport to his wife. Two seconds later, the Konoha army was treated to the amusing image of the Fourth Hokage being unceremoniously kicked out of his tent with a large bump on his head. Kakashi ran up to his teacher and helped him up from the ground. Minato thanked his student, before leaning down next to his ear.

"We are about to engage the Kumo forces. If your unit hasn't finished their task, you are out of time."

The Kakashi clone nodded and put his hands together, vanishing into smoke as Kushina emerged from Minato's tent with a clean set of clothes on.

* * *

><p>Kakashi looked out at the raging storm at the cave entrance as the rest of the group took in the information he had just given them.<p>

"What does that mean?" asked Jito.

Kakashi frowned as he remembered how close Nagisa had said they were to their destination.

"It means we are short on time. We have to go. Now."

He began to pack up their camp as the rest of the group frowned, they knew the storm hadn't passed yet, but they followed suit nonetheless. Kakashi asked Nagisa if she could still track the scent in such weather, to which the quiet Inuzuka simply nodded before going about her business. They packed up quickly before Jito asked the question they all wanted to know.

"How are we going to get through the storm?"

Kakashi stood in front of the older female in the group, "Mikoto, can you do it?"

She grinned at the ground before placing her hands together. She rarely needed to use handseals for her elementary techniques, but with that kind of powerful storm she required precise control.

"How far away are we, Nagisa?" asked Kakashi.

Nagisa pointed to the path up the mountain, as the skin on the back of their necks rose when Mikoto summoned a huge amount of chakra around them.

"If she can keep the storm at bay, should be no more than two hours."

Kakashi nodded grimly, with Jito taking a long breath and Mikoto clapped her hands together as her hair began to waver behind her. Kakashi asked if she was ready, to which she simply smiled and placed her hands out in front of her. Kakashi felt a strange aura, as Mikoto began to walk towards the entrance of the cave. The three of them were forced to stay within a few feet of the young Uchiha matriarch as they stepped out of the cave. Mikoto strained as she kept her hands out in front of them, a small bubble of pressurised air keeping the violent storm away from the group. Nagisa stood just in front of her and led the group up the snow covered mountain, her boots sinking into the snowy ground.

They reached the peak of the mountain range in three hours, covering more distance than they were previously able in the past two days, Kakashi wished he had thought of it earlier, though Mikoto had reminded him that she couldn't keep up the shield for much longer than what they had done. After a particularly harsh steep climb, the four of them rose about the storm and onto the peak area of the mountain. Mikoto gave out a sigh of relief as she dropped the wind shield. Her knees buckled slightly but Jito reached out and pushed her back up, with a comforting pat on the head before regarded their target. A small doorway covered with strange runes and a large sheet of thick ice sat on the strangely smooth surface before them, the four of them hiding behind a large boulder as they regarded the doorway.

There were two dark robed figures standing in front of the doorway, Nagisa tensing up immediately when she saw them. Kakashi went to take a look, but was pulled back behind the rock by Jito as Mikoto stared through the rock with her Sharingan. Jito shook his head and pointed to Kakashi's forehead protector, then at Mikoto. The Jounin understood immediately, uncovering Obito's gift before looking through the rock.

He leant next to Mikoto, "I can't see anything" he whispered.

She nodded with a fearful look in her red eyes, "Me neither. This doesn't make sense."

Jito leant down between the two of them, "They don't have chakra. I've never seen anything like this before."

Kakashi clenched his fists as he tried to understand what they had found. Even civilians had a chakra circulatory system, though they couldn't utilise it properly. For these foes to not have chakra…he didn't know what he was meant to do. It also meant that Jito's genjutsu wouldn't be effective, since that required a chakra circulatory system to manipulate, at least to Kakashi's understanding of genjutsu.

"Anyone have a plan?" asked Kakashi, knowing that their first move would have to take the enemies out before the enemy could retaliate.

The three of them heard a soft footstep behind them, all of them turning at once with weapons prepared. They found themselves confronted by the fur covered kneeling form of their Inuzuka companion.

"Nagisa?" said Kakashi, putting away his kunai as he saw she wasn't hiding with them.

Her hands were covered with blood as the long claws retracted back to her clear nails. Mikoto suppressed a laugh and glanced over the rock, before standing up straight. The two robed figures were lying face down in the snow, with pools of blood flowing from their necks. Kakashi looked as well, before smiling at Nagisa.

"Good work, I guess."

He reached down and pulled back the hood of one of the bodies. He frowned as he saw the plain face of the guard; the only distinguishing marks were a slight red circle around the iris of his eyes. Jito knelt down next to him as Mikoto regarded the ice covered doorway with interest. It wasn't big enough for a building, but Nagisa insisted that the trail ended at their position.

"No distinguishing marks?" asked Jito, taking a look at the other body.

Kakashi shook his head, before writing down some information on a scroll. He wasn't sure if the eyes were important, but he including it regardless.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Kakashi and Jito both jumped back as Mikoto's fire attack slammed into the ice cover. Her commander frowned at her impetuous action, though he was forced to shield himself as she changed the red and orange flame to a light blue. Kakashi was petrified that she would bring down part of the mountain as she continued to increase the intensity of the attack, but before he went to stop her she cancelled the attack and stepped back.

"Well that's odd" she commented, kicking off some melted snow on her boots.

The ice wall hadn't melted at all, despite the intensity of her flames; barely a scratch could be seen on its pure blue form.

"What now?" asked Jito, stabbing at the ice with a kunai, with no visible damage.

The group tried several different ways to destroy the ice, with even Kakashi's Raikiri not breaching it at all.

"Any ideas?" asked Kakashi, frustrated that something like this was keeping him from helping their people.

Mikoto indicated for them to stand back, before placing her hands together.

"That hasn't worked so far, Mikoto."

She ignored Kakashi's comment, and told them once again to stand back. She took several moments with closed eyes before slowly opening her red eyes. Kakashi couldn't see her face, but he felt the same strange chakra that he had seen several times before from her. Mikoto glared at the sleet of ice and muttered a single word.

"Amaterasu"

The ice exploded with pitch black flames, a small trickle of blood came from Mikoto's right eye as the black flames appeared to make short work of the ice barrier. The three of them could only watch in awe as the sleet of ice melted into the ground, but Kakashi noticed that the flames were now covering the doorway itself, though strangely were not burning it. Kakashi went to ask her to get rid of the flames, until he saw her change her handseal and grimace in pain. A long trickle of blood came from her other eye as the flames began to recede until they were gone. Mikoto fell to the ground and clutched at her eyes as both Jito and Kakashi went to help her.

"Are you okay?" asked Kakashi, as Mikoto wiped the blood off her face.

The Uchiha matriarch smiled weakly and struggled to pick herself up from the ground. Kakashi felt the hair stand up on the back of his head, causing him to stand up and turn around. He found himself confronted by another black hooded figure that pressed a single finger on the middle of his forehead protector. Kakashi stared into the strange red-ringed eyes of the enemy, his Sharingan reading a mixture of anger and loneliness in his eyes.

"What do you want?" said Jito, wary of the fact that none of them knew what the man could do, but he wasn't going to just stand there and let him attack his commander.

The man snarled and stared at Kakashi's eyes. He didn't say anything, but his captive could tell there was a deep sorrow in his eyes and that he wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the words. He was cut off as a spinning whirlwind slammed into his side, removing the enemy from touching Kakashi and sending him spinning near the edge of the mountain. Nagisa had the sense to cancel the taijutsu technique before she catapulted off the edge, though the enemy had no such luck, spinning off into the distance with the technique's momentum. The others sighed in relief as Kakashi picked himself up from the ground, shaking the snow off his fur cloak. Nagisa stood up slowly near the edge of the mountainside, grinning wildly. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the young Inuzuka, that was the first time he had seen her smile since the hospital.

"I guess they aren't so tough after all" said Mikoto, taking a look at the doorway before them.

Before they could recover fully though, they felt a large rumbling underneath their feet, as if the mountain itself was protesting their intrusion. Kakashi called out for them to drop to the ground, but with her close position to the edge Nagisa stood no chance of recovering. The snowy ground beneath her feet gave way and she immediately plummeted out of view. Kakashi called out her name and leapt to grab for her, but was pulled back by both Mikoto and Jito. The Jounin called out for Mikoto to help her with a wind technique, but the Uchiha matriarch was already shaking her head. The silver-haired shinobi dropped to his knees as the realisation that she was gone hit him.

"We…need to keep going" said Jito carefully after a few moments, though he was also saddened by the Inuzuka's sudden demise, he had liked the quiet girl.

Kakashi threw off their restraining arms and stole a glance over the edge of the mountain, into the wild freezing storm beneath them. He sighed angrily and said a few silent words before turning back to the two remaining shinobi from his unit. None of them said a word, but they knew how Kakashi felt as he stoically walked up to the doorway. It seemed to be quite ordinary, though the attached building was no larger than ten feet deep and wide. Kakashi checked the door with his Sharingan, and satisfied that there were no traps on it, he grasped the door handle and pulled it open, dragging the wooden frame along the snow-covered ground. He frowned as he saw the insides of the doorway, indicated for both of his companions to look with him. Inside was a dark room, with no distinguishing marks or contents, except for a strange red symbol on the ground that none of them recognised.

"We climbed up the mountain of hell, for this?" commented a frustrated Mikoto.

She had been forced to take a soldier pill to recover her chakra, the wind shield had taken a lot out of her, and using her special doujutsu technique had drained most of her chakra. Kakashi knelt down and examined the red symbol, it didn't look like any seal he had seen before.

Jito knelt on the doorway next to them and indicated to the two bodies behind them, "They were guarding it for a reason. There must be something inside here."

"And Nagisa did lead us here" added Mikoto.

Their commander had a suspicion on what the symbol meant, but it involved risking themselves to test it out. He pictured Nagisa's face just before she fell, and then Obito's as the boulder crushed his body.

_No, I must keep going. There is still one who might be saved._

"Stand inside the doorway, on top of the symbol" he commanded, waiting for the two of them to comply before reached down and slashing at one of the bodies with a kunai.

His two companions instantly understood what he was doing, and prepared themselves and he stepped onto the symbol with them and let several drops of the foe's blood drip onto the red symbol. He held his breath as the symbol began to glow before shining brighter than they could bear, forcing them to close their eyes. Kakashi felt a strange hook-like tug on his naval, and wished he hadn't eaten anything beforehand as he was wrenched away by a strange force.

Being the student of the Yellow Flash, Kakashi was more attuned to being teleported than Mikoto and Jito, but even he felt an urge to throw up his stomach contents as they were dumped onto a cold stone floor. Mikoto and Kakashi were up instantly, Kakashi with a kunai in hand while Mikoto had her hands covered in blue flames. Their companion groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, standing up slowly while holding a sore arm. After a few seconds they realised that the room was empty, though they didn't drop their guards. The room was huge, its walls lined with candles. None of them could sense any enemies in the nearby vicinity, but Kakashi didn't trust his own abilities considering the guards at the peak of the mountain.

"What are your orders?" asked Mikoto.

Kakashi took a look around the room, seeing only one open hallway that connected to the room they were in. Just behind them was a red symbol identical to the previous one on the ground. He didn't know where they had been teleported to, but it would be reasonable to expect that symbol to take them back to the mountain peak. Kakashi turned to his two subordinates, again wishing that his teacher was here in his place, he would know what to do.

He took a deep breath, "We are here to find our people. I don't know where we are or what has happened to them, but their safety is paramount. However we also need information, both on who kidnapped our people and why. We are to stay together. Nobody else will die under my command."

The two of them nodded grimly and moved to stand just behind Kakashi, letting him take the lead since Nagisa was no longer with them. He let himself smile for a split second before adopting a serious expression and running towards the open hallway before them. The hallway seemed to extend forever, though as they sprinted cautiously down it Kakashi felt a strange sense of foreboding in his gut. They slowed down their pace as the hallway expanded into an open room identical to the one they entered in. Kakashi frowned as he felt the hair stood up on the back of his neck.

"Something's coming" he warned, his companions preparing defensive stances and weaponry.

A short distance away from them, the air appeared to ripple and stretch, forcing the Konoha shinobi to jump back cautiously. The dark space in front of them seemed to rip apart as a hooded figure appeared from the opening void, regarding the group with a strangely calm expression. It took Kakashi a moment before realising that the hooded figure was a woman, and even though her face was mostly covered by the hood he could see that her eyes were a clear ice blue colour, with no irises at all. She was fairly pretty, but there was a cold nature that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

He pointed his kunai at her threateningly, "Who are you?"

The figure reached up with slender arms and pulled back her head, revealing an oddly peaceful expression and long milky-white hair. She didn't smile, but Kakashi could tell that she was in no way intimidated by their group. She took a step forward towards their group, showing them her pale skinned bare feet as she stepped lightly on the stone floor, unhindered by the cold temperature of the room. She opened her mouth slightly and her voice was surprisingly soft, it reminded Kakashi of how Nagisa used to speak.

"Shinobi…you are more persistent than we expected."

"Where have you taken our people?" demanded Kakashi, unsettled by the fact that he couldn't sense any chakra from the woman, or any killer intent, yet he wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere.

She slowly turned her ice-blue gaze to the short Jounin, "Does it matter? You will continue to kill and burn wherever you go. Shinobi are all the same."

Jito leant down next to Kakashi, "Don't bother. She stinks of brainwashing."

The woman frowned and turned her gaze to Jito.

"I am not brainwashed, shinobi. It does not surprise me that you believe that you must be in the right."

She moved a step backwards and placed one foot behind the other, "It falls to me to show you why your kind's time is ending. Might does not make right, shinobi."

Kakashi tensed his hand clenching the kunai, indicating for Jito to be quiet. There was no point in talking with the woman; he recognised blind hate when it was put in front of him. But he was a Jounin, and both Mikoto and Jito were either at or beyond his level anyway, so he was not concerned about their ability to defend themselves against one enemy, especially one without chakra. Though the fact that she wasn't taken back by the three of them, unsettled him. He gave Mikoto the slightest of nods before putting away his kunai and placing his hands into a handseal. The woman looked down at his hands before letting off a tired sigh of exasperation. Mikoto manoeuvred her hands in overly dramatic gestures as Kakashi completed his handseals.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Element: Dragon Fire Technique)

A large line of fire shot from Kakashi straight at the woman, greatly enhanced by Mikoto's wind technique, slamming into their enemy with a force that nearly knocked the three Konoha shinobi over. The flames covered their enemy for a few seconds before Kakashi cut off the technique, knowing that they needed to capture her alive not kill her, despite how much he would like to. His eyes widened as she stood unmoved from her position, without a single mark on her or her clothes.

She let out a slow breath, "Was that all? Poor shinobi, always relying on your precious chakra."

Mikoto frowned and flicked two of her fingers at her, sending two highly condensed bursts of air at her with a speed that only those with the Sharingan could likely pick up. She didn't even flinch as the air bullets screamed towards her, and then faded out into nothing as they reached her. Kakashi's Sharingan wasn't picking up any chakra signals from Mikoto's attack as it struck at the female enemy.

"Who the hell is she?" asked Mikoto.

The others didn't respond, but Kakashi drew his kunai again and held it up defensively. Their enemy had made no motion to attack them at all; she seemed perfectly content to let them beat their heads against her.

_If chakra attacks don't work, then…_

He sped towards her, leaping up into the air and slashing at her face, whilst attempting to drive a foot into her stomach. With the slightest of movements, the woman pressed a finger into Kakashi's kunai-holding hand and moving her slender form so that Kakashi's foot barely missed her. He felt his strength and chakra vanish at her soft touch, and for a short time he couldn't move his muscles at all, causing him to fall awkwardly behind her. He swore and struggled to pick himself up from the ground, his legs not responding properly to his commands. He tried to power himself up by using a small amount of chakra, but as he moulded it he felt a sharp stinging pain up his spine.

Kakashi stopped struggling and took a deep breath, concentrating on working his muscles slowly, placing a single foot flat on the ground and finally picked himself up from the ground. He turned his head back to the female enemy, his eyes widening in anger as he saw the two fallen forms of his companions, though he let out a breath of relief as his Sharingan showed him they were still breathing, though their chakra levels appeared to be as distorted as his was. The robed woman cocked her head curiously at him as she reached up and pulled her hood back over her head.

"You recover quickly. You may be of more use than anticipated, Hatake Kakashi."

She smiled as his confusion on how she knew his name, which only served to make her appear even more unsettling. She walked up to him slowly, Kakashi finding himself unable to move his legs as she approached him. She reached down and ran a finger across his chin, still keeping up her strangely calm smile. Kakashi found himself frozen as she placed two fingers in the middle of his forehead protector. For one of the first times in his life, Kakashi was petrified for his life, as he understood the difference between this woman and the guards on the mountain peak, and that there was a fate he couldn't imagine suffering. The woman dropped her smile, whilst still keeping her fingers on his forehead; she seemed to have a vacant look in her eyes, more seeing past him then at him.

"It cannot wait?" she asked, seemingly to nobody. "The experiment is complete…yes…no, this stage was a success…no, that was not a factor, we had better specimens…we were able to compensate for that…no it's not a problem…yes, I'll be right there."

Her eyes refocused and she stared back at Kakashi, her strange calm face back on as she removed her fingers and took a step back from him. Kakashi dropped to his knees as all of his senses activated at once, sending shockwaves of pain up his back as both Jito and Mikoto groaned in pain. The woman waved a hand to her side, the air in front of it seemingly ripping apart, as they had seen on her arrival. She turned to face him once again, her ice-blue eyes connecting with his black and red eyes.

"You are a fortunate shinobi. We are finished here regardless, so this battle is meaningless. But I will issue this warning. What you will find in here, is the result of your world. Never forget that as powerful as your world may be, you are not righteous. When the end comes, none shall weep at your graves."

She placed a foot into the torn space and disappeared as quickly as appeared, causing the very confused Kakashi to drop face-first into the floor, his strength completely spent.

"I think he's coming around."

"We can't linger here, Mikoto."

"We aren't leaving him here."

"I wasn't suggesting that…"

Kakashi groaned softly as he tried to feel around with his hands. His eyes opened slowly as his two companions stopped arguing and bent down to help him. He grimaced as they helped him to his feet, testing his weight on his feet before thanking them for their help.

"Are you okay?" asked Mikoto, her concern clearly evident on her face.

Jito made no comment and stared at him with a neutral expression, but Kakashi could tell he was relieved at his recover. Kakashi widened his eyes as his vision returned to him, and felt immediately relieved as his Sharingan showed his the blue chakra outlines of his two subordinates.

"I'm fine. How long was I out?"

The two of them looked at each other and shrugged.

"We don't know. It's impossible to tell time in here" said Jito.

Kakashi took a few moments to make sure that he had recovered to a reasonable extent, running some chakra down his arms to make sure that he still could mould chakra. He looked around the room quickly, though he realised that their foe was long gone. He didn't know why she hadn't taken them out, but her last statement weighed heavily on him.

_She wanted us to see something. But what…_

A terrible thought came to his mind, which explained much of what had happened, but Kakashi banished it from his mind.

_I can't let myself believe that. Not until we find the others. If we find them._

He stretched out his arms before turning to face the opposite side of the room, the only way for them to proceed forward. He didn't say anything, but began running towards the opening. Jito and Mikoto shared a concerned look before they joined behind him.

It was in the third adjoining room in the hallway that they began to find the bodies. Kakashi heart dropped immediately as they rolled over the first body, recognising a young medic that had healed Kakashi after the battle with the Suna shinobi. Mikoto and Jito knelt down next to another body, sighing as Mikoto recognised a nurse from the hospital. Jito reached down and opened the nurse's eyes, frowning as Kakashi did the same with the medic.

"Are his the same?" asked Jito, Kakashi nodding as he laid the boy back down onto the ground.

"The same eyes as the guards on the mountain peak?" asked Mikoto.

The two of them nodded as they all stood up and regarded the two bodies. Kakashi couldn't tell what had killed the Konoha medic and nurse, though there eyes weren't completely identical to the guards Nagisa had taken out, the outlines on their eyes were not totally flush red.

"We should keep looking" said Kakashi grimly.

"What about the bodies?" asked Mikoto; not wanting to leave their fallen comrades remains behind.

He was forced to shake his head in refusal, "We have more important priorities."

She didn't seem happy with his decision, but understood why they had to move on.

After ten rooms of a similar nature, Kakashi was tempted to scrub the mission altogether, but a stinging pain in his left eye reminded him of his duty. They had come too far to give up now, though his positive thoughts were few and far between. They came to the end of the hallway and a standard wooden door that looked fairly out of place considering the rest of the facility.

"End of the line" commented Jito as they regarded the door suspiciously.

Satisfied that there were no traps on the door, Kakashi did a mental count of how many bodies they had identified, all of them bearing the same eye markings as the first corpses.

_There are twenty-four still unaccounted for, not including…_

He took a long breath before reached down and twisting the knob, throwing the door open as the three of them walked in slowly. The room was different than the other ones they had examined. There were no marks to show how the other Konoha civilians had been killed, but the three Konoha shinobi felt their stomachs turn over immediately upon seeing the state of the room they had entered. The floor was littered with bodies, if they could be called such, with not a single spot of floor not drenched in blood.

But as they saw, it wasn't just blood; the whole floor was lined with organs and other unspeakable parts that Kakashi wished he never saw. Three Sharingan eyes looked over the room as Jito made an attempt to recognise some of the disembodied faces near the doorway. They took a few moments to take in the scene, Mikoto dropping to her knees as she recognised two faces pasted against a nearby wall, unable to keep her guts within her stomach as she retched onto the floor. Kakashi knelt down onto one knee and placed a hand onto a small pool of blood, letting his fingers pick up some of the red liquid before placing it near his nose.

"Something is wrong here" he said as he wiped the blood on his sleeve.

Jito shook his head, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"That's the understatement of the century."

Kakashi went to give them an order to search the room, but his attention was drawn to a dark corner at the back of the room as a section of body parts shifted slightly. The Jounin tensed instantly, drawing a kunai before giving his companions two quick hand signals. They were ready instantly, Jito signalling a friendly or foe question with his hands. Kakashi gave an unsure signal as the body parts shifted again, this time a larger movement as they came apart to reveal a blood drenched shadowy figure. They couldn't tell whether the figure was clothed or not, but as it rose they saw it was definitely human shaped. The figure turned as it seemed to notice the three of them for the first time, a seemingly vacant pair of eyes regarding them with disinterest. Kakashi frowned as he stared into the ice-blue lined brown irises, knowing that whatever this was, it likely killed all the Konoha civilians in that room.

_This is the last room. Were we too late? Did we ever have a chance of rescuing them?_

The figure slowly came more into view, with blood dripping from its outline as the residual body parts slid off it. Kakashi felt a sharp agony in his chest as the figure took a single step towards them, sliding a slender leg between corpses on the ground. He couldn't see most of the figure's features, but as the blood dripped off its face, two dark red rectangular marks caused all hope to fade from the silver-haired teenager's heart.

"No…not you…"

He took a step back as his Sharingan showed a shimmering blackish-blue outline around the figure as his normal eye watched the short figure appear fully in their vision with a dead expression on its face.

"Kakashi…do you know this person?" asked Mikoto, her hands alight with trembling light blue fire.

The Jounin took a step back as next to him Jito ran through a fast set of handseals before activating a technique. He swore as it was clear that his genjutsu had no effect on the figure, pulling out a kunai to defend himself.

Kakashi felt a tear come to his normal eye, "Don't make me do this…not this…"

The figure jerked its head sharply as its eyes rested on Kakashi's, before it took another step towards him, its short brown hair coming apart as blood dripped from its tips. Kakashi felt a tear of blood drop from his Sharingan, as his hands began to shake.

"Rin…"

The figure frowned as she heard the name, stopping in her approach as her eyes flickered from their ice-blue outline to her normal brown eyes, and for a moment Kakashi could have sworn that there was something of his old friend in there, but her eyes flickered back before he could find anything out. Her gore covered arms rose slowly from her sides as a black aura began to emerge from her skin. Mikoto went to throw a ball of fire at their enemy, but Kakashi shook his head and ordered her to fall back, putting away his kunai again and placing his hands together. Rin began to shamble slowly towards the three of them as Mikoto and Jito took a step back to let Kakashi activate his technique. He dropped his gaze sadly as his hand began to light up with deafening thunder. He looked back up at her, but instead of his childhood friend that his friend had confessed to loving, all he could see was a reproachable foe covered with the entrails of his village's civilians.

_There aren't any words that can be said. __I…I'm sorry, Obito. I couldn't save her…_

His Sharingan began to track her movements as she moved quicker towards him with her arms raised, covered by a black aura of chakra, which seemed to flicker and fade between movements.

_T__his isn't her. Rin is dead. _

He knew that there might be a chance for her to come back to them, but he also knew Rin wouldn't likely be able to recover from the trauma of the knowledge that she had killed so many people, particularly her friends and companions. Kakashi took a slow breath and pushed off his back foot, shooting forward with a speed he wished he didn't require. Not caring who he was, Rin swung a black chakra-covered arm at his head with speed that she had not possessed before her capture. Obito's gift read the movement easily, Kakashi ducking underneath the attack and swerving out of the way of her other arm before positioning his arm and lightning attack at her chest. He didn't feel the attack strike, rather he felt a strange warm feeling up his arm as her arms drooped to her sides and her eyes flickered back to dark brown. Her body fell limb as Kakashi removed his hand from her chest. She coughed blood onto his face as the two of them fell to the ground. Rin stared at Kakashi's eyes for a few seconds as her life began to ebb away.

Her lips came apart slightly as she muttered softly, "Wh…wh…"

"What is it, Rin?" asked Kakashi, gently lowering her head onto the ground.

She coughed again and struggled to find her voice as tears slowly fell from Kakashi's face. Her face broke into a confused frown that Kakashi felt his heart break at.

"Wh…why?"

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fell limb in his arms. Kakashi felt a strange emptiness in place of where his grief should have been. He grimaced as a sharp pain suddenly struck him in his left eye; his chakra levels fluctuating wildly at the image of the dead girl burned itself into his mind. He threw back his head and screamed an unholy sound as blood continued to pour from his new eye, unable to move voluntarily as he began to thrash about on top of Rin's corpse. Mikoto's eyes widened as she recognised what was happening to her commander and she ran towards him immediately.

"Jito! Restrain him with a genjutsu quickly!"

The Senju shinobi quickly placed his hands together and Kakashi jerked up onto his feet, before falling to his knees immobile. His screaming was cut off as Mikoto leant down opposite his face. She stared at his eyes with grim fascination as she placed a caring hand on his cheek.

"At such a young age…"

Jito knelt down beside his Uchiha companion, "What happened to him?"

He knew what grief did to shinobi on the battlefield from experience, but Kakashi's reaction to his friend's death was bizarre even to the elder Senju. Mikoto reached up and pointed to Kakashi's left eye that seemed to be fluctuating between its three-tomoed form and a sharp triangle black shape before going back to its normal shape.

"His Sharingan is evolving into the next stage. But…at such a young age…his mind can't handle it."

"So what do we do?" asked Jito.

Mikoto shrugged, "I have no idea. This has never happened before, especially not with a non-Uchiha."

They took several minutes to figure out what they should do as Kakashi's body struggled against the restraining illusion. Jito looked around the room before standing up slowly. Their mission had been a failure, but they couldn't bring back information about this tragedy to Konoha. The blow to moral would be devastating, enough to cause them to pull out of the war altogether, which would not end well for the Land of Fire.

He turned to Mikoto, "Our mission isn't over, Mikoto. We have to find out more about who did this."

She frowned and stood up to face him. Kakashi was still immobile but conscious, his mind broken into several pieces.

"We are in no position to do so, Jito. Nagisa is dead, Kakashi is in no state of mind to do anything, and to be honest I think we are out of our depth."

"Then I'll do it myself. I'll search this place some more for clues then I'll pursue them. You take Kakashi back to the village."

"That's absurd! You have to come back with us!"

Jito shook his head as he placed his hands together in a handseal that Mikoto didn't recognise. Their commander jerked up into the air as his eyes stayed eerily open. The Uchiha matriarch questioned what he was doing, but Jito shook his head to indicate that he needed to concentrate.

He placed both hands on top of Kakashi's head before closing his eyes, "Magen: Risetto" (Demonic Illusion: Reset).

His subject dropped to the ground as Mikoto struggled to keep him from striking the ground awkwardly.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Take him back to the village, Mikoto. Do not mention any of this; tell the Hokage that Kakashi was forced to scrub the mission once the trail went cold."

"And you?"

Jito gave her a rare smile as he looked down at his gloved hands.

"I was never going to return to the village in the first place. At least this way I can be of some use."

They continued to converse, but Kakashi couldn't feel anything as his vision darkened before he collapsed completely in Mikoto's arms.

***End MEGA-Flashback***

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And with that, the Third Shinobi War section is finished. Took longer than I had initially intended, sorry about that. But it all ties in to the main story. And just a point of interest, I'm not finished with the OCs from this arc.

At the start of the next chapter I'm putting in a very basic summary of what has happened so far. I do recommend you read back if you've missed it though, as there may be stuff happening you won't understand unless you've read the previous chapters.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Love Hina. Want to know where harems originated from? This is it. Well probably not, but this anime is great. Funny, good characters, even if the main character is a complete sissy. If you like Tsundere characters, your god exists in this anime.


	14. Chapter 13 Recuperation

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 13 – Recuperation

**A/N**: I'm putting in a summary of the past twelve chapters, so that if you are new to the story you can catch up and read on. But I definitely recommend reading the previous chapters beforehand, as there will be lots of things that you will miss. After this, there will a 'previously on' summary at the start of each chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Konoha 11 would act their ages.

* * *

><p>***Summary***<p>

Upon their return from the Chuunin Exams in Suna, the Konoha Genin and their teachers discover that there has been an attack on their village of Konoha. There was no trace of the village, or its villagers, with only a large crater remaining. Devastated by the destruction of their village, the group fled the ruins whilst claiming a hidden cache of their family techniques. Naruto learns of his father, and works on perfecting the Hiraishin, though he cannot fully complete the technique.

The group stops at a small village with Tenten's father, and Naruto learns of Hinata's love for him accidently. Tenten decides to stay with her father, and Asuma and Kurenai made the decision to stop fighting and settle down together. The group then travelled to an Uchiha hideout to get Sasuke his family's techniques, and they learnt of the Uchiha's planned coup. However as they do so, they are confronted by Uchiha Itachi, who traps Sasuke in Tsukuyomi and explains what happened on that night, since Sasuke found out about the coup. The group accepts that Itachi is not their enemy, and he asks Naruto to find his contact, Jiraiya. Naruto returns with Tsunade's assistant and Jiraiya's body, the group learning that the two Sannin had confronted their ex-companion and, enraged by Tsunade's death at Orochimaru's hand, Jiraiya sacrificed himself to kill the Snake Sannin.

Itachi then lays out a plan to take out his organisation from the inside, and the plan involved extracting the Kyuubi from Naruto early. The plan succeeds and Naruto survives the process, though the two of them are followed by four Akatsuki members. The Konoha shinobi won the battle, though at the expense of their friend Maito Gai's life. The group was forced to reconsider their motivations, until Naruto suggested they visit the ruins of his mother's village, in the hope of perhaps starting up a new village.

However, on the road, Kakashi and Itachi work together in an attempt to unlock Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan by delving into his blocked memories. The two of them discover Kakashi's adventures in the Third Shinobi War, commanding his unit with Itachi and Sasuke's mother, the son of the Second Hokage, and a quiet shadowy female Inuzuka shinobi. Kakashi fought with a strange unknown organisation that had kidnapped and brainwashed Konoha's medical corps, forcing Kakashi to kill his childhood friend Rin. With that, the two Jounin have woken up from their technique, but things are not as they were.

***End Summary***

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><p>The two Konoha Jounin opened their eyes at the same time, and for a few seconds were able to perceive their surroundings before both of their eyes rolled into the back of their heads and they fell to the ground unconscious.<p>

Several hours later, Kakashi felt himself stir from the seemingly endless dream, coughing violently into the ground beneath him. He noticed a bottle of water being placed in front of him, taking it without response, taking a long draught before opening his eyes again.

"Good to have you back amongst the living" said a female voice.

Kakashi struggled to find the source of the voice, his vision blurring slightly before returning to its normal state. A few feet away knelt his two Jounin companions, Shizune smiling tiredly at him as Itachi was struggling to stand up from the ground. He turned his gaze to his Uchiha companion, Itachi widening his eyes to try and get his bearings before staring into Kakashi's Sharingan. The look only lasted a moment, but with the slightest nod he got the sense that they had been successful, though only time would tell. He frowned as he noticed the dark sky, seeing that Itachi was disturbed by the same thing. It had been midday when Itachi had activated the technique, yet they could tell that it was closer to the dead of night.

"I guess it took longer than an hour, Itachi."

He heard Shizune snort at his comment, but paid no heed as he thought about what they had seen. He knew that Rin had been killed at the same time as the penultimate battle of the Third Shinobi War, but everything after Obito's funeral had been a blur until now.

_Rin…damnit…would that I could forget that once more. _

He understood why Jito had wiped his memories, though he questioned his motives for leaving the village. It was irrelevant now, but it was something he would have to look into if he got the time in the future. Oddly while he felt horrendous about what had happened to his childhood friend, he didn't feel the seething hatred that Itachi had described he felt when he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. It had also never occurred to him that Uchiha Mikoto had been so close to him or that she had the Mangekyou herself. They had barely interacted in his normal memories, though as he recalled it whenever he saw her at important Jounin meetings with Fugaku she had a distant look in her eyes. Across from him Itachi thanked Shizune for her help, feeling a strange weak feeling in his legs as he took in a better account of his surroundings. His red eyes were drawn towards the night sky, as he frowned at the image he saw.

"This doesn't make sense…" he said idly.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi.

The Uchiha survivor pointed a robed hand at the small moon image off in the distance.

"The moon has gotten smaller. If my estimation is correct, we were in the technique for several weeks."

Shizune snorted again, this time it drew their attention properly, the two of them taking a serious look at their fellow Jounin. Her black hair was tied into two loose ponytails that hung at her back, and she was wearing Tsunade's crystal necklace that she taken as a memento of her master around her neck.

"You grew out your hair" said Kakashi with a smile.

He hadn't said anything about it, but he had been worried about the medic for a while. She had been acting quieter and quieter since they had met, and he knew from personal experience that grief never leaves you. The scars never heal fully; they simply ache less at times. Shizune tried to hide a slight blush and failed, embarrassed at the attention they were paying her, she was never one to be the centre of attention.

"How long were we out?' asked Itachi, noticing immediately that he was starving and his throat was dry.

Shizune placed her hands on her hips, trying to put on an angry Tsunade face and failing, she just wasn't a particularly angry person. Kakashi frowned as he saw her face.

"Was it bad?" he asked.

She sighed loudly as behind the two of them she noticed a small squirrel stare at her for several seconds before disappearing in a small cloud of white smoke.

_Good. He'll tell the others. _

She turned and faced the two tired Jounin with a frustrated look on her face, asking the question that had plagued the group since they had found the two of them suspending in the strange trance.

"What were the two of you doing?" she asked, wanting to know that answer before she told them how long they had been out.

The two male Jounin shared a look, before Kakashi gave Itachi an indicator that she had a right to know. The elder Uchiha took a long breath; there was a lot to tell.

"You must be joking. That cannot be right."

Itachi was silent as Kakashi was trying to convince Shizune that she was lying to them. The technique was clearly incomplete, in Itachi's mind. He had experienced everything as Kakashi had, but it had taken them from the very beginning to do so. They had expected to simply experience the traumatic event and go from there, showing Itachi that he would need to refine the technique before using it again, if he ever did. But if Shizune was correct…their timeline was thrown completely out of wack.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but that's the truth of it" said Shizune, creating a Kage Bunshin to help her assist them back to the town, which was several miles away.

The silver-haired Jounin shook his head in amazement as he pulled down the cloth headband he wore around his forehead to cover Obito's gift. Before they went under, Itachi had told him that having the ability to activate the Mangekyou Sharingan and actually activating it were two very different things.

"So how are the others then? Are they still around?"

"Yes, though they are at their wits end. Any more time and I think they may have considering moving on, on their own" replied the original Shizune.

Itachi looked at the mountainside in the dark for a few moments before turning to his companions, "We should depart. Kakashi and I need to recover, and we need to get moving. We shouldn't have been in one place for so long; we still have enemies out there."

Shizune placed his arm around her shoulder as it was clear that neither of them could walk easily, as her clone did the same with Kakashi. He was still struggling to contain his disbelief at their situation.

"It's so hard to believe. Six months…"

"She was smiling…"

Both Shizunes and Kakashi turned to face their companion with curious looks on their faces at Itachi's muttering. The Sharingan user immediately waved his hands to tell them it was nothing to worry about, but couldn't keep a distance look from his face.

_I don't understand at all. The person my mother was in Kakashi's memories, along with my own memories of her would never have plotted with Fugaku to overthrow Konoha. By rights, she hated Fugaku, but was forced to play the dutiful wife. Why did she let me…_

He shook himself out of it, bringing back his stoic mask as Shizune attempted to catch them up to speed on what they had missed. They hadn't been willing to risk moving the two of them for fear it might harm them, so the group had been stuck in a nearby town for the six months they were preoccupied, with each of them rotating through watching the two of them for any changes. Kakashi asked Shizune whether she had heard anything about the other villages, but none of them had heard anything about the villages. Without a spy network or shinobi to run interference, the group was running virtually blind.

The Konoha shinobi had stayed within a small distance around the town, though after four months of inactivity Shizune had sent Neji and Shino to survey the outer regions of the countryside. They turned a corner on the mountain road and the two male Jounin looked over the town for the first time. It was a small affair, and their keen eyes were able to tell that it had been partially rebuilt recently.

"Seems kind of, quant" said Kakashi.

His female companion shrugged, "It's a decent place, of sorts. If I wasn't a shinobi, this would be the sort of place I might stay at. But after six months of waiting, I'll be glad to see the back of it."

"We should keep moving" said a tired Itachi.

* * *

><p>Shizune and her clone helped the two Jounin into the main room of their hotel, frowning as she saw the empty room covered in messy clothes and rubbish.<p>

"Did we miss something?" commented an amused Itachi.

The Shizune clone that was holding him up sighed and helped him down into a seat. The original Shizune helped a tired Kakashi onto a cushion and dismissed her shadow clone before standing against the door.

"Don't blame me for this. You two left me with eleven teenagers and nothing to occupy them with. What did you expect?"

Kakashi smiled weakly at her as he tested the strength in his arms. It would take the two of them a few days before they were able to travel again, or at least when Shizune would be willing to let them travel. Fresh from his old memories, she reminded the two of them of Kushina, at least when the red-haired shinobi was in a good mood. The door swung open again, and even without seeing who was about to enter, Itachi allowed himself a slight smile.

"Nii-san!"

Across from the elder Uchiha, Kakashi's single eye widened as he watched Sasuke enter the room with a relieved smile on his face. The younger Uchiha had his red Sharingan activated, though Kakashi could barely read the chakra he was giving off. Sasuke hadn't changed much since they had been frozen in place, though the Jounin noted that he had gotten taller and his arms were covered in bandages. He moved over and sat down next to his brother, checking to make sure that Itachi wasn't injured before asking the two of them what had happened.

Itachi shook his head, telling his younger brother that he should wait for the whole group before they explain what had happened to them. On the road to the village, the two of them had decided not to tell any of them about Kakashi's memories, though Itachi expressed an interest in talking to his brother about what their mother was like before she was a housewife. They could tell Naruto what his parents were like, but they remembered that he had met them when the Kyuubi had been extracted, so that wasn't a high priority.

"I'll go look for the others" said Shizune before she left the room.

She would never admit it to the two of them, but she had been days away from attempting to move them, which could have ended badly for the both of them. The technique had suspended them in such a way that they hadn't required sustenance, though they had some slight muscle atrophy. Itachi began telling Sasuke about their mother's adventures as a shinobi, the younger Uchiha immediately enthralled by the tale, not even questioning why Itachi was telling him.

Kakashi sensed two figures approaching the room, relaxing as he recognised two of their companions as they entered the room. Chouji seemed surprised at their recovery, though his companion Ino didn't register too much of a reaction. The Akimichi heir had gotten both taller and wider, and his outfit was complimented by shoulder plates and wrist guards that he hadn't had before. Ino, on the other hand, hadn't grown much taller, though her outfit had gotten more revealing as she developed physically. Her blonde hair reached past her backside and still covered one of her eyes, though she had tied it into two long ponytails behind her, Itachi noticing with interest that she had several weapons hidden within the yellow hair.

"You took your time getting here" she said as she took a seat near the end of the table.

Chouji reached into his pack and pulled out a pack of chips before plopping down next to his female companion.

"That's not fair, Ino. You sensed them over an hour ago, but you still decided to go into that clothes store."

She glared at him with cold blue eyes, "They were having a sale, Chouji. I didn't see you complaining, you seemed quite happy to talk to the girl at the counter."

The Akimichi heir had the grace to blush as he thought of the young dimple-faced girl who shared his love of quality food. The Jounin felt themselves grin as the teenagers chatted away as if nothing had changed, although as Itachi finished his story about his mother to Sasuke he could tell that they were bored out of their minds.

Half an hour later, the group was joined by their lazy companion, Shikamaru sighing as he entered the room.

"I guess that means our break is over. How troublesome."

He sat down next to his large teammate, reaching down into Chouji's bag of chips before shovelling the barbeque flavoured snack into his mouth. His ponytail had grown slightly and there was a slight darkening under his chin. Kakashi smiled at he began to see the Nara heir's father in his young face, though he didn't have the scars that Shikaku did.

He turned to Kakashi with a tired look, "Did you find what you needed?"

The silver-haired Jounin frowned slowly at the question, knowing that Shikamaru had likely figured out what they were doing but they knew he hadn't disclosed it to the others, since they had no idea what had happened between Kakashi and Itachi. The elder Uchiha gave him the slightest of nods in acknowledgement, watching in fascination as Shikamaru took a glance at Kakashi's covered eye before turning to talk to his teammates. Itachi shook his head slightly; he knew that Shikamaru was intelligent, but he hadn't expected that level of perception from the shadow-user.

"Where are the others?" asked Kakashi, anxious to get his recovery started so they could get moving.

As if they had anticipated his question, three more of their group entered the room, all of them looking like they had just gone through a dozen trials of hell.

"Kakashi-sensei!" said Sakura, wiping a sweaty hand on her new outfit as she stood over her teacher.

She gave him a quick overlook before deducing that he wasn't injured, taking a long draught from a glass of water on the table. On his query, she explained that she had been forced to throw away her qigong dress that had been destroyed during her training, and had replaced it with a dark red sleeveless shirt and skin tight black pants, with a crème white skirt over the top. She immediately began blitzing him with questions about what they were doing and why it had taken so long.

"Give the man a break, Sakura-san" said a strict voice.

She turned back to the doorway, "I just want to know if it was worth six months, Lee."

The green-clad teenager shrugged and walked next to his female training partner before leaning an arm on her shoulder. She used to balk at his habit of doing that, but he had tastefully reminded her it was her price for being short. The group had found out quickly that the only person immune to Sakura's instant fiery temper was the taijutsu user, Sasuke and Naruto still bore scars from her rage-induced attacks. The convenient fact about Lee's jumpsuit was that it stretched to fit his growing frame, though they noticed that in the time they were preoccupied Lee had taken to wearing Gai's old flak jacket. His staff had been upgraded with red spiked armour, and he wore a pair of nunchaku on his belt.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw the third member of their group enter the room, though it was less about the Inuzuka and more about how large his white companion had become. Kiba barked out a short laugh as Akamaru went over to Itachi and sniffed him, taking a moment before reaching up and licking him flush on the face and trotting over to Kakashi before doing the same. Itachi grimaced and wiped the slobber off his face as Kakashi tried to push away the large white dog and failed, to the amusement of the rest of the group. Kiba moved his tail upwards and sat on a cushion next between Sasuke and Ino, his dog companion trotting around the table before leaning his white head on Kiba's lap.

"What on earth have you been feeding him, Kiba?" asked Sasuke as Akamaru growled softly while Ino rubbed his head affectionately.

The Inuzuka heir laughed loudly and patted his companion on the side of his dense fur. He had been out of the town frequently, enjoying the countryside with his canine companion, and hadn't spent much time with the rest of the group. Akamaru had tripled in size over the past months, but Kiba had found that he didn't have to feed the white dog at all; Akamaru had a penchant for hunting small animals in the forests outside the town.

"Where are the others?" asked Kiba, mirroring Kakashi's earlier question, whilst also ignoring Sasuke's question.

Sakura looked at the setting sun outside the room, "Neji and Shino are out of town and won't be back for two days. But the other two…"

"They should be finishing up about now, right?" said Lee next to her.

The teenagers around the room nodded in unison, but Kakashi and Itachi had no idea what they were talking about. They were happy that the group didn't hate them for the delay, though they knew the biggest obstacle was to come.

They heard Naruto long before they saw him, though not in his usual capacity. The group was chatting amongst themselves but went quiet as they heard a loud thump at the entrance to the building. The Konoha shinobi were treated to a colourful display of thumping sounds and loud swearing as the sounds came closer and closer to the room.

"Ah…no…that's not…come on I was nearly…just one more…"

The doors to the main room slammed open and Naruto was unceremoniously thrown onto the floor in front of the large table. Shizune stood at the entrance with a triumphant look on her face as the blonde shinobi clutched at his sore head.

"You didn't have to drag me here, Nee-chan. I was on my way…"

The medic scoffed at his statement with her hands on her hips, "Naruto, you were sitting in the ramen shop, eating your ninth bowl!"

The orange-clad shinobi turned around to face her with a solemn look on his face, "But I have to eat there all time! I'm their only client in this village, so they have to make money somehow."

"I'm sure it's more because of how is working there, than what they are serving" commented Sasuke, earning him a harsh look from his teammate.

"And who has been rebuilding the town since you nearly destroyed it five months ago?" said Naruto as he picked himself up from the ground.

He had grown taller as well, but it wasn't his height that drew his teacher's attention. The Uzumaki shinobi hadn't needed to change his pants, but was wearing a bright orange headband that went all the way down his back. His hair had grown out slightly, and the two of them were struck by how much he resembled his father with his yellow bangs near his cheeks. The days had gotten hotter over the months, and Naruto hated the heat, so he wasn't wearing a shirt or a singlet. Kakashi was impressed as he saw how hard Naruto had been working, though the number of scars on his chest was frightening.

"Nice to see you haven't changed, Naruto" observed an amused Kakashi.

His student turned around and grinned at the tired-looking Jounin.

"You guys took your time getting here from the mountain. Hope it was worth it, six months is a damn long time."

A slow smile grew on his face as he leaned against the wall next to the door, his eyes looking over at the doorway as Shizune sat down next to Kakashi with a tired sigh. He asked her why she seemed so tired, to which the medic simply rubbed her eyes and told him he had no idea what she been dealing with. The door opened slowly as the last of the group entered the room, closing the wooden door behind her, as one of the few of the group who tried to keep things tidy. She gave the two Jounin a slight respectful bow with a slight smile. Hinata had changed from her small hooded jacket to a long lavender purple jacket with dark shorts, though to the Jounin's confusion she was wearing a long white apron.

The Hyuuga heir stepped to the side and leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder, letting her waist-length dark blue hair fall around his arm. The blonde shinobi leaned down and kissed her on the top of her hair before smiling at the two surprised Jounin.

"It would seem that we have missed out on a fair amount" observed Itachi, causing some of the group to smile whilst others simply rolled their eyes.

Hinata blushed at the attention, though Naruto didn't seem to mind it. He asked Itachi why they had taken so long, to which the two Jounin shared a look before glancing at Shizune, the medic indicating that everyone was now there. The elder Itachi took a long breath; it was going to be a difficult sell.

* * *

><p>The next day, Naruto grimaced as he lay face down onto his bed, having thrown the rags of his working shirt onto the floor next to him. He heard a sound behind him, but was too tired and sore to glance that way. He felt a slight weight on his bed, but wasn't alarmed as a fragrant scent filled his nose. He smiled into his pillow as he felt a soft touch on his bare shoulder, running itself across his shoulder blades. A small shiver ran up his back as he felt several strands of hair against a few of his scars. He squirmed slightly,<p>

"That tickles…"

Behind him he heard a soft giggle as Hinata lay down next to him, her face barely a few inches from Naruto's. He turned his head slightly so that he was facing her, smiling slowly at her slightly blushing face.

"Hey you."

Hinata smiled warmly as she ran a finger along his shoulder, "Hey. You okay? You seem to be more tired than normal."

Naruto sighed, "I'm fine…"

"…but you are in a hurry to leave?"

He laughed softly, she could always tell how he was feeling, even when he didn't say anything. Closing his eyes, Naruto gave her a short sigh.

"I'm tired of sitting around. But it was so much work getting that bridge finished…my body can barely move."

She smiled as she saw him slowly drifting off to sleep, but kept trying to stay awake and struggling to keep his eyes open. Hinata knew that Naruto was notorious for pushing himself harder than what could be considered reasonable, but she understood how frustrated he had been in his training. Using Shadow Clones, he had been training like crazy trying to improve his Hiraishin, though to no avail. An idea popped into her head, causing her to slowly get up from the bed. Naruto muttered softly about where she was going, until she swung a leg over his body and sat on top of his lower back, placing both of her hands on his shoulder blades.

"What are you…"

He didn't finish his sentence as she placed a small amount of pressure from her fingers onto his back muscles, causing him to sigh and relax into the bed. They had become more comfortable in each other's presence since that strange night five months ago. She moved her hands up and down his back, expertly picking up all the knots in his muscles and skilfully working her fingers through the muscles. She was grateful that Naruto couldn't see her face, as not only was her face bright red as she ran her fingers over his course skin, but she couldn't keep a large smile off her face either.

Naruto grimaced as she put a small amount of pressure on a part of his lower back. Hinata apologised immediately, and took of her hands, asking if he wanted her to stop. He shook his head slightly, muttering into the pillow as he shifted his legs underneath her. Hinata smiled and ran a small amount of chakra into her fingers before placing her warm hands onto the spot she had just touched. The young Hyuuga pushed her chakra into Naruto's sore back, healing the injured muscle whilst also rubbing his shoulder blade with her other hand. Unable to control himself, Naruto let out a small moan as she moved her hands across his back.

"You…should do this…more often…"

Hinata smiled at the praise, glad that she was able to give him some comfort.

"I'd be happy to do this for you, Naruto-kun."

She couldn't see his face, but she felt his skin warm up underneath her hands.

"Do you think we'll have to fight again?" asked Hinata.

Underneath her Naruto turned his head slightly so that he could speak clearly.

"It wouldn't surprise me. With Konoha out of action, the other villages are probably vying for more power."

Hinata stopped massaging as her hands reached the base of his neck, "Will it ever stop?"

"I want to say yes, but probably not. People will always fight each other so long as they have power. But don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

That caused her blush to deepen as she leant her head down so that it rested on the top of his back. Her long hair fell across his skin and onto the bed as she placed her hands around his neck, hugging him tightly from behind.

"I know, Naruto-kun. I trust you completely."

She felt him tense as she said that, feeling him move his hands up towards his head before intertwining his fingers with hers. She let out a tiny gasp as he tensed his arm muscles and with one smooth motion flipped her on her back onto the bed and threw a leg over so that he was leaning over her with their faces barely an inch apart, their eyes interlocked. Hinata could feel his breathing on her face and the intensity of the hungry look in his eyes, but she wasn't frightened at all. She slowly smiled and squeezed his hands with hers gently. Her white eyes stared into his intense blue eyes and they sat there for several moments without a word passed between them. Naruto went to lower his head, but his arms tensed and he picked himself up from on top of her, sitting on the side of the bed.

"I…I'm sorry about that, Hina-chan. I don't know what came over me."

Hinata slowly picked herself up from the bed, readjusting her shirt before collecting her feet underneath her dress. She shifted slightly down the bed and placed her chin over his shoulder before placing her hands around his waist.

"It's okay. There's no rush. We have all the time in the world."

He reached up an arm and cupped her head with his hand before leaning over and kissing her lightly on her bob of hair.

Naruto leaned his forehead on Hinata's head, "If only that were true."

* * *

><p>Kakashi had never really had to train very hard to get to the level he was currently at, he was considered one of the brightest in his generation after all, but as Itachi drove a fist into his chest and he slammed into a nearby tree, he admitted he was not at a level he was happy with. Across from him Itachi leant up slowly before regarding Kakashi with his red Sharingan eyes. He knew that the Jounin would be fine, but as he looked at the small group observing them he had to wonder how far the rest of them had come whilst they were occupied. Kakashi picked himself up from the ground before rubbing his arm sorely.<p>

"I was considered a genius of my time, yet you put me to shame Itachi-san."

The elder Uchiha didn't respond, but instead he walked up to Kakashi and stared straight into his single Sharingan. The silver-haired Jounin had attempted to activate his Mangekyou Sharingan throughout the spar, but that only served in distracting him from Itachi's attack. The Uchiha shinobi was known for his ability to hold back in a fight, but he also knew what it took to activate the next level of the Sharingan. He deactivated his Sharingan as he examined Obito's gift, trying to discern a way to activate the ability faster than he had.

"Are we wasting our time?" asked a tired Kakashi.

Itachi frowned at the question, "What do you mean?"

Kakashi stared at his hands with a solemn look on his face. He had been thinking about the memories Itachi had dredged up, and something didn't sit right with him.

"To have the Mangekyou Sharingan, you have to have seen the death of a significant other, right? But…I didn't love Rin. Not that way at least. I fear we wasted our time."

Itachi considered the point, it was something that he had been forced to admit whilst observing the memories that had been a concern. However, he had figured it out, and was surprised that Kakashi had not. He reached out and pointed at Kakashi's chest.

"You may not have loved her…" He moved his finger so that it pointed at Kakashi's three-tomoed Sharingan. "…but he did."

"You rely on your Sharingan too much, Kakashi-san. Your body is not an Uchiha body, so the Sharingan draws on more chakra than it normally needs, and as such you have very little stamina in which to fight with."

The elder Jounin nodded as he took several long breaths, thankful that Itachi hadn't broken his ribs with the blow, something he could easily have done. As he thought about the last battle, and the last couple of intense battles, he was always exhausted after the battles and had struggled to stay in the fight for prolonged periods of time. Even in the fight with Deidara, he had been on his last legs as he drove his Raikiri into the artist's chest.

"My Sharingan is my advantage though, Itachi-san."

"Kakashi, you are known for two things around the globe. Your Sharingan, which pales in comparison to both mine and Sasuke's, and your supposed 1000 techniques. You want to know why I am stronger than you, despite my youth? It's because I create my own techniques when I train."

Kakashi frowned as he looked down at his hands, seeing one hand as its blue chakra outline and the other as a normal black glove. The nickname of 1000 technique Kakashi wasn't completely untrue, though Kakashi had no idea how many techniques he had copied since his time in the ANBU. What he did know was that the last technique he had personally created, was the Chidori, and that was two decades ago. It was a strange feeling to be instructed on combat by a shinobi a decade younger than him, but Itachi was his elder when it came to the Sharingan.

They spared for most of the day, Kakashi forcing himself to fight Itachi at full strength without his Sharingan, but after being beaten back for the ninth time he was slowly understanding how he could fight without relying on Obito's gift.

Itachi placed up a hand as his opponent stood up from the ground slowly, "Let's stop for today, Kakashi-san."

The silver-haired Jounin breathed out a sigh of relief. Despite being renowned for his ability to hold back, Itachi had been brutal and uncompromising, though to Kakashi's relief he had stopped himself from using genjutsu.

"You seem quite rusty, Nii-san."

Itachi frowned as his brother slowly walked up to him with a smug grin on his face and his hands in his pockets. Kakashi stretched out his back painfully before slowly walking back to town.

"You here for something, Sasuke?" asked Itachi, still wearing his repaired Akatsuki robe with his slashed forehead protector still around his forehead.

He was the only one that could viably wear the metal plate, considering he was well known in the shinobi world. The younger Uchiha stared at his brother with his Sharingan.

"It has been a long time since we last sparred, Nii-san."

"Perhaps for you. It is difficult to grasp the idea that we were gone for six months."

He saw a spike in Sasuke's chakra, instinctively ducking as a foot barely missed his head, Itachi reaching up and grabbing his assailant by the throat. He found himself confronted by his brother's stoic face, though in the corner of his vision he could tell that Sasuke was still standing several feet away, having not moved.

"Bunshin no Jutsu?" he asked, before finding his own question answered as his brother moved to strike his back with a large fireball.

Itachi dropped the clone and dissipated into a murder of crows as the fire attack consumed his position, reassembling a short distance away with a small smile on his face.

"Kage Bunshin? I'm surprised, Otouto. I would not have thought you willing to learn such a technique from Naruto."

His brother didn't say anything, Itachi was impressed that he hadn't risen to the bait. He put a hand to his lips, having already completed the handseals faster than most shinobi could perceive, gathering his chakra at his stomach. His brother completed the handseals for the same technique as they both sprouted large fireballs towards each other. Itachi frowned as his Sharingan observed a fluctuation in his brother's chakra as the two fireballs struck each other, noticing with a small bit of pride that Sasuke's was slightly larger, though his own was more refined. The air sweltered as the fire techniques wrestled with each other, Itachi's ears perking as he heard a strange sound coming from Sasuke's end, moving his body slightly to the side as four shuriken came spinning through the wall of flames, charged with lightning chakra.

_Not good enough, Sasuke_ he thought as the shuriken passed harmlessly behind him.

His red eyes widened as the setting sun glanced off of a seemingly empty bit of air, Itachi realising too late what his brother had done as the four shuriken began to sweep around him with razor sharp wires attached to them through the fire. The wires wrapped around his body as he was forced to cancel his fire technique, Sasuke's flames quickly overwhelming his position. After half a minute Sasuke cut off his technique, looking over the charred ground with a smug smile.

He turned to the side slowly, "You'll have to fight harder than that, Nii-san."

Itachi leant against a nearby tree with a frown; he hadn't expected his brother to contend so well with a Mizu-Bunshin, even if it was only 10 percent of his total strength. He knew that Sasuke still struggled to rid himself of his prior motives; his brother was always going to be driven by a need to surpass him, even if he didn't want to kill Itachi anymore. Sasuke's Sharingan stared into Itachi's and for a moment the elder Uchiha thought his younger brother would attempt to attack him with a genjutsu, a foolish notion to be sure. While Itachi had been humbled by the Senju shinobi in Kakashi's memories' abilities, only his childhood friend Shisui came remotely close to his illusion techniques, and he had been dead for years. Sasuke placed his hands across his chest, and Itachi's eyes widened as his red eyes saw how much chakra Sasuke was moulding.

_This is more than his normal chakra…what the…_

He noticed a glint in Sasuke's eyes as the air around him began to fluctuate and heat up. Sasuke slammed his hands together as his arm muscles tensed and fluctuated.

He grinned at his brother, "Kaimon: Kai!" (Gate of Opening: Release).

His hands began to crackle with lightning as Itachi swore under his breath and began rapidly forming seals. The younger brother placed both hands to his sides as he activated his teacher's technique before pushing off the balls of his feet towards Itachi at an impossibly high speed. Even with his Sharingan, Itachi could only barely make out the movements, but already he had several ways he knew to counter his brother's technique, though he sparred with the younger Uchiha to teach Sasuke how to fight properly.

He clapped his hands together, "Katon: Kihei" (Fire Element: Flame Wall).

A large pillar of flame surrounded Itachi as Sasuke dived directly through the flames, confident that his high speed would minimise the damage. He thrust his palms into where Itachi's body was, feeling his strikes connect as the flame wall slowly came down, his skin only slightly singed. He stared into the cold eyes of Itachi as both of his hands protruded out the back of Itachi's body, Sasuke's face wide with triumph. He went to pull out his hands, but found them unwilling as Itachi's body began to fluctuate slightly.

"Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu" (Water Element: Water Sphere)

The Itachi that Sasuke had attacked collapsed into a form of water that surrounded Sasuke's arms and body, trapping him in a tight sphere as Itachi appeared next to the floating form of his younger brother. He smiled at the frustration on Sasuke's face, though he was quite proud that Sasuke had been able to unlock the first chakra gate. He was still a reckless fighter, and Itachi planned to fix that.

"You still fight blindly, Otouto. If you cannot see your opponent's counterattack, then you only put yourself at risk."

He could tell that Sasuke was annoyed that he was still so far behind his brother, but he still nodding his understanding.

"Just gotten up and already beating up Sasuke? I like you more and more, Uchiha Itachi."

The elder Uchiha turned as he saw a figure coming through the forest towards the two of them. Itachi untensed his muscles as he recognised the white eyed figure, though Neji had changed into white and black robes with a yin-yang on the back that were of a similar make to his Akatsuki robes. It reminded him of the Hyuuga shinobi in Konoha at Jounin meetings, though it was distinct enough to be original. Neji had taken to wearing a cloth headband akin to Kakashi's to hide his seal. He looked more like a proper ninja than the other Genin, though he was a year older than them.

"We've been expecting you, Neji-san."

The Hyuuga looked at the Uchiha brothers with barely contained amusements, he had little love for Sasuke, yet Itachi never seemed to bother him.

"No doubt. How long have you been back?"

"No more than a few days. We were waiting for you and Shino-san to return before we depart."

"Shino and I went in different directions. I was surveying the rubble at Konoha, whilst he went to scout the village that Naruto spoke about. He'll likely be back in another day or so."

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement, his ears straining as he could hear a muffled voice next to him. He turned to look, and watched with amusement as his brother struggled against the water prison, having tried and failed to release himself with a lightning technique. Neji walked up slowly to the water sphere and activated his Byakugan, taking a few moments before turning to the older Uchiha.

"Do you mind if I?" he asked.

Itachi shrugged, wondering if Neji would be able to undo the technique, although he doubted it. The water prison technique was one he had learnt from Kisame, and had few weaknesses. It was to his surprise when Neji brought up two fingers, moved slightly to the side and drove them into the water sphere, causing the water prison to collapse instantly and Sasuke fell to the ground, his face hitting the ground. Being the most stoic of the group, neither of his companions laughed at his fall, though both of them had slight grins on their faces as he picked himself up from the ground. Itachi nearly cracked when he saw the stain on Sasuke's shirt, but what killed him was that Sasuke hadn't noticed that he had slightly fallen into animal droppings. He shared a look with Neji, both of them silently decided not to tell him, waiting to see how long it would take him to figure it out.

* * *

><p>The next day passed quickly and quietly in the town as they awaited Shino's return. Kakashi and Itachi had volunteered to wait at the town's gates for the insect user, while the rest of the Konoha group rested up for an immediate departure once he arrived. Naruto had finished the dam for the village before stumbling into the main room, collapsed onto the floor with a sigh.<p>

"Rough day?" queried Lee from across the table, having taken a moment to relax after a hard day's training in the mountainside.

Naruto picked himself up from the ground and slumped onto the table as Chouji passed him a glass of water. The blonde shinobi accepted it with thanks, but couldn't keep a solemn look from his face. On one side of the table sat Neji, Sasuke and Shikamaru in an intense game of cards, the three of them barely acknowledging his entrance as they stared at the growing pile of chips between them.

Leaning on a wall to the side of the room, Kiba picked up a piece of meat and bit a chunk out of it, "Naruto tired? Yes, and I'm going to get married to a wolf and have lots of little cubs."

Sasuke stole a glance away from the cards in his hands at Kiba, "Considering that tail, I don't think anyone would be surprised, Inuzuka."

He smiled slowly as Kiba barked back a retort, but he dragged his eyes back to the game as Shikamaru threw in a small stack of chips into the pot, calling for Sasuke to call or fold his bet. Naruto waved a hand at the comments, drinking a long draught from the glass before staring at the cloth on top of the table.

"No, it's…I dunno…"

"Come on, Naruto-kun. We are a family here" said Lee.

"You guys wouldn't understand."

Shikamaru scoffed as Sasuke threw in his hand, leaving Neji to stare at the lazy Genin to check whether he was bluffing or not.

"You are hardly a closed book, Naruto. Ah, Neji that was a mistake."

He showed the elder Hyuuga his hand with a slow grin, reaching out his hands to collect the chip pile. Neji reached out a hand quickly and grasped the Nara heir's wrists with a sly grin on his face. He placed his cards face down on the table, before flipping them over slowly to his great amusement and Shikamaru's frustration.

"That's…bah. All this intelligence and beaten by damn luck."

He shook his head as his opponent collected his winnings, turning his head to Naruto's slumped form. Eventually after being pestered enough, Naruto threw up his hands in defeat.

He stared at the empty glass in his hands, "It was something last night…with Hinata."

Across the table, Neji groaned as he stacked his chips in neat piles.

"Can we not talk about my cousin, please?"

The taijutsu user had made his peace with the blonde's relationship with his cousin, yet he hardly relished the situation. Next to him Sasuke was shuffling the cards, not paying much attention to his teammate's chatting, preferring to try and win his money back from the Hyuuga and Nara he was playing against. The others ignored Neji's complaint and continued to pester Naruto for information. With very little happening in the small town, their budding relationship was the source of great amusement to the group.

"I noticed her going into your room last night" said Kiba.

"Seriously guys…bumming me out here."

Naruto shook his head, "No, no, it wasn't like that. Well, a little. It was just…kind of awkward…"

"Didn't know where to put it?" commented an amused Kiba.

"Bumming hard guys, bumming hard."

"I know where to put it!" spat back Naruto.

Throwing down his cards, Neji gave up trying to talk to them, resolving to slam his forehead into the table to try and drown out the conversation. The others ignored his display, though Sasuke did make a point of slowly reaching between the two of them and slowly placing several of the Hyuuga's chip into his sleeve as Neji continued to slam his head on the table. Naruto shook his head again and tried his best to think of how to explain it.

"How do I put this…she was really keen, but I didn't…want to spoil the moment."

Using a napkin, Neji wiped off the blood from his forehead before scooping up his suspiciously small chip pile and putting them in front of him like an offering.

"I'll give all my money to anyone who kills him, right now."

There was a silent lull in the room before five bodies leapt onto the table, causing the wooden furniture to splinter and collapse.

"It didn't work? That's a shame."

"It was a stupid plan, Ino. He's too dense to pick up on stuff like that."

Hinata tried to get the two girls to stop arguing but next to her Shizune simply put up a hand and told her not to bother. The four of them had decided to take one last dip in the hot springs since it was unlikely that they would get the opportunity to do so again once on the road. Sakura and Ino had eventually gotten over their jealousy of Hinata's relationship, and had made it their mission to involve themselves in the relationship as much as possible. Being the respectful person that she was, Hinata was willing to let them give her advice, though she didn't do half the things they had suggested.

"So what ended up happened?" asked Sakura.

Hinata shifted uncomfortably in the hot water, reaching up to make sure that her long hair was still tied up properly. Next to the pink-haired shinobi, Ino splashed her childhood friend in the face.

"What kind of question is that?"

The Yamanaka heir turned her head to the slightly embarrassed Hinata, "So did it work?"

"That's the same question I asked!"

Shizune sighed as the two girls continued to bicker, wishing that her master was still with her, not for the first time. She was grateful that Naruto had brought her into the group, but she felt out of place most of the time. Luckily she and Hinata had avoided being splashed by the others so far, but the young Hyuuga felt like a cornered mouse as they both turned to her with serious looks on their faces, asking the same question they had for the past ten minutes. She sighed, wishing that she hadn't brought it up in the first place.

"You may as well just tell them, Hinata. They aren't gonna leave it alone."

"Well…there isn't much to tell. We were about to…but…I don't think either of us is ready for that kind of thing yet."

Shizune was impressed with the level of maturity that she was showing, though after five months even she was surprised by their slow progress considering how close the two of them were. It made her jealous to see the two of them, though she was happy for them. Sakura and Ino simply shook their heads in response.

"Come on, that's so boring" said Sakura.

"Why don't you just jump him?" asked Ino, swearing as a section of her ponytail fell into the water.

Sakura turned to her friend, "Like you did to Kiba? Because that worked out well."

The three of them had expected a loud and violent reaction from the blonde kunoichi, with possibly a high velocity punch to Sakura's face, but they were to be disappointed. Ino merely looked away from the group with a sad expression on her face. Sakura knew that she had touched a nerve, but wasn't sure what she was meant to say now. Making her way across the springs, Hinata moved up next to Ino, with a gentle smile on her face.

"What happened between the two of you?" she asked innocently, none of the group knowing what had happened between the two of them, but everyone knew that it hadn't ended well.

Ino sighed as she rested her head on a nearby rock, clearly uncomfortable with the question, but she also knew that Hinata had the best intentions, unlike Sakura some of the time. She loved Sakura like a sister, but the pink-haired shinobi drove her to madness most of the time.

"It was just something stupid, that's all."

"You can talk to us, Ino" said Hinata quietly.

"I…I guess you are right. Okay, a few months ago I was helping him brush that stupid tail of his. Even after over six months, he still has no damn clue about grooming. Anyway…"

"…she all of a sudden comes onto me, telling me how she was really lonely and that since we were there, we should go for it."

Neji frowned as Kiba told the tale, trying to remember how the conversation had turned to the Inuzuka's personal life. Lee and Chouji sat opposite the wild shinobi with wide eyes, taking in every little detail as if Kiba was sprouting holy words instead of the teenage drivel that it was.

"So what did you do?" inquired Sasuke, slightly offended that now Ino wasn't interested in him either, though it did allow him to concentrate fully on his training.

Akamaru had left the room earlier, and several seconds after he left the Konoha shinobi were struggling to breathe, coughing and splattering heavily.

Kiba shrugged at Sasuke's question, "Well, it's Ino. Ino! I meant come on, the girl is psychotic."

He turned at a quiet scoff, cocking his head curiously at Shikamaru's seemingly involuntary action. The Nara heir shook his head with a lazy look on his face, leaning his feet on the broken table.

"If you had turned down Ino, we would still be picking up the body scrapings off the floor" he said with an amused yet indifferent smile on his face.

The other shinobi thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement and turning back to Kiba. He suddenly wished that Shikamaru hadn't been in the room, as his fake story wouldn't hold up if the genius Genin was in the room, though Kiba knew that both Neji and Sasuke likely cared very little about the situation. Their card game had been abandoned with the destruction of the table, yet only one of them had changed their seat since.

The Hyuuga elder looked rather content and comfortable on his perch, unable to keep a grin from his face. Lying beneath his white uniform was the broken body of Naruto, having been beaten to within an inch of his life. They had made sure he was still breathing, but that hadn't stopped Neji from jabbing him several times with Jyuuken strikes. Only he knew what would happen when the ex-Kyuubi container woke up, but it was enough to break even his stoic visage into a long grin.

"You what?" exclaimed Lee, unsure on whether he had heard him correctly.

Kiba repeated the statement, and for a few seconds there was an odd silence in the large room. The silence was broken almost immediately afterwards as the five shinobi in the room burst out laughing, none of them able to keep their seats as Kiba felt more embarrassed than he ever been before.

"…he bit you?" asked a surprised Sakura, having thought it would have been something much more…perverse, considering the parties involved.

Ino put up her hands, "It isn't what you are thinking. We had…procured a bottle of sake…"

"Drinking is bad for you" interjected Shizune, though she knew she was wasting her time.

Even though the four women were medics, though only Sakura had decided to become a proper medical ninja, and they all knew what damage alcohol did to the brain, they were a group of young girls spending large amounts of time with a group of young boys. She knew when she was beating her head against a brick wall.

"…we were kissing on my bed and…"

"And you were giving Naruto grief? Gods, Kiba, you are such a sissy."

"Shut your trap, Shikamaru! She was going too far, and…she was really scary…"

The group kept laughing at the Inuzuka's expense, though Chouji asked the one question that had been bothering him since they had begun talking about it.

"Have the two of you resolved your problems?" he asked carefully.

Kiba shrugged in response, "I dunno. I have no idea what she was thinking, or why she thought I might be like that. It was too much. I've told her that I'm not interested, and I think she got the message."

He turned his head towards one of the group, eager to get the attention off of himself, "So, Lee. How are you and Sakura going?"

The bob-haired shinobi shrugged, not entirely understanding what Kiba was getting at.

"Sakura-san is fine, as am I. Even though her taijutsu is adequate now, she still trains with me every other day."

"I don't think that's what he was getting at, Lee" said Sasuke.

"What else could he be talking about? That is the extent of our interactions."

Across from him, Shikamaru shook his head, wary of the relationship talk, but figured it was too troublesome to try and change the subject. He asked if anyone wanted to explain it to Lee, but none of them besides Kiba seemed interested. Underneath Neji's legs, Naruto let out a soft groan, causing the elder Hyuuga to put up two glowing blue fingers before driving them into his neck. The blonde struggled for a split second before slumping underneath his white uniform, forcing Neji to adjust himself so that he was more comfortable.

He frowned as he felt a strange spike in residual chakra, his eyes drawn to the open window. The others seemed to notice it as well, Kiba standing up quickly as a small cluster of bugs flew through the window, hovering between the small group. Neji turned to the fastest one in the group, as the others were on the other side of town.

"Lee, go tell Kakashi and Itachi that Shino is reporting in. Then find the girls and tell them the same."

"Roger" replied Lee, jumping out of the window as the bugs began to form characters in front of the group.

* * *

><p>The group had departed as soon as they had gathered together. Shino had sent them an encrypted message, but the bulk of it was that he had taken a position outside of the Uzu village and that there was a need for haste. The trip would have taken two weeks if they had walked, yet at a full pace it took them barely four days. They passed over a great river before finding several destroyed towns; ones that they knew had been destroyed at the same time as their target. The others had become concerned that Naruto would react badly to the destruction of his mother's homeland, but the blonde shinobi reminded them that he didn't dwell in the past.<p>

As they reached the ruins of a townhouse a few miles from the Uzu village, they stopped for a short breather to recover their strength before investigating the ruined village. Even after six months their resolve had not faltered, though Naruto was more concerned over what he might find rather than setting up a new shinobi village. Such a thing required the support of the country's daimyo, who had been dead for two decades.

"Is there any indication on where Shino is? We should seek him out before we enter" asked Kakashi, wary of the fact that the Aburame had chosen to observe as opposed to returning to the group.

"That won't be necessary" came a voice from outside the group.

To their credit, every single one of them had their weapons and techniques prepared, which only caused the speaker amusement, though you could never tell from his covered face. Shino appeared from beneath the group, slowly pulling himself out from the ground before regarding the group behind dark sunglasses. He had covered up his face even more, and his coat had gotten larger to accompany a growing frame. They sighed at his entrance, putting away their weaponry as Shino began to give his report.

"At present, the village is unsecure. There is a large force of shinobi currently occupying the ruins of the village."

"Who are they?" asked Naruto, suddenly angry that someone was desecrating his mother's home.

Shino reached into his jacket and pulled out a forehead protector, showing the musical note on its metal plate to the group. At the edge of the group Shizune tensed up immediately, but Shino indicated he wasn't done yet.

"There is one more thing. My insects overheard some of the Sound shinobi talking. They have some shinobi from Konoha as their prisoners in their home village."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Things in the story will be moving on quicker now, as there are things later in the story that I am dying to write. Yes, Naruto and Hinata's relationship has progressed somewhat quickly in the months between chapters, but when two people are that close for so long, things develop. Just a forewarning, there are no sex scenes in this story. I'm not saying there won't be the action, or who it will be with, it just won't be written down in detail. The best things are left up to the imagination after all.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Full Metal Alchemist. Easily my second favourite story, of all time. The action scenes are fantastic, the characters of Ed and Al are fascinating, and the story itself is so intriguing. I recommend watching both Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. I liked the deviated story in the original; even if it didn't follow the manga it held its own. I'm probably preaching to the crowd, but if you haven't seen this, you simply must.


	15. Chapter 14 Ruins

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 14 – Ruins

**A/N**: Apologies for the serious lateness of this chapter. University, exams, personal life, all work and no play, such and such…

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Konoha 11 would act their ages.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Kakashi and Itachi woke up from their memory recovery technique to discover that they had been indisposed for six months. Shizune helped them back to town and they meet back with the Konoha 11, except for Neji and Shino who were scouting the village. They catch up with the group quickly, and as Itachi and Sasuke were sparing Neji arrives. After a day a message arrives from Shino and the group moves towards the Uzu village with haste. They meet Shino on the outskirts, who informs them that the village is occupied by Sound shinobi, and that they may be holding Konoha survivors at the Sound village. Now they prepare to take the village by force.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The group frowned collectively as Shino gave them the Sound shinobi numbers. He had been surveying them for three days, and even though they couldn't tell through his covered features, Shino was quite proud of the fact that they hadn't caught him yet. Kakashi considered their position and strengths for a moment, before shaking his head slowly.<p>

"We don't have the numbers to take them all" said Itachi across from him.

The silver-haired Jounin nodded in agreement, the two of them already trying to figure out a different type of plan. According to the insect user, there were close to two hundred shinobi garrisoned in the village, though their position was not very defensible and it appeared that they weren't the most experienced of forces, but it was still enough to cause them to be cautious.

The ruined village was a mess of destroyed buildings and stone, with a long river running through the centre. Uzu village was small compared to Konoha, since there were only three clans that made up the shinobi village before it was destroyed. On the way to the village Kakashi had told them what little he knew about the destruction of the Uzu village, he was only young at the time. The combined destruction of the Uzu village was one of the reasons Konoha had joined the Third Shinobi War, but he didn't know much more than that.

"Does anyone have any ideas?" asked Shizune, unable to contain her interest in attacking the Sound force, since her master's death she had borne a hatred for the Snake Sannin's village.

Taking his hands apart from his thinking pose, Shikamaru turned to his orange-clad companion with a serious look on his face.

"Naruto. I need at least two battalions."

The blonde shinobi frowned for a moment before nodding with a smile and placing his hands together.

"I don't think Kage Bunshin will help us that much, Naruto" said Itachi.

He recognised the value of the diverse technique, but it wasn't stable enough to fight a war with. Several of the Genin in the group laughed softly, causing the two male Jounin to frown in response.

"What is so funny?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto kept his hands together and was still concentrating as Shikamaru laid out his plan to the reawakened Jounin.

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as Hinata gave him a peck on the cheek, causing the pony-tailed shinobi next to him to snigger in amusement. The plan was simple by normal standards, though it required perfect precision and execution.<p>

"You guys really need to dial that stuff down. This is about to be a battlefield you know."

They both gave Shikamaru the same amused look, before Naruto leant over and kissed Hinata full on the mouth for several seconds before releasing her and grinning at his lazy companion. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Hinata struggled to keep her feet, unable to keep a wide grin off her bright red face. Naruto patted her on the head affectionately and sat down with his feet crossed and his hands pressed together. They had chosen to attack at night, using Naruto as a diversion whilst the others attacked those left in the village. The three of them were on a hill above the hidden shinobi village, Hinata volunteering to protect Naruto and Shikamaru as the Nara heir directed the blonde's actions. Hinata shook herself out of her haze and activated her doujutsu, taking a defensive position behind the two shinobi.

"You ready?" asked Shikamaru, taking a cautious look at the Sound scouts near their position.

Naruto nodded and stared at the open battlefield, "Yep. You give the commands, and I'll relay them directly. You sure you can do this, Shikamaru? This isn't a board game, you know."

The Nara heir smiled grimly as he looked over their army before taking a look at the Sound shinobi they had been able to lure out. To his surprise, they had forced nearly eighty percent of the Sound force to face them in the field, much more than he had anticipated. However he wasn't worried, he had already considered such a possibility.

"You're wrong. This is just like a game, just for bigger stakes. Naruto, move the battalions onto the battlefield."

The blonde didn't respond, but his two companions smiled as they saw the two hundred Naruto clones move quickly to meet the Sound forces. While he had spent a lot of time trying and failing to perfect the Hiraishin, Naruto had made an interesting discovery about the Kage Bunshin technique. The clones were literally masses of chakra in solid form, and Naruto had discovered that if he took personal mental command and gave directions, along with providing a constant flow of chakra, the clones performed a different function then they originally were intended to do. The Sound shinobi rallied against them knew they were facing clones, but considering the numbers they weren't taking the army of Narutos lightly.

"The Sound shinobi will attack on two fronts, the left and the middle. Collapse the right flank into the middle and send them a volley of shuriken before reforming the lines."

The army moved as one in response to his command as Shikamaru observed the battle from above. He watched the Sound army attack as he had predicted, dozens of them falling to the hail of metal projectiles though most were able to deflect them with ease. The Konoha army had the advantage over the Sound army in several areas, but as the shinobi struck at the blocks of Naruto's they realised what they were truly facing. He hadn't come up with a name for the technique yet and there were more disadvantages than advantages, but as the Sound army hit the lines the truth behind his clones became clear to them.

Naruto was not considered a genius by the same standards that Neji and Sasuke were, though his tenacity was legendary and his technique reflected that. Dozens of Naruto's were peppered with projectiles and cut on their arms and legs, but so long as they weren't struck in vital areas they fought on with copies of Hirameki and kunai alike.

"There are forty shinobi moving to flank the army from the right. Move up the reserve units and meet them head on."

A selection of clones from the rear of the army that weren't doing anything moved in perfect unison towards the sectioned off Sound shinobi. Naruto continued to follow Shikamaru's commands, a small artillery unit of clones sending a volley of cluster bombs into the Sound army. Many clones had fallen, even with their new endurance they weren't invincible, and they certainly didn't fight as well as Naruto normally did. However as the Sound army had learnt, when an army moved without hesitation and as one, the battles become another level of intense.

Shikamaru frowned as he continued to command the battle, having a strange flashback to his old shogi games with Asuma and his father. The Jounin had reminded him several times that it wasn't really a game, but the more he commanded the battlefield the more he realised that this was the reality they now lived in. The battle was slowly turning in their favour, and he was amazed as Naruto was slowly reinforcing his clone army with new clones, while still maintaining the others.

_Naruto…even without the Kyuubi you are really scary. If all the Uzumaki's were like this, I can understand why the other villages were so fearful of them. _

A small group of Sound shinobi had snuck around the main battle through a dense forest nearby and were close to the small shinobi group; however neither of the male Konoha ninja were worried. Hinata had set traps around their position, but the Sound shinobi were skilful enough to pass them by. Shikamaru and Naruto were preoccupied with the battle, and as she saw the four of them with her doujutsu she felt her arms tremble. She wasn't afraid; the fact that the two of them trusted her to protect them was enough to boost her confidence to the point that she believed in her own strengths. However, she never got used to the fear before a fight and didn't think she would ever like the taste of it.

"Move the right side to the north-west and attack the rearguard."

Hinata moved to the side of her two sitting companions and grabbed a kunai that was thrown at Shikamaru by the hilt, dropping it to the ground as the four of them came into proper view. By their expression she could tell that they were underestimating her like most of her opponents did, but as her Byakugan vision expanded she noticed a second platoon that was holding back to back up their companions.

_I can do this. I can do this._

The first Sound shinobi pulled out a sword and swung it at Hinata, hoping to easily cleave her in half before removing the more obvious threats next to her. The younger Hyuuga was able to read the attack easily, sidestepping the blade while driving a chakra infused finger into the shinobi's wrist, causing him to drop the sword and stare stupidly at the loss of strength in his arm.

"Take down the one with the red bandana, he is leading the army."

Hinata didn't give him a spare moment, driving a palm into his face, sending him spiralling down the hill as his companions charged at her. Considering their village, it surprised Hinata that they weren't using any sound-based techniques, preferring to attack with taijutsu and weaponry. Her training with Naruto had sharpened her reflexes in close quarters, though she was a different style of fighter than both him and her cousin. As she ducked and weaved under the attacks she began to see the patterns in their style, summoning a reasonable amount of chakra before rolling backwards and thrusting her palms towards the three of them.

"Hakke: Kuushou!" (Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm)

Using her wind abilities, she was able to drive her chakra straight into the Sound shinobi, sending them in the same direction as their companion. To her surprise the technique had worked perfectly, she could see with her Byakugan that they were struggling to get up from where she had sent them. Neji was her superior when it came to their family techniques, when he used the technique he was able to shut down chakra points at the same time as sending them back.

"Transform four clones in Fuma Shuriken and send them into the enemy army covered in explosive tags."

She saw the backup platoon moving towards her position, and through her Byakugan she could tell that they had watched the battle and weren't going to engage her in close combat like their companions. She reached into her weapons pocket and laid out a scroll she had prepared earlier, running a small stream of chakra as she saw the four opponents complete a familiar set of handseals.

_Isn't that an Uchiha technique? What have they been doing in that village of theirs? _

They were too far away for her to hear the technique, but she clearly saw four large fireballs flying towards the three of them very quickly.

She placed her palms on the scroll and activated the seal, "Fuinjutsu: Suijinheki!" (Sealing Technique: Water Wall).

From the pool of water that was leaking out of the scroll shot up a large shield of water that covered the three Konoha shinobi as the fireballs slammed into it. Hinata had made sure she had put in enough chakra into the water technique that the fire techniques simply fizzled out. Neither Naruto or Shikamaru had moved from their positions, with the Nara still directing the battle like an army general, and with a slight glance Hinata could tell that the battle was going surprised well in their favour, though she noticed with alarm that Naruto's chakra levels were very low, though you couldn't tell by his concentrating expression.

"Fire up three flashbangs near the left side, then push the advantage in the middle."

The Sound shinobi held their position just outside of her attacking range; Hinata wasn't willing to leave the two of them alone, even though she could tell there weren't any other enemies around to attack them. She waited patiently with her hands in the water from the scroll, watching as the Sound shinobi discussed how they were going to attack her. It was clear her water shield was too strong for their fire techniques, yet she could tell from their mouth movements that they still underestimated her. Hinata was still confident she could defend her companions, though she couldn't hear their plans or understand what kind of technique the leader of the group was planning to use with his handseals.

Her eyes widened as she saw one of the Sound arguing with the platoon's leader, causing the leader to yell back at him and threaten him with a kunai. Seeing her opportunity, Hinata began to run her chakra into the water, calculating the distance between her and the arguing shinobi. The water underneath her hands began to float around her body as she ran her wind chakra through the water. She wasn't a genius in battle like Neji or Sasuke, but she had a natural affinity towards her two elements. Hinata put her hands together as the water formed into small solid bullets, and her hair began to fluctuate at the high winds she was creating around her body.

"Suiton: Dangankaze" (Water Release: Wind Bullets)

The water projectiles wavered for a moment as Hinata aimed the attacks, before she slammed the wind into the bullets. Her attacks were faster than most people could follow with their eyes, and with the distance covered the Sound shinobi stood no chance, their heads snapping back as Hinata's attack knocked them out cold. In the black and white vision she could tell that they wouldn't be getting up any time soon, though to her dismay the ones she had knocked out earlier had been sent over the edge of a nearby cliff, to their deaths. While Hinata had been in such an unfortunate position before, she never liked the idea of taking someone's life, and Naruto had to keep reminding her that she was a good person and that they didn't think less of her. She breathed out a sigh of relief as her scan showed no other enemy activity nearby, allowing her to recover a small amount of chakra while watching the rest of the battle. Even as he was controlling his clones, from behind she could see a small smile grow on Naruto's face as she took her position between the two male shinobi.

* * *

><p>While the three of them held off the main force, the rest of the group made their way into the ruins of the Uzu village under cover of darkness. Their entrance was barred by two Sound Chuunin that were on high alert, but Shino had been preparing for the attack for days, leaving bugs all around the area. After the loss of his hive after the battle with the Hidan creature, Shino had spent a long time rebuilding his hive with stronger insects. To their credit, they didn't scream as they were swarmed by destruction bugs, though that was likely due to Sasuke placing them under a genjutsu until their throats were full of chakra-eating bugs. Even though they had worked with him for a reasonable amount of time, it was hard not to be freaked out as the bugs flew back into his coat. Neji took a moment before indicating to the group that the way was clear.<p>

"How many?" asked Kakashi next to him.

He placed up his hands to indicate, causing most of the group some surprise at how many were left.

"Can Naruto hold them off?" asked Itachi, still unsure on how stable the blonde's new technique was.

It was beyond his area of expertise, though after a demonstration he had faith in the hyper blonde teenager. The Genin around the two of them smiled, and Shizune simply shrugged. Lee pulled out his staff and clicked it into place as the others got their weapons out.

"Knowing that idiot, and considering Shikamaru's abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if they win the battle and come in to help us" said Sasuke as he identified his first target.

Kakashi placed up an open hand for a moment, before closing his fist. The group dispersed immediately at his command, with explicit orders to capture any Sound shinobi they could, and remove all other threats. With the knowledge that the Sound may have some of their people captive, the Konoha group was more enthusiastic about the attack than they had ever been. The teenagers weren't ecstatic about the idea of killing the enemy shinobi, however the Jounin had reminded them, and Shizune had been adamant about this, that the Sound shinobi may have been part of the destruction of Konoha. That had caused enough of their backs to straighten, and even the more caring types in the group were sufficiently angry enough to comply.

Near the centre of the village epicentre, Neji found himself surrounded by a dozen Sound shinobi all wearing flak jackets, wary of attacking the Hyuuga teenager. He was the embodiment of confidence, not even adopting a stance as he glared all around him with his Byakugan. Underneath his white robes Neji ran chakra through his arms, thankful that he had the opportunity to test out a technique he had been developing since the battle with the Akatsuki. It was far too damaging to use in their practise bouts, though Neji had been close in his last match with Lee. Two kunai were thrown at him from his 'blind spot', but he simply shifted his body so that they passed harmlessly by. He watched as the Sound shinobi moved cautiously towards him, his keen eyes noting as the last of them came into his range. With a pulse of chakra, Neji flicked his hands out and pushed out from his feet in a circular motion.

"Inazuma Kaiten!" (Lightning Rotation)

As he spun on the spot rapidly a large blue and white circle of chakra slammed into the shinobi around him, similar to his normal rotation technique, but with one key difference. As they were thrown back by the force of the chakra dome, large tendrils of lightning struck out from the rotating dome at their bodies, striking with eerie accuracy. When designing the technique he had initially aimed to strike at their chakra points with lightning, shutting them down at a distance. However as he practised, he realised that there was a far simpler effect that the technique could perform. The lightning struck out wildly and uncontrollably, several of the Sound enemies being fried within their clothes as they were struck in the face by lightning. Many others were blinded by lower strength lightning striking them in the eyes, however all of them were highly electrified as the dome slammed them away from Neji's position. He took little pleasure in hurting the Sound shinobi, yet he took some pride as he saw the devastation around him.

The burn marks on the ruins indicated to him that he couldn't use it while allies were nearby, though the groaning bodies of the Sound shinobi told him that his technique was worth performing even though it sucked out a large portion of his chakra reserve. He walked over and knelt down next to two surviving Sound shinobi, who were barely alive but still conscious.

"What do you know about Konoha prisoners in your village?" he asked, not holding his breath on them giving him a straight answer.

One of them coughed up blood and stared hatefully into his white eyes, not offering a response. The other one trying to slash at him with a kunai, but Neji easily grabbed the metal weapon and threw it away. He showed them a hand glowing blue, crackling with a small amount of lightning. He had no interest in learning a technique like Sasuke's Chidori, but he was still able to use lightning chakra to a smaller extent.

"I will not ask again. Do you have any information on your Konoha prisoners?"

The attacking shinobi didn't respond, but the other one leant up and spat blood on his face, "Your village deserved its fate. What makes you think we would help you?"

He laughed painfully as Neji wiped the blood off his face, pulling away a section of his shirt to reveal a large amount of explosion tags on his chest. He kept laughing as Neji jumped away quickly, the Hyuuga recognising that he wouldn't be able to entirely escape the explosion radius. Neji moved as far away as he could as a blinding light flashed from the Sound shinobi's chest, his hands already out in front of him as he began his rotation defence. The explosion thundered loudly throughout the village and blew away large portions of the ruins, disintegrating all the Sound bodies from Neji's initial attack. His blue shield struggled against the power of the explosion but stayed strong, Neji forced to give up a majority of his remaining chakra so that the worst injury he faced was being knocked to the ground from the sheer force of the explosion. Picking himself up from the ground with a cough from the smoke-covered area, he used his Byakugan to locate his allies, making sure that none of them were struck by the explosion before moving to the next area, making note of the fact that he would need to recover his chakra before fighting another battle.

"Six…seven…nine…twelve…"

The Sound shinobi seemed quite angry as Lee counted their numbers, not at all intimidated as he was being surrounded by the older foes. He kept his staff in its sections on his back, relishing the opportunity to practise his taijutsu against the dangerous foes. He had sworn an oath at his teacher's tombstone to not remove his weights or use the Inner Gates unless he saw no other way of surviving a battle, or his companions were in danger. The two enemies in front of him ran towards him with kunai raised, slashing at his head. Lee ducked underneath the strikes and drove his fists into their stomachs, using a small amount of chakra combined with extremely dense muscles to crush their ribs through his bandaged hands as they were sent flying back. He smiled slowly and stood in his usual defensive stance.

"Next."

"This seems quite strange."

Sasuke pulled his sword out of the stomach of a Sound shinobi and flicked off the blood on the steel. He watched as Chouji grew to a gigantic size and began swinging wildly into a group of Sound shinobi as Ino was using a large pool of water to drown her opponents and protect the giant Akimichi from enemy projectiles. Nearby Lee ducked under an axe swing and drove a fist into his last opponent's chin, sending the Sound Chuunin crashing into a nearby wall with dozens of broken bones.

"What do you mean, Sasuke-kun?"

The young Uchiha looked around the ruined village with his Sharingan, taking note of the smaller battles around them. He wasn't at Shikamaru's level of analysis, but he had a decent grasp on how to read a situation, and it didn't sit right with him. His brother had disappeared at the beginning of the battle, most of the group not paying attention as they concerned themselves with their own battles; however Sasuke had suspected that the elder Uchiha had his own mission to take care of.

The resistance of the Sound shinobi was suspiciously light; the Konoha group had suffered very minor injuries and had taken down a large portion of their enemies, not including the ones fighting against the Naruto army. At the side of his vision he watched a blue outline rise from one of the nearby tents, and for a moment he dismissed it as just another Sound shinobi until he saw a strange dark blue-black colour creep into its chakra outline.

_Who…or what…_

Next to him he saw Neji walk towards him with a slight limp, as Shino and Sakura assisted Lee in finishing off his enemies. The strange figure came into proper view, and Sasuke could feel the intense killer intent coming from the white-haired shinobi. He had two dots on his forehead and the Konoha shinobi could tell that he was extremely powerful by the way he walked casually towards them. Sasuke shared a look with his companions before preparing his blade. This was not an opponent to take lightly.

Kimimaro had not expected to be on the battlefield, fighting against the remains of the Konoha village. He had not expected to be alive so long either; he had been given months to live by their current village leader nearly a year ago. Kimimaro was the last descendant of a bloodthirsty clan from the Land of Water, and with his death it would be the end of one of the most powerful bloodlines in the shinobi world. When his master died, Kimimaro had lost all hope and almost abandoned the Sound village altogether when his closest companion gave up his own life and ability to save Kimimaro's. It was at that point that he swore that he would find a way to perform his duty and, if necessary, die in honour of his friend's memory.

Before him stood five Konoha teenagers, and to his estimations were likely not a threat to him, but Kimimaro was not in the business of underestimating his opponents. With a pulse of chakra his right shoulder began to move violently, Kimimaro placing a hand above it as a large bone protruded out of his shoulder into his hand. The Konoha shinobi appeared disgusted at his ability, as were most who see it, but he paid them little heed as he wrenched out the long bone and grasped it in his hand. It ran the length of his arm and was razor sharp as his shoulder closed up and the bone he had removed regenerated within his skin.

His clan, the Kaguya, had a specialised bloodline ability that allowed them to use their bones to fight, and he had been considered the most dangerous of the destroyed clan. The green-clad shinobi ran towards him, eager to make the first strike as he jumped towards him. Kimimaro could tell by his movements that he was an experienced taijutsu fighter, and he had a determined look in his eyes as his leg came crashing down towards him. He put up his blade pointed at the shinobi's leg, aiming to spear him through the leg. The shinobi's legs swung around in the air as his other leg kicked away the bone and struck at Kimimaro's head. The bone-user ducked easily underneath the blow and rolled away, his eyes analysing the fiery-looking shinobi's movements.

_He has a blunt style, focused on hard striking with speed and strength. Based on his leg movements he's carrying heavy weights on his legs, likely as a training or a restraining measure. _

His opponent stood up and regarded with trained eyes, Kimimaro noticing that his opponent was trying to analyse his movements as well. Not willing to give him a chance for another attack, Kimimaro ran forward with his blade raised. He wasn't surprised as the Konoha teenager dodged and weaved away from his attacks, though it spoke to the taijutsu-user's inexperience that Kimimaro was able to easily manipulate him towards the bone-user's initial position. It surprised him that the others weren't attacking him, which would have made his plans more difficult, however as the bob-haired shinobi jumped back and landed on the particular stone formation Kimimaro was aiming for, the bone-user stopped his attacks.

His opponent straightened up and took up a defensive stance, suspicious of his opponent's movements. Kimimaro activated the seal embedded on the middle of his chest, causing black crescents to cover his chest as he shoved his bone blade into the stone beneath his feet.

"Sawarabi no Mai" (Dance of the Seedling Ferns)

The ground rumbled as the technique activated, the Konoha shinobi unsteady on their feet. His green-clad opponent screamed out in pain as two large spikes made of bone shot out from the ground beneath him, piercing through his feet as they reached past his head, two more spikes coming from behind him and trapping him in place. He jumped back and let the shinobi's companions try to help him, his bone was harder than steel and gave Kimimaro the chance to look at his other opponent's techniques. A young pink-haired girl lent down to her companions feet and placed her glowing blue hands next to them.

Two of the teenagers, one in blue clothing with a sword on his back and one covered by a hooded robe, struggled to remove the impaling bone spikes with no success. Though they didn't know it, the bone spikes were embedded dozens of feet into the ground and were not easily removed. The sword-wielder analysed the bone through red eyes, causing Kimimaro to sigh as he recognised the Uchiha eyes. When his master had been alive, he had raged over the lost opportunity to gain the powerful doujutsu, yet even when Orochimaru was dead the eyes were before him. He wasn't getting any information from the robed teenager, which was impressive considering him and the Uchiha were trying to pull out the bone spikes with their hands. The last teenager stood against him in a white robe and stared at him through pure white eyes and veins popping out of his head.

_A taijutsu-user, a medic, an Uchiha, a Hyuuga and an unknown shinobi. What a strange group of people to survive the destruction of their village. _

The Hyuuga ran towards him, in a very different style than his companion, attacking him with impressive speed. With his cursed seal active Kimimaro had a huge reserve of chakra and nearly pinpoint accuracy with his bone techniques, so as he dodged and weaved the teenager's Jyuuken attacks he also countered with his bone blade, which the Hyuuga deftly avoided. They sparred at rapid speed as Kimimaro noticed with interest that the Hyuuga was driving him away from his companions. Seeing a tiny window of opportunity, Kimimaro flicked his hands towards the Konoha group, launching ten tiny bullets from his fingertips towards the medic. However his bone attacks were blocked as the hooded teenager stood between her and the attack, placing his hands out as a huge swarm of bugs emerged from within his jacket, blocking the attack.

_And a bug-user? I'm at a disadvantage here._

His opponent jumped back at Kimimaro's strikes, landing easily and adopting a strange stance several feet away from him. He was not familiar with the technique the Hyuuga was trying to use, but when he took a glance at the ground and saw an odd outline of a circle covering both of them, and when he tried he found that he couldn't move his feet.

_A restraining seal. Now comes his big attack._

He ran a large amount of chakra through his chest as the Hyuuga shot towards him. The seal broke just as the first two strikes hit him in the chest, Kimimaro grimacing as he felt the chakra force itself into his body. Unable to respond to the rapid attacks, Kimimaro was beaten back as the Hyuuga attacked him with pinpoint accuracy and the last strike forced him into a nearby destroyed building. Kimimaro swore under his breath as he fell to the ground, barely able to move his head as he saw a flash of lightning destroy the two bone pillars immobilising the green-clad teenager. The bone-user took a long breath as the teenagers gathered in a circle to defend the medic as she knocked out her subject and kept healing his wounds.

He could hear the Hyuuga tell the others that the fight was over, though the Uchiha wanted to finish him off just in case. His companion conceded the point and walked up to Kimimaro's immobilised body with a hand glowing blue with chakra. He waited until the Hyuuga was inches away with his hand raised to strike before feeling the pulse of his cursed seal on his chest, allowing him to push on his hands and kick the Hyuuga straight in the chest, sending him crashing into his companions. Kimimaro stretched out his arms as he stood up slowly, staring at the ground through cold eyes as they remarked at his recovery. The Jyuuken technique had successfully shut down his chakra points; however with a secondary source of chakra such as the cursed seal he was able to restore the damaged points around his body.

He watched as two older shinobi jumped next to their companions, a woman in a dark kimono and a shinobi that Kimimaro recognised as Hatake Kakashi.

_This is taking too long._

He reached over and undid the two sides of his shirt, allowing the flaps to fall to his sides as his cursed seal pulsed on his chest, the black marks slowly moving to cover his entire body. The Konoha shinobi were clearly taken aback as his body changed as he activated the second level of the cursed seal. He was the only one who could still use his cursed seal with such efficiently after the death of its creator. His skin changed to a dark grey and his back exploded outwards with large bone spikes creating a makeshift shell across it as a large bone-spiked tail protruded out of his back. Large bones protruded out his forearms over his hands and he traced his targets with his eyes. The taijutsu user was back on his feet, though barely, and Kimimaro could sense that more Konoha shinobi were coming to join them as his Sound companions fell to their attack.

_This battle is lost. We had numbers, but they had superior shinobi. I'm too tired to go back to the village. Constant fighting…with no point. _

His tail flicked around while the Konoha shinobi recovered.

_Enough of this._

The silver-haired Konoha shinobi stepped forward with a tired look on his face, "You are outnumbered and outmatched. Hasn't there been enough fighting?"

Kimimaro frowned at the comment, glaring at his opponent, "There will always be fighting, war and death. This is no different. I serve masters that require my obedience, and you would have me abandon them? Your hubris is astounding."

Kakashi shrugged in response, "It was worth a try. Besides, it looks like you have fallen too far to come back anyway."

The bone user looked at one of his hands, staring at the grey skin and protruding bones. He had to concede the Sharingan-user's point, though it made little difference now. With the death of his closest friend and his beloved master, he knew that his path was only further into darkness. With a sidewards glance he noticed a change in the air, jumping high into the air as two whirlwinds struck from his blind spot, barely missing his body. He reached up and pulled out two long bone blades from his legs, throwing them at the two fur-covered shinobi that appeared from the attacks, taking them both in the chest.

One of the shinobi transformed into a large white dog and the other one called out in pain, pulling out the bone before crawling towards his companion. Taking advantage of the discord created, he landed on the ground and fired bullets from his fingertips, forcing the Konoha shinobi to scramble in defence while Kimimaro shot towards them. In his current state he wasn't as fast as normal, but he had almost inexhaustible endurance and strength and as he drove a spiked fist into the insect wall and pushed through the barrier, the Konoha shinobi realised how dangerous he was as he appeared in their midst. The Uchiha teenager slashed at him with his sword, Kimimaro didn't bother to dodge it, allowing the blade to be deflected by a set of bones on his back.

He went to slam a bladed fist into the Uchiha's chest, but his opponent's Sharingan allowed his to move just enough to avoid the strike, as Kimimaro's attention was drawn to his side. Kakashi was running through a long set of hand seals as their Hyuuga companion struck at him with his finger tips. At the same time the bug user was sending hundreds of insects at him while the taijutsu user attempted to slam a fist into his head.

Kimimaro placed his hands at his sides, "Karamatsu no Mai" (Dance of the Pines).

Bones shot out of his shoulders as he span in place, striking and slicing at his surrounding opponents as he fired two sets of fingertips at the pink-haired medic and the woman in the kimono standing in the back. He fuelled more chakra into the attacks than usual, making sure to beat his opponents back to give himself room. The two women were peppered by the attacks but were largely unharmed. The teenagers attacking him were slashed repeatedly and forced back, and Kakashi was forced to cancel his hand seals to stop the Uchiha from landing badly. Kimimaro stood up straight as he watched the two female shinobi he attacked began healing their companions. Reaching to the top of his back, Kimimaro grimaced as the top of his spinal column began to emerge.

Placing the injured Sasuke on the ground, Kakashi grimaced as he pulled out a thrown bone spike from his leg. Their opponent was both powerful and cautious, and was not wasteful at all with his movements. Seeing little alternative, Kakashi reached up and revealed his Sharingan. Their opponent appeared uninterested in his reveal, though after a few seconds he realised that Sasuke was staring at him strangely.

"What?" he asked, as the young Uchiha picked himself up from the ground.

Sasuke stared at his old teacher with his Sharingan, "Your Sharingan is different."

The silver-haired Jounin frowned at the comment and asked his student to describe it. He was surprised to hear that it was flickering between the normal three-tomoed form and a triangle-like shuriken form. Sasuke asked him if it was a Mangekyou, to which Kakashi shrugged in response. He suspected as much, but he didn't feel any different and hadn't been given any instructions from Itachi on what to do with it. He stared at the bone user with his normal eye closed, watching Neji and Shino fighting the Sound shinobi as an odd feeling ran up his body. His Sharingan began to pulse with chakra uncontrollably, and he could see the air around the three fighters fluctuate and change strangely.

"Neji, Shino, get out of there!" he called out as a pulse of pain ran up his spine, unable to control his strange ability.

The dinosaur-looking shinobi wondered why the Jounin had called them back, watching cautiously as he saw the strange looking Sharingan on Kakashi's face. The air seemed to follow Kakashi's vision, but as he tried to concentrate on their opponent's body he found himself unable to focus the technique. Around him the Konoha shinobi didn't want to interfere, though Kimimaro wasn't able to see what he was doing. Running a large amount of chakra through his eye, Kakashi watched as the air on Kimimaro's chest began to collapse in on itself, but as he felt the knowledge flow through his mind the area moved slightly and missed the bone-user barely over his right shoulder. Kakashi cried out in pain and clutched at his eye as his companions stared in awe. Kimimaro was confused at why they were looking at him strangely, taking the time to look behind his shoulder before his eyes widened. Behind him was a large column made of stone, however there was a giant hole missing from the side.

"What did you do?" asked Sasuke.

He knew all the Mangekyou Sharingan techniques from the information Itachi had given him, yet this was something he had never heard of. His teacher was on his knees sweating heavily, feeling like he had just been beaten to within an inch of his life.

"I'm…not sure…"

Turning back to his opponents, Kimimaro flicked his spinal column whip angrily. He was bored of this fight, and even though his opponents had the advantage they weren't attacking him with full force.

_They want to capture me. They know that I was in charge, and they think I have information for them._

Wrapping his whip around his chest, he put his hands outstretched to the sides.

"If you won't attack, then I shall."

His body fluctuated and shuddered as his bones began to shoot out of him and land in the ground around him. He saw the Konoha shinobi try to erect a defensive formation, but they also saw that the bones were sinking into the ground, and that there would be little defence against it. Kimimaro felt his chakra reserves plummet at the activation technique, but he knew that there would be no way for the Konoha shinobi to stop him, so it was worth it. Kakashi was back on his feet and calling out orders for the group to retreat, but to Kimimaro's surprise he began to run towards him as giant bone spikes began to shoot out of the ground rapidly. Even in its strange form, his Sharingan allowed him to dodge the spikes from the ground as he stared at Kimimaro, the rest of the ground retreating, but not fast enough as the bones emerged beneath the group and pierced through several of their legs and bodies, forcing them to the ground in agony.

Satisfied that his attacks would take care of the rest of them, Kimimaro turned his attention back to the Sharingan user attacking him, but to his surprise the silver-haired Jounin was no longer there. He frowned and looked around for him, but as he sensed the Jounin behind him he felt his strength disappear suddenly. His cursed seal receded rapidly as his skin turned back to its pale colour and his bone spikes started to disappear from his sight. As he looked down at his chest, he realised his error, smiling sadly as he saw the large hole in the middle of his body.

_They trapped me in an illusion to distract me and Kakashi used that technique to finish me off, since they knew I had an extremely tough bone defence. Orochimaru-sama…Juugo…I did what I could. I'm…sorry…_

* * *

><p>They had only been able to capture two Sound shinobi in the aftermath of the battle. Itachi had managed to subdue a Sound Jounin with one of his more powerful genjutsu, and Kakashi had imprisoned him while they interrogated the other one they held. They didn't have much hope on him talking, most shinobi were tight-lipped under duress. Ino sat the young shinobi down and placed a hand on his head. She wasn't as good as her father, but her family techniques were designed to take information from the subjects mind without their consent. The Sound shinobi's mind wasn't very complex, he was a young addition to the village, yet after half an hour Ino was able to get all the information she could. She stumbled as she removed her hand from his head and cancelled the technique, but refused her teammates help as Sasuke restrained her target.<p>

"What did he know?" asked Shizune next to her, looking over the ruins as more of the group gathered towards them.

Neji and Kiba had declared the village clear of enemies, though even after the battle they didn't feel any better about their situation. Ino took a drink of water from a bottle handed to her as Kakashi restrained the young Sound shinobi.

"It's…difficult to understand. He didn't know much, but by the looks of it none of the Sound shinobi are happy with the leader of their village since the death of that Oro…something guy."

"Orochimaru" interjected Itachi, remembering his few encounters with the snake user with disgust.

Even when he wasn't trying to steal his eyes, Orochimaru had been a vile and twisted person, though Itachi had to admit that he was brilliant at what he did.

Ino nodded at his comment, "Yeah him. Anyway his successor is apparently experimenting on the Sound shinobi, without much success."

"That sounds horrible" said Sakura.

She was healing Lee's injuries, even though the taijutsu user protested he was fine, she took amusement in informing him that if she didn't heal his feet properly he wouldn't be able to use the Lotus again.

"Any word about our people?" asked Kakashi, not willing to get his hopes up, though he knew which shinobi were outside of the village at the time and they weren't ones that would have gone down easily. Unfortunately, Ino shook her head in response.

"He had no information about that. I can't confirm whether they ever had our people or not. But if they did…and these things about their leader are accurate…then I fear for their lives."

The group collectively turned as three figures walked into their makeshift campsite they had taken from the Sound forces, with one of them using the other two as support since he couldn't walk by himself yet.

"You are damn heavy, Naruto" said Shikamaru.

The blonde shinobi laughed then grimaced as his whole body ached in pain. She was tired as well, but Hinata was more concerned over the severe lack of chakra in Naruto's body. He had enough to survive and recover on, but he wouldn't be able to fight for a long time.

"Naruto! I can't believe you guys pulled it off" said Sakura.

He grinned and nodded at his pink-haired teammate before patting his helpers on the shoulders.

"I couldn't have done it without these two. You guys should have seen them."

Itachi finished restraining the more dangerous Sound shinobi, making sure that he wouldn't wake for hours, giving them appropriate time to prepare a campsite. He watched as the group welcomed the three of them back, nodding to his brother as the young Uchiha asked him a wordless question. Sasuke reached into his pocket and produced an old looking scroll, slowly walking to his teammate and handing him the scroll.

Naruto stared at it with suspicion, "What is this, teme?"

The younger Uchiha frowned, turning slightly so that he could face his brother, "Remind me brother, why can't I kill him again?"

Itachi gave him a rare smile as he stood back up and patted himself down. His brother shook his head at the lack of a response and simply told Naruto to take the scroll. He accepted it while poking out his tongue, allowing his companions to sit him down on the ground. He smiled as he read the symbols on the scroll, placing a thumb between the sheets as he opened it up. Shikamaru left him and Hinata to look at the Uzumaki scroll and went to give a report to the Jounin of the group. Naruto read the scroll with squinting eyes, not understanding a word of it. He showed it to Hinata, who initially told him she shouldn't look, but Naruto insisted that he needed her help. Her white eyes scanned the scroll quickly, admitting to Naruto that most it was too complex for her to understand. However there was a section that caused her eyes to widen.

"Naruto-kun…"

She went to call out to her cousin, but Naruto shook his head and slowly took the scroll from her hands. He had read the same thing she had, but he also understood Neji's feelings more than he would have liked.

Rolling the scroll up he placed it inside his coat and leant over to whisper to her, "You don't want to get his hopes up for nothing, Hina-chan. We should confirm it, and then show him."

She thought about it for a moment before nodding her agreement slowly. She didn't like it, but understood that Naruto was more knowledgeable about the area then she was. Behind the two of them Shizune had a strange look on her face as a terrible realisation dawned on her, after considering what the Yamanaka had told them.

She turned to Ino, "Did you get a description of their leader?"

The blonde frowned as she recalled the images from the Sound shinobi's mind.

"Yeah. Grey hair tied up in a ponytail, dark eyes, big glasses…"

Her medical teacher swore under her breath and bit into her thumb. She ran through the handseals and placed a hand on the ground, summoning a small orange tiger underneath her hand. The girls of the group squealed as the small animal began licking its paw in the most adorable way.

Shizune leant down and looked at her summon, "Hibiki, I want you to get the body that your father and I killed over six months ago. Get your sisters to bring it here for examination."

The tiger looked at her with big eyes before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Next to her Kakashi offered a hand to help her up.

"Do you think it's Kabuto?" He had gotten a proper description from Shizune after her battle with the medical shinobi.

She shook her head, "It couldn't be. I made sure he was dead. This is someone pretending to be him, I'm sure of it. But I need to make sure."

He nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to the group. They had begun to move the bodies around, making good use of the campsite the Sound shinobi were using previously. The Sound shinobi Ino had 'interrogated' was beginning to shake, forcing the medics of the group to hold him down as he continued to suffer a seizure. Ino swore as they struggled to keep him stable. She had used a more dangerous Yamanaka mind technique to search his mind, and since her technique was not properly trained she had unintentionally caused him massive brain trauma.

After several minutes he stopped shaking and lay still, Shizune forced to declare him dead while wiping her hands on her kimono. She watched as the other girls comforted Ino, turning around as several tigers appeared behind her, with a disembodied body between them. She thanked them for their help and pulled out a scalpel from her pack. She didn't want to perform the autopsy on the decaying body, but her fight with Kabuto was not one she wanted to repeat. The group turned away at the site of her cutting into the body, each going about their own business. Itachi pulled his brother aside, making sure that the prisoner was still unconscious before turning to the confused teenager.

"I have a plan, and I need your help."

* * *

><p>The Sound Jounin watched silently as the Konoha group searched the ruins much as his forces had previously. The death of Kimimaro was regrettable, but he hadn't liked the bone-user to begin with. He frowned as he saw the blonde-haired shinobi and white-eyed girl looked over the scroll they had found weeks ago. The cage around him was constructed by an earth technique, and was tiny, but as a Jounin it didn't bother him.<p>

_Lord Kabuto will need that scroll. And there are several shinobi here that are too dangerous to leave walking around. _

A green-clad shinobi was standing guard over him, and if the Jounin's observations were correct most of the kids were at Chuunin level if that.

_Their guard is down since I'm the only survivor. I need to get this information back to Otogakure. _

He stared up at the sky as his shackles bit at his wrists.

_Three hours to sundown._

At the dead of night, his guard had changed to the twin-ponytailed dark haired woman, though the Jounin could tell that she was exhausted and didn't want to be there. She had been one of the group that had told the Uchiha boy to kill him, so her presence was simply an added bonus in his mind. His shackles were such that he couldn't form handseals, but he wasn't a Jounin for just his clan name. He was huddled in a corner of his small cage, making sure that his guard couldn't see his hands.

The clan he had been born into wasn't as specialised as the Kekkei Genkai clans in the Sound, but as his fingers burnt through the metal he had already worked out his plan of escape. The shackles melted away in his hands silently, his guard none the wiser. Most of the Konoha shinobi were asleep in the ruins, though the white-eyed girl was still looking at the scroll a distance away and two teenagers were patrolling the outside perimeter. His gloved hands came together into a handseal as he used his training to mask the chakra signal.

The Sound shinobi didn't know much about the Konoha shinobi's abilities, although he knew he had to avoid the renegade Uchiha, he wasn't foolish enough to believe he could contend with the former Akatsuki member. The black-haired guard's head was drooping, and the Jounin smiled slowly as he saw his opportunity. Once he made sure that nobody was looking at him he completed a final handseal, speaking the technique's name in his mind as he didn't dare give it away verbally. He vanished into the ground for a moment, while leaving a shadow clone in his position, rising out of the earth slowly behind the young female guard as a knife he had hidden in his clothes appeared in his hand. Before she knew what was happening he slipped a hand behind her shoulders and slit her throat, using his other hand to muffle her mouth as he placed her on the ground slowly.

His attention was drawn to a nearby location as he reached into the guard's kimono and removed several weapons that he pocketed. In silence he sneaked around the campsite, taking careful consideration of the patrolling Konoha shinobi before hiding behind a ruined pillar nearby the young girl reading the Uzumaki sealing scroll. He rapidly ran through the seals, knowing that it wouldn't be long before the Konoha shinobi discovered the guard's body. The technique activated as he laid out the weapons he had stolen, the metal collecting into a long sword with a stone hilt. He didn't have time to do the details on the blade, but as a swordsman he was a far superior fighter with the blade in his hands.

The white-eyed girl seemed to notice the slight chakra spike as she turned around from the scroll. Her eyes widened as she saw him and she went to yell out, but he buried the sword into her chest where her heart was and muffled her mouth with a hand, watching as the life drifted away in her eyes. He pulled out the bloody blade without a sound and placed the young girl on the ground, feeling no remorse as he rolled up the scroll and pocketed it. It was a shame to kill such a pretty thing, but such was a shinobi's life. He swore as he heard the guard's body being discovered, activating another technique as he took a few seconds to find his escape route.

To their credit, the robed sunglass-wearing shinobi and ponytailed sleepy shinobi kept their cool as they went to get the other shinobi up. The Sound Jounin knew his cover was broken, and this was the only time he had to escape. He pulled up his sword and activated an earth technique, causing the earth around the two shinobi to erupt upwards and encase them into a dome of earth. He ran up and slammed a hand onto the dome, causing the dome to collapse inwards and kill the Konoha teenagers instantly. Using chakra he leapt over the rubble and made his way out of the village at full pace. A mile down the road he sensed a large chakra signal following him, taking a glance over his shoulder and noticing a blonde-haired orange-clad shinobi angrily screaming at him.

Despite being a Jounin, he was surprised that the boy was able to keep up with him. However, he was a Jounin and far cleverer than the Konoha teenager. The furious boy slammed a fist into the back of his head, his eyes wide in surprise as his target burst out into a plume of smoke, the Sound shinobi rising up from the ground behind him. With a single chakra-infused strike, his sword removed the blonde's head from his shoulders. The Konoha shinobi's body fell to the ground in a strangely comical fashion, as his blood poured onto the ground.

It felt strange how easily the teenagers had fallen under his blade considering how many of his companions they had slain, though he had been captured by their strongest warrior, and he was one of the fastest shinobi in the Sound village. He flicked the blood of his sword and sheathed it at his belt before moving swiftly across the dark countryside. It was a long journey to the Sound village, and there was much he had to tell his lord. None of them liked Kabuto; at least Orochimaru treated his shinobi like people, whilst Kabuto was simply obsessed with his medical experiments. However, the line of succession was clear, and none of them could contend with the glasses-wearing boy just yet.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'll be honest; this isn't my best writing ever. It's been that kind of fortnight and my writing has been really flat lately. It'll only get better I promise. I'll have more time to write now, hopefully. And in case you didn't understand the last bit there, consider which characters were killed by the Sound Jounin.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Excel Saga. There are no words that can properly describe this anime. Highly amusing, completely insane and totally hysterical. This anime is so ridiculous that the final episode was intentionally made so obscene that it wasn't allowed to be aired. If you don't want to go through the series, just watch episode 26, the last one. Also, you never forget the ending theme, which is sung by a dog barking and a woman singing a translation.


	16. Chapter 15 Motivations

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 15 – Motivations

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more decent love interests.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The Konoha survivors attacked the Sound forces entrenched in the ruined Uzu village. Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata held off and destroyed the main force with Naruto's new Kage Bunshin technique, though it left Naruto with dangerous low chakra levels. The rest of them invaded the Uzu village and took the Sound forces by surprise, decimating them to a man. They met and struggled against Kimimaro, the leader of the Sound force. However in the heat of battle, Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan activated itself and he was able to use his personalised Sharingan technique, after a few tries, to finish off the deadly opponent. They were unable to get much information from one of their captives, though they suspect that Kabuto is the new leader of the Sound village. Their other captive is placed under a powerful genjutsu by Itachi and Sasuke, and is allowed to escape their custody.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Flashback*** Five hours ago<p>

Itachi indicated for his brother to take position on the other side of the unconscious Sound Jounin. Neither of them had their Sharingan activated and as his brother placed his hand on the shinobi's head, Sasuke did the same.

"Why did you need my help on this?" asked Sasuke, knowing how powerful his brother's genjutsu's were.

Itachi looked at his brother with amusement, wondering whether he should tell his brother the real reason, or the one that would save him some face. Looking at his brother, he wondered at some of the changes the younger Uchiha was going through. He chose the truth, since Sasuke had no capacity to tell whether he was lying or not he felt little need to deceive his little brother, at least not now.

"I need to double layer the genjutsu; otherwise it might break at a long distance. You know the technique; it's the one that the victim itself populates."

"How long do we run it for?" asked Sasuke as he began to run his chakra into the Sound Jounin.

Itachi did the same, "For ten to twelve hours. Until he leaves the village, then it won't matter."

***End Flashback***

The group watched as the Jounin sped away from the Uzu village, taking a long breather as they collected their thoughts.

"Are you sure it worked?" asked Kakashi.

Itachi pointed to the direction that the Sound shinobi had disappeared to, "The fact that he's miles away and none of us are dead give you any indication?"

His companion sighed and sat down to rub his sore legs, "There's no reason for sarcasm, Itachi."

He turned to the rest of the watching group, noticing that they were all healed and prepared to move out, with the exception of Naruto who only seemed to be getting worse.

"How good is our tracking?"

Kiba and Shino stepped forward slowly, Kiba still recovering from the wound in his chest while Shino was not injured at all. Shino placed up a hand to show a collection of bugs across his index finger.

"I planted a female bug underneath the metal plate of his forehead protector. Why? Because the male bugs can trace the female scent from one side of the country to the other and…"

Not wanting to give Shino the chance to describe the full extent of his insects abilities, Kiba rubbed his nose with a wide grin, "...and I had Akamaru pee on his clothes a little, and the two of us could trace that to the end of the earth if need be."

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement, "And with a Hiraishin mark on the inside of his clothing, we should be set."

He gave the order to the group to stand down. They had been on edge in case the genjutsu failed; even though they weren't fully recovered they were confident they could defeat the Jounin if he broke out of it. Several of the group had expressed an interest in pursuing him immediately, but Kakashi had reminded them that if they were able to track him constantly then they had time to recover their senses. Hinata called for Shizune's help as Naruto collapsed in her arms, his breathing getting heavier and for once it didn't appear like he was getting any better. Shizune instructed her to lay him down on the ground as she undid his jacket and placed her ear to his chest. After a few seconds she sat back up and told Sakura and Ino to bring them cold water.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked a concerned Hinata.

She knew better then most what Naruto's limits were, and yet even with all his stubbornness he was prone to overstepping such boundaries, and it fell to her to pull him back from the brink half the time. Shizune pulled out a long needle from her pack and filled it with a strange-looking liquid before kindly asking several of their group to hold him down.

"Hinata, he needs to be awake for this" said Shizune as Sasuke, Neji and Lee all worked together to make sure that Naruto couldn't escape.

The blonde's hatred of needles was legendary, even when they were necessary. The white-eyed girl leant down and subtly shook Naruto's shoulder, which only caused the blonde to mutter incoherently in his sleep and reach up to clutch at her hands.

Hinata sighed and leant down next to his ear, "Naruto-kun…we have fresh ramen ready…"

To her disappointment he didn't respond to that either, beginning to drool into his clothes. She rolled her eyes and gently asked the group helping her to plug their eyes for a few moments. They were reluctant, but it was difficult to refuse Hinata when she asked in such soft tones. She wanted to make sure that they couldn't hear her, though she knew that they probably did considering they were experienced shinobi, but Hinata saw no other option but to accept the embarrassment. Leaning back down, she pecked her boyfriend lightly on the cheek before placing her lips near his ear.

Whispering in as soft a tone as possible, she said six little words that caused Naruto to jolt right up with his eyes wide open. He went to say something to Hinata, but was immediately held down by his three male companions as Shizune drove the needle into his arm quickly. Naruto cried out in protest and attempted to struggle but was held down; his only course of action was to look at Hinata with the most pathetic look of betrayal as possible. She smiled warmly and placed a caring hand on his cheek as he fell back unconscious. The three holding him down sighed in relief and stood up as Shizune packed up her medical equipment.

She placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "Don't worry about that. Give him a hot meal and a smile and he won't care."

Hinata laughed softly and stood up; making sure that Naruto was comfortable before turning to her own duties. Kakashi asked the older medic how long the blonde shinobi would be out of it, to which Shizune had no response other then to say that he will be able to move in a day.

"What about the body?" asked Itachi, standing next to her.

Shizune pulled out a clipboard from her pack and flipped to the appropriate page. It contained handwritten numbers and details from her autopsy, information that was barely legible to non-medics.

She shook her head as she re-read the information, "There was nothing strange with the body. No modifications, no marks to signify that it was a fake. By all rights, I killed Kabuto Yakushi in the remains of Konoha."

Itachi considered the information carefully, Ino had been adamant that her description of the Sound leader was accurate.

"So we don't know who we are dealing with then?" he asked rhetorically.

The group took a few moments before deciding that they wanted to pursue the Sound shinobi. There was little to find at the ruined Uzu village, all the information and objects of value had been moved to the Sound village, and the Uzumaki scroll was the only prize they had gotten from their attack.

* * *

><p>They left the next morning. Having woken up during the night, and being quite irate about being jabbed with a large needle, Naruto confirmed that he was fit to travel, though after a few miles he needed support to continue moving. Lee was happy to assist him as the group moved through the countryside at a reasonable pace. Even at a full sprint, it was a month's journey to the place that they suspected the Hidden Sound village was. After a few hours of strategising, in which Itachi had to keep reminding them that there was no way the Jounin knew he was being followed, Shikamaru had helped them devise a plan of pursuit.<p>

If they worked under the assumption that the Sound village prepared for a Konoha counterattack, then even if they arrived a day after the Jounin then the Sound village would be prepared for their assault. However there was only a certain amount of time that a heightened state of defence could be maintained, and if they aimed for the period of time when their defences were down then the battle could swing in their favour. According to information he had received from Jiraiya, Itachi said that the Sound village was one of the smallest villages in the world since it was the newest, and that the army that had destroyed would have been a large portion of their total force.

"So who won the count?"

Before they attacked the Uzu village, the Konoha Genin had made a competition on who could take down the most shinobi. Naturally Naruto was banned from the competition, and the Jounin hadn't expressed any interest at all. Sasuke did a mental count of his takedowns as the other's considered their own numbers.

"I think I got eight" said Chouji, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth as he remembered the battle.

Lee smiled as he shifted his shoulders, "I got you beat there, Chouji-kun. I got fourteen."

The group continued to move through the fields as the Genin argued over the numbers. As they moved towards the end of the stream that led into the Uzu village, Kakashi and Shizune called for a break. They refilled their cantinas and took out some of the food that they had brought from the village they had spent so long at. Pulling out a countryside map from his pack, Shikamaru traced out a line from their current position to the Land of Rice Fields.

"What is it, Shikamaru?" asked Chouji as he opened up a pack of chips.

While on the road he had to ration himself from eating all his snack foods at once, though amusingly he had found a sealing technique in his family scroll to seal large quantities of food into scrolls for future consumption. His long-term friend traced his finger along the line he had drawn before resting his finger on a small dot at the edge of the Land of Fire. Chouji's eyes widened as he recognised the name. It wasn't on the most direct path, but the deviation wasn't unreasonable.

"I'll tell Kakashi-sensei" said Chouji, making his way over to where the silver-haired Jounin was resting.

Shikamaru watched as some of the others ran a few things by the one-eyed shinobi. In a private conversation, he had asked whether Kakashi was comfortable leading the group, considering nobody had actually asked him to. Kakashi had said that he didn't consider himself the leader, neither did Shizune or Itachi, it was just the fact that he was more experienced then the others. The de-facto leader said that he never had an interest in leading but as he had colourfully pointed out to the lazy Nara heir, it was types like them that people turned to in a crisis. He smiled as Chouji convinced the Jounin that it was a good idea, and as it spread around the group he could tell that it was more and more popular.

_Why didn't we think of this before?_

* * *

><p>They reached the village at the middle of the day, a cloudy sky and light mist covering the group's approach to the small village.<p>

"Nice to know this place hasn't changed" commented Shikamaru, eager to find his old teacher to make sure that he and Kurenai were okay.

The village hadn't changed at all from their last visit, there even seemed to be the same type of people walking around as they passed through the village gates.

"What are we doing first?" asked Lee.

The group began to discuss their plans, until they were interrupted by a strange squeak from Hinata, causing a wide smile to creep onto Naruto's face beside her as he removed his hand from her backside.

She tried and failed to hide a blush as she straightened her clothes, "I…uh…promised Naruto I would treat him to some ramen to make up for…you know…"

Naruto nodded in agreement as she spoke, with most of the group simply shrugging and walking away.

Thinking about it for a moment, Lee stepped towards his blonde companion, "Some ramen would be delicious. I'd be happy to accompany you, Naruto-kun."

Neither Naruto nor Hinata had a chance to respond as Lee was sent spirally away by a smack to his head, one that even his well-honed instincts rendered him unable to react to. It took him a few seconds before his vision returned to normal and yet he already knew who had hit him.

"They want to be alone, Lee" said Sakura, putting down her hand calmly.

The green-clad shinobi stood up straight and cracked his neck. She hadn't hit him in a while, but after the ninth time Itachi had colourfully informed him that it was just a sign of affection, though Lee never intended to presume to understand what Sakura thought of him.

"I…guess you are right, Sakura-san."

Naruto rolled his eyes and led Hinata away from the group as Lee made an oblivious comment back to Sakura, causing the pink-haired kunoichi to frown and raise her voice but the group had already moved into the village.

While Naruto was being treated to ramen, the rest of the group headed into the centre of town to see if they couldn't find their old companions. Neji had enquired several villagers on Tenten and her father, but none of them seemed to know anything about them.

"Anyone know where to start?" asked Chouji, spying the barbeque shop he had frequented the first time they had visited the village.

"Do we know if they are still here?" asked Ino.

Standing behind her with his doujutsu active, Neji was frowning as he scanned the village. After years of honing his inherited technique he was able to pick out the image of a close companion quickly, but finding a needle in a large stack of needles was difficult at the best of times.

"She isn't in the village…" he said as he continued to look around the village.

"What about Asuma and Kurenai-sensei?" asked Kiba.

Akamaru had gone hunting around the village outskirts, leaving his friend to wander the village without him.

Without moving his head, Neji pointed to a section of houses on the south-east side of the village, "Fifth house on the right, the one with the green-brown roof."

He sighed as his vision concentrated on the ramen shop, watching Naruto feed his cousin a piece of beef with his chopsticks. It hadn't bothered him for a while, but the wide smile on her face caused a sinking feeling in his stomach.

_She's moved on, and I'm still stuck in the past. I need to meet some new people._

The group began to walk towards the house he pointed at, while Neji deactivated his Byakugan. Unlike the Sharingan, it hurt his head to have so much visual information at once, so he only used it when necessary.

"I'm going to check out Tenten's shop, to see where she might have gone" he said to the others before making his way to the edge of the village.

The house that Neji had directed them to looked reasonably new compared to the rest of the village, a two story building with a half done paint job.

Placing a hand on the gate, Ino looked at the door, "Should we knock?" Standing next to her, Shikamaru looked at the latch on the gate with an amused expression.

An almost invisible tag was attached to the gate, one that alerted the occupants to their approach with a pulse of chakra.

"Well at least we know they are here" said Kiba with a sniff, a smile creeping onto his face as he sensed a figure coming from the back.

"Oh! If it isn't Kakashi and his merry men."

Asuma hadn't changed too much in the time they had spent apart; he still kept an indifferent look on his face and his dark facial hair. He wiped his hands on the civilian clothes he wore and smiled as his three students stepped forward to greet him.

"Well, well. You three have grown big."

He ruffled Chouji's hair and looked over at the rest of the group. Before he could say anything, Kakashi indicated to the newest members of their group.

"This is Shizune, the former apprentice to Tsunade."

Asuma nodded to her respectfully before frowning as his eyes landed on the other Jounin in the group.

"And this is…"

"Uchiha Itachi" interrupted the retired Jounin.

Before the village had been destroyed, everyone knew of the elder Uchiha's name even before the death of the Uchiha clan. Itachi could see his muscles constricting until he saw the younger Uchiha standing next to his brother.

"I would not have expected you to join them, Itachi."

The elder Uchiha smiled slightly, causing a strange look to pass over Asuma's face.

"I wasn't expecting to be so, but this is how it ended up."

Asuma frowned again before turning to Kakashi, "It would seem we have much to speak about."

The one-eyed Jounin laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, something like that. Can we come inside?"

He nodded and indicated to the door. As Itachi entered the house he watched him carefully, wondering what the kinslayer had done to earn Kakashi's trust, nevermind the trust of his brother who had sworn to kill him.

The inside of the house was commonly enough, as Asuma indicated for them to sit he made a note of how much the Genin had grown in their time apart.

"Where is Kurenai-sensei?" asked Kiba, making himself comfortable on the sofa and placing his feet on the table.

It lasted for a few seconds before Ino smacked him on the head and forced him to sit respectfully.

"Hang on, I'll get her" said Asuma before making his way up the staircase nearby.

The group waited patiently before Asuma reappeared a minute later.

"She'll be right down" he said before taking a seat opposite the group.

They sat in awkward silence for several minutes, before Asuma finally asked the question that had been bothering him.

"Is…is this all of you? Where are the others?"

The group collectively looked down at the floor in sadness, though only for a second before a loud crack of lightning flashed in the room as Naruto and Hinata appeared behind the group.

"See, told you we weren't late" said Naruto as Hinata apologised to the group before smiling as she saw Asuma.

Turning his head around, Sasuke stared at his teammate with confusion.

"How did you get here?"

Naruto gave him his best are-you-kidding-me looks before reaching down and removing the Hiraishin tag he had attached to the back of Sasuke's shirt. He gave Sasuke an amused wink before pocketing the tag. The younger Uchiha simply shook his head in disbelief and turned back around, not wanting to deal with Naruto for the moment, though he swore he'd get his revenge at some point in the future.

Kakashi coughed awkwardly to get Asuma's attention, "Neji is out looking for Tenten's shop."

"Oh, she and her father moved a few months ago"

"When he gets back, I'll tell him that. I believe Sakura and Lee are taking a look around the village before coming here as well."

Kakashi hesitated for a moment, causing Asuma's eyes to widen as he realised who was missing. He sighed sadly before leaning back in his chair.

"So he's gone then. That's a damn shame."

The group nodded in agreement before turning as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Kurenai, unlike Asuma, had changed quite a bit. She no longer wore her shinobi outfit, and instead wore a housewife's garb and her black hair was a complete mess down to her elbows. Her eyes widened and a smile broke onto her face as she saw the group, widening even more when she saw her three ex-students.

"It is good to see you guys again after so long" she said as she made her way through the group to stand next to Asuma.

The retired Team 10 leader smiled as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her with a smile, "Is she…"

Kurenai nodded and returned the smile before looking at the rest of the group.

"So what have we missed?"

They took turns telling parts of their story, with both Kurenai and Asuma asking certain questions that brought out information they had forgotten.

"And then we decided to come here, and that's basically it" finished Kakashi.

"Well that's…quite a tale" said Asuma.

Across the room, it finally clicked in Shikamaru's mind, causing him to point judging at his old teacher.

"Asuma…it's been bothering me for ages."

His teacher laughed at the lazy shinobi's comment, "Speak your mind, please."

"You haven't had a smoke since we got here."

Asuma waved the comment off, "I had to quit since the baby was born, but to be honest I haven't missed it…ah damn…"

He trailed off as he realised what he just told the Konoha shinobi. They all stared at the two of them with open mouths, except for the two newest of the group who weren't sure what to make of it.

"Did…we hear you right?" asked Ino, slowly rising from her seat.

Asuma laughed for a moment before being unceremoniously smacked upside the head by Kurenai, his Jounin toughness unable to stop all the pain from her blow. Kurenai rubbed her hand with an amused smile on her face, her fingers running over a plain gold ring on her left hand.

"Would you…like to meet her?" she asked, her smile widening as she saw Ino squeal with excitement.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Kurenai tapped Asuma on the shoulder before making her way up the staircase again. After ten minutes, and an indication from Asuma, they turned at once as Kurenai walked back down the steps. In her arms was the smallest little baby girl, with dark black hair and smooth pale skin, breathing softly with closed eyes. Almost at once, the Genin shot out of their chairs to greet the baby, but found themselves unable to move from their spots.

At the edge of the room, Shikamaru shook his head, "The baby is asleep guys, we shouldn't crowd it."

He had given them just enough movement to sit back down in their chairs and let Kurenai come to them. After a few seconds of struggling, to his amazement Ino pulled away from his technique and nearly fell in her attempt to reach the new mother. She smiled as wide as she could as she asked Kurenai if she could hold her, and she was ecstatic when she agreed. Shikamaru released his technique while trying to work out how his teammate had broken it, allowing the rest of the group to surround Ino as she took the baby carefully from Kurenai's hands, supporting its head with her arms. The baby stretched its arms out with a yawn before revealing pale blue eyes for a fraction of a second before closing them again and shifting its head slightly to get more comfortable in her arms. Kurenai smiled as she saw the looks on the group's faces as they watched Ino hold her baby.

"What is her name?" asked Hinata quietly, trying to resist the temptation to reach out and stroke the baby's hair.

"Airi. Sarutobi Airi" said Kurenai.

Next to his female counterpart, Kakashi took a glance at the baby's face before turning to face Asuma.

"You sure this is your kid, Asuma? She's far too beautiful."

With a laugh, Asuma stood up slowly from his seat, "Well, sometimes miracles happen."

Ino began slowly swaying back and forth, unable to keep her sheer glee from her face. The others began to file slowly back to their seats, though there weren't enough seats for everyone. Naruto tried to give his seat to Hinata, but instead she forced him to sit down before planting herself on his lap with a sly smile on her face. Kurenai frowned as she watched the interaction between the two of them, asking Ino if she wouldn't mind putting the baby back in her crib in the room upstairs before sitting down on the table opposite the couple.

"Something I should know about, Hinata?"

Her white-eyed student blushed terribly as she realised she hadn't mentioned it to their former teachers, while beneath her Naruto laughed awkwardly.

"Yes, isn't it wonderful?" said Sasuke sarcastically.

He could feel his brother's stare at his back, but it wasn't as scary as the rest of the group's.

He put up his arms in surrender, "I was kidding. No sense of humour these days…"

After Ino came back downstairs, they got down to the discussion they had put off for so long.

"So you are going to just invade the Hidden Village of the Sound? Even for us, that's a big call."

Asuma bit at the stick of wood that he stuck in his mouth, his way of compensating for his inability to smoke. After a long explanation from Kakashi and Sasuke, the two of them had understood that Itachi was on their side, and as the elder Uchiha outlined their plan they had to admit the group was far better off with his inclusion.

"You know we can't come with you, even though we would like to."

Under his mask, Kakashi smiled slowly as he glanced up at the staircase. He told them that they hadn't come to the village to recruit them; they respected their decision to retire, and with a new born baby it was nowhere on their agenda. As they rolled up the area map, Naruto pointed out that they hadn't eaten in a while, prompting the group to order some food from a nearby restaurant. After they ate, Kurenai asked Itachi to step outside with her for a moment, which he was suspicious about but agreed to join her. Placing his hands together under his chin, Shikamaru stared at his old teacher with an odd look on his face.

"Asuma…how old is Airi?"

It took him a moment to remember it before smiling and turning to the Nara heir, "She'll be two months in a few days."

To their credit, it wasn't just Shikamaru who was surprised by Asuma's comment. Both Naruto and Kakashi noticed immediately, and it took the others only a few more moments.

"Asuma…we left here eight and a half months ago."

"Your point being?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Asuma, is the reason you guys stayed here because you knew Kurenai was pregnant?"

"Ah…um…possibly…"

The rest of the group laughed at his awkwardness, it was a strange sight when Sarutobi Asuma didn't know what to say. After half an hour, Itachi and Kurenai returned to the room. Sasuke cocked his head in questioning, but Itachi shook his head, indicating that he would speak on it later.

"How long will you stay?" asked Kurenai.

Kakashi leant back in his chair, "We'll leave in the morning. It isn't worth the risk to you guys. Especially not now."

Asuma chuckled as Kurenai stood behind him with a sad smile on her face.

"Would that we could go with you. Especially if that intel is anywhere near accurate, but we can't leave Airi."

"We understand. I know this might seem strange, but could we bunk here tonight? I don't want to leave a paper trail."

"Of course."

As they turned a corner, Lee froze when he saw a rundown dumpling shop at the edge of the village.

"What is it?" asked Sakura, noticing that Lee had been very quiet since they had let the rest of the group go on ahead.

Her companion didn't respond to her question, he simply walked slowly towards the empty shop and looked at the old man behind the counter with a sad look on his face. The old man seemed to barely notice Lee for a moment before a smile cracked onto his face.

"Ah, it has been a long time dear boy. Would you like to come in and have something to eat?"

Sakura stepped up next to her green-clad companion, "Do you know this place, Lee?"

He smiled before nodding slightly and walking into the shop. The old man showed them to a table before serving them water and telling them that he would serve the shop's special in a few minutes. Sakura sipped her water quietly as she regarded the solemn look on Lee's face. He kept staring at a back part of the shop, barely even noticing that she was sitting beside him. The old man made good on his promise and served them a plate of pork dumplings that was the equal of any she had tasted before. Lee seemed less enthusiastic about eating, and was so quiet during the meal it drove Sakura insane.

"What's wrong?" she asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

Looking up from his plate, Lee frowned at the question, "No…nothing is wrong Sakura-san."

He shook his head as if to shake himself out of his stupor before putting up a wide grin.

"I'm fine."

Sakura put down her chopsticks and leant her elbows on the table with her hands together. They had paid with money they had taken from the Sound shinobi corpses at the Uzu village, which several in the group had insisted that they no longer needed. She stared straight into Lee's eyes, easily able to see past his smile.

"Lee, I've never known you to lie before."

"I'm not lying!" he protested, trying to think of anyway he could to get out of the conversation.

Unfortunately Sakura didn't let up, "Lee, I've spent a long time with Naruto. I know when someone is smiling to hide their pain."

Lee dropped his smile and adopted a serious expression, "And what would you know of pain, huh?"

She could tell that she had stepped into the question, but that didn't stop her from letting her anger rise.

She slammed a hand onto the table, "You aren't the only one who has lost someone! You should remember that!"

Lee clenched his hands on the table and stared at her angrily for a few seconds before standing up abruptly. He turned and thanked the old man for the meal before walked out of the shop without another word to her. Sakura balled her fists as she stared at their empty plates.

_I had every right to get angry at him. If he wants to be selfish, then fine. I had the right of it. Didn't I?_

Later that night at Asuma and Kurenai's house, even the discovery of little Airi wasn't enough to dampen the sinking feeling in Sakura's stomach. On the promise that they would be very watchful over the baby, the Genin let the Jounin take out the new parents drinking in celebration. Naruto had tried to convince them to take him with them, even producing a passable adult female transformation. They had laughed him off though, Itachi pulling him aside to ask him why his patented 'Sexy Technique' had changed to a long dark haired pale-skinned girl, Naruto grew a colourful shade of red and cancelled the technique, muttered about how he had some training to do that took priority.

As the moon reached the peak in the sky, most of the group had retired for the night, most of them sleeping on the floor in the house. Lee still hadn't returned, and neither had Neji but they weren't concerned about the elder Hyuuga. The baby was fast asleep in her crib upstairs from the living room, and even at the late time the Jounin still hadn't returned from their drinking trip. Sitting on the couch, Hinata struggled to move her arm that had fallen asleep underneath the large blonde weight that had fallen asleep on her legs. Try as she might her right arm wouldn't move, but when she saw the peaceful smile on Naruto's face as he slept quietly she didn't want to disturb him, though from prior experience it was very difficult to wake Naruto. She ran her free hand through his spiky blonde hair, running the yellow strands between her fingers. He rarely let her play with his hair, but considering all the times he played with hers she considering it morally reasonable.

"He looks so peaceful like that."

Hinata smiled warmly at Sakura's comment as the pink-haired kunoichi sat down opposite her. Sakura smiled awkwardly back at her companion. It had taken some time to get used to the two of them acting like that, and try as she might Sakura couldn't keep a tiny spark of jealousy rising up inside her mind.

"You guys really are a happy couple, aren't you?" she asked.

Hinata took her eyes from Naruto's face and looked over at Sakura with a smile, "We do what we can."

Sakura smiled back at her and looked at the nearby staircase before looking over the sleeping bodies of the rest of the Genin.

"Do you think you guys will ever be like Asuma and Kurenai-sensei?"

She took great amusement at the idea of causing Hinata to blush, but to her surprise Hinata simply smiled warmly before looking back at the blonde on her lap, her hand moving to touch his cheek lightly, running her fingers across his birthmark scars.

"If we get the opportunity, I think so."

"Really? You'd want to marry that knucklehead?"

The white-eyed girl giggled slightly at the question as she saw an opportunity to free her hand, pulling it out from under him with slow grace before placing it on his chest. The moment her hand hit his shirt, Naruto shifted slightly in his sleep and his hands reached up and clutched at her newly-freed arm before muttered quietly and rubbed his face against her smooth skin and continuing to sleep.

"We haven't talked about it. But so long as I am with Naruto, I don't care."

Sakura sighed as she leant back in her chair.

_They really love each other. Not some kind of puppy-dog teenage love affair either, I've seem them fight together. They completely trust each other. Then there is me, who seems to just push away anyway I care about. I did it with Naruto, and now…_

They sat quietly for a few minutes beside each other, they had promised the Jounin that a few of them would stay awake in case something happened with Airi, but Sakura felt no great urge to sleep yet, though she could tell Hinata was struggling to keep herself awake.

She thought about it for a moment before taking a deep breath and leaning forward with her hands clutched together, "Hey Hinata…"

Her dark-haired compatriot shook her head slightly, "I'm not asleep, I swear."

Sakura laughed lightly at her response, it was very Naruto-ish. She fidgeted with her gloved fingers as she tried to think of a way to frame her question. Eventually after a few moments she told Hinata about her encounter with Lee earlier. The younger Hyuuga listened carefully to her tale, not wanting to comment until Sakura had finished.

"So…what do you think?" asked Sakura expectantly, at a loss for what she should do next.

The sinking feeling in her stomach had gotten worse over the night, and even though she knew it had to do with Lee, she had no idea how to get rid of it. Hinata thought about it for a few moments as the nearby clock on the wall ticked loudly, indicated it was just past one in the morning. It had concerned her as well that Lee hadn't returned, but she thought it would have been for the same reason as her cousin.

"Sakura…I don't think there is an answer. Grief affects everybody differently, you know that. We were all hit hard by the destruction of Konoha, we all lost our families."

She looked down at Naruto's face as she caressed his face with the lightest touch, "And there are some like Naruto and Lee that never knew their parents. But the reason you are confused, is that you don't understand Lee's grief, or why it is harder for him now then it was for the rest of us eight months ago."

Sakura frowned at her comment and crossed her legs, "What do you mean? Isn't it the same?"

Hinata smiled sadly as she shook her head in disagreement, "You don't understand Lee's pain. We all lost our parents and families, that was awful, there is no questioning that. But you don't understand Gai-sensei's relationship to Lee. He wasn't just a teacher to him. Gai was his father. His older brother. His idol, his motivation, his hope. But most of all, Gai was his saviour; he helped Lee out of the darkness. And just when Lee was in a position to make his hero proud of him, he was taken away. I can't think of a crueller fate, Sakura-san."

They sat quietly together as Sakura let everything Hinata said sink in. She had never considered it in such a fashion, but on reflection she realised that identifying that someone was in pain was only the first step. Since she had grown so confident lately, Hinata felt an obligation to tell Sakura something she wished she had learnt years ago, before she had been able to tell Naruto her feelings.

"Sakura, Lee is currently in a state of confusion, not knowing where he is meant to go, or what he's meant to do. If you want to stay close to him, and I suspect you do, then shouldn't you aim to be the one stable thing in his life?"

Sakura's green eyes widened at Hinata's last comment. She wondered, and not for the first time that night, when the white-eyed girl had gotten so wise, until she realised that it was because she had gone through the same situation before, though not as dramatic. Sakura considered what Hinata said for a few minutes before raising from her seat slowly.

"I'm…uh…"

Hinata smiled at her warmly, activating her Byakugan for a few seconds before returning her eyes to normal.

"Go. The other's are on their way back."

Sakura bowed slightly to thank Hinata for her help before turning and walked over the top of a snoring Kiba and Akamaru to get to the door.

"Sanzen happyaku nijuu ichi…sanzen happyaku nijuu ni…sanzen happyaku nijuu san…"

Sakura watched from the bushes as Lee continued his intense training in the empty field dozens of feet away, doing one-handed pushups while alternating hands. It took her a few moments before she noticed that he had covered himself with weights, but that didn't slow his pushups one bit as sweat dripped from his face onto the grass beneath him. She almost stood up to speak to him, until she saw the serious look on his face. It was difficult to read Lee's emotions when he was concentrating, but looking into his dark eyes Sakura could tell that Lee wasn't angry. It took a few moments before Sakura noticed that it wasn't just sweat hitting the ground.

_He's…should I go and say something? Wait…that's what got us into this mess. _

"Sanzen happyaku sanjuu…"

Taking care to not make any sudden movements, Sakura stood up slowly and walked over to a nearby tree that Lee had been striking earlier. She made it clear that wasn't going to interact with him as she put on her fighting gloves from her pocket and began punching the tree trunk. Out of the corner of her eyes, Sakura noticed that Lee had faltered slightly with his pushups as he heard her striking the tree. Using a small amount of chakra, a technique Lee had taught her, Sakura began to strike the tree harder, causing the tree bark to splinter under her fists. After a few minutes of practising without her paying any attention to him, Lee stood up from his exercises and walked over to her. He didn't have an angry look on his face, but he kept a serious visage as he stood beside her. Sakura didn't take notice of him, mixing up her punches with the occasional kick.

"Why are you here?" asked Lee in a neutral tone.

She didn't look at him while she struck the tree with her fists, "I came here to train. To strengthen my body and mind."

With a final strike to the tree, she turned and stared him straight in the eye with barely two feet between their faces.

"What did you come here for?" she asked while maintaining her stare, taking a large gamble.

She knew that Lee would never strike her unless it was during a training session, and that he didn't hate her.

Lee clenched his fists as he stared back at her, "I'm here for the same." "Bullshit. Why are you here?"

Lee was taken back by her swearing, but didn't understand what she was pressing him for.

"I…I'm here to work hard…"

Sakura saw that she was getting closer to what she wanted, but it required one more push. She took a step forward so that their faces were inches apart. Lee was taller than her, but under her forceful gaze he felt miniscule.

"I will only ask one more time. Why are you here?"

For a few moments they stood next to each other and stared at each other, neither willing to give any ground. Lee went to answer then stopped himself as he saw the intense gaze in Sakura's green eyes. For a split second he moved his eyes downward and broke the connection, but before he could say anything he felt a gloved hand on his chin, Sakura's fingers forcing his face up to look back at hers.

Her face broke into a soft smile, "Lee..."

"I don't want to be a failure."

As soon as he said it, Sakura felt her heart break as he reached up and removed her hand from his chin, taking a step back and turning around. Lee was not the type of person to push his troubles onto others, and made sure that Sakura couldn't see the tears streaming down his face.

"I…only wanted to…be a good…but now…"

With one motion, Sakura stepped forward and snaked her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly from behind, leaning her head on the top of his back. They had never interacted like that before, but that wasn't what Lee was thinking about at that moment. He could feel Sakura's grip on his waist and her breath on the back of his neck. Lee reached up and rubbed at his eyes, covering his bandages with moisture.

"He never got to see who I became…"

"He would have been proud of you" said Sakura, tightening her grip as she drew herself closer to him.

"I know I am."

They stood together for several moments, before Sakura peeled herself off him and stood back a step. Lee turned around slowly and smiled at his pink-haired companion.

"Th…thank you, Sakura-san. I…don't know what to say."

Sakura laughed softly, causing Lee to shake his head in confusion. To his surprise, she stepped forward and lightly pecked him on the cheek before walking back towards the village. Lee didn't move as he reached up and touched the part of his cheek she had kissed, feeling a warm yet tender sensation. He turned around slowly and watched her walk away, seeing her in a way that he hadn't expected before.

_I don't understand this at all _he thought as he jogged to catch up to her.

* * *

><p>As the group crossed the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice Fields, they stopped at the edge of a small river to recuperate. It would be harder going from then on, since they were entering the land of their enemy. They had let the Sound Jounin go almost two months ago, and by all rights he would have reached the Sound village long ago. Kakashi rolled out a map of the outlying regions as a few of the group looked over it with him. From their position the trackers of the group had indicated that the Sound Jounin had moved in a north-western direction from their current position. They had initially taken the Jounin's path, but now that they were in enemy territory that wasn't viable. Even though he was under the genjutsu when he left and Itachi assured them that the Jounin wouldn't believe he was being pursued, but they weren't willing to take any risks.<p>

"What's the best route to take from here?" asked Shizune.

They began to look at out-of-the-way routes towards where they suspected the village to be. As they were laying out a small amount of food, Naruto and Hinata pulled Neji aside. He frowned as they brought him outside of earshot of the rest of the group, uncomfortable with the idea that there were things they wanted to keep secret from the others. Naruto looked at Hinata with a questioning look before she gave him a slight nod. He reached into his pocket and produced the scroll they had taken from the Uzu village.

"What is this?"

The couple smiled as Naruto passed the scroll to Neji, "I've spent a long time looking at my family's scroll, Neji. I have to confess, I have no idea what to make of it. But I know two things. First, I'm definitely not smart enough to understand these techniques. At least not for a few years."

He unravelled the scroll to a certain section and showed it to Neji. The elder Hyuuga frowned again as his white eyes ran over the symbols on the scroll.

"What is this?" he asked again, recognising a few words but not too many.

Hinata indicated to a symbol two-thirds down the track with a smile on her face.

"You know more about this then me, Neji-niisan."

Neji's eyes widened as he realised what she was talking about, taking the scroll gently from Naruto's hands and examining it carefully. He still didn't understand most of it, but what had taken Naruto and Hinata hours to deduce, took Neji three minutes.

"This…is similar to our…how the hell?"

"We don't know. But we wanted to make sure before showing you this."

Neji rolled up the scroll, "And you are just giving it to me?"

With a grin, Naruto nodded, "In a way. Well, consider it a loan. Your thing is more important than me keeping a family heirloom."

With a cocked head, Neji saw his blonde companion with a whole new light. He'd often considered Naruto a dropout, and even after he'd been shown that Naruto wasn't someone to mess with, he was still indifferent about him. But now he began to develop a different opinion about the clone-user.

"It would seem I misjudged you, Naruto."

The blonde chuckled as Neji pocketed the Uzumaki scroll. He put his arm around Hinata's shoulder, and squeezed it slightly.

"I had some help."

They turned at the same time as they heard Kakashi call for the group to start moving again. Neji bowed slightly his thanks to Naruto before turning to his cousin.

"Are you sure you want this, Hinata-sama? This is breaking with Hyuuga tradition."

She took a moment to tell Naruto to go on ahead as the group began to pack up. She reached down and took one of Neji's hands into hers, smiling as she grasped his bandaged fingers. It had been difficult for the two of them to connect since Suna; beyond the training field they were awkward around each other at the best of times. Hinata had forgiven Neji a long time ago, and had tried to get him to talk to her, but Neji hadn't responded, preferring to keep their relationship to the training field. She looked at his white eyes with hers, a feat that she hadn't been able to do before the Chuunin Exams.

"Neji-niisan, we are all that is left of the Hyuuga clan. I have thought about it for a while, and my father was right. I am not suited to be the head of the clan, but that's not a bad thing. Neji-niisan, you are a much better shinobi than I am. You were lost before, but I can tell that you are becoming the man that you were meant to be. Naruto and I will help you however you need to achieve this goal."

Not one for emotional displays, Neji smiled sadly as his cousin released his hand.

"I appreciate that, Hinata-sama. But…I…"

Seeing the look in her eyes, Neji knew that while she would understand his motivations, she would try to change them, and it had taken too long to set himself onto his current path. It was a huge step for him at that moment and for a time he decided to put aside his pride. It was a massive task for him in general, but one that he had no intention of failing at. While it wasn't particularly necessary, the symbolism of her and Naruto's action made all the difference in Neji's mind.

"…I'll think about what you've said. Thank you, Hinata-sama."

She smiled and let go of his hand before moving to join Naruto with the rest of the group. Neji watched as she began talking to the blonde with a warm smile on her face, smiling to himself as he considered how different life had become from a year ago. Lee came over and asked if he was ready to move, to which he nodded and shifted his sore shoulder muscles. He wanted to sit down and examine the scroll immediately, but he also knew that it wasn't the highest priority for the group. As they began to walk across the river, Neji remembered something Gai had told him at the hospital in Suna after the Second Exam, when Lee had nearly killed him defending Hinata.

_I'm no longer a bird in a cage. I haven't been for a long time. But even so, the cage remains, waiting to trap me back inside at the worst time possible. With this…_

The Land of Rice Fields was a strange place, though not so different from the Land of Fire before the fall of Konoha. They had avoided civilization altogether as they couldn't know who was a spy for the Sound or not, but as they continued to track the scents of the Sound Jounin they had only run into a single three-man patrol of Sound Genin. They had taken the Sound shinobi by surprise, but to their dismay they didn't know anything about the Konoha prisoners, though after a few hours under duress they were able to get a location on the Hidden Sound village. They left the three of them tied to a tree a reasonable distance away so as to not bring any attention on their group as they continued to move under the cover of darkness through the grasslands.

As they drew closer to the village their pace slowed, but they didn't encounter any more patrols as they reached the inner areas of the Land of Rice Fields. They ran past a small farming village before both Kiba and Shino stopped them abruptly while they were passing through a tree line. They pointed to a small rundown house in the middle of an open field, causing a few of the group to snort in amusement.

"That's their hideout?" asked Naruto, highly amused by the fact that they had been so cautious for something so small.

He ducked a millisecond after making the comment, causing the inevitable smack across his head to fall short. Lee was forced to reach forward and pull Sakura back as she fell to the ground. Kakashi indicated to the Hyuugas in the group, waiting for the two of them to active their doujutsu and scan the area. Neji leant over and whispered to his cousin, having a quiet conversation between themselves as they continued to scan the area. After several minutes they turned back to the group and deactivated their family technique.

"What is it?" asked Itachi as he saw the looks on their faces.

Neji looked at Hinata for a moment before turning back to the group, "It's…underground. The whole village is underneath the ground. It expands deep below, some five kilometres with lots of connecting rooms and areas."

They let the group consider what they had just said, but before they could ask the question they really wanted to know, Neji interrupted them.

"I asked Hinata-sama, and we've both seen the same thing. There must be some kind of safeguards in place that is obscuring our technique, but we can't see any people down there."

Next to Kakashi, Kiba frowned as he ran a greater amount of chakra to his nose.

"That can't be right. I smell a whole bunch of different scents down there."

Without a word Shino nodded in agreement and Akamaru barked softly. After a few minutes of discussion, through which Neji identified five additional entrances to the Hidden Village in the outlying areas, they decided that they would proceed with the attack. Though even with the intel they had, several of the group had expressed an interest in getting greater surveillance before going in.

"Every moment we stay here, we risk being detected" said Shizune, wanting to get underway as soon as possible.

They began discussing possible attack plans, as Shikamaru adopted his thinking pose while Hinata drew the other entrances on the map between them. After a few hours of not moving from their position, they decided that the best time to attack would be during the next morning, since time of day was meaningless underground. Shikamaru removed his hands from his pose at the same time as both Kakashi and Itachi came up with their own ideas.

They all spoke at the same time, before the two Jounin let the Nara heir speak first. They didn't want to admit it, but after the attack on the Uzu village Shikamaru had demonstrated himself as a better strategist then both of them put together, and when he was motivated it was impossible to beat him. The normally-lazy shinobi smoothed out the map before pulling out a pen and flicking it between his fingers.

"From the indications Neji and Hinata have told us, the tunnels that make up the pathways for the village are about three-people wide. By all accounts we've already taken care of their main force, but even if we haven't in those tunnels their numbers will be meaningless. This is a village designed for secrecy, not siege or raid. With the right compositions, I believe we can take the village by surprise, and cause enough chaos to find and evacuate our people, if they are in there."

After looking at the detailed map Neji had drawn for them, he put his pen to paper and began writing names next to the entrances. Without stopping, he waved over Naruto, who came over as quickly as he could.

"Naruto, how many Kage Bunshin can you create while still being at full fighting strength?"

The blonde considered the question for a moment, knowing that after the stern lecture he had gotten from Shizune earlier he couldn't use his newly named Blood Bunshin technique unless absolutely necessary, and that it wasn't always the best option either.

"And still be at my best? Probably…two thousand, give or take."

Shikamaru stopped in the middle of a character and looked at Naruto with a frown before turning back to his map.

"Freak" he muttered in bewilderment before writing down Naruto's name next to the entrance in front of them.

After a few more minutes, they called the whole group over to have a look at their plan. With a proud nod, Kakashi indicated for Shikamaru to tell everyone what they needed to hear.

He pointed to the main entrance with his pen, "Naruto, I need you to storm the main entrance. You don't need to win the battle, but I want you to use about two thousand clones. Try to draw as many of them out as possible, and engage as you will."

The blonde nodded his acknowledgement, but Shikamaru also pointed out that he needed Naruto in one of the group invading the village.

"We need to attack the village on five fronts. The army of clones will attack the main area, where the defence would be strongest, and where the most resistance would be. Since they are only clones, we can only gain from that field of battle."

He pointed to the small entrance two kilometres away from their position and the names written next to it, "This entrance is small and confined, leading into what appears to be training area. Itachi and Sasuke will attack from here, using your fire techniques and genjutsu you should be able to disable any possible civilian population and training shinobi. Sasuke, your brother will be in charge."

Both Uchiha brothers gave their acknowledgements, Sasuke indicating he had no problem taking his brother's orders. Back at the map, Shikamaru pointed to the eastern entrance shrouded by a lake and waterfall.

"This is another main entrance, but it leads into what I believe to be a warehouse or storeroom facility. Kiba, Sakura, Lee and Hinata will take this route. When underground the technique used to block the Byakugan shouldn't be in effect, so Hinata will direct the group and Lee will be the leader."

The younger Hyuuga tensed at the idea, but before she could say anything she could feel Naruto's grip on her shoulder, the blonde unable to contain his frustration.

"Shikamaru, I want to be part of Hinata's group."

Before he could say any more though, Shikamaru stared at him with cold eyes, "Naruto, we have to make sure the groups are as effective as possible, and your strength is needed in the next group."

"But…" he stopped himself from saying more as he took a look at Hinata's smiling face.

With a slow nod, he squeezed her shoulder and apologised to Shikamaru for interrupting. He still wasn't comfortable with the idea, but knew that she would be able to take care of herself. In serious doubt, she still wore the tag around her neck with the Hiraishin seal on it, so he knew he could flash to her at any time. With that out of the way, Shikamaru pointed to the northern entrance.

"Naruto I need you here with Ino, Chouji and Shizune-sensei, who will be in charge. You'll want to flood several tunnels with water techniques before proceeding down this junction. Just to clarify, Naruto I want you there for combat strength, same goes for you Chouji. You are to protect the other two while they do their techniques."

The shinobi mentioned gave their acknowledgements, Ino and Shizune asking Shikamaru to give them a map of what areas to flood. Chouji reached into his pocket before producing a brown and black pill in a small pouch, handing it to Naruto. He wasn't an expert in the Akimichi pill making, but from his family's scroll he was able to make a more enhanced soldier pill.

"What is this for?" asked Naruto.

Chouji wrapped up the pouch and placed it in his hand, "Just in case, Naruto-kun. I think you'll need it more than me."

He was still suspicious, but still thanked the large shinobi and pocketed the pill. Shikamaru coughed slightly to get their attention and pointed at the southern entrance that was the closest to their current position.

"This is where Shino, Kakashi-sensei and I will go. Kakashi-sensei will be in charge of our group, and our goal is the hardest."

Shino gave no visual acknowledgement, but they all knew that he was mentally preparing himself, and Kakashi simply shrugged at the plan. Shikamaru hated the idea of sending his friends into battle, so it was only a natural thing to send himself into the hardest job.

He pointed to a hastily drawn picture near the entrance his group would be going through, "We are going to hunt down, and try to capture their leader."

With that declaration he rolled up the map and told the group to prepare themselves. They all went about discussing with their leaders what their plan of attack was, as Naruto sat down and tried to relax himself for the massive chakra output he would need to put out. As Shikamaru left to refill his water canister, he saw Neji walking up to him slowly.

"You didn't mention my name, Shikamaru."

The Nara heir waved at him to join him and be quiet, both of them kneeling down so as to not drawn suspicion from the rest of the group.

"I've told the others that you will out keeping an eye on our backs, making sure the entrances are clear."

"But that's not the plan."

"No. The last entrance, the one directly west of us. I…"

"You want me to confirm if any of our people are there" interjected Neji, understanding why he was going alone.

If their people were dead, then it was best that someone who had already lost their parents to discover them. It was a harsh truth, but of the entire group Neji understood his role best. He was also one of the strongest of the Genin, though they hadn't tested each other in a few months.

"You still plan to go through with it?" asked Shikamaru, aware of what Neji was planning to do before their attack.

The elder Hyuuga nodded slowly, "It won't incapacitate me, or diminish my strength. I…if there is a chance I'm going to die…"

Shikamaru stopped him there, he knew what troubled Neji, and that it wasn't his place to pry.

"Come on, we'd best get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day" said Shikamaru, praying that his plan wasn't going to get his friends killed.

There was too much riding on it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I must admit, I regret killing off Gai. Every time I write about him now, I feel guilty and wish I hadn't. But such is the reality of life; things rarely work out the way we want them to. For anyone curious, the Japanese that Lee is saying is number counting. It's 3820 onwards. I speak a little Japanese, so I'm sneaking it in. The next chapter will be delayed by a little bit, since my Japanese Exam is next week.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.

**Anime Spotlight**: Full Metal Panic. This is a very interesting Mech-style character driven story that has two seasons and one offshoot. The offshoot is hilarious, and the main story is fascinating. A military teenager is tasked with protecting a girl who has the secrets of their Mechs hidden inside her mind, but she is unaware of it. He's completely oblivious to social constructs, and like the classic tsundere character she beats the stuffing out of it for it. Definitely one that I recommend, and one worth seeing, if nothing else than to watch the interactions between Sousuke and Chidori.


	17. Chapter 16 Invasion

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 16 – Invasion

**A/N**: It occurs to me that my paragraphing isn't being picked up by. That really bugs me as a writer, I paragraph at specific points to help the story. From this chapter onwards, I'll be putting a few oOo to separate the paragraphs, between the page breaks.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, shinobi would actually sneak around.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With their pursuit of the Sound Jounin, the Konoha group made their way across the countryside towards the Land of Rice Fields. They stopped off for a rest at the village where Asuma and Kurenai had retired to. They found that Tenten had moved away with her father, and to their amazement the retired Jounin had recently given birth to a baby girl, Airi. After taking their leave they infiltrated the Land of Rice Fields, making slow progress before finding the main entrance to the Hidden Village of the Sound. Neji and Hinata scanned the area with their Byakugan, informing the group that the entire village is underground and spread over a large area. Shikamaru develops a plan for them to attack the village in the morning, splitting the group into four attack groups. In addition an army of Naruto clones will storm the entrance, and on his own Neji plans to find the prisoners, if there are any. As they prepare themselves for the attack, Neji plans to use the Uzumaki scroll to remove his Hyuuga family seal.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>After fleshing out the plan, the groups split off to their designated areas. Naruto waited near their original position after giving Shizune a Hiraishin seal so that he could instantly join their group in their attack. The plan was for Naruto to create the clone army then fire off an explosion note in the sky to tell the rest of the Konoha shinobi to attack their entrances. The explosion would draw a majority of the Sound forces to face the clone army, allowing the rest to slip past their defences. At the western entrance, Neji had set himself up in a small alcove. He sat cross-legged with an empty scroll unravelled in front of him and four kunai planted into in a circle around him with seals written on the ground in ink. His study of the Uzumaki scroll had yielded surprising results, and Neji was confident that he had all the theory necessary to remove his seal.<p>

"Boar, Ox, Dog, Dragon, Horse, Tiger, Serpent, Boar, Ram, Monkey, Ox, Tiger."

He felt an aura of chakra rise from the kunai circle as he performed the last handseal. He had set up traps around the area so that if it did incapacitate him, but he was confident that wouldn't happen. He frowned as he felt a slight sting on his forehead, more of a dull ache as he began to increase the amount of chakra being put through the technique. A jolt of electricity ran up his spine, causing him to cry out in pain and release his hands from the handseal. He felt a huge shock of pain through his seal, sending him to the ground as he reached down to a small stick he had prepared earlier and shoved it in his mouth. It was a good thing he had prepared it, as his seal burned hot red and he started to writhe in agony. He tried to scream out but was blocked by the stick in his mouth as the pain reached an unbearable crescendo. After two minutes of unrelenting pain, through which Neji couldn't remember the technique to cancel the unsealing, nothing was worth the pain he was experiencing, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his face landed onto the empty scroll.

* * *

><p>"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"<p>

The open field around the rundown house was covered by grey smoke as two thousand orange-clad shinobi appeared around it. The original Naruto had already worked out his entrance strategy for his clones, and without an indication they began to file into the house and into the opening inside. With a quick flick he threw a kunai high up into the air as the sun slowly rose up to greet it, with a tiny pulse of chakra it exploded loudly above the entrance. Making sure that the clone army was proceeding properly, Naruto took in a deep breath before visualising the tag in Shizune's hand, reaching out to pluck it from her as he appeared before his group.

"Did you see the signal?" he asked, pocketing the tag in his pouch.

Shizune nodded and gave the indication to Ino before looking at the entrance the four of them had been designated. Using scrolls they had stored up a huge amount of water from a nearby lake, the two women in the group holding three scrolls each. In front of them was a foreboding staircase that led down into the ground, with snakes adorning the side walls deep into the darkness. However there was a secondary passage directly underneath their feet, that wasn't connected to the entrance in front of them, but it was their primary target. Making sure that Naruto took the pill he gave him; Chouji got his indication from Shizune and placed his hands together.

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu!"

He rose up his right arm, which grew to five times its normal size, before slamming his fist into the ground directly where they indicated. The earth collapsed under the weight of his attack, causing the tunnel to appear underneath the rubble. His arm returned to its normal size as Ino and Shizune laid out their scrolls at the staircase entrance.

They both slammed their hands down at the same time, "Suiton: Suishouha!" (Water Element: Water Wave)

Naruto and Chouji watched as a huge wave of water appeared from the scrolls and crashed through the staircase. They kept producing water until there was enough force to go through the entire tunnel before they cancelled the technique and let the water run its course.

"You guys all set?" asked Naruto, watching as the two medics rolled up the two scrolls they had used.

There were four left, and two more sets of tunnels to flood, but they were both inside the base. Shizune nodded and indicated for Naruto to go into the opening Chouji made first. After a few moments they were all in the tunnel, in their decided upon formation. Being his explosive self, Naruto was put up front, with his clones he was to attack any enemy force immediately when they came into view. Shizune was just behind him, and Ino was behind her. At the back was Chouji, who knew he had to keep an eye of their rear while also assisting the others at the front. The light was shining in from the hole above them, but the tunnels were lit from torches across the purple covered walls, twenty feet apart. Naruto frowned as he tried to see where the tunnel turned and failed as the torches seem to go on forever.

"This…isn't encouraging" observed Ino, repressing a shiver as Shizune pointed in the direct they were facing.

Naruto turned slightly, "How far?"

Shizune looked at the small map in her hands that Neji had copied for her.

"Two rights, then straight down. That's the second target."

The blonde shinobi cracked his knuckles before moving down the tunnel.

oOoOoOo

"Can you work any quicker, Chouji?"

"Naruto, don't nag me. If I don't do this right, I could collapse the whole network of tunnels on top of us."

His blonde companion put up his hands in defeat, "I'm just saying, you are taking a lot time. It's just digging a hole."

Chouji ignored his impatience and continued to use his Earth technique to drill into the middle of the corridor. Shizune was instructing Ino on where to direct the water flow, while Naruto stood guard. It had taken longer than they had anticipated, Chouji finding that the tunnels were made out of a special type of stone that was resistant to chakra, though not entirely. Standing over his three companions, Naruto frowned as he felt the familiar rush of information from one of his Kage Bunshin. He turned to the north side of the corridor and pulled out his sword, telling the others to move to the other side of Chouji.

"How many?" asked Shizune.

Naruto put up his four fingers before grasping his sword in both hands. The corridor was just wide enough for four shinobi to walk side by side, but there wasn't much room to fight in. Chouji gave a final push before informing the two medics that the hole in the floor had reached their destination.

"Do you need backup?" he asked Naruto, watching as the blonde froze momentarily before swearing under his breath as the four Sound shinobi came into view.

Without turning around, Naruto began to mould a small amount of chakra, "Nevermind my side. There are five coming from your direction; they just took out my guards. Watch out, they are strong."

Chouji stood up and told their female companions that he would cover them. Ino smiled and told him that she had faith in him before rolling out her second scroll. Shizune did the same, and they began to funnel water through the artificial hole he had created. Next to them, Naruto went to throw his wind chakra through his sword at his attackers, until he realised that the attack had a tendency to cut through everything in its path, which might bring down the corridor. He sheathed his sword so that he wouldn't accidently activate the technique, balling his fists as he constructed a plan in his mind.

He created a clone to stand over the two water-users before charging towards his attackers with raised fists. They all wore black flak jackets with black clasps across the front; all of them had angry expressions on their faces. He pushed away a kunai strike with his hand and ducked underneath another, as a clone appeared behind him and leapt on his back, slamming a fist into the first attacker's face. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke as Naruto swung his feet across and collected the second attacker's ankles, before another clone appeared and drove a leg into his chest. With a flip, Naruto watched their two companions help up his attackers and hesitate as they regarded him with respect.

"Naruto! Need a hand?"

The Uzumaki heir created four clones and sent them to attack before turning around to see what Chouji wanted. To his surprise, the Sound shinobi were all lying at Chouji's feet, groaning in pain as the Akimichi heir stood with a smile on his face.

"Need a hand?" he asked again, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Naruto frowned, wishing he had more room to use his proper techniques. A glance at the torrents of water flowing into the hole between them from Shizune and Ino gave him an idea, as he felt his clones being defeated by the Sound shinobi. He swallowed the small bit of pride left in him and nodded to Chouji.

"Put up a wall behind me. I don't want you guys hit with collateral damage."

At that he turned around and gathered up a large amount of chakra, reaching into his pockets and grasping a kunai and six shuriken, charging them with his chakra before throwing them at the enemy shinobi. He made sure his footing was secure before making sure that the wall behind him was complete. All the shuriken were blocked by the Sound shinobi, but the kunai went straight past them and buried itself in the roof several feet behind the group. Concentrating his chakra before changing its nature, Naruto focused on the tag wrapped around the kunai as the air around him began to crackle. It had been a difficult task to learn the technique, and Naruto had no way of knowing what would happen as he activated two techniques at the same time. He flashed towards the kunai, but at the same time connected himself to a seal to the kunai he left behind. The Sound shinobi hesitated as it appeared that he just disappeared, but they turned around as they felt his chakra spike and heard his hands clap together.

"Raiton: Denkoukansei" (Lightning Element: Lightning Trap)

As the technique activated he flashed to a seal placed on Shizune's back, not wanting to get hit with the flailing tendrils of lightning that was being created between the two seals. It was a relatively simple technique, but one he hadn't had much success with previously. He winced as he heard the screams of pain, waiting a few moments before asking Chouji to lower the wall. Naruto winced as he saw the writhing bodies on the ground with large burn marks on them.

_That's…scary. I don't understand how Sasuke and Neji do it. _

"You sure you going to be okay, Naruto? You can only use Hiraishin a few times in the day."

Naruto waved off the Jounin's concern, watching as the two of them rolled up their scrolls and pocketed them. Before his six-month training period, Naruto had been able to use Hiraishin four times before become debilitated. He may not have been able to improve the technique, but he had at least improved his stamina. The plan was to flood three key areas of the tunnels, effectively bottling the Sound forces towards the clones holding the main entrance, and drawing them away from the other infiltrating groups. Naruto felt his eyes glaze over as another large group of clone knowledge hit him.

Shizune noticed the look as she stood up from the ground, "How bad?"

Naruto shook it off as Ino pulled out the map.

"It's a good thing we didn't go through the front entrance."

Chouji asked him why, to which Naruto's eyes widened as another group of clones hit him. He felt his knees shake slightly, Shizune already reaching into her pack and pulling out a small pill. He may have the stamina to create thousands of clones, but all the information being sent back to him was almost enough to bring him to his knees, his head was already throbbing. Naruto swallowed the pill and thanked the older medic before leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

"There were flamethrowers imbedded in the walls, and six deep spike traps along the floor. Not only that, but there are only fifty shinobi holding the entrance hall. They haven't taken down any of them yet."

All of their eyes widened at the news, it hadn't worked out as they had planned.

Shizune shook her head, "Only fifty…they were prepared for us."

"How could they? The plan was perfect" said Ino.

"No plan is perfect, Ino" said Naruto, having recovered sufficiently to continue.

Chouji put a hand to his chin as he thought about their situation, "I think something else is going on. If they were prepared, they would have had the other entrances defended just as well."

Shizune pointed to the tunnel over the shinobi Chouji had taken out, their next target was only a short distance away. Naruto considered what Chouji was saying, but as he ran over the numbers he came up with the same discrepancy.

"Figure it out later. We are working on a deadline."

oOoOoOo

"So what now?" asked Naruto.

They had encountered no resistance between their second and third objective points, and no enemy forces had attacked them as they flooded the final tunnel. Ino rolled out the map on the floor and pointed to an open area a few hundred feet away from their current position. It had been difficult to orientate themselves in the tunnels, and they had already been able to dodge two illusion traps but other than that they had had an easy time.

"What is that?" asked Chouji.

Shizune and Ino both shrugged, the map was only a rough draw from Neji and Hinata, but it hadn't led them astray yet.

"A lab of some sorts?" asked Ino, not sure what there role now was since their flooding was complete.

"If Kabuto is there leader, and considering Orochimaru, I expect there to be lots of labs around here. They both were obsessed with medicine and experiments."

Naruto flexed his arms sorely; the influx of clone information had slowed down, though the clones still hadn't broken through the main defences.

He pointed to the large area they were talking about, "It looks like a place to investigate. Shizune-sensei?"

The medical Jounin considered their position, Shikamaru hadn't given them any more indications on where they were needed after the flooding, however they all knew what their true goal was.

"Remember our priorities. Let's get a move on."

oOoOoOo

As they drew closer to their goal, the tunnels slowly got more illuminated as torches were placed closer together.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Ino.

Shizune told them to ready themselves. She didn't take credence to Ino's claim, but there was a feeling of foreboding hanging in the air around them. While they were all shinobi, their experience with the bone user had given them an off-putting view of the Sound shinobi. They came up to a large heavy double-plated door, stopping them in their tracks.

"Well this is a good sign" commented Naruto, cocking his head as he inspected the door.

"How is this, a good thing?" asked a frustrated Ino.

Naruto was still riled up over not being part of Hinata's group, and she resented the idea that he was there to protect her and Shizune. She knew Naruto was strong, possibly one of the stronger ones in the group, but having never fought him, she thought he was overrated.

Naruto turned to her with a slow grin, "It means something important."

She just shook her head with a sigh. She had never been able to keep up with his enthusiasm, but after seeing him and Chouji fight, she was eager to get into the mix. Shizune motioned for quiet as she inspected the door. After a few minutes she declared there were no traps, telling Chouji to ready himself to destroy the door. He put his hands together in a handseal as the three of them stood back, ready to jump in.

"Bubun Baika no Jutsu!"

His right hand grew immensely as his fist slammed into the door, the sheer power sending the door flying off its hinges. As his arm retracted, Chouji jumped in to join his companions in the large room. It looked completely different from what they had seen before. It was a large room with a tall roof that seemed impossible considering they hadn't descended very far underground. The walls were illuminated to the point of brightness by some unnatural means, and there was no furniture or anything inside the room at all, besides the ruined double doors at the back of the room.

"Well this is…disappointing" said Naruto.

Shizune glanced around as they made their way into the room. It felt off, and they all knew it.

She frowned and turned to Naruto slowly, "Naruto…do you…"

He shook his head slowly, "I don't have tags out there…"

Shizune rarely swore, but as she sensed the spike in chakra around the room she broke her rule. They all turned around at the same time to see a violet-coloured field cover the doorway. Naruto flexed his arms as a clone appeared in front of him, charging at the field. He grimaced as the clone bounced off the violet force field and caught on fire, disappearing in a puff of smoke quickly.

"So it was a trap" said Ino sarcastically.

They all turned as they sensed a giant body of chakra appear from the other side of the room.

"All this effort and all I get is trash. Fantastic. Well, better make the most of it. A short idiot, a fatty, a bimbo and a tramp. Right. Who wants to die first?"

* * *

><p>Sasuke put up his sword as he saw the explosion in the sunny distance.<p>

"I guess that's the signal."

His older brother picked himself up from the ground before looking at their entrance. At the side of a small hill was a double door reasonably well hidden amongst the vines, but they had found it easily enough.

"Your friend is effective" observed Itachi as he ran through a quick set of handseals.

Sasuke shrugged as Itachi set the door and surrounding vines on fire.

"He has his moments. I think Naruto is overrated, but I can't deny he's got stamina."

His elder brother frowned as the door disappeared amongst the flames. He activated his three-tomoed Sharingan without a seal and placed his arms inside his robe.

"It doesn't suit you, Sasuke. Jealousy is an ugly trait."

His younger brother activated his own Sharingan with a tsk. At his brother's indication, they both proceeded over the charred remains into the darkness.

"I'm not jealous. I just think Naruto is given a lot of responsibility, that's all."

"Sasuke, rivalry is good. However I think you are focusing too much on potentials, and not enough on the moment."

They made their way through the tunnel area, Sasuke taking point with his sword as Itachi took position behind him. After ten minutes of following the long tunnel, both of them sensed the two Sound shinobi in the tunnel passage a hundred metre in front of them.

"You want to take this?" asked Itachi, to which Sasuke simply shrugged.

"We are just knocking them out, Itachi. It won't be too hard."

His older brother simply shook his head and kept following Sasuke as the two shinobi came into view. They both looked relatively young, and even though they wore the Sound figure on their forehead protectors they looked petrified at the Uchiha brother's approach. A minute later they continued down the tunnel, stepping over the unconscious bodies of the Sound shinobi. Itachi frowned as they emerged into a wide area that had a giant floor covered in training equipment and multiple levels of access. Sasuke smiled smugly as he counted the number of Sound shinobi on the training floor. He cracked his neck slightly as they stopped their exercises and looked at the two Konoha shinobi at the top level.

"How do you want to play this?" asked Sasuke.

His brother looked over the Sound shinobi and gauged their strengths. He and Sasuke had been picked for this route because of their ability to work together, and their ability to take out large groups of shinobi at once, but he was wondered if they could do so without taking some injuries in return. Itachi placed his hands through the sleeves of his robe and revealed his hands before placing them towards the group of Sound Shinobi.

"This is a little trick Kurenai showed me back at the village. I'm placing you into it as well. Can you handle these numbers?"

Sasuke nodded as Itachi activated his technique. Around him the entire environment shifted instantly to an infinite white background, with Sasuke standing on his own as thirty Sound shinobi of various power levels appeared opposite him, all amazed at what had happened to them. Sasuke flinched as he heard Itachi's voice whisper into his ear.

**Sasuke, this is my realm. I know you think you could take them all, and I believe you could, but this makes it easier. Kill one of them in this realm, and they are knocked out for a long time in reality. But be warned, if you die in here, the same happens to you**_. _

Sasuke shook his head to try and get the voice out of it, causing him to hear a soft laugh as Itachi stopped talking to him. The young Uchiha heir placed his hands together with his sword held in his right, activating his technique as the Sound shinobi turned and began to move towards him. He frowned as lightning began to crackle along his sword's blade, watching as the Sound shinobi ran towards him. There was something off about their movements, but he couldn't place it as he moved to intercept the first Sound shinobi. With his sword covered in his adaption of the Chidori, Sasuke was able to extend its reach over six feet. The lightning cut through the shinobi's kunai easily, slashing through his body and sending him crashing into the white floor. The charging Sound force faltered slightly at the sight of Sasuke easily cutting down one of their number, not aware that he wasn't actually dead. Taking advantage of their hesitation, Sasuke slammed his sword into the ground and placed his hands together.

"Fureataiyou" (Solar Flare)

A blinding light flashed from behind him, causing most of the Sound shinobi to call out in pain as the light of the sun struck their eyes. Breaking into a run, Sasuke picked up his sword and slashed through the front two shinobi before jumping into the middle of a group of shinobi that were struggled to get their sight back. They were cutting around themselves with kunai wildly, which surprised Sasuke.

_They must be quite new. If facing a single opponent in a group, you don't flail around if incapacitated; you rely on your companions to assist you and retreat. _

Having copied the technique from his spar with Itachi months ago, Sasuke saw it as a perfect opportunity to see if it could be used offensively. Running through the handseals quickly, he placed his hands down on the ground as two Sound shinobi who had avoided the effects of his genjutsu jumped to attack him.

"Katon: Kihei!"

A large pillar of fire erupted around Sasuke, causing the two attacking shinobi to fall straight into it, catching on fire instantly. With a large influx of chakra, Sasuke pushed the flame pillar away from himself, forcing the walls of fire to move towards the fallen Sound shinobi, setting them on fire in its path. Taking up his sword again, Sasuke brutally cut down the two initial attackers, feeling no remorse as blood splashed onto the pure white background. He hadn't balked from killing at the Uzu village, but he hadn't liked it either, and in the knowledge that they weren't really dying he found no qualms with killing them in this state. The flames struck twenty of the shinobi before running out of juice, and Sasuke jumped back to see if any of the survivors would take the bait.

He didn't credit himself as a strategist, but in battle Sasuke was able to predict several moves ahead of his opponent's, even before using his Sharingan. Two Sound shinobi began channelling a water technique to put out the fires on their companions, but the intensity of the flames had already consumed half the group before they were able to save them. Seeing the anger on their faces was enough to tell Sasuke that it was going to be more dangerous now, but as one of them began to run through handseals he noticed the strange thing from the beginning of the fight.

_Something is off here. _

His Sharingan gave him the knowledge of the technique his opponent was performing, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen as he dropped his sword and shove his hands into his kunai pocket. He pulled out earplugs that he had thought of earlier, but as the Sound shinobi finished his technique they fumbled in his hands and fell to the floor.

_Ah shit…_

Even with the Sharingan he couldn't track the deafening sound as it screamed across the distance between them and slammed into his ears. He screamed out in pain and dropped to his knees, feeling like his eardrums were shattering in his head. Even in his state, Sasuke could tell they were still hesitant to attack him, though they were moving as fast as they could towards him. Pulling his hands away from his ears and balking at the blood present, the young Uchiha struggled to pick himself up from the ground. His head was thundering, and there was a dull roar in his ears, but Sasuke still reached over and grasped his sword, though with less strength then he had before.

_What a dangerous technique. Incapacitates, and at such a distance. _

There were eighteen Sound shinobi left, though ten of them were still recovering from his blinding flash attack. The first Sound shinobi came near him with a raised sword, his Sharingan easily giving him an outline of where the attack would land, but again Sasuke noticed something was off. Even sapped of his strength, Sasuke was able to roll out of the way of the attack and slash at his legs with his sword, taking him in the ankles and sending him crashing to the ground. Reaching into his pocket he quickly pulled out and buried a kunai in the shinobi's back before forcing himself up to the ground.

_Damnit, I know what it is. _

Wiping his hands on his shirt to clean off the blood from his ears, he regarded the remaining shinobi with revitalised eyes. He tensed his hands as the incapacitated ten stood up slowly and rubbed their eyes sorely. Holding his sword defensively, Sasuke watched as they recovered their composure and moved to attack him. He couldn't hear anything in his ears, but with his eyes he didn't need to as he began to work through another strategy.

_I don't need to waste anymore chakra in here then I can afford. And with that advantage…_

Running a small amount of chakra through his feet, Sasuke charged forward, not wanting to fight always on the defence. He ducked under a hail of shuriken before slashing at a nearby shinobi, which was met by the shinobi's own sword. With a quick flick of his wrist, he flung two kunai at the defending shinobi, taking him in the right eye and neck before being forced to duck under a thrown kunai. He smacked his hands together before jumping backwards and activating his sword with lightning. His Sharingan showed two of his foes preparing a water-based attack, while the others were attempting to scramble a defence.

With a pulse of chakra through his arms, Sasuke flung his sword towards the water users, still crackling with lightning as it whirled towards them. The Sound shinobi attempted to jump out of the way, but as Sasuke predicted their reaction times were just a fraction slower then they should have been, causing four of them to be struck by tendrils of lightning before the water users cancelled their techniques and ducked under the blade. They smiled as they rose, even the apparent deaths of their companions didn't dampen their smugness of having dodged Sasuke's attack.

He was happy to oblige them as he manoeuvred his fingers before dragging them backwards. They frowned at his seemingly pointless movements, until they heard the crackling of the lightning directly behind them. It was too fast for them to dodge as the blade cut through one neck with steel, the other with lightning before Sasuke used razor-thin wires to send the sword after a group of three shinobi. Satisfied that the sword attack had run its course, he pulled out a kunai and charged at the rest of the group. After five more minutes Sasuke cracked his neck and called out for Itachi to cancel the technique. He felt a rush as the world changed back to the one he left, noticing that neither he nor Itachi had moved, though all the Sound shinobi that were training were on the ground, a quick scan showed him that they were all unconscious. He grimaced at the pain in his ears, and noticed that all the chakra he had spent inside the genjutsu had been spent outside as well, but he still had enough to battle effectively enough. Itachi nodded slowly as he saw the result of the technique, proud of the fact that his brother had been able to take out so many shinobi.

"That was…impressive, Sasuke."

Making sure that he could still hear properly, Sasuke stretched his arms sorely.

"I didn't need that speed advantage, nii-san."

With a silent smile, Itachi leapt from the top level and landed onto the ground below, quickly followed by his little brother. Leaning down the elder Uchiha checked to make sure that they were properly out of it, Sasuke doing the same before both acknowledging that all forty were out of it.

"So that went well" commented Sasuke.

Itachi nodded quietly before looking around the area with red eyes. There were no connecting tunnels on the lower levels, but there were staircases leading up to the levels that did have entrances.

Itachi pointed to an entrance on the second level on the eastern side, "That's our path."

They went to walk towards the stairs until they saw long white strands fall from the ceiling, each attaching themselves to the Sound bodies before slowly raising them from the ground. The two Uchiha brothers armed themselves instantly, but were unable to see who was performing the technique as all forty bodies were flung onto the top level. Sasuke whispered to his brother if he could see the enemy, but Itachi shook his head in response. Neither of them could read a chakra response in the room besides their own, yet clearly someone had moved the bodies to clear a battlefield. They heard a voice come from all around the room, as sharp as if right in front of them yet they couldn't see anyone.

"Well, well, well. Two little flies have found their way through the chaos. How many minutes will you last before you are fully ensnared in my web?"

* * *

><p>"Would you stop pacing?"<p>

Lee froze in spot and turned to Kiba with a frown, "I'm sorry, Kiba-kun. But we've been waiting here for ages."

As the two male shinobi conversed, Sakura sighed as she watched the rising sun in the sky, waiting for the signal. Sitting next to her was Hinata, who hadn't said a word the entire trip so far.

"You okay?" asked Sakura, feeling an obligation to help her since Hinata helped her earlier with Lee.

Hinata shook her head slightly and smiled slowly, "I'm fine, Sakura-san."

Her pink-haired friend frowned at the comment, knowing full well that when a girl said she was fine, she was anything but. She thought about it for a moment before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You're worried about Naruto, right? I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I…thank you, Sakura-san."

Sakura went to say more, but all four of them were drawn to the loud explosion in the sky nearby. Lee nodded to the group, and flexed his hands as Kiba cracked his neck and the two girls stood up from the ground. The four of them jumped as a crack of lightning shot in front of Hinata, causing the young girl to smile as she saw the smiling face of her blonde boyfriend.

"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" asked Lee, as the blonde shinobi pecked the white-eyed girl on the cheek.

Naruto smiled as he looked at the rest of the group.

"Just here to wish you guys well."

With a bark Kiba laughed loudly, "Yeah, like we believe that."

Lee indicated that it was time to leave, Hinata telling him that she would be there in a moment. The group moved away as Hinata turned to Naruto with a smile. He smiled and leaned his forehead onto hers, taking a moment before coming apart.

"Are you already with your group?" she asked, being the only person in their group who could tell when a Naruto was a clone or not.

The blonde shinobi nodded with a smile.

He reached down and touched the pendant around her neck, "If you ever need my help, just put a bit of chakra into the seal, and I'll be there instantly."

Before she could say anything, Naruto could tell immediately what she thought through her eyes, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But I trust you, so I doubt you'll need it. You are a strong shinobi, and I know you can hold your own. I just wanted to tell you that."

Hinata smiled and touched his cheek lightly, "Thank you, Naruto-kun. That means a lot to me."

With a final smile, the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke and Hinata took a moment before jogging up to join the rest of the group. Their entrance was covered by a cascading waterfall; the bare outline of a door was visible behind the water flow. Sakura had already taken position above the waterfall, with the flowing water at her knees as Lee held her back with a rope tied around her waist. Kiba was positioned opposite the waterfall with Akamaru, and the four of them were waiting for Hinata before conducting their entry. Kiba had expressed a dislike to Lee leading their group, but as the taijutsu user constructed the entry plan, he had to admit that he had a flair for getting things done, and Kiba respected that trait.

Hinata apologised for her lateness and took position beside Kiba, nodding at Lee to proceed. He acknowledged her readiness and tugged at the rope, the indication for Sakura to remove the waterfall. The pink haired shinobi gathered her chakra before slamming her hands into the water flow. The water cut off in the middle and increased to its side, flowing into trenches they had dug earlier, opening up the entrance.

"Now Kiba!" yelled out Lee, yanking back Sakura to help her back to dry land.

With a howl of excitement, Kiba dropped to all fours before hurling himself towards the door in a whirlwind, "Tsuuga!"

Akamaru performed the same technique a moment later to cover his area, and Hinata ran in after them with her Byakugan blazing. After bashing down the door, Kiba cancelled his technique and landed with his claws ready, as Akamaru landed behind him. He sniffed at the air for a moment before standing up slowly and retracting his claws. Behind him, Hinata ran up next to him, and a few moments later they were joined by Sakura and Lee.

"How many hostiles?" asked Lee, eager to get underway.

Kiba shook his head; he couldn't smell any scents beyond the five of them. Lee turned to Hinata, who was frantically trying to scan the area.

"Can you see anything?" he asked.

She deactivated her Byakugan with a shake of her head, "The same as before. I can see the area, but still no life signs."

Lee didn't relax at all, creating a mental image of the map in Sakura's pack, looking at the connecting tunnel. They weren't sure where their target was, but by the mapping of the area it was likely that it lay in a hub area connected to one of the tunnels to their entrance. The fact that the Byakugan couldn't see the people within the area had bothered the whole group, and it was likely that there was some kind of device or seal mechanism preventing their sight. It warranted enough justification to take it out, and that was what Lee's group was aiming for.

"Let's get moving."

oOoOoOo

They travelled through the village tunnels quickly. Even though they were trying to avoid detection, both Lee and Kiba were spoiling for a fight, and were disappointed that they didn't encounter any resistance in their mission. The group came to a halt as the tunnel abruptly ended in a flat wall covered with serpent symbols.

"Did we take a wrong turn?" asked Sakura, not remembering the wall in the blueprints.

Hinata shook her head; she couldn't see anything beyond the walls around them. She had deactivated her Byakugan as soon as it became evident it was just a waste of chakra, but after a short duration she found she couldn't see past the wall either. Lee placed a hand on the wall, feeling the strange exterior through his bandaged hands. Kiba sniffed at the air around the wall,

"Our goal is just beyond here, is it not?"

Sakura reached into her pack and produced the map Hinata had drawn, drawing a finger along their current position. She shook her head as well, it made no sense.

"There shouldn't be a wall here; this is meant to be a straight tunnel that turns slightly before descending into the central hub area."

Both Kiba and Hinata stood next to Sakura and looked over the map, trying to find a different route to their target.

"Sakura-san, you may wish to duck."

The pink-haired kunoichi frowned as she looked up from the map, her eyes widening as she saw Lee pull back a fist. She swore under her breath and dropped the map, slamming her hands together quickly as Lee drove his fist into the wall. With his strong muscles and chakra-use, the wall crumbled immediately upon his blow, though to his surprise it seems to fall apart as if separate from the other walls, crumbling into little stones at his feet. The taijutsu user turned around to make sure the others were okay, smiling as he saw the water shell that covered the rest of the group. Sakura retracted the shield and balled a fist, trying to resist the urge to punch his smiling face.

"Lee…"

She didn't the chance to finish as Kiba stepped in front of her, "Are you an idiot? You could have brought down the whole tunnel series!"

"With respect, Kiba-kun, no I wouldn't have. The wall was new, barely a few hours old, if it wasn't on our blueprints."

The Inuzuka gave a tsk at the comment, but didn't say anymore, watching as Akamaru ran through the new opening to scout out the area. Hinata took a moment before following the large white dog, as Sakura reached down and swore as she picked up the water-ruined map from the ground and tried valiantly to dry it out without success. She put the destroyed map back into her pack and walked past Lee into the opening behind the other two. Kiba went to walk through as well, but Lee pulled him back with a hand on his shoulder. The Inuzuka seemed surprised by the action, but as he saw the look on Lee's face he frowned. Lee was rarely an intense person unless it came to training, but he had learnt from the best when it came to picking his battles.

"Kiba, I am the leader of this group. I will not have you questioning my decisions, unless you have a viable reason to do so, and certainly not in front of the others. I know you have a problem with authority Kiba, but now is not the place."

Kiba reached up and pulled off Lee's hand, taking a step back before staring at the determined green-clad shinobi. He went to make a snide comment, but retracted it as he realised that he was doing exactly what they used to give Naruto grief about.

He sighed and walked past Lee, "For now, Lee. I have no issue with your authority; I just don't like being given orders. When people do dumb things, I point it out. But that doesn't matter. After this is done, I'll want a match from you."

Jogging to catch up to him, Lee came up to walk beside him.

"I'll be happy to accommodate, Kiba-kun. But for now, let's worry about who set up the wall to block our progress."

oOoOoOo

The closer they drew to the central hub, the lighter the tunnels became despite the torches lining the walls not changing from the previous positions. Lee called for them to stop as he looked around the nearly white covered walls around them.

He turned and looked at the others of the group, "Can you guys hear that?"

Kiba sighed, "I thought I was the only one. Yeah, it's like…"

"Music" finished Sakura, looking around the area trying to find the source.

"Is it a genjutsu?" asked Lee, wary of the fact that he was extremely sensitive to genjutsu compared to the rest of the group.

Hinata activated her Byakugan for a few moments, but couldn't see anything.

"I think it's…just music" she said.

"Hmm. Something is off here" observed Lee, waving for the group to move forward.

After a few minutes the tunnel opened up into a wide room that was brighter than the outside world, and as they walked into it the music got louder and louder. There was a strange circular device in the middle of the open room, with a single seal on the top.

"Is that it?" asked Sakura.

"I bet it is" said Kiba.

He went to go and remove the seal, but was pulled back by both Lee and Hinata.

"Don't be hasty, Kiba-kun. It is probably booby-trapped."

They all froze as they sensed a large chakra source coming from the device, sending pulses of chakra around it. The music flowing into their ears begun to focus from the device, and they all collectively realised that they had been outwitted by their enemy. A young female voice cut through the music, also coming from the device.

"I was having a lovely bath until you damn kusoge came here. Now I've got to deal with the trash that has come into our home, and I haven't even dried my hair yet. You should feel privileged to hear my music."

Each of the group looked at each other for a moment, watching with wide eyes as they all disappeared from each other's view. The music changed tune slightly as the device also disappeared from view.

"Kaichoukan: Gen'eiyochi" (First Melody: Illusionary World)

* * *

><p>Shikamaru watched as the explosion above the area faded into the morning sky with a sigh. He was more motivated than usual, but that didn't mean he didn't think the whole situation was just too troublesome.<p>

"We ready?" asked Kakashi, the leader of their group.

Despite the whole invasion being Shikamaru's child, the shadow-user identified that Kakashi was a far superior leader and was more than happy to relinquish control of their group to the silver-haired Jounin. With his hands in his pockets, Shino barely nodded his acknowledgement while Shikamaru picked himself up from the ground.

"I suppose we should get going."

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "You don't seem very excited, Shikamaru. Which I suppose is very like you."

Putting his hands into his pockets, Shikamaru walked past Kakashi towards the set of trees that were hiding their entrance to the Hidden Sound village.

"We are infiltrating a shinobi village, one that had a peace agreement with Konoha at one point, to assassinate a leader of a powerful group of shinobi in the world. There is nothing to be excited about in this mission."

Kakashi watched as Shino walked past him as well, joining Shikamaru as they descended into the entrance. The Aburame heir had made sure that there were no enemies in the nearby vicinity of the entrance, and he had sent insects into the entrance to scout out their path, and also to search for the Sound leader, their target. He sighed as he walked up to join them. It was a difficult mission, the most dangerous of all the groups, and Kakashi had his own concerns about his group. Shikamaru was an unknown when it came to combat, Kakashi had no idea what his strength level was since he never participated in the sparring sessions between the Genin in the group.

But Shino was the one that he was most concerned about, in the whole Konoha group. The insect-user had always been quiet, even before the destruction of Konoha, but these days Shino was almost glacial when it came to interacting with the others. He only ever spoke the bare minimum, and even with his Team Eight teammates he barely spoke at all. Hinata had approached Kakashi before they commenced the invasion, asking him to watch out for any signs of odd behaviour with the Aburame shinobi. Kakashi had his suspicions about his behaviour, but kept them to himself until he could confirm them. As he passed the threshold into the tunnel entrance, Kakashi felt a sinking feeling in his mind, one that he had only felt once before, in a memory that had been long forgotten. He could sense his two companions waiting for him through the darkness, but as he walked through it, he could only think of one thing.

_How many of us will survive this?_

oOoOoOo

"All these tunnels look the same" commented Shikamaru as they took another left tunnel at a long series of forks. Kakashi gave him a short smile,

"It's a surprisingly well laid out village."

"It's a dungeon."

"A surprisingly well laid out, dungeon."

Shikamaru frowned as they continued to walk through the tunnel, "You seem oddly calm despite the conditions, Kakashi-sensei."

The silver-haired Jounin laughed under his mask and placed his hands in his pockets. Shino's insects had informed them of no enemy movement in their path, and they were essentially wandering around trying to find a Sound shinobi to interrogate.

"I'm good at hiding my emotions, as are the two of you."

Shikamaru scoffed, "I don't hide my emotions. I just don't feel that many besides indifference."

"That's not true. You may be able to hide it from the others, but you are petrified."

"I'm not petrified. Just…concerned."

Kakashi pulled out a hand and squeezed Shikamaru's shoulder, "Every commander is worried when they have to send troops into battle. It's worse when it is your friends."

Shikamaru shook off his hand and yawned, wishing he had been able to get some sleep before their invasion. Everything Kakashi had said was true, but that didn't make him feel any better. During their games of shogi, his father had told him that the difference between knowing which pieces were expendable and which weren't, was the mark of a great shinobi. Shikamaru hated the idea of sacrificing his friends, or even those he didn't know very well like Itachi, but as he walked through the village with his two companions he knew that it was not something he could take lightly. The two of them slowed to a stop as Shino put up an arm to call for a halt.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi, not able to sense anything around them.

Bringing up a mental picture, Shikamaru remembered a small room that wasn't far from their location. He went to mention it to Kakashi, but both of them were thrown back by small groups of concentrated flying insects. Bugs exploded out of his sleeves as Shino stood over them as a wall of destruction bugs covered the area for what seemed like an age, before retreating back into Shino's jacket.

"What is it?" repeated Kakashi, picking himself up from the ground.

Shino didn't reply, but kept a large amount of insects hovering around his hands and staring through his sunglasses down the tunnel. His two companions looked down as they saw the crumbled remains of a large stone at Shino's feet, suddenly grateful that the Aburame was on the ball with their defence.

"Isn't that…" said Shikamaru as the attacker came into their view.

Kakashi nodded as he recognised the enemy shinobi, the anger on the Sound Jounin's face was clear as he saw the Konoha shinobi.

"So you bastards did follow me. I relish the idea of taking my revenge for my murdered companions. Every moment I…"

He was cut off by a scratching feeling in his legs and he looked down at his feet, screaming out loud as he felt a huge amount of insects consume his legs from the ground up. Shino hadn't moved from his position, but he felt a sense of amusement as his insects moved all over the Sound Jounin's body. He had little interest in the competitions between the rest of the group's Genin, doing his job was all he required, and he took pride in doing it well even without the bragging that Kiba or Naruto would do. After a few moments he removed the insects from the enemy's body, leaving just enough strength in the Jounin to speak and little else. Walking past the young Genin, Kakashi gave him an approving look before leaning down next to the body of the Jounin.

"Where is your leader?" he asked, kunai in hand.

The Jounin snarled at the question and spat towards his face, though Kakashi was quick enough to dodge the spit.

"You'll just kill me anyway."

Not wanting to deal with a defeated enemy shinobi, Kakashi moved down his kunai and drove it into his stomach, causing the Jounin to call out in pain as he removed the bloody kunai.

"I will. But it is the difference between a quick death, and one that is drawn out and agonisingly painful."

The Jounin snarled again, but Kakashi could tell that the Jounin was considering it. No truly loyal shinobi would give up their leader, but from the information they had gotten about the leader, he got the impression that their leader was not loved or even liked by the Sound shinobi. After a few minutes, Kakashi stood up from the body and turned to his two teenage companions.

"Did he give you anything?" asked Shikamaru, wishing he hadn't had to see what Kakashi had been forced to do to get him to talk.

Kakashi pocketed the bloody kunai and nodded slowly, "He gave me a room. Their leader is hiding in a room not far from here."

Shikamaru sighed as he realised that suddenly they were at their objective already. Shino simply began to walk towards the room Kakashi had indicated to them, with the other two slowly joining him.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Shikamaru as they continued down the path.

"Necessary? I don't know. But don't mistake the action, this is a war. In war, all things are viable, if they achieve your goals."

"Surely that can't be justifiable in this situation though. If we lower ourselves to their level, aren't we no better than them?"

They turned a corner and found themselves at the door to the room the Jounin had told them about. Kakashi called for Shikamaru to be quiet, examining the door quickly before declaring it free of traps.

"There is a large chakra signal behind this door" said Shino, knowing that his insects were not particularly willing to scout out the room.

Kakashi reached up to the cloth around his face, pulling it away to reveal his Sharingan, "Prepare yourselves. I don't know what is beyond this door, but we should prepare for anything."

He waited for the acknowledgement signs from both of the teenagers before reaching up and slamming a foot into the door, kicking it in as the three of them leapt into the room. It wasn't particularly different from the tunnel series, though by Shikamaru's estimate they were quite close to the surface compared to the tunnels. It wasn't very big, and was surprisingly empty considered it was meant to be a seat of power. The doorway behind the three of them closed up quickly, as Shino pointed to the ground at the centre of the room as a deep voice came from beneath them.

"That was very impolite you know. Two strikes down already. Killing my companion was not a way to get into my good books, you pieces of trash. No sense in delaying action. I guess it's a good thing I skipped lunch, though I doubt you will fill me up too much."

* * *

><p>There were headaches, there were migraines, and then there was what Neji was feeling. As he struggled to bring himself into consciousness, a huge spike of pain shot through his head, only sheer force of will prevented him from falling back into darkness. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, his vision taking a few seconds before going from blurry to normal. He sighed in relief as he saw his defensive formation hadn't been breached, and none of his traps had been sprung. He took a deep breath before pushing himself up from the ground, spitting out the piece of wood between his lips. While he was grateful he had thought of it, and been in a position to use it, he wished there had been a better way as all he could taste in his mouth was wood splinters. He reached up and felt his forehead, not feeling anything different. He leant down and reached into his pack, pulling out a sheet of reflective glass before attempting to position it so he could see his forehead. It took a few moments, but as the patch of skin came into view, an uncharacteristic grin came onto his face. The seal that had plagued him since childhood was gone; all that was left was a smooth patch of skin, as if the seal hadn't been there in the first place.<p>

_With this…_

He felt his smile disappear from his face as he realised that, in the end, it didn't matter whether he had the seal on or not. Hinata was the only one who could abuse the seal, but she would never activate the seal, she claimed she never learnt it, but Neji had thought that its removal would have had some greater impact. Instead there was just a dull emptiness inside his mind, like the symbolism hadn't been enough of a gesture. He thought about it for a moment, until he realised he could feel the heat of the sun against his skin. With a frown he glanced up at the skin, his eyes widening as he saw the position of the sun in the sky. He ran a quick calculation in his head, realising that the technique had knocked him out for two hours longer than expected.

_Shit, I've missed the entrance signal. And the others have been inside for two hours. I should have a look around before going in._

He went to mould the regular amount of chakra necessary for his Byakugan but, as if predicting his intention, the doujutsu activated with practically no chakra use at all. He frowned as he expanded the black and white vision, noticing that it was barely a drain at all to keep the technique going.

_Did the Main House create the seal to sap away a Branch member's strength? It would make sense…_

He still couldn't see any people inside the village, though after taking a careful look he noticed that several tunnels had been flooded and the torrents of water were still rampaging through the village.

_Impressive. The plan was solid, but for that to have worked so well…I guess Naruto's group did their jobs. I should get moving. _

He took a step forward and as he put a small amount of chakra into his feet he felt himself rocket off the ground and land face first several feet in front of his previous position. Groaning as he picked himself up from the ground, Neji realised that if his Byakugan had a lower chakra requirement, likely his other techniques did as well. He sighed as he placed up a palm and looked at his bandaged skin.

_I'd best check my techniques before going in. I don't want to face an enemy and then realise I can't do my strikes properly. _

oOoOoOo

It only took Neji a few minutes before he worked out that only a select few of his techniques had been affected by the seal removal. His Kaiten required only a quarter of its usual amount, and when he practised the technique he noticed that it was nearly twice the size. The other abilities were only enhanced by the larger chakra use, but Neji felt that he would have to do further testing after the battle to make sure. He looked around the area with his Byakugan, identifying the entrance hidden in the ground half a mile away. With a frown he noticed two Sound shinobi had taken position on top of the entrance. The Byakugan was a unique doujutsu in the world; it was the most stable and controllable eye technique. All the information that Neji could see around him was like peripheral vision, but it could be focused with ease like a magnifying glass.

He trickled some chakra into his Byakugan, but he wasn't used to the small amount, accidently moulding nearly double the amount he normally used and sending it straight into his eyes. He grimaced as his vision turned completely black for a second, a spike of pain running through his head before his vision returned, though not as it was. The normal black and white vision that came from his Byakugan was gone. In its place was a clear crisp image that was like his normal vision, though far clearer than normal eyes could see. What amazed Neji was that he had this vision in a perfect 360 degree sphere even more advanced than the Byakugan, though at a slightly shorter range it covered his old blind spot completely. Unlike the normal Byakugan, this vision was like he really had eyes all around his head, not peripheral vision but proper vision.

_What on earth is this?_

He could feel a drain on his chakra, not an unreasonable amount, but more than his usual Byakugan. Moving his head around, he could see everything around him. There were nineteen beads of sweat on his right arm, fifty-seven rocks underneath a small river nearby, and a colony of two thousand nine hundred eighty three ants underneath his feet. He knew it wasn't something that had happened before with the Byakugan, otherwise it would have been in the Hyuuga family scroll, but he didn't understand how it could have happened. Reaching up his felt the now-smooth skin on his forehead as a thought came to his mind. Looking down at the scroll at his feet, he realised what had happened as he saw the empty pages.

_The seal wasn't removed. It must have…shifted or…something. But it must have mutated my Byakugan. It's strange that I still have my regular Byakugan though, if it is a mutation. _

Deciding to test it in the best way possible, Neji began to run towards the Otogakure entrance, with his strange vision still active as the two Sound shinobi guarding it came into view. As soon as he could see them, a huge wealth of information came to him out of nowhere about the shinobi. The male shinobi had short brown hair with a few grey hairs coming from his scalp, and his dark brown eyes had a few odd pigments that indicated he was short-sighted. The female shinobi had long blonde hair and light blue eyes, and to Neji's amusement he suddenly knew all of her measurements, and that she was sexually attracted to her male partner.

For reasons beyond his understanding, he knew that the male shinobi had a talent for shuriken techniques, and the female shinobi used sound based genjutsu to immobilise her enemies. They noticed his approach quickly, and Neji could see the handseals the female shinobi was using was for her genjutsu as the male reached into his pockets to remove two of his twenty-six shuriken. In a split second he knew that he wouldn't get there in time, but he already had a plan in place. He skidded to a halt two dozen metres away from the two of them and pushed out two of his palms.

"Hakke: Kuushou!"

His chakra slammed through the air straight into the two of them, and knocked them to the ground, and with his new vision Neji was amazed at the results. Not only were they unconscious, but all their chakra points had been shutdown as if struck by his Jyuuken strikes.

_This is…is this like the Mangekyou Sharingan? A new level of Byakugan? _

He reached into the pack at his side, pulling out the glass he used to check his seal, putting it up at his face. While systematically learning everything about the piece of glass, including what it came from, Neji was amazed by what his saw. His normal eyes were pure white. When activated, the Byakugan made a pupil evident but was still pure white. The majority of his eyes were still white, but that was where the similarity ended. The veins that normally protruded around his eyes were gone. The pupil created by the Byakugan was pitch black, with a black lined circle of lines around it, and the outline of his eye was black as well. Staring into his own eyes, Neji remarked at how different he looked compared to before. He withdrew his chakra from his eyes, and they receded back to his normal clear white eyes, and his vision returned to its normal range. Just in case, Neji trickled a tiny amount of chakra to his eyes, watching as the veins around his eyes protruded outwards and his regular Byakugan activated, changing his view to the black and white he was used to.

_How fascinating. The normal Byakugan takes virtually no effort, and is nearly no strain on my body. But that new one is a drain, but far more analytical, and tells me far more. I have no idea how it happened, but if it's an advantage, I'm not complaining. _

Deciding to stay with his regular Byakugan, Neji stepped forward before reaching down and pulled open the latch door, taking a moment to catch his breath before jumping inside, praying that he wasn't too late.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Not too much to say about this, except that things are getting real now. Just a quick clarification though, this story is nowhere near finished. There is much, much more to come. Oh, and Tayuya's swearing will all be in Japanese. This isn't just to dodge censors or anything, but it's more amusing to write that way as well.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	18. Chapter 17 Fears

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 17 – Fears

**A/N**: Point of concern, if you REALLY don't like spiders, this won't be a particularly pleasant chapter for you. Sorry.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the bad guys would have deeper motivations than just 'we are bad guys, and we are angry'.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The invasion of the Hidden Village of the Sound has commenced. Naruto created his clone army to assault the front entrance before he joined Shizune, Ino and Chouji in their job to flood three key tunnels areas. After encountering a little resistance, which was easily handled, they found an important looking room, but that turned out to be a trap as they were confronted by an arrogant concealed voice. At their entrance, Sasuke and Itachi infiltrated their way into the training area of the Sound village. Using a complex genjutsu, Sasuke took out all forty shinobi, though his hearing was damaged in the process. As they went to leave, long white strands cleared the room of the bodies as they found themselves against a playful-sounding opponent. On the other side of the village, Lee, Kiba, Sakura and Hinata made their way through the tunnels of the village. Drawn to strangely exotic music, they were ensnared by a foul-speaking woman who put them under a powerful genjutsu. The final group, consisting of Shikamaru, Shino and Kakashi, made their way through their entrance. They found the Jounin they had initially pursued, who was unceremoniously taken out by Shino. After a gruesome interrogation by Kakashi, they went to a room where they expected the Sound leader to be, but instead found themselves against an oddly polite but dangerous sounding shinobi. On his own, Neji succeeded in removing the Hyuuga family seal; though it knocked him out for two hours longer than expected. He suffered excruciating pain, but when he awoke he found his chakra use changed immensely. As he practised, he found that his Byakugan had been changed, and there was a second level to the doujutsu that had never happened before. With his new eye technique in hand, Neji moves towards his goal.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Neji***<p>

Even as he descended through the tunnels with his Byakugan active, Neji could tell that Hinata's group hadn't taken out the thing blocking the doujutsu's view. With a quick check, Neji found that his new type of Byakugan was able to pierce the veil shrouding the walls, though it's range was very limited compared to the normal technique.

_I should really come up with a name for it, especially considering how powerful it seems to be. _

He found a door after a few minutes of searching, scanning it with his Byakugan before opening the door. Through the black and white vision he watched in fascination as a Sound shinobi seemed to simply appear as the door opened. He wore a standard shinobi outfit, although it was covered by a bloody white apron and he wore dark blue plastic gloves.

_So it blocks sensing techniques, but visual information in the general sense still functions. Curious. _

The Sound shinobi's eyes widened when he saw Neji in the doorway, but before he could make a sound or raise an alarm, the Hyuuga shot forward and struck him in the throat with two fingers. He clutched at his throat for a moment before realising that he wouldn't be able to speak, going to reach for a weapon before Neji sighed and struck him four more times, immobilising him to the spot. Satisfied that the enemy wouldn't be able to move or speak, Neji took a cautionary glance around the room. There were medical tools lining the walls, and despite it being a small room there was a large amount of medical books surrounding what could only be described as an autopsy table. There was a cloth covered body on the table, which Neji could only imagine what had happened to it, though he had little interest in the body itself.

He turned his head to the immobilised shinobi, "What is going on here?"

After a few moments of silence he repeated the question, before realising that the shinobi couldn't speak. Rolling his eyes, an impressive feat considering his eyes were completely white with his Byakugan active, he reached out and tapped him in the throat. The shinobi went to make a loud noise, but one look at Neji's harsh eyes caused him to reconsider. Neji walked around and stood opposite the Sound shinobi. "I'll start with an easy one then. Who are you?" Even immobilised in place, the shinobi had an aura that told Neji that he had seen, and perhaps done, things that were unspeakable.

"I am Nikuto Guchimara, chief medical scientist of the Guchimara clan. And you are…a Hyuuga from Konoha. Although with Konoha destroyed, I suppose you are just a Hyuuga, and judging by your lack of a seal, I would say you were a Main House member."

Neji smirked at the comment before letting out a soft laugh.

"Did I say something funny?" asked the shinobi angrily.

He took a moment to compose himself before looking back at the apron-wearing shinobi, "Do you have any information on Konoha prisoners taken from the village before its destruction?"

The shinobi tried to hide the fact that he was slowly getting his feeling back in his limbs, staring at Neji through dark hateful eyes.

"And why would I give out top secret information such as that? To a petulant child no less. You overestimate your persuasive abilities."

Neji was acutely aware that he was slowly gaining the ability to move his limbs, in fact he banked on it, but it was the illusion of resistance that he wanted the doctor to feel.

"I have overestimated nothing."

With a pulse of chakra he activated his new level of Byakugan, glaring at the doctor through his black and white eyes. If he was using the normal Byakugan he would have had to focus the vision onto the doctor, with the new one he could see everything about the doctor as if he had taken a year to analyse everything about him.

"Your name is Ichi Nagaruki, of the Nagaruki clan. You are of Chuunin level combat strength, and Jounin level medical knowledge."

The name he had been able to discern from the name signed on the charts scattered on the table behind the doctor, and the clan symbol was tattooed on his right shoulder blade underneath his clothes. He could tell he had hit home, but didn't relent as his new doujutsu flooded his mind with information about the doctor.

"You are thirty-seven years old, and have a crack in your left femur that has never fully healed."

The doctor frowned at the eerily accurate information about himself, wondering what the strange doujutsu could possibly do to tell him that kind of information. In a single motion with his right hand glowed with chakra as he lurched forward to strike a surgical blow at Neji's heart. With a barely noticeable movement, Neji reached up and grasped his wrist, running a small amount of chakra as he crushed the bones in the shinobi's wrist. Despite sticking to his Hyuuga combat style, his tutelage under Maito Gai had taught him how to use chakra to enhance his physical strength, and he understood when brute force was necessary. In a pulse of chakra, changed to his lightning element, he ran his attack through the doctor's arm, causing him to cry out in agony as his chakra points were destroyed along his arm.

"I will only ask this once. Where are the Konoha survivors being held?"

The doctor didn't say anything, but after a few seconds of staring into his eyes, Neji knew he wasn't going to get any information out of him. He went to release him from his grip, until he read a note stuck between pages in a medical notebook on a nearby shelf through his black and white eyes.

He frowned angrily at the doctor, "Room 26-GB, second level. Thank you for the information."

With a single quick motion, he dragged his free hand across the doctor's neck before releasing his wrist and turning around.

"Murderer."

In an instant the doctor fell to the floor, choking on his own fluids as the blood vessels in his neck was severed. Neji identified the body on the table as of no consequence, and after several more minutes he found no more information of relevance, except further evidence of Ichi's butchery of his subjects.

_What the hell is going on in this village? How different it truly is, compared to Konoha._

oOoOoOo

He encountered no more shinobi as he moved quickly through the tunnels, looking at the signs on the doors as he navigated his way towards his target. The note that had given him the room name hadn't mentioned Konoha at all, but it still had Neji concerned.

_New prisoners moved to 26-GB last week. Implantation was successful but degradation is at 95%. What does it mean?_

He moved down a staircase quickly with his regular Byakugan active, noticing that he was nearly fifty metres underneath the surface at that level. The corridor in front of his was lined with doors, and Neji frowned as he saw the sign next to the first door.

_1-GB. I'm on the right floor. _

He tried to expand his Byakugan view to see the 26th room, but he found that as he looked over all the rooms in the corridor it was the only one that he couldn't pierce through. He figured it was covered by a stronger seal then the rest of the walls of the village, but it also gave him an indication that it was important enough to justify Neji's inspection. Deciding to skip the other rooms he made his way down the corridor until he came to the room marked as his target. Neji frowned as his Byakugan showed him a seal trap on the door's handle, one that caused him to hesitate before considering his position. After a few moments he noticed the double layered trap on the door. If the seal on the handle was removed first, then the door would seal itself without the possibility of being opened again. However every trap had its weaknesses, and Neji placed a hand on the door centre, running a small amount of electrical chakra through the stone frame.

Like his Jyuuken strikes, he cut off the seal's connection to the trap, causing him to hear a slight fizzle as the seal tried to activate the trap and failed. He reached down and twisted the doorknob and let the door swing inwards. A quick glance told him that there weren't any enemies inside the room, causing him to deactivate his Byakugan and shake his head to clear his mind. The Byakugan was useful, but the constant information made his head hurt after a while, and the new level of Byakugan took up too much chakra to use constantly.

The room was surprisingly large, though it was by no means empty. There were six large tank-like containers that held floating bodies covered by bubbling yellow fluids, and an autopsy table with charts on top of a cloth-covered body. The bodies were naked and besides a chart next to each tube there was no way to identify who they were. Neji didn't recognise any of them, but a quick scan at the lack of movement told him that they were all dead, though not for longer than a few weeks; the liquid had prevented some degeneration. He looked at the names written on the charts with interest.

_Aoba Yamashiro. Ebisu Tobita. Murakumo Kurama. Genma Shiranui. Raido Namiashi. Hayate Gekkou. _

He swore as he looked up at one of the bodies, none of the names were recognisable to him, nor could he tell whether they were from Konoha, not that it mattered. If they were dead, there was nothing he could do to help them. At the corner of his eye he saw a new looking book on a table at the end of the room; he walked over and picked it up, flicking through the pages. He came to the final entry written in very descriptive calligraphy.

**The Cursed Seal has been volatile since the death of Orochimaru, and has gone out of control with the death of Subject Zero. A regrettable loss, but experimentation with the new subjects has yielded surprising results. Implantation has a success rate of over 80%, and with this round of subjects the sustainment rate has risen to 15%, an acceptable amount. The next batch should be more receptive to indoctrination. With the enslavement properties of the Cursed Seal, there won't be any question of my rule over the village, and we will be the most powerful force in the shinobi world. **

Neji recoiled as he finished the final note, not really understanding what he had read.

_What is this guy, a stereotypical madman from a bad play?_

He flipped through the previous pages, noticing a large amount of graphs and numbers that made little sense to him. He felt that he was on the right track though, pulling the white pages back until he reached the first entry.

**After the death of Orochimaru, the Sound Five have expressed an interest in removing their Cursed Seals, since their master is no longer around to keep it in check. I promised them that I would investigate it, since I had assumed control of the village only recently I needed their support. The Sound shinobi believe that I killed Orochimaru, and they will follow me purely because I am the most powerful here. None of them realise the original Kabuto is dead, but it doesn't matter. He created me to do things in his stead, so it is only right that I assume control. The cloning technique was perfect, and I planned to dispose of him eventually anyway. The clans have already left, and our forces are bleeding. Without the Sound Five's leadership, I can't control the village shinobi. **

It was dated at five months ago. Neji frowned at the mention of the Cursed Seal again, wondering if the strange bone-user at the Uzu village was part of this 'Sound Five' mentioned in the notes. He read a few more entries, a picture forming in his mind of how the village was run, until he came to an entry from three months ago.

**Reading over the investigations, we have found that the six we captured a month ago were the only survivors. A tip from an unknown source indicated that Konoha had called back its forces during the Suna Chuunin Exams, and had then been subsequently destroyed when the group attending the Exams returned. Whoever destroyed the village knew exactly how to do it and left no evidence behind. It is fortunate that Orochimaru was able to extract the body from Kumogakure, and that it has been so well preserved. From studying that seal, I believe I will be able to replicate the Cursed Seal. It currently is accentuating their personality traits in a negative way though. The Sound Five have been on edge, but promises of further study have kept them in line, for now. Kimimaro will have to be disposed of though, his devotion to Orochimaru has left him bitter and unresponsive. **

Neji shook his head at the revelations. It was almost unbelievable, but it made an eerie amount of sense. Flipping back to the start of the book, he read through it carefully, making small indents at important sections. Once he reached the end of the book he closed it and placed it in his robe before turning around and looking at the tubes again.

_These men were from Konoha. Like us…they survived the destruction of Konoha. But to be experimented on by this…madman…_

His white eyes drifted across the various bodies until they rested on the body covered by the sheet near the entrance.

_Surely that can't be…_

He walked slowly over to the body, feeling his heart pounding under his white robes. The book had confirmed that there were no living Konoha prisoners in the village, making their entire invasion pointless, but before he went to find the others and tell them that they should leave, he needed to confirm one thing. He reached down and pulled back the cloth sheet reluctantly, his white eyes widening as he recognised the butchered corpse on the table.

"No…"

* * *

><p>***Sasuke – Itachi***<p>

The two Uchiha brothers stared up at the ceiling of the training room, watching as the white strands that had thrown the Sound shinobi bodies onto the top level retracted to dozens of strange looking white sacs. Itachi took a moment to smile quietly to himself as both of them scanned the room with their Sharingan.

"You still got that fear of spiders, Sasuke?"

"Shut up, Itachi. Do you see anything? It looks like the whole roof is covered in chakra."

"A predator doesn't reveal himself until the prey has ensnared itself."

Both of them flinched at the voice, still sounding like it was coming from all over the room. Itachi looked at where the bodies had been thrown; noticing that while they had been removed with care, it was as if the voice was either respectful of his companions or just thought they were in the way. After almost a minute of agonising silence, Sasuke gave in to his impatience. He sped through a set of handseals, not needing to tell Itachi to move as he slammed his hands on the ground. On queue his brother disappeared into a murder of crows as lightning began to crackle around Sasuke's hands.

"Raiton: Arashi" (Lightning Element: Storm)

The air around him thundered with noise as lightning began to strike around Sasuke's body, striking rapidly at the ceiling. There was no accuracy to the attack besides avoiding Sasuke himself, but as the lightning attacks struck at the white sacs rapidly it left large holes as tiny spiders spilled out of the sacs onto the ground below, burnt to a crisp. He cancelled the technique after making sure his channelling had destroyed all the sacs, standing up slowly as his brother appeared behind him, looking at the dead spiders on the ground.

"Haven't gotten over it then, huh?"

His younger brother slowly turned his face towards Itachi with an angry look, "There are many things I can forgive, Nii-san. I can forgive your actions with the clan. I can forgive you abandoning me for so many years. I can forgive you refusing to tell me more about our mother's time with Kakashi. But, I will NEVER forgive you for hiding a jar full of spiders in my bed all those years ago."

"It was only a prank" said Itachi with a slight smirk.

Sasuke jumped over and grabbed his brother by the scruff of his robe, "I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT IT!"

His brother simply laughed at his brother's angry visage, reaching up to tap him on the forehead, but both of them jumped back as a long golden spike slammed between the two of them.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? You forgot that we don't pause games here, didn't you?"

Both of the Uchiha brothers stared at the weapon with their Sharingan. It didn't look like anything they had seen before; it seemed to be made out of a strange dull golden metal. Itachi leant down and picked it up, grasping it firmly in his hand.

"Enough of this hiding business, come out and face us!" yelled out Sasuke, watching as Itachi threw away the weapon.

"Why would I do that? The odds are stacked against you, and this is highly amusing. It's a game of hide and seek, but I'm the seeker and you are the prey."

Itachi sighed at the lingo, he had dealt with strange shinobi before but it always ended the same way. They let their overconfidence drive them, and obsessed over the idea that their quirk wasn't a positive trait. He glanced up at the ceiling, testing out the water.

"Is this the level of difficulty you want to face? Surely you want a real challenge?"

There was a notable hesitation in the air for a long time. Sasuke asked Itachi what he was doing, but the elder Uchiha just shook his head and indicated for him to be quiet. He didn't doubt that their enemy was hiding somewhere in the room, but the fact that he couldn't see his chakra outline with his Sharingan unsettled him.

"It is truly a shame that Orochimaru didn't live to see this day. He obsessed over those red eyes of yours, and you deliver yourselves into the spider's lair. I held no love for my old master, but when presented with such an opportunity, I just can't help himself. Okay, I'll play along. Who knows, we might have some fun together."

A small white sac appeared at the centre of the ceiling, slowly growing in size until it was larger than either of the Uchiha brothers, slowly cracking open with a sickening sound to reveal a strange-looking Sound shinobi falling slowly with two long web strands attached to his feet. He was dark skinned, with black and grey sleeveless clothing and the Sound symbol on a forehead protector with a grinning face to accompany them. However the most unsettling facts about him, besides the long hook-like black lines across his dark skin, was the two extra sets of arms behind the first pair, giving him a total of eight limbs. Sasuke visibly balked at the view, but recovered quickly as they both stared at their enemy's smiling face. The Sound shinobi looked over at the two Uchiha, hanging a few feet from the ceiling upside down, regarding them with pitch black eyes.

"I suppose introductions are in order. This is the time that names are entered into the game anyway. I am Kidomaru, of the East Gate. Welcome to the playground."

oOoOoOo

"Be on your guard, Sasuke. This one is more dangerous then he appears."

"You don't need to tell me that, Nii-san."

The spider-like Sound shinobi stared at the two Konoha shinobi with careful consideration. Despite his playful nature, Kidomaru was a calm analyst of his enemies, not unlike his associated nature. Like everyone in the shinobi world he knew who Uchiha Itachi was, and judging by the similarities and the red eyes it only took him a few moments to realise that the other shinobi must be the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre, Itachi's little brother. In turn, they watched him carefully through their Sharingan.

Taking a moment to formulate a plan of attack, Kidomaru began to chew visibly as the Uchiha brothers saw him mould a large amount of chakra in his mouth. Still hanging upside down, he spat a large white web straight at Sasuke, forcing the younger Uchiha to jump backwards to avoid the strike. He spat several more webs that were easily avoided by the brothers, until they were close to the wall of the training room. With a flip he cut off the strands that attached him to the ceiling, landing on the ground effortlessly before placing two of his six hands together in a handseal. He spat at the pair of brothers again, however unlike the previous attacks this web attack was ten times the size, and much faster than the other attacks. The brothers attempted to move out of the way, but both were pinned to the wall by the sticky web. Itachi didn't make any comment as he struggled to free himself from the attack, but Sasuke was more than vocal about the situation.

"Spiders and webs and….this is too much..."

He flailed wildly at the white strands, but the web didn't budge an inch even when he pulled out his sword and attempted to cut his way through it.

"What is this stuff?" asked Itachi pointlessly as he tried to cut his own way through the web, noticing that even with the strongest steel weapons such as Sasuke's sword, the white threads didn't budge at all.

Sasuke continued to thrash about, and after a few moments Itachi noticed that his little brother was on the verge of a panic attack, acting quite uncharacteristically, like he had never seen before.

He struggled to turn his head to face him, "Sasuke, you've got to breathe. Calm yourself."

The younger Uchiha didn't seem to hear him, putting his hands together in a handseal to activate his favourite technique. Itachi felt his own panic level rising as he recognised the connecting chakra paths that were inside the web threads. He went to yell out for Sasuke to stop, but realised that there was nothing he could say to stop Sasuke immediately. Staring at his younger brother with his Sharingan, he pushed through a quick technique, causing Sasuke to freeze in place before he could activate the lightning technique. He took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief that that problem had been solved, but frowned as he saw their enemy simply standing in place and watching them intently.

"That's a shame. It was amusing to see him flail about. But how harsh, to use genjutsu on your own brother."

He began visibly chewing again, but Itachi noticed the chakra was different this time, as he put two hands to his mouth and pulled out two large strings of golden webs into his hands. After a few seconds the golden threads harden until they resembled long spikes similar to the first attack he had sent at them.

"But in this game, we don't allow team-killing. It ruins the balance of the game."

He pulled back the arms holding the weapons for a moment before throwing both of the golden spikes at Itachi, with a wild grin on his face. Itachi struggled against the web as he saw the spikes screaming towards him. His Sharingan flared as the strikes took him in the neck and chest. Kidomaru laughed at his success, and began to chew visibly again to strike at the younger Uchiha, until he saw Itachi's body explode into a large group of crows. The crows flew between the strands and out of the trap, covering the air between Itachi's old position and Sasuke as one crow flew to Sasuke's face. His eyes hung open as he was still trapped in Itachi's genjutsu, but the crow near his face crowed at him and one of its dark eyes changed into a Sharingan and it stared into Sasuke's eyes. The younger Uchiha shook violently for a moment before his eyes unglazed themselves, and he saw the crow in front of him. It took him no time to realise what his brother had done, placing his hands together before replicating Itachi's technique, turning into a small murder of crows and escaping the web trap. The large group of crows from both of them crowed loudly for a moment before they both reformed themselves in front of the web, staring at their Sound opponent. Kidomaru straightened his back and put his hands on his hip.

_T__hey have an easy escape mechanic, one that doesn't take up much chakra. Ah, this is making me want to take my time now. Games are no fun unless you play them out fully. I'll need to concentrate though, Uchiha Itachi is a hard boss, and his little brother is an unknown, though it seems like he has a fear of spiders. This'll be fun._

He winced as the Cursed Seal continued to spread across his body, the hooked lines having completely covered his dark skin now. He hadn't been able to deactivate the Cursed Seal since Subject Zero's death, and whenever he went into battle it seemed to take over and get out of control. He chewed quickly before spitting two quick webs towards the Uchiha brothers, the same size as his previous one, but a little bit slower. He watched as both brothers seemed to come up with the same counter, both placing their hands together before putting two fingers at their mouths.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The two large fireballs struck at the webs, burning them to a crisp instantly. As the fire burned out, they both saw that Kidomaru had disappeared, causing them to scan the room for his chakra signal. Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his arm as a golden kunai slashed against his skin before burying itself into the ground. He ducked immediately; watching as five golden kunai barely missed his head and buried themselves into the ground in front of him.

"Sasuke! Roll!" called out Itachi, putting his hands together into a handseal.

The younger Uchiha obliged without hesitation, rolling to the right as another large group of golden projectiles struck the ground where he once was. He picked himself up from the ground and breathed out slowly; letting his Sharingan show him where the next attack was coming from. Shifting his head slightly, and reaching up with his left hand he dodged on of the projectiles and caught the second one, looking at the golden metal with fascination. He didn't flinch at all as Itachi jumped next to him and deflected two projectiles aimed at his head. He took a moment before tossing aside the golden projectile, looking at his brother with his Sharingan.

"It looks like he makes the stuff from his mouth and it hardens into shape before he attacks with it."

Itachi gave his brother his best I-already-knew-that look, watching as Sasuke moved past him and grabbed a projectile thrown at Itachi's blind spot.

"Sasuke, how much chakra do you have?"

Sasuke took a moment to think about it, "About half. That previous assault took out a fair bit. I still can't hear out of my left ear. Why?"

Itachi ducked under another set of golden projectiles, still trying to work out where the attacks were coming from, though he knew that their opponent was the long range type that would hide while attacking.

"Just checking. He doesn't seem like the type to take lightly. Are you going to be alright?"

Sasuke scowled as he remembered the previous encounter, "I'll be fine. I'll just think of them as something else. Do you have a plan?"

They both frowned as they saw the strange shinobi appear at the top level.

He stared at them with a grin on his face, "I guess this game is going to be harder than I thought. I'll play serious now."

He reached up with two of his hands, biting at both of the thumbs as two of his other hands ran through the five handseals. Both his free hands and the handseal hands came together before stretching out into two sets of spider webs. He placed the two blood covered hands on the webs between his other hands.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A giant plume of smoke exploded around the Sound shinobi, both of the Uchiha standing on their guard. The smoke cleared slowly as they saw the creatures he had summoned, thoroughly unsurprised considering the shinobi using the technique. Kidomaru stood atop a giant black tarantula with orange stripes going back from its abdomen.

"Kyodaigumo."

As if the giant spider wasn't enough, to the Sound shinobi's right was a giant long legged red spider with four long fangs underneath its many eyes.

"Akakyoutaikumo."

Sasuke clenched at the sight of the two spiders, but held his ground, swallowing slowly as he tried to think of something else. Kidomaru grinned as he put up two hands and attached strands of spider web to the corner of the training room, pulling himself up to the ceiling. The tarantula spat out a large web on the nearby wall, leaping onto the sticky wall before roaring out at the Uchiha brothers. A large white sac slowly came out of the tarantula's back end as the red spider leapt off the top level, jumping straight at Sasuke with a speed he hadn't been expecting. It stabbed at him with its front two legs, causing the younger Uchiha to jump backwards. He was forced to keep retreating as the red spider stabbed at him again and again, the ground cracking under its legs attacks. Itachi ran towards his brother to help him, but flinched as a small spider the size of his head flew past him. It looked like a much smaller version of the tarantula, with a long strand of web attached to its back as it landed in front of Itachi. He looked over to the large black spider, noticing that the white sac had grown huge with a large hole that was spitting out small spiders like the one that had just attacked him.

Kidomaru shook his head slowly, "No, no. This is a single player game. We don't allow co-op."

He pulled out a golden kunai from his mouth, holding it idly.

_I'll wait for the best opportunity, when they are distracted. Then, when their Sharingan are useless, I'll strike._

oOoOoOo

"Chidori Subeta!"

Sasuke slashed at the red orb spider's leg with his lightning covered sword. To his dismay the sword attack simply bounced off the spider's chitinous plated leg, even made into a blade that would cut through anything it couldn't pierce through the red spider's carapace. He swore and dodged another leg attack, throwing away his useless sword as he tried to put his hands together into a handseal, but the spider pulled back and faced him with its face. It spat a large amount of green liquid at him, the younger Uchiha barely able to dodge the attack, the liquid hitting his cloak barely. He rolled away from another attack, noticing a strange smell in the air. Turning his head slightly he noticed the edges of his cloak were gone.

"Ah shiiiitttt!"

He thrashed around on the ground as he tried to remove the destroyed cloak, barely able to get it off before the venom burned it up completely, little bits of the green liquid hitting the ground with a sizzle, burning into the stone floor. He stood up with a breath of relief, barely able to take a moment for himself before the red spider spat at him again. Sasuke ducked under the green venom, making sure that none of it hit him as he tried to complete a set of handseals, but the spider never let up, continuing to attack him with its red legs. On the other side of the room, Itachi continued to dodge the small spiders that were sent against him, looking far more relaxed than his younger brother. He moved to the side as a spider behind him tried to attack him with its exposed fangs, dripping with venom. As the spider moved past him he reached out and drove a kunai into its back. He was having no trouble avoiding the attacks sent against him, but he saw that he couldn't say the same thing about his brother. He went to call out to Sasuke, but called out in pain, falling to his knees. He reached back with his hand, grimacing as he pulled out a golden kunai from his side. He threw away the bloody projectile and frowned as he stole a glance at the hanging Sound shinobi.

_He waits patiently until the moment appears to strike. And Sasuke is ill-suited to face that large spider. He isn't a defensive fighter. _

Itachi flung out an arm, a part of his robe turned into a black crow. It flew towards Sasuke, as Itachi continued to dodge the attacks sent against him. The crow landed on Sasuke's shoulder, causing the young Uchiha to pause momentarily in his movements.

"What is it, Itachi?" he asked of the crow.

It cawed at him loudly before disappearing into smoke. He had to admit, it was a decent idea, he certainly was on the back foot against the red spider. He jumped out of the way of another blob of venom, picking up his sword on the way up, turning around to yell something at Itachi when he saw a golden kunai screaming towards his face. He barely got his hands together in time as the attack struck him, the young Uchiha able to substitute with one of the smaller spiders in time, the kunai destroying the spider easily. Sasuke groaned as he picked himself up from the ground next to Itachi.

"You sure about this?" he asked, reached back and drawing his sword again.

His brother nodded, patting Sasuke on the head before running over to the red spider with his hands together. Sasuke breathed out slowly and gripped his sword as he regarded the tarantula on the wall. At the other side of the room the red orb spider went to jump at Sasuke, but leapt back as two shuriken slammed into its face. They embedded themselves in the openings between the carapace plates covered its eyes, barely missing the eyes of the large spider. Itachi smirked as his brother's sword crackle with electricity. He clapped his hands together before pulling out a shuriken and throwing it at the red spider, waiting a moment before throwing a second one straight at it. The second shuriken was thrown with more force, catching up easily to the first and striking it hard, causing the shuriken to harshly change direction and scream towards Kidomaru's position on the ceiling.

The spider-like shinobi dropped several feet from his position and watched as the shuriken buried itself where his head was. He pulled out a golden thread from his mouth, allowing it to harden for a moment before being forced to move from his position again to avoid a thrown kunai. He crawled up the wall and regarded Itachi with fascination, watching as the elder Uchiha ducked and weaved easily from the red spider's attack while simultaneously throwing projectiles in his direction. A wide grin grew on his face as he moved away from a shuriken strike, taking position again as he deflected a kunai with his golden weapon.

_He avoids the spider's attacks easily, while ensuring that I can't attack either of their blind spots. What an interesting opponent. _

He stole a glance over at the other side of the field, noticing that the younger Uchiha flung a large amount of electric needles at the small spiders thrown at him, easily neutralising the attacks.

_And the other one is pretty good too. Such a high level game…I'm getting really excited. _

oOoOoOo

Sasuke watched with disgust as the large tarantula roared at him, the small spider attacks had slowly considerably since he and Itachi had swapped positions. It had become obvious that Sasuke was far better at dealing with the smaller creatures, his lightning needles didn't cost him much chakra at all, and they were extremely efficient at taking out the smaller arachnids. He grimaced as he saw several large tarantulas crawl out of the white sac along the wall, taking positions on the web above the sac before roaring in turn.

"What is this?" he asked rhetorically.

The five tarantulas turned to face him from the web on the wall, each of their abdomens bulging slightly as they roared at Sasuke. They all pulled back their fanged mouths and spat at the younger Uchiha, small webs shooting towards him similar to the ones Kidomaru had shot earlier from his mouth. He moved to the side to avoid one of the webs, but found himself confronted by another, causing him to roll back to his original position. The webs shot by the tarantulas were frustratingly accurate, Sasuke barely able to keep his feet together as they forced him back. Even as he dodged the webs, he noticed that the giant tarantula had allowed the white sac to fall to the ground before another one began to emerge from its rear.

_I need to go on offence. This plan isn't working. _

He put his hands together into the first technique he had ever learnt. His skill with the Uchiha technique had gotten to the point that he only needed the final seal to activate the technique.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A large fireball exploded from his mouth, easily destroying the webs that were flying towards him, before raging across the field into the large white sac. The fire burnt up the premature container with ease, and slightly struck the giant tarantula's abdomen, but avoided the five smaller tarantulas that crawled up the web to avoid the blaze. Sasuke grinned at his accomplishment, but knew he wasn't done.

He quickly ran through a set of handseals before placing his hands to his lips, "Katon: Housenka!"

He spat out a continuous stream of smaller fireballs, striking the tarantulas with precision, easily burning up their black exteriors. The giant tarantula roared at the destruction of her children, pushing off the wall with its eight legs. It flew towards Sasuke with a speed uncanny for its size, and was undeterred by the large fireball sent in its direction. The blaze barely make a mark on the giant tarantula, the arachnid forcing the young Uchiha on the back foot as it tried to attack him in the same manner as the red orb spider had. He swore under his breath as he leapt away from its huge fangs.

_Fire doesn't work, and if it's anything like the other one, my sword won't work either. Damnit, why did we have to face this kind of enemy?_

oOoOoOo

Even while dodging lightning fast strikes from the red spider's legs and globs of highly toxic venom, and keeping the spider-like shinobi occupied with projectiles, Itachi was able to catch a glance of Sasuke destroying the tarantula's spiderling sac. He grinned in pride at his brother's achievement, leaping back to avoid an attack before putting his hands together.

"Katon: Karyuudan" (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Bullet)

A stream of fire came from his mouth, striking the orb spider straight in the face. The giant red spider roared in pain, but appeared otherwise unaffected as the elder Uchiha cancelled the flame technique and fell back. He regarded the red orb spider with morbid fascination.

_It seems practically immune to damage, and recovers instantly. I need to take it out in one shot, with one big technique. Wait…I know what might work…_

He looked up at the red spider's face, noticing the eight dark eyes all staring at him as it pulled back its front two legs to attack him. He smiled and moulded a small amount into his eyes, staring straight into the spider's eyes with his Sharingan. The giant arachnid froze in place, unable to move at all as Itachi moved with purpose towards the spider's location.

_This had better work. If the carapace doesn't hold…this might end badly for all of us. _

He clapped his hands together as he finished the technique that his father had taught him before they had become estranged. It wasn't a jutsu he wanted to use, particularly not in an enclosed environment, but unlike some of the others in the Konoha group he wasn't well versed in highly destructive techniques, not without using his Mangekyou Sharingan. The spider began to twitch as it was slowly breaking out of the genjutsu he placed him under, but was still immobile enough for Itachi to get underneath its legs to its midsection. He looked up at the red carapace, noticing a slightly lighter area right in the middle between its plates. Noting his target, the elder Uchiha reached up and slammed his hands into the midsection. He hadn't come up with a name for the technique, and considering the scope of the ability he hoped to never use it again, but the situation called for action. Satisfied that the technique had activated properly, he ran away from the orb spider as quickly as he could, which was pretty fast by normal shinobi standards. At his position on the ceiling, Kidomaru frowned as he noticed the respite from the hail of projectiles sent at him by Itachi.

After a quick glance he saw Itachi fleeing from the seemingly frozen orb spider. With a quick chew he began to form more golden liquid in his mouth, until he saw the giant red spider twitching strangely. Itachi placed his hands together when he was a good distance away from the spider, pointing his hands towards the giant spider as Kidomaru sensed a huge surge of chakra. The midsection of the orb spider began to bulge, before its abdomen bulged as well.

_Oh sh…_

In a roaring sound that shook the entire room, the giant red orb spider exploded from the inside, the carapace barely holding the explosion in as the large arachnid was vaporised from the inside out, collapsing into a pile of red carapace and toxic slime. Picking himself up from the explosion's shockwave, Itachi cracked his neck as he saw Sasuke struggling against the huge tarantula. The younger Uchiha had tried to burn away the tarantula with fire techniques, but to no avail, though it appeared that the tarantula couldn't produce any more spiders, significantly diminishing its strength. Sasuke flipped back and removed his sword, charging it with lightning as an idea came to his mind. With a surge of chakra he changed the shape of his energy to a long spear at the tip of his sword, reaching up high before slashing down towards the giant black and orange spider. The long blue and white chakra spear slashed straight into the gap between the tarantula's midsection and abdomen, where it had no defence. The giant spider roared out in pain as the attack sliced it in two, Sasuke withdrawing his chakra before charging towards the spider to finish it off. The spider flailed around as he reached its body, his hand crackling with lightning as he planned to finish it off. Before his hand could reach the spider's face, it exploded into white liquid around him, covering him with sticky webbing all over his body, trapping him to the ground.

Itachi instantly turned around and ran towards his younger brother, "Sasuke!"

On top of the ceiling, Kidomaru watched as the older Uchiha made his way to his brother and tried to find a way to free him from the sticky webbing. He shook his head slowly as he saw the destroyed bodies of his two summoned spiders. His chakra spiked as his cursed seal began move all over his skin, turning his dark skin to a dark red and his hair turned a pale white. The forehead protector on his head fell to the ground beneath him with a clank as horns began to appear along his arms and on top of his head. As his face constricted into an angry expression that he only ever adopted in this second level of the Cursed Seal, a strange line of his forehead began to open slowly, revealing a strange third eye where his forehead protector had been, his eyes completely black with yellow irises.

_I guess this game isn't over just yet. It's a shame that I have to kill you two, I haven't had this much fun in years. _

A long golden spike slowly came from his mouth as he regarded the two Uchiha with all three eyes. He knew it was foolish to engage in close combat, but he didn't consider himself out of the game just yet. Kidomaru would have preferred a more open area to fight in, such as a field or a forest. The golden thread hardened as webbing appeared to line each end, Kidomaru pulling back with two of his hands on the webbing as his bow was complete. Itachi had no way of helping Sasuke completely; he was still stuck firmly to the ground but he was still able to move around his arms. The elder Uchiha turned and balked at the image of Kidomaru stringing up his golden bow, standing between him and his brother with his arms together. The spider-like shinobi grinned widely as he quickly figured out his plan. With a slow laugh he vanished into the air, disappearing from the Uchiha's view, hiding from his Sharingan. Itachi frantically looked around the room for the Sound shinobi, before turning back to Sasuke to try and free him. At the top level in both Itachi and Sasuke's blind spot, Kidomaru dropped to his feet as he strung a long golden arrow in his bow. The Sound shinobi was silent in his preparations, aiming his arrow with absolute precision.

_Accuracy 100 percent. Destruction Level Maximum._

He held the arrow with his razor sharp teeth before releasing it at his target. _Die! _Only at the last moment did Itachi hear the attack screaming towards the two of them. He didn't hear the sound of arrow releasing from the golden bow, nor the sound of the arrow breaking the sound barrier as it covered the distance instantly. He heard the sound of the arrow hitting flesh, and clothes being shredded, but neither of them called out in pain. The elder Uchiha padded himself down, trying to work out where the arrow had struck him, but he couldn't find a hole as he saw the bloody arrow buried deep into the ground beyond their position. He looked over at his younger brother momentarily, and saw a strange look on Sasuke's face. The normally rigid and serious looking Uchiha seemed to have a confused look on his face, like he didn't know where he was. He slowly looked down at his body still stuck to the ground by the webbing from the death of the tarantula, trying to reach down but finding he had no strength in his arms.

He looked back up to Itachi, trying to ask him if he could see what had happened, but the words couldn't form in his mouth when he saw the wide eyed look on his brother's face. It took him a moment to realise where his brother was staring at, looking down at his chest before realising that there was a wide hole in his chest. The arrow had gone clean through to the other side, Sasuke hadn't even realised he had been struck. The moment he realised what had happened, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to his knees.

"SASUKE!"

At the top level, Kidomaru frowned as his three eyes stared at the hole in the younger Uchiha's chest. His arrow had been dead-on accurate when he had let it go, but at that exact moment the Konoha shinobi had straightened up slightly, causing the arrow that would have taken him in the heart to strike him six inches below the target. The Sound shinobi began to spit out another arrow as he saw the older Konoha shinobi try to pull the wounded Uchiha out of the webbing, with little success. As he strung up the second arrow, he saw Itachi turn and face him angrily, his Sharingan flaring at the monstrous visage. Kidomaru pulled back the bow with his hands, aiming the arrow at Sasuke again as his three eyes were able to calculate the greatest trajectory of the projectile instantly. From observing their battles with his spider summons, he recognised that Itachi was the more dangerous one by far, but with the younger Uchiha unable to move, and being injured, Kidomaru recognised that he could turn the battle massively in his favour by killing him first. In the Second Level of the Cursed Seal, his arrows were so powerful that he had pierced through solid steel with them, and he prided himself on his accuracy with the weapon. As he looked down the arrow shaft to the two Konoha shinobi, a strange thought came to his mind.

_I don't particularly want to continue this game. The fun stopped when my pets were destroyed. To what purpose do I have to kill these two? They didn't kill any of our men, even though they had the opportunity to. Even though they are the invaders…why do I feel like the bad guy?_

He felt a pulse of the Cursed Seal's chakra through his body, banishing the hesitation from his mind as he realigned his arrow, noting that even though Itachi could see him, there was little he could do to stop the next arrow attack, considering that the target was unable to move. Kidomaru stared back down the arrow shaft, aiming the arrow directly into the dying Sasuke's face. He was at such a distance that Itachi couldn't tell where Kidomaru was aiming, because it was a centimetre either way between the two of them. Ensuring that his arrow was on target, Kidomaru unleashed the attack, all pretext towards stealth gone as he let go of the arrow. He had put more strength into the second arrow draw, in case Itachi put up some kind of defence the arrow would be able to go straight through. The air between the shinobi seemed to fracture as the arrow screamed towards the Konoha shinobi, Kidomaru grinning as he felt an impact shock from the arrow striking its target.

_Minor character, down. _

A large cloud of dust was kicked up by his arrow strike, even his three eyes not able to see what had happened until it cleared. He frowned and tightened his grip on his bow as he tried to understand what he saw.

_What is the meaning of this?_

oOoOoOo

Itachi snarled as he stared at the monstrous-looking Sound shinobi. He hadn't needed to use this technique since he'd learnt it, and due to its nature he hadn't practised it either, but as his pinwheel Sharingan flared he was grateful it had worked. He stood over Sasuke, having placed his younger brother under a powerful genjutsu that froze him in place. It was a Sharingan technique, not as powerful as Tsukuyomi, but strong enough that it stopped Sasuke from dying instantly, stopping his body from bleeding out. Around the two of them was a large red chakra form, one that Itachi hadn't seen since the night Kanako had been killed, and both his and Sasuke's lives had changed forever. Over Sasuke's frozen body was a large red shield made of chakra, connected to a large humanoid form around the two of them.

Itachi felt his chakra levels plummet with the technique, but it had been necessary. He didn't know of any other defence techniques that could have stopped the arrow attack, at least not ones that he knew. Across from him, Kidomaru stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. He cackled for several seconds before looking back down at the elder Uchiha.

"This is just too much! Even when he is down, you protect him? With such a technique too…"

With a visible chew he began spitting out another golden arrow, one that had a spiral end and was of a darker colour than his previous arrows.

"This is my strongest arrow. Its destructive power is greater than any technique in the Sound village, since the death of our master."

Attaching himself to the wall with his web threads, he placed his feet on the golden bow and pulled the bow back with four of his hands, with the arrow between his teeth. With his third eye his perception skills rivalled his opponent's Sharingan, and his analysis skills were lauded as the best in the village. After staring at the red chakra-based warrior standing guard over the two Uchiha shinobi, he knew there was no where he could break the defence easily except underneath, and as powerful an archer as he was, he couldn't put an arrow through there. Through the fiery red shield he could see Itachi running through a set of handseals, but Kidomaru wasn't going to let him finish, letting the arrow go with a huge push of chakra.

The golden arrow was a blur as it screamed into the warrior's shield, striking it straight onto the circle at the centre of its defence. If he hadn't been attached to the wall with his webs the shockwave would have knocked him off his feet. Instead he was only rocked slightly, as he tried to see if his arrow had been able to pierce Itachi's defence. As the dust settled, all three of his eyes widened at what he saw. The red warrior was still standing, barely. There was a huge set of cracks coming from its shield, and most of the boned warrior had shattered, but it was still standing. Inside the barrier, Itachi had been knocked to the ground and didn't look like he would be able to get up any time soon. Kidomaru grinned wildly at his success, watching as the red warrior disappeared slowly putting his bow in one of his off hands before trying to remove the Cursed Seal chakra from his body.

His horned skin fluctuated as the dark chakra didn't recede immediately, Kidomaru frowning as he dropped to the ground slowly. Since the death of Kimimaro's friend, the originator of the Cursed Seal, he hadn't been willing to go into the Second Level; for fear that it might take him over. He, like the others, was always stuck in the released form of the Cursed Seal. The only reason he stayed in the Sound Village was the promise that he could be released from the Cursed Seal, since Orochimaru's death he had no real purpose. The Cursed Seal was an enslavement tool, one that Kidomaru had gone into gladly, but now served little other than to cause him to act more erratically than he normally would. As his feet touched the ground he could feel the dark chakra rebelling against his authority, refusing to recede as it drew more and more of his personal chakra. He kept his alarm to himself however as he walked slowly towards the two fallen Uchiha.

"I guess this game is finished. A shame really. You guys were more fun than I initially would have expected. I have no love for this village, but you came into our home with bad intentions, so I've got to take you out."

With a tired sigh, he flexed his three left arms, still trying to remove the Cursed Seal chakra with no success. His third eye closed as he saw that Itachi had been knocked out cold, and the younger Uchiha was dying slowly from the hole in his chest. He walked over to the fallen shinobi, leaning down with a strange look on his face.

_Lord Kabuto will want to question him. Itachi is too dangerous to leave walking around, but if I heal this one enough than maybe he'll let me go. I know he doesn't have any motivation to remove our seals, so maybe with a proper prisoner he'll let me go my own way. _

As he put a hand over the hole in Sasuke's chest, his eyes examined the wound. It had passed through cleanly, almost surprisingly so, barely nicking the stomach and missing the lungs altogether.

_This knocked him out? I know I poison my arrows with paralysing venom, but still, that's kind of sad. _

He called out in pain as a pulse from his Cursed Seal pushed through more chakra than he originally intended, his hands glowing black instead of blue as he began to stitch up the Konoha shinobi's wounds. As Orochimaru's guard, he was the only one in the group with outward medical abilities. As an analytical shinobi he considered medical techniques a necessity for a ranged attacker. As he concentrated he noticed that his dark red skin was turning back to its normal dark colour, as if the Cursed Seal was receding of its own volition. After a few moments he removed his hands and looked at his work. There was an ugly looking black scar over where the hole used to be, but by his estimation the Uchiha teenager would survive, at least long enough to be questioned. Placing one set of hands on his hips, he sighed again as he felt the transition back to the normal released form of the Cursed Seal. A shiver ran up his spine, his patented sensory technique, but he paid it no attention. After all, he had already won the battle, what else could there be to trouble him? The shiver ran up his spine again, but before he could do anything it was too late. A voice flowed through his ears, and he nearly rolled his eyes as he realised his mistake.

_How stupid. All that work, and I miss something like that. Analytical, intellectual genius my foot. _

He saw two red and black orbs in front of him.

"Tsukuyomi."

oOoOoOo

Kidomaru sighed as he looked at the red horizon in the distance. Itachi slowly appeared before him with his arms hidden within his Akatsuki robe, a stern look on his face.

Kidomaru looked at the elder Uchiha with a smile, "Kage Bunshin?"

His opponent nodded slowly.

"Bah, I should have known. Too smart for my own good, eh?"

Itachi stared at the six-armed shinobi with his Sharingan, noticing that while his monstrous-visage had receded, he still looking like one of the strangest shinobi he had ever seen, and that was even as the partner of the shark-like Kisame.

He frowned slowly, "Why did you save my little brother's life? What is he to you?"

With a laugh, Kidomaru shrugged all three sets of his shoulders.

"So he was your little brother. I figured as much."

"Why did you help him?"

The grin on Kidomaru's face turned solemn, "I had a little sister once. Nobody should lose their sibling, even in times like these."

Itachi noticed the strange look on his enemy's face. In the world of Tsukuyomi he controlled everything, and Kidomaru knew it, so there was little point in lying to him. He had time to spare, and with that final action he respected the shinobi enough to at least hear him out.

"What happened to her?"

With another sigh, Kidomaru placed a set of hands behind his head.

"She got sick. I approached Orochimaru, and he offered to help her, in return for my servitude. I did as he asked, but she still died. It was too late once I realised that I had become his slave with the Cursed Seal."

He gave a short laugh.

"I seem to have a record of stupid decisions. But that doesn't matter now. Are you going to kill me?"

Itachi stared at his enemy, realising that even though he was the enemy, he felt a measure of sympathy towards him. While he recognised that it would probably be a mercy to break out of the Tsukuyomi and finish him off, there was a part of his mind that didn't want to.

"Are any of our people here?" he asked, not expecting to get an answer.

To his surprise, Kidomaru shook his head slowly.

"Sorry, but any of your people left have been dead for weeks. Kabuto was using them for his experiments. Wish I could help, but yeah."

The Sound shinobi watched as Itachi absorbed what he had said, taking a few moments to consider the information and its validity. After deciding that it was the only logic choice, Itachi slowly closed his eyes. Kidomaru's eyes widened as the area around him collapsed inwards, until he opened his eyes and saw Itachi standing opposite him back in the training room.

"You aren't going to kill me then?"

A Kage Bunshin behind him tapped the Sound shinobi on the back of the neck, causing him to crash into the ground. Itachi stood over the fallen shinobi with a solemn look across his face. He had decided that it wouldn't feel right killing the man who had just saved his brother's life, even if he had caused the injury. Itachi was many things, but since his joining the Konoha group he had felt a sense of belonging that he hadn't felt since Kanako. There was no need to spill unnecessary blood, at least not in his mind. He turned around and knelt down next to Sasuke, noticing that his little brother's breathing had gotten better, and that the webbing had released him from its hold, though it was clear they weren't going anywhere. He placed a hand on Sasuke's forehead, before smiling slowly.

"That was too close, Otouto."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. These fights are lengthy, and there is a lot I want to put into them before I release them. The next few might take me a little bit longer than usual, but that's because I have big plans in mind for this arc.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	19. Chapter 18 Illusions

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 18 – Illusions

**A/N**: Rumours abound seem to indicate that Naruto will be finishing soon. A shame, but all good things must come to an end. I will still be continuing this story of course, even if Naruto isn't continuing, my story will. If you think I've deviated now, wait until later on. It gets crazy.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more happy and calm scenarios.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With his upgraded Byakugan active, Neji infiltrates the Sound Village in the hope of finding any potential Konoha prisoners. After a short interrogation, and subsequent execution of a butcher doctor, he finds himself in a medical lab with several bodies inside. After reading a fair amount about the Cursed Seal, and how the Sound Leader was struggling to keep his forces together, Neji discovers that the bodies were the only remnants of the forces of Konoha that weren't present during the destruction of the village, and that they were experimented on, to their deaths. Across the village, in the training room, Itachi and Sasuke found themselves confronted by a monstrous-looking six-armed shinobi called Kidomaru. After barely overcoming a hidden fear of spiders, Sasuke helped his brother push the spider-like shinobi back, until he summoned two giant spiders to attack them. In a prolonged battle, they were able to defeat the summoned creatures, but just as they were attempting to recover, Kidomaru drove a powerful arrow strike through Sasuke's chest. Itachi was able to defend the next two attacks, and with clever use of Kage Bunshin tricked the Sound shinobi to think they were dead. In a surprising move, Kidomaru healed Sasuke of his injury, but was subsequently trapped in Tsukuyomi by Itachi. He expressed a disinterest in struggling against the Uchiha, and after explaining his motivations, he told Itachi that his quest was for naught, that there were no Konoha survivors left. Feeling merciful, Itachi simply knocks out Kidomaru and moves back to help his little brother. Elsewhere in the Village, the invasion continues.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Hinata – Kiba – Sakura – Lee***<p>

Reaching down to make sure her white Hyuuga dress was on straight, Hinata reached out and knocked twice on the double doors in front of her. A voice from inside the room told her to enter, which she did quickly, closing the door behind her. She smiled warmly at the figure behind the large desk, watching him write frantically as the sun was slowly setting behind him through the windows of the room. She knew he was busy, but he was also somewhat forgetful, and she needed to remind him of certain things at times. She walked across the room slowly, moving around the desk so that she was standing beside him. It had taken her a while to get used to the idea, but after ten years there was no dispute that he was well suited to the job.

"What are you writing?" she asked softly, hoping she wasn't disturbing a peace treaty signing or similar.

The blonde figure finishing signing the document with his pen before closing the folder slowly, breathing out a sigh of exhaustion and putting the pen down on the paper-covered desk. He looked up and smiled at the white-eyed woman's face, his smile growing as she leant down and kissed his cheek.

"Just some ANBU promotions. Shikamaru has been on my case to do them for nearly a month, but I haven't had the time until now."

He stood up slowly as a weasel masked shinobi appeared on the opposite side of the desk. He reached into a desk draw before handing the ANBU a folded envelope with his signature on the front.

"Please take this to the Suna ambassador. And tell her that if Gaara doesn't like the terms of this trade treaty, he can come here himself and tell me that. In fact, tell her to leave my Nara clan head alone for a few days, and get the Kazekage over here. We haven't had drinks in months."

With a silent nod, the ANBU vanished into a puff of smoke as Naruto slowly pushed his chair into his desk and looked at Hinata with a smile. He reached out and pushed his fingers into her hands.

"You didn't have to come here you know, I could have met you at home."

Hinata smiled again and leant her forehead on his, "I wanted to see you. Besides, did you forget what today is?"

He playfully moved his head and pecked her on the lips.

"Of course not. But you are the Hyuuga clan head; you have responsibilities beyond just me."

She softly pushed him back before looking at the clock on the wall.

"We are going to be late, Hokage-sama."

Naruto chuckled at the title, "Ooo, you only call me that in bed. Do you want to…?"

"Naruto! We can't do that in your office!"

He pouted, but conceded her point. He reached onto the table and retrieved his hat, placing it on his head before walking around his desk to retrieve his flame adorned robe.

"Should we go straight there?" he asked, pulling the robe on over his shoulders.

Hinata stepped across and helped straighten the robes, "We need to go home first, remember?"

Naruto shook his head with a smile, as if it was so obvious. He thanked her for her help, looked around his office once to check that there wasn't anything else he needed to do before they left. Hinata slid an arm around his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she let go of Naruto as she saw the fountain that was at the centre of the complex. Naruto looked over at one of the sections of the complex.

"I'm gonna go get changed. Could you…?"

"Of course. I'll meet you there. She doesn't like it when you use Hiraishin."

"I'll see you at the Academy. Love you."

Hinata smiled as he walked into the bedroom section of their complex. She walked into the nearby open door, removing her sandals at the opening before looking at the clean living room. A young woman came out of the nearby corridor, wiping her hands on a cloth, smiling as she saw Hinata.

"Lady Hyuuga, welcome home. Would you like me to prepare some supper?"

Hinata shook her head slowly, "I keep telling you to call me Hinata, Yui."

"Of course, Lady Hyuuga. Dinner?"

"No, no. We are just on our way out. Is she awake?"

Her maid waved her over to a nearby room, putting the cloth into her pocket before opening the door for Hinata, showing her into the bedroom. Walking into the room, Hinata felt her heart swell with pride as she saw the crib in the middle of the room.

"Do you need anything else, Lady Hyuuga?" asked the maid.

Her mistress shook her head slowly as she walked over to the crib, "Go home for the evening, Yui. Tell your husband hello from both of us. Thank you."

The maid closed the door quietly after thanking Hinata. She looked into the crib with a smile, looking at the little baby girl inside. She had short black hair and pure white eyes, with the softest skin that only babies could have. Hinata reached down slowly, as the baby girl opened her eyes slowly and reached out to her mother with a smile.

"Ah, hey there, Kushina. Would you like to come with mummy and daddy to the Academy?"

After a few minutes of cuddling, Hinata put some clothes on the three month old before carrying her out to the courtyard. It was only a short distance from their manor to the Academy, but Hinata knew that she would get there in time if she walked fast enough. Ten minutes later she saw the group gathering at the Academy, a few in the crowd giving way for her to get through. As the wife of the Hokage, and Hyuuga clan head, there was no-one in the village who didn't know who she was, and that fame took a while for the generally introverted Hinata to get used to.

"It's good that you could make it."

Hinata turned to face the speaker, smiling as she saw Ino standing opposite her. The Yamanaka clan head was heavily pregnant with her first child, but all the clan heads had been invited to the Academy ceremony, it was after all a big day for the village. Ino reached over and patted the baby Kushina softly with a wide smile, before turning at a loud noise at the edge of the crowd. Ino simply laughed as Hinata rolled her eyes.

"I think that is your husband, Lady Hyuuga."

"You wouldn't think he is the leader of our village, considering how he behaves" replied Hinata.

She made her through the crowd towards the loud noise, until she reached the clearing, where the students of the Academy were gathered, with the parents behind them. In his outrageously obvious orange jacket, Naruto was even more recognisable than in his Hokage outfit, while the dark haired man he was arguing with was slightly less outrageous in his dark blue and black outfit. At the sight of his wife, Naruto smiled widely before leaning down to kiss his daughter on the forehead.

"Hinata, could you please tell this teme that I won't be giving him any special consideration just because we used to fight together."

His young wife frowned at his language in front of his daughter but let it go, seeing the Uchiha clan head Sasuke sighed in frustration. Naruto went to make another comment, but was silenced as a bell rang in front of the lined up students, as the teachers began to file out.

"Oh good, they are about to start. Hey teme, I got four hundred ryou on my kid beating yours."

Sasuke frowned at his childhood friend, but reached into his robe before pulling out a small roll of bills. Hinata simply shook her head as she saw the head of the Academy take the stage. Sakura reached over the podium before regarding her students.

"It is with great pleasure that we are all here today, to celebrate the next generation's ascension into our ranks. You children are the future of Konoha, and everyone gathered here would agree that while you have a big task ahead of you, we know you are up to the task."

One of her teachers pulled away the cloth on the nearby table, revealing two long rows of forehead protectors. She read through the names of the graduating students one at a time, as the new Genin came up to receive their forehead protector from their teachers.

"Uzumaki Renji."

A blonde ten-year old in the front row stood up slowly, trying to keep a serious expression at the roaring clapping coming from his father and most of the crowd. He walked over to Sakura and shook her hand while waving to the crowd, looking at his parents through his white eyes with a slow smile. He accepted his forehead protector with a calm bow, taking a moment to place it across his forehead before taking his seat again. Sakura looked down at the last name with a smile.

"Uchiha Erika."

The young black haired ten-year old sitting next to Renji bounced up with a yell, slapping the blonde Genin on the back before running up to the stage. Sakura smiled with a shake of her head and she grasped the young girl's hand. She handed her the forehead protector before pulling out a scroll from her pocket and handing it to the new Genin.

She turned back to the microphone, "While I've got her here, I would like to announce Miss Uchiha as the top Genin of this Year. Despite her…eccentricities, Erika has displayed the great aptitude and we are proud to give her this scroll as recognition for her hard work."

With an unceremonious punch in the air, the young Uchiha ran back down to her seat, tying her forehead protector around her head on the way down. After the ceremony was finished, the two new Genin walked slowly towards their parents. With a sigh, Naruto handed over a small stack of bills to Sasuke's outstretched hand, making sure neither child could see before smiling and rubbing his son's hair. Sasuke hugged his daughter and told her he was very proud of her, and that he was sure her mother would have been too.

"How come you didn't get Genin of the Year? Didn't you get special recognition for learning the Kage Bunshin?"

Renji chuckled as he put a hand behind his neck, "I don't know, Dad. I guess Erika just did better than me."

Hinata watched in amusement at the interaction between her son and the younger Uchiha, as her husband and his friend argued once again. She smiled sadly as she looked at her daughter's face in her arms.

_I don't think I could be any happier. _

The baby had barely fallen asleep as Hinata rocked her arms slowly, watching as Renji and Erika slipped away from their bickering fathers, their hands together as they began discussing what they were going to do now that they were Genin.

_It's a shame none of this is real. I could stay here forever, if given the option._

**You know it is an illusion?**

_Of course. As much as I want this, this isn't real. Thank you for letting me enjoy it though, I haven't felt hope like this in a long time. _

**You wouldn't rather stay? It seems like quite a life. I certainly wouldn't blame you. **

_Why would you try this type of illusion? How does this incapacitate me? _

**The mind can give in to its inner-most desires easier than breaking under pressure. **

She leant over and handed baby Kushina to her husband before putting her hands together.

_I will miss you, Kushina, Renji. I hope to meet you sometime in the future. _

"Kai!"

oOoOoOo

He gave a hand signal for the others of the group to stop as he eyed the enclave. Their unit had been tracking the target for days, and he had finally come to rest at the small complex beneath their position. The large white dog standing next to him barked three times as the other members of the group fell in behind Kiba. It was difficult to see anything beyond his ANBU mask, but with his enhanced nose he could almost everything that was happening around him.

"The target is inside?"

Kiba turned to the speaker, a young woman in a Cat animal mask, the newest addition to his squad. The Inuzuka leader looked at her through his Dog mask, knowing that she couldn't see the grin on his face. The other two members of his squad simply stood in silence, knowing better than to get in Kiba's way. The Dragon masked shinobi trusted Kiba enough to lead them, as he had for several years now. The Mantis masked shinobi didn't say anything either, though he had known Kiba long enough that there was no point in arguing, let alone speaking.

"Yes, Cat. Now be quiet while I lay out the plan."

The feline ANBU put up her hands, "Alright, alright. No need to get snippy."

After a few minutes of describing their plan of entry, Kiba fuelled a small amount of chakra through his hands; letting his claws stretch out before nodding to the Mantis masked ANBU. The Konoha shinobi gave no response, disappearing into a cloud of insects as the other two prepared their weapons.

"Do you expect him to resist?" asked Cat.

Reaching up slowly, Kiba removed his mask and placed it in his pack. He hated fighting with his mask on, but he also wanted to show Cat what happened when a shinobi was hasty. Across his face was a long scar he had a long scar that he had received after hunting down their target's partner, and the toxin in the strike hadn't left him the prettiest dog in the pack, though his mother called it 'endearing', as did his wife.

"Cat, when you are in the ANBU, you prepare for anything. We are here to hunt down a terrorist that has killed more than his fair share of powerful shinobi."

Beside him, Akamaru barked at him, causing Kiba to nod at the large white dog. He told Cat to take her position as Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba. She complied and disappeared into a puff of smoke as both Kibas began to move swiftly under the cover of the night sky. It had taken him a few years to get used to the idea of stealthy attacking a position, but to his initial surprise the Inuzuka clan had several infiltration techniques that worked perfectly. Both he and Akamaru kept to the shadows as they infiltrated the enclave, making quick progress until they saw an open area in the middle of the complex. A man with blonde hair sat in the middle of a beautifully preserved garden, covered by a black cloak with red and white clouds across it.

Kiba signalled to Akamaru with his hands, _that's our target. _

Almost on queue, their target stood up slowly before placing his arms outstretched. Given their information on the target, it didn't surprise Kiba at all that he had discovered their approach.

"And the critics have circled the artist once more. You people really are persistent."

Kiba frowned as he saw the strange-looking mouths on the target's palms, long tongues protruding from them as he turned around slowly, placing one hand into a handseal. Kiba's eyes widened as he realised what their target was going to do. He watched in horror as Dragon leapt from the shadows and went to slash through their target with his sword, but as one of his feet touched the grass he felt a strange sensation beneath him.

The target smiled widely with his back to the Dragon masked ANBU, "I'm not really much of an impressionist, sadly."

The ground beneath Dragon exploded as the landmine he had stepped on consumed him in a pillar of fire. Cat called out in anger from her position, leaping out to strike at the target. Keeping the wide grin on his face, the target turned around to face her. With a strange laugh, a small piece of white substance came out of the hand's mouth, turning into a small bird-like creature. The clay animal flew straight into her face, before exploding with a handseal from the target, causing her to fall to the ground, straight into another landmine, which destroyed what little the bird had left. Kiba swore but held back, telling Akamaru silently to hold position. This wasn't an opponent to rush into; such an action had resulted in the deaths of both Dragon and Cat. He watched as the target flinched visibly, before thrashing around with his legs. It took a moment, and a sniff, but Kiba realised that Mantis had been able to get some Destruction Bugs underneath the target; a large portion of his hive was committed as they began to cover the target's legs and crawl up over his torso.

A large swarm appeared in front of their target as he began to scream while the insects sucked out his chakra. The swarm opposite the explosion user transformed into Mantis, who pulled out a kunai from his robe. While Mantis excelled at taking down his targets without killing them, their orders were purely assassination. As Mantis reached back to slice the target's throat, he noticed a strange set of movements with his insects that were immobilising the target. Kiba noticed it from his position, moving from his position as he called for Mantis to move, but he was too late. From a further away position, their target appeared to come out of a nearby tree, with a wild grin on his face.

"Misdirection and illusion are also a part of art. And art…is a BANG!"

Kiba watched in horror as the clone covered by insects and opposite Mantis exploded violently, forcing both Kiba and Akamaru to fall back to cover themselves from the explosion. After the dust settled, Kiba looked over at Akamaru in despair. Nothing had gone according to plan. Despite their platoon being one of the strongest in ANBU service, they had been destroyed by this one shinobi. He considered their priorities for a moment. He realised that nothing was worth this, and that to throw himself against a clearly stronger opponent would go against his friend's memories.

_We need to take this information back to Konoha. Hokage-sama will need to know what happened._

He signalled to Akamaru, who transformed back into his white dog form before sniffing at the air. Kiba noticed a strange look across the dog's face, taking a moment to sniff the air himself. Akamaru barked at him loudly and leapt straight at him, hitting him in the chest hard. Kiba felt the wind fly out of him as he fell back throw a nearby wall from the blow.

"What the hell, Akamaru!"

The white dog gave a soft, almost helpless bark at his long time companion, as Kiba saw what his friend had done. He called out for someone to help, but before he could do anything the ground beneath Akamaru flashed brightly as the air thundered around them.

"AKAMARU!"

Kiba shook his head as he opened his eyes, feeling a soft hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Hinata's smiling face as she finished releasing him from the genjutsu. For an instant he panicked as he couldn't see his companion anywhere, but he felt a nudge at his leg as Akamaru rubbed his head against Kiba's leg in concern. The Inuzuka sighed in relief, reaching down and rubbing the white fur affectionately.

"I thought I lost you. Damnit, that was just too real."

oOoOoOo

Sakura stared at the body underneath her body hands, Lee moaned in agony as she struggled to keep his insides from spilling out.

"Sakura-san…it hurts…"

She shook her head to gather her thoughts before pushing her hands back into his stomach. None of them had expected the ambush; it was a miracle that any of them had survived. Sakura stole a glance at the other bodies around her. Ino was the first one to go down, her body lying face down in the mud as the rain pelted down onto the ground. She had taken the brunt of the ambush, four kunai striking her in the back before being peppered in the face by small fireballs. Upon checking her, Sakura could tell she was dead the moment she hit the ground. Their next companion hadn't lasted much longer either. After the Sound shinobi revealed themselves Naruto had roared out in anger at the ambush, charging straight at the two shinobi that had appeared before them. One of the Sound shinobi slashed at Naruto with his sword, but went clean through as it was a Kage Bunshin.

Out of the Sound shinobi's blind spot, rose the original Naruto, swinging at the enemy's head with Hirameki. Without losing a step, the shinobi turned his sword back and stepped backwards, driving the sword directly into Naruto's stomach. Time seemed to freeze for a moment before the Sound shinobi wrenched up the blade, cutting Naruto from naval to nose. The blonde shinobi fell to the ground without a sound, blood spraying all over the ground as he died slowly and painfully, unable to scream since his vocal cords were cut. Lee had run the length of the battlefield in an instant, driving his leg into the shinobi that had just killed Naruto, blocking the sword with his leg weights as he took out the shinobi with a chakra-charged fist.

He stood up for a moment before driving his foot into the fallen shinobi's ribcage, killing him brutally. The Sound shinobi's companion fell back and put his hands together. After a few seconds Lee fell to the ground screaming, holding his ears in agony as blood trickled from his eyes. Sakura called out for him to move, but couldn't stop the attack as the Sound shinobi ran up and drove a kunai into Lee's chest. After a prolonged battle, Sakura was able to beat the Sound shinobi, but as she struggled to close Lee's chest, she knew it was folly. Lee opened his eyes slowly and looked at Sakura's face as blood spilt onto the ground.

"Sa…kura…san…w…hy?"

With a final gasp, he collapsed onto the ground, Sakura screaming as her bloody hand still glowed with the blue medical technique. After a few minutes of struggling she stood up slowly.

"Alright, you've had your fun. Are you going to release me now?"

She waited for a moment, until the silence made her roll her eyes and put her hands together.

_This might be a convincing enough illusion, but I've had enough. I should have released this from the start; I definitely didn't need to see everyone die. _

"Kai!"

oOoOoOo

"How far are we from the finish line, Lee?"

The younger Konoha shinobi grinned as the two of them raced towards the village. It was their annual race from Suna to Konoha, and after making Chuunin, Lee was determined to finally beat his teacher.

"No more than a few miles, Gai-sensei."

"How right you are, my youthful student."

Gai powered forward, edging past Lee slightly before the younger shinobi roared out in determination and raged forward. They were neck and neck for the rest of the trek, until the giant gates of the village came into distance. Gai skidded to a halt a few hundred feet from the gate, causing Lee to barrel past him before attempting to stop himself, his face landing on the ground awkwardly.

"What is it, Gai-sensei?" he asked as he picked himself up from the ground.

His teacher frowned as Lee jogged back to his position.

He pointed to the gates of the village in front of them, "Why are the gates closed? It's the middle of the day."

"Maybe there was some special meeting that required them to close the gates."

Gai shook his head slowly, indicating for Lee to follow him as they went into the tree line to the side of the village.

"If there was a meeting of that magnitude, there would have been a hawk to tell us. Come, let us scale the wall and see if we can get one of the sentry's attention."

Lee watched as Gai leapt straight from the ground onto the wall battlements in a single bound, smiling in pride at his teacher's display of ability. As he went to replicate the feat, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, causing him to hesitate as he saw Gai disappear into the village. The feeling didn't disappear, and as soon as he looked up a bright flash came from inside the village. He cried out, but could do nothing as the village appeared to explode from the inside outwards, knocking him off his feet and slamming his head into the ground. A few minutes later Lee opened his eyes, and ducked instinctively as a foot nearly took his head off.

"Ah, good work my youthful student. However if you only duck under a high strike, than your opponent can follow it up with a low strike which would take you by surprise."

The new Genin Lee stood up quickly with a salute, "Yes, Gai-sensei! I understand!"

His teacher nodded before taking an offensive stance. He had been teaching Lee personally since he had graduated from the Academy, and despite his propensity to challenge his Hyuuga teammate, he saw real potential in the young taijutsu user. Gai showed him several moves from his own skill set before telling Lee that he wanted to watch something. The young taijutsu user sat on a nearby rock as a silver-haired Konoha shinobi came up to Gai and shook his hand before taking a step backwards. Lee watched in awe as the two Jounin began to spar. He recognised Hatake Kakashi from his teacher's rants, but he hadn't expected the one-eyed Jounin to be such an even match for the green-clad Jounin. Gai went to take Kakashi's head off with his leg, but as Kakashi ducked he shifted his attack and swept his other leg across at the silver-haired Jounin. Lee watched as Kakashi rolled back and threw a set of kunai at Gai, which the taijutsu-user simply batted away with a laugh. After a few minutes of sparring, Kakashi leapt back and attempted to attack Gai with ninjutsu. He sent a large fireball at Lee's teacher, following it up with several large rocks attacks, all of which were deftly avoided by Gai.

"Come now, my eternal rival! Let us take this to the next level!"

He looked over at Lee with a smile, indicating that this was something he should see. With his arms crossed over his chest, Gai's skin began to turn red as Lee could feel the power fluctuate throughout the air. He almost fell over at the shockwave as Gai went screaming towards Kakashi, who had subsequently revealed his Sharingan and put his hand to the ground. Lightning began to crackle around the silver-haired Jounin's lowered hand as Lee could barely keep up with Gai's movements as he shot towards Kakashi. Lee felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as Kakashi moved his head slightly, the Jounin deftly avoiding the green-clad Jounin's first punch before jumping back and powering towards him with his lightning charged hand ready. Lee could feel the change in the air, but could do nothing to stop it as he watched the end of the fight. Gai went to dodge the simple thrust and strike at Kakashi's side, but the Sharingan user moved to intercept the counter, closing the distance between the two of them as he drove the lightning blade straight through Gai's chest and out the other side. Lee could feel himself break out into a scream, but found his voice unable to comply. He began to hyperventilate and fell to the ground. He woke up to a stinging pain on his face, as he looked around to see Sakura moving to slap him in the face again. He was able to duck in time, but it also helped that both Hinata and Kiba pulled her back.

"Sakura-san, I think he's back" said Hinata, letting go of the pink-haired medic.

Her companion nodded before taking a long breathe, it had taken all three of them to wake Lee from the illusion.

"Are you okay, Lee?" asked Kiba.

The taijutsu user nodded and looked around the room, swearing that the illusion was too real to just be a genjutsu, but keeping that to himself. They all turned around as the music in the room cut off, as a young woman revealed herself before them. She had long wild pink hair, dirtier than Sakura's, kept under a black bandaged hat. She also wore a black and white tunic, with a large purple robe to tie it off, and long angled line covered her pale skin.

"So you all managed to escape my illusions? Don't get ahead of yourselves, you trash. I haven't even begun to play the true melody of death. You should feel privileged. Not everyone gets to hear the music of Tayuya of the North Gate."

She reached down into her side pocket and pulled out a long blue flute, taking a moment to grin before putting the instrument to her lips.

* * *

><p>***Naruto – Ino – Shizune – Chouji***<p>

"Hey, I'm not short!"

Ino turned and looked at Naruto with her best are-you-kidding-me stare. Even though he had grown a fair bit over the past six months, he was still one of the shortest in the group.

"Naruto, you are even shorter than Hinata."

"Hey! That's not true! We measured the other day; I'm two centimetres taller than her."

Behind the two of them Shizune chuckled, causing both of them to turn around. Naruto asked the elder medic why she was laughing, to which Shizune replied that she recalled that when they were measuring their heights, Hinata had carefully taken off her sandals so as to make it appear like Naruto was taller than her, despite the fact that he wasn't. Naruto's eyes widened at the revelation, almost tempted to flash to his girlfriend to check, but decided it was something for another time.

"Are you lot finished?"

They all turned and faced the Sound shinobi that had created the purple field that had trapped them inside the room. He was a strange looking shinobi, with an arrogant smirk on his face. He had dark grey hair with long bangs covering half of his face, and there was a strange bump at his back above his brown and white tunic. There were long circle-like black marks across his face and down his neck, and a set of red beads around his neck.

"Who the hell are you?" yelled out Naruto, his fists clenched.

The Sound shinobi shook his head before running a hand through his grey hair.

"I suppose the right thing to do is to tell your opponents your name before you butcher them. Sakon of the West Gate."

With a smirk, he disappeared into a flash, appearing right in front of Ino before slamming a fist into her chest, sending her crashing into Naruto.

"What the hell?" gasped Ino, silently thanking Naruto as she kept her feet steady.

Sakon straightened up and laughed, cracking his fist menacingly. Naruto kept his cool as two clones came up from behind the Sound shinobi, their fists raised to strike him in the head. Almost the second they were going to strike him, Sakon flipped around faster than any of them thought possible, slamming a fist across the two clone's heads, causing them to explode into smoke.

He turned around with a grin, "Kage Bunshin? How amusing."

Ino jumped back as Sakon leapt at the original Naruto with his fist raised, it almost appearing like there were several fists as he went to strike the blonde in the face.

"Tarenken!" (Multiple Connected Fists)

Naruto tried to move his head out of the path of the extremely fast strike, but the several fists clipped his face, sending him hurtling into the nearby wall. Sakon laughing at the blonde as the others of the group ran to help him.

"You are down already? How…disappointing."

Naruto grimaced as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground. Shizune already getting her medical technique ready, but stepped back as Naruto shook his head as slightly as he could. Both Ino and Shizune watched as a figure came from above their enemy, right in his blind spot with his sword ready to slice him in half. Just as the blade was about to cut between Sakon's head and the bulge at the top of his back, two arms shot out of his shoulder and grasped the blonde shinobi's sword by the blade, as Sakon's regular arms reached up and dragged Naruto to the ground, the extra arms moving through Sakon's shoulders and into his chest, making it a total of four arms.

"What the hell?" said a disgusted Ino.

She'd never heard of a technique like that, let alone one that allowed him to see like he had eyes in the back of his head. Naruto tried to wrench Hirameki from Sakon's grip, alarmed at the fact that the Sound shinobi was able to grab the razor sharp blade with his mysterious bare hands.

"You've got some interesting skills, trash. But not good enough."

With a sharp movement, the two hands grasping the sword cracked their wrists, snapping the sword into two pieces as Sakon pulled back a fist before driving it into Naruto's chest. He cried out in pain and coughed violently onto Sakon's chest as he fell to his knees.

Sakon looked down at him in disgust, "Bah, one strike and you are already down? I was hoping to get some fun out of this."

He frowned as he heard a few short laughs in-between Naruto's coughing. Reaching down he grabbed the blonde by the scruff of his jacket, pulling him up so that they were eye level, Naruto's feet dangling underneath him.

"Something funny?"

Naruto swallowed slowly and took a long painful breath before smiling as he stared at Sakon's face.

"It's just…wasn't a good idea…to call him fat…"

The Sound shinobi frowned for a moment, until Naruto reached over and grabbed him with his hands, while wrapping his legs around his arms. Behind Shizune and Ino, the sitting Naruto smiled as the hardy clone took several punches to the face from Sakon, from the arms coming out of his body, but it didn't let go.

"HURRAY FOR FAT PEOPLE! Nikudan Sensha!"

The ground began to shake as the enlarged Chouji leapt forward into a ball and rolled powerfully towards Sakon and the clone of Naruto. The Sound shinobi struggled to pull off the clone as Chouji made quick time in closing the distance. Sakon swore loudly as a hand came out of his chest and drove a kunai straight into the clone's neck, the fatal strike causing the clone to explode into smoke. He went to jump away, but a tendril of water appeared from behind him and crashed into Sakon's head, sending him straight into the ground. Ino smiled at her success while Naruto hopped up from his position and stood next to her and Shizune as Chouji rolled straight into the flailing Sound shinobi's body. After rolling over Sakon, feeling dozens of bones break at the high speed weighted ball, Chouji cancelled the technique and leapt back to his teammates as he shrank back to his normal size. Looking over the three teenagers, Shizune couldn't fathom how they had been able to pull off such teamwork, without any signals or verbal cues between one another. Turning around to check, Naruto frowned when he saw that the purple field was still covering the doorway. He turned back around, and his eyes widened as he saw Sakon slowly pick himself up from the ground.

"Damn brats…that bloody hurt."

The Konoha group watched in horror as he snapped his leg back into place and stood up, pulling one arm back into socket as the fingers on his hands cracked back into their original positions.

"What the hell is he?" asked a frightened Ino.

Next to her, Shizune frowned as she watched the many wounds on Sakon strangely heal themselves. She reached up and bit at both of her thumbs,

"That's some very powerful regenerative abilities. More powerful than Kabuto's, nearly as strong as my own."

She ran through the seals and slammed both hands onto the ground beneath her.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Not wanting to let his opponent recover, Naruto charged towards Sakon, a dozen clones appearing behind him to assist. The plume of smoke that came from Shizune's hands disappeared, as two tall figures appeared from within the smoke. Both Ino and Chouji were amazed at what they saw, and taking a step back she had to admit the two tigers cut impressive figures. Unlike most of her summons, they stood on two paws, eight feet tall each with pitch black armour plates covering their white fur. Both of them had long staves with battleaxe blades at the end. They stood perfectly still, not moving an inch as Shizune made sure that Naruto was okay keeping Sakon momentarily occupied.

"At ease, boys."

Both of them relaxed immediately, the left tiger turning and saluting Shizune with a wild grin.

"Good morning, Lady Shizune. How might we serve?"

She smiled back, "Good morning, San. How fares your father?"

The right tiger coughed awkwardly before pointing his axe at the battle, as Sakon threw back Naruto with relative ease. Shizune turned back around, mentally smacking herself. The tiger called San, who had three stripes across his shoulder plates; nodded in agreement with his fellow tiger, taking his battleaxe in hand before telling Shizune that he would speak to her once the battle was won. The two tigers ran past the fallen Naruto, who watched them in amazement as they engaged Sakon with their whirling battleaxes.

"You have some very powerful summons, Shizune-sensei" commented Ino, watching as they attacked with such speed that even Sakon was pushed back and was unable to counter their swift attacks.

"How did you get them? I'd never heard of tiger summons before meeting you" asked a curious Chouji.

"Pure luck. The tigers are a society removed from ours, and they are very strict about who they will ally with. The two tigers there? Look at their shoulder plates. The one with three stripes is called San, and the one with six stripes is called Roku. They are the third and sixth sons of the great Tiger Lord, the one who helped me defeat Kabuto."

Sakon ducked under a slice of San's battleaxe, and was forced to then roll backwards to avoid Roku's blade. As he stood up, he copped a kick to the face, sending him crashing into the wall.

"Shouldn't we help them?" asked Naruto as he recovered from his brutal encounter with the Sound shinobi.

Shizune shook her head, "No. Not only would we get in their way, but they would consider it a serious breach of their honour. Don't worry, they train their whole lives for these kind of battles. They are far better fighters than any of us."

Sakon pulled himself off the wall and spat blood onto the ground, the black circles now completely covering his body.

"Damnit, these damn furry bastards are strong."

_I need to go on offence. _

The two tigers stood in offence stances while waiting for him to make his move, centuries of training had taught them near infinite patience. Sakon tapped his foot on the ground, and behind him two extra feet came out of his legs and pushed off the wall as his original feet pushed off the ground with a spurt of chakra, sending him flying towards Roku, his fists flaring. The tiger almost rolled his eyes at the straightforward attack, holding his battleaxe up with its blade outwards while pushing a foot backwards. San ran to intercept the flying Sound shinobi, but while knew he wouldn't get there in time; he had faith in his younger brother. As it seemed like Sakon was about to hit the outstretched blade with his multiple fists attack, a leg shot out from his at a peculiar angle, causing him to rocket into the air and straight over Roku's head. He almost laughed as he landed on the other side of the tiger, before eying his real targets and rapidly moving to attack the four Konoha shinobi, wary of a prolonged fight with the tiger combatants.

Behind him, San ran past his younger brother and roared out loud, causing Shizune's eyes to widen and clap her hands together. A wide wall of water encompassed the four of them as she yelled for the Genin to move to the side. Sakon didn't understand how a wall of water would help them against his close combat attacks; he was the only one of the Sound Four who didn't attack from range. He went to kick off from the ground near their position to attack them from the air with his multiple fists attack, but as his foot hit the ground he felt no strength in the limb. Taking a glance directly in front of him, he noticed that one of the battleaxes was buried deep into the wall behind the wall of water, directly in front of Sakon.

_What the hell? How did it…oh…_

He looked down for a split second before crashing into the ground. A long red line appeared down his right side, as the section of his body from his neck to his arm split off from his body and fell apart from the rest of him. Shizune dropped the water wall and watched as both of the tiger warriors jogged up to the group, San moving to the wall to retrieve his battleaxe.

"Are you sure he's dead?" asked Naruto, wary of the Sound shinobi's regenerative capabilities.

Both Roku and San stood with their battleaxes in front of the group, Roku with a stern expression while San smiled at the group.

"Our blades rend flesh as easily as our claws. Rest easy, he is dead."

Shizune gave the tigers a bow, "Thank you for your help. We could not have done this without you."

"I'm sure you could have, Lady Shizune. It is our pleasure to assist you."

"Tell your father I send my regards."

The two tigers gave her a quick salute before disappearing in two puffs of smoke. The four of them sighed in relief, taking a few moments to calm their nerves at the surprisingly short battle.

"So, who's up for ramen?" asked Naruto.

Beside him, Chouji nodded his agreement; he hadn't had a decent meal in days. Behind Chouji, Ino ran a hand through her hair, grimacing as she felt her sore ribs from the initial attack had bruised several of her ribs. Broken bones were easily healed with her medical techniques, but bruised muscles had to heal themselves.

"I could use a bath" she said, pulling out a comb from her pack.

"A bath does sound nice, right about now" said Shizune.

They all knew they still had a mission to complete, but after such a high intensity battle it was difficult to get motivated to continue. Naruto turned around slowly, a confused look on his face as he saw the entrance.

"Uh, guys…we've got a problem."

"What is it?" asked Shizune, turning around as well before she noticed what Naruto was concerned about.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

She shrugged in response, barrier techniques were not her speciality. The violet field was still covering the entrance, and with a quick check with a clone, it still set anyone who touched it on fire.

"Never thought we would have to split up under those circumstances."

**"It was inevitable, Sakon. Those beasts were stronger than Kimimaro, at his peak."**

"Still hurts like hell though."

**"Quit your complaining. The enemies are still here."**

All four of the Konoha group turned at once at the sound of the conversation, recognising the first voice but not recognising the deeper voice that came afterwards. They were all amazed by what they saw. Where they had been expecting to see a body in two pieces, they saw two fully pieced together shinobi, both looking identical to the first shinobi.

"Is it a clone technique?" muttered Naruto, trying to figure out the technique until he noticed that the bulge of hair on the shinobi's back was gone.

The left one's bangs covered his right eye and he still wore the red beads around his neck, while the right one's bangs covered his left and he had a wide smirk on his face.

**"I expected more, brother. But I guess we can't say anything about surprises, can we, Sakon?" **

The right one seemed to be the origin of the deeper voice, while the left one swore at the other's comments.

"Don't give me that crap, Ukon. If we don't fight them at their strongest, then there is no fun in it."

**"Your playfulness will get us killed, Sakon. We should kill the woman before she can summon those creatures again."**

Sakon turned and faced the Konoha group before frowning again.

"Fine. But I want to kill the fat one as well. These pieces of trash are a blight on our home."

The one called Ukon dropped his smirk and stared at his brother, **"This isn't our home. Never forget that. We made a vow."**

Sakon waved off his brother and cracked his new hand in anticipation. He tapped his new foot on the ground, satisfied that his limbs were in working order before clenching both his fists.

oOoOoOo

"There are two of them?"

Both Chouji and Naruto stood ready to defend the group as they all tried to understand what had happened. After the most obvious question was asked, Shizune shook her head slowly.

"I can't call them back, or even call other tigers to fight these guys. It is considered a horrific breach of honour to leave your comrades alone before a fight is finished. They would come, finish off our enemies, then by their honour they would have to commit seppuku. I couldn't do that to them, they both have families."

Naruto reached into his pack and picked out a seal wrapped kunai, throwing it into the battleaxe crack in the wall behind them, as a precautionary measure. Chouji popped a soldier pill and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"We'll just have to take them out by ourselves then" said Naruto.

He looked down at the pieces of his sword, wishing that there hadn't been a necessity to give the blade to his special clone; he hadn't expected the blade to snap into pieces. It was a shame, he really liked that sword. If he had the time, he planned to go back and find Tenten's father, get him to make him another one.

"How do you want to do this?" asked Ino.

Shizune watched the two Sound shinobi talking to each other, whilst trying to work out a plan of attack. It was unlikely that they could do those multiple attack attacks; if her analysis was correct then it was the other shinobi's arms and legs that were part of the technique. They seemed to be able to enter and leave each other's bodies, which combined with their uncanny regeneration, made them rather unique shinobi.

"Naruto and Chouji will take the front. Ino and I will try to trap them with water techniques."

To her eyes, the two of them were both faster and stronger than any of them, but if her prediction was correct they didn't have a large range of techniques, otherwise they would have used them in their battle against the tigers. Both of the Sound shinobi turned to face the four of them, cracking their knuckles in anticipation.

**"We should do this quickly, Sakon. Use Level Two." **

"I tried! You don't think I tried? The damn thing has a mind of its own."

Ukon shook his head with a snarl, "Damn Juugo. Should have let Kimimaro die. So it doesn't work at all?"

All of the Sound Four had been having issues with their seals since Orochimaru's death, and Juugo's had only compounded the problems. They had been unable to force the Cursed Seal to recede completely, but having slept for so long Ukon hadn't expected it to be this bad. His eyes were drawn to the kimono wearing kunoichi, a plan of attack already forming in his mind. He didn't need to tell Sakon what he was going to do; they had fought together so much that they could essentially read each other's minds. He clapped his hands together before reaching up a biting his thumbs. While Ukon began writing symbols in blood on the air in front of him, Sakon shot forwards with a kunai in hand, already aiming at Shizune to slash at her head. Naruto was quick to intercept him with his own kunai; the blonde teenager was taken back by the sheer strength in the grey-haired shinobi's attack. It took him both hands to hold the kunai, and his eyes widened as he saw Sakon pull back his free hand and slam his fist into his face. He was sent flying towards the wall behind him with his kunai falling flat on the ground. Just before Naruto hit the wall, a giant hand cushioned his fall, though he still struck the ground hard enough to hurt his back.

Naruto stood up slowly with a grimace, "Thanks Chouji."

"No problems, Naruto. How's your face?"

The blonde shinobi reached up and touched his face a few times, "No worse than usual."

Across from them, Sakon grinned as they all heard Ukon's hands clapping together. Naruto frowned as he caught a glimpse of the symbols hovering around Ukon's body. It took him a moment until he recognised a few, swearing under his breath as he reached out and grabbed the two nearest of his group, unable to reach Shizune but got a hand on Chouji's shoulderplate and Ino's arm. He tried to yell for Shizune to get away, but didn't make it in time as a black field emerged from the ground beneath the Konoha shinobi, rising swiftly before closing in above them. Naruto was able to Hiraishin to the kunai embedded in the wall with his two fellow shinobi, but they could only watch in horror as the black field began to shrink until it barely gave her any room to move.

"Can you help her?" asked Ino, feeling completely helpless.

Both Naruto and Chouji shook their heads, the field was giving off the same chakra signal as the barrier at the entrance, though to her credit Shizune wasn't panicking. She turned around so that she wasn't facing the two Sound shinobi, giving the group a rapid set of hand signals in front of her kimono so that Sakon and Ukon couldn't see them. She was also releasing the seal from her chest, letting the black lines move along her body as her body prepared itself. They watched as black tendrils seemed to cover the small field, striking Shizune hundreds of times all at once. She didn't make a sound, but after a few seconds it didn't matter as the field dissipated and Shizune fell to the ground, a pained expression on her face.

"Shizune-sensei!"

All three of them shot forward to try and help her, Naruto taking position between her and Sakon with dozens of clones appearing around them, while Ino and Chouji tried to see what they had done to the medical Jounin. Sakon fell back to his twin brother, while Ino pulled back Shizune's robe and pressed an ear to her chest. There were no visible wounds on her body, but after a quick analysis Ino determined that she had almost no chakra left.

"Is…is she okay?" asked Chouji nervously, looking away so that he wasn't staring down Shizune's open shirt.

Ino bit at her thumb and quickly wrote a seal onto Shizune's skin, pressing her hands onto the seal and pushing through her chakra.

"Good work, brother" said Sakon, watching with amusement as the blonde tried to save the Jounin's life.

They had only used the technique a few times, but along with near 100% accuracy, it had a near perfect record of fatalities.

**"Sakon, try it now."**

He turned around to see what his brother was talking about, before a smile widened on his face at his brother's visage. He snarled in pain as he pushed through his chakra into the Cursed Seal, grimacing as it rebelled against his control for a moment before relenting, allowing him to push through to the next stage, like his brother had. The seal marks flared on his skin as it turned to a darkened red colour, while his face became twisted into the form of a demon, with a single horn appearing from his forehead and huge white teeth in his mouth.

"About time this thing did what I wanted it to."

Ino sighed in relief behind the wall of Narutos, taking her hands from Shizune's chest before wiping her forehead. Before he could ask, she gave him her assurances that she was still alive. It was to the medical Jounin's credit that the technique hadn't killed her; it seemed to have been designed to suck out all of the victim's chakra out, until it killed them. With her special seal activated, Shizune's regeneration was at such a high level during the attack that she had survived, though a few more minutes and she would have died if Ino hadn't given her some of her chakra.

"She alright?" asked Naruto, keeping all of his attention focused on the two demon-like shinobi, trying to work out what new problems were about to come their way.

"She'll live, barely. Won't wake up for ages though."

She couldn't see, but Naruto was visibly relieved that she was alive; he blamed himself for not being able to reach her in time. The original Naruto cracked his knuckles as his clones pulled out their own kunai.

"Time for us to go on the attack. I'm not waiting for him to do that again."

oOoOoOo

Naruto observed carefully as the one called Ukon destroyed two more of his clones. It hadn't taken him long to work out that neither of the brothers had long range abilities, and the scary technique that had taken out Shizune required time to set up, which was easily handled by sending lots of Kage Bunshin at him. More clones appeared around Naruto and were sent at the two brothers while Naruto continued to analyse their fighting styles.

"Naruto, your clones are losing."

The Uzumaki survivor ignored Ino's observation, running a scenario in his head before creating two clones and giving them a roll of explosion notes.

"Ino, Chouji, attack exactly how I say."

"Who made you leader?" said Ino, frustrated that the blonde seemed to have taken the initiative when she wanted to do things her way.

Chouji shook his head at her, "Ino, Naruto knows what he is doing. He's got more combat experience than any of us, because of his clones. Just listen to what he has to say."

"That's not the point, Chouji."

They watched as the brothers dispatched the last of the clones.

"This is pretty boring, brother" said Sakon.

They had been using their normal taijutsu techniques to take out the clones, using their superior speed and strength to make it look easy, but they knew their opponent's had more in them than just Kage Bunshin.

**"He is calculating our movements. The blonde short one is more cunning than you thought."**

Sakon swore when he realised his brother was right, watching as the two newest clones were moving around the sides of the room. Ukon watched as the clones seemed to set themselves up on the sides, and were setting up kunai traps in their hands. It was foolish for the blonde to be doing such a thing in their sight, but as the Sound shinobi looked over at the three Konoha shinobi he noticed that the blonde was staring at the two of them intensely. His brother had been able to send him flying relatively easily, so he wasn't concerned about their fighting power, but unlike his brother he was a more cautious fighter. Both members of Team 10 stood ready as Naruto began readying his plan.

"Naruto, I got to admit that might work."

He smiled as he put his hands together, "You guys always seem so surprised. One of these days you'll stop thinking of me as that stupid kid who failed the Academy Exam three times."

Ino laughed at his comment before putting her hands into her family handseal. She looked through the gap in her handseal and aimed it at her target.

"You two aren't the only fighters in this group. Shinranshin no Jutsu! (Mind Body Disturbance Technique)"

Her chakra rocketed through the air straight into her target's body, causing Sakon's nervous system to be taken over by the Yamanaka heir. She grinned wildly as she made him turn and face his brother, kunai in hand, taking a moment to make sure she had full control before launching Sakon towards his brother.

**"Sakon! What the hell are you doing?"** exclaimed Ukon, ducking under his brother's strike and jumping backwards.

His brother wasn't even able to shake his head, "I can't seem to control my body! Just try and dodge out of the way!"

Ukon snarled as Sakon's attacks got faster and faster as Ino's control over him got better. The defending Sound shinobi was so distracted by Sakon's attacking body that he didn't see the rain of kunai that fell from the ceiling. He cried out in pain as several kunai struck him in the shoulders, and in that moment he was sent flying back with a punch by Sakon.

"Damnit, Ukon! You need to take out that blonde piece of trash!"

Ukon swore as he picked himself up from the ground, wrenching out the kunai from his shoulders as his wounds healed themselves. He took a moment to glance over at the three Konoha shinobi, noticing that the girl wasn't moving and the fat shinobi was standing over her, while the orange-clad one was setting up more traps.

**"These pieces of trash are better than we thought." **

He blocked a kick from Sakon and grabbed at his wrist, holding it in place.

**"Screw this."**

With a pulled back fist, he slammed a punch into Sakon's face, sending his brother spiralling into the wall behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the surprised look on the girl's face that he would strike his own brother, but he wasn't willing to wait for her to send Sakon back at him. Pushing off the ground as hard as he could, Ukon shot directly at Ino. Before he could get close though, two giant fists clobbered him in the face, sending him barrelling directly to where his brother fell. The fat shinobi standing next to the girl smiling widely before transforming into the orange-clad teenager. Chouji smiled as well as his arms retracted back to their normal size, their female teammate sighing in relief that their plan had worked.

"You did well Ino" said Chouji with a calm smile.

She almost blushed at the comment, but after a careful look she noticed both of the brothers were slowly getting up from the ground, their wounds healing so quickly that it barely even looked like they had been injured.

"Bah, what does it take to kill these guys?" commented Naruto standing beside his teammates.

They watched as the brothers stretched out their arms as if they had just woken up. Chouji looked over at his teammates, taking a moment before looking back at their enemies. None of their attacks seemed to do enough damage to the Sound shinobi. Even with Naruto's stamina, it looked like they were going to be outlasted. He let out a long sigh; he hadn't expected to have to ever use the technique he was thinking about. Not only was it high risk, but he didn't even know what would happen to him. The Akimichi techniques were designed to use the extra calories stored up in their bodies as a substitute for chakra, that's why the whole clan were fat, at least they were.

"Ino, I'm going to use that. I don't know how long I can hold it, but I need the two of you to back me up in case it fails."

Naruto frowned, "What are you talking about, Chouji?"

The large shinobi ignored Naruto's question and began to mould as much chakra as he could, while running through a short set of handseals. Ino told Naruto to jump back and give Chouji some room, both of them giving him a wide berth. She smiled as they felt the air around Chouji begin to get heavier.

"He only ever talked about it. I never thought he'd actually do it."

"What is he doing?"

"Something…indescribable."

Chouji could feel the changes in his body, but there was less pain than he expected. His cheeks were the first thing to shrink as his chakra output increased dramatically, but when his belly shrank so much that his clothes and armour appeared to hang off him his chakra output exploded, so much that there was a large blue aura surrounding his whole body. He looked down at his thin arms, noticing the incomprehensible chakra that was flowing out of him.

_Father used to speak of this, but I never imagined it to be like this. It's less power than with the special red curry pill, but I don't know how to make that, so this will have to do. _

Across from him, both Sound shinobi frowned as they felt and saw the dramatic change in the Akimichi heir. Chouji could feel the power flowing through him, but he also knew that it was only going to last for a short time.

"Ukon…I don't think we should take him on so lightly…"

**"When he comes, use that." **

"Ah, good idea. But look at all that…"

**"Just do it, Sakon." **

oOoOoOo

The Sound village was built with special materials that made it very difficult to destroy in certain sections, a village underground required certain pre-measures but when Chouji pushed off the ground in a charge towards Sakon and Ukon, the ground underneath him exploded upwards and followed him in his path. He moved almost as fast as the Sound brothers had, in a straight line towards their enemies. In his family scroll it said that the Calorie Control Technique would manifest in a form most suited to the user, but Chouji's technique wasn't completely perfect, but it was the best he could do. As he shot towards the Sound shinobi, he watched as a giant gate emerged from between the two of them, directly in his path. A demonic face covered the gates, while huge red spikes covered the edges.

_I can't deviate from my path now. I've only got a little bit of time left. _

Deciding on his plan of attack, Chouji pulled back a fist and drew the vast majority of his chakra into it.

_You guys better follow up with me. I can open them up to attack. _

With a roar, Chouji struck at the gate with his fist, not even bothering to enlarge it as the blow struck at the demon face directly. The gate appeared to lift out of the ground with the strike, slamming straight into the wall behind it, the edges striking both the Sound shinobi as they struggled to get out of the way of the shattering gate. Chouji stole a glance as they picked themselves up from the ground, the chunks of their shoulders taken out by the spikes from the gate having regenerated into dark black spiked plates. He aimed himself at the Sound shinobi with the beads around his neck, moving to attack him as the gate shattered into small pieces on the wall in front of him. Just as he rose a fist to strike at Sakon's fallen form, his blue aura of chakra cut out and he felt like the world had just crashed down on top of him. His knees gave out from underneath him, causing him to hit the ground hard. Chouji was already unconscious by the time his face hit the ground.

Sakon laughed as he stood up over the now-thin shinobi's fallen body. He pulled out a kunai and drew it back to slam it into Chouji's back. Just before the blow fell, he dropped the kunai harmlessly onto the ground, moving his hands to scratch at his throat, but to no avail. He fell to the ground besides Chouji as Naruto pulled out the jagged remains of his sword from the shinobi's back. He pulled out a thrown kunai with a Hiraishin seal wrapped around it from the wall, one that he had thrown while Chouji was doing his charge. He looked down at the body, noticing that the wound was already healing itself. Naruto reached down with a hand, placing it on Sakon's back before pulling back his broken sword.

_I really don't want to do this, but it's the only way I can think to stop the regeneration. Bit hard to heal yourself without a head. _

He aimed the blade and closed his eyes, not wanting to have the memory of running his blade straight through another person's neck.

"You really shouldn't take your eyes off your enemy, trash."

Naruto frowned and opened his eyes, noticing that the fallen body was no longer under his hand. He hadn't had his eyes closed for more than a second, he figured there was no way he could have moved that fast, even if that wound had been healed instantly. Looking up he tried to find where the voice was coming from, only seeing his two fallen comrades, Ino standing at the opposite side of the room and the deep voiced Sound shinobi standing off to the side, a strange smile on his face. The blonde shinobi stood up and was frantically trying to find where Sakon may have gone.

"You guys are good, but against our abilities you are nothing more than trash."

Naruto could hear the voice right next to his ear, flipping the blade in his hand and flicking it directly to the right side of his head, where he had heard the voice. He heard the sword clash against the wall behind him harmlessly, the voice just laughing at him.

"Haha, that was close. But you are just a little bit off."

Naruto heard the voice in his other ear, causing him to crack his head quickly to see where it might be coming from. To his horror, he saw the Sound shinobi's head poking out of his shoulder, as if part of his own body.

"What the hell?"

Naruto reached out to grab at the demonic-looking face, but a hand shot out of his chest and clenched his wrist, keeping it at Naruto's side.

**"You got him?"** asked Ukon from across the now-ruined room.

"You take out the girl! I got this piece of trash."

Naruto watched as the other Sound shinobi began moving towards Ino, who was already preparing a water technique to attack him. Trusting that she could handle herself for a moment, Naruto turned back to Sakon's head on his shoulder.

"So you can enter other people's bodies?" he asked, trying to buy time while thinking of a plan.

It was a fair assumption that if he could enter his body, then he could leave it as well.

Sakon laughed again, "My brother and I were considered monsters by our village when we discovered our abilities. We are assassins, and when we enter our target's bodies we can break them down at the cellular level."

"And any damage done to you is done to me?"

"Feeling hopeless already?"

Naruto clenched at the kunai in his free hand, a solution to his problem forming in his mind. He pulled up the kunai and showed it to Sakon.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked the Sound shinobi cautiously, wondering if the blonde had figured out the one downside to the technique.

Naruto grinned wildly before throwing the kunai at the nearby wall. Sakon laughed in triumph, asking the Konoha teenager what the point of that was. With a chuckle, Naruto looked over at the kunai behind Ino, the one he had thrown when he had saved Ino and Chouji from Ukon's field attack.

He turned back to face Sakon on his shoulder, "How good is your stomach?"

With a deep breath, Naruto used Hiraishin to flash to the kunai behind Ino, but before his feet hit the ground he flashed back to the kunai near Chouji's body. He repeated this several times, before reaching his threshold back at the kunai near Chouji, placing both hands on his shoulder as he began throwing up his guts on the ground. He heard the sound of retching behind him, stealing a glance between vomits to see Sakon doing the same, but he was groaning in agony at the same time. Not only that, but his body had returned to its normal form, with the black marks still covering his skin from his forehead. Naruto smiled for a moment, before going back to his retching. With a thump, he saw Sakon collapse into the ground, the displacement from using Hiraishin as an untrained shinobi so many times was too much, having drained what little chakra Sakon had left into healing his stomach, but causing the Sound shinobi to pass out.

Across the battlefield, Ukon found himself being beaten back by Ino's water techniques. She was not the medical shinobi that Sakura was, and not as dedicated as Hinata, but Ino took pride in her aptitude with the water element. While she waved her hands around powerful arms of concentrated water following her movements, forcing Ukon to dodge the water tendrils. The Sound shinobi knew that while he could heal most wounds, drowning was not a fate he wanted to experience. With a glance he saw that Sakon was down and out, from that distance he couldn't see whether his brother was alive or dead.

_Damnit Sakon, you should have killed him when you entered his body. You always spent too much time playing around. _

He jumped back and snarled at the look on Ino's face. He stood up slowly with a sigh, he was sick of messing around with these children. When Orochimaru died, both he and Sakon had tried to leave, but when their home village rejected them as children, they had no other home to go to.

_After this is done, I'll try to take him out of here. Maybe get another village to employ our services. Kabuto isn't going to keep his promise. _

He clenched his fists before powering off the floor, aiming himself directly at the girl's position, while clapping his hands together. Ukon didn't have that much stamina, but he fuelled what chakra he had into summoning a large gate behind Ino. The Rashomon gate was smaller than the first one, since it was only him summoning it, but it was sufficient to trap Ino into place. She summoned a thin wall of water to try and buffer him back, but Ukon powered straight through it, causing her to step back straight into the gate. She threw two water attacks directly at him, but Ukon was able to dodge them before appearing in front of her and slamming a fist straight into her chest. He grinned as he activated his bloodline limit ability, the same one that Sakon had used on the blonde teenager. After a few seconds he frowned, wondering why the technique hadn't activated like he was used to. He looked up at the blonde, and swore as she began to collapse under his fist, turning into a water clone that held his wrist tightly with a tendril of water. Emerging from the water around his feet, Ino reached out and placed her hands together before connecting a line of water to Ukon's head.

"Shinkujo no Jutsu!" (Mind Body Destruction Technique)

oOoOoOo

By the time she got to Naruto, he was back on his feet, though he looked less than healthy.

"You are a real freak, you know that?"

The Uzumaki heir laughed painfully, glancing over at the fallen body of the Sound shinobi that she had taken out.

"He went down quickly. Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Ino shook her head slowly, "It's a technique that doesn't kill, just incapacitates. They can be woken up by their companions relatively easily, but he's got no more chakra; neither does the one you took out. Looks like we won this fight."

Naruto looked down at Chouji's fallen body, then over at Shizune behind Ino.

"How are the others?" he asked, hoping that they weren't hurt too bad.

Ino leant down and placed two fingers on her teammate's neck.

After a few moments she smiled and stood back up, "He's going to be fine…" She looked at Chouji's now thin body, amazed at how different he now looked. "…he might need a good feed though."

Naruto chuckled for a moment, and then grimaced at the pain in his stomach. He pocketed the kunai in the wall behind him, and moved to the other wall before retrieving his other kunai. He didn't like the idea of leaving the Hiraishin seals behind, the likelihood of the seals being disrupted and the risk for him if he tried to Hiraishin to them was too great.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Naruto.

Ino looked over at the ruined room with a sigh, noticing that the field around the entrance was gone, "Our job was already done before we came in here. We should retreat back to Neji's position outside, and heal Shizune and Chouji fully."

Her companion looked at their two fallen companions, "Okay. But I'll take Shizune-neechan."

Ino simply had to stare at him for a moment before he put up his hands in defeat.

"Alright fine, I'll take Chouji. But you owe me for this."

She stared at him again for a moment.

"Fine, we'll be even."

Another stare.

"Fine, I'll owe you, and will do more things for you."

Ino nodded with a smile, moving to help Shizune onto her shoulders. She hadn't expected Naruto to cave so easily, though he had become less argumentative with his progressing relationship with the Hyuuga heiress.

"Let's get going" said Naruto, the thin Akimichi heir held between two Kage Bunshin.

She nodded in agreement, moulding a small amount of chakra to help ease the weight of the medical Jounin.

"I need a bath after this."

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I admit, the first bit of this chapter was an excuse for me to write an idealised happy ending scenario. Sorry it was so long, I got a bit caught up in it. Wasn't it convenient how it sat in the story? Hehe. A bit of writer's indulgence. Two fights down, two to go.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	20. Chapter 19 Endgame

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 19 – Endgame

**A/N**: I've noticed the last few chapters haven't been getting that many reviews. Ultimately I'm still going to write this story and publish it online, but I do get a smile on my face every time I read a review. Anyway, end of ramble.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be consequences from fights that are seen later on in the story.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The Invasion of the Hidden Village of Sound has hit a few barriers, four to be exact. Sasuke and Itachi were able to defeat Kidomaru, though not before the spider-like Sound shinobi saved Sasuke's life. In turn, Itachi spared him, but left him unconscious as he tended to Sasuke's injuries. Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Lee found themselves all trapped in highly convincing illusions. Hinata and Sakura were able to escape the genjutsus, and helped their male companions do the same as they found themselves confronted by a music-using female shinobi called Tayuya. On the other side of the underground village Naruto, Chouji, Ino and Shizune confronted the Sound shinobi who called himself Sakon. After a short battle, in which Naruto's sword was destroyed, Shizune summoned two of her most powerful tiger summons, who easily defeated Sakon. Unfortunately just as they left, the Sound shinobi regenerated the fatal wound and revealed that he was in fact two shinobi, twin brothers Ukon and Sakon. Ukon quickly took out Shizune, but the other three were harder to defeat. Chouji was able to beat down their defences by converting all his body's calories into power, though it took him out of the fight and made him skinny to boot. After a clever use of Hiraishin when his body was attacked, Naruto was able to knock out Sakon, and Ino was able to get close enough to knock out Ukon as well. They decided to take their injured companions out of the village, since their flooding of the tunnels was already complete.

***End Summary***

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><p>***Kakashi – Shino – Shikamaru***<p>

The three Konoha shinobi regarded their opponent with suspicion. He didn't look anything like the description of Kabuto that Shizune had given them.

"I'm guess we've been had" commented Shikamaru with a sigh.

Considering what Kakashi had done to the Jounin before he had given up the information, the Nara heir was surprised that he was still able to deceive them, but as he suspected the Sound shinobi's loyalty was undeniable.

"It would appear so" said Kakashi.

Shino didn't make a comment, but he kept both eyes carefully on their opponent nonetheless. The Sound shinobi was huge in comparison to the Konoha shinobi in front of him. He stood as tall as Kakashi, but was twice the size, huge muscles lining his body. Most of his head was bald, with only three sections of orange hair covering it. He wore black pants with a white tunic, a necklace of metal shards and beads around his neck. Across his white skin were lines made up of black arrows, from his back all across his face. Shikamaru kept his eyes on the large Sound shinobi, while a small line of his shadow crept around the side of the walls before moving in the enemy's blind spot towards the shadow underneath his feet. The Sound shinobi cracked his neck before regarding the three of them with beady eyes. A smile came across Shikamaru's face as his shadow connected with the enemy's, immobilising him.

"Kagemane no Jutsu, successful."

Kakashi frowned, "Well that was easy."

The Sound shinobi took a moment before laughing loudly, moving his head down slightly to see how the shadows were connected.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

Shikamaru grimaced as he tried to get the enemy's movements under control, those trapped by his technique were not supposed to be able to move at all, yet he had moved his head like it was nothing at all. The Sound shinobi moved his head back to face them, smiling arrogantly.

"I suppose being the slowest of the Four hasn't helped me in this regard. Still, I am impressed. Not many are able to stop Jiroubo of the South Gate in his tracks."

With very little effort, both of his hands slowly moved up and down before his smile widened.

"Perhaps not then."

Shikamaru swore under his breath and cut off the connection, letting his shadow retreat back to his position.

"What happened?" asked Kakashi next to him, already with a kunai in hand.

He had never seen Shikamaru intentionally release his technique; he figured something must have spooked him. The Nara heir released his hands from his family's handseal and shook his head, unable to believe what he had seen.

"He was just…toying with us. I wasn't restraining him at all."

"Was it a Bunshin?"

The two of them watched as Shino sent an insect towards Jiroubo, the Sound shinobi barely even noticing the Destruction Bug as it perched itself on his shoulder. After a few seconds his face scrunched up in irritation, and with one movement he reached over and swatted at the insect with one of his palms, causing the small insect to be crushed instantly.

"Guess it isn't a Bunshin then."

To utilise his insects properly and efficiently Shino was required to keep his composure as calm as possible, so that the insects didn't eat up his chakra too fast. However since his regular hive was destroyed by Hidan, he had been struggling to keep his new insects in check, forcing the majority of his attention to be internalised. His ears began to hurt as the insects that resided within him buzzed angrily at their companion's demise. Stretching out his arms, a large portion of his hive flew out of his jacket sleeves, surrounding him while he stared at Jiroubo through his sunglasses.

"Are you okay, Shino?" asked Kakashi, wary of the warning Hinata had given him earlier about the insect user.

The buzzing around him got louder as Shino placed his hands together to consolidate his chakra.

"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, follow my lead."

His two companions looked at each other for a moment, before both of them shrugged and prepared themselves, both holding kunai in their hands.

Their opponent watched the large cloud of insects grow in size with a frown, "That is it for pleasantries then, I guess."

He looked up at the ceiling of the room for a moment, before a wide smile crept onto his face. Shino began to run through handseals, but flinched as Jiroubo put up a hand in a stop motion.

"If we are going to do this, might I recommend a change in venue? I'm not big on small spaces."

He clapped his hands together before slamming them onto the ground beneath his feet.

"Doton: Hensenseken" (Earth Element: Changing World)

The ground beneath them rumbled like an earthquake as Jiroubo pulled his arms up and faced them at the ceiling. As one, the ceiling opened up like it was designed to, coming apart to reveal the open world above them. Kakashi and Shikamaru both grimaced at the incoming light, Shino simply looked at it through his sunglasses, noticing where the sun sat in the sky. By his reckoning, it was two hours past dawn, though it was hard to tell with the clouds surrounding the sun. The ground underneath them shook again, and all three of them moved to steady themselves as the floor rose slowly towards the opening that Jiroubo had made.

"What is he doing?" asked Shikamaru.

"Turning the battlefield to his advantage" replied Kakashi, taking note of the earth techniques the Sound shinobi had used.

_His techniques may be useful for later use. I know it will drain my chakra use, but if those marks are anything like that bone-users, we need to take him out quickly, before he goes into another form._

He reached up and pulled off the cloth around his head, revealing his Sharingan eye as the floor connected with the other edges of the ceiling, placing all four of them above the village. Jiroubo grinned as the floor stopped rumbling, taking a look at their surroundings before turning back to his three opponents. The ground around them was dry and rocky, completely different from the grass fields that made up most of the Land of Rice Fields. Shikamaru bent down and felt the rocky ground, noticing that while the ground of the village was made out of some kind of smooth stone, as it had been rising the ground had turned into the same rocky surface as the outside.

"Definitely a battlefield for an Earth user" he said dryly, standing up slowly while wiping his hand on his shirt.

It took him a moment before he looked over at his two companions, realising that Kakashi had Earth techniques of his own, and that while he didn't use them that often, Shino was attuned to Earth abilities as well. He glanced over at their opponent as a plan formed in his mind. If the Sound shinobi couldn't be bound by Kagemane, then there were other ways for him to be defeated.

"Ah, so much nicer outside. Never understood the need for having an underground village."

Not wanting to let him complete another technique, Shino waved a hand towards the Sound shinobi, two small clusters of insects flying out from his cloud straight at Jiroubo. To his frustration, the Sound shinobi simply laughed at two clustered projectiles, jumping to the side to avoid the attacks. Without a single motion from him, the clustered insects homed in on his new position, aiming straight towards his stomach.

He yelled out as he reached back on of his fists, "Straight fist!"

The punch landed directly onto one of the clusters, the sheer force of it sending the insects flying. The second cluster dodged around his other fist and struck him in the shoulder. Their stingers pierced the skin beneath his clothes for a moment before he slammed a palm into his shoulder, killing them. He grimaced and held his shoulder for a moment, trying to keep an eye on the Konoha shinobi. His eyes widened as he saw that only the two teenagers were standing opposite him. He jumped into the air on instinct, just as Kakashi's lightning charged hand pierced through the air where he was standing. The Jounin swore as he looked up into the air, his Sharingan hadn't shown him the movement at all. Jiroubo fell to the ground quickly, driving a fist directly at Kakashi's head. His Sharingan did show him that motion, forcing the Konoha Jounin to jump forwards back towards Shino and Shikamaru. The ground underneath his fist shattered as the Sound Jounin grinned while he looked at his opponents.

"Not bad…for trash that is."

He cracked his neck before placing his hands together. As the air around him began to waver with the huge amounts of chakra he was giving out, he slammed his hands into the ground beneath him, digging his fingers into the rocky earth as his three opponents scrambled to get their defences ready. With his muscles straining at the effort, Jiroubo heaved his hands upwards, bringing up a giant boulder high above his head.

"Doton: Doryou Dango (Earth Element: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling)

He drew his hands back before hurling the giant boulder at the three of them, the sheer weight of the throw nearly tearing the air apart as it hurtled towards the Konoha shinobi. Both Shino and Shikamaru slid back, but as Kakashi went to move he could see that they were still going to get hit by the Earth attack no matter what. With his hands flying through a set of handseals, the silver-haired Jounin moved into position and put both his hands up to receive the boulder strike.

"Futatsu Raikiri!"

As the boulder struck his hands they crackled with fierce lightning, the Earth attack falling to pieces the instant they made contact. Behind the attack Jiroubo frowned when he saw the lightning coming from the Sharingan user's body, as an Earth Element user he was very wary of Lightning users, since they directly counter his attacks. He pushed off his feet with a burst of chakra, charging straight at Kakashi. Using the falling rubble as cover, he slammed straight through the rocks.

"Right Elbow!"

Once again Kakashi's red eye saved his life, allowing the Jounin to duck under the strike and roll away. He kept his Sharingan eyed on the large Sound shinobi as he landed back with his two students. Kakashi calculated how much chakra was in the blow, his eyes widening when he realised that if it had struck him where it was aimed, his head would have gone flying.

"Slippery fellow, aren't you?" observed Jiroubo with a grim smile.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "I do what I can."

"Ninpou Kuchiyose…" Both Kakashi and Shikamaru frowned when they heard Shino activate the technique, neither of them had any idea what he was trying to do, let alone the fact that the Aburame had a summoning contract. Shino placed his hands together, "Mushikyojin" (Insect Avatar).

A cloud of smoke appearing above him, as long insectoid legs emerged over him. His companions jumped back, not wanting to get in the way as the smoke cleared and Shino's summoned creature was shown completely. It was huge, dozens of feet tall and monstrous-looking, but they trusted that he knew what he was doing. Jiroubo looked up at the creature with awe, as horrifying as it appeared it was more impressive that one so young could summon a creature so large. His hands began to twitch, the arrow lines on his skin fluctuated as he tried to force the Cursed Seal into the next stage. He snarled and was forced to jump back to avoid a leg strike, the marks having stopped moving.

"Of all the times to…when I actually need it…"

The insect giant pulled back two sets of mandibles before pulling back its head and spitting a large glob of green liquid at the balding Sound shinobi. Jiroubo clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground beneath him, a large shell of rock forming around him. The green venom slammed into the defence, and for a few seconds it seemed like the shell would hold, until a loud sizzling came from the rock shell. The backend of the shell exploded outwards as Jiroubo slammed his way through, jumping back as the venom burnt through his defence.

_That was too close._

A large fireball came screaming towards him, forcing the Sound shinobi to move to the side to avoid it. As he hit the ground a collection of black tendrils reached up and grabbed at him, restraining him tightly like ropes.

Another fireball came towards him, as did a huge claw from Shino's summon, both aimed at his head. Jiroubo strained against the bindings, "You guys…don't know…who you are…MESSING WITH!"

With a roar he stretched out his arms, snapping the shadow bindings easily. With a hand planted into the ground he picked up a giant boulder and threw it at the fireball, while jumping up into the air with a fist raised. While in the air his skin began to turn dark red with big warts along it as his three tuffs of hair turned orange and grew into a mane down his back. With relative ease he patted down the claw strike with one hand, and in a single motion he drew back a fist and slammed it into the creature's face, the sheer power of the blow causing it to reel back momentarily before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. He landed back down on the ground with a loud thud and smiled cruelly at his three opponents.

"I'd say I'm being underestimated, but in truth I think you are the ones being overestimated."

Across the battlefield Shikamaru bit at his thumb nervously, trying to formulate a plan to counter this new form. He watched as the Sound shinobi buckled slightly, his body seeming to thrash as huge jets protruded out of his back, spewing out large volumes of chakra. Jiroubo glanced over his shoulder, a curious look on his face.

_Well that's new. _

"Any ideas, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Shikamaru, feeling utterly helpless considering his shadow techniques couldn't even slow him down.

The Jounin in the group watched their enemy carefully, "I could try that technique that took out the bone-user, but I have no idea how it worked, or even if I could do it again."

Shikamaru shook his head, there was no sense betting on an ability that only worked some of the time, if that. He asked for his two companions to cover him, taking a moment before placing his hands into his thinking pose. Kakashi moved into a position to keep Shikamaru secure, praying that the lazy genius could think of something before they were overrun. While he knew his lightning techniques could easily penetrate their enemy's ground based techniques, but Jiroubo's sheer power was frightening. After a few seconds Shikamaru stood back up, tapping both of them on the shoulders before pulling out a kunai.

"Did I miss anything?"

Kakashi shook his head, their opponent seemed happy to wait for them to come at him. He was either supremely arrogant, or just interested in a decent fight, they couldn't figure out which.

"You have a plan?"

"Part of one, I suppose. Your Raikiri would pierce through him."

"He keeps moving out of the way of it though, faster than my Sharingan can keep up. We need some way to bind him."

Shino ran through a set of handseal quietly, taking a second to summon up the majority of his chakra before placing his hands carefully on the ground.

"He will be preoccupied for a while. Why? Because I didn't just waste my time while you were asleep, Kakashi-sensei. I do my duty."

His companions glanced at him for a moment, before both shrugging and preparing themselves. Shikamaru leant over and whispered into Kakashi's ear, the Jounin nodding as he understood the plan. It wasn't the Nara heir's best, but it was better than he could think of at such a time. Clapping his hands together, Jiroubo indicated that he'd had enough of waiting.

"It's about that time, Konoha trash."

Large jets of chakra bellowed out of the jets in his back, but before he could move out there was a loud rumbling underneath his feet. Jiroubo glanced down at the ground, and regretted taking that moment as it ruptured underneath him. The ground cracked and rumbled before a huge set of teeth burst out of it, a giant worm-like creature emerging out to attack him from underneath. Jumping off the ground using the teeth as leverage, Jiroubo leapt high into the air. He felt a small spike in his chest, looking down to see a half dozen kunai buried in his chest. In the Second Level he didn't feel any pain, a pulse of chakra pushing the metal projectiles out of his body with a smile. As he began to descend towards the ground, his landing area began to crack and rumble. He swore as another worm erupted out of the ground, biting at his legs as he landed.

"Enough of this."

He slammed a foot into the worm's teeth, wincing as it went through his foot, but let out enough strength to slam his fist into its side. He grinned wildly at the death of the worm creature, though only for a moment before his ears twitched. Almost as if he knew it was going to happen, he flipped around in an instant, bringing up a hand and catching Kakashi's wrist before it could strike him.

He grinned as he stared into Kakashi's red eye, "That Sharingan of yours must see a lot."

The muscles in his arm flexed and Kakashi cried out in pain as he felt the bones in his wrist break. His Raikiri had been a centimetre away from taking down the Sound shinobi, the only shinobi that had been able to stop his lightning technique so easily was the Fourth Hokage, and he had superior speed over his student. Jiroubo wasn't faster than them, that much Kakashi was certain of, but for some unexplained reason he had dodged his attack twice now. Jiroubo pulled back his other fist, the red skin slowly turning into a large piston-like spike. Kakashi tried to pull away, but with his hand caught he knew he wasn't going anywhere. He could see both Shino and Shikamaru running towards them, but also knew that they weren't going to make it in time. He closed his eyes slowly, picturing the three important people he had lost so long ago. As the images of the Fourth, Obito and Rin came to him, the image became populated with many others, shinobi he once knew or still did.

_I guess this is it._

Inside his mind he felt a spiking pain in his cheek, like he'd been punched in the face. His eyes opened and he was amazed by what he saw. Standing in front of him was his childhood friend, a frown on his face.

"O…bito?"

The young Uchiha punched him again, though there was no malice in the strike.

"You're just giving up, Kakashi? I never knew you to be a quitter."

"But I…"

"Shut up, I've only got a short amount of time. I gave you that eye to watch over you, but that time had passed."

"Am I dead?"

"Not for the next minute. But Kakashi, don't waste it. It's all I've got left to give you. After this, you are truly on your own."

Kakashi looked down at his hand, noticing that instead of the black emptiness that he had just seen, he was outside and back on the battlefield, watching as Jiroubo seemed to destroy him, but he was apart watching himself die.

"What the…"

He could tell that Shino and Shikamaru were thinking the same thing, noticing that their teacher was in one place then another.

Jiroubo turned to face him with a confused look on his face, "A clone?" he asked, knowing that what he had just crushed was real enough.

Kakashi glanced at Shino and Shikamaru for a second before laying his Sharingan eye on their opponent.

_One last fight, Obito. Then we'll see._

Kakashi placed his hands together before pulling them apart, both hands crackling with lightning. With a pulse of chakra he shot forward, pushing out his right hand. His Sharingan read Jiroubo's counter, but as he moved against it he saw a second movement to counter his counter.

_It's not him at all, it's that seal. It has a mind of its own and reacts accordingly. We can beat this._

Trusting that whatever saved him the first time would do it again, since he was still in that minute-mark that Obito had given him, Kakashi let Jiroubo's counter strike him, a large spike embedding itself in his face. As he suspected, Kakashi appeared behind the Sound shinobi with no injuries at all, his hands still crackling with lightning. Sensing his opportunity since Jiroubo was distracted, Kakashi shot forward with both his hands extended. His opponent turned at once like he had before, but in the knowledge that he would move that way, Kakashi placed both of his hands together as he activated a technique he had copied during the war.

"Raiton: Raikousen" (Lightning Element: Lightning Beam)

Jiroubo's eyes widened as a large circle of light encompassed him, Kakashi holding the technique for as long as he could before his chakra ran out. After a second the light subsided, and Kakashi stood over the fallen body of the large Sound shinobi.

"You didn't tell us you had that kind of ability, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi turned and smiled at Shikamaru through his mask, "It's…a long story…what is it?"

Even though he couldn't see most of his face, Kakashi could tell that Shino was as surprised as Shikamaru, though he couldn't tell why. He frowned and asked them again, making sure that Jiroubo was down for the count before turning back to them. As soon as he saw the two of them again he noticed something different, they didn't appear as blue outlines anymore. He frantically reached through his pack before he found what he was looking for, placing the mirror across from his face.

"Well I'll be…I guess he was right."

For the first time in nearly two decades, Kakashi had two black eyes, feeling a strange sense as he found himself able to see in three dimensions again.

"Kakashi-sensei, what happened to your Sharingan?"

The silver-haired Jounin looked around while trying to clear his eyes, not used to using both eyes to see things.

"How much chakra do you two have left?" he asked, taking an account of their surroundings.

With the ground raised they would have to double back to their original entrance, but it had taken them a long time to get where they had come from to begin with. Shikamaru indicated he had a reasonable amount of chakra left; Shino though didn't have much left, only enough to keep his hive in check.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver-haired Jounin was still trying to work out what had happened to his Sharingan, particularly since it made that six months he and Itachi spent almost useless. It had given him closure, but that was all. He shook his head slowly,

"Sorry, I was in another place. We need to move back and regroup. If that's what it takes to take down one of their Jounin, than their leader will be even more difficult. We need to strike at force. I'm sorry to say this Shikamaru, but your plan is on hold for now."

The lazy shinobi nodded slowly, he understood Kakashi's reasoning. They both turned to Shino, but the insect-user was already moving. It was only a short distance to the group's rally point, and if the others weren't there, then they would move back in after they had recovered enough.

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><p>***Hinata – Kiba – Sakura – Lee***<p>

The four of them watched as Tayuya pulled her hand off the floor, their eyes widening as they saw what she had summoned. As the huge smoke cloud cleared, three figures rose slowly to stand against them, each of them standing nearly fifteen foot tall, far above any of the shinobi in that room. They had initially thought that the pure white room was part of the woman's genjutsu, but even after they broke out of her illusions, the room had stayed the same. The device was no longer there, but they were more concerned about the giants that were standing before them. One of the giants was covered in bandages and had no arms, the top half of its head completely covered by the bandages and its mouth was sewn shut as his head was held backwards at an odd angle. The middle one looked like a giant ogre, with pasty muscular skin and bandages across his eyes, long spikes across its knuckles, its mouth also sewn shut. The final one was the most human-like in a full green body suit with hair covering its head and face completely, a giant metal club in one of its hands.

"Those things are huge!" said an amazed Kiba, his eyes wide as Akamaru barked in agreement.

Standing next to them both Hinata and Sakura nodded in agreement, though Lee had a different view. With an enthusiastic yell he leapt off the ground, directly at the fully bandaged giant. As he flew through the air, Tayuya seemed happy to just wait for his attack, watching as Lee slammed a foot straight into the giant's bandaged head. The summoned creature barely even flinched at the powerful strike as Tayuya smiling as she placed the flute to her lips. The music was soft at first, not unlike the music they had heard when they first entered the room. Both Hinata and Sakura recognised the music, their hands already ready to dispel any type of illusion that might come their way. To their surprise, the pink-haired Sound shinobi wasn't creating an illusion with her music, rather as the musical tones flowed through the air the giants began to flinch and move slowly. Lee landed on the ground as the giant he just struck cracked its head and moved to face him.

"What the h…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his exclamation as the bandaged giant moved out and, with a speed unexpected of a creature that size, kicked out at Lee, sending him crashing into the wall behind his three companions.

"Lee-kun!"

Both Hinata and Kiba went to help him, but Sakura blocked them with her arms.

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Kiba, trying to see what had happened to Lee behind her.

Sakura shook her head and kept her eyes on the giants, "He's fine. Worry more about them."

"But…"

He was cut off as the wall behind them exploded outwards, a green-clad figure picking himself up from the ground while stretching out his arms.

"He's fast for a big guy. Doesn't hit too hard though."

He walked past the three of them like nothing had happened, while Hinata and Kiba shook their heads in amazement. Sakura, on the other hand, was used to Lee shrugging off blows that would otherwise kill a normal person.

"You alright?" she asked as he stood next to her.

He smiled widely, "Truth be told, I hit my head on the wall. Feels kind of fuzzy."

She let out a short laugh before stepping next to him and reaching up with a hand, placing it on the back of his head. He blushed slightly at the touch; she had healed him in the past, but she seemed to make a point of placing her glowing fingers through his hair for a moment before she removed them.

"Better?"

He smiled warmly and bowed his head slightly, "Th…thank you, Sakura-san."

The music stopped abruptly as Tayuya glanced through the gaps in one of her giant's feet.

"You kusegero quite finished? I thought we had a fight going on here."

Lee gave her a very short bow before standing in a defensive stance, "Of course, my apologies."

He grimaced as he felt Sakura reach over and smack him on the head, "Don't apologise to her, she's the enemy!"

"Even so, Sakura-san, it is right to be courteous."

Their opponent simply rolled her eyes and placed the flute back onto her lips, her fingers pressed against the holes to its side as the music began to flow once again, and the giants began to move towards the group. Kiba walked past both Sakura and Lee with a wide grin on his face, as Akamaru barked twice before transforming into a clone of Kiba.

"When you two are ready, I think we have some enemies to take care of."

Lee shook his head before standing next to his fellow Konoha shinobi.

"Kiba and I will take the front; you girls support us with your water techniques from the back."

"Shouldn't I help you guys at the front with my Jyuuken?" asked Hinata, her Byakugan active as she tried to analyse the giants for weaknesses.

She answered her own question when she saw that none of the giants had chakra points for her to attack. The giant with the club jumped at their group, swinging its weapon straight at them. They all jumped out of the way of the weapon strike, and began their counter attack.

Kiba aimed himself at Tayuya, both he and Akamaru leaping into their whirlwind techniques, "Gatsuuga!"

Noticing the attack, Tayuya didn't move an inch from her position, simply continuing to play her flute as the ogre-looking giant moved sideways to position itself between her and the attacks. Kiba noticed the defence through the whirlwind, but decided to continue the attack, to see how sturdy the summoned creature was. Lee striking it normally was one thing, but Kiba's destructive power was quite high in his current form. As they went to strike it in the stomach, both of them diverted their angle, the twin whirlwinds striking the giant under its chin. While Kiba was attacking his target, Lee moved to strike at the club-wielding giant, his muscles straining as he opened the first chakra gate. His skill with the taijutsu technique was to such a point that the first gate did no damage to him whatsoever, though it did tire him slightly.

He didn't remove the bandages on his arms, there was little point to using the Lotus on such a large enemy, his legs slammed off the ground as he flipped in the air and drove both his legs into the top of its head. Unfortunately for both the male shinobi, their attacks did no damage at all to their targets. Lee flipped backwards as he looked at the giant he had attacked from his position next to Sakura.

"Bah, no damage at all."

On the other side, both Kiba and Akamaru bounced off the giant's chin, falling to the ground as the giant swung an arm at them. They were both sent flying at the strike, Kiba able to shield Akamaru as they landed on the wall to the side of the room, both of them leaping off the wall to land next to their companions.

"That thing took no damage at our strike? Why do we always get the tough enemies?"

Lee clapped his companion on the back with a grin, "It's so that we can get stronger, Kiba-kun. You should know this by now."

The Inuzuka heir just shook his head; the taijutsu-user's enthusiasm was tiring at the best of times. Hinata walked between the two of them and pointed over at the three giants as they lined up against them.

"The three of them are made up of pure energy. None of our attacks will work. They are being controlled by her music, I think."

Kiba leant across to glance at the Sound shinobi playing the flute, noticing that she was becoming increasingly agitated as they dodged one of the giant's blows as a group, easily able to move away from the obvious strike.

"They aren't that fast, once you are paying attention to them" observed Lee, flipping backwards as he dodged a thrown fist from the ogre-giant.

The green giant tried to slam its spiked club at the two girls, but as one they placed their arms up and a huge wall of water emerged from the ground. The weapon crashed into the water, but both girls reinforced their defence, causing the club's force to be dispersed across the water's surface. The two of them shared a look for a second before placing their hands into another handseal. Having successfully defended the attack, the water around the club changed form, moving around to grab the hilt of the weapon whilst slamming a large portion of water into the giant's fingers holding the club. Sensing his opportunity, Lee leapt at Tayuya with his legs raised, a huge aura of green chakra surrounding him as he jumped over the club-wielding giant. The ogre-giant was forced to move rapidly to block his path, taking a foot to the face for its trouble. The water techniques still kept the club-wielding giant held, Tayuya struggling to release it from its bindings. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a large whirlwind screaming towards her from the side.

Turning to face it, she continued to play her flute, causing the bandaged giant to jump to intervene, taking the blow directly at the chest. Her eyes widened as she saw the whirlwind transformed into a large white dog, smiling widely, a considerable feat for a dog. She swore through her flute, not missing a beat as she flipped around, seeing the other whirlwind flying towards her. Seeing no other option to defend herself, Tayuya was forced to make the green-clad giant drop its spiked club, moving the giant to position itself to defend her. She clenched her hands angrily as the attackers fell back, the girl's water techniques tossing the large spiked club to the opposite side of the room.

"Good work guys" said Sakura, stretching out her fingers as Hinata also let the water technique finish.

Kiba smiled as Akamaru barked happily at them, "Yeah, but we still can't get near her. Those things move a hell of a lot faster when they are defending her."

Beside him, Lee took a glance at Tayuya's position before looking down at his legs.

He looked back up at Sakura, the two of them sharing a silent look before he looked back at the group, "I could reach her, without my weights."

"Oh yeah, that's a good point. Why didn't you do that from the start?" asked Kiba.

"If I don't fight with them on, I don't get any stronger. Everything is training, Kiba-kun."

The animalistic shinobi just shook his head in amazement, muttering under his breath as he turned back to face their opponents.

Sakura moved over and placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, "Are you sure about this Lee? You know how much it hurts going from one state to another."

He smiled slowly and patted her hand with his, "I know what I'm doing, Sakura-san. Besides, I'm only using it like I'm supposed to. To protect one of my precious people."

Despite herself Sakura blushed at his remark, watching with a slow smile creeping onto her face as Lee turned and took a step forward.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" asked Hinata, still watching carefully with her Byakugan.

Sakura shook herself out of her stupor and listened carefully, taking a moment before noticing what Hinata had. Kiba's sharp ears had caught it immediately, but he hadn't thought it was important enough to mention, he had heard plenty of things that he wished he hadn't.

"The music has changed" observed Lee, pointing over at the giants as all four of them noticed what the change in music had done.

The two of them with visible mouths, their stitched together lips came apart as horrific worm-like spectral creatures emerged from their mouths, the same creature coming from the green-clad giant's head, where its mouth would have been. As the worms came out slowly, dozens of razor sharp mouths appeared along their spectral forms. All four of them visibly recoiled at the view; it seemed to be something from a nightmare.

"What the hell are those?"

Hinata tried to analyse them with her Byakugan, but couldn't see anything beyond the normal visual range. The others weren't given a chance to analyse them as the three worm creatures dove straight at them, their mouths open wide to bite at them. Lee, Kiba and Hinata all jumped away as two of the worms moved to attack them, while Sakura put up a wall of water to defend herself as she was caught in the middle. To her dismay, the spectral worm simply passed through the water shield like it wasn't even there. The razor-sharp teeth bit into her shoulder, yet instead of physical pain, she watched as it passed through her and took a large portion of her chakra with it. She rolled away and clenched at her shoulder, noticing that when it ate her blue energy it grew massively in size, with more mouths appearing along it.

"Sakura-san!"

Lee was the first one to reach her side, ducking under a worm spectre as he placed a hand on her arm, helping her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" asked Hinata, using her Byakugan to keep an eye on the creatures.

Sakura shook her head to get her bearing, taking a moment to see what damage the creature had done. To her alarm, it had stolen nearly half of all her chakra in that one bite.

"Don't let them touch you. They consume your chakra."

"And they pass through solid matter like it was nothing" observed Hinata, also noticing that since the worms had come out of them, the giants hadn't moved at all, and Tayuya seemed to be concentrating harder on controlling the worms with her flute.

Kiba looked over at Lee's concerned face, wary of the fact that he still hadn't removed his weights, "You sure you can get to her?"

After Sakura assured him that she was fine, Lee moved his hands over his leg warmers, touching them quickly with chakra to remove the weights.

"Those giants are still a problem though. I can get around them and attack her, but they will need to be distracted in case it doesn't stop them."

The Inuzuka heir glanced over at his childhood companion, Akamaru giving him a short bark before growling softly. He nodded in agreement, reaching into a pocket to produce a soldier pill.

"Akamaru and I can do that. You girls will need to be ready though, we might take a few hits."

Neither of them were happy with the idea of the boys risking themselves, but acknowledged that they weren't the strongest attackers, not in their group at least. Kiba flicked the soldier pill into Akamaru's mouth, watching as the large dog's fur turned a dark red, turning to see Lee disappear in a flash, and the girls moving back to a defensive position. A grin came across his face as his fangs lengthened and the claws on his hands grew as well. He watched Akamaru perform his transformation, the red hound reappearing as the giant two headed wolf they had practised so much since the battle with the Akatsuki, Kiba feeling a swell of pride at his companion's ability to do the transformation without him. The slobbering wolf stared at Kiba for a moment before turning to face the giants, now able to see them at the same height. Beneath him, Kiba placed his hands together before biting a thumb and slamming both claws into the ground.

"Kakekomi Hinote! (Stampede of Flames)

Akamaru began spinning rapidly, charging straight towards the three worm creatures. While his companion was distracting the spectres, smoke began to emerge from Kiba's hands. Unlike the last time he had used a complex technique from his family's scroll, this was one he was extremely confident would work how he intended it to. The air around him began hot almost instantly, as a legion of wolves appeared around him, each of them covered in bright blue flames. He barked twice at the flaming wolves around him, before pouncing towards the giants, his claws alight in the same flames as his companions. With a collective roar the wolves followed his lead, charging straight at the giants. Akamaru had spun into his giant whirlwind, but as they had expected the worms were passing straight through him, taking out large chunks of chakra at the same time. When he had attacked the first time Kiba had noticed that parts of the giant had taken damage, but only bits and pieces, mere scratches.

However as he and his legion of flaming attackers crashing into the giants, striking them in the chests, there was a noticeably different result. The flames had added to their destructive power, and Kiba had tweaked the technique so that each wolf that struck the giants exploded on impact. Dozens of high powered explosions struck the giants in the chest and legs, causing two of them to falter slightly, and the bandaged giant in front of Kiba fell to the ground. He jumped up high in the air, summoning a plume of flames around his hands as he spun into a whirlwind and slammed down directly into the giant's bandaged face. On top of the giant, Kiba saw Akamaru transform back to his white dog form, limping for a moment before collapsing on the ground, his chakra spent.

"Akamaru!"

He leapt off the giant and sped towards the fallen dog, not even noticing that the worm creatures that had taken him out had disappeared.

"You alright there mate?"

He heard a soft growl as Akamaru pawed at him softly, before his eyes closed. Kiba smiled and rubbed the white dog's head affectionately. His companion was out of chakra, but would be fine with enough rest. Kiba took a moment to thank the white dog for his help, before realising that they were still in a battlefield, turning around with his claws ready. To his amazement, all three of the giants were gone; Sakura and Hinata were running towards him while Lee was standing over the fallen body of the Sound shinobi with a grin on his face. The blue flute that Tayuya was using was in two pieces in his hands, and the pink-haired shinobi was face down into the ground.

"Is he alright?" asked Hinata, kneeling down next to the two of them.

"I think so; he's just low on chakra."

Hinata indicated that she still wanted to have a look at him, while Sakura made her way towards Lee. The taijutsu-user was surprised that only a single blow to the stomach had knocked out the music-playing shinobi, but he had broken the metal flute in two just to be safe, the destruction of the flute enough to unsummon the three giants. With two quick taps, Lee restored his weights to their original values before tossing the flute pieces on the ground.

"Is she out of it?" asked Sakura as she reached Lee, impressed that in one action a bad situation had turned into a win for their side.

He nodded and gave her a thumbs up with a wide smile. After a minute Hinata declared that Akamaru would be fine, as Kiba had thought, while Sakura and Lee took their time to rest up. The four of them turned at once as they heard violent coughing behind them.

"Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Damn you little kusegeros!"

They watched as the Sound shinobi picked herself up from the ground slowly, continuing to cough with a hand over his stomach. With a hateful look on her face she looked over at the ruined pieces of her flute.

"Damnit that was my favourite flute."

She saw Lee jump towards her, his legs high up in the air to kick her. With a single motion she reached up with a hand, catching the chakra-charged kick with ease as a black aura rose around her. She stared at him with a furious look on her face, the black marks across her skin closing up and turning her skin a dark black as the bandaged hat fell off her head and odd horns protruded out of her head. She threw his foot away and jumped back, mentally trying to stop the Cursed Seal from taking over her, but to her distress the dark chakra wouldn't let up, two large spikes shot out of her shoulders and out of her elbows before she got it under control. Her short pink hair had grown wildly past her waist, the horns from her head turning a pure white.

"You guys are screwed now. I hate people that destroy my instruments, but that punch was just uncalled for. Bastards…"

She swore under her breath as she clapped her hands together. With a small cloud of smoke, an instrument appeared in her hands, a wide grin emerging across her face. Her opponent's eyes widened as she tightened the strings and tuned the edges for a few seconds before running her fingers through the strings to the large round centre.

"Is…is she serious?" asked Sakura, not able to understand what their enemy was trying to do.

Hinata tried to hide a chuckle and failed, "I think so."

Lee just stared at her with surprise, while Kiba actually fell over in a fit of laughter.

"A…a banjo? Bahahaha!"

Tayuya didn't seem deterred by his disrespectful tone, her fingers lightly plucking at the banjo strings. Unlike the flute, the wooden instrument began to emit a playful tune, one that seemed oddly unsuited to a battlefield. As the four of them were trying to work out what she could possibly be doing with it, they felt a huge pulse of chakra emanate from her.

"I can't see anything strange coming from her. It just seems like music."

The four of them shared a look for a moment, before nodding slowly in agreement. Sakura was already running through handseals while the other three jumped at Tayuya. Kiba was already spinning in a Tsuuga attack, while Lee was going for a low kick to her stomach as Hinata shot forward with her hands ready to strike at Tayuya's midsection. Kiba was the first to reach her, but his whirlwind strike bounced off her with no visible damage, the Inuzuka shinobi yelled out in pain as he landed back next to Akamaru. Not seeing what sent Kiba flying, Lee trying to bounce off the ground and strike her across the chin with his foot, but as with Kiba, he was sent flying, while Tayuya continued to play her soulful music. Above Hinata a water dragon-like attack flew towards the Sound shinobi, however as if barred by an invisible wall the water dragon collapsed like it had struck a wall, dispersing along the ground. Not one to attack brazenly, Hinata skidded to a halt and jumped back, her white eyes frowning as she saw a strange figure appear around Tayuya's playing form. She landed next to her companions and shook her head, indicating to them that attacking her would be foolish at that time.

"What is it?" asked Kiba, clutching at his side in pain; it felt like he had been slammed in the side by a huge club.

Two of his companions shook their heads, but Hinata didn't respond, an idea forming in her mind. She noticed that Tayuya wasn't moving from her spot, but by her judgement their attacks had been prevented a small distance from the pink-haired kunoichi. She turned and asked Sakura for some of her medical supplies, thanking her as she was passed the pack. After a few moments she pulled out a small pouch, Sakura giving her a curious look as she recognised the powder Hinata had removed. The Hyuuga heir stepped in front of the group, running through a quick set of handseals with the bag in hand before standing a short distance away from Tayuya's position, hoping that her analysis was correct. With a fluid motion she threw the bag into the air, letting the herbal powder inside spill into the air as she completed her technique. It was only a low level wind technique, one that didn't even have a name associated with it, but as she waved her hands around the air, she pushed a small amount of wind chakra through the air. The powder flew straight towards Tayuya, but instead of being aimed at her, the substance was scattered in the air around the Sound shinobi's position, Hinata's suspicions were confirmed as the powder settled into the shape of a large soldier-like figure superimposed on top of the pink-haired foe. Kiba and Lee both looked at it with awe, the Inuzuka figuring that it was the giant's long spear was the one that injured his side.

"I guess that's what stopped our attacks" observed Sakura.

"No kuso, idiots. This form has never been breached."

Tayuya kept a cruel grin on her face, taking a moment before she stepped forward, the banjo in her hands getting louder as she got closer to them. Kiba glanced over at his fallen comrade before turning back to the revealed warrior above Tayuya. He snarled and swallowed a soldier pill from his pack, letting his chakra run wild around him as his body became more animalistic, with his large furry tail flicking wildly behind him.

"Can't be breached my ass."

With a high leap in the air Kiba transformed into a large armour-covered grey wolf, snarling fiercely at Tayuya with dark eyes regarding her from a short distance away. His three companions were amazed at his transformation, of all the forms they had seen him perform, an armoured wolf was not one they had seen before.

Hinata regarded her companion's form with amazement, "Kiba?"

The armoured wolf let out a howl before leaping towards the giant, a single claw raised as he dodged the giant's spear. With a huge shockwave the claw struck against the front of the giant, Tayuya grimacing at the blow but not missing a beat from her playing.

_This prick doesn't understand my music at all. _

She ran one hand up and down the strings of her instrument, before flicked her other hand down the strings, causing a loud change in the musical tune. As the armoured wolf attempted to retreat back, its attack causing no damage to the giant whatsoever, the giant reached back and slammed its shield into its face. With a cry of pain it fell through the air back towards the rest of the group. Lee and Sakura jumped out of the way, while Hinata placed her hands up in the wolf's path. With a not-insignificant amount of chakra she used her wind chakra to slow Kiba's descent, allowing him to turn back to his normal self as a small pocket of air guided him to the ground. Kiba sighed as he picked himself up from the ground, turning around to thank Hinata for her effort, but hesitated when he saw the looks on their faces.

"What, what is it?"

Hinata slowly put up a hand and pointed at him, "Um…Kiba-kun…your…"

Kiba let out another sigh, "What is it this time?"

He reached up and touched his face with his hands, not noticing any difference until he got to his hair. His normally messy short brown hair had grown in length across the sides of his face, but to Kiba's distress his ears had changed in the same way that his tail had grown; long and triangular with grey fur covering them.

"For the love of…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his comment as the long spear came crashing down on his head, the music having extended its reach so that it could strike at the seemingly-ever-changing Inuzuka.

"Kiba-kun!"

Hinata rushed forward to catch him, jumping back to avoid another strike. Sakura knelt down as Hinata put Kiba's body on the floor, Lee taking a position in front of them with his staff in a defensive stance.

"Is he okay?" asked Lee, trying to keep an eye on Tayuya's movements, still unable to comprehend how an instrument like a banjo could control such a powerful technique.

Hinata placed a hand on Kiba's head, using her Byakugan to try and see what he had suffered. Sakura traced her fingers over Kiba's new ears, feeling the fur between her fingers.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, "He's fine, just knocked out."

"You know, you'd think he actually wants to become an animal, with all these transformations."

Hinata smiled with an uncharacteristic look on her face, "You have to admit, it is kind of intriguing."

Sakura smirked, "Maybe a little."

They both turned as they heard a loud cough, Lee trying to get their attention back to the battle at hand. He had noticed that their opponent wasn't able to move very fast, but after seeing the reaction from Kiba's attack, it had both a long range of attack and seemingly impenetrable defence.

"There is only one thing I know that could break through that."

Sakura leapt up immediately, "No, Lee, you can't. I won't let you."

The green-clad shinobi smiled and patted her on the head affectionately, "Sometimes we've got to do things we don't want to, Sakura-san. Opening the Sixth Gate is the strongest attack I can think of. If it doesn't work, than we're all dead. That's a good enough reason to me."

Sakura just shook her head. When Lee got into one of these moods, it was impossible to deny that his heart was in the right place. She sighed and placed a gloved hand on one side of his face, lightly pecking the other side with her lips.

She smiled at his blushing face, "You're a damn fool, Rock Lee."

The bowl-headed shinobi took a long breath, unable to stop a wide smile coming across his face as he turned around and gathered his chakra, placing his staff on his back. He felt his muscles spasm as he prepared himself for the painful process of opening the Chakra Gates one by one. Just before he opened the First Gate, he felt a tap on his shoulder. At the same time Sakura felt the same tap, both of them turning at once.

"Kai!"

Their eyes widened as they saw Hinata's smiling face between them, her hands on their shoulders. Sakura rolled her eyes immediately, turning around to notice that while Tayuya was still playing her banjo, the warrior protecting her was gone.

"A genjutsu? Really?"

Hinata nodded, moving past the two of them, "I noticed when I examined Kiba's head. He didn't have any physical injuries, but was still knocked out cold. It was then I saw that her music didn't change at all while the warrior moved with her, and my Byakugan couldn't see it, meaning it was an illusion."

"I can't believe I missed it."

"It was pretty subtle, Sakura-san."

"Still."

Across from the Konoha group, Tayuya stopped playing once she realised they had dispelled her illusion. Her arms strained in anger, she hated losing in anything, and with her summoned creatures destroyed with her flute the only offensive attacks she had were genjutsus. Her eyes widened as Lee suddenly appeared in front of her, almost carefully plucking the banjo from her hands before snapping it in two pieces. Through her dark eyes Tayuya knew that she was beaten, but by her nature she didn't want to accept such a fate.

_Why did I have to have these ones for my opponents? The plan was so simple. Damn that white eyed mesuinu. _

She went to jump back, already thinking about the next instrument she would need to use, but almost like a blur she was confronted by the dark haired girl that had broken her illusion. She felt her feet trapped in place, glancing down to see a large seal beneath her.

Hinata placed her hands in position, "Jyuukenhou, Hakke: Rokujyuuyonshou!"

Her hands became a blur as she attacked Tayuya's chakra points, each blow cutting off her chakra blow instantly, Hinata making sure that she wasn't killing her by striking her. Once she had finished off her attack Tayuya fell to the ground, all her chakra points temporarily shut down, though her Cursed Seal was still in effect, despite no longer providing her any additional power.

"Damnit, I guess you guys have won."

With the three Konoha shinobi standing over her, and no chakra responding, Tayuya knew that it was only a matter of time before they finished her off.

"Go on then. Kill me. That's what you bastards do best."

The three of them shared a look for a moment before turning back to the fallen Sound shinobi.

"We don't know what you are talking about" said Sakura.

Tayuya didn't have any strength left; otherwise she would have spat in the pink-haired girl's face.

"You Konoha bastards killed my sister. You are all monsters, and the world is better off with your village's destruction. Good riddance."

Lee went to slam a fist into her chest in anger, but was pulled back by Sakura, knowing that it would do more damage to Lee in the long run. They all knew there was no talking to her, grief and revenge were powerful motivators, and the hatred she felt towards them was fairly obvious. Satisfied that she had done her job, Hinata took a glance around the room, noticing that since the music had stopped a large metal device had appeared in the middle of the room. She indicated it to Lee, knowing that he had more destructive power than she did. Tayuya continued to curse at them as Lee set about dismantling the device, while Sakura and Hinata made sure that Kiba and Akamaru were going to be okay. Hinata felt a huge rush as her Byakugan view got a huge boost in knowledge, her black and white vision now able to see the other people in the room. Sakura asked her if it had worked, to which she nodded in agreement, but as she expanded her vision she gasped.

"What is it?" asked Lee, having jogged back to their position.

Trying to keep her voice down, Hinata indicated for them to huddle around Kiba's unconscious body.

She kept her voice at a whisper, "There are forty three Sound shinobi just outside this room, waiting in ambush."

"Well that's fine, a straight up fight would be nice, compared to all this genjutsu business" said Lee with a grin.

Hinata shook her head slightly; watching as Sakura subtly moved over and in one swift move pushed a long piece of cloth into Tayuya's mouth, gagging her immediately. The fallen Sound kunoichi could only stay in hatred as Sakura smiled an apology and moved back to her companions.

"That won't work, Lee-san. They all seem like Chuunin to Jounin strength. You might be fine, but Kiba and Akamaru need to be moved, and I think Sakura-san and I only have about half our chakra left."

Lee tried to keep a positive look on his face and failed, wary of the fact that their seemingly surprise attack hadn't worked how they planned.

"What should we do?" asked Sakura, knowing that as the 'leader' of the group, Lee would take responsibility and make a plan.

Lee looked over at their two fallen companions, taking a minute to think before turning back to the two girls.

"Sakura-san, can you take Akamaru's weight?"

She looked at the fallen white dog, "I could carry both of them with a water technique, but I wouldn't be able to fight, it takes a fair amount of concentration."

Lee took a second to consider what she said before a plan formed in his mind. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a blank scroll and asked Hinata to indicate what the enemy positions were, and how many were ready to ambush them.

_We'll have to leave the village and drop off Kiba and Akamaru before we can move back in. Thankfully we took out that device, so the next incursion will be easier. And with that woman down, we've taken out one of their more powerful shinobi, hopefully. _

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I know these fights have been long, but trust me I'm setting up some important stuff for the near future of the story. Without revealing too much, let's just say I'm not quite done with the Sound Four. I messed around with Kakashi a bit in this chapter, but his eye turning back to normal is relevant to the story, particularly later on. The mega-flashback wasn't a waste either; it had a lot of setup in it.

Also the next chapter could be considered the halfway point of the story. Not necessarily in chapters, but story-wise. Big things will happen, that's all I'm going to say.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	21. Chapter 20 Separation

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 20 – Separation

**A/N**: Sorry for the constant big action scenes. That won't happen again, least not for a while. There will still be action scenes of course, but they'll be broken up properly. Also I'm working on a new style of writing, so please tell me if you think this way is better.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be TWISTS!

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Two down, two to go. Shino, Shikamaru and Kakashi faced off against the large Sound shinobi Jiroubo. After an impressive summoning display by Shino they forced Jiroubo into his Second Level, which allowed him to easily push back the Konoha shinobi. After nearly dying at Jiroubo's hands, Kakashi was saved by a mysterious technique in his Sharingan that Obito had implanted. Seemingly coming back from life twice, Kakashi was able to knock out Jiroubo with a close range attack. Unfortunately such an ability left his Sharingan useless, having reverted back to its original black colour before Obito had activated it. Since they were fighting outside the village left them stranded, Kakashi scrubbed their mission and they decided to regroup with the others at the rally point. At the other end of the Village, Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Lee broke out of their illusions and faced off against Tayuya. With her flute in hand, Tayuya pushed the group with her three summoned giants, but after an impressive display of teamwork they were able to break her flute and take her down. Unfortunately she was able to get back up, and with amusing banjo play nearly defeated the Konoha group, but after some clever observation from Hinata they were able to beat her to submission. Lee was able to destroy the device blocking the Byakugan's vision, but when they did Hinata saw a large ambush waiting for them outside their room. With Kiba and Akamaru down for the count, they were forced into a bad position, with no-one to help them.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Neji stood in silence as the room in front of him burned. It had taken most of his explosion tags, but after seeing what he had there was little reason for that room to continue existing. At first he didn't want to believe it, but after lifting up that sheet and seeing the mangled corpse of his long-dead father, the writings within the book concealed in his robe made a scary amount of sense. Silently he spoke a prayer for his father, hoping that he was now in a better place. He reactivated his regular Byakugan and took a look around the floor. He had ignored the other rooms at first, but the more he looked around the more he figured there might be some kind of clue as to where he might find the Sound leader.<p>

_I'll find him, and I'll kill him for what he's done._ At first he was outraged, but all that sat with him now was hatred. Everything that had happened to them so far seemed to have compounded into that moment, where all Neji could think of was how he was going to extract his revenge against Kabuto.

After checking most of the rooms on that floor Neji was ready to move on, until his Byakugan showed him a strange image in the final room. It appeared to be a prison of sorts, but the thing blocking his ability to see people through the walls was still in place, so he couldn't see if anyone was inside. Placing his hands into his robe, Neji resolved to check it out before moving to the new level.

To his surprise there were no locks on the door, and with careful examination there were no seals on the door either. Shrugging his shoulders, Neji pushed the door open, watching as three figures appeared within the room, behind a large set of metal bars.

"You…" Inside the jail cell sat three shinobi that he recognised, though he hadn't seen them for nearly a year, only knowing them in passing. The bandaged one stared at Neji quietly, wincing in pain as long black arrows ran across the single patch of skin on his face.

Neji looked over at the other two within the cell, recognising the three Sound Genin that had competed in the Suna Chuunin Exams. The two male shinobi were the ones that Naruto and Kiba had defeated in the 3rd Exam, and it took him a few seconds before recognising that the black haired girl was the one that Hinata had beaten in the 4th Exam.

All three of them seemed to have Cursed Seal marks, and despite not being bound they seemed to be in bad shape. "Why are the three of you locked up?" he asked cautiously.

The girl stared at him for a moment, "You must be related to the Hyuuga girl from the Exam." She stood up slowly, almost as tall as Neji through the bars.

Neji nodded slowly, he didn't want to give too much away, but figured the white eyes gave him away. "A bit strange for you guys to be locked up in your own village, isn't it? I recall you were pretty faithful back in Suna."

The bandaged one stood up as well, so that all three of them were standing opposite him. "We were, up until Orochimaru was killed by that imposter Kabuto."

"Orochimaru was killed by his teammate Jiraiya, who died in the effort. You've got some bad information." While keeping his outlined irises on the three prisoners, Neji took a look around the room with his Byakugan, not seeing anything of interest beyond the three of them.

"What the hell are you talking about? Kabuto brought back his corpse as proof." The one Neji knew as Zaku cried out in pain as circular marks traced across his face before retreating into a mark on his neck. "Damn this thing…"

His companions leant down to help him, their own marks staying still for the moment. "Zaku, you've got to fight it" said the one he knew called Dosu.

Neji felt his muscles constrict at the sight, he had been in a similar situation before and hated to see it. "One of our group was there. She killed Kabuto and survived. In fact she's here somewhere, I think. The one leading your village is an imposter."

Dosu turned to face him, his one exposed eye told Neji a thousand different things in that one instant. The Sound Genin let his female companion take care of Zaku while he stood opposite Neji. "Are you here to kill us? Because I can tell that we've been here for a long time, and you won't get any satisfaction from it."

"I have no interest in killing you." With a pulse of chakra he activated his secondary Byakugan, a wealth of information about the three of them flooding his mind instantly. He felt angry immediately at the knowledge that they've had Cursed Seals for months, and judging by the degeneration in their bodies they had been in that prison cell for months as well. _Prisoners because their Cursed Seal is uncontrollable. This village is a mess. _

The three prisoners moved back slightly at the sight of his Byakugan, even their steely nerves were tested by his instant examination. "Maybe he's here to help us?" asked the girl.

"Shut up, Kin. He's from Konoha, he has no reason to assist us" said Zaku.

On the other side of the bars, Neji cancelled his eye technique, looking at the three prisoners with interest. He placed a hand on the bars, "What would you do, if you were free?"

Even underneath his bandages, Dosu easily projected his anger. "We'd kill Kabuto. Nothing else to it."

"But with these Seals like this we are powerless" said Kin.

Picking himself up from the ground, Zaku put his hands on the bars. "Why, are you offering?"

Neji stepped back from the bars, "I'm considering it. Kabuto killed our people, and butchered my father. We may share the same goals." He reached out and ran a small amount of chakra through the lock, breaking it into pieces before he placed a hand on the door. "Before I do, I want to ask you something."

He could tell the three of them had no idea what he was doing, he knew they wouldn't be much help, but still had an inclination to let them out. "What is it?" asked Kin.

"If I could remove your Cursed Seals, would you assist me?"

Neji kept a straight face, but through his eyes he could see the disquiet across their faces, the mistrust between themselves but also the sheer desperation. They spent a few minutes in private discussion, through which Neji couldn't hear them at all despite being only two feet away. _I suppose they are Sound shinobi so that makes sense._

They all turned to him at once, Dosu stepping forward as the de facto leader. "If you can, and that's a big if, then we will help you. We have no loyalty to those who use us for their experiments. But only until that confrontation. After that, our debt is done." He reached out to push the door open, but Neji held it firmly shut.

"Let us make one thing clear. I'm not look for loyalty; I'm not even looking for your assistance. It is only because I can sympathise with you, that I'm doing this." With that said, he pulled the gate open and allowed the three of them to hobble out of the jail cell.

"That's as good a reason as any I suppose" said Zaku as he walked past Neji.

His bandaged companion stopped them before they could leave the room itself. "So can you do it?"

Neji nodded, indicating for them to take a position outside the room. He reached into his robe and removed the scroll from before he entered the underground village. It had bothered him before that there were no marks on the scroll before, but as he'd had enough time to think about it, he'd realised that he hadn't performed the technique completely right. After reading the notebook with his secondary Byakugan, he also realised that since the Cursed Seal was based on the Hyuuga Branch House Seal, the same technique could remove it.

He asked the three of them to place their hands on the empty scroll. Unlike the last time, he didn't perform the extra Serpent handseal, clapping his hands together before slamming them into the empty scroll.

They didn't cry out in pain, either a testament to their pain threshold or the fact that Neji had done the technique correctly, he couldn't tell. But as his chakra flowed, the black marks travelled quickly down their arms and into the scroll, forming a collection of symbols on the white sheet.

oOoOoOo

"You guys seemed less friendly back in Suna."

Dosu scoffed as they turned a corner. "What do you expect? We were enemies."

At the front of their group, Neji shook his head slowly. "I meant towards each other. My fellow Konoha shinobi implied that you would've sacrificed each other to get through."

With his Byakugan Neji could see the look the Sound Genin shared; it told him a huge amount about their relationship to each other.

Zaku looked down at the air holes in the centre of his palms, clenching his hands slowly as they turned a corner. "Initially perhaps. But sitting in a cell for months on end changes your disposition towards one another."

For a second Neji glanced at Kin through his Byakugan, but almost as if she could tell he was looking at her she glared at him. "It wasn't like that. If either of them had tried anything, I would have killed them."

Both of her male companions shivered slightly as they recalled the last time they had suffered Kin's wrath. In Suna they had to admit they didn't care much for each other. When Kin had made it to the last round they hadn't supported her at all, still preoccupied by their own losses. Each of them had their own reasons for following Orochimaru, but after his death they didn't feel much of an obligation to the village.

"How much further?" asked Neji, the device blocking his vision still in place, meaning that all the rooms around them appeared empty to his doujutsu.

Dosu stopped for a moment before pointing down a long corridor to their left. "It's a short distance down there, we are close."

Neji nodded in acknowledgement and went to move past the hunched Sound shinobi, but he blocked the Hyuuga with his armour-plated arm. "Hold a moment, Hyuuga."

"What is it?" asked Neji, eager to get the task finished so that he can find the others of his group. Without any Konoha survivors, their invasion was entirely pointless, and he didn't want there to be any unnecessary injuries to their group.

The de facto leader of the Genin stared at the elder Hyuuga as his companions stepped to his side, the three of them blocking his path.

"What is your plan when you face Kabuto?" asked Dosu, staring straight into Neji's white eyes. "He is not an opponent you can take lightly."

"You sound as though you fear him" observed Neji, noticing the slight movements in the Genin's body when he said their enemy's name.

Zaku scoffed, Neji taking note that he seemed to do that more often than not. "You don't seem to understand who you are dealing with."

"Shut up, Zaku" interjected Dosu. "We owe him our lives; we have no right to be rude."

Neji put up a hand with a tired smile, "Don't worry about it, Dosu. There is one of our group that is similar to him. You guys would probably get along with him pretty well; almost everyone does after a while."

"Regardless, Zaku has a point. Kabuto has done things to himself, things that make him very dangerous. The three of us wouldn't be able to kill him by ourselves."

Neji looked over the three of them before realising that in their own way, they were asking for his help. From his use of the new Byakugan earlier, he had judged them to be about Chuunin level strength, meaning Dosu's statement was likely quite accurate. Even after Lee had nearly killed him, Neji was still very confident in his own abilities.

"I will challenge Kabuto, and kill him. I need the three of you to keep the rest of the shinobi away from me."

"You can't possibly kill him, not in single combat. You don't know anything about him." Kin seemed quite irate to Neji, he could tell that while she was apprehensive she was also, to his surprise, hopeful.

_I need to convince them. They could make for powerful allies, not just for now, but perhaps for our group as well. Making a village at Uzu wasn't an option, but perhaps here is a possibility. _

He indicated to his white eyes with a finger, "You underestimate how much my eyes see, Kin."

He pointed to Zaku. "The holes in your arms lead directly into your chakra system, and can be manipulated to use either wind or sound. You think Dosu is a sissy, but respect him for his abilities."

The face-guard wearing Sound shinobi's eyes widened, confirming to Neji that his analysis was correct, but the other two didn't seem as convinced. They knew that could have been observed from the battles in Suna.

With a passive shove, he moved past the three of them. "If you won't help me, fine. But if you really want to take hold of your own destiny, then there is only one path available to you."

The three of them watched him walk away. At one they turned to face each other, unsure of what to do.

"Do we follow?" asked Kin. On their way from the prison cell they had visited an armoury; she fidgeted with the senbon in her pockets, a nervous tick that they had told her for years was a pain in the ass.

Zaku and Dosu looked at each other and shrugged. "I don't think we have a choice" said Dosu. His armoured arm was somewhat rusty since their imprisonment, but he knew that it would still work.

"You have to admit, he has a…quality." She tried to keep her voice low as Neji slowly walked out of their sight, but both her male companions heard Kin.

Dosu shook his head and jogged to catch up to Neji, while Zaku sighed and moved past her. "Keep it in your pants, Kin. Honestly…"

The long-haired kunoichi blushed terribly before moving to catch up to the others.

oOoOoOo

The four unlikely allies turned another corner and found themselves confronted by a large plated double door that cut off the corridor. Neji activated his Byakugan again, feeling a sense of surprise as he could see all the people within his black and white vision's range.

"The device is down. I can see properly again." Neji quickly analysed the room in front of them.

"It was only a temporary measure. Something about repercussions from Konoha that Orochimaru was afraid of." Neji didn't question Dosu's knowledge of the device that had previously blocked his vision.

He took a final count before turning to his three companions. "There twelve shinobi in the room, and Kabuto. He seems to be sitting on some kind of throne. His village being attacked around him, and he just sits there."

Zaku just shook his head, "That's our leader. Now do you see why no-one wants him here? But we were stuck with him."

Taking a deep breath, Dosu pulled back the cloth over his arm. "We can hold back the other shinobi. But if you are struggling against Kabuto, we will jump in."

Neji gave them a polite bow, letting them know how much he appreciated the opportunity to avenge his father. He turned to Zaku. "Can you take the door?"

Zaku looked over at the door for a moment before giving Neji a questionable look. "It's not locked, you do know that right?"

"Well yeah but…" Neji pointed to the door, "…you can do it dramatically."

All three of the Sound Genin gave him their best are-you-kidding-me looks, to which Neji just shrugged with the faintest smile on his face. He tried to tell himself that it wasn't a certain blonde's influence, but when he saw the door all he could think of was a dramatic entrance followed by a cinematic duel. He didn't really expect that, they learnt in their first missions that ninja battles weren't truly like that.

After seeing that Neji was serious, Zaku indicated for them to move out of the way. He placed his palms up, facing the plated doors. _Air Pressure 100%. Supersonic Waves 0%. _He pushed his chakra up through his arms. "Zankuha!" (Air Cutter)

Having not moulded chakra properly since receiving the Cursed Seal from Kabuto, Zaku had expected his attack to not be that powerful. What he hadn't been expected was that the residual power from the removed seal had jump-started his chakra. The air waves jettisoned through the holes in his palms and exploded outwards, slamming into the plated doors and knocking Zaku off his feet. The other three had positioned themselves to the sides of the door so they didn't suffer any of the backlash but Zaku was forced to pick himself up from the ground, his arms shaking from the sheer amount of power he had unintentionally shot at the door.

From his side position Neji tried to hide a smile and failed, turning to the recovering Sound Genin. "Now that is an entrance. Shall we?"

Normally when high pressure air waves hit a structure, they blast it in the direction that it was struck. However to their amazement, Zaku's attack had disintegrated the plated door, with only splinters lying scattered around as evidence that the door had existed.

As one they all entered the room, preparing themselves for combat. Neji stood in the middle with his Byakugan staring straight at Kabuto while the other three took positions around him.

Kabuto sat lounging on the throne on the opposite side of the room, Neji noticing that he looked slightly different from Shizune's description. His skin had become cracked and scaled while black lines surrounded his eyes. Neji could also see that his assessment of the surrounding shinobi had been slightly inaccurate as well; they all appeared to be near Jounin level strength. He went to warn the three of them to be careful, but through his Byakugan he could tell they already knew.

Kabuto stood up slowly while adjusting his glasses. "Well this certainly is a surprise. I can no longer sense the Cursed Seal on the three of you. And who is this? A Main Branch Hyuuga? How curious…"

Two of his bodyguards moved to attack Neji, but the Hyuuga survivor didn't move an inch from his position. One of them fell to the ground screaming, holding his ears as he writhed around in agony. The other attacker almost reached Neji, but was thrown back as he was peppered by dozens of senbon.

Dosu, Kin and Zaku all moved to Neji's side quickly. "You better be right about this, Hyuuga" said Dosu. "I doubt we'll be welcome here after this."

Neji took a step forward slowly, "Just keep them off me. I'll do the rest." He reached into his robe and produced the notebook he had acquired earlier, throwing it at Kabuto's feet. The Sound leader frowned underneath his glasses as he reached down to pick up his book.

"So you found that place. It doesn't matter, I was finished there." An arrogant smile crept onto Kabuto's face as he threw the notebook away. "What were you hoping to achieve by coming here? By now you must know that this was a trap."

Neji watched the battle around them. Zaku was blasting back several of the opponent, as Dosu took the front line. Their opponents knew about their abilities, so they knew how to dodge his arm attack. However even though they moved far away from his strike to avoid the sound waves, they still fell to the ground screaming.

The hunched Genin looked at his arm for a second before staring at the shinobi he had taken out. _It would appear that our abilities have been enhanced. Curious, considering the source. _

"We knew this might be a trap. But to protect our comrades, we had to try."

Behind him, Kin clapped her hands together as the bells she planted on the walls began to ring loudly. The remaining Sound shinobi facing them froze in place, just long enough for Zaku to blast them with air waves, knocking them all out.

Neji nodded at the impressive display, he had underestimated how strong the three of them were. He turned back to Kabuto, who seemed to be happy to just wait for them to finish. _He thinks he is strong enough to take us all out by himself. _

"It would appear that I must get my own hands dirty. A shame, I dislike fighting." Kabuto reached back and pulled back his dark hood, staring at the Hyuuga with dark eyes.

Neji placed up a hand, "Before we fight, I have but one question. Why did you send so many men to the Uzu village? Did you know we were coming?"

Kabuto frowned at the question, wondering what Neji could possibly want that answer for. Since he had read his notebook, he knew that he wasn't the original Kabuto, but there was something about the Hyuuga that felt off to him, and he needed more time before he could properly assess his skills. _I'll indulge him for a bit. Besides, the more time I waste, the more senjutsu chakra I can generate. This body is starting to fall apart. The original's research was incomplete to begin with._

"Several months ago a woman in red came to our village. She had an 'invested interest' in our working together. She told us about the secrets of the Uzu village, and that you people would be coming."

Neji kept a stoic face at the information, but through his mind he was trying to work out who this strange woman might be. For her to know so much about their movements, before they made them, implied that she was either spying on their group or that they had some kind of informant in their midst, though he refused to believe the latter.

"We were told to be patient, and just as she predicted you came. This village will become your grave, and we will take your abilities for ourselves."

"And where is this woman now?" asked Neji, wary of the fact that Kabuto was gathering power within himself. He figured that his secondary Byakugan might be able to find a weak spot for him to attack, but he also didn't want to waste the opportunity to get more information out of the surprisingly loose-lipped Sound leader.

Kabuto shrugged in response, "I cannot say. She left a while ago. Everything I've done up until now has been for the betterment of this village."

With a frown, Neji glanced at the fallen bodies of the Sound shinobi around them, and three now-panting heavily Sound Genin. Their attack had taken more out of them then they had expected, as Neji had predicted, they wouldn't be much help in his battle.

"That's complete bull. Not only are you only a clone of the real Kabuto, you are also a bad liar. You've used these people as fodder for your sick experiments. They mean nothing to you, except to further your own goals. As a leader, you are a failure. As a person, you are despicable."

He could see the anger on Kabuto's face, two small spikes protruding out of the back of his neck. He lowered his eyes slightly, "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you. It's about time I take those eyes of yours. They should be fascinating to study."

Neji strained the muscles in his arms, quickly moulding his chakra before moving it towards his eyes. His white eyes filled in with black colour as a wealth of information in front of him flooded his mind. He could tell instantly how powerful the cloned Kabuto had become, though he could tell that the Sound leader was surprised by his new ability.

_His skin is hard scaled and his chakra output is frightening. Interesting, he's only been alive for a year. There has got to be a…there! A small spot on the right side of his ribs, just below the heart. _

Kabuto placed his hands together into a handseal before aiming them at Neji. Two large snakes erupted from his arms, their fangs dripping with venom as they moved to strike Neji. He moved to avoid them, using a small spike of chakra to shoot forward. He could see the snakes moving around to strike him again, but as the fangs neared his neck Neji released a small amount of chakra that caused them to bounce off.

As he got closer to Kabuto's standing position Neji collected his chakra into his left hand, dodging another snake attack before laying down a trapping seal on the ground. He knew it wouldn't hold Kabuto for long, but if his plan worked then that was all he needed.

Kabuto saw how quickly Neji was moving towards him, but he was confident his scales wouldn't allow his Jyuuken strikes through. "Your taijutsu strikes won't work on me, Hyuuga."

He went to move out of the way, but Neji's seal kept his feet in place, forcing him to try and power his way out of it. The Hyuuga trapping seal was originally designed as a show piece, but clever users such as Neji had advanced it to the point that it made the target vulnerable to the more advanced Jyuuken moves.

Neji smirked as he appeared in front of Kabuto. "It's no use." He drew back his right hand before forming a handseal with his left hand. "Jyuukenhou Hakke…" His pulled back hand slammed two fingers directly into the spot he had aimed at before. "Isshou!" (One Strike)

He drew back his hand and jumped back a long distance, as Kabuto looked down at the place he struck with an amused smile. "Was that meant to hurt?"

Through his clear vision, Neji could see what Kabuto could not, as the lightning-clad chakra moved through Kabuto's system. He put his hands together before swiftly running through a set of handseals. The lightning moved through his system before taking position.

"My strike has disabled your chakra system, and has moved to destroy your heart and brain. No longer will you make people into your slaves, just to fulfil some absurd notion of perfection."

Neji turned off his doujutsu and turned around to face the three Sound Genin. "Do what you will. I'm going to go find my companions."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Kabuto stepped forward while staring at Neji's back.

The Sound Genin struggled to stay on their feet, and for a split second they thought that Neji was abandoning them. Neji turned his head slightly as he reached the doorway.

"I am leaving. You are about to explode."

As Neji passed through the doorway, Kabuto began coughing as he felt a thundering pain in his head. The pain began to reach a crescendo before he felt a spike of pain in his chest. He doubled over and coughed on the floor while the Sound Genin got the idea and jumped out of the room as fast as they could. Just as they moved to the hallway they were hurled forward as a huge explosion thundered from the room, threatening to take them out with it. Luckily Zaku was about to put up a defensive wall of air waves, protecting his two companions as they landed on the ground. As they picked themselves up from the ground, all three of them looked around for their saviour, but Neji was nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do now?" asked Kin.

Her two companions shrugged their shoulders, they had no loyalties left to the village, but seeing Neji fight had impacted them more than they thought. With collective sighs they all fell to the ground, happy to just catch their breath momentarily.

* * *

><p>"Hinata-san, I need some cover!"<p>

Lee turned around momentarily as a large stream of water flew over his head and beat back the pursing Sound shinobi. At the front of the group Sakura kept moving forward with Kiba and Akamaru held up by her water techniques, the pink-haired shinobi trying to find her way out, but all the corridors looked the same.

"Hakke: Kuusho!" Taking a moment to stand still with both her palms facing the Sound shinobi, two shots of pressurised wind beat their opponents back.

Lee tapped on her shoulder and indicated for her to keep moving, the dozens of Sound shinobi recovering quicker than they could knock them down. _At this rate, we'll be overrun. Sakura-san can't fight, Kiba-kun is out of it, and Hinata-san and I don't have much charka left. _

As they turned a corner Hinata felt herself being pulled back, as if hands were grabbing at her. She tried to wrench herself forward, but through her Byakugan she could see that there was a kunai attached to wire that was embedded in her pack. With two slips of her arms she dumped her pack on the ground and continued forward. They turned another corner and ran down a long corridor, lit by torches.

"They will overrun us before we can get to the exit" said Hinata. They had taken out nearly a dozen of the enemies when they broke out of that room, but just over thirty shinobi were still following them, and through her Byakugan she could tell they were gaining.

As they came to an intersection, Lee reached into his pack and produced the last smoke bomb that he had. Hinata saw him throw it behind them, calling out for Sakura to move quicker so that they weren't caught up in the smoke cloud.

They kept moving until they reached the intersection. "What are they doing?" asked Lee, hoping they would get a chance to have a breather. He jogged up and checked on Sakura, his female companion panting heavily as the strain of keeping both Kiba and Akamaru afloat was taking its toll on her.

Hinata stared through the cloud of smoke with her black and white vision. "They seemed to be waiting for it to clear. They seem wary of any traps we might have set."

Lee sighed at the news; even his unnatural stamina was running dry in their current situation.

"We aren't going to make it, are we?" asked Sakura.

He wanted to be positive for her, but he couldn't see a way for all of them to escape. With his speed he knew he would make it, but would never abandon his companions. "I don't know. It doesn't look good."

The pink haired shinobi lowered her two companions and looked at the descending smoke cloud. "We should make a stand. If we can defeat them all, then we can escape."

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Hinata stood quietly with her hands up defensively. She didn't say anything, but a part of her wanted to run chakra through the pendant around her neck, calling Naruto to her side. However she stopped herself before doing so, as much as she wanted him by her side, as much as anyone she knew how hopeless their situation was.

Lee swore uncharacteristically and stood in place. "We can do this. They can only come at us a few at a time."

oOoOoOo

Hinata slammed a palm into the face of a charging Sound Chuunin, sending him flying with a pulse of wind chakra before ducking underneath a thrown kunai. A collection of water bullets took out her attack from Sakura's back position, sending the Sound shinobi tumbling into his companions.

They had found that while Lee was right, they could only attack about three a time, the Sound shinobi had no qualms about attacking through their companions. After only a minute of fighting, a lifetime for a shinobi, they had used nearly half of their remaining chakra. Sakura was panting heavily; her water techniques had become sloppy and slow. Lee was bleeding heavily from a cut across his right cheek, and Hinata had avoided being struck so far, but had the least amount of chakra.

"Lee-kun, duck!" Years of experience allowed Lee to duck without hesitation, a sword barely missing the top of his head. Flipping around on the ground, Lee drove his feet upwards into the attacking shinobi and thanked Hinata for her warning as he landed.

She nodded back then winced in pain, reaching down to pull out the kunai stuck in her side. Through her Byakugan she had seen the attack, but hadn't been able to move completely away from it, only able to stop it hitting her neck. Another Sound shinobi went to stab at her neck, Hinata barely able to shield herself with chakra as the blow missed her skin and cut off the chain around her neck. She called out as her pendant fell to the ground and was promptly destroyed under the Sound shinobi's foot.

In her black and white vision she could see them being overrun, Lee struggling to beat back his opponents while Sakura could barely summon enough chakra to defend herself.

A Sound Jounin rushed at Hinata with a sword that seemed to waver in the air, Hinata realising that she didn't have the speed to dodge away from the attack. _Naruto-kun…I'm so sorry…I wanted to spend so much more time with you…_

The sword came inches from piercing her heart, Hinata trying to think of happy thoughts, but before her expected demise, the sword fell to the ground as the Sound Jounin cried out in pain and crumpled to the floor. She looked up with her regular eyes, having run out of chakra to use her Kekkei Genkai. A figure stood in front of the three of them, looking almost angelical in his white robe and long black hair.

"N…eji…niisan?" Hinata's voice was tiny; she couldn't believe that he had saved her. To the best of her knowledge, Neji was supposed to be outside at their rally point.

Neji placed his palms out against the charging Sound shinobi, "Daikuusho!" Unlike Hinata's air palm technique, Neji's sent them all spiralling so far back that most of the Sound shinobi slammed into the back wall nearly fifty feet away.

He turned around immediately, reaching down and picking Hinata up to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw his blank forehead, but before she could say anything her vision went dark and she went limp, falling into his arms.

Sakura and Lee both called out but Neji shook his head and handed her carefully to Lee, the taijutsu user taking her with a confused look on his face. "Why did you…"

"She wouldn't understand. Go Lee, I'll hold them off." Neji turned around and placed his hands into a defensive stance.

With Hinata in his arms, Lee stepped to Neji's side. "You can't face them all! We can still fight!"

The elder Hyuuga shook his head while still focusing on the recovering Sound shinobi a short distance away. "This is no time to argue, Lee. None of you have much chakra; I will hold them off while you get away. Now go!"

"I won't leave you behind! Come with us!" Lee's voice was strained, he was practically begging him.

With a single pull, Neji reached over and leant towards Lee's ear. His eyes widened as he listened carefully before the Hyuuga pulled back and turned around.

Neji turned slightly and the faintest smile appeared on his face before he turned back to face their enemies. "I'll be right behind you."

Throwing a soldier pill into her mouth, Sakura raised up Kiba and Akamaru's unconscious bodies before placing a hand on Lee's shoulder. "We need to go, Lee. Trust in Neji, he knows what he's doing."

She could tell that Lee wasn't sure; while she found it commendable she knew that it was the only option available to them. She tugged at his shoulder again, "Come on, Lee."

Lee yelled out in frustration before turning around so that his back was to Neji's. "You better be right behind us." Not taking another look, Lee nodded to Sakura and began running down the corridor, trusting that Sakura knew where the exit was.

Neji made sure that they were moving before throwing two kunai at the ceiling behind him. After a second they exploded, causing the roof to collapse behind him, closing out the path. Neji stared at the shinobi charging towards him, placing his hands into position as he activated his secondary Byakugan. On his way through the village, he had figured out a simple name for the new eye technique.

"Kuroi Byakugan." (Black Byakugan)

As two Sound Jounin charged at him, Neji placed down a seal on the ground before shifting his stance._ Father, I hope you are proud. I'm free of my cage, yet here I am, protecting that which is important to me. I wonder if we'll meet again, in the next life._

* * *

><p>"Naruto, what are you doing?" Shikamaru stared at the seated blonde shinobi, Naruto having not moved since joining the group at the rally point.<p>

He didn't respond to the lazy genius, staying perfectly still in his seated position. When his group had reached the rally point they had found two of the other groups already there. Itachi had carried Sasuke until he had been comfortable enough to walk on his own, neither of them having much chakra left. After the Uchiha brothers came the three-man group, surprised to see the clan survivors. Shino was at the point of collapsing from low chakra, while his two companions were steadier of their feet. Kakashi had replaced the cloth around his now-normal left eye. He figured that it would be simpler to explain it once everyone was back, but he also had a few questions for Itachi once they had the time.

Upon seeing that Hinata's group wasn't there yet, Naruto had sat down on the ground and closed his eyes, to the surprise of the rest of the group. They had been unable to wake up Shizune or Chouji, with Ino having to explain to the others about Chouji's skinny appearance.

As Ino went about healing the others injuries, Kakashi, Shikamaru and Itachi were huddled apart from the group.

"So what do you think?" asked Itachi, having finished telling them what Kidomaru had told him. "I'm inclined to believe him."

Shikamaru nodded, "I think so. As painful as it is to admit, this whole thing was a trap. The fact that we got out of it was lucky, if nothing else."

"You should give yourself more credit" said Kakashi, clapping the Nara heir on the back. He knew that the group compositions were part of the reason why none of them had perished in the face of their powerful opponents, but as a fellow commander he knew that Shikamaru wouldn't accept that.

"Something feels off though" said Shikamaru, having felt it since they had entered the village.

Itachi glanced at his younger companion. _Give it a few years, and he'll be a scary force in this world. _"I agree. The Sound shinobi that we met didn't seem like the type to be this patient. They were ready for us."

"An informer in our group?" Kakashi didn't want to believe it, but with the horrifying memory of the Third Shinobi War in mind, he knew it was a possibility.

Itachi stole a glance at the others of the group, noticing that Naruto still hadn't moved from his meditation pose. "Or something else. Shikamaru is right, this feels off."

All three of them turned as they heard Ino calling out from the other side of the group. "Hey, isn't that Sakura and Lee?"

The second she finished her sentence, Naruto disappeared in a crack of lightning. The group saw that he appeared next to the green-clad taijutsu user, reaching out and taking Hinata from his hands before jogging quickly back to the rest of the group.

The others moved to help as Sakura struggled to keep Kiba and Akamaru afloat, the Inuzuka pair falling to the ground as her strength failed her. Just before she hit the ground, Lee moved in front of her and let her land on his back. With a tired smile, she let him carry her the rest of the way, as Kakashi and Itachi moved to help Kiba and Akamaru.

"Is she okay?" Shino leant over as Naruto placed Hinata carefully on the ground, noticing the concern on the blonde's face.

Naruto placed a hand on her forehead under her fringe while leaning an ear over her mouth. After a few seconds he smiled and looked up at the insect-user. "She's just out of it."

He reached down and shook her shoulders softly, but the young Hyuuga didn't wake. Remembering what Hinata had spoken to him earlier to wake him up; Naruto leant down next to her ear. With the softest voice possible, he whispered into her ear. "Hina-chan…I'm not wearing any pants…"

Almost instantly her eyes flickered open, and upon seeing the blonde's smiling face she leapt up and wrapped her hands around his neck, kissing him full on the mouth as her weight dragged him down with her.

After a full minute, they both realised where they were, breaking apart with warm smiles as Naruto helped her to her feet.

"I didn't think I was going to make it out" said Hinata softly, not wanting to let Naruto go, clinging to his arm.

Naruto kissed the top of her head, "I knew you would. When I saw you weren't here, I knew."

Across from the couple, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the blonde shinobi. "Is that why you were sitting still, not even responding to questions?"

Moving his head slightly, Naruto tried to indicate to Shikamaru to stop talking, but didn't get a chance as Hinata looked at him directly in the eyes. She didn't say anything, like Neji she could read people's emotions by their facial expressions, but with Naruto it was something else entirely. Within seconds, she knew why he had done what he had, though Naruto was scrambling to explain it.

"It's just that…I knew you would be okay. I know that you are strong, and had faith that you would be okay."

Hinata tapped him on the cheek softly before slipping an arm around his waist and leaning into his side. "Let's talk about it later, Naruto-kun. Someplace where there are less people."

Naruto wasn't sure what to make of her statement, so he decided to turn his attention back to the rest of the group, trying to see if they had woken up Kiba yet.

"Is this everyone?" asked Ino, watching as Sakura healed the long cut on Lee's face, though the taijutsu-user asked her to leave the scar without giving her an explanation.

Shaking off the pink-haired girl's concern, Lee picked himself up from the ground. "Guys this whole thing was a trap. We are the only ones who survived Konoha's destruction. But their leader is dead."

"How do you know that?" asked Naruto, still not wanting to believe that all that effort had been for naught.

"When we were retreating we saved by Ne…"

"**It would seem we have underestimated you people." **

The deep voiced sentence silenced the group, causing them all to turn around in a search for the speaker. In the exact centre of the group a pocket of air appeared to tear apart to reveal a dark void within, one that caused Kakashi and Itachi's blood to freeze. Without any ceremony, a white armour-clad figure stepped out of the fissure, landing softly on the grass with a cold smile on his face. He wore old samurai-like armour with a light blue sheet covering most of his white armourplates. His skin was weathered and tanned, but the scariest thing about his appearance was his eyes. Unlike the pure light blue eyes that the two Jounin had been expecting, his irises were the colour of burnished gold, yet there was no warmth in them.

The strange warrior looked around the group with the smile still on his face, taking a moment before sighing. "Not how this was meant to go."

"Who the hell are you?" yelled out Naruto, reaching to grab his sword before realising he had left the pieces back in the Sound Village.

As one, the conscious Konoha shinobi had their weapons out, while both Kakashi and Itachi were placing their hands together to form a ninjutsu. Sakura and Ino fell back to their fallen comrades, to support their other companions if they needed to fight. There was something about the sudden arrival of the warrior that put them all on edge.

"Ah, how rude of me." The white-clad warrior gave a deep bow past his waist. "I am Shouri, the First. And you are…the survivors of that village's destruction. A shame. It was sloppy work, really."

Naruto went to charge at him, but his path was blocked by Kakashi's arm. "What are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver-haired Jounin shook his head, if his instincts were right; they needed to be very careful about how they proceed.

Shouri turned to face the one-eyed shinobi, "Kakashi? Ah, it would seem that fate is strange indeed. To think you would survive…"

"Are you part of that same group?" asked Kakashi cautiously, trying to feel out extra information. The warrior's answer would determine how they would react.

The white-clad warrior cocked his head, "You could say that. Though don't misunderstand, I'm not as hateful as her. She definitely has a way with people."

He flicked his wrists to move the light blue cloth from them before placing his palms facing outwards. "Then again, I am what I am. And leaving things unfinished just doesn't sit well with me."

Several of the group frowned at the statement, weirded out by the fact that they couldn't sense any chakra from him. Naruto took a step back, motioning for Hinata to get behind him.

"What do you want from us?" asked Shikamaru. Several of the others nodded in agreement.

Shouri turned around, "Personally? Nothing. But being who I am, I suppose retribution is in order. Shinobi no longer have a place in this world."

Kakashi's eyes widened, he knew that there was no talking to this warrior. Despite their differences in speech patterns, he recognised the same kind talk from the woman that he knew was responsible for Rin's demise. For the first time since losing it, he wished that he still had his Sharingan, though if his prior experience had anything to say it would make little difference.

The warrior took a step back, watching as a clone of Naruto emerged from the ground beneath him, barely missing his chin. With the lightest of touches, the clone dispersed into a cloud of smoke as Shouri turned to look at the blonde shinobi.

"That was rather rude of you, child. And I was considering leaving you till last."

He manipulated his fingers and white gloves appeared on his weathered skin, with black circles on the centre. The Konoha shinobi went to move against him, but found themselves unable to budge from their positions. With two flicks of his fingers all of the Konoha shinobi, including those who were unconscious on the ground, rose up into the air with their feet dangling helplessly.

Sasuke tried to activate his Sharingan as light purple domes surrounded each of them. "What the hell is going on?"

Despite being unconscious, Kiba was in the same bubble as Akamaru. However none of the others were together.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata tried to reach out to her blonde boyfriend, but as her hand touched the purple barrier she winced in pain and drew back.

The clone-user yelled back, but to no avail as none of them could move. Shouri moved sideways and the purple domes containing the Konoha shinobi followed him until they were lined up in front of him.

Naruto railed against his prison. "What the hell do you want?"

The warrior stared at him for a moment before crossing his arms slowly. "Before you go, I suppose you are entitled to a question. Ask, shinobi, before I lose my patience."

Half the group all spoke at once, but a loud crack from Kakashi silenced them all. He looked over at Itachi's bubble, and nodded slowly.

The elder Uchiha took a deep breath. "Do you know how Konoha was destroyed?"

Shouri stared at him before booming out laughing. It seemed to echo in the air for a long time before he put down his hands. "Such a cleverly phrased question. I suppose before I kill you, you are entitled on answers to that. Besides, with this whole thing messed up, it's not like I don't have the time."

Inside their prison's several of the group tried to activate techniques, but found that they couldn't mould any chakra. Neither of the Uchiha could activate their Sharingan, and Hinata wasn't able to use her Byakugan. She called out to Naruto, before signalling several hand signs to him. He smiled and signalled her back, assuring her that it would all be okay.

"I was not there. That was my elder sister's work. If I was, you'd know. Unlike my siblings, I don't generally kill my targets. I am a conqueror, that's why I am here. But Konoha…that was distasteful. And even though it wasn't her choice, she certainly does have a…finality with things."

Kakashi glared at Shouri, "So you are a group that kills people, what, because you feel like it?"

The white-clad warrior scoffed, "We only kill shinobi, don't mistake that."

"Why kill shinobi?" asked Naruto angrily.

Shouri's eyes darkened at the question, and all of them could see the anger in his body language. "As I stated before, retribution. Enough talk. There is still a whole village for me to conquer, though there will be little fun in it now."

He clapped his hands together and a shockwave boomed around him as he pulled back one hand. A golden energy emerged from his outer hand, forming a curved shape around it, while a black energy connected the middle of the golden shape to his pulled away hand.

"Is that a bow?" asked Itachi, still smarting from the previous bow-user he fought.

As he drew back the black arrow and aimed it at Kakashi's dome, he froze in place. They could all see a frown coming across his face while his eyes became unfocused. "What is it?"

He began muttering under his breath, the bow disappearing from his hands as he turned around he placed his hands on his hips.

Itachi turned his head within his prison, "Kakashi, is he…?"

"I think so. Do you see any way out of these things?" The silver-haired Jounin tried to stab at the purple barrier, but the kunai seemed to disintegrate in his hand.

Shouri turned around quickly, "Do you mind? That's quite rude you know."

His eyes unfocused again, "Well I fail to see how that is my problem. If Sensou doesn't like how things are, perhaps she should stop messing around with people and come and clean this up."

Half a minute passed without him making a sound, the Konoha shinobi still struggling to move within their purple domes, unable to substitute out without the ability to mould chakra.

The armoured warrior swore under his breath, waving his hands as the black gloves disappeared from his hands. "That's such…fine. What am I meant to do with these? If Shikyo missed them that means they are…would you let me finish? No I didn't mean that to be rude but if you would let me…okay fine, explain it to me. No, that was rhetorical, I think I get it. Fine, I'll come back. But I'm killing these shinobi; I hate it when a quest is ruined…No, I won't accept that…Bah, fine. But I am not happy about this. They will be more trouble than they are worth."

His burnished eyes refocused and he took a step back, looking over the fourteen Konoha shinobi that he had imprisoned. Almost at once they all started yelling at him, but with a tired wave of his hands they were all silenced as the purple domes covered them completely. "I suppose I need to finish up here. I certainly don't want to be late."

He looked over their petrified faces as the creepy smile returned to his weathered face. "But not all orders are to be obeyed completely. Having been denied my prize doesn't mean I can't have some satisfaction from it."

Inside their prisons he could see them yelling out at him and trying to activate their techniques, but as he put up his hands they tell there was nothing they could do to stop him. "Perhaps in another life, shinobi. I can't say it's been a pleasure, but nevertheless."

He placed his hands out so that he could see all of the purple prisons between his fingers. With a long sigh he clenched his fists, a small flash of ice blue appearing within his burnished golden eyes. As one, the purple domes collapsed in on themselves before disappearing completely, their contents included. Shouri took a moment before placing his hands down and looking over at the large patch of earth that covered the Hidden Village of the Sound.

"Such a waste. His need for chaos will be the ruin for all of us. Still, they will cause more problems this way. If what they did here is any indication, they were too strong as a group."

"**That will cost you, Shouri."**

The white-clad warrior turned around and seemed thoroughly unsurprised as a rip appeared and a figure came out to greet him. Unlike him the figure was clad in pitch black robes, his skin barely hanging onto his bones as he leant on a wooden staff.

"Come to take me back, Kyoukou? I told him I would be right there."

The ancient-looking figure sighed before tapping the ground with his staff. "You are far more subtle than you appear, Otouto. Do you honestly believe that they will do more damage this way?"

Shouri nodded slowly, placing his hands at his sides as a rip appeared to his side. "They will struggle to find each other again, not unlike how we did. They won't trust anyone, and will do more than any of Sensou's experiments."

"That is understandable, to be sure. However the method was not necessary. Many of them may not survive, which would make this venture pointless."

Placing one leg into the rip, Shouri turned to face his companion with a smirk on his face. "Then the world will be light a few shinobi. You forget our purpose, brother. Come, he is waiting."

The ancient-looking warrior sighed before stepping back into his own rip, both of the tears in the air closing as the air around the Hidden Sound became oddly silent. The drums of war had fallen silent, yet there were no victors to celebrate.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Muhahaha! Be afraid as I steal plot ideas from Final Fantasy VI and One Piece. Not much to say about this chapter really, other than this is the halfway point. Each character has their own story as they struggle to find each other.

Just to clarify, Neji isn't dead. That was the initial intention, but I've come up with a much more interesting plot idea for him. The next chapter will be a Bonus Chapter, while I consolidate the next portion of the story. Unlike Shippuden, there will be no time skip. You'll get to see all their journeys.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	22. Bonus Chapter 2 What Could Have Been

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – What Could Have Been

**A/N**: This chapter has no real bearing on the story. This is just something that I wanted to do since writing Tayuya's illusions. This is sort of a continuation of that. Imagine this as how I'd like the real Naruto story to end.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, well I'd be damn rich.

BREAK

***Inside Hinata's dream between Neji knocking her out and Separation***

"Are you sure about this, Naruto? He's only 14."

The fifth Hokage smiled at his concerned wife before waving off her worry. "It's fine, Hinata. This is the best way for him to get stronger. Besides, he asked."

Standing next to the Hyuuga clan head, the young Erika Uchiha simply shook her head. They had only just returned from a mission, and Renji was already preparing for their next venture.

Naruto smiled as he saw his son activate his Byakugan and place his hands in an offensive Hyuuga stance. "Are you ready? Remember that in the Chuunin Exams there will be many tough opponents. You can't afford to hold back. I want you to come at me with everything you've got."

Through his white eyes, Renji smiled slowly as he began to mould chakra into his hands. They had just finished the compulsory missions in their team, and as his father had before him he wanted to try his strength in the Exams. Their sensei Itachi had tried to explain how dangerous they were for rookie Genin, but once Erika had gotten it into her mind it had been fairly simple to convince Renji to participate.

Naruto stood in his Hokage robes with a wide grin on his face as his son charged towards him. While he was thankful that Renji hadn't inherited his recklessness, there were times when he wondered about his battle instincts.

From the sidelines, Erika flicked her hands slightly before placing them back inside her Uchiha kimono. Standing next to her Hinata frowned and looked down at the young Uchiha heir. "What did you just do, young lady?"

The dark haired Uchiha shrugged with a wide grin on her face. "Nothing, Hyuuga-sama." The look on Hinata's face told Erika that she didn't believe her, but she let it go nonetheless.

Naruto pulled back a fist as Renji came into his range of attack. They had sparred before, and he knew his son wasn't doing this to defeat him. Unlike himself when he was a kid, Renji was a tactical fighter. He shifted his feet slightly so that his son's Jyuuken would miss him slightly, while he moved to slam his fist into his face.

Reading the move easily, Renji ducked underneath his father's strike, but was thrown back from a kick to the chest.

Naruto grinned as his son landed perfectly and stared at him through his Byakugan. _Even after seeing he couldn't block my kick, he was able to avoid any damage. I knew those lessons with Neji were a good idea. _

Renji took a deep breath before placing his hands in front of his chest, in a way that his father was quite familiar with. His eyes widened as chakra began to form between his palms. "Did your godfather teach you that? I wanted to teach you the Rasengan myself."

The young blonde Genin didn't respond to his father, rather choosing to charge directly at the Hokage. Naruto sighed at his son's reckless form of attack, it reminded him of his own style before he had sense beaten into him, and Renji didn't have as much stamina as he did.

He brought back a hand, preparing himself to grab at Renji's wrist, the one big weakness of the Rasengan. If Kakashi had taught him correctly, Naruto figured that his son would know that, yet the white-eyed Genin still charged straight at him.

Just as the ball of chakra went to strike him in the chest, the young Genin disappeared in a flash. Naruto's eyes widened momentarily as his counter-attack struck the air where his son had been, turning around instinctively to see the serious face of his eldest child.

"RASENGAN!"

The swirling ball of chakra slammed into Naruto's chest as he stared into his son's serious white eyes. It was only for a split second, but Renji could have sworn the Hokage was smiling as he span away wildly.

Renji stood up and breathed out slowly, turning to give his mother and teammate a wide smile. Hinata waved with a smile, while Erika grinned back before casually pointing in the direction that Naruto had landed.

With a characteristic shout, the rock that the Hokage had slammed into shattered as Naruto picked himself up from the ground, casually wiping the dust off his robes. "The Hiraishin as well? Renji, my son, you are truly astounding."

The Hokage disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of his son, taking a second to ruffle his hair before driving a fist into his chest.

Renji cried out and collapsed on the ground, his father sighing again before reaching down and picking up the young boy. They both disappeared for a few seconds before Naruto reappeared with a smile on his face.

"Where did you take him?" asked Hinata, having seen how heavy the punch Naruto had given their son.

The Hokage pecked her on the cheek with a smile, "To the hospital. He's got a few fractured ribs." He turned around and walked back out to the battlefield, picking up the kunai attached to the ground with a familiar-looking seal attached to it.

He turned around and tossed the kunai towards Hinata, who let the young Uchiha standing next to her retrieve it before placing it in her pack. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Her village leader grinned widely before ruffling up her hair. He loved doing that to the kids, even though he knew they didn't like it that much. "You guys make a good team. But you might want to work on your positioning. The seal was too far away, it gave me time to react. Other than that, I think you guys are ready."

Erika had the grace to blush under his stare before disappearing in a crack of lightning.

Both Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened at her technique, taking a moment to look at each other before Naruto rolled his eyes slowly. "What is it with their generation? Do you remember us being that strong?"

Hinata giggled before placing her arm into the Hokage's. "I think you and Sasuke-kun were fairly close. Come on, you've got a meeting in a few minutes."

oOoOoOo

Naruto sighed and put down the last sheet of paper. It had taken him the rest of the day, but he had finally completed all the paperwork from a week ago. He reached out and grasped one of his cherished possessions, lighting up the end of the pipe before placing it in his mouth.

"You know that's bad for you, right?"

Taking a long drag Naruto grasped the pipe between two fingers, blowing a plume of smoke out of his mouth. "I could say the same about those books you read." He grinned and glanced up at the figure leaning on the chair opposite his desk. "I have a bone to pick with you."

His one-eyed companion smiled as he regarded the Hokage. "Renji came to me. I gather he surprised you, as intended?"

"He knew both the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. Including the Kage Bunshin, he knows more A-Grade techniques than some Jounin. It's almost frightening. And his teammate is even stronger." Naruto took a final drag before placing the pipe on its holder. Initially Hinata had balked at the idea of him smoking, but after a time she claimed to find the smell endearing, though Naruto knew she was likely just being considerate.

Kakashi laughed as he saw the despairing pride across his superior's face. "The Third always said that the next generation would overtake the first. I would say your son is destined to do the same. And don't talk to me about those books, you wrote the last three."

Naruto laughed as he glanced at the latest book poking out of Kakashi's pocket. "Don't blame me for that. Konoha needed the funding, and with Ero-sennin gone I was all that was left to write them."

They both chatted and laughed for several minutes before the door to Naruto's office opened. A scar-covered shinobi entered with an indifferent look on his face, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Oi, Naruto. You coming down or what?"

The Hokage stood up slowly before offering to show his old sensei out. "I'm coming, Shikamaru. I don't know how your wife deals with that attitude of yours."

The Nara clan head and personal advisor to the Hokage simply shrugged and leant on the side of the doorway. "With frequent beatings and the fact that she has given me four daughters."

Kakashi laughed as he walked past the lazy Jounin. "You haven't changed, Shikamaru."

With a shove, Naruto pushed them both out of his office before closing the door behind him. He had kept his robes on, primarily because they were more comfortable than regular shinobi clothes, but also because of how proud he was of the position he held.

"Where are the two of you going?" asked Kakashi, the three of them making their way down the staircase towards the village proper.

Biting at the cigarette in his mouth, Shikamaru grinned slowly, "We are going to the pub. You are welcome to come, if you feel like it?"

Kakashi shook his head slowly as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I doubt I could keep up with you guys, anyway. I've got paperwork to do."

He smiled and waved as the two middle aged shinobi walked past him and waved absentmindedly back. He sighed as he watched their backs disappear into the village. _It feels like only a few years ago they were running about as Genin. Now they've got kids of their own, and I can't be bothered trying to keep up with them. _

Reaching into his side pocket, the old shinobi produced the latest Icha Icha book, smiling as he looked at the picture of the author on the first page. Flicking through the pages, he began to walk back to his office.

oOoOoOo

The two of them passed the upgraded Ichiraku's quickly as they made their way to the pub. "How are the negotiations going?" asked Shikamaru. As the Hokage's primary advisor he handled much of the leg work, but there were things that Naruto handled himself that most of the village wasn't privy to.

With a sigh Naruto looked at the passing shinobi. "They've broken down, again. They've elected a new leader, and he doesn't listen to reason. The rest of the Kages are pushing for another war, but I don't know if we would win."

"They are that strong?"

Naruto shook his head, indicating that it wasn't the time to speak on such things. He grinned as they pushed through the entrance of the bar, looking around for their group. They both turned at once as a green-clad shinobi waved at them frantically from a large section of the bar. With a shared look and a smile, the two of them took their seats at the table.

"What took you guys so long?" asked the waver, clapping Naruto on the back. He was the only one on the table that wasn't drinking, primarily because he still hadn't overcome his propensity to rampaging when drunk. Lee wore his teacher's uniform over his shinobi green, yet still looked like he had been put through a dozen walls in the past ten minutes.

"We all know Naruto is not one for punctuality" commented a white robed drinker with a smirk. His white eyes complimented his smirk, something that Neji had been known for since his Hyuuga seal had been removed.

The Hokage pointed an accusing finger at the elder Hyuuga. "Like you can talk, Neji!"

Shikamaru sighed and ordered a round of drinks for the table as he looked over their drinking companions. All of them had their share of battle scars from wars long ago, but they all seemed to be in good spirits.

Kiba slammed down his empty mug and reached for another with a booming laugh. The Inuzuka clan head had been banned from bringing either Akamaru or his wife into the bar, mainly because both of them caused more chaos then an enemy invasion.

Sitting next to the loud shinobi was the quiet Akimichi clan head, though Chouji was happily laughing with the rest of them. They had tried to gather together like this for a long time, but as the most powerful people in the village they rarely were all free at the same time.

With a characteristic grin, Lee passed the next round around the table, taking a glass of water for himself.

Naruto nodded his thanks as he accepted the drink. "How's your daughter, Lee? Is she ready for the Exams?"

The taijutsu instructor nodded with a sip of his drink. "Her mother is giving her some last minute training. I'm telling you, she is more Sakura's child than mine."

"We're all just happy she looks like her mother and not you" said Sasuke with a smirk.

Lee looked down at his glass for a moment, "Yeah…hey! What do you mean by that?"

The table burst out laughing as Naruto clapped the bowl-headed shinobi on the back. "Relax, Lee. If your daughter had looked like you, I'm sure she would have been fine."

"Still, it is like our old team, the three of them." Sasuke leant back in his chair with a distant look in his eyes. "Who would have expected them to be so much like us?"

Naruto downed his sake quickly. "Yeah. Though they don't take after us at all. Renji is Hinata's son, through and through. He's just got my techniques."

With a sad smile, Sasuke nodded slowly. "I know how you feel. Erika is too much like her mother."

They continued chatting for a while before Naruto glanced over at the clock on the wall. Swearing under his breath, he stood up from the table. "I've gotta go. A Hokage's work is never finished."

Shikamaru frowned as a red blush slowly appeared across his forehead, one that he got whenever he drank too much. "There's nothing on the agenda for tonight, Naruto."

"It's a personal thing, Shikamaru." Naruto grinned as he dropped a small stack of bills onto the table. "Next one's on me. I've got a date to keep."

With a wave he disappeared in a crack of lightning, leaving the Konoha clan heads to their drinking.

BREAK

Hinata sighed as she straightened out the paper on her husband's desk. Naruto might be the strongest shinobi in the village, and the most dedicated, but his organisational abilities left much to be desired. With a swipe of her hand she moved all the empty ramen cups into the rubbish bin and moved it under his desk. She looked up as the door opened and an ANBU bowed and requested entrance. She had tried to tell them that they didn't need to do that in her presence, but Naruto had told her it was something she would just have to get used to. After so many years, she still struggled to think of herself as the Lady to the Hokage.

"What is it, Itachi-san?" she asked, waving the weasel-masked shinobi in with a smile.

The ANBU reached up and removed his mask, revealing the weathered yet smiling face of the elder Uchiha. It had been a difficult sell at first, but after several years the village had accepted him as one of their own.

"Observant as ever, Hyuuga-sama. I came to speak to the Hokage before we left for Kumo, but it would appear he is not here. Excuse the intrusion." He motioned to leave the room, but Hinata indicated for him to take a seat. While she didn't like the idea of having authority, when she spoke people listened. Itachi smiled and sat down on one of the chairs as Hinata leant on her husband's desk.

"Since you became my son's teacher, I've been meaning to ask you something, Itachi-san."

Itachi smiled and leant back on his chair. "Why I quit being the head of the ANBU to be your son's Jounin teacher?"

She nodded with a smile. It was the same thing Kakashi had done all those years ago. "It was a strange thing, to do that. It gave Naruto quite the headache, trying to replace you."

"Didn't he just dragoon Kakashi-senpai into taking the job?"

Hinata nodded again, she had been there for the conversation. It hadn't been hard to pull Kakashi out of retirement; the lazy Jounin had been bored out of his mind. "So? Why did you quit?"

Itachi sighed loudly and stood up slowly. "Let's just say, my niece is very convincing. Not unlike your husband."

"Yes, he is a bit like that." She glanced over at the clock on the wall before a slow smile crept onto her face. "Speaking of which, I'm sorry but I will have to cut this short. I have an engagement in a few minutes."

Itachi stood up and gave her a short bow. "Of course. Please give the Hokage my regards. And remind him that regardless of his relationship with the Raikage, he is expected at the final Exam."

Hinata nodded as Itachi left the room. In battle he was a frightening sight, but she had to admit that the former Akatsuki was the best instructor possible for their children. He had an odd mix of power, humility and an understanding of how the world worked.

Taking a few moments to finish up her cleaning of her husband's desk, Hinata left the office with a smile on her face. While she could use Hiraishin, everyone in their family could, she liked walking through the village, particularly at night.

The Hyuuga clan head made her way through the village, smiling as those she walked past greeted her with similar smiles. Glancing over at the faces on the Hokage Mountain, her smile widened as she gazed over Naruto's figure. She remembered when he had posed for the sculptor, how many times it had taken him to stop grinning wildly and let them make a serious sculpt for the mountain.

She glanced at her watch before pushing a small amount of chakra into her feet. With a single bound she leapt from the bottom of the mountainside to the top, a considerable feat. She landed lightly and breathed out slowly, taking a moment before a smile came back onto her face as she saw the figure sitting opposite her.

"It's strange to see you here before me." She sat down next to the Hokage and leant her head on his shoulder. "Normally I have to drag you here because you have no sense of time."

Naruto handed her a bottle of sake with an affectionate peck on the cheek, letting the Hyuuga clan head wrap her arms around his. "It's a special occasion. Not every day you get to celebrate something like this."

Hinata took a swig of the alcohol before nuzzling into him. Even after years of marriage they still acted like when they were teenagers, though their displays of affection had depreciated slightly. "You know I love you, right?"

Naruto took one of her hands into his, looking out over the village to the large moon eclipsing it. "I've never doubted you. Now and forever."

oOoOoOo

A few hours later they returned to their house, Naruto instantly on edge as they appeared in their bedroom with a flash.

"What is it?" asked Hinata, not able to sense anything. Due to his relationship with the Kyuubi, Naruto had near supernatural sensory abilities, and could tell when something wasn't as it should be.

He pointed to the corridor outside their closed door. "Can you look into Renji's room?"

"I promised him I wouldn't after that incident last year."

"Oh yeah…that didn't end well…" Naruto opened up the door and let Hinata walk through. He had indicated for her to follow him as they made their way through the complex. Initially their son's room had been next to theirs, but after they conceived Kushina their son had refused to return to his room.

Naruto placed an ear to the door to his son's room. "There is someone inside with him. I'm breaking the door down."

He moved back to force his way through, but Hinata blocked him with an outstretched arm. "Or, you could knock. He's a shinobi, Naruto. He can handle himself."

Her husband rolled his eyes but watched as his wife knocked on the door three times. They both heard a loud shuffling inside the roof, to which they both shook their heads and entered the room. As the two of them entered his room, Renji's white eyes widened in surprised as he pulled a large blanket up to his neck.

"Mother, Father…what are you doing here?" His room was barebones as usual; Renji didn't keep too many heirlooms in his bedroom.

Naruto stared at his son through blue eyes and was impressed at how stoic the blonde was under their gaze. "I do believe this is my house, Renji."

Hinata stared at her son's bed for a moment before smiling warmly, "You can come out dear. We won't hurt you."

They watched as a figure wriggled underneath the blanket besides Renji before a head of long black hair emerged, accompanied by dark eyes and a blushing expression. Hinata couldn't help but giggle lightly while her husband glared at their son.

"Renji…you…with her…" He took a long breath before pointing to the door. "The training yard, Renji. Now."

His blonde son scrambled out of the bed, revealing himself to be wearing just a pair of frog-covered boxers. "Let me put on a shirt, Father." A cautionary glance at the Hokage's face caused him to regret asking. "Sorry, I'll go." He left the room with his head hung.

Naruto glanced over at his wife. "Can you handle her? I think Renji has been slacking off on his taijutsu training."

"Don't hurt him too much. They have to go to Kumo tomorrow." She turned and looked at Erika with her usual cheery expression.

Naruto stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Erika found herself unable to move under Hinata's frighteningly calm gaze. She pulled the blanket up to her nose.

"Are you wearing clothes underneath there?" asked Hinata. The young Uchiha's blush deepened as she nodded slowly.

Hinata let out her breath before collecting her dress underneath her and sitting down next to the young girl. "Is this as embarrassing for you, as it is for me?"

"I don't think so, madam. The look on the Hokage's face said everything."

"Don't let Naruto get to you. He was just surprised, that's all." She turned slightly and looked at the Uchiha heir, not for the first time seeing the scary amount of talent in the young girl, though at that moment she looked tinier than Hinata did on her first date with Naruto.

"Did the two of you…you know…"

"Of course not! We were just…I don't know…"

The Hyuuga clan head laughed lightly and patted her on the head affectionately. She saw much of her husband in the young girl, and despite what her husband would inevitably say about the relationship, she thought they made a cute couple.

She reached over the bed and picked up Erika's shirt, handing it to the blushing girl with a smile. "You know we'll have to tell your father about this."

Erika's eyes widened as she dropped the blanket and threw her shirt over her bra. "I know. We knew we would have to tell you guys eventually. It's just…we might not come back from the Chuunin Exams…"

"Do you love my son?" asked Hinata bluntly.

Erika threw off the blanket and threw her feet over the side, placing them into her shoes. "I do. From before we were Genin. I don't know how to explain it…"

"I understand." She got up from the bed and walked across the room before opening the window. "You should get going. Tell your sensei to work the three of you to the bone. Some of your best experiences will come from that Exam. Don't worry, we'll hold off telling Sasuke until you guys are out of the village. Whether he comes after you that I cannot say."

Erika thanked her and went to jump out of the window, but Hinata called her back for a moment. "Be gentle with him, Erika. My son isn't as boisterous as you."

"Thanks, Lady Hyuuga. I'll keep that in mind." With a grin that did nothing to stop her blush from spreading, Erika leapt out of the window and began to run back to the Uchiha part of the village.

Hinata watched with a warm smile before turning to go check on the rest of her family. She knew that Naruto would push Renji, but not too far. She made her way slowly towards the training yard, remembering the first time her father had caught the two of them together. That was only the third time Naruto had nearly been killed, but she'd never seen him so happy as when her father was beating the stuffing out of him.

She turned a corner and looked outside, seeing her husband and son sitting beside one another with their backs to her. She stayed out of sight as she noticed the bruises on Renji's skin, though both of them seemed to be laughing and having a fun time.

Naruto took a long draught from his water bottle before clapping his son on the back. "That was a good fight. Did you learn your lesson?"

The young boy turned to his father, "What was I meant to learn, Father?"

His father glanced up at the night sky. "I…I don't know. This seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Father, you are a strange man, you know that right?" They both laughed out loud as Naruto put his arm around his son's shoulders.

"So…do you love her?"

"I…I don't know. I think so."

The Hokage smiled as he tightened his grip before letting go of the blonde Genin. "You should use the test I used with your mother."

Renji turned to face him, "With Mother?"

With a nod, Naruto grinned. "Think of it like this. When you have a tough fight, who is the person you'd want at your back?"

"Erika. Though that's more because she'd kill me for getting into a fight without her."

Naruto laughed again and clapped his son on the back before standing up and stretching his arms. "There's your answer. Now go back to bed. And if your mother asks, you were taught a lesson and are very remorseful."

Renji nodded and stood up, taking a moment before wincing in pain. His father hadn't taken it easy with him, not that he ever did. "Father…can I…keep seeing her?"

Naruto looked at him with a smile before staring directly at the spot Hinata was standing behind. "Well…I don't know. What do you think, Hinata?"

His wife laughed softly as she revealed herself, patting her son on the head affectionately before leaning her head into Naruto's shoulder. "I suppose we can deal with it. But Renji do us a favour. Wait a few years before…okay?"

To his credit, Renji's blush wasn't as deep as Elika's had been, but it was fairly close in Hinata's mind. With a smile and a slight bow he returned to his room.

Naruto sighed and sat back down on the ground, his wife sitting down next to him before leaning her head on his lap, letting him stroke her hair affectionately.

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

"I don't know how you deal with all this stuff, Naruto. I'm exhausted."

Naruto smiled and kissed her on the forehead, "I have amazing people around me. You ready for bed?"

He looked down to see what her response was, but the white-eyed mother of two was already asleep, her arms tightly gripped on his legs.

"I guess that's enough for one day."

BREAK

**Author's Note**:

This was purely just for my own amusement. Not much else to be said, really.

The next set of chapters might take more than a week each to post, but I want to write them right.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	23. Chapter 21 SHIKA  Desert Winds

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 21 – Shikamaru - Desert Winds

**A/N**: Welcome to the second half of the story. Each of these chapters will be centred on a character and their story. This chapter, and a few after it, will focus on Shikamaru. Then it'll be onto the next character.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more adventures in Suna.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After defeating the Sound Four, the Konoha forces retreated back to their rally point outside the village, though not entirely without incident. Having found the remains of the Konoha survivors and destroying them, Neji then found three Sound Genin locked up in a prison. With a promise on their assistance, he freed Dosu, Zaku and Kin, removing their debilitating Cursed Seals with ease. With their help he confronted the de facto Sound Village leader clone, Kabuto. With a single blow he felled the fake Kabuto and exposed his experiments to the shinobi of the village. As they moved to flee the village, Lee's group was on the verge of being overrun, until they were saved by Neji's intervention. With a promise to catch up to them, Neji blocked off the path and faced an overwhelming number of Sound shinobi, resigning himself to death. In the hope that he would catch up with them, Lee's group met up with the rest of the Konoha group. However before they could organise a rescue mission for Neji, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Underneath his fingers, all he could feel around him was dust and hot sand. His vision hadn't returned yet so he wasn't willing to try picking himself up from the ground, but judging from the dry taste in his mouth, Shikamaru didn't think he was in the Land of Rice Fields anymore.<p>

He felt around the area with his left hand, feeling the dry sand between his fingers. After a few seconds he felt the pressure beneath his hand disappear, to which Shikamaru instantly retracted his hand.

_Where the hell am I?_

A dry wind suddenly slammed into his face, causing him to drag along the ground with it. Still unable to open his eyes, Shikamaru felt the ground beneath his legs give way, as if a strange force was pulling him along the ground.

With a burst of chakra, Shikamaru dug his fingers into the ground, crying out in pain as the skin on his hands began to tear as he dragged along the ground.

_Shit…I've got to open my eyes…_

The empty feeling came up to his waist; it took nearly all of Shikamaru's strength in his hands to stay steady. With an unbelievable amount of effort, he was able to open his eyes, barely. A bright light assaulted him immediately, followed by a huge gust of sand straight into his face.

He swore under his breath and went to shield his eyes with one of his hands, until he realised that if he were to move one of his hands, he would likely fall down to whatever was pulling him down.

_I can't sense anyone around me. Come on Shikamaru. You can't let something like this take you down._ With an uncharacteristic roar, his opened his eyes despite the onslaught of sand. Further digging his hands into the ground, the point that he could barely feel them, Shikamaru attempted to launch himself straight forward, expending a large amount of chakra. His body crashed into the sand several metres forward from his original position.

Shikamaru cried out in pain as he looked down at his bloody fingers, wincing as the sticky red substance became covered by small chunks of sand. "Of all the places…"

With a glance around his surroundings and a wipe of his eyes to get the sand out, Shikamaru turned around so that his back was against the wind. As he saw what would have been his demise, he just rolled his eyes and fell onto his back.

_I'm a genius, I swear. I just have moments like…this. _

The cliff that he had landed on, and nearly fallen off of, was an almighty two metres high, with smooth stones covering the sides. _All that trouble…_

Another gust of wind slammed into him, covering his face with hot dry sand. He sat up and coughed up a heap of sand onto his chest. Glancing over at the ridge he had almost 'died' at, Shikamaru dragged himself to the edge before rolling over it, grimacing as he landed on smooth stone and positioned himself so that he was protected from the wind.

With a groan he looked up at the stifling hot sun that was beating down on him, as the wind continued to storm above him. "Where am I? Is this Suna? Bah, I won't be able to tell until this storm is finished. Stupid troublesome desert."

He reached into the small pack at his side, feeling around for a moment before sighing. He produced a small water bottle and removed the lid, sighing again. "Not even half full. I'd better ration it. Who knows how long I might be here."

The sandstorm lasted long into the night, only receding once it was past midnight. After making sure the storm had finished, Shikamaru moved over the ridge and swung his feet over the edge. The night had gotten surprisingly cold, but he didn't want to risk a fire in case there were enemies around.

With his regular disinterested look, Shikamaru stared up at the night sky, sighing as he realised that he didn't recognise any of the stars in the sky. At a quick glance there didn't appear to be any landmarks in his immediate area, and Shikamaru suspected that he wouldn't find any of his companions in the area either.

_Whoever that person was, he wanted to separate us because we were a threat as a group. Which is strange considering we were completely at his mercy and so easily defeated by him. He also admitted compliance in the destruction of Konoha…damn, none of this makes sense. _

He laid out his pack in front of him, taking an account of his supplies. _I've got about two days' worth of food, and about the same amount of water. It's going to be troublesome without a tent though…_

Looking back up at the chilly night sky, he spied the small moon high above him. Taking a few moments he calculated where north was before crossing his legs and stuffing his belongings back into his pack.

_This desert seems to go forever in every direction. The only place I know of that size would be the Land of Wind. If I move north-east…I might hit civilization before I die of starvation. _

With a final sigh he fell onto his back and continued staring at the night sky. _No point in going now. I'm still sore from the battles in the Sound Village. Bah, so troublesome. _

oOoOoOo

After a few hours of walking, it occurred to Shikamaru to rip off a part of his shirt to wrap around his face, since the moment he had set off the sandy wind had nearly knocked him off his feet. Having to continuously check his bearing made his progress very slow, and a cautionary check of his chakra levels didn't give him much hope either. It took all of his energy just to put one foot in front of the other as the wind continued to try and buff him back.

He chewed on a nutrient bar and stopped at a dead spiked tree to gather his strength. Shikamaru didn't consider himself a stamina-freak like Naruto, but it was taking more energy than he would have thought to move through the blistering hot desert. As chilly as the night had been, the day was a harsh dry heat that didn't seem to want to relent.

_If that warrior wanted me to suffer, this is certainly the best way to do it. There are no ways to relax here at all. I feel like if I were to stop, I'd turn to dust. _He breathed out slowly and took a swig from his water bottle, keeping a close eye on its levels.

He pushed off the dead tree and continued moving to the north-east, praying that he would find some form of life before his supplies ran out. He had wrapped his hands with bandages to keep them from being infected, but they had started to get numb, though he wasn't sure whether that was just because of the cold from the night or not.

A frown came over his face as he wiped the sweat off his face. Across the horizon line he could barely make out a few objects that he hadn't seen before during his trek. His eyes widened as he drew closer, seeing a small pair of huts amidst a group of flush green trees. A smile grew on Shikamaru's face, the shadow-user breaking out in a run towards the apparent sanctuary.

Each step drew the area closer towards him, Shikamaru wincing as his eyes started to ache. _I feel like I haven't slept in days. What the hell is up with this desert? It'll be fine once I reach those huts…I could use the shelter._

Hot sand continued to collect through his clothing, yet the closer Shikamaru felt he was getting to the housing, the more distorted his vision became. Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear the view, Shikamaru sighed and lent on his knees panting.

"A…damn…mirage…" The wind around him had settled down, but even as the sun was slowly making its way towards the horizon it was still blistering hot.

He grabbed at his water bottle and placed the lid to his lips, feeling an uncontrollable urge to both quench his thirst, and throw up what little he had eaten. After a few seconds Shikamaru realised that no water was coming out. He frantically tried to look inside the canister, his eyes widening in panic when he saw that it was completely empty. _That's impossible! I haven't been walking for more than five or six hours…haven't I? It's hard to keep track of time here…but surely I haven't drunken all of my water already. I had two days' worth._

He looked around his surroundings quickly, spying a small boulder that was strangely smooth on the top. He placed the bottle on top of the rock before clapping his hands together. _If this doesn't work, I'll have wasted a large chunk of my remaining chakra for no reason. _

Quickly he ran through the handseals before clapping his hands together again. There was a part of him that wished he had trained harder so that he wouldn't be in such a predicament, but Shikamaru knew that there was no changing his personality, no matter what the rest of the group might think.

"Suiton…um…don't really have a name for the technique…ah bugger it." With a small amount of chakra he attempted to create a small amount of water from pure chakra. Unfortunately due to his inexperience with the water element, instead of a small amount just to fill the bottle, a large pool of water appeared above him, hovering momentarily before crashing down all over him.

He sighed in momentary relief, the water wasn't cold, the desert air had made sure of that, but nevertheless it cooled him off, until he sank to his knees with a wince._ Even just that amount, I feel like I've run a marathon. This place…_

Shaking his head in a vain attempt to dry himself, an action he instantly realised was pointless in a desert; Shikamaru looked down at his water bottle before smiling slowly. The canister was brimming to the top with water, as the surroundings were already drying in the descending sun's heat. He picked up the canister and eyed it cautiously. Elements made from chakra had strange properties at times, but Shikamaru was gambling that it was still drinkable.

He placed the lid to his lips and took a tiny sip, feeling the warm water trickle down his throat. It had a slightly sweet taste, but as far as Shikamaru could tell it was normal water. He sighed in relief and twisted the cap on; making sure none of the precious resource would leak out.

Shikamaru performed another check of his chakra levels, and as he suspected the amount of chakra required to produce water of drinkable quality was more then he would be able to feasible recover. Another technique like that, and he would struggle to defend himself against any basic level of foe. _This is all the water I'll be able to create, even with a proper night's rest. Travelling in this desert is killing my stamina. But now I have four days' worth of water. So I won't run out of water before I run out of food. Still, my situation hasn't gotten much better. I don't think I made too much progress today either._

Sitting down on the ground to catch his breath, Shikamaru watched the sun descend past the horizon as the sky began to darken to a deep orange. Even in his situation, as royally screwed as he calculated himself to be in, Shikamaru could appreciate the natural beauty of a desert sunset.

Caught in the moment, it took Shikamaru a few minutes before he realised that he wasn't in a good position to rest for the coming night. The Nara heir leapt up and continued moving in what he assumed was still north-east, hoping to find a rock face or something that he could huddle behind, in case there was a storm during the night.

oOoOoOo

Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. In the blistering heat Shikamaru found it extremely difficult to keep track of the time, but after his food ran out he didn't care so much.

He placed his water bottle back into his pack with a sigh. He had calculated that the water should have lasted for four days, but even with only taking sips when absolutely necessary the canister was now empty, after only two and a half days. _It's as if the desert is actively trying to kill me. _

It took all of his stamina just to put one foot in front of the other, Shikamaru still not seeing any end in sight. After three days in the desert he had learnt two things.

The first thing was that the only forms of life in this hell were insects and crows, neither of which were particularly edible. Shikamaru's stomach was still aching from a vain attempt to eat a scorpion he had caught.

The second thing, which was less important but more worrying, was that as he continuing walking towards the empty horizon line he noticed that the desert air had caused his vision to play tricks on him, such as mirages like the huts or even pools of water and trees that he knew couldn't be real.

To his alarm he had realised that he wasn't recovering chakra during the night either, and that he no longer had the capacity to even use his family's techniques, let alone to create more water to survive on.

His skin had become cracked, and he could taste blood on his lips, yet Shikamaru continued to push forward, though he could feel like every step was heavier than life. The sun above him continued to beat down on him; the heat was particularly unbearable today. Shikamaru panted heavily as he placed another foot forward, the sand between his foot and sandal was stinging his skin.

Spying a convenient comfortable-looking rock, Shikamaru planted himself on top of it, placing his hands on his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. Even breathing was painful, causing Shikamaru to lie down and place his head on top of his pack.

_Just…for a few minutes…_

"Giving up already? That's very like you, Shikamaru."

The Nara heir opened his eyes slowly, he recognised the voice immediately, but wanted to see for himself whether it was true. To his amazement, he saw the grinning face and smoke covered form that he had been so accustomed to. He shook his head as he sat up slowly, keeping an indifferent look on his face. "Pleasant as always, Asuma-sensei."

His grinning teacher was wearing his Jounin outfit, with his forehead protector and customary cigarette hanging out of his mouth, the retired shinobi sitting opposite Shikamaru with a hand on his face. "Seems like you are in a bit of a situation, Shikamaru."

"I could go without the lecture, Asuma-sensei. It hurts just to talk."

Asuma breathed out slowly before chewing on his cigarette. "You just going to stay there forever? I know you give up easily, but you really will die if you stay here."

Shikamaru frowned as he looked at his former teacher. "I'm not giving up, not like normal. I'm not like you."

"Not like me? What do you mean?" Asuma flicked away his finished cigarette before producing another one, lighting another one with a similar frown to his old student's.

"You left us." Shikamaru leant on his knees as he stared at his former teacher. "You gave up once the situation looked bad, and left all the difficult decisions to us. You abandoned us." He didn't realise it before, but at the sight of the Sarutobi survivor all of his pent up frustrations seemed to come to the surface.

"Eh?" Asuma puffed out a large cloud of smoke. "You know why we left the group. It was to protect Airi from the world. You know, my unborn daughter?"

Shikamaru waved off Asuma's statement. "I know, and I realise that is as good an excuse as any. But you didn't fight for us! You should have made us stay, or at least tried to stop us."

Asuma's eyes widened as he reached up and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. He stood up and threw away the half-finished white stick. "You don't know what you are talking about. You aren't a father; you've never had to make those kinds of decisions."

Using what little strength he had left, Shikamaru pushed himself up from his rock before shouldering past Asuma and positioning himself to continue through the desert. "No, I'm not. But I would have fought a lot harder for the kids I would have considered like my children. Now get out of here. I don't have much time left."

Shikamaru didn't have to look behind him as he continued to push forward, knowing that he had no time for apparitions, particularly of ones that were so distracting.

He kept moving forward, feeling the weight of the pack on his back as heavy as the first time he attempted to pick up his father's alcohol barrel as a kid. _I…have…to…get…through…this…_

"You appear to be struggling…Shikamaru."

As before, Shikamaru recognised the voice, however he didn't stop moving, preferring to keep pushing forward. "I don't have time for you. There are places I need to be."

The voice beside Shikamaru chuckled in a deep tone. "You've grown, Shikamaru. Shame you are still going to die, but in the least I am proud of that fact."

The Nara heir let out a tired smile, turning his head to face the figure walking beside him. "I suppose that is something. Did you ever go through something like this, Father?"

"Not like this. Though this does remind me of when I was walking down the aisle to marry your mother." Konoha's destruction had agreed with the Nara clan head, Shikaku had an odd swagger about him, though Shikamaru noticed the red blush on his father's face. His father wasn't considered an alcoholic, mainly because most it was an act to amuse himself, but it still caused his son discomfort to see his father is such a state.

Shikamaru balked at the wind, it seemed to be picking up. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a sandstorm developing in the distance, there was no shelter around anywhere that he could see, but the desert around him had been wavy and unreliable to look at since the day before yesterday.

He coughed into his hand, feeling a stinging pain in his chest as he did so. Looking at his palm, Shikamaru breathed out slowly and tried not to think about it as he wiped the blood onto his shirt. "I'm sure Mother would love that story. Perhaps I should tell her the next time I see her."

Shikaku laughed with a smile across his face, clapping his son on the back. "You are a cruel child."

His father pointed in the direction they were walking. "You've got to get through this desert first. And it doesn't look like you'll make it very far."

"Shut up. I'm not dead yet." Shikamaru tried to force the apparition away, but as he moved an arm through his father's figure, it struck against his body like it was actually there.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in alarm. "I…I don't understand. Aren't you a hallucination brought on by heat stroke?"

"Am I?" His father patted himself down, taking a few moments before shrugging in a particularly Shikamaru-ish way. "I feel fairly solid. Perhaps you just don't want me to be real. That hurts my feelings, I feel like a failure as a parent."

His son stopped and turned momentarily, staring at his father with his best are-you-kidding-me look. He reached out and poked his father on his flak jacket, frowning as he felt the familiar pressure under his finger. Shaking his head, he stepped back. "I…don't understand. How is this…possible?"

Shikaku grinned and patted him on the head affectionately. Shikamaru had no clue how to respond, his father had never interacted with him in that manner before.

"Perhaps you should take a moment and collect your thoughts."

The lost shinobi looked down at the ground for a second; the wavering sandy ground looked far more appealing than Shikamaru would have thought. With tired eyes he glanced back up around the two of them, frowning as he saw a veritable forest of pine trees and pools of water around him.

He looked back up at his father, noticing a slight distortion in the Nara clan head's face between his grin and the scar that ran across his face.

"I'm going to die here, aren't I?"

His father stared at him for a moment before turning around slowly. "Probably."

"Fantastic." Rubbing his tired eyes, Shikamaru coughed a few times into his hand before pushing his feet through the sand, towards his intended direction. "Come on, I think it's this way."

His father shrugged and followed Shikamaru. "Do you know where you are going?"

"Yeah. This way." The sand had begun to rage around him, with the desert ground growing up to his knees.

"Any regrets?" He knew his father was trying to get him to stop, but Shikamaru no longer cared. After losing his water it occurred to him that there was nothing he could do about it, but unlike his usual response to such scenarios Shikamaru didn't want to just give up. There was a part of him that refused to let such a place defeat him, particularly in the face of his old teacher and his father.

With a sigh, he kept pushing forward. "A few, I guess. I…guess I wish I'd had the chance to have something like Naruto did, or you and Mother."

Shikaku's grin dropped slightly as a solemn look appeared across his face. "I can understand that. Didn't you get close though? With that Suna girl?"

His son chuckled sadly. "I'm sure she has forgotten about me. Besides, we didn't leave on the best of terms."

"That's a shame. She seemed like a nice girl."

"You clearly didn't know her. She was more troublesome than Mother, and that is saying something."

He chuckled again and turned to say something else to his father. To his dismay, there was only sand and wind around him. He sighed for the last time and struggled as he moved forward. The sand was up to his waist, and was nearly impossible to move through.

_This…won't…_

He never got to finish his thought.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru opened his eyes slowly, feeling a cool breeze over his face. He found himself sitting on his favourite bench in Konoha, staring at the clouds without a care in the world.<p>

"The clouds sure are nice today…"

_His blood pressure is dropping! We need to start VTAC, and reconnect that drip._

He was thrown off his bench as the building beneath him collapsed, dozens of small explosions at its base causing Shikamaru to begin to fall with the debris.

_He's seizing! Get the straps down…no I need twenty CCs, not fifteen. _

His shinobi training kicked in immediately, Shikamaru jumping off the falling rock with a huff. With a pulse of chakra he slung a kunai with wire attached to a nearby building that was conveniently not collapsing. He pulled himself into the wall, bouncing off it with his sandals, landing easily on the ground.

"What the hell is going on?"

_He's beginning to stabilize. Take him to Recovery, but keep a close eye on his vitals, I don't want him to...wait he's bleeding internally! Get a transfuse pack, and we need a donor. _

Shikamaru winced in pain and fell to one knee, grimacing as he reached down and wrenched out the three kunai that had imbedded themselves in his side. He cried out in pain as blood trickled down his side, Shikamaru using one of them to block another two kunai that were thrown at him.

He looked around for the attackers, or for any allies that he could assist, but instead the building behind him exploded, sending him flying forward into the debris. His ears started ringing as he tried to stop his body from landing badly, but even when his shadows moved up to cushion the blow he still felt an agonised spike of pain in his back.

"Gah!" Shikamaru tried to pick himself up from the ground, but was pushed down as he felt a boot-like pressure on the back of his neck. "What the…"

He didn't get a chance to finish his exclamation; he felt a blade dig into his spine, taking a few seconds before pulling itself out of his back.

_What the hell is with this patient? He's bleeding internally, he's dehydrated almost to the bone and even with our care he's slipping away. It's like some force is trying to kill this man. Bring the pads, I'm cracking his chest. If he doesn't wake from this, then he won't wake. _

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru opened his eyes again, however this time he found himself staring into darkness. With several blinks he noticed a small flame off in the distance.

Seeing no other option, Shikamaru tested his footing before making his way towards the light source. It didn't take him long to notice that the flame was a large campfire, with dozens of logs surrounding it. On closer inspection, Shikamaru saw that hundreds of figures were sitting around it, drinking and laughing together. He wondered why he hadn't heard it earlier, but after seeing who they were and hearing their voices, it became clear what had happened.

He spied the two people he was looking for, not saying a word as he sat down next to them. The man looked at him sadly for a moment before passing him a mug of beer. The woman sitting next to him frowned at the man with a harsh look that Shikamaru was quite familiar with. The man stayed strong for a new record, but after one point seven seconds he caved, taking the beer back and drinking it sheepishly.

"Even here you are really harsh, Mother."

Shikamaru chuckled and put up his hands, feeling the warmth on his skin. Even when he saw his mother dig a fist into his father's head, Shikamaru felt a strange sense of comfortableness. He had his suspicions on where he was, but for the moment he didn't want to mention it.

He looked around, noticing many of the familiar faces he knew from home around the fire. With a sigh, he noticed Gai laughing with the Third Hokage.

"So I'm dead then?" he asked, recognising many of their deceased parents amongst the revellers.

His father turned to face him. "I suppose so. Do you feel dead?"

Shikamaru looked down and stared at his hands. "I don't want to be dead. I have things I need to do."

His father laughed and clapped him on the back. "And you think we didn't? It is a rare shinobi who gets to choose when he dies."

Shikamaru watched as several dozen of the Konoha deceased began dancing and laughing boisterously, without a care in the world. He was surprised to see how happy most of them were, though some of the parents were clearly discouraged by his appearance.

He stood up slowly before turning to his parents. "I refuse to believe this is it. I know I'm normally lazy, and don't care about how things happen around me…but I have to get back to the others. We need to be supporting each other."

Shikaku pulled away his wife's arm from around his shoulder and stood up from their log, standing only a little bit taller than his fifteen year old son. The old Nara clan head placed a hand on his son's shoulder, smiling as he had before, which still unsettled the younger shadow-user.

"Shikamaru, you really are a fool." His father brought back a fist, but before he could strike him, the punch went straight through Shikamaru's face, as if it wasn't even there.

Shikaku frowned and took a step back. "Hmm…perhaps you aren't as dead as you thought."

His son stared back at his hands, his eyes widening as he saw his skin outline slowly began to fade away. He looked back up to his parents, and upon seeing their smiling faces he couldn't hold it in any longer. He wanted to reach out and hug them one last time, but even with tears streaming down his face uncharacteristically he felt himself being pulled away.

His father chuckled in his deep voice, taking a moment before sitting back down next to his wife. He wiped a single tear from his face before putting an arm around Shikamaru's mother. "Baka…what kind of man cries in front of his parents…"

The Nara clan head wiped his eyes again with his free hand. "Take your time, son. Your mother and I aren't going anywhere."

Shikamaru's mother pulled on her husband ear with a frown before smiling sweetly at her son. "But make sure you have some kids first! We want to hear all about them!"

Her son chuckled with a grin, but before he could say anything else he vanished completely from the campfire. His parents glanced at each other for a few moments before both smiling slowly.

"You don't think we were too hard on him?" asked Shikamaru's mother.

Shikaku picked up another mug of beer and took a sip slowly. "I don't know what you are talking about. I wasn't harsh at all." He got in two gulps before being forced to spit it out violently as his head went crashing down into the ground.

* * *

><p>The last two times Shikamaru awoke from sleep, it was a moderately peaceful experience. This time Shikamaru was awake for four seconds before screaming out in pain and collapsing.<p>

oOoOoOo

Despite not being able to see anything, Shikamaru could sense several figures hovering around him. He felt his arms and legs restrained, and the extreme pain he had previously woken up to had been replaced with a dull aching.

"Do you think he'll ever wake up?" He didn't recognise the voice, but there was a strange tenderness to the young female voice.

He heard another female voice giggle for a few seconds. "Oh please, you just want to get into his pants the moment he wakes up."

"I've been in his pants. Why do you think I've been taking such good care of him?"

Shikamaru grimaced and tried to wake himself up. _They must be nurses or someth…wait she's been in my pants? Damnit…I need to get up._

"Hey, I think his face just twitched."

"He's in a coma, Mitsuko. That has been happened for the past two months, give it a rest."

_WHAT? _He tried to strain his muscles, but found almost no strength in his body, though he was barely able to slightly open his eyes. He grimaced in pain at the light, but sighed in relief as he felt the dulling sensation from before.

"Okay, you saw that right?"

"Quick, call the doctor! I think he's going to wake up!"

Shikamaru struggled to open his eyes again, this time able to pull up his head slightly to see a white-clad figure run out of a nearby doorway. Within a few seconds he recognised the room as a hospital room, and that he was in fact strapped to the bed.

Suddenly his vision was covered by a young female nurses smiling face. With usual teenage-boy ability, Shikamaru was stunned by how pretty she was, even as she was poking him to register his responses.

The unnamed nurse placed a comforting hand on his, letting Shikamaru enjoy the warm yet soft skin on her hands as she went about fiddling with the several tubes attached to his arms.

"Well isn't this just a surprise? We thought you would never wake up." She had an almost musical voice, but as Shikamaru struggled to open his mouth to respond she giggled softly and placed her other hand on his forehead, staring at her watch.

"You won't be able to talk for a little bit. We had to repair your vocal cords and most of your lungs from scratch. Your survival is somewhat of a miracle story around here. The doctors didn't give you any chance."

She smiled in a manner that would have caused Shikamaru to blush, if she hadn't pressed a button on a nearby device that caused Shikamaru to suddenly become very sleepy.

"I must say though, I didn't expect such a thing from him. Out of all of us, he's the least spiteful, but this is impressive work." Struggling to keep himself awake, Shikamaru was suddenly very aware that he didn't know where he was, or even who this nurse was. Her voice had lost its musical properties, sounding almost icicle.

He felt his eyes drooping, but though his hazy vision he watched in horror as the nurse's face smile turned into an angry frown as her hair seemed to grow out past her shoulders and change from a light brown to an almost blood red. Her stunning blue eyes changed from a full blue to a chilling ice blue with a thin red ring around her irises. He would have still considered her a pretty-looking girl, but there was something about the change in her demeanour that made Shikamaru want to be anywhere but underneath her hands.

She placed a hand on his exposed chest, Shikamaru able to feel through his skin the sheer amount of strength she seemed to have, just the lightest touch gave him the impression that she could put her hand through his chest with little effort.

"I had other things to do you know. Travelling out to this awful desert was not part of the plan. But no, Shouri just had to have his little tantrum." She patted him on the chest and smiled at him again, but Shikamaru couldn't feel any warmth in her expression. "We aren't quite done with you, little shinobi. You will die when you have fulfilled your purpose."

Shikamaru tried to fight against the drugs pumping through his system, but as he felt his world darken the last image he saw was of the nurse smirking with a look that Shikamaru was quite familiar with. It was one that he had been told he adopted when everything when according to his plan, and he had caught the enemy off-guard. _Da…mn…it…_

* * *

><p>Staring out of the window in his hospital room, Shikamaru had to admit that despite its propensity towards sandstorms, Suna was a nice looking shinobi village. He had seen it before during the Chuunin Exams, but sitting on his soft bed he was able to see the shinobi village from a different viewpoint. During the Chuunin Exams the entire village had been in a heightened state of alertness, they barely saw the villagers at all and were only able to go to certain areas of the village.<p>

Through his window Shikamaru was able to see the robed villagers flitting from one shop to another, as little children laughed and played with large balls in the sand-laden streets.

The fallen shinobi turned at once as he heard the door to his room opening. A young blonde nurse entered with a tray of food, placing it down on the table next to his sheet-covered bed with a blushing smile. "Are we feeling any better?"

Shikamaru smiled back, he had been courteous to the nurses but cautious as well considering his last encounter with one of them. Apparently the nurse who was called Mitsuko had disappeared, but the other nurses said she did that all the time so they weren't worried. Shikamaru felt the need to be cautious all the time, they may not know who he is, but this was still another shinobi village and an enemy had already identified herself to him.

"I've gotten some more feeling back in my arms" he said softly. It had taken him two weeks of bed rest to recover the ability to talk. It would have taken less time, but Shikamaru didn't want to let on to the fact that he was a shinobi by using chakra to heal himself. While he doubted that Suna had anything to do with the destruction of Konoha, those responsible had already identified themselves, but seeing the village from his window he could already see that Suna was prospering. It wasn't something he could describe easily, but the people in the village seemed happier or at the very least more productive than a year ago.

The nurse placed a hand on his forehead and checked his temperature before pushing him back to check his bandages. "Pretty soon you'll be ready to be up and moving around" she said with the cute smile that nurses are known for.

She indicated to the tray she brought in. "You need to eat quickly. The doctor will be in about twenty minutes to ask you a few questions. Now that you've recovered sufficiently, the hospital will need you to fill out a few forms."

"I'm surprised you guys took so long. I've been here for nearly three months, right?" Shikamaru pulled up the lid on the tray and stared at the food presented to him. It wasn't a particularly interesting tray of food, but Shikamaru had only just recovered his appetite, so he gladly dug in.

After finishing his meal and waiting for the nurse to leave, Shikamaru took an account of his injuries. _Few more days and I should be able to be on the move. It's strange that I was the only one to appear here, but if his goal was to separate and kill us it is likely that the others are in similar situations. I can't stay here much longer._

The door to his room slammed open, causing Shikamaru to flinch as he watched a bored looking man march into his room with a chart in his hands. "You the idiot that got himself lost in the desert?"

Shikamaru brought up the blanket around his shoulders. "That sounds like me. You're here to ask me some questions, right?"

The doctor shook his head and brought up one of the rolling chairs in the room, sitting on it backwards and leaning on the back with his arms. "Takes a special kind of idiot to get stuck in that part of the desert with no supplies or companions. I suppose we can just go ahead and tick the box for sustained head injuries. Unless you have a good reason for being in the desert in the first place?"

He stared at the Nara heir for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and scribbling on the chart with a pen. "That's what I thought. Okay let's have a look…"

He flicked through several sheets on the chart before his eyes widened at what he read. "Kid, you should be dead. Several times over. Dehydration, heat stroke, six broken ribs, four cases of blood poisoning...and burnt out lungs and throat. Either you've got some serious healing skills for a civilian, or you have something serious to live for."

"How long until I can leave?" asked Shikamaru, hoping that the doctor's boredom wouldn't lead to too much probing. He had thought of a cover story, but wasn't sure whether it would hold under inspection.

The doctor flicked back through the chart pages to the first form. "Well I'll get your details, and we'll see about getting you moving." He pulled up his pen, "What is your name and occupation?"

"I'm Shikamaru…Natsume. I was a…teacher." Shikamaru initially didn't want to use his real first name, but he figured it was less likely for him to mess up if he gave it. He kept a straight face as he described the fake village and what he taught.

Throughout Shikamaru's story the doctor nodded slowly, writing down key pieces of information. As Shikamaru had suspected, the doctor didn't pay too much attention so the holes in his story weren't explored.

"Alright, alright. I asked for your name and occupation, not your life story. Some people just don't shut up." He covered up the chart and stood up from his chair. "Everything looks fine. Now I know you are probably uncomfortable being in a shinobi village, but the shinobi are surprisingly friendly to us civilians. Just don't mess with their missions, and you'll fit right in."

Shikamaru frowned and sat up in his bed. "Fit right in? I need to get back to my people."

The doctor laughed, almost knocking over the chair in front of him. "You…oh that's right, you are an outsider, so you don't know." He walked across the room and indicated to the village through the window. "Suna is a shinobi village. Since the destruction of the Hidden Village of the Leaf, every shinobi village has been on heightened alert, but Suna has been accepting refugees regularly. The only requirement is that you don't leave the village. It's a safety precaution. Don't worry, life here is alright."

Shikamaru watched him amble out of the room, breathing out slowly as he took account of the situation. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stay in the village once he was released, but escaping the village would be difficult at best.

oOoOoOo

Two days later Shikamaru was allowed out of his bed and escorted around to test his legs. It hadn't been difficult to convince the blonde nurse to escort him to the roof. From his previous experiences in Suna, he knew that the skies over the Sand Village were surprisingly beautiful, not what he had expected from a desert town at all.

"We can only stay here for a few minutes" said the nurse, showing him to a bench and assisting him in sitting down. Shikamaru knew he was almost completely recovered, but he still put on the act, there was something about the blonde nurse that endeared her to him.

Shikamaru smiled warmly at her and accepted her help in sitting down on the bench, allowing him to stare up into the clear sky. It was an almost clear blue morning, with only a few shapely clouds in otherwise perfect weather. Shikamaru hadn't expected the desert to feel so cool, yet with only a slight breeze it felt quite relaxing to just sit there and stare at the sky.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a small commotion at the bottom of the hospital, figuring it to just be another injury emergency. In the month he had been recovering from after awakening he had seen that the hospital had a frightening turnover of patients, their medical expertise wasn't as in depth as Shizune's, but they had the numbers of doctors to compensate.

The blonde nurse looked over the edge of the rooftop in the direction that Shikamaru saw the commotion, an odd smile forming across her face. She moved back from the edge before walking slowly towards him. "It's about time."

There was something about her tone that instantly put Shikamaru on edge, but before he could do anything he felt himself pinning to the bench as she leapt on top of him. Suddenly he was very aware of how close she was as he felt her legs on top of his and the distinct smell of her orange-like perfume. Without ceremony she placed both hands around his neck and planted her lips onto his, driving her tongue into his mouth while the Nara heir could do nothing but kiss her back.

After ten seconds she released her lips from his, sighing in pleasure as she climbed off him and stood opposite him. Shikamaru found that while he could move again, all he could really do was stare at her with a dumb expression on his face, unable to say anything intelligible.

She licked her lips seductively before smiling in a way that Shikamaru swore he would remember for the rest of his life. "Hmm…not quite as good as that red-eyed one, but you have your own charms."

After taking several long breaths to calm himself down, Shikamaru groaned as he stood up from the bench, staring at the nurse's full chest for a few seconds before remembering where he was. He coughed awkwardly before looking into her eyes, which confirmed his suspicions. "You are part of the same group as that other nurse" he said, staring at her ice blue eyes.

The seductive look on the blonde nurse changed slowly to a wicked grin, as her eyes developed a small red ring around her irises. "I would think so, since we are one in the same. Consider that a parting gift, Nara Shikamaru. Where you are going, there won't be much of that."

"Who says I'll be going alone?" asked Shikamaru, a slow grin developing on his face. He indicated down to the ground, showing the nurse his sprung trap. "Kagemane no Jutsu, successful."

She looked down at their connected shadows, taking a moment to smile before looking back up at the shadow-binder, who was unsettled even more by the fact that she was able to move her head like it was nothing. It took him a few moments, he wasn't a particularly strong sensor, but he finally clicked onto the fact that she didn't have any chakra emanating from her, the same way as the white-clad warrior that had put him in the desert.

"Such a shame…you won't catch me so easily, shinobi." A large rip in the air appeared behind the nurse, whose blonde hair has begun to adopt a darker red colour that Shikamaru was familiar with.

He cancelled his binding technique, it was clear that it was pointless and he had the feeling he would need all the chakra he could mould. "Just who are you people? Why did you destroy Konoha?"

The fake nurse paused from her escape and turned back around to face him. Her wicked grin changed again, this time Shikamaru couldn't mistake the sheer amount of hatred in her expression. "We are chaos. The world of shinobi has existed for too long, and we are here to even the playing field."

They both heard a loud thundering near their position, Shikamaru turning to see the entrance to the roof being forced open. He quickly glanced back at her, but to his dismay she had vanished.

"And you are nothing but pawns in our game."

He swore under his breath at her final statement and turned around, placing his hands together in a handseal. The door thundered twice before exploding outwards in a large cloud of smoke.

Shikamaru figured whatever was coming for him wasn't going to be friendly, particularly considering the circumstances that had led him to this point.

_She had dozens of chances to kill me, but went out of her way to save and heal me. I'd be willing to bet she was the one who pulled me out of that desert too. This means that whatever this is, is part of her overall plan. Shit, I've got to escape this village. _

For a moment he considered scaling down the building back into his room to gather his belongings, but dismissed that quickly when he realised that they would have been stored elsewhere or wouldn't have been brought with him, since he didn't recall seeing them in his hospital room.

Taking several steps back he gathered a small amount of chakra as dozens of figures appeared within the smoke cloud, the blowing wind removing their shell quickly to reveal them to be Suna shinobi, all of whom looking extremely angry.

"That's him!" shouted the largest shinobi of the pack, dozens of his companions shouting their acknowledgements as the group of shinobi began to charge towards Shikamaru.

The Nara heir swore again and activated his technique, wishing that he was wearing something more than hospital fatigues as a large shadow extended from his feet. Within a second he had attached it to all the Suna shinobi's shadows, freezing the attackers in place while he stared at their angry faces.

"Bastard!"

"Let us go!"

"You'll pay for what you've done!"

Shikamaru sighed and stretched out his arms, which caused all the Suna shinobi to mimic his actions. "And what is it you are accusing me of?" he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral. He could tell they were furious at him, but there were only a few actions that would inspire such disgust in his mind.

Even restrained by Shikamaru's technique, the Suna shinobi struggled to keep their emotions in check. A shinobi with one eye covered by a piece of cloth glared at him hatefully. "What the hell did you do with the Kazekage, you scum?"

"The Kazekage?" Suddenly everything made a scary amount of sense to him. He sighed again and stared at his opposition. "So I'm the scapegoat eh?"

Placing his hands together into a new handseal, Shikamaru formulated a new plan in his head. He could hear the protests of the enemy shinobi, but paid them no attention. It wasn't as difficult as he thought to activate his techniques, but his body was still stiff and sore from his recovery.

"Kagenui no Jutsu." Long strands of dark shadows emerged from the shadows between him and the Suna shinobi, grabbing at their wrists and legs, binding them tighter than any rope could.

Taking a second to ensure he had ensnared all his opposition, Shikamaru cancelled his first technique and moved to the edge of the roof. "Protesting my innocence won't help my case so…"

He placed his hands together before activated a new technique from his now-lost family scroll. A long stretch of dark shadow extended from under his feet, moving across the gap between buildings, forming a bridge to the lower adjacent building. "Kagehashi no Jutsu (Shadow Bridge Technique)."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the Suna shinobi struggling against his shadow bonds. He wished he'd had time to test the technique, but was forced to take a gamble as he leapt off the building in a single bound, planting his feet on the black bridge firmly.

His grip barely lasted a second, his feet slipping almost immediately, sending him flying into the roof of the building he had connected the bridge to.

Shikamaru swore under his breath again and picked himself up from the ground, clutching at his head while looking back at the shadow bridge he had created. "So it's like walking on water. Trust Father to not mention something like that."

He watched as the shadow bridge disappeared, causing Shikamaru to wonder how he had landed so well considering he had slid nearly fifty metres across the gap between buildings.

"He's on the rooftops!"

"Quickly, cut off his escape!"

"Get the bastard!"

Dozens of shinobi leapt onto the building he was occupying, drawing an assortment of weaponry whilst being backed up by a hail of projectiles sent against Shikamaru. The Nara heir ducked quickly, placing his hands together as a second set of projectiles screamed towards him.

"Kagekabe no Jutsu!" (Shadow Wall Technique) His shadow shot up from his feet, forming a thin shield around him. It hadn't been a technique in his family scroll, but once he had figured out how to manipulate his shadow to form solid objects, Shikamaru had spent much of his time working out new ways to use his techniques.

After fighting against powerful opponents like the Akatsuki or the Sound Four, Shikamaru had realised that he wasn't as strong as he needed to be. Even a lazy type like him felt a compulsion to try his hardest, though he wished he could have tested the techniques under simpler circumstances.

The projectiles bounced off the solid black wall, and when the shell retracted the Suna shinobi's eyes widened when they saw that he had disappeared.

"Spread out! Don't let him escape!"

The Suna shinobi continued to yell out orders to each other, their search was surprisingly organised from Shikamaru's perspective. He sat in a dark alleyway, having quickly covered himself with dirt to disguise his white hospital robe. It was to his regret that he never learnt the final technique of the Nara clan, which was the ability to hide within shadows and become almost undetectable. Such a technique was now lost, and Shikamaru figured that if he ever had the time he would work it out for himself.

He glanced around his surroundings, seeing no obvious exit path in his area, but from his past experiences he knew there were deep tunnels running through the village's underground, which were used when the village came under siege. Shikamaru figured if he could get into those tunnels, the likelihood of him escaping the village without hurting any of the Suna shinobi was high, though he didn't know where any of the entrances were.

"Has someone checked the alleyways? The bastard could be hiding anywhere!"

Pushing off the ground, Shikamaru leapt onto a balcony above his original position, thankful that his pursuers were loud, otherwise he wouldn't have heard them coming. He watched several Jounin entered the alleyway, taking only a few seconds before staring up straight at the young shinobi's hiding spot.

"This is getting really troublesome" he muttered, leaping from his position onto a nearby roof with a pulse of chakra.

As he landed he cried out in pain and clutched at his chest, a huge spike of running through his body. He fell to one knee, noticing the Jounin from below had leapt up and followed him.

"It's never easy…" He rolled away from a sword strike, swearing as he realised that he had rolled straight off the roof. With a motion that took more effort than he had anticipated, Shikamaru reached out to the balcony he had originally come from, grasping at the stone with his fingers, halting his descent.

He bit at his lip painfully; feeling like his arms had come out of their sockets, but could see that wasn't out of danger yet, the Suna shinobi pursing him relentlessly. Shikamaru stole a look to the ground and, upon seeing no enemy forces below him, took another gamble.

He let go of the balcony and fell to the ground, cursing as his feet struck the ground hard, his body following suit. Lying face down in the sand, Shikamaru tried to pick himself up but found none of his limbs were responding.

_Well that was a pathetic escape attempt. I guess I hadn't recovered as well as I thought. _He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps around him and the sound of weapons being drawn and placed near his body. He tried to think of a way out, but with the miniscule amount of time he had, Shikamaru couldn't think of any ideas that didn't involve large amounts of chakra or smoke bombs, neither of which were at his disposal.

Letting off one final sigh, he used the last bit of stamina to place his hands behind his head. "Alright, I give up."

He barely even felt the blow that knocked him out.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so ends the first chapter of Shikamaru's saga. My plan is for the next two chapters to be about Shikamaru, and then I'll go to the next character. Since his story is the longest, Naruto's will be spread out between the others. They all lead to a single point in the timeline.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	24. Chapter 22 SHIKA Old Companions

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 22 – Shikamaru – Old Companions

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Shikamaru would have a greater range of techniques.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After being separated from his companions by Shouri, a member of the group responsible for Konoha's destruction, Shikamaru found himself stranded in an extremely hostile desert. After an embarrassing encounter with a two metre deep cliff, Shikamaru took in an account of his situation. He decided to travel to the north-east in a vain hope to find civilization. After expending the remainder of his chakra on replenishing his depleted water source, Shikamaru began to hallucinate and see things in the desert. Eventually he collapsed, and after a near-death experience he found himself in a hospital in the Hidden Village of Suna. While recovering from his vast amount of life-threatening injuries, Shikamaru was confronted by a mysterious red haired woman with the ability to change her appearance multiple times, who admitted to helping heal Shikamaru, but only to the extent that he was useful to her plans. While being helped to see the roof of the hospital, the woman's plan came to fruition as she abandoned Shikamaru, who was then ambushed and pursuing by dozens of Suna shinobi, claiming that he had done something to the Kazekage. After a short lived chase, Shikamaru was forced to surrender himself to their forces, hoping that his struggle in the desert wasn't for nothing.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Four Months after Separation****<p>

When the blindfold was removed from Shikamaru's face, the young shinobi could only see a pitch black darkness. All around him was black, though his eyes adjusted quickly. He flipped around in an attempt to see who had knocked him out, but to his dismay he found himself staring at a set of iron bars, with tiny pockets of light descending from the stone ceiling.

Glancing down at his hands Shikamaru struggling at the metal shackles that bound his hands together. They were made of an odd black material that cut into his wrists with a long steel chain binding them together.

Shikamaru recognised the bindings instantly; Konoha had used them in the past to keep violent criminals from escaping their jail cells. He tried to mould a small amount of chakra, but as he suspected the bindings began to tighten on his wrists, forcing him to cut off his technique.

"So what are you in for?"

Shikamaru turned at the voice, seeing an identical cell next to his. Inside stood a dirty looking prisoner, who Shikamaru could instantly tell was a shinobi, but one that had been in that cell for a long time, considering the long gaunt look on his dirt-covered face.

He ambled over to the bars on the side of his cell, taking notice of the fact that his feet weren't bound at all. His prison cell was a relatively small affair, a cot and chamber pot the only other occupants of his cell.

"Something about the Kazekage" replied Shikamaru with a sigh. "I just got out of hospital, and they threw me in here."

The other prisoner frowned at the mention of the Suna leader, but other than that Shikamaru couldn't read any other emotions from him. "I don't know either. I hope he's dead though, that bastard is the one who put me here."

"Well they chased me with a fervour I had not expected. Not sure why they thought I had anything to do with what they are accusing me of though." Shikamaru noticed that they were the only two prisoners in the dozen or so cells around; he took a few sniffs then regretted it as a hail of stenches assaulted his nose. "Damnit this place reeks…"

"Yes well, you'd best get used to it. They don't throw just anyone in here."

Shikamaru frowned and turned back to his compatriot, "What are you talking about?"

The prisoner indicated to the virtually empty prison cell, pointing out to Shikamaru that the only light sources were tiny holes in the roof that also acted as air holes. "If you are here, that means they consider you a serious threat to the village. Don't expect to be leaving any time soon."

"Fantastic" muttered Shikamaru, sitting down on the cot in his cell. "First the desert, then this. I must have pissed off someone on my travels."

They both heard a loud thump near the end of the corridor of cells, a small source of light piercing through the darkness that his eyes had just adapted to, causing him to wince in pain as his eyes readjusted themselves. "What now?"

He watched as three Sand shinobi slowly walked through the prison's corridor, an angry-looking ANBU masked shinobi leading the others. They glared straight at him as they stopped in front of his cell, the leader of the group taking a moment before motioning to his two companions.

Shikamaru watched in horror as the two guards walked into the other cell, and even despite the prisoner's protests they knocked him out with two blows from the clubs at their sides, sending him crashing into the ground with a spray of blood.

"What was that for?" demanded Shikamaru, stepping back in momentary fear of the Suna ANBU shinobi. "He had nothing to do with me."

The ANBU shinobi cocked his head for a moment before turning and indicating for his companions to leave. They nodded in compliance and walked out of the jail cell adjacent to Shikamaru's, placing their bloody instruments back on their belts.

He walked into Shikamaru's cell and closed the door behind him. "A demonstration, Nara-san. He was a criminal, such treatment is befitting of someone of his station."

The ANBU pointed to the cot in the cell with a gloved hand. "Take a seat, Nara-san. We have…much…to speak on."

Shikamaru looked down at the stone cot, taking a moment before shrugging and sitting down. "I suppose we do. Would it help any if I said that I was being set up?"

"What do you think?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Didn't think so. What did happen to the Kazekage? The people who brought me here refused to say."

Crossing his arms slowly, Shikamaru could feel the hatred through the ANBU's mask. "Did you ever hear of what happened to the Third Kazekage?"

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, he wasn't sure what the guard was getting at, but he wanted to delay the inevitable interrogation for as long as possible.

"Well then let me put this simply. Our leader has disappeared, the signs point to a kidnapping, and we have it on good information that you are linked to those responsible."

"And you think I'm responsible? I just got out of the hospital! I was barely in a condition to avoid my pursuers, let alone kidnap a Kage." While conversing with the ANBU, several things fell into place in Shikamaru's mind. The reason he had been saved, why he had been pursued so strongly, and the amount of information they likely had on him.

With an elaborate gesture the ANBU removed his gloves and placed them in a kunai pocket at his side, which he clearly indicated to Shikamaru was empty.

Shikamaru stared at the ANBU's mask, not able to read any emotions from the scorpion-faced Suna shinobi, not even the hatred he had sensed earlier.

Using some of the strength he had recovered from not being chased around a desert village, Shikamaru stood up and took in a long breath. "Talking won't make a difference, will it?"

Even under the mask, Shikamaru could sense a slight hesitation in the ANBU's acknowledgement. The Suna shinobi drew back a clenched fist slowly.

"No, it won't."

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru didn't need a mirror to know how bad he looked; though the disgusted look on his fellow prisoner's face told him volumes about his injuries.

"They worked you over pretty good" said the other prisoner, still nursing his head on his own cot within his cell.

Shikamaru nodded then immediately regretted it as huge spikes of pain shot through his head. He didn't dare touch his face with his hands, he had passed out after the first hour, but when food had been brought to the two of them he couldn't swallow any of the solids without fainting from pain.

"He didn't even ask me any questions…" It amazed him that it didn't hurt to speak, though he figured it was because the interrogator was quite skilled at his job, and a non-verbal prisoner didn't give out information. Shikamaru could barely feel the rest of his body, but if his assumptions were correct than he would recover almost completely within a few days.

The other prisoner laughed, and then held his head in pain. "Yeah, it'll be like that the first few times. Did you get an indication on what they want?"

The injured Nara heir placed up a hand to silence his fellow prisoner, sitting down on his cot with a wince before placing his hands together.

His companion frowned when he saw Shikamaru's odd handseal. "With those cuffs you won't be able to use any ninjutsu, you know that right?"

Shikamaru ignored the other prisoner, running hundreds of scenarios through his head before forming a feasible hypothesis. Since he was stuck in the prison, Shikamaru figured he would try to discern what his enemy's motivations were; there were certain things that didn't make much sense to him.

The other prisoner frowned at being ignored, but kept his thoughts to himself.

It took Shikamaru longer than he expected, but after an hour a few things clicked into place.

_They are probably a country-wide group, not unlike Akatsuki. I suspect that the two that I've encountered are high-level leaders, and there are at least two others if that white-clad warrior is to be believed. They have a strange reaction to chakra, or a lack thereof, and are far more dangerous then we could have thought. Orchestrating the destruction of Konoha, our invasion of Otogakure, and my actions here…wait…_

He thought about the exact words the strange woman had said, and the pieces slowly began to fall into place in his mind. He opened his eyes slowly and glanced up at the bright air holes in the roof of the prison.

_Chaos…they want to destroy the world of shinobi. Destroying Konoha removed a large resistance base and destabilised the country. Now…by separating us…they want to cause the remaining powers to war amongst themselves. I'd be willing to bet that in the investigation into the disappearance of the Kazekage, they found evidence of another village's influence. And considering that they seem to despise shinobi, I'm also betting that they don't have ties to the other villages at all. _

Shikamaru placed his hands on the bars of his cells, instantly knowing that he would never have the strength to break out, especially without the ability to use chakra.

"I won't be able to get out of here on my own…" Shikamaru kept his tone low, he didn't trust the other prisoner, but recognised he was likely in a similar position to him.

oOoOoOo

His injuries recovered after two days of sitting in his cell, after which the ANBU masked shinobi came back and sat opposite Shikamaru. He apologised for the beating earlier, which Shikamaru didn't believe for a second, and began the proper interrogation that Shikamaru had been expecting. Unfortunately when Shikamaru didn't have the answers he was looking for, he reverted to his original interrogation method.

After the first few 'discussion' sessions, the ANBU guard stopped showing up to the prison, the only visitors Shikamaru had were to the two guards that brought them food. They never responded to Shikamaru's questions, and after a while the Nara heir gave up on asking and just accepted the food without a word.

"So what happened after that?"

Shikamaru laughed with a grin on his face. "Just as he thought he was defeated, as the blade was approaching his back…he farted."

His companion lasted for two seconds before collapsing in a fit of laughter. Shikamaru smiled as he finishing recounting how Naruto had defeated a Cloud shinobi in the Second Exam of the Chuunin Exams, one that he had told Shikamaru a while ago. He had made sure not to mention names, but his reluctance to tell the other prisoner things had deteriorated over the past week, and without anything else to do he figured there wasn't much harm in general chatter.

The prisoner picked himself up from the ground and wiped his eyes. "You have some funny friends, Shikamaru-kun." He stared at Shikamaru with a smile. "Maybe they'll come and rescue you."

"I doubt it. Nobody even knows I am here." Shikamaru looked down at his bound wrists, glancing over the cuts on his skin caused by the shackles.

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru slowly lowered himself from the top bar, landing softly before taking a long breath and stretching out his tired arms. He cracked his neck before dropping to the floor and performing quick sets of push-ups.

"I don't know why you that to yourself. You are just wasting your energy."

"Twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty!" Having finished counting, Shikamaru leapt up and continued to regulate his breathing. He could feel a slight pounding in his chest, though he figured it was just his blood pumping through his muscles.

He turned to face his companion that he had come to know relatively well over the past month. "It's not as if there is anything else to do in here. Besides I'm beginning to understand why my friend trained so much."

After the first day he had been brought a change of clothes without reason. Shikamaru was thankful to be rid of the hospital gown, though his prison fatigues weren't much better. He was, however, grateful that they were spacious enough for him to train without showing his progress to the guards.

The Nara heir looked up at the ceiling again, as he had done after each training session. For a reason beyond his understanding they always shone with light. The only reason Shikamaru could tell how long he had been a prisoner was with the frequency of the food brought to them.

His companion shrugged as he always did and sat down on his cot. "You're still a weird guy, Shikamaru-kun. It's almost like you expect to break out of here or something. You'd think after a month you'd have learnt."

Shikamaru grinned and leant against the bars with his back. "What can I say; I'm discovering a stubborn streak I didn't know I had."

They both turned at once as they heard the door to the prison creak open, putting both of them instantly on edge. It hadn't been that long since they had gotten a meal, meaning the only other likely visitors were interrogators.

They watched as three cloaked figures entered the prison, Shikamaru frowning as he didn't recognise any of them from their concealed faces. He could tell one of them was a woman, but even by staring at their movements he couldn't tell anything about them.

One of the males flicked a figure near the door, closing it with a thread of chakra before all three of them turned to face Shikamaru at the front of his cell. In the corner of his vision Shikamaru could see a change in his fellow prisoner's demeanour; he had suddenly become rigid and formal.

The one that closed the door turned to the other prisoner. "Report."

There was something familiar about his voice but Shikamaru couldn't quite place it. The other prisoner gave the three of them a quick salute that looked fairly absurd when he took into account the fact that the two of them were covered in their own filth.

"His story seems legit. In the past month I've gotten no indications that he is anything other than what he says. However there is more to him than one might expect."

The cloaked female chuckled in response. "Yes…he always was."

Shikamaru could feel his blood freeze underneath his skin. Hers was a voice he couldn't forget, even in times when he wanted to. He watched in both horror and a slight feeling of relief as the three cloaked figures pulled back their hoods, revealing themselves to both of the prisoners.

They hadn't changed as much as Shikamaru had expected, but they were not the kind of visitors he had been expecting. The puppet-user Kankuro seemed to be taller, and his purple 'war-paint' had changed to several lines across his face, and instead of the one puppet that Shikamaru knew he used, there were two large scrolls. The demon-like Gaara seemed to look a lot calmer than Shikamaru remembered, though he still had that intense look in his eyes that unsettled him something fierce. However it was the female of the three that drew most of Shikamaru's attention. Beneath the Suna robes he could see she was wearing a long short-sleeved black kimono and wore her forehead protector around her forehead as opposed to around her neck. She still had her blonde hair tied into four ponytails, and still had that smirk that drove Shikamaru insane.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked cautiously.

Gaara turned to his older brother with an indifferent look. "Kankuro, take the other one outside."

The puppet user nodded and opened the other cell door with a flick of his fingers. The other prisoner kept bowing his thanks to the three of them, but to Shikamaru's surprise Kankuro simply knocked him out with a blow to the back of his neck, unceremoniously hefting him over his shoulder and carrying him out of the prison.

Temari turned to her youngest brother, still keeping her eyes and smirk on Shikamaru though. "Do we have time for this? We should leave as soon as possible."

A small line of sand appeared around Gaara's head, running down into the door of his cell, after a few seconds the door swung open. "Father has been missing for a month. He can wait five more minutes."

"I suppose you are right." Temari reached back and removed the half-sized fan from her back, snapping it into its full length before walking slowly into the cell.

Shikamaru took a cautionary step backwards, unsure what to make of the situation. He prepared himself to fight if necessary, but knew that even without the chakra-inhibiting bonds he doubted he could beat either of them in a straight up fight. He particularly had no interest in harming Temari, though he was unsure about how he felt towards her. They hadn't left on the best of terms, and he knew it was his fault.

She pressed the edge of her fan onto his shoulder. "So, what is the story Shikamaru? Any particular reason you disappear for a year and then appear in our prison accused of kidnapping our father?"

Shikamaru reached up and threw the fan off his shoulder, squaring up against Temari. She seemed to notice that he was now taller than her, and there was a look in his eyes that she didn't recognise from their previous encounters. "Why should I say anything? The other people didn't listen to me. In fact they went out of their way to ignore me."

Temari went to say something back, but stopped as she saw Gaara enter the cell with the two of them. The same sand that had unlocked the door travelled across the cell and entered the lock on the shackles attached to his wrists, taking only a second before the dark metal bindings struck the floor.

Shikamaru rubbed his wrists sorely but before he could even think a large cloud of sand erupted from the gourd at his back, taking position around the three of them.

"You have two choices. Either you can tell us what your role in this situation is, and how you got here…or I can kill you."

"Cold as always" came a voice from the entrance, Shikamaru watching as Kankuro walked back into the prison, this time without the other prisoner on his shoulder.

Shikamaru hesitated momentarily, wracking his brain in an attempt to find a proper solution to his situation. "Why do you want to know? Aren't I your enemy here?"

Gaara slowly pointed to his sister. "Temari expressed a legitimate concern over your imprisonment. We would have had this conversation a month ago, but we only just learnt of the situation. Besides, we know that the Kazekage is somewhere in the Land of Fire, and you are the only one in this land that would know that terrain well."

Shikamaru considered the points that Gaara made, the situation was getting better for him than he had expected. He still didn't trust them, a month in jail had soured his faith in people, but after thinking about it there was little choice in his mind.

He sighed and sat down on his cot, indicated for the three of them to take a seat. He took a deep breath and came to a decision.

He told them everything.

* * *

><p>"I've kept it to myself throughout the whole story but you really stink, Shikamaru."<p>

The Nara heir didn't need to sniff his underarms to tell that he smelt awful, it was clear by the dirt on his skin despite having become used to the smell over the past month. "You try living in a prison for a month with nothing to wash yourself with. You wouldn't smell so pretty either, Temari."

"We'll have to stop at a bathhouse before we leave" said Kankuro, already on his way out of the prison.

"Hang on, I'll handle it" said Shikamaru, running through a short set of handseals.

Both Temari and Gaara jumped backwards out of the cell instinctively as a large pool of water appeared above Shikamaru, hovering momentarily before crashing down on the freed prisoner. He grinned and sighed at the same time, it felt wonderful to have water on his skin again, though by the look on their faces he knew he wouldn't be able to rid himself of the smell that easily.

"I'll need a towel of some sort" he said, instantly regretting his action as he saw Temari unfurl one of the dots on her fan, a wicked grin appearing on her face.

"Wait…Temari let's talk about this for a min…" He never got to finish his protest, a large gust of wind sending him crashing into the side of the prison cell.

With a laugh Temari placed her fan on her back and turned to leave, her brothers just shaking their heads in response while Shikamaru struggled to pick himself up from the ground.

"Why…should I go with you? It makes more sense for me to just escape." Shikamaru tried to sound confident, but he was still gasping for breath after being 'dried' by Temari's fan.

The three Suna siblings turned around as one, with the eldest at the front offering him a hand up. Shikamaru hesitated again; she was acting strangely compared to his memories of her during the Chuunin Exams, but nevertheless he thanked her for the help and pulled himself up with her hand.

"You've had a hard time, haven't you?"

Shikamaru frowned, he wasn't sure he had heard her quiet rhetorical question, but as he turned to ask her to repeat it he saw that they were already on their way out.

"You guys still haven't answered my question" he said, jogging slightly to catch up to them. Thanks to his training within the cell he hadn't lost any of his stamina, and the joy of being free was enough to give him the strength to keep up with them.

Gaara turned his head slightly as Shikamaru accompanied them up the stairs. "You assist us in the retrieval of our Kazekage, and we will render our assistance in finding your companions for you."

"Hmm…I suppose that makes sense. But what will the other shinobi think? You are releasing a prisoner possibly involved in a serious crime."

Temari laughed again and clapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it. Gaara is a Jounin, nobody will question his judgement."

"Quiet. We have to make a few stops before leaving the village."

Shikamaru noticed that his two siblings seemed to be obeying Gaara's commands without question, but unlike in the Chuunin Exams they didn't seem to fear him as before.

_This is a weird situation, but I can't complain. But something is off here. If she wanted to cause chaos, she would have pinned the kidnapping on one of the other villages…but they claim he is in the Land of Fire. This reeks of a trap, but for the life of me I can't work out what it is._

oOoOoOo

They didn't make much distance from the village before night fell, Gaara calling for them to stop at a collection of dead trees in the desert, the three of them quickly setting up a pair of tents.

"We aren't going to keep going?" Shikamaru knew they were in a hurry, but was amazed by their calm demeanour in the stressful situation.

"No wonder you nearly died in the desert. You Konoha people know nothing of this land" said Kankuro, pulling up the tents with his chakra strings.

Shikamaru could tell that the puppet-user didn't like him, but wasn't complaining in the slightest. They had taken him to a proper bathhouse and given him a change of clothes, the Nara heir holding off on asking the questions he needed answers to until they took a break, but setting up camp was the first instance of a break.

With dramatic gesturing, Gaara raised up four large chunks of sand from the ground, hardening them instantly to the point that they looked like dense stones. The youngest Suna sibling pulled off his gourd and sat down on one of the seats.

Kankuro finished setting up the tents and sat down next to his brother while Temari set about cutting down the trees for firewood, using the wind from her fan to cut through the bark like it was paper. Shikamaru had asked if he could be any help, but apparently they did this kind of camping all the time, Gaara mentioning in a dull tone that it was a 'bonding' exercise for the three of them.

After the fire was going and the sky was completely dark, Shikamaru set about asking the question that had bothered him since they had sprung him out of prison. "Why did you guys wait a month before pursuing your father?"

The three of them looked at each other for a moment before Temari crossed her legs and moved her kimono so that it was more comfortable to sit on.

"We didn't know until this morning. The three of us have been on a mission for months and out of contact until we returned to the village."

"You'd think that would be something they would pull you out of your mission for though" said Shikamaru.

"It wasn't that kind of mission" said Kankuro, picking at the fire with a long stick.

Shikamaru gave him a confused look, but before he could ask Temari indicated that she wasn't finished, coughing to get his attention. "You probably haven't heard, considering you guys were travelling around, but there is a food problem around the country. For some reason food costs more than it should, so we went undercover to try and find out why."

Shikamaru leant back in his stone seat. "That makes sense. But how do you know where the Kazekage is? Did you get a ransom note?"

Reaching into a pocket on his sash, Gaara produced a small compass that pointed in the direction they had been travelling, towards the Land of Fire. "After the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, our father implemented a technique that would allow the three of us to track him wherever he went, if such a situation were to occur. Only blood relatives can use this compass."

"That's a clever system. Suna seems to be doing well."

"We are better off than most" said Kankuro, yawning as he scratched his chest idly.

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru stared into the flames, having been forced to seat particularly close in order to keep himself warm he found himself drawn to the contained fire. Gaara and Kankuro had given him the first shift, and Temari had offered to keep him company. They hadn't said a word to each other since the other two had gone to bed in their tent, but Shikamaru occasionally caught her glancing at him, unsure on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. His discussion with Gaara, while the Suna Jounin didn't let on to much he got the feeling that it had been her idea to free him, though he suspected she would never admit it.

_She's more stubborn than my mum was. I suppose I should really say something. What I said after the Chuunin Exams wasn't fair, even if it was completely accurate. Girls are far too troublesome._

He turned to speak to her, but upon seeing her serious face staring at the fire he felt a tightening in his chest. All the things he wanted to say seemed to escape him, and all he could do was look away with a sad look on his face.

Across from him Temari noticed him glancing away, but as she went to laugh at him for his unmanliness she found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. She stared back into the flames, feeling the warmth through her black gloved fingers. She glanced over at him again, and for a split second their eyes connected, though neither of them could keep the contact for long.

"Hey…"

"I…"

They both turned as they cut each other off, neither sure of what to say.

"What I mean…"

"We should really…"

Shikamaru felt a smirk come onto his face but he squashed it, as the two of them continued to try and speak at the same time. Eventually Shikamaru placed a hand up, silencing the young female shinobi.

"Please, let me speak first" he said, keeping his tone as neutral as possible. He couldn't stop the strangely fast beating of his chest, but he wanted to get the problems out of the way so that he could move on with their mission.

He looked over at her past the flames, noticing a slight blush on her cheeks. _Makes her look almost cute. Almost. Damnit, don't get distracted Shikamaru. _

Temari indicated for him to speak, albeit reluctantly. Shikamaru nodded his thanks and coughed awkwardly, trying to think of a good way to phrase what he wanted to say.

"I…um…look what I…damnit why can't I say it!"

Temari stared at him for a few seconds before a slow smile appeared on her face. She stood up slowly, keeping her face hidden from his view. "That's because you think you were right, you idiot."

"I was right! I take nothing back! Bloody troublesome woman." Instantly Shikamaru braced for the inevitable blow to the head that happened every time he said that, but to his surprise no blow came.

He removed himself from his brace and looked over at her seat, noticing that the blonde shinobi had sat back down and was leaning on her black fan with a sad look on her face.

Shikamaru stood up slowly, an apology already on his lips but before he could say anything he saw Temari turn her face slightly to face him.

"I…am treated like royalty in Suna. As the daughter of the Kazekage, whenever I asked for something, I got it. I waited to take the Chuunin Exams so that my little brothers could participate with me, but I was guaranteed a promotion regardless of the outcome."

"Really? That's a strange way of doing things."

Temari glared at him with a force so strong that Shikamaru nearly fell off his chair. The Nara heir swallowed slowly and indicated for her to continue.

"Then you come along, with your stupid indifferent bald face…"

"I'm not bald."

"With your bald head, and you defeated Kankuro and I in the Third Exam. I…hated you."

"Seriously, I'm not bald. I just tie my hair back."

Temari could feel her arms shaking, which caused the fan to nearly fall to the ground beside her. Before the weapon could strike the ground, however, it moved back up to her side. She looked up to see Shikamaru passing her the end of the fan with an awkward but indifferent look on his face.

She glanced away from him with a blush and continued talking.

"I hated you. This stupid bald Konoha shinobi coming in and showing up the best Genin in Suna. And you were so laid back about it, you seemed so lazy, yet you were much smarter than us. But every time I tried to talk to you, you just called me troublesome and fell asleep."

Shikamaru sat back down, unable to say anything in response. He hadn't thought about any of that stuff, he had just assumed she was angry about what he had said when he left Suna.

"I didn't realise…"

"Just…let me finish. What you said…that day…really hurt. All those things you said…they were things I knew about myself but didn't want to admit. For someone like you to say those things…so blatantly…"

Shikamaru felt a sharp pain in his chest as he could see how difficult it was for her to talk about what had happened, her arms seemed to be shaking more than before. It was an unsettling sight for him to see, the one thing he had admired about the wind-user was her near unshakable attitude.

"But after some consideration…and thinking you were dead…I came to a conclusion."

"And that was?"

She took a few moments before shaking her head and standing up slowly, turning to face him. "That someone like you…was someone I could forgive so saying such things."

Shikamaru frowned and stood up as well, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I…don't really understand, that sounds like some strange girl-logic, but…thanks?"

With a smile, Temari placed her fan on her shoulder and turned to face him. "That's okay. But in saying that…"

In a single fluid motion she held up her heavy metal fan with one hand before sending it crashing down on top of his head. The Nara heir read the movement and instinctively went to move out of the way, but a part of him held him back, forcing him to take the blow straight.

"Now we are even."

Shikamaru slowly tried to pick himself up from the ground, clutching his head in pain. "F…fair enough. Troublesome woman…"

Temari sheathed her fan with her trademark grin, this time not bothering to offer a hand to the fallen Konoha shinobi, instead sitting back down with a laugh.

Shikamaru tired again to pick himself up from the ground, but resolved to just lean on the stone seat with a sigh, staring up at the clear night sky.

"The clouds here are pretty nice…"

* * *

><p>Once they finished packing up the camp early in the morning they moved quickly through the desert terrain. As they moved through the terrain, Shikamaru learnt more about the area that surrounded the sand-covered village. Apparently there were certain areas of the desert that were impossible to escape, even with their shinobi survival abilities, but they had been mapped and were easily avoided, if you knew what to look for. Shikamaru just sighed upon hearing that, it still rubbed him the wrong way about how he was saved from that peril, though Temari was more than happy to poke fun at him.<p>

They picked up the pace once they realised that Shikamaru was in better shape than they had expected, the Nara heir surprising himself with how much he had improved physically, considering his previous confined living situation. He, of course, had no interest in continuing such a rigorous training measure; Shikamaru still had very little motivation to speak of.

After a day's travel they passed from the Land of Wind to the Land of Fire, Shikamaru feeling a strange sense of homecoming as they passed into the woodlands. Gaara indicated that the area the compass was pointing was to the north of the ruins of Konoha, and upon looking at a map and considering the angle and positioning Shikamaru made an educated guess as to the area that they were aiming for, a small underground facility that Konoha had used during the last Shinobi War.

"Does it feel strange coming back here?" asked Temari as they leapt through the trees towards their target area. After their bizarre, at least Shikamaru's view, conversation she seemed to have warmed up to him, though he could tell she hadn't changed that much over the past year, at least not socially.

"I have no interest in seeing the crater, if that's what you mean" responded Shikamaru, enjoying the soft breeze against his face as they moved through the trees.

"Really? No interest in rebuilding or anything like that?"

Shikamaru shook his head as he leapt off another branch, the two of them jumping side by side while the two Suna brothers led from the front. "Nothing to rebuild. Once it was destroyed, and our families murdered…it stopped being our home, and became a graveyard. We…have to make new homes for ourselves."

Temari didn't say anything for a while after that, out of the corner of his eye Shikamaru could see a solemn look on her face but he didn't make a comment.

They leapt out of the tree line to a long chasm with rocky sides, Gaara and Kankuro jumping quickly across the gap but Shikamaru skidded to a halt on the edge of the rocks. "Wait…this area looks familiar…"

Temari landed next to him. "Really?"

She placed a hand to her lips to enhance the sound, yelling at her younger brothers "Oi! Come back!"

Shikamaru jumped down into the chasm and began searching around the rocky sides, placing his hands on the cool stone with a curious look on his face.

"We don't have time for sightseeing" said Gaara as the three of them jumped down to join him.

Shikamaru moved to the side, motioning for them to wait as he stared at a particular stone of the wall in front of him. "This place…I think this is…"

He turned around and asked Gaara if he could point in the direction they had to go, nodding slowly when he saw the direction the youngest sibling pointed at before turning back and staring at the stone wall. "As I thought."

After a few minutes of searching Shikamaru found the stone he was looking for, running through a set of handseals before placing his hands on an inconspicuous rock. The ground beneath them began to shake as the rocks in the wall shifted unnaturally, moving in and around before a path opened up to reveal a spiralling staircase leading down into the ground.

"What is this?" asked Kankuro, popping his head into the hole, not able to see where the stairs led.

Shikamaru pointed to the new opening with a smile. "There is a large system of tunnels in this part of the Land of Fire, built during one of the old wars, before the villages were established. My father used to talk about them as a structural weakness for Konoha, but I suspect they were used during the Shinobi Wars to keep the village from being ambushed."

Gaara crossed his arms and frowned slightly. "The point being?"

Shikamaru frowned in turn, "You seem more impatient than I remember."

"Ignore him, Shikamaru. This is just how he shows his concern for his father. Can you just tell us where to go? If the Kazekage is dead, we don't want to waste any more time."

Placing his hand on the edge to show them in, Shikamaru frowned but didn't say anything about it. "It's a shortcut. Sorry I just thought you would want all the information before…"

Gaara pushed past him and walked through the opening, descending down the stairs without a word. Shikamaru looked at the others in the group with a confused look on his face. Temari just grinned and walked past him, patting him on the head as she followed her younger brother.

"It's a bit like that at the moment. You'll have to be patient with us; this isn't an easy time for us."

Shikamaru was surprised to hear the puppet-user speak in such a way, but before he could say anything something clicked in his mind.

"You…you guys don't you'll find him alive, do you?"

Taking a step back, Kankuro turned and faced the shadow-user, a solemn expression on his face, which was exemplified by the purple lines across his face. "What do you think? It's been a month, Konoha shinobi. We…are just here to confirm what we already know."

oOoOoOo

Unlike the tunnels in the Hidden Village of Sound, the underground system wasn't lit by rows of torches; the four of them were forced to light their own torches as they made their way through the dark tunnels. To Shikamaru's surprise the tunnel they had entered was littered with false tunnels and confusing trails, ones that even he struggled to figure out. If it hadn't been for the compass Shikamaru was fairly positive that they would have gotten lost.

"Are we getting closer?" he asked quietly. Being inside an enclosed space for such a long period of time had put him on edge, and after the first few hours he had regretted taking the tunnel shortcut.

Gaara pulled out the compass for a few seconds before placing it back in a pocket on his sash. "Not far. We need to return to the surface."

"That might be a problem…I'm not sure where the exits are in here." Shikamaru placed his hands on the stone walls, closing his eyes for a moment before turning to the others. "We are probably twenty or thirty metres from the surface."

Kankuro turned around and looked at his younger brother. "Gaara?"

The sand-user didn't move from his position, but after a few seconds they could hear a slight rumbling above them. Shikamaru frowned and tried to look around for the source, his eyes widening as he saw Gaara place a hand over one of his eyes, a long line of sand flowing from his gourd through a small hole in the roof.

"The area above is a clear field of grass. No visible enemies."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" asked Shikamaru, unfamiliar with the majority of Gaara's techniques, he had only ever seen him in his battle against Naruto over a year ago.

He felt a tug on his shirt as Temari pulled him away from Gaara's position, Kankuro nodding in agreement as he stepped away from him as well.

"Do I want to know?" asked Shikamaru.

The two Suna siblings smiled and simply pointed to the roof where the hole had been. Shikamaru couldn't help but gasp in amazement when he saw what Gaara had done. Temari pushed him onto a circle of sand underneath Gaara's feet, while Kankuro simply shrugged and joined the others.

The sand underneath their feet hardened and began to rise slowly; taking the four of them up through the large hole that had just been created.

Gaara didn't appear to be strained at all by the effort of raising the four of them, though he did turn around and faced Shikamaru. "I can turn any earth-like materials into sand quite easily. Don't appear so surprised."

Shikamaru just shrugged in response, he was in awe of the sheer amount of power and ability it would have taken a normal person to carve out such a high, perfectly shaped hole, let alone carrying four people through said hole using only sand.

Shikamaru stared up at the open sky as they neared the top, jumping up to the grassy land. "I suppose with Shukaku's power stuff like this is possible, huh?"

The three of them followed suite, Gaara gesturing slightly to cover the hole with a layer of sand. He glanced at the compass again before walking silently away.

Kankuro ran to catch up to him, while Temari shoved Shikamaru with her shoulder as she walked past him. "It's got nothing to do with Shukaku. That is all Gaara. He very rarely calls on the tailed beast's power."

From in front of him, Gaara turned around without breaking stride to face Shikamaru. "How do you know about Shukaku? That isn't widely known beyond Suna."

"Oh, Naruto told me. He said that you had a tailed beast sealed inside you, just like he used to."

Shikamaru thought he saw a slight change in Gaara's expression at the mention of the blonde shinobi's name, but said nothing as the sand user turned back around.

"It's good that he is well. Uzumaki Naruto…you said he had his beast removed, yet he survived?"

"Why, you thinking of getting rid of yours?"

Gaara shook his head slightly as they moved into another set of trees. "Despite his irritating fascination with funk music, and the bad singing, Shukaku isn't so bad. We've learnt to…get along."

Shikamaru jumped off a tree branch and landed on the grass, taking a long breath as they saw a large building in the distance. "I'm impressed that you have some control over him. Naruto couldn't control the Kyuubi at all. Is that it?"

Gaara nodded slowly before indicating to his siblings to prepare themselves. Temari unsheathed her fan, unfurling it to its three dots before smiling in her usual manner as Kankuro cracked his fingers in anticipation for the battle.

"Wait…do we have a plan of attack?" asked Shikamaru, who had nothing to prepare besides chakra since they hadn't given him any weapons on their journey. Initially it had been his assumption that it was because they didn't trust him completely, which was understandable, but when he asked the answer had been surprisingly simple. He wasn't needed for offensive, or his combat abilities, just his assistance in getting to the target area.

Gaara crossed his arms again. "We go in, we find the Kazekage, we bring him home. What else is there to discuss?"

"Formation? Plan of attack? Anything like that?"

"Without knowing who our enemies are, is there much point?" asked Kankuro.

Shikamaru had to admit he had a point. While he didn't like going in blind, they didn't have much choice either. "Fair enough I suppose."

He grinned and moulded a small amount of chakra, the air around him shaking for a second before settling down. He was uncharacteristically looking forward to the coming battle, though for all his genius he couldn't figure out where his motivation came from.

"We are going in" said Gaara, walking towards the building as the three of them nodded and followed suite.

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru had suggested they adopt a stealthy approach to entering the enemy building, but before he could justify his reasoning Temari unleashed a devastating wind blast from her fan that obliterated the entrance of the building.

He turned to the grinning blonde with a sigh. "Can you do anything subtly? Do you even know the meaning of stealth?"

Temari just grinned back at him. "It's more fun this way."

"Enough chatter. We've wasted too much time." Gaara moved quickly through the large gap his elder sister had created, a large cloud of sand surrounding his head as he disappeared into the darkness.

"Come on you two. You know how hard it is to catch with him when he's like this, Temari." Unwrapping one of the figures on his back, Kankuro followed his younger brother with his offensive puppet wrapped around his shoulders.

Grabbing her fan with both hands, Temari ran in as well. Shikamaru let out another sigh before running in after them; the Nara heir was reminded of several of his old companions as he passed through the ruined threshold.

The inside of the building didn't seem particularly strange to Shikamaru as he tried to catch up to the others. He had been expecting heavy resistance or at least a few traps, but after the third set of large rooms he found no such resistance. Despite himself, Shikamaru was disappointed by the lack of enemies, though he shook it off quickly when he remembered that they were facing foes that could best a Kage level shinobi.

After five minutes of searching Shikamaru still hadn't found the three Suna siblings, or anything to indicate they had come to the right location, and after another five Shikamaru found himself back at the ruined entrance, with the sun shining onto his skin.

_I could just go. It's not like I have that much an obligation to help them…particularly after how I was treated in that prison. I'd get away too, we aren't that far away from the Nara forests and it wouldn't be difficult to lose them in this terrain. _

He went to take a step forward, but hesitated, a strange feeling rising in his chest. He looked back into the dark rooms of the building for a moment before turning back to the entrance. Considering what he knew about his situation, it didn't take him long to make a decision.

_It'll be easier with their resources…and then there is that other thing…_

He sighed again, turning around and moving quickly to the area he hadn't searched yet.

After a few minutes he came across a large stone door that appeared to have been untouched for a long time. He went to place a hand on the doorknob, but before he could he was yanked away by a set of chakra strings attached to his shirt.

He went to comment but was silenced by a gesture from the puppet-wielder, who had detached his chakra strings from Shikamaru and moved his puppet to the other side of the door. He shook his head in a strange manner before reaching into a pouch and taking out two notes of money, giving one each to his siblings.

"What is that about?" asked Shikamaru, keeping his voice to a whisper.

With a smirk Temari pocketed her note while Gaara used a small portion of sand to place it in his pocket. "Just a little bet on whether you'd come back or not."

He gave her his best are-you-kidding-me look before shaking his head and placing his hands together in a handseal. He nodded his readiness to Gaara, who in turn signalled to Temari to open the door.

The grinning blonde kunoichi gave her acknowledgement and drew back her fan, making sure that she was facing the door at an angle.

"Kuuhakukaze!" (Vacuum Wind)

In a huge gust of wind the door was sucked straight off its hinges, splintering as it sailed past the four of them. As one they jumped into the room, with Kankuro's puppet accompanying them with its arms extended with poisoned blades at the ready.

Inside they found a large empty hall, one that had been likely used as a dining hall in decades past, but now contained little more than collected dust. To their surprise there were only two figures near the centre of the room, but they couldn't see them clearly as the cloud of dust settled slowly from their entrance.

Shikamaru placed his hands together into a handseal and fell to one knee. "Temari! Cover me!"

He heard the blonde kunoichi call out her attack name as a large gale of cutting winds flew over his head, slamming into the two targets while Shikamaru's shadow sped towards them. He frowned as he saw that neither of the targets seemed affected by the wind, not even flinching, but he figured it made little different as he connected his shadow to both of them, feeling the technique activate fully.

Hopping up from his position Shikamaru began running towards them while maintaining the technique, since the closer he was to his target the stronger the technique was. The three Suna siblings moved up with him, taking positions to cover him with their respective weaponry on hand.

"It's about bloody time you lot got here. Been waiting a month, I have!"

All four of the attacker's eyes widened in surprise when they saw who the two figures were. Standing at an imposing eight feet tall was a red armour clad warrior with a giant sword on his back, an angry frown on his dull-looking face as his ice blue eyes glared at the four of them. However he wasn't the complete reason why they were so surprised. Standing next to the angry-looking giant was a figure covered in shining gold, standing perfectly frozen as if he were a statue.

Shikamaru frowned as he looked at the golden figure's feet, it had a shadow like all objects, but he could feel the connection to it as if it were a living person, whereas the attached shadow to the armoured warrior registered in the same way that he had felt with the red haired woman.

"This…this is…"

Even the stoic Gaara couldn't hide his surprise at the sight of the golden figure, though he still kept a close eye on the warrior.

Shikamaru glanced over at his companions, not quite understanding why they were so surprised by its appearance until he took a closer look at the statue itself. It barely took him a second to realise what they were seeing, though he didn't quite understand how it was possible.

Temari lowered her fan slightly, while Kankuro's puppet slumped slightly.

"Father…he's…"

"Oh? You're this bastard's kids? Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting here for like a month. Do you guys realise how many people I could have killed in that time?"

Ignoring the warrior's rant, Temari turned to her youngest brother. "Gaara…isn't that…"

The sand user tilted his head slightly but gave no other visual indicators. "Yeah. It looks that way." He placed up a hand to direct the sand flying around his body. "We take him out, then worry about that."

With a flick of his hand he sent a large column of sand directly at the red armoured warrior, his intention to exploit the weakness of such heavy-looking armour by confining him in a coffin before crushing him to pieces, a move he hadn't performed since his defeat in the Chuunin Exams.

The enemy didn't even flinch at the sand attack, watching as the deadly attack sped towards him, but as the sand reached his position it fell to the ground lifeless. Taking a step onto the sand, the warrior let out a deep foreboding laugh. "Fantastic! It's been ages since I've had a fight. My sword has been itching for blood."

Gaara frowned slightly and moved his hands in an attempt to manipulate the sand that lay under the warrior's boots, but to his unseen surprise it didn't respond to his command.

Behind the three Suna shinobi, Shikamaru cancelled his shadow technique and stood up with a frown. "Watch out, these guys seem to be able to repress chakra, or something similar to that."

"Oh? The Konoha boy is here too? I'm surprised they didn't kill you. The evidence put against you was fairly damning." He reached back and removed his large sword, letting the heavy blade strike the sand-covered ground with a resounding thud. "Nonetheless, I'm not complaining."

A huge gust of wind screamed towards him but as with Gaara's sand its power depreciated to the point that it was barely a soft breeze against the warrior.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Temari, unsettled by his apparent immunity to both hers and Gaara's attacks.

The warrior went to take another step forward as Kankuro began manipulating his fingers, but as loudly as he could Shikamaru called for them to stop.

"Wait! Who are you people? Why did you do this?"

He knew it was unlikely that he would get an answer, but he needed the time to work out a battle plan against such an opponent.

With a cocked head the warrior picked up his sword with one hand and rested it on his shoulder. "Ah, where are my manners? I am called Kyouran, the First of my mistress, who I believe you are particularly acquainted with, Konoha boy. Don't worry; she has that effect on people."

Shikamaru smirked, "I don't doubt. You didn't answer my other question though."

"And I won't. It is not my place to question my lady's will." He moved to grab at his sword with both hands but instead moved his free arm up to block a trio of poisoned kunai sent towards him by Kankuro's puppet. The projectiles bounced off his red armour and landed harmlessly on the ground.

Drawing back his puppet Kankuro swore under his breath and fell back next to his siblings. "That armour is troublesome. Combined with that defence…"

They all flinched as the ground beneath them trembled, taking a moment to look up to see the warrior dragging his sword along the ground in a path directly at their group. He roared in an unseemly manner as he hefted the giant blade with both hands. Both Temari and Shikamaru jumped back immediately, while Kankuro leapt to the side and, in a single fluid motion, unwrapped his second puppet, revealing a cloak-covered puppet with a bucket head and six arms, holding both puppets in front of him in defence.

Ignoring the retreating shinobi, the red foe moved to strike at the immobile Gaara who, like he always did, never flinched as he saw the sword striking down at his head. As it always did, sand exploded outwards from his gourd and moved to cover him, hardening as it hovered above his head.

The warrior's eyes flashed a bright red as his sword came crashing down onto the sand shield. "Crushing Slash!"

The sand wavered underneath the blow momentarily before collapsing completely, allowing the blade to strike directly at Gaara's head. His three companions called out for him to move, but the warrior's speed was too great for the slow sand shinobi, the blade hitting him square on the forehead.

He completed the slash and spun around, ignoring his fallen target as he looked over at the pile of sand from Gaara's first barrage. He frowned as a figure slowly rose from within the sand, forming into Gaara's stoic face, which was unable to hide his discomfort over his sand shield's failure to block the attack.

"Shikamaru…did you see it?" asked Temari, thankful that her younger brother had been able to substitute away in time, she had frequently said that Gaara relied too much on his subconscious sand shield.

The Nara heir frowned and nodded slowly. "I think so. Tell Kankuro to send a hail of projectiles at him, and warn Gaara to fall back. His chakra-based sand is a liability."

Temari did as he asked; watching as the Konoha shinobi placed his hands together and extended his shadow across the ground. The black form grew out of the ground near Gaara's position, grasping at two of fallen kunai with his shadow technique before holding them up.

The warrior ignoring the raising kunai, moving his sword up to charge towards the retreating sand user. He spun around instinctively and grasped at a long spike that had been shot out of one of Kankuro's puppets, aimed at the back of his head. "Not good enough, shinobi."

_I can see it. So that's what is it. _

"Kankuro, unload everything on my mark" called out Shikamaru, indicating to Temari before changing his handseal and concentrating.

Gaara had fallen back to their position, the warrior throwing away the poisoned spike and snarled at the puppet user, hefting his sword and moving to charge at him. He ducked and weaved between the projectiles, holding up his blade as the defensive puppet moved between him and the puppet user, large blades appearing along its arms.

"Pointless…"

His blade cleaved straight through the puppet's body from top to bottom, its outstretched arms collapsing before they could attack his armour, the chakra strings attached to it mysteriously disappeared, though Kankuro wasn't concerned about his puppet's destruction. With a flick of his hands his other puppet exploded into action, its arms and legs detaching themselves from its main body while its head flew high above the warrior near the ceiling.

The puppet user grinned and placed his hands across his chest. "Kurohigi Endoresuichou Meshi!" (Secret Technique: Endless Curtain Call)

A hail of poisoned needles shot out of one of the puppet's hovering arms at the warrior, who was forced to shield his exposed face with a red gauntlet. At the same time the other arm shot out a small purple ball that landed at his feet, which began to slowly leak a deadly poison gas.

The red warrior swore and went to fall back from the growing gas cloud but cried out in pain and dropped to one knee, reaching back to try and pull out the two kunai that had struck him in the back of his neck. Across the room Shikamaru bit at his thumb nervously, his shadows had lost much of their momentum during the attack due to the chakra failing near the warrior, he knew that the cuts weren't deep enough to cause enough damage but was hoping the poison would at the very least slow him down.

Manipulating his fingers rapidly to take advantage of the warrior's fall, Kankuro shot out two sets of spikes from his puppet's legs, which bounced harmlessly off of the warrior's chest armour, but caused enough of a distraction for Kankuro's final attack. While the warrior struggled to pick himself up from the ground as the paralytic poison from Shikamaru's thrown kunai seeped through his body and the gas smoke bypassed his armour and entered his skin, Kankuro made several dramatic motions before slamming his hands downwards in the direction of the warrior's position.

The enemy tried to glance around to see what the puppet-user was trying to attack him with, his sword lying discarded in front of him, but before he could reach out to grab it he froze for a second before collapsing into the ground, a large pool of blood slowly forming underneath his fallen head.

Shikamaru stood up from his kneeling position, taking a moment before realising that he had been holding his breath, releasing it in relief. He was happy that his calculation about the enemy's nullifying ability once being in a small area around him was accurate, but he knew, and suspected the others knew as well, the reason they had won was that their opponent had underestimated them.

Kankuro slowly walked towards the fallen enemy, using his chakra strings to remove his puppet's head spike from the warrior's skull with a sickening sound before reforming the deadly puppet back to its original form. "It's a shame I had to lose Kuroari, but he was a strange opponent. I've never heard of someone able to nullify chakra, at least not on that scale."

Gaara and Temari nodded their agreement before the four of them walked over to the golden statue, Shikamaru regarding it with fascination. With the Kage robes and distinct features it was clear that it was the Fourth Kazekage, but he had no idea how or why he was in such a form.

"Can you get him out of there?" he asked, knowing that there was something alive inside the gold, otherwise his Kagemane no Jutsu wouldn't have attached itself to him.

Temari reached out and touched the golden statue's face carefully, feeling the hard exterior with a solemn look on her face. "This is Father's technique. The Kinzou or Golden Statue. He likely used it when he realised that he couldn't defeat his opponent's using chakra. But I've never seen it like this…it's never been this dense before. There is no chakra running through it at all. I wouldn't have the first clue how to get him out of there."

Collecting his residual sand from the battle into his hands, Gaara began to manipulate the sand in his gourd around the statue, an arm formed around its stomach before holding it up carefully. "We need to get him back to the village."

Shikamaru moved to block the three of them as they went to move out of the building. "Wait. Something here doesn't add up."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kankuro, having collected the ruined parts of his old puppet into a scroll placed at his side.

Placing her fan on her back, Temari nodded slowly. "I agree with Shikamaru. If this was meant to be a trap, it was poorly executed. He said he'd been waiting for a month, meaning they expected us to pursue and find them."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as it clicked in his mind, a terrible conclusion that he felt he should have thought of before they had left. He turned to the three of them with alarm. "How many of your forces are outside the village searching for the Kazekage at this time?"

Gaara crossed his arms as the sand arm holding his father hovered by his side. "Half, if not a little bit more. Why?"

Temari gasped as she realised what Shikamaru had, swearing loudly. "He was bait. They wanted to draw us away from the village…"

"…so they can attack it in force" finished Shikamaru, looking down at the fallen red warrior. He didn't doubt that they thought the warrior could kill them, by all rights he should have, but it made a frightening amount of sense.

"We need to get back to Suna. Right now."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'm still working out what the best writing style, so if it seems confusing in this chapter that is why.

There is one more chapter with Shikamaru, than there will be a Naruto chapter.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	25. Chapter 23 SHIKA War in Suna

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 23 – Shikamaru – War in Suna

**A/N**: I've updated the first chapter of this story, since it was pretty crap. I have no shame in admitting it was bad writing, but I removed the flashbacks. It doesn't contain any new information, but I'd like to think it makes it easier for new people to start with this story.

Also apologies for the lateness. I'm back at university, so I haven't had as much time to write as I would like.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be some casualties in war. It's war damnit!

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After being captured by the Suna shinobi and imprisoned on false accusations, Shikamaru was thrown into a dark prison underneath the Hidden Village of Sand. Making friends with the only other prisoner in the jail cells, Shikamaru was both beaten and interrogated at the hands of the Suna ANBU, who refused to listen to his statements about being set up. After a month of imprisonment, and physical training since he had nothing better to do, three figures appeared within the prison. They revealed themselves as the three Sand Siblings, Temari, Gaara and Kankuro, who had been on an undercover mission to discover why there were food problems in the country. After a long discussion, in which Shikamaru took a large risk and revealed all that had happened since the last time he had seen them in the Chuunin Exams, they took him out of the prison. On the road in their pursuit of the Kazekage's trail, Shikamaru and Temari resolved their previous grievance, though the Nara heir was still thoroughly confused by the blonde's interactions with him. Using an underground tunnel to cut through the terrain in the Land of Fire, the four of them found a building that they knew the missing Kazekage. They found a red-armoured warrior and the Kazekage encased in solid gold, and after a decisive but quick battle they defeated the chakra nullifying warrior, and after finding that their father was still alive they realised that the whole situation was a trap to draw the three siblings from their village. With their father in their hands, sealed by his own technique, the Suna Siblings and Shikamaru make haste back to the Hidden Village of Sand.

***End Summary***

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><p>***Five Months after Separation****<p>

Upon leaving the building, the four of them considered their options. Shikamaru and Temari worked on figuring out how long it would take them to get back to the village, at full pace they calculated it would still take over a day, which they suspected was too long. Without a word Gaara had begun to collect large amounts of sand beneath their feet, while Kankuro analysed their father's golden statue. It had been made clear that it was a technique that had accumulated his golden dust around him to prevent him from being attacked, but none of them had seen it on this scale before. Without shattered the gold itself, which was nearly impossible, Kankuro saw no way of releasing his father.

"We could take the tunnels again, but even then it'll take too long. The village is probably being attacked now, or very soon."

Shikamaru frowned as they watched large columns of sand collect around their little group, a sand arm reaching out to grab at the Kazekage's statue. "What are you doing Gaara?"

He got no response but after a few moments he felt the ground beneath his feet shake. Looking down he noticed that underneath the four of them was a patch of dense sand that had begun to rise slowly from the ground, carrying them and the statue high above the ground.

_So we'll travel by sand. That might gain us an hour or two. _

Temari turned to her younger brother while simultaneously unfurling her large fan. "We're going with that?"

Gaara offered her no response, resolving to concentrate on raising the sand platform carrying them above the surrounding tree line. Kankuro tightened the bands holding his puppets before sitting down and crossing his legs. Temari positioned herself at the back of their group while Gaara moved the sand to angle them facing the direction that the Suna village was in.

It took Shikamaru a few seconds before he realised what they had planned, his eyes widening in surprise, he hadn't thought of something so basic. "Wait…won't we fall off?"

His question was answered without a word from the others, small locks of sands emerging from the platform to attach his feet to their floating floor. He looked around to see that the others were similarly locked in place, the golden Kazekage laying next his youngest son, who had resolved to stand with his arms crossed in his usual stoic position.

Gaara took a few more seconds to ensure that they had a clear path before turning his head slightly, still staring forward. "Whenever you are ready, Temari."

The kunoichi smirked as she began to mould chakra through her arms. "All passengers please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. Warning, this ride will contain turbulence."

Shikamaru moved to plant a hand on his face, but before he could complete the action he almost collapsed to the sandy ground as Temari waved her fan in the opposite direction they were facing.

"Daigenwakukaze!" (Great Blinding Wind)

oOoOoOo

They travelled through the air at a speed Shikamaru hadn't thought possible, the ground beneath them was a blur of green and brown as they drew closer to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. Temari only had to occasionally wave her fan to maintain their speed, the Kazekage's daughter grinning wildly as her ponytails flicked about with the movement of the platform.

"I have a question, Nara Shikamaru."

Having finally orientated himself to the intense speed of their sand platform, Shikamaru struggled to turn himself so he could look at the standing sand-user. "Something you want to know, Gaara?"

He could tell that stoic sand user held very little opinion about him, but there was something about the reserved Suna Jounin that forced him to re-evaluate his initial impressions of the tailed beast container.

"After discovering your destroyed village, why did you not turn around and seek assistance from Sunagakure?"

Shikamaru sighed and moved slightly in a vain attempt to mitigate the wind slamming into his face. "We considered it, but it wasn't a viable option. After all, at that time we had no information on who had destroyed our home, and we couldn't rule anyone out. I'm not so sure we can now."

"So you didn't trust us."

"Of course not. But then again, out of all the possibilities we considered, Suna had the most to gain from Konoha's destruction. Just look at how far your village has progressed in the past year."

"I didn't know you felt that way" said Temari, sitting down with an angry look on her face.

Shikamaru didn't respond, he knew when he would be digging his own grave, but he could tell there was a touch of pain in her voice that he knew he would pay for later.

"Hmm…you are wiser than I thought, Nara Shikamaru."

oOoOoOo

He hadn't thought it possible, but after an hour of high speed travel they moved into the desert air, speeding through waves of brown and grey beneath them.

"How much further?" asked Shikamaru, trying to see if he could see any signs of battle.

At the back Temari let out another gust of wind before leaning on her fan. "Half an hour, maybe less. We've caught onto the back of a draft, so we've made good time."

"What's the plan then?" asked Kankuro from the side.

Temari looked out over the desert in front of them. "If that warrior signalled to his allies the moment we entered the area, then the village is probably already under attack."

"How do you think they'll attack?" asked Shikamaru.

Ensuring that her fan wasn't going to blow away in the air, Temari pulled out a small piece of paper from her kimono, using both hands to keep it on the solid sand platform. Kankuro leant over and held it down while Temari pointed to the entrance marked on the map of the Hidden Village of Sand. "There's only one way to attack Suna on a large scale. Our village was built in a chasm that is unclimbable on the sides, forcing large enemy forces to only be able to attack through the bottleneck at the entrance. The only other way to attack is infiltration, which is still extremely difficult."

Shikamaru frowned as he looked over the plans, she was right in that he could see no way for a large amount of enemy forces to breach the high walls, but he could see that small numbers could attempt to scale the walls under the cover of darkness and there was little Suna could do about it, but he didn't think that was how they would be attacked.

_They'll want to make a show of it. Konoha was a stealthy destruction, where nobody knew who they were or what their motivations were. In this circumstance they have revealed both themselves and almost entirely revealed what their plans were surrounding this village. It speaks to their confidence, or their arrogance. Whatever happens…it won't end well. _

Quietly he looked at his three companions, noticing their relatively calm demeanour. Gaara was stoic as usual, but even Kankuro and Temari seemed unsettled by the coming battle.

_Should I be in this fight? I have no loyalty to Suna. But…if Suna were to disappear, in a similar manner to Konoha, then the balance of the shinobi world would be completely messed up. That would cause issues for everyone, not just us. _

His eyes rested on the wind user of the group, Shikamaru doing his best not to get noticed as he looked at her green eyes.

_And then there is that reason…but that…even I don't understand that…_

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><p>Shikamaru blinked several times, waiting for the sand platform to slow down to get a proper look. "Well…it doesn't look destroyed."<p>

"No…perhaps they fought them off" commented Kankuro, still preparing his chakra strings at the tips of his fingers.

Temari looked down at the village with curiosity. "No signs of damage…I think we got here before the battle."

She indicated for Gaara to take them to the hospital, "Our first priority is healing Father. We can concentrate on defending the village once he is secure."

Gaara wordlessly began to move the sand to the centre of the village, noticing that there were civilians that were staring up at them from the streets. Children in parks were pointing and cheering, their parents trying to pull them away. He knew he was still feared by the civilians of the village, they still thought of him as the demon container. But the shinobi of the village had slowly come to realise that Gaara had a large amount of control over his tailed beast, and they understood his commitment to the village.

They landed near the entrance of the hospital, both Temari and Shikamaru hopping off while Gaara lowered his father's statue between them. "Kankuro and I will see to the entrance."

The two of them flew off on top of the sand towards the twin cliffs that decorated the entrance to the shinobi village. Shikamaru watched them go for a few seconds before looking over at Temari and finally resting his eyes on the golden Kazekage. He thought about it for a moment before turning to his female companion, putting up a closed hand. "Odds or evens?"

Temari just glared at him with her green eyes before placing her fan on her back and walking through the open doors of the hospital. Shikamaru pulled his hand down and watched the blonde disappear into the hospital. He looked over at the statue with a sigh. "I guess I'll carry him then."

oOoOoOo

"Something is wrong" observed Kankuro, telling Gaara to move them to the centre line to convene with a Sand Jounin waving them down.

The sand user moved them to the ground and stepped off the sand platform while Kankuro looked over at the Sand forces standing guard at the stairs around them. The Jounin saluted the two of them quickly; they noticed he was one of the older Jounin, so it surprised them to be saluted at.

"Gaara-san, Kankuro-kun, you are just in time. Were you able to retrieve the Kazekage?"

Kankuro nodded slowly, to the relief of the shinobi around them, while Gaara asked for a report on their current situation. While he was the youngest Jounin in the Suna forces, being the most prominent of the Kazekage's children granted him a level of respect among the shinobi of their village.

A Jounin with a scar across his face indicated to the outside desert area with a gloved finger. "There is a strange person standing in the middle of the desert. He's been there for over an hour and hasn't moved."

Beside his younger brother Kankuro frowned and placed his hands on his sides. "And you haven't engaged him?"  
>"No. We haven't been able to confirm it, but we believe him to be a powerful enemy that we shouldn't underestimate. We were just about to order an evacuation into the tunnels."<p>

Kankuro went to say something to the shinobi, but was cut off when he saw Gaara moving towards the desert. He frowned as he ran past the guards to catch up to his younger brother, both of them quietly counting the forces covering the entrance. By their calculation, almost 90% of their standing forces manned the walls, several hundred shinobi of varying strength levels. Suna wasn't known for their numbers, not like Konoha once was, but they prided themselves on the strength of their individual shinobi. It was still a frightening show of strength, and caused the puppet-user to question who might be facing against them to inspire such fear.

The desert opened up before them, both of them taking positions at the front of the shinobi army and looked out to see who was standing against them. It appeared to be a single figure as the guard had said, though he didn't look imposing in the slightest, at least not from a distance. Kankuro squinted to get a better view of the figure, while Gaara made note of the fact that there was no wind at all around the man. He appeared to be quite young, not much older than Gaara from Kankuro's perspective, with a short head of red hair and seemingly dead brown eyes with a stoic expression that put Gaara to shame. What drew his interest was the black robe that the red-haired man was wearing, one that had red and white clouds scattered across it.

"I don't understand, why this show of force for one boy?" asked Kankuro, wondering why so many of their fellow shinobi were so afraid of this one person.

Gaara folded his arms and removed the top off of his gourd with a trail of sand. "It is surprising that you don't recognise him, Kankuro. He created your puppets."

Kankuro's eyes widened as he realised who the red haired shinobi faced them was. He had recognised the cloak from Shikamaru's story, but he hadn't realised that such a figure was still around, let alone looking that young. "Sasori of the Red Sands…why is he here?"

Collecting sand underneath his feet before rising off the ground, Gaara began to motion to the shinobi around them. "It doesn't matter. He is a missing shinobi from our village."

With a burst of chakra, Gaara shot forward straight across the desert, not looking back to see whether his orders had been followed or not. He halted a dozen feet away from Sasori's static position, a large cloud of sand surrounding his head while he stared at the red-haired missing shinobi.

Sasori slowly looked up at the hovering sand user with a dead look on his face, Gaara realising that his brown eyes were actually a dull red colour, and there was something that made even him cautious. He started mixing his gourd's sand with the sand around him, to increase the strength of his natural defence. "Why are you here, Sasori of the Red Sands?"

The famous puppet user barely moved as he cocked his head slightly. "Th…full…mu…proc…" It appeared to be a struggle for the red head to speak, but Gaara could hear an odd metallic sound in his voice.

He didn't flinch as his sand shield instinctively moved to cover his face, the sand user's eyes darkening as he realised he hadn't seen the attack coming at all, Sasori hadn't appeared to have moved at all. The robe-wearing shinobi shifted his arms slightly, and at that moment Gaara realised what had happened to the ex-Suna shinobi. With a large gesture he shot back towards the rest of the Suna shinobi, a large waterfall of sand covering his escape. Normally Gaara was not one to retreat, particularly since he was so strong against puppet-users, but there was an observation that he needed to inform the rest of the village about.

oOoOoOo

Shikamaru waited in the lobby and flicked his thumbs in boredom. He had been expecting them to drop into a war zone, or to be sent to the battle, but here he was sitting in a hospital waiting room while the Suna villagers glared at him as they walked past.

_What the hell am I doing? I've done my part in guiding them through the Land of Fire, but now what?_

He looked up to see Temari walking towards him, shaking her head as she sat down next to him.

"Bad news?"

"Damn incompetent doctors. They have no way of releasing Father without killing him inside the gold."

"Hn…"

Shikamaru looked outside the hospital doors, seeing a large group of villagers running around in front of the hospital. "What is going on?" he asked, noticing a strange pattern within the chaos.

Temari lent past him so that she could get a better view. "An evacuation by the looks of it. But they only do this when there is an attack from within the village and they need to get the civilians into the tunnels."

Pushing herself up from her knees, she bumped him on the shoulder with a fist. "We should go have a look."

Shikamaru watched her walk away, taking note of a slight swagger in her steps beneath her black kimono. A part of him wanted to just sit there and let them sort out their own problems, but there was something else that he felt, one that he couldn't explain. It was powerful enough to force him to his feet and follow her out of the hospital.

_Is it that I'm too lazy to be lazy? No that just sounds stupid. _

Once they were out of the hospital, Temari grabbed at the nearest civilian she could find, asking in her most polite tone to tell them what was going on. The young man initially went to shrug her off, until he saw who she was, which caused him to shiver in fear and place up his hands defensively.

"Temari-sama! You have to leave this area immediately! There's a bunch of crazy people attacking the village a few blocks away!"

The kunoichi let him go once he pointed to the direction he was talking about, the young man quickly fleeing the area with another group of fearful civilians. Temari and Shikamaru shared a look for a moment before she unsheathed her fan and he moulded a small amount of chakra into his arms, the two of them quickly moving through the sand covered streets, trying their best to wade through the fleeing crowd. Shikamaru hadn't realised how quickly the situation had deteriorated, but after seeing the terrified faces of the fleeing civilians, Shikamaru didn't understand why he hadn't heard any screams, until he worked it out.

_Even in situations where they are terrified, they don't panic. Suna just continues to impress. _

They moved past the crowd and skidded to a halt as they came to an open area, both of them standing defensively. Shikamaru had his hands together in a handseal instantly, while Temari had her fan pulled back ready to attack. They found themselves standing on a battlefield that seemed very out of place for the middle of a shinobi village. In front of them was a scattered battlefield littered with dead robed bodies, the sand beneath their feet slowly seeping with blood. In an instant they could tell that all the dead were civilians, people that had no capacity to fight back, Shikamaru feeling his anger spike considerably when he saw that there were small children amongst the dead. With a quick glance they both saw two figures cutting down a pair of old women, the foes armoured in a similar manner to the warrior they had fought in the Land of Fire.

"Shikamaru…"

"I see them" he responded angrily, using his shadow to grab a discarded sword before sending it to his hand and grasping at the hilt. He didn't have much experience with swords, but at that moment he felt it didn't matter.

The two warriors wore lithe looking red armour and looked like they could be twins, both sporting the same jet black hair and icy look in their eyes as they turned to face the two of them. The one on the left held a long katana in each hand, while the other one spun a broad-axe around wildly. They didn't seem particularly worried about the two of them; they both sported the same arrogance that the other warrior had demonstrated, though there was something about them that Shikamaru couldn't place, something that set them apart.

Standing next to him, Temari could barely contain her rage, her hands shaking to the point that she had to resist the urge to drop her fan and attack them with her bare hands. She moved to attack them, but felt a strong grip on her shoulder pulling her back. She turned with a furious look on her face, but stopped herself from attacking him when she saw the resolute look on Shikamaru's face.

"Focus, Temari. You can grieve later, but if you lose your cool here the village will lose more than just their civilians."

She went to yell at him for stopping her, but a look in his dark eyes made her stand down, the anger that she had felt in her heart had been replaced with a cold hatred, one that she immediately directed towards the two enemies that were slaughtering their civilians.

Shikamaru released his grip on her shoulder and turned his gaze back to the two butchers, noticing that they hadn't moved from their position, they seemed happy to see someone who would give them a real fight. Gripping the sword in his hand tightly, Shikamaru could feel his own rage building inside of him. While he had no love for Suna, it still offended his sensibilities to see such brutality.

Temari held down her fan slightly and took a deep breath before resting her eyes on the red armoured figures in front of them. "We'll need to work together, Shikamaru."

Cracking his neck and standing next to her with a grim smile, Shikamaru nodded and indicated for her to follow his lead. "I have a theory that needs to be tested. I know it's a big ask, but I'll need you to do exactly what I say."

Temari gripped her fan tightly and lent on it with one arm. "Just this once."

oOoOoOo

Gaara kept an eye on the army of shinobi with his sand third eye, watching them prepare themselves for battle quickly. While he didn't have that much authority to command the Suna shinobi, he was only a Jounin; he had found that if his decision made sense they complied quietly.

"Are you sure?" asked Kankuro, holding his offensive puppet Karasu up with his chakra strings. He hadn't been able to repair his other puppet in time, but knew that Kuroari wouldn't be much use against an opponent like Sasori.

Gaara nodded and watched carefully as they saw Sasori reveal his hands from within his robe, two scrolls in his hands. "I could hear it. There was something…inhuman about his body."

"If there was ever anyone who could do it, it would be him. But why is he here? What are his motivations?"

A Jounin beside the puppet-user motioned for silence, the Suna forces watching Sasori's movements carefully. The red-haired Akatsuki member opened his scrolls slowly, none of the Suna shinobi were able to read the writing on the scrolls, but the puppet-users in the army recognised what he was aiming to do, putting them on edge immediately. Ten large clouds of smokes appeared in front of Sasori, dissipating quickly to reveal a variety of puppets covered in black robes.

"Ten puppets at once…I guess that's why he's the genius of puppet use." Kankuro was unable to contain his amazement at Sasori's feat, like every puppet-user he knew that a puppet-master's skill was based upon how many puppets they could use effectively at once. He had been slowly working his way up to three, but ten seemed far out of the realm of possibility.

He glanced over the ten black robed puppets, barely able to see the chakra strings that bound them to Sasori's fingers. His eyes widened as the puppets all collectively clapped their hands together and placed their wooden hands outstretched in front of them, undistinguishable symbols on the inside of their palms.

_Wait…he couldn't have…_

Kankuro's fears were confirmed quickly, a giant cloud of smoke appeared in front of the ten puppets to reveal a large army of red cloaked puppets floating in the air, so many that it was impossible to count them all. Each of the black puppets moved their wooden fingers and connected long blue chakra strings to the red puppets, creepy movement sounds echoing in the desert as the puppets began to draw a variety of weapons, each clearly coated with purple coloured poisons.

Despite the situation, Gaara kept his composure, turning to his older brother with a stoic look on his face. "What is this, Kankuro?"

His brother hesitated and felt his chakra strings fall limp, Karasu collapsing slightly. "This…the…impossible…"

"Kankuro! Concentrate." Gaara wasn't one to raise his voice, but he knew that they needed Kankuro's expertise with puppets; he didn't have time for his brother's meltdown.

"He's…" Kankuro took a long breath and collected his thoughts. "Normally a puppet user can only control as many as they have fingers, thus ten being the maximum. But…he's gone to a whole other level. There's probably a hundred red puppets there, being controlled by the black puppets, who in turn are being controlled by him."

A shinobi beside them pulled out a kunai and held it in front of him. "That explains why he came alone. He's an army in of himself."

Gaara slowly rose on top of his small sand platform. "Then we take him out, and the army collapses."

Kankuro recovered his chakra strings and held Karasu up. "It won't be that easy. We might outnumber them, but Sasori is notorious for his poisons and hidden weapons. We aren't going to come out of this without heavy casualties."

The red puppet army began to fly towards the entrance to the Hidden Village of Sand, a wide variety of projectiles firing at the defending shinobi. Quickly outstretching his hands, Gaara summoned up two massive hands of sand, forcing all the strikes to bounce harmlessly off his defence before retracting it and moving towards the red puppet army on top of his flying sand.

Kankuro watched his younger brother with surprise, he hadn't thought Gaara would do something so reckless until he realised what he was doing. "He's trying to force the battle away from the village. Damnit, why did he go in alone? He knows he's vulnerable to some puppet weapons like poison gas."

With a tut he flicked his hands up and began running towards his younger brother's position, Karasu flying beside him with two large sickle protruding from his forearms.

In the middle of the battlefield, Gaara found himself surrounded by attacking puppets. His sand shield was holding easily, but he wasn't able to progress towards the black robed puppets like he had intended. He frowned and turned around, trusting in his sand shield to cover him, even his stoic features began to break when he saw the Suna army of shinobi charging towards him, roaring loudly with their weapons raised. He felt a slight smile creep onto his face, but he quickly dismissed it, drawing his sand around him quickly. There was a part of him that worried about how close they still were to the village; any loose explosions could spill over into the village, but he knew there was no pushing the puppet army back. With a determined look in his eyes a sand arm reached out and grasped a sword-wielding red puppet, Gaara closing his hand quickly to crush its wooden form within the sand.

_They seem to be destroyed easily enough, but the precision of their movements and their attacks…each puppet seems to be of Chuunin strength or greater. _

While Gaara preoccupied a group of puppets in the air, the Suna shinobi engaged the red puppets head on, striking kunai on kunai while being backed up by ninjutsu from the shinobi behind them. Dozens of puppets fell in the first and second volleys, but like the proverbial dead of fantasy stories they rose and reattached their broken limbs, attacking the Suna shinobi with a ferocity that they hadn't expected from puppets, with many Suna shinobi caught off-guard and falling to the ground, clutching at slashed limbs and pulling out poisoned senbon.

With a quick manipulation of his chakra strings, Kankuro shredded a puppet to pieces using Karasu's inbuilt buzz saw, taking a moment to ensure that the puppet couldn't be reconstituted before jumped back to avoid a hail of senbon. He moved Karasu to cover his front as he looked around the battlefield. They had taken out nearly twenty of the puppets in short order, but the tenacity and endurance of the puppet army was wearing the Suna shinobi out, dozens had already fallen to the ground, paralysed by the puppet's poisoned weapons. He saw that they hadn't taken out any of the black robed puppets controlling the army puppets, and none of them looked like they were even close to getting near them.

Blocking another sword strike to his side with sand, Gaara scanned the battlefield with his third eye above the battlefield. He kept a static position with a dozen puppets trying to pierce through his sand shield without success. He had to intermittently replace sections of his sand with sand from the ground, so that none of the poison seeped through his shield. Clapping his hands together, Gaara found a gap in the puppet army, drawing his sand around him to form a dense shell.

Using his third eye to concentrate his attack, Gaara moved a large section of the sand beneath the puppet army's feet, shooting it through a small gap between robed puppets directly at a large black robed puppet that seemed to notice the attack and move several puppets to intercept the attack. Gaara changed his handseal and concentrated, shooting long spikes of sand at the puppets to throw them off the attack. With a small burst of chakra Gaara covered the black robed puppet with large amounts of sand before motioning with an open hand.

"Sabaku Soso!"

The controller puppet disintegrated within the sand, Gaara crushing its pieces twice just to be sure, noticing with his third eye that several of the red puppets fell to the ground limp with his destruction of the black puppet. After checking to make sure his area was clear, he retracted his sand shell, commanding his sand to take him to another part of the battlefield.

"We need to recover our wounded!" yelled a Suna Chuunin, dragging another shinobi across the desert while dodging stray projectiles.

A Jounin beside him pushed him out of the way of a sword strike and kicked the puppet away, putting his hands together quickly into a handseal. "Katon: Hinoteomoi!" (Fire Element: Massive Blaze)

Kankuro ducked under a kunai and moved Karasu to attack the red puppet that shot at him, cursing under his breath as he jumped back to avoid another puppet's attack. In a brief instant he could see that they were slowly whittling down the puppet's numbers, only half the red puppets remained. A combined assault by dozens of Suna shinobi had taken out three of the controlling puppets in an instant, but they had paid dearly for their attack, over a hundred groaning bodies littered the battlefield.

He tried to move Karasu back into position after beating back another animal-like puppet, but found the wooden creature oddly unresponsive to his commands. He tried to pull it back directly, but the puppet merely creaked loudly and sat frozen in the air. Kankuro swore and moved his head slightly, looking past its cloaked form to see a black cloaked puppet motioning with its wooden fingers towards the puppet. He tried again to move Karasu towards his position, but the black puppet's grip was ironclad.

An idea popped into Kankuro's head, the puppet user cutting off his chakra threads to Karasu when he noticed that three of the black robed puppets had grouped near the one that had taken his puppet, since their red puppets had been destroyed by the slowly diminishing Suna army. He waited until the black puppet drew Karasu closer to its position, taking a moment to analyse it before motioning for it to attack a nearby fallen Suna shinobi. Kankuro shook his head slowly and placed his hands up; reconnecting his chakra strings to an area he knew the black puppet hadn't connected itself to, his threads opening Karasu's mouth quickly while immobilising the rest of the puppet in the same manner as it had been before.

"Sorry, Karasu" he said quietly, flicking his index finger to activate the safety measure he had installed in the puppet. The shockwave struck him before he heard the explosion, the puppet-user not realising how powerful he had made Karasu's self-destruction feature. To his relief the blast took out all three of the black cloaked puppets, and a secondary glance showed him that another two had been taken out by Gaara's sand attacks, while another had been slashed to pieces by a squad of Suna ANBU who had subsequently been taken out by a retaliation strike from the dozen remaining red puppets.

Above the battlefield, Gaara used his sand to encircle the final two black puppets and their red puppets. He knew that he had used up a large majority of his chakra in keeping as many of the Suna shinobi alive as possible, but he knew the battle wasn't over until they had destroyed all of the puppets and gotten to Sasori. Several of their shinobi had tried to break through and reach the static Akatsuki, but they had been easily intercepted and taken out in the process.

Moulding all the chakra he could afford, while still keeping himself afloat, Gaara stretched out his hands and felt the sand around the battlefield like it was a part of his body. He motioned towards the remaining puppets, noticing that Sasori had broken out of the circle with no problem, but Gaara had to let him go for now.

The ground beneath the puppets began to swirl as Gaara activated his most dangerous sand technique that didn't involve Shukaku. He twisted his hands before closing his palms, forcing the sand underneath the puppets to reach up and grasp the puppets, pulling them down into the ground.

"Sabaku Hakyoku!" (Sand Cataclysm)

The sand whirled around for a few seconds before sucking the puppets completely into the ground and crushing them to bits, buried underneath the desert floor.

Gaara floated down to the ground and dissipated his sand platform, crossing his arms with a slow breath. Around him the surviving Suna shinobi scrambled to remove their fallen comrades from the battlefield, while the stronger ones that had escaped ran to stand next to him. He noticed, as Kankuro moved up next to him, that Sasori seemed unconcerned over his puppet army's destruction, the Akatsuki member merely standing stoically, moving his eyes across the remaining Suna shinobi that stood against him.

_He's analysing our numbers. This can't be his last trick, it was too easy to defeat. Sasori of the Red Sands would know that the Hidden Village of Sand could repel an invasion of that magnitude, particularly since he gave us the time to commit our forces. He must have something else up his sleeve. _

oOoOoOo

"Why do you get the sword guy? I don't want the axe one, he looks funny."

"You said you'd do what I asked."

Temari clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Yeah. That was going to happen. Definitely."

"Temari…"

She picked up her fan and cracked her knuckles. Without responding to Shikamaru again she pulled back her fan and activated her technique, waving the large weapon straight at the two warriors. After seeing that they were about to do battle, any remaining civilians had evacuated the area, meaning that Temari was free to be as destructive as necessary.

"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"

A long vacuum of air flew out of her fan directly at the two of them, slicing up the air between her and the warriors wildly, forcing the two of them to jump to the sides separately to avoid the strike. As they moved Shikamaru kept a close eye on their movements, a quick manipulation of his shadow towards their confirming something he already knew.

He split off from his position and pursued the twin-sword wielding enemy, leaving the axe-wielder for Temari, as he had planned. After seeing them move from her wind attack, Shikamaru knew they weren't the same calibre as the first warrior, but he still couldn't feel any chakra from them. His shadow confirmed his suspicion as well. Since he was unable to manipulate them with his chakra, which was how his Kagemane no Jutsu worked, he suspected techniques like genjutsu wouldn't work either. However if they dodged the wind attack that the other warrior had easily defeated, then that meant they didn't have his immunity to chakra, which opened up a whole different avenue of attacks that he could utilise.

He glared at the armoured warrior and gripped his sword tightly. He decided to see what information he could get out of the warrior, since they seemed to be relatively loose-lipped. "Who are you people? Why are you attacking these people?"

The warrior stood up from the ground slowly, having landed on a slide, placing his swords in a cross position in front of him. He didn't say a word, but Shikamaru could feel an intense aura of hatred coming from his ice-blue eyes.

_The shinobi world must have done something to these people. I'm not from this village, which is fairly obvious, yet he still gives me that intense look. _

He shoved his sword into the ground in front of him, running rapidly through a set of handseals before clapping his hands together and picking up his sword again. To the untrained eye it appeared that he hadn't done anything, but if they looked down at the ground they would have noticed his shadow had wavered and disappeared into the ground.

_Let's see if this works. _

With a long breath he charged forward with his sword raised. He yelled as he brought down the sword against the warrior, who easily blocked the strike on one of his swords. With an emotionless face, the warrior drew back his other sword, moving to slice straight through his neck. As he watched the blade fall towards him, a slow grin came across his face.

"Shield"

A thin black shape emerged from his feet, covering his exposed neck and taking the sword blow easily. He could see the surprise on the warrior's face, but it didn't last long before it was once again replaced with arrogance. With a burst of chakra, Shikamaru pushed off the warrior's blade with his, taking several long jumps backwards and letting his shadow shield collapse while holding up his sword defensively. He glanced at the blade, noticing a deep cut in the sword's metal.

_I guess that won't work. He's got some serious physical strength, my arm is killing me. _

Watching the warrior recover and place up his blades again, Shikamaru threw away his blade and drew a hand back.

"Bow"

In an instant his shadow leapt to his hands and formed a long string, a second shadow appearing between his hands. He drew back the shadow arrow with as much chakra as he could, staring down the black line to track the warrior. The enemy had caught onto the fact that he had prepared a ranged weapon, charging towards Shikamaru while dodging and weaving with his swords slashing at the air randomly.

Shikamaru tracked him carefully, knowing that he only had one shot before the warrior reached him. After a moment he realised that there was no way he could hit the warrior if he moved at that speed, to which he wished he had a free hand so that he could face plant himself for being so stupid.

"Kagenui no Jutsu."

The ground beneath him darkened instantly before dozens of long shadowy threads expanded towards warrior, too fast for him to avoid as they grabbed at his arms and legs, immobilising him tightly.

Knowing that his threads wouldn't be able to stand up to the warrior's strength for very long, Shikamaru aimed his shadow arrow directly at the red metal plate that was where his heart was. With a huge spike of chakra he released the arrow, simultaneously tightening his thread's grip on the warrior so that he could divert the blow.

The arrow struck the warrior exactly where Shikamaru had intended it to, sending the warrior flying into a house behind him, breaking the shadow threads that were holding him onto the ground. Nodding his satisfaction at his techniques efficiency, Shikamaru glanced over at Temari to see how she was handling her opponent. To his surprise he saw that she was sitting on top of the warrior with her legs crossed and her fan across her thighs, a sly grin on her face as he noticed the warrior's armoured had been shredded to pieces.

He smiled slowly and went to wave at her, but Temari just cocked her head and pointed at him. Shikamaru frowned for a second before finally understanding what she meant. He ducked and rolled forward instinctively, bringing up a shadow around him as he stood up. He took a slow breath in relief as he saw that she was just messing with him, the warrior he had shot was lying on the ground with a large pool of blood underneath him.

Shikamaru cancelled his shadow manipulation technique and sighed again, it had taken more chakra than he would have liked to perform the solid matter shadow techniques, but he couldn't argue with the results.

_That was…too easy. I know that most of the Suna forces are at the entrance to the village, but surely they should have had some Chuunin-level shinobi that could have handled the two of them. _

"Bit tired?"

Shikamaru shook his head and turned to face the kunoichi standing next to him. "I'm fine. What's the plan now?"

Temari placed her fan in front of her and leaned on it while looking around at the makeshift battlefield. "This was too easy. Something feels off here."

"We should go back to the hospital. If they are here to kill innocents, then that's where they would go."

She nodded in agreement and picked up her fan. She motioned for him to lead the way, smiling as Shikamaru rolled his eyes and began to run towards the hospital.

oOoOoOo

Sasori scanned the battlefield one last time before reaching up and slowly unbuttoning his robe. Across the field, Gaara motioned for the remaining shinobi to be cautious, he knew that the Akatsuki member was far from done, and he didn't want there to be any more casualties. By his estimation they had lost a third of their forces, with another third having fallen to Sasori's poison and their outlook wasn't particularly good either. He took a long breath, trying his best to stall for time so that he could recover as much chakra as possible. It hadn't been his intention, but he knew that after two or three techniques he wouldn't be able to fight anymore, though he doubted Sasori would afford him such a luxury.

Beside him Kankuro used his chakra strings in a vain attempt to find a workable puppet, he was able to compile several arms and weapons, but all the puppets left on the battlefield were essentially useless. Glancing around the battlefield he noticed that there were still dozens of fallen Suna shinobi that were too close to Sasori to be evacuated properly. Summoning what chakra he had left, Kankuro resolved to remove them himself, since he had a longer range than most of their remaining forces, and moving a living target wasn't much different from a puppet.

The two of them looked up at once, noticing that Sasori had shed his robe and confirmed Gaara's suspicion. His arms appeared jointed and stiff; a long spiked wire protruded from his chest and a strange circular object was embedded in the area his heart would have been in.

Kankuro's eyes widened when he saw what Sasori had turned himself into. He had read the puppet-users notes on such a phenomenon, but seeing it in reality was a whole other ordeal. However looking around at the standing Suna forces, he didn't understand the move at all. They had beaten his army of puppets, and even as dangerous as Sasori likely was when in puppet form, Kankuro couldn't see a way for the attacker to win against such numbers.

"What is he trying to do?" asked a shinobi in the battle line.

Several of his companions gave indifferent answers before the remaining Jounin called for quiet. Suna didn't have a particularly large ANBU division, so each senior shinobi that had fallen was a serious blow to the village, with less than twenty left standing in front of a mix of Chuunin and Genin. Gaara stood in the middle with his hands crossed, concentrating on analysing Sasori's movements for a hint of a weakness, his third eye floating high above the puppet user.

He watched Sasori remove a scroll from a contraption on his back, glaring indifferent while placing it open on the ground and placing his puppet hands together in a basic handseal. He didn't recognise any of the symbols on the scroll, but he was experienced enough to know that whatever Sasori was doing wouldn't be good for their forces. He went to motion for them to advance on him, but hesitated when he saw a small plume of red smoke slowly rising from the scroll on the ground. A slow shiver ran up his spine, one that he had only experienced once before during his battle with Naruto when the blonde had summoned the Kyuubi's chakra.

A Jounin beside him asked if he knew what was going on, they were too far away to see, but Gaara didn't respond. Sasori released his hands from the handseal and, without any indications of emotion that Gaara could see, slamming his hands through the red smoke onto the seals on the scroll.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Gaara thought the technique may not have activated, but a few seconds after that a huge explosion of smoke came from the smoke, completely obscuring both his third eye and his regular vision.

Some of the shinobi stepped back, the sheer size of the smoke cloud was highly intimidating for even well trained shinobi, though the majority of the army stayed where they were, weapons raised for whatever might emerge from the cloud. Standing beside his superiors, Kankuro continued to pull people from the battlefield with his chakra strings, several of their forces taking the injured shinobi off him and transferring them to the village proper. Even he stopped his vital purpose when he saw the smoke slowly clearing.

They heard it long before they saw it. The smoke cleared in small pockets, revealing large sections of a giant wooden construct's body. Four long arms pushed through the cloud, revealing wicked blades the size of buildings in their wooden hands, two giant feet buried in the sand with a body that seemed to be the stuff of nightmares, covered in compartments and fire points. It was tall enough that its shadow eclipsed the village entirely; the sun behind it seemed almost a distant memory. It didn't appear to have a face on its body, but the sheer size was enough to cause a frightening chill down all of the shinobi's spines.

A Jounin at the front found his sword arm shaking violently, unable to stop it despite his best intentions. "How…how do we beat that?!"

An ANBU next to him smacked him on the back of his head, his serpent symbol concealing his own fear. "We can't take a step backwards. That thing will destroy the village in an instant."

A quick check with his floating eye revealed to Gaara that when the smoke had cleared there was no sign of Sasori anywhere near the puppet construct. It creaked loudly when its arms began to move up and down. Gaara remained stone faced, but even his eyes widened as a large spike shot straight past him and buried itself it the serpent ANBU beside him, sending the shinobi flying towards the village with a wordless scream.

That caused even the most stalwart shinobi to hesitate; none of them had even seen where the attack had come from. It confirmed to Gaara what he had suspected; he figured Sasori was likely inside the construct, controlling it from a safe position beneath layers of solid wood. He considered his options for a moment before breathing out slowly and taking a step forward.

Without turning his head, Gaara removed his gourd and dropped it on the desert floor behind him. "Tell the army to retreat back to the village."

An older Jounin scoffed at the sand-users apparent bravado. "Don't think you can order us around boy. You only just made Jounin."

Stepping forward so that he was in line with the Jounin, Kankuro called out to his younger brother. "Gaara, are you…"

The sand user didn't respond, though the sand around him began to fluctuate wildly around him, answering Kankuro's question for him.

The puppet user swore under his breath and turned to the remaining Jounin. "We have to leave. Now. This area isn't safe anymore."

"What are you talking about?" demanded the Jounin, disliking the tone of the Kazekage's eldest son.

Turning around and ignoring the Jounin's question, Kankuro grabbed the last five shinobi from the battlefield and brought them around him with his chakra strings. He broke out in a run, giving off the injured shinobi to his collaborators.

"Fall back to the village! Fall back!"

The line of Jounin frowned and turned to see the remaining Suna shinobi running along with Kankuro. They looked at each other for a moment, glanced over at Gaara who was half way towards the construct with the sand around him moving like a sandstorm concentrated around him.

"What do you think?" asked the sword-wielding Jounin.

A scorpion-wearing ANBU shinobi considered it for a moment before turning around. "I have my suspicions. We should move."

Alone on the battlefield, Gaara slowly placed his hands together. The construct had shot several spikes and hails of needles at him, and he was bleeding from several scratches on his skin, strikes that had gone through his sand shield.

_Remember our deal. Once the construct is down…_

_**I know the deal. Remember your part little boy. Three hours' worth this time. **_

_You know, it's a bit strange that you are so obsessed with funk music. _

_**After decades of imprisonment let's see how strange you get.**_

_Fair point. No rampaging. _

_**I know. You have your own eccentricities. **_

oOoOoOo

"I…can't believe it…"

"It's…"

"How can…"

The Jounin that had retreated back to the cliffs swore collectively. They tried to calm down the other shinobi, but there was no way that was going to happen. It wasn't the first time they had seen the demon appear, it had rampaged many years ago and nearly destroyed the village before the Kazekage had stopped it. However the giant sand creature seemed to be acting differently than most of them remembered. It stood as tall as the construct, lined symbols covering its sandy body while its single giant tail wavered slowly in the air. Its back faced the village, and after a few seconds it opened its mouth and began to laugh.

It had a strange playful laugh that was somewhat mitigated by the deep tone and sheer volume of its voice.

"**Yeah! It's about time! I'm gonna go crazy! Oh wait, I'm not meant to."** The giant raccoon beast pointed to the immobile construct with a giant arm. **"I guess I'll just destroy you. Yeah!"**

The construct slowly lifted up one of its feet, hovering it for a moment before bring it crashing down on the ground, sending shockwaves all throughout the area. To the shinobi on the ground it seemed like the two of them were sizing each other up. A wide grin came across Shukaku's demonic face. It reached up a giant hand and slammed it into its large chest.

"**Fuuton: Renkuudan!" (Wind Element: Drilling Air Bullet)**

A large concentrated ball of air exploded out of its jaws directly at the construct, but before the blow struck it the construct leapt up into the air with agility that was unnatural for something of its size. Shukaku watched it move high up into the air, backwards from its position before landing heavily on the ground, sending more shockwaves out from their battlefield.

"**Oh how fun! This is what I've been waiting for!" **

It felt two thumps against its chest, looking down to see two sizable spikes protruding out of its left shoulder. It didn't feel pain, having a body made entirely of sand helped, but it made a show of grimacing as it pulled out the spikes and dropped them to the ground.

"**Not good enough!"**

Back on the ground, the Suna shinobi watched in the battle in awe. Each time the construct tried to move past the giant beast, Shukaku blocked its approach, pushing it back with blasts of compressed air.

"What if it rampages?"

"The beast is loose!"

"Shut up!" yelled Kankuro, his frustration levels having peaked long ago. He turned and stood in front of the crowd. "He is protecting our village! Show some damn respect!"

The crowd of shinobi was silent immediately, all of them staring at Kankuro with open mouths. The puppet user grinned and nodded his satisfaction at the outcome, but his moment was short lived. He heard a laugh behind him, causing him to spin around to see three figures standing with their backs to him, facing the battlefield.

"This is not good. We need to restrain the Shukaku before it goes out of control."

Crossing her arms with a frown, Temari glared at the middle figure. "That is your son. He's not a monster! When will you realise that?!"

"Temari, you don't know. It is a monster, and I will not let it destroy my village."

Standing beside the two of them, Shikamaru felt completely out of place in their current situation. They had only just reached the hospital when they saw the Kazekage charged through the village on his golden dust towards their present location, mumbling about the Shukaku and his duty. Shikamaru could never have imagined that he would be seeing a battle like he was.

The construct slashed at Shukaku with two of its blades, the tailed beast taking the blows on its arm before blasting a ball of air straight into its chest. The construct was sent flying back, large chunks of wood falling to the ground as two of its arms disintegrated into splinters.

"**Yeah! One shot for the tanuki!"**

With a creepy creaking sound the construct slowly picked itself up from the ground, staring at the giant with its feature-less face. Once it had recovered its remaining two arms came together at the palm before stretching outwards towards Shukaku. It held them there momentarily before slowly moving them to face the village. Shukaku went to move to block whatever was coming, but the giant puppet's palm moved up to reveal two large opening, which quickly firing two large spiked balls straight at the village. Shukaku saw that it wasn't going to be get there in time, so it put up its hands towards the flying projectiles.

A massive wall of sand appeared in a solid wall between the spiked balls and the village, forcing the attacks to explode on the wall. Thousands of spikes erupted out of the balls and peppered the battlefield, slamming into both the construct and Shukaku.

From his standing position the Kazekage took a step back in surprise, not sure what to make of the situation. "He's…defending the village. This makes no sense…"

Ignoring the Kazekage for a moment, Shikamaru moved around and stood next to the Kazekage's daughter. "Temari, you need to send your shinobi into the village to clear it out. There are likely more than just those two."

The Kazekage looked down at the Nara heir with a curious look. "Who are you? Why are you ordering around my daughter?"

Temari laughed and slapped Shikamaru on the back. "He's not ordering me to do anything. We should do what he says, Father. I know he doesn't look like much, but he's a friend."

The Suna leader frowned but still turned around and signalled to the remaining Suna shinobi, indicating for them to fall back and secure the village. On their way to the battlefield Temari had attempted to fill her father in, but hadn't been able to tell him much beyond that the village was in danger by an unknown group of enemies.

He looked back at the battlefield without checking to see if his orders had been followed, watching as the wall of sand fell to the ground and revealed the two giant fighters. "I'm not doing this because of your recommendation. Once it destroys the puppet, I'll take Shukaku down. That's what a Kage is meant to do, protect the village."

oOoOoOo

Shukaku grimaced as the last spike fell to the ground, large piles of sand falling to the ground from the holes in its chest. The construct had suffered as much as he had, but it didn't seem to have slowed down, its arms already moving to fire another set of projectiles towards the village.

"**Enough of these games. I've had my fun." **

It placed its arms outstretched and summoned a huge amount of chakra. The limbs instantly turned to sand and sped rapidly towards the construct, attaching itself to its legs and arms, immobilising the giant puppet with extremely dense sand. The tailed beast grimaced immediately as dozens of huge projectiles slammed into its chest, but it forced itself to ignore the attacks and opening its mouth directly at the construct with a deafening roar.

"**Fuuton: Kazekujo!" (Wind Element: Wind Destruction)**

A tiny sphere of compressed air floated out of its mouth, slowly travelling across the battlefield towards the construct. The giant puppet struggled to move out of the way of the attack but Shukaku kept it held tightly bound, watching with a playful look in its eyes.

The compressed air slowly pressed into the constructs chest, and for almost half a minute it seemed like nothing had happened. Shukaku released its bindings and jumping back, ensuring that it wasn't close to the Suna shinobi and Shikamaru on the ground. The construct seemed to take a step forward with a struggle, but once its wooden foot struck the ground it began to collapse in on itself. A small hole appeared where the ball of air had struck, the wooden parts of the construct slowly began to disintegrate outwards from the hole, and not even tiny splinters seemed to be left. After a few minutes there was nothing left of the giant wooden puppet, the only evidence of its existence was the two arms that had been blown off earlier in the battle, and the large pieces of wood that had been ripped off at the same time.

"**Ah, that was surprisingly satisfying. Remember boy, three hours. Don't make me start attacking your dreams again. And none of that pop crap!"**

With a deep laugh the tailed beast slowly fell apart into a waterfall of sand, falling to the ground into the desert floor to reveal Shukaku's jailer standing in the middle of the sand pit with his arms crossed. Gaara let go of the breath he had been holding and placed a hand on the sand beneath him. "I am aware, Shukaku. And…thank you."

_**Don't be like that. It's not like you. Just do that stone-faced thing…otherwise it's just pathetic.**_

Gaara felt a grin growing on his face, but before he could say anything else his legs gave way, forcing him to collapse face-down into the sand beneath him.

"Gaara!" Temari leapt forward when she saw Shukaku disappearing, with Shikamaru running by her side and her father and brother right behind them.

They reached the sand-user quickly; a check of his pulse told them that he was okay, just out of chakra. The Kazekage looked around the battlefield with wide eyes, seeing the destroyed bodies of Suna shinobi mixed with dozens of destroyed puppets.

"What happened here? Temari, who attacked my village?"

"The same people who attacked you" said Shikamaru, sitting down with a sigh.

Above him Kankuro frowned and looked down at the Konoha shinobi. "This wasn't that group. This was Sasori."

"Sasori of the Red Sands? Why was he here?"

Temari smiled and placed her fan on her back beside her younger brother. "It's a long story, Father. We should get back to the village. We can explain it there."

The Kazekage nodded slowly and looked down at his youngest son's unconscious body. "It would appear I misjudged you. Perhaps you can be the man your mother would have wanted you to be."

"Are you okay, Father? You seem different" asked Kankuro, wary of this strange attitude their father was showing. While their father wasn't a particularly living person, he had rarely showed anything but contempt for Gaara.

The Suna leader reached down and touched Gaara's hand with his, feeling his son's dry skin against his fingers with a sad smile before standing up and turning to his other children. "I've…gained some perspective. Your brother deserves more than…"

His sentence was cut off as he felt himself unable to talk. He looked down and suddenly felt all his strength drain from his body, his eyes barely able to see the long sword protruding from his chest. Behind him stood the red haired puppet that had started the war, a dead look in his eyes.

Shikamaru shot his shadow towards Sasori immediately as Temari and Kankuro leapt forward to catch their falling father. The puppet user jumped back and flicked the blood of his fallen Suna sword before disappearing into the sand beneath his feet.

Shikamaru frantically tried to look around the area, knowing that Sasori wasn't going to be satisfied with just attacking the Kazekage. A quick glance told him that the Kazekage was already dead, and it was to their credit that neither Temari nor Kankuro had lost their cool completely at such a confrontation, though he could tell they were nearly at their breaking point.

"We've got to retreat to the village!" he called out, the shadow beneath him fluctuating with his depleted chakra.

Kankuro nodded with a grim look on his face, moving to attach his chakra strings to his father's body so that he moved him as carefully as possible while Temari jumped to grab Gaara. She smiled grimly when she saw that Gaara was twitching, as if he was trying to force himself awake because he knew the battle wasn't quite over yet.

A strange sound behind her caused her to flip around quickly, only to find herself confronted by Shikamaru's back right in front of her. Even from behind she could see that he was breathing heavily, and after a violent cough she realised what had happened.

"W…why?"

Shikamaru smirked and sat blood onto the sand in front of him, staring with drooping eyes at the grim form of Sasori in front of him, not bothering to grab at the long sword wound across his chest.

"I…don't know. I just…troublesome…woman…"

A part of him wanted to try and connect his shadow for one final technique, but it was easily trumpeted by the parts of him that felt the overwhelming need to just fall to the ground and bleed out.

Sasori went to disappear into the sand again, but found his puppet form unresponsive. He looked down to see ten chakra strings attached to various parts of his body, restricting his movement completely.

He went to tell Temari to attack Sasori, but the blonde kunoichi was already running a line of blood across the front of her fan, drawing the large weapon back.

"Ninpou Kuchiyose: Funkei! (Summoning Technique: Decapitation)

A weasel carrying a large sickle appeared in front of her, flying straight into the red haired puppet and slashing him lightly across his front before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Unlike the giant puppets destruction, Sasori's was very quick. Long lines appeared across his wooden face and body for a few seconds before he simply vanished into dust.

Temari dropped her fan and bent down next to Shikamaru's fallen body, pulling off his shirt to look at his wound. She knew the wound wasn't poisoned, the sword had been from a Suna shinobi that had died from the battle, but it was still deep enough to warrant her concern. She turned to Kankuro and asked the question that had been on her lips for the past two minutes, the puppet user slowly shaking his head sadly. She sighed and reached down, picking up Shikamaru with as much care as she could.

She reached down with her foot and kicked at her fan, causing the instrument to pop up and hover in the air. "You take Father and Gaara back to the village."

"Temari…"

"Just do it Kankuro. I won't lose him too."

* * *

><p>***Six Months after Separation***<p>

Shikamaru moved his head on his pillow with a groan. "You know, you can't just keep coming in here and using me like this. I feel abused."

Temari shouldered her kimono over her arms and tied it up at her waist. "I will do whatever I please. I never seem to hear you complaining."

Shikamaru grinned slightly and placed his hands behind his head, watching as she pulled up her leggings and tied up her ponytails. "I'm an injured man. Surely I should get better treatment than this."

With a similar grin Temari wandered over to his hospital bed, adjusting her forehead protector before leaning down and pecking him on the lips softly. She didn't let him enjoy the contact for long though, quickly reaching up and flicking him hard on his forehead. The injured shinobi winced in pain and grasped at his head as Temari laughed and leapt off the bed.

"You are far too easy to tease, Shika."

She moved to walk out of his room, but stopped when she heard him call out for her to wait.

Shikamaru sat up in his bed slowly, taking a slow breath to calm himself. "Hey Temari…um…"

With a huff the blonde kunoichi placed her hands on her hips. "Whatever happened to that man from the battle? Until my final breath...and all that."

"He nearly died from his injuries. And I think you made that last bit up. But…look I wanted to talk about what I'll be doing once I recover."

"I believe I have something to contribute in that area."

Temari and Shikamaru both turned at the familiar voice, watching as the door opened and the newly appointed Kazekage walking into the room, his arms folded across his chest. According to the information Temari had provided Shikamaru, it had taken the Suna Council nearly the full month to decide on their father's successor. The only downside to Gaara's ascension was his youth and inexperience, and after seeing his performance during the war they had made the decision to allow him to grow into his father's position. He refused to wear the robes until the Council positions lost in the war had been filled, but the two of them had to admit he looked quite different since his assuming of the village leader role.

"Are the two of you finished?" he asked quietly.

"Well actually…"

"We are fine, little brother" interrupted Temari, grinned with pride at her brother's image.

"Good." Gaara reached into a pocket and drew a large bulky envelope. He walked over to Shikamaru's bed and placed it next to the recovering shinobi.

"What is this?" asked Shikamaru, picking up the envelope and feeling its weight in hands with interest.

"An invitation. You are free to deny it of course, but you won't. I do not make this offer lightly."

Shikamaru placed the envelope back on his bed reluctantly, wincing as he attempted to move his legs properly to get off the bed. Without a hint of mercy, Temari slammed a hand onto his chest, forcing the Nara heir to remain where he was. He coughed in pain, but conceded her point, telling her that he wasn't going to move.

"Let me guess. You want to be a liaison, someone to barter with other villages? Perhaps an analyst or strategist?"

Gaara wasn't conveying any emotions whatsoever in his expression, choosing not to answer Shikamaru's question at all, preferring to simply walk out of the room.

Temari and Shikamaru shared a confused look for a few seconds before she indicated that he should look inside the envelope. With one motion he ripped the top off the envelope, his eyes widened as he saw what he had emptied onto the bed. Lying on top of the sheets was a forehead protector, one that had the hourglass-like figure that adorned all of the icons in the village. It appeared to be a normal forehead protector, though Shikamaru noticed that it had a white cloth around it, as opposed to the normal dark blue or brown.

He picked it up and felt the metal on his skin. He had predicted something like this, and while he was flattered it didn't explain why Temari seemed so surprised. The past month, and his prior experiences, had shown him that she was more intelligent than most people he knew or did know, and something like this was almost a given considering what had happened a month ago.

Temari was unable to contain her surprise, sitting down on the bed and taking the forehead protector from his hands. "I just can't believe it. He said he was thinking about it…but this…"

"It's just a forehead protector, right? He wants me to be a shinobi for the village."

Temari shook her head and handed it back to him. "It's much more than that. Only members of the Suna Council and high level advisors have the right to wear that cloth. Gaara is asking you to be his personal advisor."

"That…" Shikamaru leaned on the back of his bed. "I don't know what to make of this. I…I can't stay here. It's been six months since we got separated, and I haven't heard a word about them. If I'm going to find them again, I need to start looking."

"I've been thinking about that." She stood up from his bed and picked up her fan from the side of the room, leaning on it while looking at the recovering Nara shinobi. "You are thinking about it all wrong."

Shikamaru frowned, not quite getting what she was getting at. "I know you want me to stay here, but I can't just abandon my friends."

"Imagine that your comrades are in similar positions to you, completely out of contact with each other. Wouldn't it be better for you as a group to have some kind of base that you can rally around?"

Shikamaru placed a hand on his chin in contemplation, he hadn't thought of that. "That…makes sense. I can create a name for myself here, and any of the Konoha group that hear about me can regroup here at Suna."

He smiled slowly at the prospect of meeting his friends again, thinking of all the tales they likely had in comparison to his. He looked down at the symbol on the forehead protector, running his fingers over it slowly.

_It feels strange…though it's been a long time since I wore the Konoha symbol, I'll still always consider myself a Konoha shinobi. _

He reached up and touched the very back of his neck, where the small leaf symbol had been tattooed onto his skin. It occasionally stung, but Shikamaru took that as a constant reminder of where he came from.

Placing the forehead protector onto his lap, Shikamaru took a long breath and looked out of the window at the relatively quiet village. They had rebuilt surprisingly quickly, and Shikamaru had been placed in a room that allowed him to see into the clear sky above the sand village.

_I suppose it won't be all bad. The heat is tolerable…as is the company…_

"Tell your brother I've made my decision."

He turned around to see what her reaction was, but wasn't able to say anything as he watched Temari remove her leggings while simultaneously removing her hair from their ponytails, letting the blonde hair fall past her shoulders.

"Um Temari…what are you doing?"

With her hands quickly working at the cloth around her waist, the newly promoted Suna Jounin looked at him with a strange expression. "What? I just checked, I've got time."

Shikamaru just shook his head with a sigh, placing the forehead protector carefully on the small table beside his bed.

_More tolerable than I first thought. Still too troublesome though. _

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And that concludes Shikamaru's journey, at least for now. He will, of course, be back in the story but at a later point. Now we go back to another character's arc. Next week will be Naruto and Hinata, and is a chapter I've been waiting to write for months.

I know Sasori fought differently than he does in the manga, but that's part of the point of this story. When there are characters that we've already met, you don't want to read the same type of fights. You want to see them do cool stuff with techniques, stuff that wasn't in the manga but totally could have been. That's the basis for most of the techniques in this story.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	26. Chapter 24 NARUHINA New World

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 24 – Naruto/Hinata – New World

**A/N**: Since they are the main characters, and their story is the longest of the Konoha group, I'm separating their story between the others, so that you get the greatest range of characters.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be relationships taken to the final stages.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Shikamaru appeared in the Land of Wind, and after nearly dying in the desert, he was rescued and sent to the Hidden Village of Sand. He was then set up for kidnapping the Kazekage and imprisoned, but was released by the Suna Siblings after a month in prison. With his assistance they tracked down the Kazekage in the Land of Fire, defeating a subordinate of the woman who set Shikamaru up. Working out that it was a trap; the four of them sped back to Suna with the golden statue of Kazekage. Shikamaru and Temari dropped off the Suna leader but then had to fight off several infiltrators that were slaughtering the civilians, while Gaara and Kankuro assisted the Suna shinobi army in their fight against the single attacker, Sasori. After destroying Sasori's puppet army, the Akatsuki member revealed a giant puppet that forced Gaara to release Shukaku for a limited amount of time. Despite his renewed father's protests at his actions, Shukaku protected the village and destroyed the giant puppet. The battle apparently finished, they moved to assist the fallen Gaara, but the Kazekage was killed by the hidden Sasori. He then moved to kill Temari but Shikamaru moved in front of her and took the strike, falling to the ground as she destroyed Sasori completely. Once he had recovered in the hospital, and after several 'conjugal' visits from Temari, Shikamaru accepted a high ranking advisor position to the new Kazekage, Gaara.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Minutes after Separation***<p>

Naruto opened his eyes and was immediately assaulted by a huge volume of water on his eyes, forcing him to close them in pain. He tried to lash out with his arms, but found that it was harder than usual to move around in his area. Forcing his eyes open Naruto gasped at what he saw, and then regretted doing that as he was forced to swallow huge amounts of water. Feeling around he discovered that he was completely submerged; his body ached at the sheer amount of pressure pressing against it.

He tried to hold his breath and swim towards the single ray of light above him, but every stroke of his arms was extremely draining. Even with a pulse of chakra Naruto could see that he wasn't getting any closer to the light beaming down onto his body. Letting out a small air bubble, Naruto swore without speaking and continued to frantically try and swim upwards.

_Shit, I'm almost out of breath. I'm not going to reach the surface in time…_

Naruto looked around the water, noticing a large variety of fish swimming away from his position. He tried again to swim upwards, but a current swept past him like a gale of wind and threw him around within the water.

_I'm not going to make it…wait…Hinata!_

oOoOoOo

***One Minute after Separation***

Hinata didn't need to open her eyes to tell that she was falling; she could feel it all around her. Being a shinobi she resisted the urge to scream, popping her eyes open slowly to try and mitigate the wind pressure against her face. Through her white eyes Hinata was able to see that she had just passed through a patch of clouds, a large patch of earth beneath rapidly approaching her.

Without hesitation Hinata pushed her hands through the air and aimed them at the approaching ground, summoning as much chakra as she could. Modifying the technique on instinct she shot a stream of pure wind chakra from her hands. Her hair flailed behind her as she felt her rapid descent slow down, but she could see that the ground was still coming up far too quickly.

Biting at her lip nervously, Hinata strained her arms and tried to increase the strength of her wind technique. She felt a trickle of blood fall from her lip but forced herself to ignore the pain, the ground beneath her starting to show her the land's features. The closer she fell to the ground the more her descent slowed, but Hinata suspected it wasn't enough.

_I don't have enough chakra… No! Naruto-kun wouldn't give up, and neither will I. I've got to gamble._

She cut off her technique and let herself fall towards the ground, pushing out her arms to increase her wind drag. Once she saw the details on the ground she moved her hands in front of her and took a deep breath.

Yelling in a vain attempt to increase the strength of her technique, Hinata pushed all her remaining chakra into her palms, blasting a huge column of air straight into the ground beneath her. Being a light girl, Hinata was able to counteract a large portion of her falling velocity with her wind technique. Underneath her hands the ground began to crack with the sheer amount of pressure she was placing on it. Her descent slowed to a halt a metre from the ground, Hinata hovering above the ground for a second before her chakra gave out and she fell to the ground, hitting the tough dirt with a sigh of relief.

She sat up with a struggle, feeling like her arms were on fire. Glancing up at the sky, Hinata saw that the sun was already setting across the horizon, something she hadn't noticed when she was trying not to turn into paste on the ground.

_I could have sworn it was close to midday when we confronted that man. How long was I falling?_

Hinata tried to stand up, but found her legs unresponsive, and she had no real motivation to rush herself. A loud crack of lightning thundered besides her, causing her to jump in fright and instinctively move to roll away until she saw what the lightning had brought with it.

A blonde shinobi coughed violently beside her, throwing up large amounts of water onto the ground. He gasped and glanced around while struggling to pick himself up from the ground. He finally noticed Hinata's surprised face, a smile coming across his face before he collapsed into the dirt.

"Naruto-kun!"

Ignoring her own fatigue, Hinata shuffled over and placed her hands on Naruto's back. She sighed in relief and collapsed on top of his back, laughing softly with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so glad…"

Beneath her arms, Naruto shifted with a groan, trying to turn his head to look at the young Hyuuga. "Hinata…you're…hurting my…back…"

She jumped up immediately before lying down beside him, still laughing in relief. Naruto struggled and rolled on his side, reaching out and gently stroking the side of her face with a hand. He smiled slowly before his hand fell limp and his eyes closed themselves. Hinata picked up his hand before it hit the ground and grasped it in both of her hands, holding it at her chest as she watched him sleep.

oOoOoOo

"You fell from the sky? Wow, and I thought I had it rough."

In usual fashion Naruto had recovered quickly, having woken up barely an hour after collapsing. After a quick exchange on information, the two of them looked around their surroundings, Hinata refusing to let go of his hand.

Neither of them recognised any landmarks around them, and the fact that it was now night was quite surprising. Hinata worked out that it must have meant they were a fair distance away from the Land of Rice Fields, due to the position of the rising moon, but Naruto wasn't so convinced. They couldn't see anyone else around them, the two of them figuring that the warrior had intended to separate them from each other completely.

Naruto stood up from the ground with a groan, helping Hinata up before grinning and kissing her on the forehead, causing the Hyuuga girl to blush like the first time they had kissed.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easily."

Hinata smiled warmly back and hugged him from the side. Naruto frowned and held her at arm's length, looking at her with a strange look. "Where's your pack?"

The young Hyuuga sighed and buried her head into his chest. "It got pulled off me in the village…"

As she thought about it a memory came screaming back to her, the grim look on her cousin's face before she blacked out during their retreat. "Neji-niisan!"

Naruto scanned the surrounding area quickly. "What? Where?"

Hinata took a moment before gripping the edges of his jacket with her hands. "He's…nowhere. I think he stayed behind to let us escape."

The blonde shinobi sighed sadly and placed a comforting hand on top of her head. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough bastard, that cousin of yours."

"I know. But…"

Naruto looked at their surroundings with a tired look in his eyes. It had gotten dark fairly quickly, and besides the occasional tree and patches of grass there didn't seem to be any signs of life anywhere near them. He shouldered his pack to the ground and hugged Hinata once more before opening it and rummaging around inside.

"What are you doing, Naruto-kun?"

The Uzumaki heir grinned at her and began to pull items out of his pack. "Being prepared."

* * *

><p>Hinata drew the cold blanket across her body while looking out at the closed door of the small tent. She had tried to persuade him that he didn't need to stand guard outside the tent, but Naruto didn't want to hear it, spouting a tirade of manly statements that she just shook her head and conceded the point to.<p>

He stood beside two shadow clones with their arms crossed, and Hinata didn't need to use her Byakugan to see how exhausted Naruto truly was. She was flattered by his act of chivalry, but when she saw the two clones disappear and Naruto's head dip slightly, she decided that enough was enough. She threw the blanket off her legs and went about preparing the futon in such a way to accommodate Naruto's size compared to hers, moving the blankets around before standing up and opening the door to the tent slowly.

Naruto turned around once he heard the zipper opening, smiling a tired smile at Hinata's warm-looking face. "Everything okay, Hina-chan? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

His eyes widened when he saw her exposed shoulders, her front barely covered by her shirt. In one motion he removed the orange jacket from his back and placed it around her shivering shoulders. "You shouldn't be out here without your jacket, Hina-chan. You'll catch a cold or something."

Hinata smiled at his gesture, it was things like that that made her feel for him even more, but she forced herself not to be embarrassed, she had a mission to do. She reached up and placed a hand on the side of his face, feeling the rugged skin beneath her fingers. "Naruto-kun, you are exhausted. Come in here and get some rest."

Naruto shook his head, but continued to smile as she rubbed the side of his face affectionately. "I can't do that. We don't know where we are, or who might attack us."

_You need to convince him, Hinata. He needs to be selfish at some point; otherwise he'll work himself to death. _

She moved her hand so that it was at the back of his neck, and standing up slightly she placed her lips on top of his, feeling the warmth of his lips with a smile. Even during the kiss Naruto was unable to hide a grin, placing his hands around her sides and holding her while he enjoyed the tender feeling of her lips on his. After a few seconds Hinata released the kiss, sighing in happiness as she looked into his blue eyes.

"Naruto, you need to come inside. Please."

He went to protest, but after looking into her white eyes for a few seconds, and seeing how concerned she was, he sighed and conceded in defeat. She smiled warmly and pulled on the back of his neck, opening the door to let him through and nearly gently shoving him through, zipping up the door before turning around. The moment Naruto entered the tent he felt a huge weight slam into his shoulders, as if all the stress he had accumulated over the past two days had just hit him.

He looked down at the makeshift bed with drooping eyes before turning to look at Hinata. "How are we going to…there's only one…you know."

Removing Naruto's jacket from her shoulders and placing it carefully on top of his pack inside the tent, Hinata placed her arms outstretched in front of him. "Give me your shirt."

Naruto felt like he should have said something in return, but found himself removing his shirt and handing it to the young girl without a response. He felt himself slowly falling asleep, despite standing up and really not wanting to, but when Hinata guided him down to the futon and placed his head on the pillow Naruto was long gone.

Hinata smiled warmly and pulled the blanket over her boyfriend before watching him sleep. Normally Naruto snored, which Hinata didn't mind too much, but this time Naruto slept without making a sound, clutching at the blanket like a baby.

"There are times when even you should rest, Naruto-kun" she said softly, leaning down and kissing him lightly on the cheek before looking around the tent. She noticed that even with in his exhausted state, Naruto wasn't taking up that much room on the futon. It had been her intention to stay up and keep an eye on the surrounding area, but after seeing Naruto fall asleep so quickly she felt her own fatigue creeping up on her.

_Maybe I can just lie down for a little bit, and then stand guard. If Naruto-kun was able to have that kind of stamina, then I should work harder as well. Just a few minutes. _

She was careful not to bump Naruto as she stepped over his silent sleeping form, lifting up the blanket slightly before wriggling down onto the free section of the futon, leaning her head back on her folded jacket as a pillow. Turning her head to the left she felt herself blush wildly as she saw how close Naruto's sleeping face was to hers, the young Hyuuga watching his chest rise and fall on his side quietly. With her face the colour of a tomato, Hinata moved to the other side, her back to Naruto. Since their encounter just after Kakashi and Itachi woke up from their technique, Hinata had wondered what would have happened had they gone all the way with their budding relationship, but each time she did she found herself unable to continue thinking about it, she could hear her father's voice in her head telling her that she was meant to be proper, and innocent.

_I know that someday I want to…and I think Naruto does too…but now…how much time do we have left? Everything seems to be going against us at the moment. _

She smiled into her hands at the thought of the two of them being together, and then gasped as she felt Naruto's hands sliding over her waist and under her neck, a shock of electricity running through her spine as she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. He hadn't positioned himself in an uncomfortable place for Hinata, in fact she found herself oddly comfortable in his arms, one of his legs barely touching her leg. A part of her wanted to activate her Byakugan to see what he looked like behind her, but a tired sigh from behind her and a nice feeling on the back of her head stopped her.

She smiled with a diminishing blush and placed one of her hand's fingers through Naruto's hand that was over her waist, feeling the strong yet loose grip with a happy sigh.

_Maybe more than a few minutes._

oOoOoOo

Since losing the Kyuubi Naruto had found his sleep relatively peaceful, it was much easier to be in a rested state when a demonic fox wasn't threatening to eat you every ten seconds. However this morning was the first time Naruto had no motivation to get out of bed, though he couldn't figure out why. He opened his eyes slowly and the reason became immediately apparent. Lying right in front of his face was the sleeping form of Hinata, her dark blue hair having fallen across her face with the tips tickling Naruto's face gently. Now that he was awake he could feel her soft breath on his face, and he noticed how close Hinata actually was to him. Her legs were wrapped around his, and one of her arms was tightly bound around his waist.

Naruto watched her sleep for a few minutes, watching as her chest rose and fell with each breath. A strange thought arose in his mind, one that he hadn't thought in a while.

_What did I do to deserve her? I must have done something, nobody is this lucky on principle. _

Her eyes slowly began to open, revealing her pure white globes slowly before a smile grew on her face and she snugged her face down into his chest. "It's too early…"

Naruto laughed softly and tugged her lightly on the shoulder. "Weren't you meant to be guarding the tent?" he asked in a joking tone.

Hinata rubbed her head softly against his chest and groaned softly. "Five more…oh no!" She tried to jump up from the bed, but Naruto kept her down with his arm around her shoulder, whispering that it was okay.

After a few moments of struggle she gave in and fell back into his arms, continuously apologising for her mistake. "I just needed to rest my eyes for a few minutes…I didn't mean to…"

"Hinata, it's fine! I was the one who was meant to be guarding anyway, it's not your fault."

"But I…" Her protests were silenced as Naruto leant over and kissed her softly, feeling her relax in his arms before slowly pulling away.

"Just…relax. Let's just sit here for a little bit. It's not like we are in a rush."

Hinata smiled warmly, rubbing her head into her makeshift pillow as she felt Naruto place a hand behind her head and run his fingers through her dark blue hair. "O…kay…Nar…to…un…"

After a few minutes of lying beside each other, Naruto found himself tracing a finger along her neckline. He loved feeling her soft skin beneath his fingers, and the look on her face told him that she enjoyed it too.

"Hey Hinata…"

The young Hyuuga mumbled a few words before struggling to look up while still letting him play with her neck. "H…ai?"

He traced his finger along the side of her neck slowly. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"

She reached up slowly and touched his fingers with hers, trying not to look him in the eyes. "I…it got taken off me back in the Sound Village. I'm really sorry I meant to tell you…but then we came here…and I was really tired…"

Naruto smiled and shook his head. "I don't care about that. It's okay, I was just curious."

It took him a few minutes more to realise, but when he did Naruto took his hand off her neck and leant back slightly. "Hang on. If you don't have your pendant…how was I able to Hiraishin to you? There aren't any seals around here."

Hinata kept her smile on her face and sat up on the futon, letting the blanket fall to her waist. It wasn't very cold where they were, and to her surprise Hinata didn't feel a subconscious need to cover herself up, even though she was wearing a shirt and pants in the bed, like Naruto was wearing his orange pants.

"I…um…" She struggled to get the words out; it was difficult to describe what she had done. It felt quite silly when she thought about it. It had been a spur of the moment thing, more of a symbolic gesture than anything else.

With a slight blush developing on her face, Hinata reached up and pulled down on the neck part of her shirt, to the point that it showed just above her breasts, and what she had wanted to show him. Naruto's eyes widened immediately, he knew exactly what those symbols are, she had done it better than he had, even adding some seals that would have eased the transition.

"Hinata…you…" He reached out slowly and brushed his fingers along the ink on her skin. Hinata shivered slightly, he didn't realise it but Naruto had accidently brushed against the top of her breast, though she didn't say anything there was a part of her that wanted him to just keep going.

"Naruto-kun…I…"

She found herself unable to finish her sentence as Naruto removed his hand from her skin and lightly pulled her shirt back up to cover her front. She looked directly into his eyes and felt a huge flutter in her chest; he had a look in his eyes that she had only seen once before during their relationship.

Without a word he slowly reached up and placed his hand around the back of her neck, pushing himself up slowly with his other hand before placing a slight amount of pressure onto her neck, pulling her down towards him. Before she could say anything he placed his lips onto hers, further pulling her down until she lay completely on top of him. Pushing a hand up through her hair while moving his other hand so that it was against her back, Naruto began to kiss her more intensely.

A part of Hinata felt that they were about to go to a place they wouldn't be able to come back from, but that part was quickly squashed when she felt Naruto's hand go up the back of her shirt and gently rub at her shoulder blades. Giving in to her instincts Hinata let go of the long kiss and placed her face next to his, kissing his cheek slightly before making her way to his ear. In as soft a tone as she could muster, she whispered lightly into his ear three simple words. Those words set Naruto off completely, causing him to flip her on her back and kneel above her, a hungry look in his eyes as Hinata giggled softly at the overly dramatic movement. Naruto lent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead before moving down and kissing her on the lips as lightly as possible.

He smiled warmly, and for a moment time seemed to freeze as they stared at each other's eyes, there were no barriers that could possibly exist between them anymore. His smile turned into a grin and the hungry look returned to his eyes as he leant down next to her ear and whispered softly.

"I love you too."

oOoOoOo

Naruto moved a hand slowly over the curve of her back idly as he stared at the ceiling of the tent. "I…I'm not sure what I'm meant to say now."

Hinata moved the blanket so that it covered her legs a bit more, running her fingers along several of the scars on his chest. "Me neither."

"I do know something though." He leaned over and pecked her on the forehead, feeling the slight grip she had on his other hand with a smile. "I definitely love you."

Feeling a slight flirty side that she didn't know she had, Hinata playfully pecked him on the arm and leaned her head against his rising chest. "Doesn't count. Not after that."

"Eh? Why not? I think it would be a perfect time for that."

She leaned her chin on the centre of his chest and looked up at him, feeling the warmth of his skin against her own front, looking him in the eyes with a smile. "It's hard to take you seriously with that kind of look on your face, Naruto. You are just as bad as Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto couldn't help but smirk, glancing down at her only made his smirk widen. "Says you. Who's the one who took their pants off first?"

That caused Hinata to blush as she recalled their exploit from half an hour ago. She buried her face in his chest in an attempt to hide her red face, but the soft laugh from Naruto told her that the damage was already done. "That…don't talk like that. It's too embarrassing."

Naruto laughed again and continued to rub her back, remarking to himself how smooth her skin was in comparison to his own. "I don't know what you are complaining about. You have a beautiful body."

She looked up at him slowly, no longer caring to hide her red face. "Really? You don't think I've got…"

"…nope. I'm not just saying it because you are…you know…like that…I really mean it."

She gripped his hand tightly and kissed his chest several times before leaning her head back onto his chest, letting her hair fall to the side unmanaged. "Thanks, Naruto. That…thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. And hey, look at what you are doing."

"What am I doing?"

Naruto moved his hand down and poked her lightly. "You called me Naruto. No honorific or anything. That's pretty cool, Hinata."

It took Hinata a few seconds to grasp what he meant; she was still a bit out of it after their session. Once she did however she found herself suddenly full of energy, moving up and quickly kissing him roughly on the lips. A full minute later she released him and allowed him to breathe, though as he did she began kissing him down the side of his neck. Naruto took a moment to look at her before smirking again.

"I could g…"

He didn't get a chance to finish; Hinata had already planted her lips onto his and thrown the blanket off of them.

* * *

><p>The dirt seemed to crumble in his hands. After several hours of walking, they were prepared to declare that there was no life at all in the country they were in. The trees around them seemed dry to the bone, but strangely the grass beneath their feet was lush and shook in the soft wind without a care in the world.<p>

"Anything?" asked Hinata, trying to expand her Byakugan field of view but she could only see large fields of grass around them.

Naruto felt a strange shiver in his head when information flooded his mind. He turned on the spot and pointed to a direction to the right of their current walking direction. "There seems to be a building in that direction."

Hinata deactivated her eye technique and looked at the smiling shinobi. "How far?"

"Ten miles, maybe less. I didn't let the clone explore the area completely."

"Why not?" she asked, the two of them beginning to walk in the direction he had indicated.

Naruto gave her his characteristic grin and placed his hands on the back of his head. "Where's the fun in that?"

After a few hours they saw the crumbled down buildings that Naruto's clone had found, the two of them sharing a glance before moving into the area. It appeared to have been a village of sorts, not particularly large or small in their eyes. There were several buildings that looked like they had been burnt to the ground; they were made up of charred stones and splinters of burnt timber. Naruto felt the ground tentatively while Hinata scanned the area with her Byakugan. They didn't have much food or water, and while they weren't concerned about it at that moment, they both knew that they would need to forage for food fairly soon if they were to survive.

Hinata sighed and deactivated her Byakugan. "I can't see anyone here, Naruto."

The blonde shinobi nodded slowly, letting the dirt in his hand slowly fall to the ground. "Yeah. This place has been dead for a while."

He showed her an object he had found buried just under the surface, the young Hyuuga frowning as she touched the small bone in his hand. Her medical training kicked in and she recognised the general structure of the bone as human, though she couldn't tell what type of bone it was or how long its owner had been dead.

"What now?" she asked, letting Naruto drop the bone on the ground before looking back up at the dead village.

"I'm not sure. This land is very strange."

She nodded in agreement; her Byakugan had given her an insight that she knew Naruto wouldn't have been able to see with his regular eyes. "This place makes no sense. The land is fertile and young, but it reeks of dead bodies."

Naruto frowned and stood up from his kneeling position. "What have you seen?"

She motioned around the village with an arm, a sad expression evident on her face.

"They are all buried underneath the ground. There are bodies…everywhere."

oOoOoOo

They were glad to leave the dead village behind them, neither of them able to shake the uneasy feeling that had originated once they had entered that area. Naruto had suggested that he use his clones to scout out the area again, but Hinata had been forced to remind him that he wasn't completely recovered, and that without the Kyuubi he needed to treat himself with more care than he normally would. Naruto had quietly commented that she was like his guardian angel, but to his disappointment she didn't blush at his statement. She chose to simply smile and slowly work her fingers into his, the two of them continuing to walk with their hands bound together.

After an hour of walking they heard a trickling sound in the air, the two of them smiling at each other before moving quickly towards it. They moved over a large hill and once they cleared it the two of them took a moment to laugh in relief. Beyond the hill was a cliff formation that looked completely out of place in the surrounding area, a large pool of clear blue water at its base with dense vegetation surrounding it. A quick glance showed them that the water was quite deep, and there were ruined chunks of wood on the edges, as if there was a boardwalk there a long time ago.

Naruto grinned and turned to Hinata. "Wanna go for a swim?"

"What? Naruto we can't…hey!" She yelled and giggled at the same time as Naruto reached down and picked her up by the waist, hoisting her onto his shoulder before running down the side of the hill towards the paradise-like area.

A few seconds later Naruto placed her carefully down beside the water's edge and dropped his pack on the ground. He unzipped his jacket before kicking his shoes off and looking at Hinata with curiosity.

She smiled slowly, knowing that there was no way she was going to deter him; she'd already played her long-kiss card and he had his hands-through-her-hair card in retaliation. She reached up and began to shoulder out of her jacket, placing it carefully on top of his discarded pack. Turning around she heard a crash behind her, causing her to turn back around and see Naruto slowly swimming towards the centre of the water. She sighed with a smile and reached down to grab his discarded clothes, quickly placing them on top of the pack before placing her shoes next to it.

She went to place her hands at the top of her pants but stopped herself, glancing over at Naruto who was swimming back to the edge with a grin. "Naruto…I don't have a change of clothes."

Naruto bobbed his head into the water and sighed happily before looking up at the young girl. "So? Just come in with your underwear. That's what I did."

"My underwear? But that…"

"Hinata, I think we've gone past that, don't you?"

"Yeah but…"

With a short breath, Naruto launched himself out of the water and landed in front of her, shaking his head slightly to get the water out of his eyes. He grinned as he saw her eyes moved across his body, he wasn't used to being on the receiving end of such looks but he didn't mind it.

"The water's really nice, Hinata." He knew why she was sceptical, which didn't mean he understood it. "You don't have to be embarrassed. It's just the two of us."

She hesitated for another second before breathing out slowly and removing her burdensome clothes, letting Naruto guide her into the pond. To his credit he didn't stare, at least not that she noticed. The water was surprisingly warm, though it felt strange when the water reached her waist. She dunked her head under and sighed in relief when she resurfaced. It felt like an age since she had run her hair through water, running her fingers through the dark blue strands with another sigh.

"Hey Naruto…"

She watched the blonde resurface beside her, grinning as he kept himself afloat with his arms. "You should see how deep this place is! It's like a mini-paradise or something."

Noticing her concerned face, Naruto stopped grinning and swam around so that he was facing her head on. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think the others are okay?"

Naruto smiled warmly, reaching out to stroke the side of her face, Hinata smiling back in turn, she loved it when he did that. "That's what I love about you. You always think of others first."

Hinata blushed and touched his hand affectionately, kissing it lightly. "Thanks, Naruto."

"I'm sure they are fine. They always had faith in us, so we should have faith in them."

She smiled warmly and let go of his hand. "When did you get so wise?"

"Had to happen sometime. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I saw some fish down here." He ducked his head into the water and began swimming as deep as possible, leaving Hinata to laugh quietly to herself. It amazed her how easily he could deal with these kinds of situations, though when she thought about what he'd been through it made a lot of sense.

Later that night they sat beside a large fire, biting into several exotic that they had caught. Naruto had spent two hours trying to catch one with his hands, but after conceding and asking Hinata for her help they easily caught half a dozen with her water techniques.

"It's rare to see you just sitting here, Naruto" said Hinata, throwing another stick onto the growing fire. "Normally you have dozens of clones training."

Naruto nodded slowly, swallowing the last bit of fish on his stick before throwing it into the fire. "I've been thinking about that. The battles in the Sound taught me something important."

"What's that?"

He looked down at his hand with a sigh, glancing over the scars that hadn't healed completely. "I've only really got two techniques. The Kage Bunshin and the Hiraishin. I'm pretty sure I've taken my shadow clones as far as they will go, and my Hiraishin isn't getting better any time soon."

Hinata considered what he said; she had seen that as well but hadn't wanted to say anything in case it hurt his feelings. "You think you need more techniques?"

Naruto shuffled across and looked at her intently. "Can you show me a small gust of wind? We've both got wind chakra, maybe I can get something from seeing you do it."

"Um…sure." She placed out a single hand palm outwards and concentrated her chakra flow. For something so small she didn't need her Byakugan, she had trained herself to not rely on the doujutsu as much as she used to. A tiny cyclone emerged from the centre of her palm, hovering a few inches above her skin.

Naruto smiled his usual grin at her, nearly causing her to lose control of the technique. "That's amazing Hinata. I could never have that kind of control."

She dispersed the wind technique and smiled back at him, not sure how to respond, she still wasn't used to getting praised for her abilities.

Naruto got up and stared at his hands. "You guys can create your elements out of nowhere. I've only been able to use them with a few limited techniques."

He made a punching motion above the fire. "Bam…" he said softly. "If only I could do that air technique you and Neji know. Maybe I could have fought that guy…"

Hinata stood up and hugged him from the back, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You shouldn't blame yourself. None of us could do anything."

He leant his head onto hers and felt her hands against his waist. "I know. But I still feel like I need to do more."

"Well…we have time. Why don't we do some training in the meantime?"

Moving around in her grasp, Naruto looked past her head to make sure that the ground behind her was nice and flat. He grinned wolfishly and stared into her soft white eyes. "But before that…"

Hinata gasped as he threw her to the ground playfully, giggling as he began to slowly trace his hands across her face.

* * *

><p>***One Week after Separation***<p>

"Naruto we may have to limit how many times we do that in a day."

The blonde shinobi looked at her with pure horror, "Why?"

She found herself forced to pat him on the shoulder reassuringly while they continued to walk through the light grasslands. "I don't mean stopping. Just…there is such a thing as too much of a good thing."

Naruto laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Of…of course. I'm sorry; I've been really selfish, haven't I?"

"Not at all. I've wanted to just as much as you have." It wasn't hard for Naruto to hear the slight embarrassment in her voice. If he didn't know better, he would have thought she was actually embarrassed. But he knew that Hinata was just struggling against her rigid upbringing, and that when she was given the opportunity she was more open that one might have expected from an heiress.

Naruto went to continue their conversation but the sound of metal striking rock drew his attention to their side, causing him to turn and see whether Hinata had heard it. The young Hyuuga already had her eyes activated and was staring intently in the direction of the sound.

Naruto had no need to ask her what she saw, he simply run after her when she moved towards the sound, a battle strategy already forming in his mind. After a minute they came across a very strange scene, one they wouldn't have expected after nearly a week without any contact with other human beings.

There were three men dressed as typical bandits, wielding axes and spears, attacking a seemingly defenceless old man covered in a dirty dark blue robe with a wooden cane in his hand. However it became clear that the battle wasn't what the two shinobi thought it was, as the old man seemed to be laughing while dancing away from the bandits' blows, the sharp metal weapons barely missing him each time. They fought beside a rundown wagon attached to a surprisingly spry horse, one that appeared to be suspiciously empty. The old man stood and watched an axe strike fall in front of his face, his cane lightly rapping the bandit on the side of his face while the old man jumped back and cackled.

Naruto and Hinata shared a look, both of them thinking the same thing. "Should…we help?" asked Naruto with hesitation, watching as the old man dodged a spear thrust and moved closer to the wagon.

Hinata stared at the three bandits and old man with her black and white vision, unable to analyse how the old man was able to move like a man a third his age, she could see that his body was falling apart at the seams yet it seemed like he was just playing with the bandits.

"I guess it couldn't hurt…oh look." She pointed down to the melee, Naruto seeing that the old man was waving at them with his cane, a wide grin across his face as he continued to laugh.

Rolling up the sleeves of his jacket, Naruto indicated for her to go first. Not sure what else to do, Hinata began running towards the battle, concentrating her sight on the two axe wielding bandits that had turned to face them. Naruto ran beside her towards the spear user attacking the old man, several clones already appearing beside him.

Swallowing the tiny amount of fear that accompanied her at the beginning of every battle, Hinata danced away from an axe strike and drove a palm into the bandit's face, sending him spiralling into the air. She jumped back and stared at the fallen bandit with surprise, she hadn't meant to put so much strength into it, but like she had experienced before it seemed that her wind techniques had a mind of their own. Her black and white vision caught the retaliation strike by the bandit's companion, the Hyuuga girl reaching out to catch the hilt of the axe easily.

The bandit's eyes widened as he looked into her serious expression, not able to do anything except watch as the white-eyed girl wrenched the weapon from his hands and threw it to the side. With a small spike of chakra Hinata rapidly tapped at the points on his body where chakra was generally moulded, but to her surprise he seemed undeterred by her attacks.

Leaping back, Hinata stared at him more intently with her Byakugan, her eyes widening when she saw why her attack hadn't worked. Just as the white-armoured warrior that had separated them, the bandit didn't appear to have any chakra. Hinata mentally kicked herself for not seeing that before, changing the nature of her chakra before collecting her hands in front of her chest. Even without a weapon the bandit still charged towards her, his large fists raised to strike her in the face. Hinata waited until the bandit was within range before reaching down and slamming her hands into the ground.

"Suiton: Suiketa" (Water Element: Water Column)

A small cloud of water appeared above the two of them, hovering for half a second before striking straight down into the bandit's head like a bolt of thunder, causing him to strike the ground face first, blood spraying everywhere.

Hinata breathed out slowly and stood up from the ground, looking over to see Naruto and two clones coming crashing down on top of his opponent, slamming into his back before leaping back. He turned around and gave Hinata a grin before dispersing his clones and turning to the old man.

The seemingly helpless old man let out a childish giggle and leant on the wagon with a grin, watching as Hinata ran up to join her companion. "Ah, well this is a surprise! Thank you younglings."

"It's no problem" replied Naruto, grinning as Hinata moved beside him, cancelling her Byakugan.

The old man laughed again and tapped his cane on the ground. "Well this is a surprise. To be helped by a handsome boy and a beautiful lady."

"Why were those men attacking you?" asked Naruto.

"Ah, it was all very amusing. Their leader lost a lot of money to me at cards and sent those men after me, accusing me of cheating him out of his money."

Naruto laughed and looked down at the fallen bandits. "Did you?"

"Oh, without a doubt. He just didn't like that I got away with it."

"You're a strange old man" said Naruto.

The old man laughed again, hopping up to sit on the back of the wagon, laying his cane beside him. He pulled up a small pouch and reached in up to his elbow, taking a moment before pulling out a large piece of fruit. "Want an orange?"

The two of them shared a look before both shrugging and nodding. The old man grinned and reached back into the small pouch, producing two large oranges and tossing them to the couple, the shinobi easily catching them. They began to peel into their fruit while the old man bit into his orange, letting the juice run down his bald chin.

He chewed softly and stared at the two of them with a comical look on his face. "You two are shinobi, no?"

Naruto swallowed a piece of orange and looked at Hinata before turning to the old man. "Yeah."

"Well isn't this a surprise? Haven't seen one of you lot in years." He ate the last bit of his orange and hopped back onto the ground, standing in front of the two of them. "And young ones too."

Hinata bowed slightly in thanks for the orange before looking over the old man with her white eyes. He didn't appear to be much, but there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on, though she kept her observation to herself.

Naruto tossed the peels in his hands on the grass before licking the juice from his lips. "You wouldn't be able to tell us where we are, would you?"

The old man frowned at him before tapping his cane lightly on the ground. "You mean…here? Or the country itself?"

"We are a bit lost" said Hinata, placing her peels into a side pocket of Naruto's pack on his back.

"Well, that would explain a lot. There haven't been shinobi here in centuries, so it makes sense that you don't know where you are." He indicated to the area around them with his cane. "This country doesn't really have a name. There aren't enough places of people who agree with each other."

Hinata picked up on his comment about shinobi instantly, but again kept it to herself. She didn't sense any hostility from the old man, and after a week of travelling it was nice to see somebody else.

"You guys want a ride? It'll be nice to have some company other than the horse for a change."

Seeing no reason not to, the two of them smiled and accepted his proposal, introducing themselves politely. The old man hopped up onto the driver seat of the wagon and pulled out another orange from his pouch, biting into it slowly. "Well it is nice to meet the two of you. I am known as Magnus."

The Konoha shinobi hopped into the back of the wagon with a shared look of amusement, and they were off.

oOoOoOo

As night fell in the strange land the wagon came to a slow halt, neither of the shinobi recognising any difference in their surroundings from the other areas of the grasslands, though Magnus seemed fairly satisfied with their progress. They had asked if he was going anywhere in particular, to which the old man merely chucked and offered them an orange.

Hopping out of the back of the wagon, Naruto stared at the small pouch at Magnus' side. "How do you keep pulling oranges out of that thing? It's tiny!"

Magnus laughed and jumped off of his seat. "It's a trick."

He didn't offer any other explanation, Naruto asking if Hinata could see anything with her Byakugan. The Hyuuga girl looked at it for a few seconds before shrugging and turning her eyes back to normal. "It doesn't appear to be chakra."

"Pfft. Is that all you shinobi can think of? It's a trick."

Naruto frowned at his dismissal, quietly asking Hinata if she had seen what he had suspected. She nodded slowly, causing Naruto to look at the old man in a different light. "You don't have any chakra, do you?" he asked carefully.

Magnus turned around with a confused look on his face. "Of course not. No one here does."

Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, their companion tapped his cane and nodded slowly. "Ah, you don't really know where you are, do you? How did you get here?"

The two shinobi looked at each for a second. "A strange warrior clad in white armour sent us here" said Naruto hesitantly.

"Never heard of him. Mustn't like you very much, sending you here."

"We don't know what his motivations were" said Hinata.

Removing his pack from his shoulders, Naruto commanded half a dozen clones to set up their tent, watching the task being quickly completed. Hinata asked Magnus if he would like to take the tent, to which the strange old man merely laughed her off.

"Don't be silly, young lady. Young couples like the two of you need to have your fun together. I always sleep underneath the wagon."

Hinata felt a slight blush across her face. "How did you know we were together?"

Magnus grinned back at her, pulling up his dark blue robe to scratch at his tanned skin. "It's written all over the two of you. The little looks, the way you stand close to each other…a blind man could see you guys are in love."

Dispersing his clones with a laugh, Naruto slid an arm around Hinata's shoulder. "You're pretty observant."

"Comes from years of cheating at cards. You learn to notice the little things."

They got a fire going quickly, and despite his queries the couple had decided they had eaten their fill of oranges, choosing to eat the last few fish they had preserved over the large fire.

Sitting with Hinata head resting on his legs, Naruto slowly stroked her dark blue hair before a question arose in his mind. "You seem to handle yourself pretty well against those bandits before we came. Could you have fought them off?"

Magnus took a swig from a water bottle and regarded the blonde shinobi with amused eyes. "Who knows?"

"Is it true that no one has chakra here? I find that really difficult to believe, I thought everyone had chakra."

Hinata turned her head slightly and patted him on the hand. "Everyone has the capacity Naruto, just not the ability."

Naruto smiled at her and continued patting her hair affectionately. "So why don't the people here have chakra then?"

Their companion found himself grinning again at the young couple's interaction. "It's as the young lady said. None of those born in this land have the ability to create chakra." He turned and looked at the reclined young girl. "I assume you know how chakra is made, yes?"

Hinata nodded slightly. "It's a combination of physical energy and spiritual energy."

"So do you guys not have spiritual energy or something?" asked Naruto.

Magnus laughed and pushed himself up from the ground with his cane. "Not at all. Here, let me show you. Come over here with me."

A clone appeared beside Naruto and walked over to Magnus, the old man grinning and standing his ground beside the fire.

Hinata looked up at the original Naruto, who was still stroking her hair affectionately. "Why did you make a shadow clone?"

He looked down at her like it was obvious. "I didn't want to move. I'm comfortable here."

Their companion coughed loudly to get their attention, standing opposite the blonde shinobi's clone with a grin on his face. "When you two are quite finished…"

They both smiled awkwardly and apologised, motioning for him to continue. Magnus breathed out slowly and coughed a few times before indicating to the clone. "Hit me."

"What?" responded the clone, unsure what he meant.

The old man grinned and dropped his cane to the ground. "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

The clone of Naruto looked at the original with a confused look, Naruto simply shrugging and indicating for him to proceed. The clone shrugged his shoulder and pulled back a fist. Magnus continued to grin as the fist came directly at his face, but at the last moment he ducked and stumbled out of the way. "What are you crazy? Striking an old man?!"

The shadow clone stared back at the original with a horrified look on his face, but Naruto only laughed, wiping his eyes with a wide smile. "That was hilarious. The look on your face…"

"Naruto, don't tease him. Be nice to your shadow clone."

The blonde laughed again and apologised to the embarrassed clone. Magnus stood back up properly with a matching grin and motioned for the clone to try again. After making sure that he actually was meant to hit him, the clone gathered a small amount of chakra into his fist and slammed it straight into the old man's face.

To their amazement, he didn't flinch at the strike, the punch not even causing him to move an inch. The two of them looked closer, seeing that the punch had indeed connected, but its strength seemed to have dissipated against the old man's blocking hand. Neither of them had even seen him move his hand, but Naruto had at least expected there to be some damage.

Pulling back his fist and staring at it, the clone was unable to keep an amazed look off his face. "How did you do that? It was like hitting a wall of steel."

Magnus grinned and picked up his cane off the ground, moving back near the fire before sitting down slowly. "We might not have chakra like you shinobi, but we here have our own tricks."

He turned to face the couple; looking at Hinata who had her Byakugan activated and was looking at him intently. "You saw it, didn't you?"

Hinata deactivated her doujutsu with a slow breath, noticing the shadow clone disappearing in a small cloud of smoke. "I…think so. You weren't lying; you don't have any chakra points at all. But when his punch connected, there was a weird pulse of power and all the strength seemed to disappear."

Their companion nodded and reached into his pouch to produce yet another orange. "You're close. It's a pretty simply trick; it always surprises me when shinobi don't understand it."

He placed up a wrinkled hand, showing them the open part of his palm. "It's like you said earlier. Everyone has physical energy, and spiritual energy. That's all it is."

It finally clicked in Naruto's head, causing him to show his surprise clearly on his face. "You just use physical energy…that's amazing. So you make your body do the work for you?"

"Exactly. You can do a similar trick with spiritual energy as well." He indicated to Hinata with his open hand. "In fact, you did it earlier."

"Really?" Naruto looked down at the young girl lying on top of him. "Hinata, you are amazing!"

Hinata couldn't help but blush slightly, but she still took a moment to look at her hands, remembering the fight with the bandits. After a few seconds it clicked, and she realised what their companion was talking about. "The wind techniques…it wasn't using chakra…"

"Want an orange?"

The two of them glared at him, causing him to put up his hands in defence and drop the orange in his hands back into his pouch. "But yes, that was spiritual energy manipulation. I must say, it was quite surprising to see, shinobi tend to not have that skill. You lot tend to use the elements like blunt instruments, which isn't how they were meant to be used."

They spent half the night discussing the different types of energy with Magnus, the old man having a surprisingly large spread of knowledge on chakra, though he kept insisting that his abilities were just tricks.

Hinata coughed lightly into her hands, standing up slowly before breathing out slowly, turning to Naruto with a tired look. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"I'll be along in a second. I've got a few things I want to talk to Magnus about." He watched as the dark haired girl entered the tent, closing the door behind her.

"You're a lucky man. She's a remarkable girl" said Magnus with his trademark grin.

Naruto looked back at the tent with a slow smile before turning back to the fire. "Yeah. I keep wondering how it happened, and I can't think of why she would be interested in me."

"Don't try to understand women. It can't be done." Magnus took a long swig from his water bottle before leaning on his knees. "It's nice to see people like the two of you though. I remember being that way, a long time ago."

"I worry about being able to protect her though. Our enemies seem to be getting much stronger…"

Magnus looked over at the tent. "She looks like she can look after herself."

Naruto smiled proudly, "Yeah, she's gotten really strong. Without a doubt she is stronger than I am. But the man who sent us here…he was on another level."

"Then get stronger. What's the problem?"

Naruto laughed sadly, staring into the flicking flames between the two of them. "I don't know how. I could learn more ninjutsu, but it seemed like chakra doesn't work against them."

Magnus rocked on his seat slowly, watching the blonde shinobi with interest. It hadn't been his intention, but Naruto found himself easily able to talk to the strange old man, telling him his concerns that he didn't want Hinata to know about. Magnus kept it to himself, but he knew that Hinata could hear the two of them, and that she wasn't asleep.

"It sounds to me, that you need to learn some tricks."

The Uzumaki heir frowned and clenched his hands together. "Do you mean what you were talking about earlier? Wouldn't that take years of training?"

The old man snorted loudly, "Years of training, my foot. Give me your hand."

Naruto frowned but still extended his hand, Magnus grasping it with his quickly. He took two of his fingers and pressed them into the centre of Naruto's palm, causing the shinobi to wince in pain before his hand was released.

Magnus nodded and moved to reach into his pouch. "There. Now you just need to work out how to use your spiritual energy properly."

Looking down at his hand, Naruto didn't feel any different. "Is that like using elemental chakra?"

His companion shrugged and stood up slowly. "That's something you need to work out for yourself. Tricksters don't reveal how they do tricks completely."

Naruto grinned and stood up himself, throwing dirt onto the fire to get rid of the flames. "A task for the morning then."

Magnus nodded and moved to his wagon while using his cane to walk along the grass. Naruto watched him pull a blanket from inside the wagon, before moving underneath the vehicle. He turned and moved to the tent, smiling as he pulled back the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

If you were disappointed that I didn't describe the scenes between Naruto and Hinata in full detail, there are dozens of sites that can do that for you. In my mind, the best scenes like that are the ones best left up to the imagination. I know this chapter was quite lovey-dovey, but why not, this is a Naru/Hina fan fiction on a basic level.

Also, massive props to anyone who recognises who I'm doing homage to with the Magnus character here. He's one of my favourite characters in fiction, and I couldn't resist.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	27. Chapter 25 CHOU Coming Home

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 25 – Chouji – Coming Home

**A/N**: That's right, it's Chouji time. I feel like that needs to be a saying. He might not be the most popular character in the Konoha group, but he still has a place in my story.

And yay, people picked out Nakor from the last chapter. Easily one of the best characters in fantasy fiction, and one of my favourite characters of all time.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, not everything would end well.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Having nearly drowned in an unmapped part of the ocean, Naruto teleported to Hinata's seal, the two of them reunited with tired relief. Having only one tent, the two of them gave in to their instincts and consummated their relationship, ensuring that there were no more barriers between them. After finally moving on they found themselves in a strange country that neither of them recognised, a lush grassland country that seemed to have dead bodies buried just under the surface in some areas. A week of travel later and the couple find an old man under attack by several bandits, the two of them cleaning up the fight easily. The man, who called himself Magnus, offered them a ride in his wagon, having some strange abilities including being able to pull an uncanny amount of oranges from a small pouch. He revealed to them that no one in the country had the ability to use chakra, and instead they utilised physical and spiritual energy by themselves to fight, though not many have the capacity to do that either. Naruto expressed an interest in learning how to do such techniques, since he knew that he wasn't strong enough to combat the threat that had sent them there. Magnus kept cryptic about it, but told Naruto that to protect Hinata he would need to get stronger.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***One Week after Separation***<p>

Chouji opened his eyes slowly, stretching his arms sorely before taking in an account of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was the terrified face of the Sound shinobi, one of two they had been fighting before he had collapsed. Chouji looked at his raised hands in front of his face, smiling as he saw the thin fingers and wrists.

_Such a strange look for me. I wonder what the others will say. _

He looked down to see he was still wearing his shinobi fatigues, the majority of his body covered by a light silk blanket. He tried to sit up but found he didn't have any strength in his lower body, feeling more tired than he had ever felt.

_Is this a side effect of the technique? _

A sound to his side caused him to turn awkwardly in the bed he was lying in, seeing a wooden door slowly open a few metres away. He winced momentarily as light came through the opening and struck him in the face.

"Oh, you're awake."

Chouji didn't recognise the voice, but something about the female voice told him there was nothing to fear, causing him to remove his hand from his face. In front of him stood a young girl, possibly a few years older than he was, carrying a wicker basket. Her long brown hair ended near her waist, and she wore worn-down farming clothes.

She smiled upon seeing Chouji's face, the Akimichi heir remarking quietly to himself at how oddly pretty she was, though not in the way he would have expected. She wasn't striking like Ino, or deceptively cute like Hinata. Chouji had to think about it for a second before realising that she was attractive to him because her smile was genuine. She actually seemed happy to see him.

The young girl placed her basket beside his bed and flicked her wrists to free them from her sleeves before placing a soft hand on top of his forehead. She smiled warmly at him while doing so, causing Chouji to blush slightly, feeling an odd sense of uncomfortableness. After a few seconds the girl sighed in relief and removed her hand, standing barely a foot away from him.

"Well your fever has gone, so that's a relief."

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Chouji pulled up the blankets even further, despite being fully clothed. "Um…where am I?"

The girl gave him a confused look before pulling up a chair and sitting opposite him, crossing her legs beneath her long cream-coloured dress. There was a kind, yet amused look in her blue eyes, one that seemed to put him at ease.

She reached into her basket and pulled out a small bowl with a wet cloth and began to wring the liquid into the bowl. "It was quite a shock to see you fall out of the sky like that. Some of the younger ones think you were an angel."

Chouji laughed quietly, the idea of someone like him being considered angelic was comical at best. "I don't think I'm quite that good."

The young girl smiled before laughing softly into one of her hands. Chouji remarked on how young she sounded, but there was something about the smile on her face that told him that this was a girl who had far more on her agenda than someone her age was meant to have.

He looked back up at her and it occurred to him that he had been quite rude. "I'm sorry; I didn't ask your name before."

The girl waved a dismissal. "It's fine. The people around here call me Misa."

He gave her a slight bow from his lying position. "Nice to meet you. I'm Chouji."

He wasn't sure whether to extend a hand for her to shake or not, but the moment had already passed so he just smiled quietly. Without warning Misa reached out and placed the cloth across his forehead and gently lowered him down to the pillow.

"Wh…why are you helping me?" asked Chouji quietly. He didn't really question her motives, but he felt it would be unseemly to not at least ask.

Misa pulled the blanket up to cover him fully, and stood back up from the bed. "It's the right thing to do. I do what anyone would do."

Chouji could feel an urge to fall back asleep coming over him, but as his eyes began to droop a question came thundering into his head.

"Where…where are my friends? The others that came with me."

Wiping her wet hands on her dress to dry them, Misa turned back to him with a confused look.

"Others? Who are you talking about, Chouji-san?"

Ignoring his condition, the Akimichi heir shot up from the bed so fast that he felt the blood rush straight into his head. He pulled off the blanket and swung his legs over the bed.

"There were others with me, right? The people about my age that brought me here? They are here, right?"

She shook her head slowly, trying not to frighten him, but she saw that he was already on edge. "I'm sorry, Chouji-san. There's no-one else here but us."

The Akimichi heir feel his arms tensing at her response, his heart slowly started to beat faster in his chest, but with a not-so-inconsiderable effort he calmed himself down.

Breathing out slowly and deliberately he looked over at Misa, trying to hide his small panic attack. "One more question. Where am I?"

oOoOoOo

It appeared to be a small farming community; Chouji estimated that not more than fifty people lived in the sizeable village. He grimaced and clutched at his side, the throbbing pain had come back since he had gotten out of the bed and didn't look to be going anywhere.

He felt completely out of place in his shinobi clothing, which was now entirely too big for him, compared to the basic working clothes of the villagers around him. They didn't seem to pay him much heed, only the occasional glance indicated that he was an outsider in the village.

It had taken him two days to get out of bed, and that was without Misa's content. He wasn't sure what to make of the helpful girl. She displayed a level of kindness he had only ever seen in his mother or perhaps Hinata, and Misa didn't have the slight edge that the young Hyuuga girl had to her.

He looked around the village with cautious eyes. "The Land of Hot Water…that's not that far from The Land of Rice Fields" he said to himself.

_What happened in the village? I can't remember anything after I collapsed in the fight. Did the others make it out? _

Suddenly a young girl came running up to him from the fields, giggling as she grabbed his hand and tried to drag him along with her. Chouji couldn't do anything except follow the little girl dragging him along; he was still struggling to get his bearings.

As the excitable girl pulled him along, Chouji took a better look at the village he had ended up in. It seemed to be fairly similar structurally to the villages he had seen before, though on a smaller scale. There was a forge that seemed to have been cold for years, covered in dust and cobwebs, but other than that they were all small houses like the one he had just left.

The young girl continued to drag him along until they were just outside the village limits, to which Chouji came to an observation he felt he should have seen earlier.

"There are no adults here" he said quietly.

The little girl let go of his hand and looked up at him with giant brown eyes. He figured she could only be about seven or eight years old. "Nope. Just us kids and the old people."

"What about Misa?"

"She's really nice. We all like Misa."

Chouji figured that was all he was going to get out of her as the girl waved to a group of children in a distant field, whistling for them to come join her. Chouji watched as the mismatched group slowly came towards the two of them. There were about ten of them, all younger than Chouji was by a significant margin, a mix of boys and girls.

"Waa, is that the guy?"

"He's really tall!"

"I wonder if he would give me his shirt."

All of them turned to the young boy who had made the last comment, even Chouji thinking it was a strange thing to say to a stranger.

The boy flushed slightly and began fiddling with his fingers. "What? My grandmother said we need new sheets, and that would be about the right size."

Chouji couldn't help but smile, reminded of some of the crazier things he had asked his father over his childhood. The best had been when he had asked what had happened to the deceased Hokage, to which his father replied that they had turned to stone and that was why their faces were on the mountain. It hadn't occurred to Chouji until years later that his father might have been messing with him.

The children began to chat amongst themselves loudly below him, Chouji taking the opportunity to look over at the fields they had come from. In a village without adults it was an impressive setup, they seemed to have a variety of vegetables and fruits growing, though it wasn't without its problems. From the small glance he got he could see dozens of small problems, but three main ones. There was no way to effectively get rainfall on a majority of the crops, meaning a lot of the planted seeds would have gone to waste. There were also rampant weeds scattered between the crops, and they weren't spread out evenly enough so that the crops weren't fighting for the same patches of dirt.

Anyone else of the Konoha group might not have made those observations so quickly, but farming and botany were his hobbies outside of his work. In fact he had said to his father several times that if he hadn't become a shinobi and was expected to be the Akimichi clan head, he would have loved to own a small farm with a family to support.

_That's a pipe dream if there ever was one. _

He turned to the oldest of the group, a young boy who looked about eleven. "What happened to the adults?"

The boy shrugged, and the rest of the group replicated his movement. Chouji considered his situation for a moment before looking back at the village. "I guess I'll go ask someone else."

He took a step forward, but before he could take another he felt a slight tug on his pants. Looking down he saw the girl who had brought him there look at him with a thumb in her mouth.

"You are going to stay right? Please mister…"

The other children nodded in agreement, standing behind the young girl with wide smiles on their faces.

"Yeah, you should stay!"

"Yeah! Oyabin!" (Boss)

He couldn't help but smile, reaching down to rub the young girl's short hair affectionately.

_These kids are trusting in a way that only little kids can be. _

He gave them an open-ended response and began walking back to the village. It wasn't until he got there that he realised he had momentarily forgotten about the others.

_A part of me knows what has probably happened, but I don't want to admit it. _

_I might be the only one left. _

oOoOoOo

Chouji was surprised to see that when he returned to Misa's house, a hot meal was waiting on the table, the young girl busying herself in the kitchen. Upon hearing the door open she turned around with a warm smile she seemed to always display, indicating for him to eat. The smell of the meal nearly knocked Chouji off his feet, he suddenly realised he was absolutely starving.

"Are you sure?" he asked, half-heartedly. It seemed proper to ask, but he could barely keep from drooling onto the table as he sat down.

Misa removed her apron and placed it on the back of a chair, reaching out to steal a carrot before biting into it. "Of course."

Chouji dug in, and on his deathbed he would swear that it was the best meal he had ever eaten. The dish was a little too hot and the spices didn't complement each other, but it was so beautiful he almost felt like crying. Not that it would have been his first time crying about food though.

"I met some of the kids in the village" he said to her once they had both eaten their fill. She had informed him that he hadn't eaten at all in the days he had been in her care, but Chouji resisted the urge to eat more than what would be considered proper. He was a guest after all.

"They are good kids. Hard working" she said, placing their dishes on a nearby bench. "They mean well, but I don't know how much longer we can keep up."

"What happened here? Where are all the people?"

She handed him a glass of water before sitting down opposite him with a sigh, the first non-happy expression he had seen her display. "They all went off to fight in some war about eight years ago. No one returned."

"That sounds awful" said Chouji, a picture forming in his head. _I did hear of a civil war in this land a long time ago, but to think that even the normal people got caught in the middle of it. _

He frowned and put down his glass on the table. "Hang on; some of those kids couldn't have been older than six."

Misa nodded slowly. "Some of them wandered into our village, some of them are children that other villagers didn't want." Chouji could see how pained she was upon saying that, as if it was an anger that she couldn't express or didn't want to express. "I couldn't just leave them there."

Chouji smiled warmly at her, "I would have done the same. But you mentioned a problem?"

She shook herself out of it and stood up from the table. "What am I saying? You didn't come here to listen to our problems. I'm sure you want to be on your way as quickly as possible."

She turned around and lowered her voice to an almost imperceptible whisper. "Just like everyone else."

Chouji took a moment before pushing back his chair and standing up slowly. He moved over in front of her and looked Misa straight in the eyes, a feat he usually struggled with when it came to girls. "Tell me what's wrong, and I'll do my best to fix it. I'm a pretty resourceful person, when it comes down to it."

She looked up at him, a slight spark appearing as their eyes connected. "But why? Don't you have friends to get back to?"

_Friends who are most likely dead. I might have to deal with the fact that that might be true. _

"It's the right thing to do. Now, what do you need?"

* * *

><p>***Two Weeks after Separation***<p>

With a satisfied sigh Chouji stood back up from the ground and looked at their handiwork. It hadn't been too hard to convince the villagers to let him look at their crops, and after a few days they had made significant progress. Ideally he would have wanted to replant the entire field, but since they used many of the crops to feed themselves, that wasn't an option.

In the past few days he had gotten to know some of the elders who still resided in the village, people who were too old to work in the fields. Through them he had learnt more about the village itself, but primarily he had learnt more about Misa. She was the oldest person in the village who wasn't an elder, a year older than Chouji was. After talking with most of the villagers it was clear that Misa was the main reason most of them were still alive, though she resolved to take no credit at all for her actions. Chouji couldn't help but admire her efforts in helping the other villagers.

She worked harder than anyone else in the fields cultivating their food, spent time playing with the children and teaching them manners and basic skills, helping the elders do their daily tasks and negotiated with other villagers for the extra food they needed that they couldn't grow themselves.

It was a gargantuan effort, and one that she seemed to take in her stride. Chouji had offered to take up residence in one of the empty houses in the village, but Misa had dismissed his query instantly. She had said that he wasn't fully healed and she needed to keep an eye on him, but Chouji suspected that she simply liked his company.

In their private conversations she had mentioned how she missed talking to people her own age. When the adults had left for their war, she had been the odd one out in their generation. Too young to follow their parents but too old to be anything but an older sister to the others.

"Is that all of them?"

"Should be about it" he responded, turning to see the grinning face of his housemate. He smiled back and licked his thumb, reaching out and rubbing off a small bit of dirt that had caught itself on her cheek. She blushed slightly but thanking him for the action and turned to their working companions.

The children had initially just played around, but when Chouji had made a game of it they had taken to removing the weeds with gusto. He felt bad for manipulating them, but both he and Misa found themselves caught up in the game as well.

He turned to look at the village. "So there is nothing else you can trade? It sounds like that village is taking advantage of you guys."

Misa shrugged, "I don't know. We've been trading fairly for a while, but the prices of food just seem to keep going up. In a few months we won't be able to afford to feed everyone."

"I won't let that happen" said Chouji confidently. It wasn't bravado, he had worked out a way for the village to survive, though it required him to see how they did the trading with the other village.

Misa looked up at the setting sun for a moment before turning back to the Akimichi heir. "Are you coming home?"

Chouji smiled slightly, it was strange to admit but he had started to see their shared house as a kind of home. It was a place he wanted to return to, which was something he hadn't experienced in a long time.

"I've just got one more thing to do."

She gave him a dubious look. "You sure?"

He nodded slowly, handing her his gardening gloves. "I've got to try. I might need it."

She shook her head with a smile before turning around and 'herding' the children back to the village. Chouji watched them leave with a strange feeling in his stomach. It had been slow at first, but he had started to become attached to the people of the village. Not for the first time, he wondered what his father would have done in his place, though no answer came.

Breathing out slowly to calm himself, Chouji sat with his back to the crop field and crossed his legs, placing his hands into a basic handseal. He quieted his mind and concentrating, trying to mould chakra into his hands.

After twenty minutes he stood up and sighed, as he had every day for the past week. There were no indications in the Akimichi scroll of his condition, but Chouji knew that if after a week he couldn't do it, it wasn't going to change. He had completely lost the ability to mould chakra.

He felt like the concept should bother him a lot more than it did, but he found himself quite settled by the news. His father had said it, as had Asuma at several points, but Chouji had never quite felt that he was suited to the life of a shinobi. Unlike the others like Sasuke or Kiba, Chouji didn't have an interest in harming others. He felt that his lost ability was a sign that his time as a shinobi had passed.

He looked back to the field then down at his worn hands. Even wearing gloves it had been hard work, but every time he thought about it all he could do was smile.

_I guess this is my place now. I…I can't think about the others. If they were still alive, they wouldn't still be in Otogakure, not after what we did. And if they aren't…that means we failed and the village is still going. Without chakra, I can't go there, even to check. _

He began walking back to the village, noticing that some of the children were still running around in the streets. It was hard to swallow, but through the day Chouji had come to a decision.

He was going to stay here, and do what he can. He wanted to help these people, more than he wanted to travel with his old companions. He didn't know what he would do if presented with the option to accompany them again, but without the ability to fight as he once did, Chouji felt at home with the villagers.

* * *

><p>***Six Months after Separation***<p>

Chouji wiped his face with a cloth and stared up at the blaring sun. He saw the clear blue skies with the same smile he had expressed for months, one of slow acceptance of his surroundings. Feeling a tug on his pants, Chouji looked down with a smile to see little Kyoko staring at him with her giant brown eyes, the same ones as her older sister who was nine.

He smiled and rubbed her head affectionately. "Can I help you, young lady?"

The four year-old reached at him with both hands, "Up! Up!"

Chouji couldn't help but laugh, reaching down and hoisting the little girl up onto his shoulders, the young villager squealing in joy as he began to swing around. After a few minutes he put her down onto the ground, feeling a little dizzy himself though she appeared unaffected.

"More! More!"

"I'm sorry, Kyoko. But I was meant to be in the fields a few minutes ago."

She pouted and poked out her tongue, watching the ex-shinobi apologise again before moving towards the fields next to the village. He reached up and removed his shirt, tying the blue cloth around his waist before breathing out slowly and picking up a shovel from the ground. They had just started to cultivate the ground on this side of the village, Chouji recommending that they should be growing more of their own food rather than relying on other villages for supplies. He nodded wordlessly to the two young boys already digging up the fields, placing his shovel on the ground with a short breath before looking back up at the sky. Without making a sound he said the same prayer he had said every day since he had come to the village, that his old companions were happy where they were, like he was. Finishing the prayer with a slow smile, Chouji went about his daily duty.

Hours later Chouji returned to the epicentre of the village, moving to the well to splash cold water onto his face with a sigh.

"You work too hard, dear boy" came an elderly voice behind him.

Chouji wiped his face with his shirt before turning around and bowing respectfully to the elder of the village. "I just do my part, Hibuki-sama."

The village elder laughed lightly and tapped her walking stick on the ground. "Nonsense, dear boy. You don't realise how important you are to the rest of the village."

Chouji simply bowed again and let the elder move past him, offering to fill up the container in her basket with a smile. They had gone through the same routine for weeks now, Chouji happy to let the elder treat him like the son she had never had. He escorted her back to her house before walking back to the house he had come to love over the past six months.

Before reaching out to open the door to his home though, Chouji recognised an approaching young boy, one he had been working in the fields with earlier. The boy's name always seemed to escape the ex-shinobi, but regardless Chouji still acknowledged the twelve year-old with a smile.

"Are you coming tomorrow? We need your help with the traders again."

To properly cultivate their new fields, the villagers required a set amount of seeds, meaning they had to travel to the next village over to buy their crops. On his first trip Chouji discovered that the villagers had been being ripped off, and with a short exchange he secured a more reasonable exchange of products between the two villages.

"Of course. I have to get Misa that thing we mentioned, remember?"

The young boy appeared confused for a moment before nodding slowly, understanding that he was meant to keep it a secret from the young girl. Chouji winked at him and saw him run off; taking a moment to reflect on how different he was compared to how he used to be around his friends.

_I bet Shikamaru would tell me I'm thinking too much and should just look at the clouds. _

He opened the door and was immediately assaulted by the smell of fresh herbs, emanating from the small kitchen inside. Wearing a small apron and holding a wooden spoon lightly in her hand, Misa waved him over with a smile that Chouji was so used to seeing.

"Here, try this and tell me what you think" she said, holding the spoon up with a small amount of soup inside.

Chouji sipped at it and rolled the liquid around on his tongue, nodding slowly. "That's really good. I like the mix of herbs and vegetable stock."

Misa smiled and placed the spoon back into the large pot on the stove before removing her apron and hanging it on a nearby chair. "I thought you might. I've never heard you say anything bad about my cooking, even when it has been bad."

Chouji sat down on a chair opposite her and grinned with his chin in his hand. "I blame the chef, personally. It's hard to find fault with your cooking, Misa. You'll make a great wife someday."

The moment he said it Chouji realised it was a strange thing to say to her, considering their current disposition towards each other. Neither of them had spoken it out loud, but after six months living together it was difficult to think about anywhere else he would rather be. In Misa he had found a confidant, but also someone who was of a similar nature to him. Over the past few months they had caught each other occasionally staring just that little bit too long, though neither of them made a comment.

Chouji hoped to change that when he got back from tomorrow's trip, but that was the one thing he wanted to keep from Misa, though it was a constant internal battle.

"A…wife?" Misa blushed heavily and turned around, continuing to mix the soup on top of the stove.

Chouji went to change the subject but hesitated, standing up from table slowly. "I…uh…I'm going to have a shower. Because of…you know the fields…and…yeah…"

Misa just nodded slightly and concentrated on the food in front of her. Without another word Chouji left the kitchen, trying to think what he should say next to her.

After eating quietly after washing up, the two of them had gone back to how they were before, though Chouji couldn't help but notice a slight disquiet between the two of them, an unspoken feeling that neither of them wanted to talk about.

Later that night he sat at the desk in his small room, staring over the scroll he had carried since the destruction of his old home. As he knew, the scroll contained all of the Akimichi techniques, but there were also a variety of clan rituals and ideals that his father had taught him over the years. He thought about his current situation, a smile coming onto his face when he thought about what his father would say about his new home.

_He always said the best thing someone can hope for is a happy home. I can't say I don't have that. _

He turned at a knock on his door, standing up and quickly moving before opening it with a confused look on his face. In his doorway stood a slightly red Misa, wearing her long pyjamas with her hair un-tied behind her back.

"Misa? Is everything okay?"

She hesitated without saying a word, doing her best to avoid looking him in the eyes as she walked past him into the room and sat on his bed, placing her hands on her thighs. Chouji closed the door and sat down next to her with a concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong, Misa?"

The young girl stood up from the bed and slowly began to pace around the room, biting at her nails nervously. Chouji had never seen her like that; it was decidedly uncharacteristic for her to be so unsure about something. Even if she didn't know about something, Misa always had an aura of unselfish confidence about her.

After a few minutes without a response, Chouji stood back up and placed his hands carefully on her shoulders, turning her to face him. "Misa, you are acting really strange. What's wrong?"

He could tell she couldn't look him in the eyes, and that she was feeling bad about something that she wanted to talk about, but didn't know how.

"I…I'm a bad person." Her voice was barely audible, though Chouji heard it perfectly clear.

"What? No you're not." He moved her around and sat her down on the bed before pulling up a chair and sitting opposite her. "Misa, you are the nicest person I know."

She shook her head slowly, still staring at the ground. "No I'm not. I'm an awful human being."

Using as much care as he could, Chouji reached out and slowly moved her face up so that he could look at her face. She hadn't been crying, but Chouji could feel she was in pain about something.

"Misa. Tell me what's wrong."

"I…one of the girls came up to me a little while ago, after you went to your bedroom."

This didn't surprise Chouji. As much as the people talked to him, Misa was confided in with unparalleled trust. For someone so young, it was remarkable at how much she did for the village, another thing that Chouji admired her for.

Misa began fidgeting with her fingers, but was able to continue looking him in the face as she continued her story. "She asked me something, and I lied to her."

"What did she ask you?" asked Chouji carefully. He had never known Misa to lie, so it must have been something very important for her to be so wracked with guilt.

Misa hesitated again, moving her eyes down to the ground before muttering inaudibly. Chouji frowned and moved his face so that he could look her in the eyes.

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

"I don't want to say. It's too embarrassing."

Chouji let go of her hands and leant back into his chair. "I'm not going to make you tell me. But it's obvious that you are hurting, and I don't want you to be unhappy."

She looked up at him slowly, and broke out into the soft smile she was known for. The smile was like a punch in the gut to Chouji, who then immediately wished that tomorrow was already over so that he could do what he truly wanted to do.

"She asked me if you were available, because she wanted to ask you out."

Chouji gave her his best I-don't-get-it look. She motioned with her hands that she wasn't finished, breathing out slowly in a failed attempt to cover her nerves.

"I told her that you weren't single, and that she should drop the issue."

The Akimichi sat in his chair with a dumbfounded expression on his face. At first he didn't quite understand why she was so upset, and felt like he should be. But after thinking for a few seconds, he realised what had happened, which only caused him to be even more confused.

"Wait…did you tell her…that you…what?" He tried to make a coherent sentence, but the words just kept coming out jumbled. It was the first time since meeting Misa that he'd struggled to talk to her, but for a very different reason this time.

Misa stood up very quickly and walked past his chair. "I couldn't help it! I don't know why, but I just felt so…jealous…" She leaned on the door with a sigh. "I've never done anything like that before. You must just think I'm the worst person ever."

Without hesitation Chouji stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. "Misa, as I say many times, you are the nicest person I've ever known. It's…" He hesitated and tried to think of how to frame what he wanted to say. "…it's not a crime to say you want something."

He felt like a hypocrite for saying it, considering his own feelings, but a part of him understood why Misa felt guilty. It never occurred to her that she could take something for herself.

She turned around and stared into his smiling face. Chouji could feel an unending flow of confidence as he saw the look in her eyes, though in the back of his mind for some unknown reason he could imagine Shikamaru standing behind him and just rolling his eyes.

A shift slowly came across her face, the young girl backing off slightly so that his hands fell to his sides. She moved quickly to the door, but before Chouji could feel any disappointment she closed it and held the knob in her hands for a few seconds. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but felt that it wouldn't be right to say anything, though he didn't know why that was wise.

She turned back around and took one of his hands into hers, holding it close to her chest. She looked straight into his eyes and all potential resistance in Chouji collapsed instantly. He watched as, with her free hand, she began unbuttoning her pyjama shirt, letting it hang open on her shoulders. She slowly led him to his bed before motioning for him to sit on it. Chouji did so without hesitation, his brain no longer thinking on anything except that moment.

With an agonisingly slow motion, she unshouldered her shirt and let it drop to the ground. She reached out and lightly touched the side of his cheek, with an affection that they had never shared before.

"I want to be selfish."

* * *

><p>"You know, Chouji-oyabin…you've been smiling like that all day. It's kind of weird."<p>

Chouji turned to the young boy at his side, hefting the large bag of supplies over his shoulder for the hundredth time since they had bought them. "Have I? I hadn't realised."

An old man walking beside the two of them on the road cackled with his characteristic coughing laugh. "That's because he and that young thing went bump-bump last night."

Chouji immediately glared at their companion, but the rest of the group gasped in surprise. It had been an hour since they had left the neighbouring town and Chouji was desperate to get back to Misa, but he had no idea how the old man had found out.

The young boy gave the ex-shinobi a confused look. "Huh? You mean you and Misa-senpai? Is that what that thing you were at the jeweller for so long was about?"

Chouji felt the box against his leg inside his pocket carefully, making sure that it was still secure. He turned to the young boy and motioned that it was nothing with his hands.

"Don't worry about it" he added, before turning to the old man. "How did you know?"

They continued down the unmarked road in a small group as the old man cough-laughed again. "It was inevitable. From the moment you came here, the two of you were doomed. But to answer your question…your house doesn't muffle that much sound."

In characteristic fashion Chouji blushed in response, but he couldn't hide the small amount of pride that he felt. They continued to move back to their village, with Chouji carrying the vast majority of supplies they had acquired. He might not have the ability to use chakra anymore, but he still had all the muscle mass he had accumulated from years of shinobi, and without the fat slowing him down Chouji had discovered a whole new level of stamina. Though he did have to do a lot of physical work to maintain his physique, despite not eating as much as he used to his body seemed programmed to try and balloon back out. Since he didn't need to store calories for techniques, Chouji saw no value in being that size again, and he found himself to be more useful at his current shape.

Just before they saw the village in the horizon, Chouji got a long shiver straight up his spine that actually caused him to stop for a few moments. He shook his head to try and dismiss the superstition, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen when they got back, though for good or bad he couldn't tell. It was something he remembered Naruto experienced quite a bit, though Chouji had often acknowledged that Naruto's instincts were frighteningly accurate.

They made surprisingly good time back to the village; the weather had been more accommodating than usual. Chouji couldn't help but continue to grin when he saw the collection of houses come into view. It was stronger than the one he used to get when they returned to Konoha before its destruction. This was his home.

He dropped the supplies at the small house near the outskirts of the village; there was a group of young women who would work out where everything needed to go. He turned a corner and began walking down the main portion of the village, pulling out the small box that he had acquired in the other village and fingering it nervously. He was not known for rash decisions, and he didn't consider this to be one either, but he knew what he wanted, and that was right here in this village. He wasn't going anywhere, and he was absolutely happy with that.

He looked back up at the road and saw a strange scene in the distance near the centre of the village proper. A small group of villagers was standing on the dirt path with odd looks on their faces, but that wasn't what put Chouji on edge. In front of the villagers stood five figures clad in plain black hooded robes with no markings on them. Three of the group were men of extreme height, easily standing a head taller than Chouji on his best day. The other two were clearly female, though he couldn't tell too much about them because of the hoods. None of the five appeared to be armed, at least not from Chouji's position, but he still moved quicker towards them, thankful that he didn't see Misa in the crowd. It was clear to him that the five were looking for something, since they appeared to be trying to intimidate the villagers with questions that he couldn't quite hear.

For the first time in months Chouji regretted his inability to mould chakra, even though that skill was gone he still had his shinobi instincts, and they told him that this situation would likely end in a fight. He skidded to a halt a few metres before the five of them, though they didn't seem to notice him.

"Who are you?" he asked politely but confidently, suspicious that the five of them might be bandits of some description, or perhaps bounty hunters.

The five of them stiffened before turning slowly to face him in a single motion. The shiver that had hit him earlier returned in force at the sight of the five intruders to the village. The men and one of the females wore blank masks with slits where their eyes were meant to be, and appeared to have none of the small motions that the average person would make when trying to stand still.

_They are heavily trained. Maybe even shinobi. _

It wasn't the four of them that unsettled him though. The last female had a distinct visual difference to her companions, and as she stood forward in front of the others it was clear that she was the leader. Instead of a blank mask she wore a strange helmet that appeared to be melded onto her head. Even with the hood on, Chouji could tell that it was covered her hair and all. Where the others had slits for eyes, the leader had two small orbs that glowed a menacing ice blue, eyes that stared directly at Chouji.

She removed a hand from her cloak and motioned towards him, the hair standing up on the back of his neck. There was an alien-like familiarity about her, but Chouji did his best to ignore the feeling, trying to remember whether there were any weapons in the village that he could use.

"_**A shinobi who has lost the ability to create chakra. Threat is within acceptable range." **_

If her appearance unsettled him, then her voice was enough to convince him that he was in serious trouble. He slowly balled a fist, but before his eyes she vanished into thin air. Chouji frowned and tried to look around to see where she had gone. Before he could move however, he felt a soft hand land on his shoulder behind him. The touch caused him to fall to his knees, the strength in his legs giving out like they weren't even there.

"_**Chakra generators unrecoverable. Termination unnecessary."**_

She removed her hand from him and reappeared next to her companions. The moment her hand had left him, Chouji found his strength returning, though he still took his time to stand up.

"Who are you people?" he asked cautiously, wary of the fact that he had just been an inch away from death. Without chakra he wasn't a threat to them in any capacity, but there was something about the woman's gravelly metallic voice that exuded power.

The masked leader turned to her companions. _**"Move onto the next village. Our pursuer has gained too much ground."**_

As quickly as they came, the hooded figures left the village, leaving the villagers dumbfounded as to what had just happened. Chouji looked around quickly before realising that he had been holding his breath, realising it with a long sigh. He nodded quietly to the villagers around before breaking out in a run.

A minute later he placed a hand on the door to his house, breathing out slowly. He wasn't winded, but inside his chest his heart was going racing. Before he could push on the door, it opened quickly. Misa stood in the doorway with a confused look on her face, a long apron covered her dress from the spills she often created when cooking.

"Chouji? You're back? Wh…"

He didn't let her finish the sentence, jumping forward and planting his lips on top of hers, pushing a hand up through her hair. Misa seemed surprised by his action, but wasn't complaining. After a few moments he pulled away from her and looked into her eyes with a warm smile.

"Wh…what was that for?" she asked, quietly readjusting her hair despite still staying in his hands.

Chouji shook his head and pecked her on the forehead affectionately, feeling like he had nothing to lose by such an action.

"No reason. I'm just happy to be here. That's all."

Misa smiled back and indicated to the inside with her head. "Welcome home."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I wrote this chapter twice. At first, Chouji was killed by the group at the village at the end. But I realised that was both cliché and unnecessary. I wanted at least one character to have a 'happy' ending, at this point in time. I think he deserves it, since so many stories kill him off. And as with Asuma, Kurenai and Tenten, don't count him out just yet. Though give him a little time, the man deserves some peace.

Also just a little caveat, not all post-Separation stories are romances. Well…most of them are, but that's beside the point. The next one will be action-orientated. It'll either be Kiba, Sasuke or Ino. Haven't decided yet.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	28. Chapter 26 SHINO Insect Warfare

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 26 – Shino – Insect Warfare

**A/N**: Okay I totally lied. Shino is next. I came up with a really fun way of doing his story, and had to get it down before I messed it up.

I'd also like to thank everyone who reads this story and has read and reviewed it. I never thought I would get to 200 reviews, and it delights me as a writer to see so many responses to my work.

If you don't like insects, this probably isn't the best chapter for you. I'm not kidding; some bits of this are messed up. But that's what makes it fun!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Shino would be more of a badass.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Waking up in a seemingly peaceful village, Chouji wasn't sure what to do with himself. He knew nothing of the greater plot, having been unconscious at the time, so eventually he came to the conclusion that his companions mustn't have made it out of their alive. He connected with a young girl called Misa from the village and slowly began to help them grow better crops and saved the village from slowly starving to death due to overpriced food from a nearby village. The day after starting his relationship with Misa, Chouji was accosted by five robed figures, a female of which was extremely unsettling. They confirmed that he was supposed to be their target, but since he lost the ability to mould chakra they had no need to kill him. The female leader cryptically mentioned a pursuer before the group left the village without another word. Counting his blessings, Chouji returned to his home with Misa and embraced his peaceful lifestyle.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Four Months after Separation***<p>

A leaf fell onto the top of his hood slowly, but Shino kept his attention focused on the three intruders in the forest. They were the fourth such group in the past month, and the three of them had gotten further than the others, though he didn't expect them to get much further.

With barely perceivable finger movements he sent commands to the wilderness around him, watching as the three figures stepped over an invisible line he had marked on the forest floor. The forest had slowly been getting louder since the group arrived, and although they didn't appear affected by it Shino could see that they clearly didn't want to be there. They were twitchy and obviously on edge.

A leaf cracking under foot caused the three of them to turn around instantly with weapons raised, Shino immediately noticing that they were more heavily armed than the other groups.

_They expect to get further in than their companions. They demonstrate an arrogance that is out of place with their movements. There is a greater plot somewhere here. _

Looking up at the night sky through his dark sunglasses, Shino could see dozens of the forest's birds hovering above, waiting for their next meal. He looked back down to see the three intruders sheathing their weapons, looks of relief clear on their faces. He sent a small line of chakra down the tree he was perched on, an amount that was barely noticeable but still relayed his orders to the insects around him.

The buzzing of the forest began to reach deafening levels, and at the sight of the three of them holding their ears in pain, Shino struck. Hundreds of small insects erupted out of the ground beneath the three intruders, a maddening mixture of worms, scorpions, and blood red fire ants. The intruders leapt up instantly, two of them screaming as they tried to find a patch of group that wasn't writhing with insects.

Using their fear as a distraction, Shino indicated to the area above them with a small gesture. After a few seconds delay large white figures began to drop from the high trees onto the intruders. At first they tried to swipe off the large insects from their shoulders, but the white insects started to bite through their clothing straight into their skin.

They screamed for as long as they had energy, but once the leeches had sucked them dry they fell silent. Shino took note of how long they took to go down, mentally timing it as he dropped to the ground silently. He had found a substance in the forest to camouflage his Aburame clothing, to the point that even he occasionally struggled to find them when he washed himself.

He rummaged through the intruders belongings, taking special care not to touch any of the leeches' venom that was seeping out of their bite wounds. While he knew he probably could counter-attack the poison, he didn't want to take the risk. If it wasn't removed then other leeches would attempt to attack even him.

The three of them had no items on them to indicate who they were allied with, just as the other groups. Shino was grateful for the extra supplies, he had been self-sufficient for a while now but there were small comforts that made his living situation easier. Shaking his head in frustration the insect user stood back up from the bodies and looked over them again.

_The distraction tactic is viable with most sizes, but it doesn't leave any prisoners for interrogation. If I'm to find out who is attacking this position and why, someone in the next group will need to be taken alive. There will certainly be another group._

He motioned to some of the larger animals that had started to gather, leaping back onto a high tree and turned away. He had no interest in watching the bodies be eaten by the denizens of the forest; it had its own way of dealing with intruders and rarely needed his help in dealing with 'undesirables'.

oOoOoOo

Shino landed on the ground smoothly and unravelled the wrapped weapons onto the pile with the others. He had a sizeable collection, but still no information on why he was being attacked. Shino didn't have an interest in using the weapons, but he was cautious nonetheless. At first Shino didn't understand why he had been sent to the wild forest by the white-armoured warrior, but after the first month of surviving he no longer thought about it. He, of course, knew where he was immediately. All insect-users in the shinobi world knew of the forest he resided in. It was a veritable oasis of insects and plant-life in the centre of the Land of Fire. The Aburame clan used to collect some of their more dangerous insects from this forest, and very rarely used it as a training ground and initiation stage for the more advanced insect-users.

He almost left the forest after the first month; it had taken him that long to get used to living in the harsh conditions. But the first group of intruders had changed his mind, and for the past three months he had kept a vigil over the forest with a stoic frenzy that he hadn't experienced before.

Shino would have been satisfied to just leave the intruders to their business, but it seemed clear that they were coming into the forest for a reason, and it wasn't to his benefit.

_Something about this area has suddenly become important. The attacks have become more frequent._

He sat down and pulled out the small pack at his waist, pulling back his hood and sighing without a sound and looking up at the oddly clear moon. The nights in the forest were strangely humid, though Shino figured it was to accommodate some of more exotic residents.

After a swig from his water bottle, which Shino noted he would need to refill from a nearby reservoir, the Aburame heir moved to his set-up tent. As he went to enter his tent a small buzzing drew his attention. He turned around to see a small cluster of destruction bugs hovering in formation near his head. After a short conversation with his insects the shinobi swore under his breath and calmed himself. Another group had entered the forest, much larger than the others this time.

_They've had enough of losing scouting parties. I need a prisoner. I've been in here for far too long._

Chewing on one of his last pieces of preserved meat, Shino indicated to the swarm near him. He had enhanced his communication skills with insects to the point that he only needed to think a command and they would obey. They were unruly at first, but Shino had realised that insects needed a hive mind like he needed food to survive. It had been a task at first to establish dominance over most of the more dangerous insects, and some of the larger ones flat out refused to cooperate with him, but Shino wasn't concerned.

It was a strange concept to think about, but Shino felt like he was in his element. He wasn't Kiba, relishing in surviving in harsh environments, or Hinata, using the surroundings as an opportunity to test out techniques. Shino had a task, one that he felt was important enough to justify his delay in re-establishing contact with his other companions.

_There is something of value here that someone is willing to risk so many people on. They aren't shinobi either, that much is clear. What kind of power is making a move onto these lands?_

A small swarm of bugs hovered above his head, causing Shino to nod in acknowledge and put up his hood again. He had cleaned up the invading forces only be ambush, and he noticed that each group was getting wearier. It was only a matter of time before he figured the invaders did what he was terrified they might do. If they did, there was no way for him to escape in time.

oOoOoOo

It was a much bigger group than Shino had expected, nearly a score of figures had entered the outside area of the forest. They moved cautiously, with forward sentries already moving in front of the group. They didn't notice Shino watching them, but he didn't hold that against them.

They wore light clothing, which made sense in the forest's humid environment, and had a variety of bladed weaponry in their hands. A man at the front of the group motioned for them to stop, reaching down to the ground and feeling the dead leaves at his feet.

_He's clever. He hasn't seen the trap just yet, but he's more observant than most. He'll have information that I can use._

Shino didn't dare use chakra at that stage; he didn't want to be detected before implementing the plan that was forming in his mind. Luckily he didn't need to use chakra to command his insects. Shino watching the group slowly move forward through the forest through his dark sunglasses.

_Fifty metres._

He kept a long vigil on the group, noticing key issues with the group's composition. While the leader seems competent enough, half the group seemed to have no interest in being there, not unlike the previous intruders. Shino could clearly read the fear on their faces, it virtually screamed out at him. He watched with a stoic expression as three of the group began to talk quietly to themselves, quietly enough that he couldn't hear from his position. The leader called for quiet and they complied, but once he turned back around they began to chat again.

He slowly raised the sound levels of the forest, but the moment he did the group froze in place and had their weapons out immediately. Shino had expected this, sitting in the high tree far above the group patiently. It was a technique he had learnt from his father before they had left for the Chuunin Exams.

The technique of patience.

By letting the group move at their own pace he was placing them in a false sense of fear. They had lost nearly a dozen groups of people to the forest already, so they knew how dangerous it was, but they had no idea how they were losing people. Most of them had been under Shino's direction, but the forest itself had a way of throwing around its weight. He let them move into a tree-covered area, one that was ill-suited to an ambush. But Shino didn't require an open area for the trap he had prepared, and he watched the group with a small measure of satisfaction.

_Phase One._

The twenty intruders had stopped in place, as the first part of Shino's trap revealed itself. A dark blue Hercules beetle stood a short distance away from the group, clicking its pincers menacingly. Unlike normal beetles, this insect stood at an imposing twelve feet tall, and was extremely intimidating to the intruding group. It was amazing at how such a large creature could have been concealed for such a long time, but Shino had led the creature here for that exact reason.

With their attention focussed on the giant insect, Shino began to relay chakra through the tree down to the ground. Once his orders had been relayed Shino stood up and watched cautiously. There was little else he could do besides watch to see if his plan worked. No need to get his own hands dirty, though that was because he didn't want to reveal himself until the necessary moment.

Down on the ground the leader leapt at the giant beetle and drove an axe into its head. The weapon bit through the dark blue chitin, but didn't sink any further than a few inches in. The Hercules beetle roared in pain and tried to slash the leader in two with its huge pincers. The intruder leapt back and swore under his breath, seeing his axe stuck in the giant beetle's head.

Within the group of intruders, one of the younger girls in the group slapped at her exposed arm with a grimace. She looked at her palm and struggled not to dry heave at the green and brown sticky substance covering her skin. She slapped her arm again instinctively, looking over before letting out a blood-curdling scream. Attached to her arm was an oversized mosquito with blood red eyes and a giant long needle that it quickly drove straight into her arm.

Several of her companions shrieked as well and tried to swat at the mosquito, but were forced to defend themselves as a large silent swarm of mosquitos attacked from the tree shadows. Shino took note of how quickly the seemingly disciplined unit of intruders broke into a panic; the leader couldn't stop them from fleeing in every direction to escape the swarm of mosquitos.

_Phase Two. _

oOoOoOo

Three of the intruders fled towards the southern part of the forest. The air around them began to get more humid than a forest should have, but they didn't seem to notice, the three of them moving as quickly as possible to escape the monster mosquitos that weren't even pursuing them anymore. After almost a minute of running, one of them called for the other two to stop having felt a strange sensation at his feet. They all looking down and recoiled in disgust, seeing the dark brown bog that they had just entered.

They tried to pull their feet out, but once they tried to move the trap was sprung. Dozens of large figures began to appear beneath the murky water, but before they could call out the figures leapt out of the water. A dozen giant pale worms emerged from the water and dove at the intruders. Razor sharp teeth bit onto their arms and clung onto them, while identical creatures started to chew their way upwards from their legs. They were allowed two seconds of screaming before their heads were similarly attacked and they were dragged into the bog.

A small group of five insects took note of the situation before flying off into a distant part of the forest.

oOoOoOo

The largest group had fled back towards the entrance, flailing about wildly as they tried to fight off the giant flying insects. An insect clone of Shino followed the group at a short distance, watching as several of them had already fallen due to blood loss. The mosquitos had the capacity to drain their victims in a manner of moments, as Shino had found when he first encountered them. He knew those victims had no chance of recovery, the forest would likely absorb their bodies as it did with all the others in quick order. The clone counted nine intruders that were still moving, having left their three companions to die without so much as looking back.

He attempted to keep a loud buzzing around the group to continue the fear of being pursued, but once it became clear that the mosquitos were no longer attacking them the intruders skidded to a halt and caught their breath. Using their resting time to his advantage, the clone of Shino stared closely at the intruders, noticing the subtle differences between this group and those that came before them. The Destruction Bugs that made up the clone couldn't sense any chakra emanating from the intruders, which took shinobi out of the picture. However upon closer inspection he did notice a strange coincidence, every single one of them had a blood red eye and an ice blue eye.

The clone made special note and detached a small contingent of insects to inform Shino, but still focused its concentration on its original purpose. Drawing two small metal blades he threw them straight at a large tree at the centre of the group's resting place, causing the tree to shake wildly.

The intruders were immediately alert and looking around for an attacker, but by then the insect clone had already moved position silently to avoid detection. Even with just his insects imitating him, Shino's battle ideology came through like a hot knife through butter.

_Maximise enemy casualties while minimising personal harm. Risk versus reward. _

One of the intruders grimaced and felt at her neck, pulling it back with a frown. She couldn't see anything on her hand, simply shrugging and turning back to her companions. Her eyes widened when she saw they had done the same action, but after a few minutes none of them seemed to have any issues, so they began to discuss whether they should return to the others or leave the forest altogether. The clone watched the group come to a slow consensus, counting silently. He frowned and looked back up at the tree for a moment, the insects using their sensing abilities to see whether the plan had worked or not. Shrugging within his coat, the clone of Shino looked down at the group carefully.

One of the intruders dropped to one knee, coughing into his hand violently. The others stood back from him immediately, looking on as he continued to cough blood through his hand onto the ground. Several of the group pointed at him with a cry, the others mirroring their calls when they saw a small collection of lumps rapidly moving underneath the skin of his neck.

Another of the group fell to the ground clutching at her arm. She screamed out as a large lump moved around between her elbow and shoulder before disappearing completely. She tried to claw at her arm in a vain attempt to get rid of the invader of her body, but screamed again when she saw a similar lump on top of her other hand.

Similar to the original Shino, the insects that made up the Shino clone took no pleasure in the act of taking out the intruders. The bugs hadn't expressed displeasure at their orders, but unleashing the tree-dwelling ticks on the ticks seemed excessive even to them, despite the hive mind controlled by Shino.

The clone watched as the rest of the group fell to the ground with similar symptoms, they screamed for a short time before the miniscule arachnid swarm consumed them from the inside. He took his time to ensure that each one of them was dead before checking for any items of value. Having found nothing of interest the clone dispersed into a large swarm of bugs and spread out into the forest proper.

oOoOoOo

It was an impressive feat of strength to be able to kill the giant Hercules beetle in the manner he did, but Shino resented the fact that the intruder leader had essentially sacrificed his four companions to do so.

_He doesn't understand the value of comrades in a battlefield. That is why he has lost. _

The leader reached down and wrenched his axe out of the face of the giant beetle, flicking its gooey blood off the blade before looking at his fallen comrades with a look of disdain. He spat on the ground and sheathed his axe on his back, glanced around the area with a shake of his head.

It was clear to Shino that he had no idea where to go from there. Not because of indecision, but likely because he had little sense of direction, which showed clearly by his lack of action in a clearly hostile environment. Shino deduced he was the leader because of his combat abilities, which were considerable, particularly for a non-shinobi.

The Aburame heir tracked the leader for almost an hour afterwards as he moved through the forest jungle, finally coming to the conclusion that the leader wasn't searching for a certain area in particular.

_It's almost as if…_

He had just received the information from his insect swarm, and he had a theory that he needed to test out before capturing the leader. Four months of isolation hadn't increased his interest in interacting with other human beings, if anything he was more inspired to spend more time with the various hives he had established. They had a way of thinking that Shino admired and often replicated. He was weary of becoming too attached to the insects, an action that occasionally happened in his clan before their demise.

However if his theory was correct, he needed to interrogate the leader before killing him. It wasn't even a question in Shino's mind anymore, whether to kill or not. He had spent so long surviving in the harsh environment of the forest that he understood a key facet of life that being a shinobi hadn't taught him. Life existed to feed other life, and survival was everything.

_Phase Three._

He threw a kunai down to the ground straight at the leader's feet. The intruder froze in place and already had his blade out, eyes scanning around for his attacker. Without a sound Shino dropped to the ground a short distance away from the intruder, glaring at him dispassionately behind his dark sunglasses. An outside observer might consider it a foolish move, but Shino never did things without considering all possibilities. He wasn't so much a genius tactician, but Shino didn't need to consider all possibilities, just identify the most viable plan and work around that.

"So you're the bastard that is killing my people. Damn shinobi scum." His anger wasn't veiled at all. Shino could tell how much the man hated him. But behind the statement there was a coldness that could only have been bred through years of hatred.

_Or indoctrination. Those eyes…_

The leader spat another line at Shino, but the insect user didn't respond. There was no point in corresponding with the leader; to speak would to show weakness before he was in a position of strength.

Seeing that Shino wasn't going to talk, the leader roared and brought down his axe with the speed Shino had observed earlier. The dark blade bit directly into his shoulder, but Shino had already replicated that area with insects so the axe passed through him like he wasn't there. Despite himself Shino was unable to keep a tiny grin from his face, though he controlled himself at the slight buzzing of his hive.

The intruder roared again and shifted the weight of the axe in his hands before slicing straight through Shino's stomach and out the other side. Again Shino exploded in insects; however instead of staying in place he floated away and reformed himself, standing opposite the intruder with the same expression he had worn for the whole battle.

The intruder seemed to get more and more agitated, hefting his axe onto his shoulder and glaring at the shinobi with disdain. "Enough of this charade. I'll show you what it means to face us, shinobi!"

He dropped his axe to the ground and slammed both feet into the ground, causing two small tremors beneath him as power seemed to build within him.

A wild grin came across his face. "You should have…"

He tried to continue talking, but found the words stuck in his throat. He tried to look down but his head seemed to ignore his commands, forcing him to continue to stare at the Aburame heir, who hadn't moved at all.

Seeing no point in keeping up appearances, Shino reached out a hand and motioned downwards, bringing the intruder to his knees. He couldn't feel a thing; Shino had pierced him twice in the shoulders with small stingers from a particular type of insect that he had only recently acquired.

"What the hell did you do to me?! Release me at once!"

The shinobi walked slowly and purposefully towards his prisoner, making sure that the intruder could see how unaffected he was by his angry tone. Reaching down he lightly pressed a finger into the forehead of the leader. His prisoner screamed out in agony at the contact, Shino holding it just long enough for the intruder to understand his position before releasing his hand.

It was a paralysing poison that would make puppeteers wet themselves. It disrupted all electrical signals to the brain, effectively removing physical function besides pain receptors. It was brutal, but had a very short afterlife, no longer than an hour.

But he didn't need to know that.

Pulling out one of the kunai he had thrown to the ground earlier, Shino began the interrogation.

* * *

><p>Shino had expected him to last longer than he did, but with the information obtained he certainly wasn't complaining. The intruder, who was called Deon, had begged and pleaded, but once he realised what Shino was capable of, he gave away all the information he could. Once he had, he had asked Shino whether he was going to let him go or not. The Aburame had stood up and walked around to the other side, kunai in hand. With two quick motions he slit the hamstrings of the leader and vanished into a cloud of insects that dispersed amongst the trees.<p>

_If that information is correct…I need to get out of this forest and warn the others. Provided they survived. _

The forest he resided in was surrounded on all sides by large mountain walls that served to contain the monsters inside, with but a single open point to the east. Shino hadn't been there in a long time, he had long since made the decision to stay in the forest, but that time had passed.

Within the cloud of insects Shino rapidly moved through the air towards the single entrance to the hazardous forest. It was a strange sensation, but one he had slowly become accustomed to after weeks of training the technique. If he had been alive, Shino knew his father would have been proud of his achievement. It was the most complex technique the Aburame clan had in their arsenal, and one that Shino had found accidently in a battle involving a giant insect he had no interest in recalling. It didn't take much chakra to maintain the fluid form, though it required a level of concentration that occasionally gave him a headache.

It didn't take the insect-user long to reach the entrance, his traps were mostly centred around the eastern area since that was where the forest was being invaded from. He reformed himself on top of a leafy tree and breathed out slowly. Shino felt a heavy burden at the information he had obtained from Deon, but was more concerned by the large collection of figures he saw grouped together below him.

Ten robed figures stood in formation with their arms crossed, Shino noticing that they didn't move at all, as if carved out of marble. From his high angle he couldn't see any of the figures faces, but something about them unsettled him.

Standing with their backs to the forest was a small group of five people dressed similar to the intruders Shino had just crushed. But Shino was more concerned with the woman standing between the two groups, her blood red hair and icy eyes caused the bugs residing in Shino to buzz in a fear he hadn't though the insects possible to experience. There was something about the woman, something he couldn't place, that stopped Shino from attacking the group to push his way through. His prisoner had told him that there were only the group of five remaining, so the additional forces came as a surprise, and Shino was nothing if not cautious.

Straining his senses with a trickle of chakra, Shino concentrated on listening to the argument that he saw between the group and the fiery-woman who seemed entirely out of place in the forest climate.

oOoOoOo

"You are the only ones left?"

The five intruders nodded quickly, they had no interest in incurring more wrath than they already had.

The red-haired woman sighed and placed a hand on her hip. She wasn't prone to angry outbursts, not to her own people, but her choler was rising quickly. "I sent a full contingent to this area. You may only be failed converts, but one would think with fifty people you can take care of ONE SHINOBI!"

The five of them winced at her dressing them down, while the ten robed figures behind her didn't move an inch.

One of the five coughed awkwardly, "The forest is a highly volatile environment. We haven't heard back from Colonel Deon, but no one that has entered the forest has returned."

"So the men sent here are lost. Fine." The woman took a single step forward and placed an open palm facing the ground. As if out of nowhere a long sword slowly appeared in her hand. It had a blood red hilt that matched her hair, but other than that it appeared like a regular long sword.

The five intruders' eyes widened, but they didn't move from their position, weary of how much respect she demanded from her subjects. Faster than one could clearly see, the woman flicked her wrist in front of the five before placing it back to her side, the sword slowly dissipating from her grip into thin air.

She turned around and looked over the ten robed figures with a cold stare. After a few seconds the five standing behind her fell to the ground, their heads having been relieved of their bodies.

"This is the last shinobi in this land. With his death, this area will be cleansed as it should be. Do any of you have a suggestion for how this needs to be achieved?"

None of the group seemed to have anything to say, causing the woman to sigh with a roll of her eyes. "Where is Shouri when you need him? This is hardly my area of expertise. That stupid brother of mine…"

"_**If you would permit, mistress."**_

The red-haired leader watched passively as a robed figure from the back strode through to square off in front of her, an intricate mask concealing her face completely. She acknowledged the woman's presence, she had been a commanding force amongst their warriors, but had yet to truly impress her.

"You have something to contribute, Iceheart? I have a new range of test subjects that require my attention."

It was miniscule, but all ten of the robed figures collectively stood a little straighter, all of them weary of their mistress' experimentations. The woman called Iceheart indicated to the forest behind the red-haired leader.

"_**If the target is within the forest limits, then the forest is an object that is in the way." **_

The leader crossed her arms with a frown. "Go on."

The masked woman turned slightly and nodded to a giant of a man standing beside her, a hood covering his blank masked face. With two hands raised, two streams of fire poured out of his palms into the bases of two of the trees arched at the entrance to the forest. The wooden forms instantly burst into flames, with large tongues of fire bouncing from one tree to the next.

The fire-using robed figure lowered his hands back into his robe while the red-haired woman turned around and watched the fire quickly spread. "Impressive. But this doesn't guarantee the insect-user's demise. This only destroys his hiding places, not killing the shinobi himself. Remember our goals."

"_**Then we shall seek him out inside the forest. With his world burning around him, he will be easy prey."**_

Placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, the red-haired leader gave no pretence to warmth. "You have your orders then. Once the Konoha shinobi had been slaughtered, you are to report to Kyoukou. He has some meaningless task that needs to be done."

Without another word the female leader moved past the robed warrior and walked back up the dirt path, leaving the others to convey between themselves before entering the burning forest.

oOoOoOo

From his vantage point, Shino knew he was in trouble.

_They had to do it eventually. I didn't expect to be the target, but their tenacity borders on fanaticism. _

Leaping from his tree to another that wasn't being consumed by flames; Shino ran several scenarios through his head.

_I could easily fly from the trees over the mountainside and escape this area. Though it is likely they would pursue me out there too, and the red-haired woman seemed to be on the same level as the one that sent me here. _

He found a smooth stone and landed on it quietly, watching as the flames spread rapidly around the forest. With such a wide area of connection to the denizens of the forest, Shino could almost feel the insects burning alive. He could feel a quick anger boiling within him, a hatred he had felt before, when his first hive had been destroyed by the Akatsuki creature.

_If…if what she said is true…then the group that just entered the forest is likely responsible for killing a large amount of shinobi, perhaps even some of my comrades. _

Running through the handseals quickly, Shino placed a hand on the stone beneath him. A small cloud of smoke appeared while Shino used his free hand to pull out a tiny scroll. A black and red dragonfly the size of his fist hovered just above his hand, staring at Shino through its insectoid eyes. With a quick motion he strung the scroll onto the dragonfly's back, making sure it didn't impede the insect's wings.

He indicated to the insect with the slightest of nods and watched it fly up out through the tree line. He moved to the side without looking as a giant burning branch slammed into the area he had just occupied.

_That should reach the nearest of my companions, if they are anywhere in this country. _

He couldn't sense any of the robed invaders, but that didn't concern him too much. There was an area of the forest he knew was a good place to hide, one that would survive a blaze of this magnitude. Shino knew there was no way to put out the fire; he had no water techniques like Hinata or Ino. A part of him was already mourning the extensive loss of life that the invaders had committed themselves to.

_Once the fire dies out, thousands of species will have died. If nothing else, they will join the insects in their demise. The insects here deserve that much. _

With an angry scowl that was uncharacteristic of him, Shino vanished in a cloud of destruction bugs, just as the area around him collapsed in on itself as fire burnt through the humid environment, trees crashing into the ground. The air itself seemed to burn with unnatural fury.

oOoOoOo

The dragonfly zipped across the moonlit sky, high above the flames that were systematically destroying its master's home. It had no set destination, but stored within its senses were the chakra signals of all the Konoha shinobi that had accompanied Shino since the destruction of Konoha. The information contained in the scroll on its back was all the data Shino had collected from the interrogation and what he had overheard. Moving past the mountain cliff, the dragonfly started to pick up speed, its wings barely making a sound.

A tiny flash appeared from the ground beside the forest, the dragonfly paying it no attention, to its demise.

It fell to the ground quickly; however just before it struck the ground a bare hand reached out and snatched it out of the air. The dragonfly was already dead, so the killer had no issues removing the small piece of metal that had pierced the dragonfly's head.

"Hmm…"

Picking off the scroll from the insects back, the red-haired leader dropped the flying insect to ground without a second thought. She unravelled the scroll and inspected the contents carefully.

"Encoded. He's more dedicated than we thought."

She crushed the paper in her hand and shoved it into a pocket attached to her belt. She wished she was wearing her loose fitting dress that she wore when she wasn't in her lab or in the field, but that wasn't an option at the present time.

The red-haired leader looked at the watch attached to her wrist. She sighed and looked down at the burning forest beneath her. "I wish I had time to watch this. Fire is so romantic, especially like this."

A large tear appeared behind her, pulling away the air to reveal a shadowy blue colour that was constantly changing. "Still, I suppose this'll be something to remember for a while."

With that, she disappeared into the tear, leaving the task of murdering the Aburame heir to her subordinates.

* * *

><p>Even in his cloud-swarm form, Shino could see some of the larger insects of the forest trying and failing to escape the horrifying blaze. Despite covering a wide area, the nature of the leafy and humid forest meant that the fire spread quicker than the insect-user had anticipated. He had feared they would do this from the start, but he didn't guess that he himself was the target.<p>

_That Iceheart character is clever. Burn the forest to catch the bug. However entering the forest makes no sense. They should be just waiting for me to escape and cut me off at the edges. _

At a place in the southern part of his vision, Shino saw a single robed foe standing perfectly still with her arms crossed. He saw that it wasn't the Iceheart character that had instigated the fire, but nonetheless he had been given an opportunity to kill one of the enemies likely responsible for so much death.

Turning into a long stream of bugs, Shino floated down to the burning forest and reformed into his original shape onto one of the few trees that hadn't been set on fire yet. The robed woman stood several feet away below him and had yet to notice his presence.

_She is either extremely arrogant, or doesn't expect me to attack a woman. _

Without a sound he dropped down right behind her, silently landing on the ground and pulling back a fist. Almost in an instant the woman spun around and swiped through his face with a bone-hilted dagger.

The blade passed through his insect form with ease, causing no damage to the shinobi whatsoever. The woman's eyes widened, she clearly hadn't been expected him to react that way, but before she could move her dagger to strike him again, Shino slammed his hands onto the ground.

He didn't have a name for the technique, he wasn't like the others, having a need to say the name of a technique to utilise its full effectiveness. He pushed a decent amount of chakra into the ground, causing the robed woman to fall into the ground up to her knees, immobilising her in place.

She struggled within the solid ground but was unable to move below her waist, flailing about with her dagger while spitting out profanities and insults at him. While usually Shino would leave her to her misery, letting the forest itself take care of his enemy, this was no longer an option.

Placing a hand back onto the ground while making sure he was out of range of her dagger strikes, he communicated to a large hive of insects underneath the ground, taking a few seconds to convey his orders before standing back up and staring at the robed figure.

Normally Shino took no pleasure in the act of killing another, besides the satisfaction of doing his duty. However, watching the woman scream in agony as she was consumed by a mountain of fire ants from underneath the ground seemed to sate a small portion of Shino's anger.

_People always say that revenge is never satisfactory. But this…_

He noted without moving that four robed figures had landed around him, he concentrated on watching the fire ants disperse back into the ground. He was impressed by how effectively the insects had dismembered and disintegrated the woman's body; there was virtually no trace of her at all.

Behind him he could feel the seething anger directed at him from the four robed men. It pleased him that they had taken the bait, but four at once was going to be a task, and he wasn't sure how long he could maintain his insect form, his head was already pounding in pain.

The enemy to his left snarled and pulled back a sleeve, revealing a bladed gauntlet on his right hand. "You brutal son of a bitch…"

Shino slowly looked around, seeing the others draw similar weapons and giving him the same look of intense hatred. He stared at the enemy that had spoken, placing his hands together slowly.

The gauntlet-wielding enemy nodded quickly to his companions, taking a single dramatic step forward towards Shino. "You'll pay for killing her!"

He swung at Shino's face with a similar level of speed to the previous enemy, but since he could read the attack Shino was prepared for it. He ducked underneath the strike whilst simultaneously clapping his hands together before tapping his right arm with his other hand. In a motion that clearly surprised the robed attacker, Shino dove forward and clutched his hand around the enemy's throat. With his chakra he had changed his arm into a large scorpion's pincer, from the elbow upwards.

Shino held the enemy hostage for a split second, making sure that he experienced the fear his companion had suffered through. With a clicking motion, Shino severed his head to the bone, turning his arm back to normal just in time to roll away from an axe strike to his back.

"Monster!"

"Shinobi-bastard!"

The insect-user jumped back several paces, taking an account of his three remaining foes. One had a long scimitar with a guard, another wielded the axe that had struck at him earlier, and the final robed figure had a barbed whip between his hands. They all looked particularly vicious, however Shino was undeterred.

He went to swarm them with insects from inside his body, but stopped himself before relaying the command. Without his hive inside his body, he wouldn't be able to turn into a swarm to avoid their attacks. He judged they were far quicker than he could dodge, so despite the thundering headache in his head Shino was forced to resort to close combat, since the blaze around them had bottled him in.

The axe-wielder roared out and swung at him again but instead of moving away, which would have put him in the path of the whip-user, Shino took the blow straight.

It passed through his blocking arms and into his chest, which had already exploded outwards into a swarm. Moving as quickly as possible, Shino flew around his attacker, reforming his hands in mid-air to pull down the man's hood. He still couldn't see the invader's face because of the blank mask, but Shino wasn't concerned about that. Once the hood was down he tapped two fingers on the man's exposed neck before turning into a swarm again to fall back from the other two robed invaders.

The axe-wielder stumbled slightly, dropping his axe with a groan as his companions moved to defend him. He reached back and felt at where Shino had attacked him, grunting as he pulled out two stingers and looked at them in his hand.

Shino counted quietly in his head, ducking under a whip strike and staring at the axe-wielder. He fell to the ground with a thump, the others seemingly unconcerned with their companion now that their target was in range.

_How callous._

He didn't need to check to see that the axe-wielder was dead. He had struck him with extremely virulent scorpion venom, one that he had nearly been killed by himself. The barbed whip lashed out at him, but Shino was already moving to the side.

The trees around them had begun to crash to the ground, their bases having burnt through. While dodging both attacks from his enemies and falling branches, Shino remarked at how quickly the forest blaze had spread. It seemed like an unnatural occurrence, though not unlike the flames that Sasuke or Kiba could emit.

It still bothered him that he couldn't sense the robed figures beyond his normal senses, not like the other invaders.

_They either shield their chakra outputs, or they don't have chakra at all. Either is troubling to say the least, and I'm running out of time. _

The robed enemies stood next to each other, watching him with caution. Once they had exercised their anger, it appeared that they resolved to work together to take him down. Despite the blank masks and slits for eyes, Shino could sense their reservation in continuing their offensive.

_They recognise that they can't do any physical damage to me, which will make them either hesitant or reckless. _

Seeing that they weren't going to attack him, Shino used that time to gather as much information as he could about the surrounding area. The reports he got from his sensory insects was not positive in any respect.

A full third of the forest was uninhabitable; the air had become intolerable even for his destruction bugs. Hundreds of species had been wiped out, and those that could had evacuated deep into the ground. By Shino's calculation, the entire area would be burnt down in less than an hour.

_I'll take out as many of them as I can, then escape. _

A plan came to him like a bolt of lightning, one that he hadn't considered beforehand. The whip-user cracked his weapon with a snarl and moved in sync with his partner to strike at the insect user. Their movement patterns suggested they wanted to immobilise him, though he wasn't sure how they would go about it. However after jumping back from a scimitar strike, Shino wasn't going to let them dictate the flow of the battle. With a rapid set of handseals, Shino sank into the ground to duck under a whip strike.

He waited underground for just a little bit longer than necessary, using a small collection of insects to pinpoint the invader's exact location. They didn't seem to panic, and since they hadn't seen his previous Earth-based attack, Shino had the element of surprise.

With a pulse of chakra the Aburame heir slowly rose from the ground silently, having positioned himself in the single blind spot between the two robed enemies. Once he was above the ground the two of them seemed to notice his presence, but before they could do anything he clapped his hands together and placed them on their backs.

Using a large amount of chakra, Shino activated his planned technique and leapt back as far as possible. The two of them seemed unaffected for a moment, even turning around to face him. However they didn't last long, falling to their knees with silent screams, though Shino had to assume that since the masks concealed their expressions. After dozens of convulsions, which was haunting to watch even for Shino, the two of them fell to the ground dead. Leaning down Shino placed out an open hand, letting the tiny insects that had destroyed his foes from the inside out trickle back into his greater hive.

He took a look up at the sky. With the billowing smoke and burning tree tops it almost looked like the sky itself was on fire. Shino was not prone to dramatic assumption, but if there was ever a doomsday image, Shino couldn't think of a more appropriate picture.

_Time is up. _

He breathed out slowly, gauging how much chakra he had left. He had enough to escape the burning forest easily enough, perhaps even take on another group of invaders. But Shino didn't want to take that risk, better to survive to fight again than attempt a brazen attempt at exacting revenge.

Placing his hands together to conserve chakra, Shino regulated his breathing and attempted to reduce his choler, but was having a difficult time. He had the memories of many species deaths in his mind, and had tried to save as many as possible but it wasn't enough.

Through his sunglasses he could see a large collection of shapes moving rapidly towards him. In the corner of his eye he could see the masked Iceheart woman approaching him at a leisurely walk. A part of him knew that he should leave the area, considering the other four robed invaders were taking position around him quickly. But on seeing her complex mask and the sheer arrogance of her stride caused him to reconsider his plan.

He turned to face her, placing his hands together and gathering as much chakra as he could spare. He didn't want to summon the creature in the middle of a burning forest, but Shino took comfort in the knowledge that the giant preying-mantis would agree with his assessment of the situation.

_A little vengeance is justifiable._

He sped through the five handseals, but before he could move to summon the giant insect he saw Iceheart vanish from sight. Beneath his sunglasses his eyes widened, the move was a chakra-based taijutsu move, one he hadn't expected from an enemy that wasn't a shinobi. He resolved to summon the creature nonetheless, but when he went to slam his hand on the ground the strength in his body vanished.

With an immense show of strength, Shino turned his head slightly to see the masked woman standing beside him with a hand on his shoulder.

_How can she…with my…_

All of his chakra seemed to vanish from within him. Every attempt at communicating with his hive for a defensive manoeuvre was met with deafening silence. Around him the other invaders moved to stand close around him, Iceheart's hand forcing him to the ground like a parent would a child.

"_**Aburame Shino. As the final shinobi in the Land of Fire, your execution will ring out within your world."**_

The four robed invaders drew long swords and faced the blades to his throat. Within his lifeless body Shino tried to struggle, but he had no strength to even move beside his head. The Iceheart woman released her hand and walked around to face him, drawing her own short sword.

Taking the longest breath of his life, Shino looked up at her masked face. In deference to his situation, a slow grin came across the Aburame survivor's normally stoic face. Summoning up all of his newly found rebellious nature, Shino spat straight into her face, the liquid planting itself between the orbs on her mask.

"I die for my friends. Do your worst."

Without even wiping the spit off of her face, the masked leader brought down her sword in a flash, her four companions echoing her motion.

oOoOoOo

Wiping her bloody sword on her light-coloured robe, the masked woman reached down and grasped the shinobi's head in a gloved hand. The others went about dismembering his body with their blades. She sheathed her blade and reached up, removing the insect-user's sunglasses.

"_**No look of fear. He was different from the other shinobi. Almost a shame." **_

She dropped the head to the ground, taking a moment before slamming a heeled boot into his face.

"_**Almost."**_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so ends Shino's story. Unlike Chouji and Neji, Shino was always going to die at this point, it was just a matter of how. It's a shame; I like Shino as a character. Efficient, undemanding, brutal when necessary but no overly so.

I'll admit I took a lot of things from other movies in this scene. But they were so fun, I couldn't help myself. And yes, his death was kind of messy and sudden. But not everyone gets a dramatic death. In fact most of them aren't dramatic at all. Anime doesn't seem to show those that often.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	29. Chapter 27 INO Baby Blue

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 27 – Ino – Baby Blue

**A/N**: I suppose I should mention that this story does have its grim-dark moments. I mean the last chapter was evidence of that, but I can guarantee it never gets all consuming. I've written depressing material and it's just not fun. Depression plays a part in this story, but ultimately this is about entertainment.

Also just to address something a reviewer said from last week but I couldn't respond. Several of the characters have multiple element types, meaning they can use them individually, but cannot combine them together, as that would be a Kekkei Genkai like Haku's Ice Element.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Ino wouldn't be a stereotyped female character.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

After spending four months within a monstrous insect-covered forest, Shino had finally found a place that catered to his personality, though he still had an interest in finding his companions. However that had to be put on hold, since he had been frequently forced to destroy intruders that entered the forest. He didn't know what their motivations were or why they kept sending men into the death-trap that was his home. After the capture and interrogation of a group leader, who was clearly not a shinobi, Shino learnt of a darker plot, one that he didn't quite fully understand. Resolved to escape the forest, Shino found a large group of invaders at the entrance, a red-haired woman clearly directing the others. Before he could do anything a masked woman in the group, who had been called Iceheart, directed a companion to set the forest ablaze. Shino sent out a message in an attempt to convey his information to anyone outside of the forest, but the dragonfly carrying the message was intercepted and destroyed. Within the burning forest Shino slaughtered five of the robed invaders with several techniques he had developed within the forest, but was brought to his knees by the Iceheart woman. Their blades cut into him but Shino's last act was to spit into his murderer's masked face. With that, the Aburame clan was no more.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Weeks after Separation***<p>

Ino attached the notepad paper next to the light and let out a slow sigh. The café was dying down for the night, but even without that much work to do Ino still hated working there. The customers were barely tolerable and the other staff clearly resented her. She leaned back onto the wall and straightened out her black stockings for the hundredth time that day. Nobody said it, but she was convinced that the café she was working in was popular because of the waiting staff's outfits. Her black maid dress barely covered her backside, and was cut down the front to show her cleavage.

If Ino hadn't been desperate for money, she would never have considered working at such a place, but when she had appeared in the town her bag had been destroyed in the transition. While initially she was angrier about the destruction of her clothes, some of which had belonged to her mother, Ino realised that she had no money for food or housing.

Looking over at the last customer leaving the café, Ino simply shook her head and rubbed her sore arms. A part of her thought she should have just stolen some money and moved on from there, but even despite her shinobi experience she couldn't bring herself to diminish the others in the town for her own gain.

She already had a plan worked out on where she wanted to go, the town she had landed in was to the southern region of the Land of Fire. It would take her a few weeks, but Ino couldn't think of any other place that the others could meet her. It wasn't even a consideration in her mind; Ino knew that the others were fine.

Ino grabbed a handtowel and began to clean the tables, her two fellow waitresses doing the same. They had been working there for a long time and weren't sure what to make of the shinobi, but Ino didn't pay them any heed. She had worked in her mother's flower shop before its destruction, so Ino had no problems with customers, but every time one of them tried to look up her skirt she had to supress the urge to enter their minds and break their souls into tiny pieces.

From within the kitchen a heavy-set man wearing an apron came out to the main area of the café. It had gotten dark quickly that night, and with her last pay check Ino planned on leaving the next morning. He barked orders at them and re-entered the kitchen with a scowl. The others waitresses did their jobs and left once the area was clean, but Ino stayed behind. If she didn't press him for it, her boss wouldn't give her pay until the next day.

He came back out into the café, and upon seeing Ino patiently waiting he shrugged and indicated for her to sit down at one of the tables. Ino did as he asked and crossed her legs, placing her arms on her thighs respectively, she didn't want to come off as prudish considering he was temperamental at the best of times. Her boss sat down opposite her while wiping his hands on his apron. She saw him look at her legs for a little bit longer than she was comfortable with, but made no comment when she saw him pull out a small envelope that inevitably contained her pay.

"Before I give you your money, I wanted to talk to you."

Ino frowned but motioned for him to continue. "Is something wrong?" She didn't want to give him any indication that she was leaving in the morning.

Her boss grinned with a smug smile, one she had seen several times before. "You are an excellent waitress, Ino." She initially didn't want to use her real name, but she figured if one of her friends heard about her then it was worth the risk.

Despite herself Ino felt a small measure of pride at the compliment. She knew she wasn't the nicest person in the world at times, but she knew how to make people feel important, a key facet of hospitality.

She smiled as genuinely as she could. "Thank you. I'm happy to be here."

"That, is why I wanted to talk. Since you came here two weeks ago you have been an asset to my café. There are many customers who come here just for your…service."

Ino smiled again, it wasn't something she should've taken pride in, but she knew she was probably the prettiest girl on staff. "I like helping people."

"Hmm…" Her boss edged his chair closer to her, to the point that their knees were almost touching. "I was talking to your roommate, and she said that you have been packing your effects for the past two days."

Ino didn't flinch at all; she wasn't particularly surprised that her fellow waitress and roommate had sold her out. They hadn't been particularly close, and if Ino didn't pay her part of the rent then she was sure the girl would be happy to see her gone. "And this is a problem?"

"On the surface, no. You are free to do what you will." He fingered the envelope between his chubby fingers. "However, I don't think you've worked hard enough for this money."

"What?" Ino didn't launch out of her chair like she wanted to, but the comment still caused her arms to clench up in anger. "I work just as hard as anyone else here."

He grinned slyly; he knew that despite everything Ino had a weakness for pride. "Perhaps. But you don't seem to understand how things work between me and the other waitresses."

Ino frowned and crossed her arms. She didn't like the dirty look in his eyes, and something about his overly confident demeanour made her try and close her legs even more. "Then maybe you can explain it to me."

"You are leaving this town tomorrow. Don't try to deny it. And the only reason you stayed behind is that you need this last pay-check, otherwise you won't be able to get where you need to go."

"Get to the point" said Ino angrily. It was clear he wanted to extort something from her, and considering his position directly opposite her, she suspected it wasn't going to be something she would want to give away.

_Is he an ally of that warrior? No, he's not smart enough for that. It's something else. _

Her boss placed the envelope on the table next to them and leaned forward, resting his large belly on his legs. "If you are going to leave, then you need to do what all the other waitresses have done after they work here for over a fortnight."

Without any warning he reached down and ran a hand up her black stocking. Ino was so surprised by the move that it wasn't until his hand touched the ruffles of her mini-skirt that she was able to react.

After a minute Ino let out a slow breath and picked up a nearby cloth, wiping her bloody hands on the white material slowly. With a quick glance she picked up the envelope and opened it to count the cash inside.

It was three times what her pay should have been, causing her to slam a high heel into the disfigured body of her body boss in disgust. "You bastard. Think you can just feel up any girl that works for you because you have money?"

As she walked out of the dark café she took a look at the empty streets of the town. She had no interest in staying there any longer than necessary, and she would now draw attention to herself if she did. Ino quickly made her way to her temporary living quarters and paused with her hand on the door.

_I shouldn't blame her. If I wasn't a shinobi I would have been intimidated by him as well. And he did pay very well for the staff, though if he did that to all of them…Maybe I should have beaten him worse. _

She opened the door slowly with a grin on her face.

_Well he won't be able to cook for a long time. Not with ten broken fingers. _

* * *

><p>***One Month after Separation***<p>

Two weeks of trudging through the grasslands of the Land of Fire left Ino with a bad mood to accompany her messy hair. At first she wanted to take the roads, perhaps stop at a few towns on the way to keep herself going. However a sight at the first town to her destination had forced her to change her path of travel.

During her stay in the café town Ino had heard rumours of strange groups moving through the Land of Fire. They had anticipated that, with the demise of Konoha, other shinobi villages would attempt to move onto their old territory. However the robed figures that were accosting the town occupants gave even someone like her pause. She decided it was in her best interest to avoid detection by such groups, she had no interest in becoming a prisoner of another shinobi village, particularly if any Sound shinobi were to find her.

She slowly climbed a tall hill, padding her forehead with a cloth to keep the sweat from falling onto her face. Ino never considered herself to have that much stamina, she had always fought from a distance, but Ino didn't realise that the two weeks of waitressing had put her so out of shape.

_If I don't find a hot springs before I meet them, I think I would die of embarrassment. Besides, I smell like the inside of a shoe. _

At the top of the hill Ino breathed out a sigh in relief. It was good to see the town again. She thought about it for a moment before smiling. It had been over two months since she had been to the town, and despite herself she had missed the small but homely town.

_Oh, little Airi must have gotten bigger. I wonder how she looks now. _

She looked up at the sky, figuring it to be sometime in the afternoon. Looking back down at the town Ino took note of how little had changed since they had come to the town before. Ino went to move towards the town, but stopped herself after a strange shiver came up her spine. It caused her to stop completely and nearly drop her small pack to the ground.

_That…was strange. I've never felt that before._

She secured her pack on her waist and looked back at the town, noticing with a flick of her hair to get it out of her face that there was something slightly off about the image that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

The Yamanaka heir shook her head in attempt to disrupt the feeling and quickly moved down towards the town. Normally Ino would have been more cautious, but two weeks without contact with any other person had left a bad taste in her mouth, one she desperately wanted to get rid of.

She had never quite had the connection with her teacher that Shikamaru and Chouji had, but the last time she had been to the town she had felt a connection with the genjutsu-user. But regardless of those facts, she looked forward to speaking with the two Jounin, two people who would be able to give her some indication of what she should do next. Ino didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was terrified. Each night she ran through the situation that had sent her to that village, and thought to herself what more she could have done. It wasn't like her to question her own actions; Ino took pride in being a confident young woman, so questioning her decisions was inherently alien.

oOoOoOo

Once she had reached the town limits, Ino knew that something was wrong. It wasn't so much the fact that people were running all around screaming, which was alarming in its own right considering she hadn't heard them on her way to the town. But once she had turned a corner into the main view of the village, she saw a small plume of grey smoke rising slowly in the distance.

_That's strange. Isn't that…_

Deciding to pick up her pace, Ino moved quickly through the village, noticing with rising alarm that the surrounding villagers seemed to be fleeing in the opposite direction that she was running to. Ino tried to put it out of her mind, moving as fast as she could while trying to remember which direction the house was in. It was with a grim realisation that the smoke was in the same direction as she was heading, though Ino couldn't see any of the figures she had observed from the other towns.

She turned another and deftly avoided being bowled over by a fleeing villager, steadying herself as she looked down the street that was all too familiar. What she saw confirmed what she had been afraid of, but nonetheless Ino sped down the street and skidded to a halt in front of the house she had been looking forward to coming to since she thought of it.

"No…"

The two-story house that had looked slightly out of place with those around it was covered in flames. The green-brown roof that looked like it had just got a new coat of paint was falling apart as its foundations burnt away. Ino noticed immediately that the flames were only isolated to the house itself, it seemed like the blaze wasn't even trying to spread to the grass below or the nearby houses.

Ino placed up her hands instantly in preparation to douse the house with torrents of water, but before she could summon up the chakra a terrible notion came into her mind.

_This fire must have been deliberate. The villagers are panicking far more than a common house fire requires. What if those figures did this intentionally? If I put it out, that'll only draw attention to myself. _

She put down her hands and glared at the burning house. While it made sense, and she trusted the two Jounin to be able to look after themselves, Ino couldn't shake the overwhelming sense of dread in her stomach. Making a difficult decision in an instant, the Yamanaka heir placed her hands together and concentrated. After moulding the chakra required she ran through the handseals and activated the technique.

"Suiton: Mizutama" (Water Element: Water Sphere)

Spreading out in a four foot bubble around her, Ino strengthened the water shield with extra chakra before moving to enter the house. She trusted that her shield would prevent any part of her from the fire and would limit smoke inhalation, but she had modified the technique so that if she needed to it could be expanded to accommodate extra people.

Ino took a deep breath and kicked the door in, jumping over the splintered remains with her hands at the ready to blast any enemies with bullets of concentrated water.

The inside of the house was even more of a mess than the outside, the flames seemingly happy to destroy everything they touched. Melted pictures and furniture littered the main living room, but that wasn't what put Ino on even more of an edge. The walls of the room were covered in long slashes and broken personal objects, the pattern of which Ino recognised instantly.

Above her a lick of flame reached out and bounced off of the top of her water shield. The green-eyed kunoichi looked up with concern; the roof was barely hanging on as it was. Swallowing the fear that had gripped her since entering the town, Ino moved quickly into the next room, the kitchen.

The moment Ino entered the room she dropped to her knees and vomited onto the floor. Even though she was covered by a thick veil of water the stench was overwhelming. She wiped her mouth with a gasp and looked back up at the burning room, immediately feeling the urge to throw up again at what she saw.

Sitting with their backs to the cupboard on the other side of kitchen were Asuma and Kurenai. The two of them were holding hands and had strangely serene smiles on their faces as they had cuddled up next to each other. With a quick inspection Ino could tell that they were both dead. Their throats had been slashed from ear to ear, and beside the slash marks in the living room it looked like they had been executed and left to die.

Ino knew when she saw the house on fire that something like this might have happened, but seeing it right in front of her was like a tight vice around her heart. Within her shield she walked over to the two of them, kneeling down and touching Kurenai's face lightly. It seemed almost too horrific to be real, but Ino knew that she wasn't dreaming.

A large chunk of wood slammed into the ground next to her, causing her to jump in fright before realising it was just the roof burning through. Ino looked back down at the two dead Jounin, realising that she only had a few minutes before the house collapsed on itself.

With a heavy heart she reached down and removed their wedding rings from their hands, placing them in her pocket. She knew she wasn't going to be able to take their bodies out of the house before it collapsed, and she felt they would want someone to have something of theirs to remember them by.

She stood up and turned her back to the bodies, wiping her face with a grim expression. She could hear the house creaking as more chunks of wood fell to the ground, but when she walked over the threshold to the burning living room Ino froze in place.

She mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it earlier, quickly looking around the room before seeing her goal. She ducked under a fallen timber and bolted up the nearby staircase, being forced to jump the last few steps as the staircase collapsed. She frantically moved down the long corridor on the second level of the house, using her shoulder to bash down the door and entering the room with a terrified look on her face.

She saw the crib immediately, moving with intense speed to stand over it. To her amazement, inside the small bed was the sleeping form of a four month old little girl, wrapped carefully in a blanket. When she saw the baby's face time seemed to freeze for Ino, it seemed miraculous that not only had the child been spared her parent's fate, which was clearly an intentional attack, but that even with her world physically collapsing around her she still slept with a peaceful look on her face.

A loud crash above the two of them brought Ino screaming back to reality. In a single fluid motion she reached down and pulled the little girl out of the crib as carefully but as quick as possible, jumping back as the entire middle section of the roof collapsed straight down into the now-empty crib.

Ino clutched the still-sleeping baby tightly to her chest, staring in awe at the destroyed room.

_It's almost like someone was waiting for me to pick her up. _

The house quickly fell to pieces after that, the mysterious fire burning through the foundations with almost directed aggression. Seeing nothing else to retrieve in the house, and with young Airi in her arms, Ino leapt out of a destroyed window and landed on the opposite side of the house. She softened her landing as much as possible, and to her continued amazement the baby in her hands still hadn't woken up. She knew Airi was still alive because she was breathing softly into her shirt, but Ino still wanted to examine her for smoke inhalation.

She gripped the young girl tightly to her chest and fell slowly to her knees onto the grass below, forcing herself to watch as the house burnt down. She didn't want to believe it, it seemed too horrifying to imagine, as she had thought earlier. But as Airi squirmed slightly in her sleep and pawed at her shirt lightly, Ino forced herself to swallow her own grief.

She looked down at the sleeping baby and forced a smile onto her face, even as tears slowly fell from her face.

"I…I'm really sorry. But it'll be okay. I promise…it'll be okay."

Ino couldn't do anything but continue lying to the sleeping baby. She didn't know what else to do.

* * *

><p>An hour later Ino found her way to an inn in town, Airi still fast asleep in her arms as the villagers were slowly recovering and going back to their day. Some of the villagers had tried to put out the fire with water buckets, but after making sure that the fire wasn't going to spread they gave up and let it run its course.<p>

The large woman behind the counter smiled at her sweetly, seemingly undeterred by the fire on the other side of the town. "Hello dear. Would you like a room this afternoon?"

Ino smiled weakly, she may not have exerted that much physically, but emotionally she was exhausted. "That…would be good. How much are they? I'll need a room for a week, maybe two."

The woman nodded in acknowledgement and flipped through a notebook on the counter. She flicked a pen between her fingers, occasionally glancing up at the young girl before turning back to her notes. After a minute she wrote on a piece of paper and placed it on the counter facing the kunoichi. "We have a lovely room at the end of the hall, one that had facilities for new mothers."

Ino frowned for a split second before regaining her composure and nodding slowly. The figure on the piece of paper was very generous, and Ino quickly accepted. She was essentially going by instinct at the moment; Ino had no idea how to continue beyond basic survival instincts.

Ino handed over the money for a room for two weeks, she figured that would be enough for her to get her bearings and figure out what to do next. It was more than half of her remaining money, but Ino wasn't thinking about that at the moment.

"Can I get your names, dear?" asked the large woman. "For book-keeping."

Ino smiled awkwardly, "Of course. My name is Ino…Haruno. This is my daughter…Sakura."

The woman smiled sweetly, "Your daughter has a beautiful name."

It wasn't Ino's intention to use her closest friend's name, but when she was trying to construct the lie it was the only one that came to mind. Since the woman didn't recognise Airi, Ino figured that the Jounin hadn't shown the villagers their newborn, though it bothered her that the woman didn't seem bothered at all by the apparent fifteen year-old new mother, as if it implied that she was the type to have a child that early in life.

The moment Ino placed Airi in the double bed in the room the tiny baby began to stir. Ino stood back and frowned, realising she had just assumed a massive responsibility. She had wondered what it would be like to be a mother, and in a few short hours she had become one.

It never occurred to Ino that she could give Airi away for adoption. While she didn't think she was the best choice, Ino vowed that she would do everything in her power to keep the little girl safe. If that meant becoming her mother, then Ino resolved to do so.

She watched the little girl move slowly, still continuing to sleep without a care in the world. She considered what she would need to do; all other agendas were swept away in the face of such responsibility.

"Oh god, you are going to need feeding" she said with alarm.

She looked down at her chest, suddenly wishing she had gotten the same chest that Hinata had begun to grow into. As part of their medical training Shizune had given them a crash course in maternity, the medical-user had been very thorough in teaching them.

On the bed Airi slowly opened her giant pale blue eyes, stretching her little arms for a second. Ino hesitated; she wasn't sure how to approach Airi at that time. She knew that she would be looking for comfort, and likely a source of food, but Ino wasn't sure how she would react to someone who wasn't her mother or father.

_I could transform into Kurenai, ease the transition._

That plan went out the window the moment Airi turned on the bed and looked directly at her. Ino froze, unsure on what to do. The little girl stared at her for a few seconds before yawning slowly and smiling at the young kunoichi. Ino still wasn't sure how to interpret the little girl, but figured that it couldn't be so bad so she sat on the bed slowly. She stretched out a hand cautiously, but discovered all her fears were for naught when Airi gripped her hand tightly and tried to pull herself towards her.

"I guess I'll have to do this then."

With a smile she reached out and picked Airi up before placing her back down so that she was sitting comfortably. After sleeping for so long Ino knew there was only one thing she would need at that time.

The Yamanaka heir wracked her brain before understanding what she would need to do. Ino wasn't as good as the others when it came to medical ninjutsu, but she took pride in her chakra control and ability to adapt her abilities to different situations.

_It can't be that hard. It's just changing one part of the body; all the facilities are already there. _

She looked down again at her chest. "Nothing to do but try, I guess."

Ino breathed out slowly and removed her top, taking a few seconds before placing it on the bed and adding her bra on top. She placed her hands together and concentrated, feeling the change come about relatively quickly, though it was difficult to concentrate as Airi tried to grab at her arms.

Once Ino was relatively confident that her technique had worked she reached out and picked up the four month old, who had been strangely quiet despite clearly being quite hungry. Ino wasn't particularly sure how she was meant to proceed, but clearly Airi knew what she was doing because the little baby seemed to have no problem at all going straight for it.

Ino jumped slightly but once she saw that Airi was feeding properly she calmed herself down.

She used one hand to keep Airi steady, while using her other to stroke the baby's hair. "This…is a very strange situation. I can only imagine what Sakura would think."

It was a strange sensation to say the least, but after the little baby was done and had fallen back asleep Ino found herself watching the girl sleep with a wide smile on her face. She had gone to place her shirt back on, but after looking down she realised that she had performed the technique too effectively.

"Oookay…this'll take some getting used to."

BREAK

***Two Months after Separation***

It hadn't been her intention, but Ino had stayed a full two weeks longer than she wanted to. At first she had been petrified that a villager would recognise Airi, but it had quickly become clear when she asked that Asuma and Kurenai had kept mostly to themselves. Ino considered that a good thing, particularly if they had been murdered for a reason. Even so, Ino had grown exceedingly uncomfortable with living in the town. Seeing the burnt remains of her adopted daughter's home was like a dagger in the chest every time, and it had gotten to the point that Ino actively avoided going to that area of the town.

She watched the countryside trudge by, bouncing the giggling baby on her knee from the back of the wagon. Most of her time had been spent with the little girl, but when Airi had been asleep she had made some 'home remedies' that had earned her enough money for their trip out of the Land of Fire. Ino wasn't particularly sure where to go, but she knew it wasn't safe to stay in any one place for a long period of time.

It was to her amazement that Airi didn't even seem to notice that Ino wasn't Kurenai. The new-mother figured that the baby was either too young to realise, or knew what had happened on a subconscious level and had accepted Ino into her life. Regardless, Ino felt an overwhelming need to protect Airi and swore to raise her like she was her own daughter.

Looking down at the giggling baby Ino had a strange thought pop into her head.

_I've never even been on a date, and now I'm a mother. I feel like I've skipped a whole part of my life._

She didn't regret any of her actions, but Ino did feel like when she was reunited with the others she would give herself the chance to fall for someone.

_Chouji was always nice to me, even when I was awful to him. And then there is that idiot, Kiba. _

She shook her head and stared back out at the grasslands around them.

_Thoughts for another time, I suppose._

In her arms Airi yawned softly and turned around, rubbing her head into the kunoichi's arms. It wasn't long at all before the little girl was fast asleep again. Ino wasn't sure if all babies around five months old were like that, but Airi seemed to almost make a point of being completely adorable all the time.

Rocking her daughter in her arms, Ino turned around slowly. "How much further until the next town?"

The old man driving the wagon took a long draught from his whiskey bottle and wiped his beard before turning back to look at the young mother. "Few days probably. We just passed the border."

Their horse-drawn wagon practically drove itself, and despite being a drunk and a bit of a pervert, the driver was decent enough company. After paying him a reasonable fee he had promised to take the two of them to a small town in the River Country, where she had heard of a small house that was vacant.

"Okay, thanks." She placed Airi onto a collection of blankets and pulled out the Yamanaka scroll she had kept on her person at all times since being separated from the others. Since adopting Airi she hadn't had any stamina to do any shinobi training, but nonetheless she had familiarised herself with her father's writings. He had written extensively on personal psychology and how to exploit certain emotions in subjects to elicit information. Ino refused to risk herself in combat besides defence, since if she died than Airi wouldn't have anyone left.

_I need to find a way to fight without risking myself. _

oOoOoOo

Ino had nowhere near enough money to buy the house in the town, but a quick technique later and she had been handed the keys and the deed to the small country-house. She felt it should bother her to manipulate people with her clan's techniques, but Ino decided that since it was for Airi's benefit her actions were justified.

The old man that had taken her there was sad to see her stay, she suspected he was a pretty lonely person, but Ino had reminded him that she needed to settle down for her daughter. Having the adorable baby went a long way in convincing the villagers to accept her into the fold.

Ino was extremely daunted by the task, but any time she felt like the pressure was too much Airi would do something new and it would inspire Ino to work harder.

She told herself that when she was old enough she would tell Airi what happened to her parents, but for the moment she told the baby that she was her mother, and even though Airi didn't respond she could tell the affection the young girl had for her in her pale blue eyes.

The house was reasonable enough to accommodate her and Airi's needs, the previous owner had died in her sleep and left no heirs to claim it, so it was perfect for Ino. Upon reaching the town Ino had found an opportunity to work in the local flower shop, one that was reminiscent of her family's before the destruction of Konoha. Her boss found Airi adorable and let Ino have the baby in store while she worked, after a few days they had found that the baby itself seemed to draw customers to the shop.

For one of the first times since the destruction of her home, Ino could see herself staying in one place for a reasonable amount of time. Unlike the last village, these people didn't give her any grief for being a teenage mother, they didn't even ask where the father was. Ino still claimed to be a Haruno, she figured it was too risky to claim to be a Yamanaka in case someone recognised the clan name, but she kept Airi's name the same.

_I'll keep my ear to the ground for any news about the others, but I'll have to wait until Airi is a little bit older before looking myself. They can look after themselves, this I know. _

After feeding Airi for the night and putting her down, Ino collapsed onto her couch and stared out at the dark sky outside her window. The village around her was relatively peaceful, and Ino found herself able to relax for the first time in a while. Only now did she really understand why their teachers had decided to retire, there was a nice feeling to not being in constant peril, but Ino wasn't going to relax completely. Whoever murdered Asuma and Kurenai might have realised that they had missed one, though the information she had gleaned from the villagers in the other town was that a small contingent of robed figures had marched into the town, entered the house and that was all they knew.

"For now…"

She never finished her statement to herself, collapsing onto her side into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>***Eight Months after Separation***<p>

When the last customer left the store, Ino counted up the till and handed the money to her boss. The small woman smiled and pocketed the money; she kept the savings off the premises.

"Thanks Ino. You can go home for the day."

The blonde kunoichi smiled and bowed respectively. In the six months of living in the town she had felt she had matured over a dozen years. She still kept her blonde hair in a long ponytail, but instead of shinobi fatigues she wore civilian clothes that were both comfortable and accommodating to her still growing form.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" asked her boss, going around the shop and placing the remaining flowers in the back room.

Ino shook her head slowly. "It's her first birthday tomorrow. So I want to have a day off and take her to the springs."

"Of course! Take as much time as you need dear. You work so hard for such a young girl."

The Yamanaka heir smiled in response, glancing over at the next room. "I've got a lot to work for."

Walking into the room Ino sighed when she saw her little daughter sitting in a small pen, playing with a set of plush toys Ino had bought her on her six month birthday.

Sensing her mother's presence, Airi turned around and pushed herself up onto her feet with a tiny stool beside her. She reached out with her little arms towards the blonde kunoichi. "Home?"

Her voice was tiny, but Ino paid no heed. Despite who her parents were, Airi had grown a full head of blonde hair that practically mimicked Ino's, though thankfully for her she had started to act more like how Ino remembered the Jounin used to act. She was quiet like both of her parents, and didn't say things that weren't necessary. It was strange for a nearly one year-old to be acting that way, but after her first night with Airi she knew that the little girl was very different than other babies she had met.

On their way back to their house Ino walked along with Airi's arms around her neck. "Would you like a cake for your birthday?"

_Cake?_

"Yeah. It's a nice tasting food. We can have it on the way."

_Yay! Mummy giving cake!_

She wasn't quite at full sentences yet, but every time she learnt a new word Ino felt a swell of pride. It had taken her a little while to get used to how she spoke most of the time, but Ino pinned that down to who her parents were. She could do without the silent crying though; being woken up by it was an exercise in patience and pure horror.

Her father used to talk to her about some genjutsu users that had developed the ability to speak directly into other's minds, but Ino had simply dismissed it as the drunken ramblings of a father trying to connect with his bored daughter. Ino figured it must be a natural talent that she couldn't control. To her knowledge she was the only one Airi talked to in such a manner, and it was so random that she had just gotten used to answering questions that Airi had never spoken aloud.

When they got home she put Airi on the ground, letting the nearly one year-old crawl to the couch and pull herself up. She knew the little girl could walk, but when Ino was talking with another mother and was told that infants that crawl for longer are generally smarter, it was almost as if Airi was intentionally crawling.

Ino leaned down and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "I'm going to go pack our things. We don't want to be doing that in the morning, do we?"

_Mummy my stomach hurts._

"I know honey, I know." Ino couldn't find a reason for her stomach to hurt beside perhaps growing pains, and her medical analysis of the young girl hadn't turned up anything. "Do you want something to drink?"

The girl clapped her little hands with a giggle. "I want juice!"

Ino grinned and nodded in acknowledgement. She was pretty easy to distract, particularly when it came to food or drink, but the continuing stomach ache had Ino partially concerned. After giving the young girl her juice, Ino sat down at the table and pulled out the newspaper from the previous week, the one that had caused her to want to move.

The front picture had a wide shot of the front of a shinobi village, one bordering the River Country. The article talked about the recently appointed youngest Kage in history, but that wasn't what had caused Ino to smile uncontrollably. Standing beside the red haired robed leader was the extremely uninspired face of her old Nara companion. It confused her a little to see a Suna forehead protector on him, but despite the dull expression she knew Shikamaru well enough to see that he wasn't there under duress.

_He always did have a thing for that blonde girl from Suna. It makes sense that he would end up there._

She wasn't sure how long it would take them to get to Suna, but if Shikamaru could find a place there then she certainly felt like she and Airi could. She knew she should send a message to the shadow-user, but the idea of surprising him by turning up with a one year-old was far too entertaining for her not to do.

They had enough money to make the trip, and while travelling with Airi wasn't Ino's first choice, the fact that they could be safe there was enough to justify the risk. From the table she could hear soft snoring from the couch. With a roll of her eyes, Ino walked over and simply shook her head at the sight. Lying asleep on the couch, Airi had drained the juice box clean, but the liquid had dribbled down her pink shirt.

Ino pulled out a bib that every mother kept on their person and wiped the juice from her daughter's chin, standing back with a proud smile. She placed a hand to the girl's forehead, a frown coming across her face. It wasn't burning hot, but it was a little bit hotter than her mother would have liked.

"I'll have a talk to the doctor before we leave."

Standing in the kitchen in her apron, Ino stared at the metal bowl and stack of ingredients in front of her. Even after six months, Ino still wasn't very good at cooking. Her culinary skills were passable, and Airi seemed to love her food, though Ino suspected that was because she had cooked it herself.

An hour later Ino found herself staring at a black square that she could probably kill someone with if she hit them with it. Throwing her hands up in defeat the kunoichi removed her apron and looked out the window. It was dark, but the bakery near their house was still open.

_She won't notice. Maybe I can just make some icing or something. _

oOoOoOo

At eight o'clock in the morning Ino reached up and slammed a fist into the wooden door. She kept knocking frantically until a sleepy-looking man opened the door and stared at her with a deadpan expression.

"What…is it?" he stuttered, rubbing his eyes slowly.

Ino didn't waste any time, showing him the heavy breathing infant in her arms. His eyes widened immediately when he saw the blood red forehead on the little girl, as if the wheezing wasn't enough to alarm him.

He motioned for her to come into his house and flew to get his medicines, Ino trying and failing to keep herself calm as she lay her daughter down onto the bench.

He moved past her and began examining Airi, while firing off questions to the young mother. She had already established herself as knowledgeable in medicine, and likely knew more than he did, but in her current state of panic she couldn't think straight.

After a few minutes of examination he stood up from the little girl's side and shook his head slowly. "I…"

Ino reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of his pyjamas. "Don't you dare say it!"

He looked her straight in the eyes, which was a task in of itself most of the time, keeping a solemn expression on his face. "I don't know what it is. She's got a high fever, an infected cough, and her lungs aren't coping with the pressure."

She shoved him backwards, fully aware that it wasn't his fault, but that didn't stop her from being angry. "You can't help her."

"Look, I don't even know what she's got. But she's failing fast. I've never seen anything like it."

"She was complaining of a sore stomach…but I…" Ino sunk to her knees and began to hyperventilate. The doctor gave her a bag to breathe into and moved back to his infant patient. After a minute Ino recovered and thanked the doctor for the help. This wasn't a time to panic, that didn't help anyone.

"So…what can I do?" she asked quietly. The tears on her face had begun to dry, and Ino's fear was slowly being replaced with a calm tenacity.

The doctor placed a hand on his chin cautiously, "It pains me to see a child in such a condition, but this is beyond my skills. Although there is…" He let the sentence run off.

"What is it? I'll take anything! I refuse to let her be like this any longer."

He shook his head slowly. "The town directly north of us has a hospital attached to it, but that is over a day away. I don't think she'd make it that long."

Ino glared at him through her green eyes. "North on the dirt road?"

The doctor nodded, "Yes, but as I said…"

She pushed past him and gathered up the pained form of her daughter, wrapping her in a blanket and placing her head into her shoulder. Airi groaned in pain and cried out into Ino's mind, causing the mother's heart to break even further.

She moved to leave the house, but the doctor placed an arm up to stop her. "You'll never…"

His voice trailed off at the stare Ino gave him. Though she was just a teenage girl, the doctor felt that if he didn't move she would kill him to get past. Seeing no other option he moved out of the way and let her run out of the village. He shook his head and placed his hands behind it.

* * *

><p>On foot, at a sprint, the journey to the hospital would have taken a full day without breaks.<p>

Ino did it in an hour.

She panted heavily as she came crashing into the hospital waiting room. Airi hadn't moved for the past ten minutes, and despite Ino consistently telling her that it was going to be okay she hadn't heard anything in response.

At first nobody paid her any heed, which was odd considering she had entered the waiting room at a full sprint, but the moment she screamed out for a doctor and indicated that she had an infant five nurses immediately rushed to her side.

They fired off an assault of questions as they led her down a corridor, Ino refusing to give Airi to anyone until they could find a room for the two of them. She laid the little girl on a small cot in a free room and began explaining her symptoms to the closest nurse. She had to repeat several things however since she was winded to the point of collapse. One nurse asked her if she wanted to sit down and the glare that Ino gave her in response caused to nearly fall to the ground in fear.

The nurse checking Airi's pulse took the stethoscope out of her ears and began barking orders at the other nurses. With her adrenaline at an unhealthy level Ino could barely hear them over the beating of her heart, though she did hear something about a head doctor and a bunch of medicines she didn't recognise.

She tried to ask one of the nurses if her daughter was going to be okay, but everything she said came out as a shout. Through the thundering noise in her ears she could hear one the nurses trying to calm her down while the nurse giving orders said something in the realm of its going to be okay.

Ino figured that it was only a matter of time before she would be sedated, but that point became moot as she was overwhelmed with exhaustion and crashed into the ground.

oOoOoOo

_Mummy?_

Even in a deep sleep Ino was immediately awoken by the voice in her head, her eyes snapping open to see her daughter lying in a cot beside her. Ino could feel a feathered bed beneath her hands but ignoring all pre-text she leapt off the bed and reached out to grab Airi's hand.

The little girl giggled at how dramatic her mother looked. "You silly, Mummy."

Seeing that there was nothing attached to her daughter, Ino pulled up and hugged her fiercely, tears falling onto her daughter's blonde hair. "I was so scared…I thought I was going to lose you."

_Mummy, I'm hungry._

Ino laughed through her tears and rubbed her daughter's head affectionately. "So am I."

"This is a strange scene to be sure."

Ino looked up in search of the speaker, her eyes actually looking around her environment for the first time. The two of them were in a small hospital room that was different to the one she had brought the little girl into; it had a window looking out onto the town proper and appeared to be on the second floor.

Her green eyes rested on the doorway and widened in surprise upon seeing the figure leaning on the wooden frame. She had replaced her black kimono with doctor fatigues and had her dark hair tied up into a ponytail, but despite the bottle of sake in her hand it was a face that Ino was relieved to see.

Shizune took a swig from her bottle and walked into the room, stumbling slightly before taking a seat opposite the bed that the mother and daughter sat on. It was strange seeing the normally strict medical shinobi drunk to the point that Ino could smell it from ten feet away, but nevertheless she smiled in relief at the sight of her medical teacher.

"Shizune-sensei! What are you doing here?"

The female doctor sighed and leaned back in her chair, dangling the sake bottle between her fingers skilfully. "I have a better question. Where did you get a one-year old baby?"

Ino looked down at her adopted daughter, smiling as she saw that the little girl had fallen asleep in her arms. "You've met her before. This is Airi Sarutobi."

Shizune frowned and leaned forward on her chair. "And…why pray tell are you so attached to Asuma and Kurenai's baby?"

Ino placed her daughter carefully down onto the bed so that her head was on the pillow, but refused to let go of the young girl's hand, like if she let go she would float away. The Yamanaka heir propped herself up and looked at the swaying doctor. "Where should I begin?"

oOoOoOo

After she had finished her story, Shizune had drained her bottle of sake completely dry, but despite that she asked pointed questions that drew out more information than Ino had thought she knew.

"That's…quite a story. I'm impressed you were able to do so much."

It had bothered her for a while now, but having finished her tale she saw the perfect opportunity to ask. "Ano…Shizune-sensei…why are you drinking so much? I thought you hated drinking?"

"What this?" remarked Shizune, waving the empty bottle in her hands. "That's pretty simple actually. I finally understand why Tsunade-sama used to drink."

Placing the empty bottle on a nearby table, Shizune leaned forward and placed her hands together like she was praying. Ino could tell she was trying to keep her mind straight.

After a few minutes of silence Ino took a closer look at her old teacher. She sighed with a tired expression and leaned over to shake the sleeping kunoichi.

Shizune woke up with a snort, shaking her head before looking at Ino with a smile. "Sorry, had to get rid of the alcohol. I never thought I'd do that again anytime soon."

Ino waved it off. "What happened to you, Shizune-sensei?"

"It's…difficult to describe."

Ino let out a small laugh and indicated to the peacefully sleeping girl by her side. "I'm a sixteen year-old single mother. I think I've got you beat."

Her old teacher smiled slowly, "I guess you do."

The head doctor of the hospital stood up from her chair and walked slowly to the window in the hospital room, staring out at the bustling town beneath.

Ino turned around to look at the older kunoichi, "Sensei?"

"I thought you guys were dead."

Ino winced as she heard the pain in Shizune's voice. It was hard to move around on the bed with her arm attached to her daughter, but Ino made it work.

Shizune turned back around and leaned on the windowsill. "I woke up in…well let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant place."

"And you assumed we hadn't survived?" asked Ino carefully. She knew what it was like to lose someone, but Shizune had been hurt before many times.

"What else was I to think? All I can remember is nearly getting killed by those Sound shinobi, and I wake up all by myself? Unable to sense any of my friends or allies anywhere near me? Is it so hard to imagine that I assumed your fate was the same as my master?"

_She doesn't know about the white-armoured warrior that separated us. There was never a doubt in my mind that the others had survived, but a part of me certainly understands her course of action._

"I suppose not. But that doesn't explain how you got here, or why you were drunk."

Shizune indicated to the room with a wide gesture, a proud smile on her face despite still maintaining a morose expression. "During our travels Tsunade-sama and I established several large scale hospitals, in the hope that it would prevent more deaths in the evitable wars."

Ino nodded slowly, it made sense for Shizune to go to a place of comfort and work if she thought there was no one to help her.

"And the drinking?"

"Ah, that…" Despite herself Shizune found herself blushing slightly under the green gaze of her old student. "Like master like student, I suppose. You'd be surprised what people do when they've got nothing else to do with themselves."

Ino gave her old teacher her best you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. "They let you perform medicine under the influence of alcohol?"

Quite uncharacteristically for the reserved Jounin, Shizune smiled slyly. "Alcohol only affects the mind when you let it. For us medical shinobi, we can choose to be in that state or not."

"I never thought of that." Ino yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes slowly.

Shizune smiled and walked around towards the doorway. "You should get some more sleep. That level of exhaustion isn't good for anyone, even shinobi."

"What about Airi?" Ino asked sleepily.

The head doctor went to answer, but thought about it and smiled when she thought of a better response. "Your daughter will be fine. She's a strong girl that one, especially considering what she's been through."

"My daughter? I would think you might be more appropriate to raise her, since you are older." It wasn't what Ino wanted at all, but she knew that if she didn't voice it then it would be much harder if the older kunoichi suggested it.

It was Shizune's turn to give the shifty look. After a few seconds she turned around and gave the pair of them a casual wave. "She is as much your daughter as she was Kurenai's. I don't think any force in this world could separate the two of you."

oOoOoOo

"So there are others out there as well?"

They were eating in the mess hall when Ino mentioned her plan to travel to Suna. Shizune nearly dropped her fork onto her plate in surprise at hearing what had occurred in the Land of Wind.

"Shikamaru is the only one I've heard about so far. But I'm sure there are others, just laying low."

The kunoichi smiled with surprise. "How about that? I guess I should've actually looked."

Ino nodded and continued eating her meal. It had been difficult at first, but she let Airi play with some of the other infants at the hospital visiting family members, giving the Yamanaka heir time to take a breather and consider her situation.

"So you are still thinking of going to Suna?"

Ino nodded, "If Shikamaru is being shown like that, he's inviting us to come join him."

Having finished her meal, Shizune clasped her hands together in thought. "Considering your situation, that may not be the wisest action."

"What do you mean? Surely we couldn't be safer than in a shinobi village."

"I wonder about that." The head doctor looked around at the resting nurses and patients alike in the mess hall. With a slow shake of her head she turned back to her old student. "It's been on my nerves for a while, but something is changing in the world, and not for the better."

"Do you mean the people who murdered Asuma and Kurenai-sensei?" It had been on Ino's mind as well, but it never occurred to her that their influence might have spread beyond the Land of Fire.

Shizune nodded but indicated for Ino to keep her voice down. She didn't think anyone was listening in, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. "I just wonder if you might stay here for a little bit, maybe help out here at the hospital?"

Ino thought about what would be practical, but every time she did all she could think of is the safety of her young daughter. "I don't want to bow out of the fight though. If there are people against us, then I need to be there to help our friends."

"And who will look after your daughter if you were to die in battle?" Shizune didn't intend it but she couldn't hold back the anger in her voice. "Do not throw away your life so quickly."

In turn Ino placed a clenched fist on the table, resisting the urge to slam it into the wood. "I would do anything for that little girl, and you know that. I just…I don't want to abandon my friends."

"And you assume you need to be on the frontlines because of some well-meaning but misplaced sense of duty?" Shizune reached out and placed her hands over Ino's. "Do what you can, but recognise your personal responsibilities."

An hour later the two of them sat in Shizune's office, the head doctor sifting through a large stack of papers on her neat desk. Ino sat with her legs crossed opposite her old teacher. "So…what should I do then?"

Even while sorting through the mess of paper Shizune made a point of acting as civilized as possible. "I won't lie to you Ino; you were the least of my students."

While the words seemed harsh, it was an opinion both master and student shared several times. Out of the three of her students, Ino was the worst medic, but the best fighter that wasn't using taijutsu. It still stung slightly to hear them in such a manner though; it made Ino wonder how much the medical shinobi had changed over the past eight months.

"Please, do go on."

Shizune stared at her over her paperwork. "It doesn't bode well to be snippy. I meant it as a general observation, nothing more."

"Sorry."

Her old teacher waved it away and ahhed as she pulled out the piece of paper she had been looking for. "This could definitely work."

She pushed the paper across the desk and indicated for Ino to look at it. Picking it up a slow smile came across Ino's face, "That could work indeed."

"And when the times comes…"

The Yamanaka heir leant back on the chair, a strange thought coming across her mind. She looked at her newly decided boss with a sly grin.

"Are there any cute doctors working here?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

For the moment that is all from these three women, at least for a while. A part of me feels I shouldn't have written the breast-feeding scene at all, but I wanted to establish Ino as a mother to Airi, and forcing herself to provide breast-milk was the most emphatic way I could think of. I don't know why, but this chapter was much easier to write than some others. Much quicker too.

Next up is a Naruto/Hinata chapter. It takes a bit of a lighter tone than the past few chapters, for most of it at least.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	30. Chapter 28 NARUHINA Unseen Consequences

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 28 – Naruto/Hinata – Unseen Consequences

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Wind Element Techniques would be more inventive.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Ino was forced to work at a sleazy maid café to earn the money to travel, but when she reached her destination it wasn't what she had been expecting. At the town their group had visited twice before, a large fire had consumed the house she had been aiming for, where nothing else in the village had been touched. Charging into the burning building with a shield of water, Ino's worst fear was realising when she found the murdered bodies of Asuma and Kurenai, their throats having been cut execution-style. After searching the house Ino arrives just in time to save little baby Airi from the collapsing roof, taking the four month old out of the house and keeping her close. Resolving to take the responsibility of mothering Airi on herself, she adopts the little girl and becomes her mother. After a few weeks the two of them travel to town in the Land of Rivers, where Ino finds a comfortable place to raise Airi until such a time that they can work towards finding the others. Six months later, just before leaving to go to Suna to surprise Shikamaru, Airi falls deathly ill and Ino is forced to race to a hospital in the next town to save her life. To her amazement she is both greeted and helped by a sake-drinking Shizune, who told her that she had thought everyone was dead and that she was the only one left. Dead-set on raising Airi as her own daughter, Ino is offered a place at the hospital and the two of them settle into the hospital with their reunited friend.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Weeks after Separation***<p>

Naruto groaned and struggled to pick himself up from the ground. "Okay, that hurt."

Across the field Hinata came running towards him with a concerned look on her face. "I'm so sorry, Naruto. I didn't know I could use that kind of strength."

She leaned down and offered him a hand up. With a sly grin he grabbed at her jacket sleeve and pulled her to the ground on top of him. She squealed in feigned surprise and tried to struggle but Naruto laughed happily and trapped her under his arms.

Across from the fooling around couple, Magnus let out one of his strange laughs and rolled his eyes. They had tried to tone down their displays of affection, but he had simply told them they were being absurd. Though he kept it to himself, their level of progress was frightening.

Eventually they got up from the ground and dusted themselves off. Hinata shook her head to reconstitute herself and went to walk back to her position. As she left Naruto lightly pinched her, but when she turned around in surprise he kept a completely neutral face.

The Uzumaki heir looked over at Magnus as Hinata prepared herself to attack him again. "What am I doing wrong? It doesn't seem to be working."

The old man shrugged with a grin. "You're not doing the trick right. You keep using chakra instead of physical energy."

"It's so hard to tell the difference" he said with a groan. For a week they had been using their breaks from traveling with Magnus' wagon to train, with his advice on using their abilities differently. Despite his interactions with the two of them, Magnus was surprisingly slippy when it came to giving definite answers. They had essentially been forced to work it out themselves, and while they'd had some progress it was difficult to progress too far.

Hinata placed up a hand facing Naruto. "Are you ready?"

Her boyfriend nodded slowly, digging his feet into the ground and clapped both fists into his chest.

Across from the blonde shinobi, Hinata gathered her strength and thrust her palm towards her lover with a grunt of exertion. Out of her palm shot a stream of condensed air, a technique both similar and different to her Hyuuga technique. Hinata had found it relatively simple to use her spiritual energy alone to produce air attacks, though she had no luck in doing so with water, which was normal according to Magnus.

The attack slammed into Naruto's chest, sending him back several metres but with a grimace he withstood the attack, breathing out slowly before relaxing his muscles. Hinata smiled in relief as Naruto punched in the air in triumph. "Hell yeah!"

Magnus grinned from his wagon, "Ah to be young again."

"That was amazing Naruto!" Hinata wasn't surprised that Naruto had found the trick to physical energy so quickly, but that didn't stop her from being extremely proud of him. When she had figured out the way to use spiritual energy the pride on his face had caused her to blush terribly, something she hadn't done in a while.

Naruto patted his bare stomach with his trademark grin, "I didn't feel a thing! What a strange way of doing things."

Looking at his watch, Magnus called the two of them over. They immediately rejected his offer of fruit and hopped into the wagon. According to Magnus they were just wandering around the land, but both of the shinobi had noticed that he would make small corrections to their path every so often. They both enjoyed the odd man's company; he didn't give them any reason to distrust him and seemed to be very wise, though of questionable ethics at times. He would frequently talk about cards and the best ways to cheat others at the game, and took an almost maniacal pleasure in being cryptic.

"You were amazing" said Hinata, letting the blonde shinobi wrap an arm around her shoulder affectionately. At night they had been too tired from training to have sex, but that didn't mean they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. At times they would make a game of it, but they would generally both cave in at the same time. It always seemed to surprise her how relaxed and open she could be around the noisy blonde, compared to a year and a half ago.

She giggled at a joke he made and stared into his blue eyes.

_There is nothing that would make me want to be anywhere else. _

oOoOoOo

Hinata found she didn't have the knack for using physical energy on its own; she used chakra to make up for that weakness instead. Upon testing she found that by drawing in her spiritual energy alone and not mixing it with the physical energy she could feel the air around her like it was completely at her command. She hadn't realised how close she had been to doing so before coming to this land, she felt like her body was naturally attuned to manipulate air in such a fine and precise manner.

They had found a nice oasis to stay for the night. As with the other nights Naruto had hundreds of clones training to try and work out how to use his own spiritual energy by itself. He still wanted to work more on physical energy, since it could fill in some of the gaps in his technique library. But seeing Hinata use wind manipulation with her spirit energy inspired him to work even harder.

He hadn't found the knack yet, but he felt he was very close. While his clones figured out spiritual energy manipulation, Naruto sparred with Hinata. They didn't really try to hit each too hard, but since they had started they had gotten a lot better at taijutsu by adopting the strengths of each other's styles.

Naruto ducked under a Jyuuken strike to his shoulder and flipped on the ground, kicking at Hinata's feet with a sweeping strike. She jumped up by instinct and floated above his head level.

Naruto frowned and pointed up at the girl in the air. "Hey, that's not fair!"

From her above position Hinata couldn't help but giggle softly. When she worked out spiritual energy manipulation she had accidently sent herself flying into the air. It brought back horrible memories of when she had arrived in the country, but she discovered that by increasing the air pressure directly under her feet, she could essentially fly. It wasn't very draining and she found floating in the air to be a very unique experience.

"It's a viable tactic, Naruto. You can't reach me up here, but I can attack you." She placed her hands together and summoned a small pool of water before forming the liquid into small bullets.

Before she could fire off the technique however, she gasped and clawed at her back. Naruto laughed from the ground and motioned for his ladder of clones to bring her down to the ground.

Hinata struggled but the blonde's grip was iron tight, though to be fair he had his arms around her waist and was tickling her relentlessly. "Naru…that's…not fair! You can't use…Hiraishin like that."

He laughed and brought her to the ground. "Says the girl who was flying in the air."

She shook her head with a smile, "Call it even?"

He nodded in agreement, then grimaced and held his head in pain. Hundreds of clones' worth of information slammed into his head. Normally he wasn't affected by such a small number, but the information they had given him was both in-depth and overwhelming.

Hinata leaned down and rubbed a hand affectionately across his back, "Are you okay?"

He took a few moments before looking back at her with a tired grin. "I got it."

"Oh?"

She helped him up and Naruto indicated for her to stand back. He barely had any control over the wind-element charged chakra, but with his inventive style of fighting Hinata knew that he had just taken a major step forward.

He placed a hand up facing a large rock far away from the two of them. A short distance away from the two of them, Magnus smiled slowly while picking at the fire in front of him.

_These shinobi are quite remarkable. No wonder this land ended up this way. _

Naruto concentrated and drew out a small amount of the wind around him. It was a strange feeling, but he could feel the power of nature around him like a soft gust across his skin. He took that energy and moved it through his circulatory system, manipulating it exactly as he would chakra, except it barely made him tired at all.

He made sure to aim the burst of air away from Hinata, since Naruto had a habit of being unable to control his strength. A large burst of air exploded out of his palm, but instead of a long beam of condensed air like he planned, a large ball of wildly flailing wind exploded out and sent him flying back into the ground.

He cried out in pain and picked himself up from the ground with a frown. He had gotten the power out as he intended, but he had no control over it. Looking up he waved off Hinata's concern, placing his hand back up to repeat the attack.

"Hinata, can you observe it with your Byakugan? I want to know where I'm going wrong."

The dark haired girl nodded and activated her white eyes, making a point to stand a little bit further away than what might have been necessary.

Naruto slammed back into the ground with a groan. At the campfire Magnus burst out laughing, holding his sides in clear pain. "It's too much…too much…"

* * *

><p>***Three Weeks after Separation***<p>

Hinata rode beside Magnus on the wagon, waving her legs absentmindedly while looking out over the grasslands. When they had set out earlier that day it had been relatively sunny, but after an hour it was absolutely bucketing down with rain. Magnus was concerned about his horse since they weren't anywhere near any terrain large enough to cover him, however Hinata had quickly shown that she could use her techniques for more than battle. Above the wagon was a thin bubble of water, forcing all of the rain to fall harmlessly to each side of the wagon as it moved down the dirt road.

She sighed and placed a bored hand on her chin. Beside her Magnus munched on an orange with an amused look on his face. "Something wrong, youngling?"

Hinata shook her head slowly and faced him with a smile, "I'm fine. I just…miss him."

Her companion barked out a laugh, "The two of you are quite the couple, aren't you?"

"I…thank you?" When talking to Naruto she found herself rather open about their relationship, but wasn't sure how she was meant to talk to others. Unlike Naruto, she didn't like showing off, and was still a reserved person the majority of the time.

Magnus laughed again and tapped his cane on the side of the wagon. "It's a good thing, dear. Don't worry, that boy is strong. He has a trickster's mind that one."

She nodded in agreement and looked back out at the wet weather. It looks rather strange to see a dozen feet of dry land and then torrential rain, but it surprised Hinata how little chakra it took to maintain the shell around their wagon.

Hinata looked back at her companion and quietly observed him. She wasn't sure what to make of Magnus, neither was Naruto. He was more than happy to help them, which they put to personal loneliness, and he seemed to know quite a bit about energy types. However what made him an interesting character was that he had a very nonplussed view on life, and seemed to encourage them to work things out on their own.

The wagon slowly came to a halt at a crossroads, Magnus taking a moment before pointing down one path with his cane. "That's where you guys will want to go."

When the two of them had expressed an interest in getting back to their country, Magnus told them that the only way to get to where 'shinobi reside' was to go to the harbour at the most southern point of the country. It was a long way away, Magnus couldn't give them an exact measurement but he estimated it would take them a month or so to get there.

"Is that where the city is?" Her Byakugan had a range of several kilometres, but she knew it was over a week away on foot. They had run out of 'real' food, and the two of them were eager to re-join their companions back in their own country.

Magnus nodded and began to move the horse-drawn wagon off the road to a nearby ruined building. Even though it was still raining heavily, Hinata could tell that the building hadn't been lived in in years. Hinata jumped off of the wagon and expanded the water shield to encompass the building. It got dark quickly in this land so she put down her boyfriend's pack and watched Magnus make sure that the horse didn't miss out on the shelter provided.

Looking out at the wet grasslands, Hinata subconsciously felt at the tattoo on her chest. It felt worse than she thought, but she had made a promise not to pine after Naruto. However she did have a few plans on what to do with him when she next saw him, which surprised her since she wouldn't have thought herself capable of thinking of.

Hours later, the rain had come to a slow stop and left the night in dull silence. Magnus had excused himself to his wagon, and despite herself inside her tent Hinata couldn't fall asleep. She drew her knees up to her chest and shivered slightly. Even in her jacket she was cold, but it wasn't because of the chilly night.

"I said I would be strong…but I'm worried about him. He has no sense of self-control." She knew she was talking to herself, but the past five nights had been like that and it seemed to reinforce how hard she had it in for Naruto.

_If he asks…I know my answer. _

A spike of pain ran through her stomach and she coughed twice into her hand. She'd had the cough for nearly two weeks, but she wasn't too worried. The headaches were almost non-existent now, but it was something she still kept from her significant other. Naruto had a tendency of fretting over the smallest things when it came to her, and she had worked hard to be a strong stable factor in his life.

Her eyes began to droop so Hinata shook herself out of it and moved to draw a blanket over herself. Before she could do so however, there was a flash of lightning that hurt to look at, but she knew immediately what it was.

She gave him no chance to recover. Wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, Hinata slammed into Naruto's smiling body, sending him crashing into the soft bedding beneath the two of them.

"Hey you…" was all he could muster. He smiled as warmly as possible and reached up to run a hand through her hair. He loved her hair, and took every opportunity he could to play with it.

"How's…"

Naruto was cut off as Hinata kissed him passionately, giving him no time to ask her how she'd been since his departure. It didn't take him long to get into it, he had also missed her terribly and seeing her again was one of the happiest things he could think of.

After a minute they both felt the urge to not die by suffocation and parted lips, staring at each other's eyes intently. Feeling no sense of shyness Hinata began to run a hand across Naruto's chest underneath his shirt.

"Hey you know I'm a little sore…oh okay, you make a good point. Let me…wah!"

oOoOoOo

Threading his fingers between hers, Naruto stared up at the tent's ceiling with a smile. "You know I've been thinking…"

Hinata offered no response, merely happy to be lying next to him once again.

"We've done that quite a bit. What happens if…you know…"

The dark haired girl looked up at him with groggy white eyes. "The first time you see me…in six days…and that's the first thing you ask?"

Naruto stared at her stubbornly, "I don't want to hear that from the girl who jumped me before I was even finished teleporting."

Despite herself Hinata blushed and dug her head into his chest in an attempt to hide it. "Well I was happy to see you."

"And that's not a crime." He ran a finger down the line of her body, still marvelling at how developed she was, but mostly at her smooth skin. "But back to my original question."

"It's…" Hinata tried to work out a way of saying it without getting too clinical, she didn't want to spoil the moment between the two of them. Besides it felt odd to even think about while she had her arms around his bare chest. "It's not a problem."

"Oh. Well good." With a sly look that he was sure Hinata wouldn't approve of, Naruto lightly kissed her hand that was attached to his. "I guess we can do it more often then."

She looked up at him immediately at the comment, but was relieved when she saw he didn't mean now. She loved Naruto dearly, but she could see how exhausted he was. The Hyuuga heir turned and laid her head back onto his rising and falling chest.

Deciding to change the subject so that she could attempt to calm herself down, Hinata asked the question that she had been thinking about since he had gone off on his own.

"Was your training successful?"

Silence.

"Naruto?"

She looked up and a slow smile came across her face. Even in a seated position, Naruto still found a way to be fast asleep in the most comfortable position possible.

Not wanting to wake him, Hinata used her feet to kick a blanket over the two of them and wriggled herself even closer to him. She could feel his rough skin against her chest but she found it rather comforting.

_I guess we can talk in the morning. _

She took a final glance at Naruto. With little effort she reached up and kissed him lightly on the cheek before nestling back into his chest.

_I love you._

* * *

><p>Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes, cracking his neck absentmindedly as he had done lately every time he woke up. Looking down a smile immediately grew upon his face. Naruto didn't consider himself a pervert, despite what others from Konoha might say, but when it came to Hinata he was absolutely shameless.<p>

_If they had a beautiful girl asleep on top of them, I'm sure they would be perverts too. I wonder if Dad was like this with Mum?_

Unlike him, Hinata slept relatively lightly. So the moment he attempted to shift his body she slowly opened her eyes and rubbed at them in a way that Naruto thought unbearably cute.

"Wha…is it?"

Naruto stroked her hair softly. "Nothing. Go back to sleep."

She muttered softly incoherent and put her head back down onto his chest. Naruto tried to get up again, but Hinata grip on him was iron-tight.

_This'll take some time._

He spent ten minutes trying to find a way to get up, but the young girl refused to let him go, despite being fast asleep again. Naruto shook his head in amazement; he didn't think she could sleep so deeply right after waking up, particularly since she was normally a light sleeper. She had even bound one of his legs between both of hers, though Naruto didn't mind that in the slightest.

_I guess I'm not going anywhere anytime soon._

An hour later he worked out a way to leave the tent, though not in the traditional manner. He had figured out how to make his Hiraishin no longer have a crack of lightning associated with it, and with that skill learnt his Kage Bunshin no longer made the puff sound when they appeared.

Having conveyed his orders upon creation, Naruto nodded for the clone to move, watching as the blonde ninja left the tent with a grim smile.

It was nearly morning; the sun had barely started to appear on the horizon as the clone of Naruto stretched out his arms. Shadow clones were replications of Naruto's current state, meaning that he still felt some of the original's exhaustion. Looking around the ruined building site, the clone's eyes widened when he saw the horse-drawn wagon slowly moving away down the dirt road, moving towards a north-western direction.

Without hesitation the clone of Naruto sped towards the wagon, easily closing the distance before jogging slowly beside it. Magnus waved at him with the friendly smile he always had on, indicating for him to join him on the seat beside him. The clone frowned but still hopped up and sat next to the old man, feeling the wagon bump as the horse navigated the dirt road.

"You're leaving?" It felt like an obvious question to ask, but Naruto made a point of being to the point, and his clones were no different.

Magnus nodded and stared at the slowly illuminated horizon. "We've all got places we need to be, and old men like me aren't exceptions to that rule."

"You don't want us to travel with you anymore?" The clone made an effort not to sound desperate and failed. It was hard not to like Magnus, he had the kind of rapscallion personality that Naruto had.

Magnus considered the question for a moment while pulling a hand out of his small pack. Having gotten sick of oranges he had switched to apples, throwing one to the clone.

He turned to the young shinobi with a smile, apple juice running down his chin. "I'm just an old man. My part in your story is long over. You two have important things to get back to."

The clone of Naruto frowned again, "We've been a bother. I'm sorry about that."

Magnus let out a short laugh, "Not at all! The two of you are great company. I could've done without the noisy nights though."

The blonde shinobi had the grace to blush, "Sorry I didn't realise…"

"It's fine. You two are young; it's what you should be doing."

The clone stood up slowly on top of his seat and turned to the old man with a smile, "I guess this is goodbye then. I speak for both of us when I saw we enjoyed our time with you. And thank you for your help, you have no idea how much it meant to us."

The old man nodded with a smile, but before the clone could disperse he felt a hand gripped against his arm. Looking down he saw a strangely serious expression on Magnus' face.

The old man tightened his grip and stared into the clone's eyes. "This is not a decent place. You must realise this. Here people can die on the whims of another."

The clone swallowed a comment; he felt it would spoil the moment since Magnus was clearly trying to tell him something in his cryptic manner.

"Particularly for you guys, as shinobi. Be careful who you trust."

Naruto's clone waited a few seconds, and when it became apparent that Magnus wasn't going to tell him anything else he nodded his acknowledgement and thanked him again for his help.

With a smile he disappeared into a puff of smoke, sending the information gathered back to the original Naruto. Sitting on his wagon, Magnus sighed and looked out over at the slowly rising sun.

_I suppose that'll have to do for the moment. _

* * *

><p>Hinata was disappointed that Magnus hadn't said goodbye to her, but after Naruto told her about the conversation she understood his reasoning well enough not to be angry.<p>

They had begun moving down the southern path towards the city Magnus had told them about, though they knew it would probably take another week to reach it on foot. The weather had cleared up surprisingly well considering the torrential rain from the previous day. Hinata had fretted over Naruto's drenched clothes, asking him why he had been out in the rain so much. His response was a simple shrug and telling her that he needed the extra time to get his training done.

"So did you finish your training?" asked Hinata, hoping that being away from him for five days was worth the trouble.

Naruto thought about it with an odd look on his face. He looked around at the dirt road they were travelling on, pointing at a large rock a reasonable distance away from them.

Using his free hand, the other being held by Hinata, he pointed at the rock with a sly grin. "Do you see that rock over there?"

She didn't need to look particularly hard, even without her Byakugan Hinata had far better vision than most people. "What about it?"

Naruto gripped her hand a little bit tighter and smiled at her before pointing down at the ground.

"You see it now?"

Hinata frowned and looked down at where he was pointing, her eyes widening when she saw that they were standing directly in front of the same rock they had just looked at. She spun around and looked back at the dirt road, seeing the place where their footprints had simply stopped.

She looked back at the rock for a few seconds before looking up at him, unable to hide her confusion. She hadn't felt a transition at all; it had been so smooth that she hadn't even noticed the environment getting closer.

"H…how?"

Naruto couldn't help himself, bursting out in laughter at her confused expression. It was rare that he understood something and she didn't, and to his credit Naruto thought it was ingenious how he had created the technique.

He let go of her hand and stood back a few metres. "Activate your Byakugan, and try and track my movements" he instructed.

Hinata did as he asked and stared at him through her black and white vision. She immediately noticed that beneath his rough skin were thousands of small cuts that seemed to have healed over quickly, covering his arms and chest. It disturbed her that she hadn't noticed them the previous night, since they had been so close, but she kept it to herself. She trusted Naruto to know what he could and couldn't handle, at least when it came to training.

"Okay. Now try and see this."

She nodded and stared at him, not seeing any activity within his chakra points, but considering what he was training that didn't concern her. She couldn't see physical or spiritual energy on their own with her Byakugan, and besides her instincts she had no way of telling what he was doing.

Naruto stood still for a few seconds and then, with Hinata watching in perfect clarity, he simply vanished.

She gasped in amazement and expanded her vision, immediately noticing Naruto standing nearly a hundred metres directly behind her, a massive grin on his face. She turned around and analysed him in the way that only a Hyuuga could, and as shamelessly as only a girlfriend could.

She had no idea how he had done it.

Not wanting to keep her in suspense, Naruto quickly ran back to his confused looking companion. She tried to figure how he could have fooled the Byakugan, but she knew Naruto had no talent in genjutsu which meant that it was a technique she had never seen before.

"How did you do it?"

"It was something my father said." Naruto didn't need to expand on that, Hinata knew about the time he had spent with his parents while the Kyuubi was being extracted. She wished she had been able to meet them, though conversely they both knew that with both of their families dead the hope of sitting down with their parents only existed in their dreams now.

Naruto indicated dramatically around himself. "I figured that with all this air around, I could utilise that to move around."

"Like the Hiraishin?" Hinata knew the mechanics of the Namikaze technique almost as well as Naruto did, in fact without his absurdly massive chakra supply she suspected she could possibly use the technique herself.

Naruto nodded slowly, "Sort of, yes. I came up with the idea after all that practise I did."

Standing directly in front of Hinata, Naruto disappeared once again. This time he appeared right behind her and ran a finger up the length of her back.

She gasped in surprise and spun around, lightly slapping away his hands with a smile. "You aren't going to keep doing that, are you?"

Naruto leaned over at kissed her neck lightly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

"So you can teleport then?" The idea was bizarre to say the least. The theory behind the Hiraishin made sense, and moving so fast that it looks like you are just disappearing was just another technique, but Naruto's was clearly doing neither.

Naruto shrugged in response, "I guess. It's basically using the air around to move instantly. But I can only travel to places I can see; otherwise I would have no idea where I might end up."

"Is that all? That sounds really strong, Naruto!" Hinata didn't hide how proud of she was of her boyfriend. Already she could think of all the different ways he could fight with such a technique, though it didn't explain the cuts underneath his skin.

He rubbed the back of his head with a smile, "It's not that impressive…I can only do it every three seconds too."

"Why?" Hinata felt a strange feeling in her stomach, but a quick application of healing chakra got rid of it as quickly as it came. She'd been hiding it from Naruto for a little while now, since she didn't know what it was. She knew what it wasn't, and that in itself was a relief. She didn't think either of them were ready for something like that, at least not yet.

"Because I think my body would be ripped apart by the pressure. I think."

"Oh…"

Naruto began to walk down the path again, Hinata walking beside him as they continued their conversation. He started to talk to her about the other bits of training he did, though he left out some of the bizarre situations he got himself into. She didn't need to know about how he was thrown head-first into a cliff face, or when he had to eat a fish raw because the rain didn't let him cook it.

* * *

><p>It was two days later that they started to notice a change in the scenery around them. The road was still clear, but the number of burnt out villages and buildings had increased exponentially. The two travelling shinobi had begun to move more cautiously, and when they encountered the first sign of people since meeting Magnus they knew immediately it wouldn't be the same kind of relationship.<p>

Sitting in a disorganised camp a few hundred metres from the main road was a group of fifty largely-built men, each of them looking similar to the bandits that had attacked Magnus the first time they had met him.

They wore leather and fur-covered armour, which seemed to fit perfectly with the décor of the country, and were armed with a variety of sharp and blunt weapons. Naruto and Hinata had snuck as close to the group as possible under the cover of darkness, trying to overhear why such a group was seemingly waiting there.

The bandits were surprisingly tight-lipped and seemed unlike the type of bandits that they had fought in the past. While the camp was disorganised and they wore typically outfits for that line of work, both the shinobi could tell when a person had more training than they were letting on.

Naruto turned to Hinata and signalled to her silently. _They are part of an army._

She nodded and responded quickly. _Scouts, probably._

_What should we do?_ Naruto knew what his instincts wanted him to do, but he wasn't about to risk her life just because he hadn't been in a fight in a while and felt out of practise.

Hinata went to signal back but both of their attentions were drawn as a bandit yelled out. They flinched at the sound of weapons being drawn, but it was clear that they had been discovered.

The two of them leapt back with their hands ready to fight, both of them noticing that all fifty of the bandits were preparing to face them.

Hinata had her hands ready to defend herself, but as she activated her Byakugan a huge spike of pain shot up her spine. She clutched at her stomach with a grimace, her mind going blank as she coughed into her other hand.

Naruto immediately recognised that she was down, dropping his hands and grabbing at her shoulders. He didn't even hide his concern for her, but still kept an eye on the bandits moving towards them.

"Hinata? What's wrong?"

The Hyuuga girl glowed blue for a few seconds and looked up at the blonde shinobi with a pained look. She tried to get up but Naruto shook his head and pushed her down. He stood back as five clones of Naruto appeared and took up defensive positions around her.

"Stay there, Hinata. I know you haven't been well…leave this to me."

She grimaced and looked up at him with surprise. "You…knew?"

One of the clones turned to face her with a grin, "You do you think you are talking to?"

Naruto nodded to his clones without a word, they knew what to do. He placed up his hands in an offensive stance and watched as the bandits began to charge towards his position, roaring with their weapons raised. Normally Naruto would create an army of clones and fight his enemies with overwhelming strength, but with Hinata watching he felt compelled to fight with his newly acquired techniques.

_Besides, the clones will protect Hinata from any possible backlash. And we can teleport away if necessary. _

He breathed out slowly and focused on the first bandit that reached him.

oOoOoOo

There have been many times Naruto has been close to death. The fight with Zabuza, his match with Gaara at the Chuunin Exams and the Kyuubi's extraction to name a few.

However when Naruto was training to use spiritual energy to manipulate air, it was pure agony. But as with most of his training, Naruto found a way to fight and protect his precious people in a new way.

An axe swung straight at his head, but Naruto instincts allowed him to easily avoid the blow. The bandit expertly moved the handle in his hands and swung it around to cleave his head from his shoulders. It was even clearer than before that they weren't regular fighters at all, but despite that the Uzumaki heir was still confident.

Before the steel blade could touch his neck, Naruto slammed a fist into the ground directly in front of the bandit. To the outside observer it appeared that his strike had missed the bandit completely, but you wouldn't know it if you saw the maimed cut-up body of the bandit lying in front of Naruto, his axe lying uselessly on the ground.

Several of the attackers running towards him hesitated, and in that time Naruto took the offensive. Using his new teleportation ability he disappeared and appeared directly behind a group of three bandits wielding spears. He swept a kick across their backs, again intentionally not making direct contact with their bodies.

Unlike the first bandit these three went flying away from Naruto with screams of pain. Naruto frowned as he watched them land dozens of feet away, clutching as their shredded backs in agony.

He took a moment to look down at his hand as the technique swirled around him.

_It's not as tiring as I first thought. So long as I control when it comes out. _

He heard a bandit come up behind him, but when he turned around he couldn't see anyone there. It only occurred to him at the last second what he was doing, the Uzumaki heir vanishing just as the axe buried itself in the ground from above him.

Appearing in front of his clones, Naruto noticed that a fair amount of the group was moving towards Hinata's fallen position. He knew the Hyuuga girl was fine, but despite himself he wanted to show her how much he had improved.

"Don't think you can beat us so easily!" yelled out one of the bandits, the one who seemed to be coordinating the others.

Naruto didn't respond to the taunt, preferring to work out a combat strategy that can maximise his new abilities. A slow smile came across his face as a plan came to him.

A shadow clone appeared beside him, though it wore a less than pleased expression on its face. It turned to the original with a sigh. "Really?"

Naruto nodded and grabbed its arm. The clone sighed again but let his creator swing him around wildly. Once Naruto had gotten enough momentum he hurled the clone straight at a cluster of bandits. They had the sense to move out of the way of the rapidly spinning shinobi and for a few moments it seemed like a pointless exercise since he hadn't hit any of his targets.

However the moment the clone hit the ground he exploded into a ball of lightning that struck out at many of the targets around him with fast tendrils of energy. The bandits struggled to get away from the explosive, and while some moved to assist their companions Naruto sped forth again, this time picking his targets more practically.

He appeared in front of a sword-wielder and drove a fist into his face, not even needing to slice him up to knock him out. He spun around and leapt onto his hands, using the momentum to spin around and strike out at nearby attackers.

The pain had subsided for the moment, but Hinata hadn't noticed, she was too entranced by watching her significant other fight their attackers. She had no idea how Naruto was defeating the bandits, at least not from remembering how he used to fight. She had complete faith in Naruto's ability to defeat their opponents; he had a knack for winning against uncanny odds.

He was almost systematic in how quickly he was dispatching the bandits, but she caught a few quirky smiles that indicated that Naruto was still the same crazy fighter that he had always been.

With fifty combatants, it should have been a more even fight, considering they had the combat strength of around a Chuunin-level shinobi, though without the chakra abilities.

The fight was over in two minutes.

Naruto took a moment to catch his breath before making his way back to Hinata with a wide grin on his face. He dismissed his clone shield around her and leant down in front of her, offering her a hand up. "You feeling better?"

She accepted his help and stood up with an awe-struck expression on her face. "Naruto…how…"

The clone-user chuckled and placed an arm around her shoulder, "Let's get out of here, then I'll tell you. We don't want them to wake up and attack again."

Hinata frowned initially and looked over the battlefield littered with bodies. Her original observation had proven correct; he had cut them to pieces with some kind of bladed attack, but to her surprise she saw that very few of the bandits had actually suffered fatal injuries. Naruto seemed to have purposefully not attacked vital areas, or the bandits were just that good to avoid death-blows.

The two of them disappeared and left the scarred enemies to their fates.

oOoOoOo

They came to rest under the peaceful shade of a collection of odd-looking bamboo trees. After nearly a month in the strange land not much surprised them anymore.

Naruto offered Hinata a newly filled water bottle and sat down beside her. Without a word she leaned on his shoulder and sighed. Naruto had asked her if her being sick was because of what he feared it was, but Hinata had reminded him that had that area under control. He repeated his faith in her healing abilities and said nothing more on the subject, but Hinata felt a warm feeling in her chest at his concern over her. She spent so much time worrying about him sometimes she forgot that he was just as protective of her, if not more so.

"So are you going to tell me what that was back there?"

"Ah, of course."

A clone appeared in front of the two of them. He frowned and looked down at the couple. "You could do this yourself, you know."

Naruto tightened his hold on Hinata's shoulder and glared at the clone without a word.

It stared back for a few seconds before letting out a tsk and turning to the side. "Tyrant."

Hinata watched the exchange without commentating. She'd often asking Naruto how his relationship with his clones worked, but the blonde didn't have any answers for her.

It seemed to be a strange situation where each clone was the same as Naruto and would obey his commands to a point, but they also had his flair for mischief. The amount of times he'd send them off to train and catch them either playing cards or eating ramen was uncanny.

While he cared for his clones, as demonstrated in the previous battle Naruto wasn't above using them as meat shields or sacrificial pawns to win a battle. She noted however that he was never cruel with them and had been abusing them less and less in recent battles.

The clone walked back a small distance and faced a bamboo tree. He sighed and pulled back a fist, taking a few moments before driving it straight into the tree. The impact was surprisingly quiet, but Hinata couldn't see anything through the smoke of the dispersed clone. She didn't understand why he had cancelled the technique, wondering if he had somehow messed it up.

Naruto didn't need to see Hinata's face to feel her confusion, resolving to simply point at the struck bamboo tree. They waited until the smoke had cleared, but even when she saw the damage inflicted she couldn't quite work it out. She even activated her Byakugan to analyse the damage more deeply.

It looked like someone had drilled straight into the tree, then lost control and let the metal slash randomly at the bark. There was no pattern to the damage beyond the fact that it was centralised on one location, but through her Byakugan she could see that there were no resistance marks whatsoever on the tree, just like the bandits from half an hour ago.

She could think of several ways to achieve that level of precision with wind chakra attacks, she had almost made a speciality out of it, but this was something completely new.

_Trust Naruto to make a technique like this. And without using chakra either…meaning it uses far less stamina. Scary…_

After a minute Naruto chuckled lightly. "You can't work it out, can you?"

She looked up at him with a defeated look, "I give up. What is it?"

Her boyfriend grinned widely. He knew she was much, much smarter than he was. But it was nice to occasionally find something he knew that she didn't, even though he could never feel jealous of Hinata.

"It's using spiritual energy, like how you do."

"But this seems far too…random for that."

He nodded in response; he still felt the stinging all over his arms and legs. "It would seem that my wind…stuff…is pretty chaotic. Besides that teleporting thing…which I should really come up with a name for…I have very little control over my spiritual energy when it is used like that."

"So you just let it swirl around randomly?" It explained why he had to do his training without her being there. If it was as chaotic and destructive as he implied, then the likelihood of friendly-fire was extremely high.

"Not entirely. If I control how much spiritual energy I let out then I can limit its reach. But as you saw, it's pretty effective. I call it the Kattoken." (Cutting Fist)

Hinata didn't hide how impressed she was. Naruto had been worried for a long while that he wasn't the most potent fighter in their group, and had confided in Hinata that he felt he was lagging behind the others.

He still had his father's scroll and had learnt much from it, though many of his father's techniques were simply not suited to him. And after meeting his parents Naruto had resolved to find his own style, so Hinata was extremely proud that he had finally found something to make his own.

She looked back at the tree and a concern rose in her mind. "Wait…why did the clone disperse then?"

"Oh, Kage Bunshin are awful at the Kattoken. They can't handle the backlash and disappear almost the moment it activates."

"Backlash?" Suddenly the scars she had seen underneath his skin made a terrible sense. Without hesitation Hinata clutched at him, hoping it wasn't as bad as she thought.

He waved off her concern with a grin, "It's nothing. After the first few days I worked out that using physical energy to harden myself mitigates most of the damage."

"Naruto…"

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

He rubbed her hair affectionately, "It just stings a little, that's all. Now…shall we keep going or hang here for the rest of the day?"

As much as she wanted to, Hinata knew they should keep moving. It had been nearly four weeks since they had last seen their companions, and she ached to see their friends again.

"We should keep moving. We'll want to get to that city as soon as we can."

Naruto kissed the top of her head and indicated for her to get up. "You are right, as always."

She stood up and offered him a hand up. Naruto took it and jumped to his feet, smiling at the young girl before moving towards the tree his clone had attacked. He placed a hand on the cut up bark, feeling the cuts between his fingers. It was not a completely form of combat just yet, but Naruto felt confident that he could use this strength to better protect both Hinata and the others.

The tree seemed to shake at his touch, and without warning a large piece of fruit fell from the top of the tree and crashing into his head.

It seemed almost comical to get knocked out by a piece of fruit, but as he felt himself crash into the ground he took comfort in the fact that a healer as good as Hinata was right by his side.

He also knew that she would look after him, not matter what happened.

* * *

><p>Naruto grimaced as he opened his eyes, rubbing his head in an attempt to alleviate the pain. His eyes widened when he saw his surroundings. He had seen it before, but it still took him a few seconds to realise that he was in the sewer that he had first met his parents at.<p>

"Why am I here?" he asked to thin air. He didn't think he hit his head that hard, but he didn't think this area would exist anymore considering the Kyuubi was dead.

He looked down and balked at what he saw at his feet. Nearly up to his knees was a slowly moving river of red liquid that, despite the surroundings, was strangely warm on his skin.

It took him a few seconds before realising that he was standing in a river of blood.

Unable to hide his disgust, Naruto looked around to see if there was somewhere that wasn't ruining his pants, but it seemed that the river was everywhere.

Seeing little other option, Naruto began to move through the tunnel. The current wasn't particularly fast, though he could've done without the smell. He recognised a few marks from the last time he was here, though it dismayed him that he couldn't see anyone else.

"Is this a dream?" That was only explanation he could think of. Since the Kyuubi had been wrenched out of him and nearly killed him, Naruto hadn't thought of this place at all, yet one knock on the head and here he was.

A few minutes of trudging through the blood-covered sewage brought him to a place that he needed no distinctive memories to recognise. Standing up to the roof was a massive set of bars, far taller than Naruto could ever reach. He figured it was the remains of the Kyuubi's cage, but the fact that the jail bars had been blown apart worried him immensely. It looked like they had been blasted away from Naruto's side and something pulled out against its will. The blood beneath his feet had lessened to the point that it was only up to his ankles. However Naruto saw that some of the splintered metal spikes attached to the bars were covered by the same coloured blood.

"What the hell happened in here?"

Being the type who hated the unknown, Naruto made his way towards the bars. He reached out and felt one the metal spikes on his hand, grimacing at the freezing cold temperature. Taking another step he heard a crunching sound beneath his foot, wincing with the realisation that almost anything could be underneath his foot.

He looked down but couldn't see anything through the blood, almost noticing that the river had left a red stain on his pants.

_Well that's not going to come out. Wait, this is just in my mind. So it's all good._

Lifting up his foot he heard the same crunching sound, but this time he was listening carefully enough to recognise what it was. He reached down into the river and pulled out a large piece of paper, shaking it a few times to try and get most of the blood off of it. At first it looked just like a blank sheet of paper, but when Naruto turned it around he immediately recognised the ink mark of an Uzumaki seal.

_I guess this is what kept the Kyuubi contained. Strange that it's here though._

He looked over the seal with interest; it was far more intricate than anything he could think of. His father had told him about the seals he had placed on the demonic fox when it was sealed within him, Naruto figured it must have been pulled off during the Akatsuki incident.

Seeing little other value in keeping the seal he dropped it back into the river at his ankles, looking down into the darkness behind the ruined bars.

_A prison for a demon…I wonder what it is like?_

oOoOoOo

Naruto had many ideas on what to expect.

A pit of fire drenched walls. An acid-covered ocean. A cage of spikes.

He was not expecting what lay in front of him.

The river of blood had slowly dried up at the bottom of a massive spiral staircase. It was heavily ordained and was covered in intricate seals; it looked like nothing Naruto could ever conceive of.

Suddenly intrigued, Naruto put the idea of escape out of his mind and began to climb. It wasn't tiring, the blonde shinobi prided himself on his stamina, but it did concern him that his surroundings were slowly getting lighter and lighter the higher he climbed, yet there were no light sources to provide such illumination.

After nearly ten minutes of climbing, Naruto found himself standing at the top of the staircase with a large blood-red coloured silk curtain directly in front of him. It looked entirely out of place considering the other aspects of his 'assumed' mindscape.

"Even for me, this seems unnecessary."

He pushed through the curtain and nearly fell over in surprise.

Behind the silk was a room, more suited for a queen of a country he had never seen in his life. The walls were covered by the same type of red silk curtains as the doorway, though they seemed to be adorned with golden jewels that appeared to hang without actually being attached to the curtains.

There were hundreds of cushions on the ground and a massive blanket-covered bed in the middle, but none of that was more concerning to Naruto as the small girl sitting patiently in the centre of the bed.

She had pale skin in a lightly coloured kimono. She had a small bob of dark blue hair with bangs to the sides of her face, and she had a set of pure white eyes that Naruto was very familiar with. However Naruto immediately knew that it wasn't a younger version of Hinata. Having spent so much time with the real thing, Naruto could tell without quite explaining it.

The little girl bowed slightly in his presence and smiled at him. Seeing a smile on a fake Hinata was enough to send a shiver down Naruto's spine.

He slowly clenched a fist, "Who are you?"

The smile on the little girl's face grew widely, but her mouth was full of razor sharp teeth and there appeared to be nothing but spite in her white eyes.

"I can't say I'm surprised you saw through it." Her voice was alluring and misplaced coming from a little girl, it sounded almost seductive, though it only served to deepen Naruto's suspicions.

With a ripple in the air the little girl appeared to change form in front of him, her hair turning to a bright flame-orange. Her pale skin turned into a light tan and the white eyes became a finely circular black and red colour.

Seeing the fake Hinata turn into that little girl, it finally clicked in Naruto's mind.

"You are the Kyuubi."

Again the little girl smiled, but without Hinata's face attached it was far more menacing. Her sharp teeth seemed to have a mind of their own.

"You are smarter than I remember. That girl has had a bigger influence on you than expected."

"What do you want?" Naruto was trying to keep his voice calm, but if this wasn't a dream then he had a very big problem on his hands.

The child-Kyuubi patted the large bed with a small hand. "A conversation, nothing more. A civil discourse between captor and prisoner."

Her voice was still seductive, and despite himself Naruto was less uncomfortable with it now that it wasn't coming from a face familiar to him.

"Is that why I am here?"

The little girl cocked her head with a slowly-drawn frown. "I could make you sit, if that would please you."

Naruto considered his position and made a decision. Beyond the curtain his clone placed a Hiraishin seal on the wall without the Kyuubi noticing, as Naruto sat on one of the ends of the round bed, crossing his legs beneath him, having removed his shoes already. He didn't trust the Kyuubi in any capacity, but as a little girl Naruto didn't fear it.

"What do you want?" he repeated.

The little girl gathered her legs underneath her light kimono and glared at him through her black and red eyes. "You seem to hate me. I can understand your position."

Despite himself, Naruto could feel all the little bits of resentment bubbling to the surface, all the things he had thought about since learning of his occupant. He struggled to raise his voice as he seethed through his teeth.

"All through my childhood…"

The Kyuubi raised a hand, "Let me stop you right there."

Even with his nearly hateful expression, Naruto let her interrupt him without comment. It was strange, but he could almost hear Hinata's voice in his head telling him to calm down.

She stared at him intently, "I have no interest in your sap story. You will garner no sympathy from me."

"Are you saying you were a victim?" asked Naruto, having never considered such a possibility before. His prior experiences with the Kyuubi had all been hate filled battles that had nearly driven Naruto to breaking point. In particular when the Kyuubi had tortured him for the sake of it during the First Exam in Suna certainly hadn't endeared him towards the demonic prisoner.

The Kyuubi snarled at him, but made no aggressive moves towards him. "We aren't here to debate you did what."

"Then why am I here?"

She leaned forward and placed her hands on her thighs. "Did you believe I would be so simple to destroy? That one act and I would no longer be your problem?"

With a slow grin, Naruto folded his arms in front of him. "Can't blame me for trying."

"I can, and I do, but that is not the point."

She continued to stare at him, not even moving an inch. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of the situation in general, but he didn't want to give any ground to the demon, presuming that it was what was in front of him.

After a few minutes of staring at each other a terrible thought came to Naruto, one that he felt he should have considered earlier. He leaned forward slightly and adjusted his gaze from a stoic stare to a concerned glare.

"What have you done?"

A grin slowly came across the girl's face, one completely devoid of warmth and entirely comprised of hate. "I have done nothing undeserved. Do you think I asked for this fate?"

"You nearly destroyed Konoha!"

"And I accept the responsibility for my part in that situation. But you had NO RIGHT to try and destroy me."

"What?!" Out of all the things for the Kyuubi to be angry at him for, Naruto hadn't thought that to be at the forefront. "You can't be serious."

With an indescribable growl the little girl practically spat into his face. "I AM IMMORTAL! And someone as insignificant as you tries to undo such a legacy? The arrogance…the hubris!"

"Please, tell me how you really feel." Naruto wasn't sure why it came out so sarcastically, he felt there was nothing he could do to make the situation much worse.

The Kyuubi seemed to move to strike at him, but hesitated and sat still instead. She breathed out slowly and glared at him. "It doesn't matter now."

"Yes…on that subject how did you survive the extraction?"

She shrugged in response, "I don't know, nor do I particularly care."

It seemed like there was nothing else for them to talk about, Naruto felt that anything the Kyuubi would say would only incite him further. He would much rather go back to Hinata. As his mind turned to the Hyuuga girl, as it often did, the question he had asked earlier and failed to get a response from came back to him.

He glared at his prisoner, "You've done something, haven't you?"

"You seem to be overestimating my ability to influence the outside world. My power barely affects this room now, and I'm stuck in this stupid form."

"I guess that would…wait. What do you mean now?" He knew the Kyuubi was capable of messing with him in any capacity, though he didn't feel any different.

Seemingly reading his mind, the Kyuubi leant back with a toothy grin. "Who says I did anything to you? Don't be so conceited."

She stood up slowly on the bed and straightened out her small kimono. She pointed at him dramatically. "I did nothing that you couldn't have avoided. If you can't protect her from yourself, then you are just as bad as that Akatsuki fool."

For a few moments Naruto didn't quite understand what the fox demon meant, but when he figured it out the world around him had already begun to fade away. He tried to reach for the Kyuubi but the young girl simply laughed a disturbing familiar laugh and faded with the rest of the environment.

Cursing the fox, not for the first or last time, Naruto waited patiently to be thrown back into the real world. He hoped what he suspected wasn't true, but when it came to the Kyuubi things had a habit of ending badly.

He held his breath and waited.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Muhahaha! Fear the cliff hanger! I was going to write the next chapter and reveal what the Kyuubi did, but I thought that was a bit too cruel. I don't want to be that author.

I know it seems agonising not to do Naru/Hina for the next chapter, but trust me, the next set of chapters are very unique. They will be about Neji. And his story is awesome.

Full credit to the Kattoken goes to MattWilson83 and his story/manga NHC (NaruHina Chronicles). When I read that bit of his story, I just had to use it in mine. He was happy to oblige, and is a top bloke for doing so.

I know I dropped the Chuunin Exam thing with the Kyuubi in this chapter, and that will be expanded upon when I get around to writing the Prequel. I can't make any promises with that though; this story takes a lot of time to write.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	31. Chapter 29 NEJI Ironic Fates

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 29 – Neji – Ironic Fates

**A/N:** Trust me when I say that what the Kyuubi has done has nothing to do with demon sperm or forced pregnancy. That kind of stuff isn't going to be part of the story, I'll say that now.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, it would have characters make the hard decisions.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Continuing their adventure with their older companion, Hinata and Naruto continued to try and master the new type of fighting they hadn't heard about before. Hinata was a quick study of spiritual energy while Naruto was able to master physical energy after a short period of time. After some thought Naruto trained by himself for five days in order to learn to control his own spiritual energy. Upon his return their companion Magnus took his leave of the two of them, reminding Naruto that they weren't in a friendly country, setting them on a week-long path to an old city that he knew of. On their own once again they began to move towards the city, but discovered a large group of fifty bandits that acted more like a scouting party then proper bandits. Just as they were discovered Hinata came down with a sickness she had been hiding from Naruto since they got to the country but Naruto, having known all along, resolved to both defend her and take out the attackers with his newly gained techniques. After the short battle Naruto explained the mechanics behind his technique, but was struck on the head by a falling piece of fruit and was knocked out. He awoke within his mindscape, and discovered that even with the seal broken and cage destroyed, the Kyuubi still resided within him, though in a severely diminished capacity, having taken the form of a little girl to face him. After a loaded conversation it became clear that the Kyuubi had done something in revenge for Naruto trying to get rid of it, but was conveniently cryptic about the consequences. Resigning himself to waiting as his mindscape collapsed, Naruto fears the worst for his return to reality.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Ten Minutes Before Separation***<p>

Neji had blown the wall behind him fully expecting to fight an uphill battle. If there was ever a way that he wanted to go out, it would be in that kind of heroic fashion. Making up for the mistakes of the past, and leaving an admirable legacy for Hinata to continue.

Fate, it would seem, had other ideas.

The Sound shinobi had come in full force to destroy Lee's group, but when Neji had ensured their escape, the shinobi's actions had changed immediately when they looked on his face.

Neji prided himself on having a terrifying gaze, but when his black and white eyes looked over the kneeling shinobi he could read no aggression whatsoever in their stances.

_Are they surrendering to me? What the hell is this?_

Neji deactivated his Byakugan altogether and stood back slightly. Even without his Kekkei Genkai he could see that the Sound shinobi were petrified of him, and he had no idea why.

"Why aren't you attacking? Aren't I your enemy?"

Out of the ten shinobi before him there were two that were clearly Jounin that were the closest to him. The woman looked up at him with a grim expression. "We heard what you did."

The male Jounin beside her nodded in agreement and looked up at him as well. "We owe you a great debt."

"What the hell are you lot talking about?"

The Sound shinobi didn't respond. The two Jounin stared back down at the ground. It took Neji a moment before realising where he had seen such a reaction before. It was the same way the Hyuuga shinobi would act in front of the clan head.

Not responding unless specifically directed.

"Oh for the love of…everybody get up." Neji wasn't sure what to make of it, but he had been a shinobi long enough to know not to let his guard down.

Uniformly the Sound shinobi stood up and saluted him, which was a reaction Neji couldn't have predicated if his life depended on it.

He indicated to the male Jounin near the front, "Tell me why you aren't attacking me. What is this debt you mention?"

The Jounin hesitated momentarily and glanced over at his female companion. If Neji wasn't such a keen observer he would have missed the mini-conversation that occurred between their eyes. He looked back at Neji, "It's not like most of us wanted to be here."

Neji crossed his arms while keeping an eye on the other shinobi. "Go on."

"Pretty much all of us came to this village to follow Orochimaru-sama. But with Kabuto…"

"…you were prisoners in your own village" finished Neji. Things had been connecting in his mind since meeting the three Sound shinobi from the Chuunin Exams, but he hadn't thought it would have extended so far into the structure of their forces.

The Jounin nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes sir."

"So by killing Kabuto I've destroyed your motivation to remain in this village? That doesn't explain why you were attacking my companions but refusing to attack me."

The female Jounin coughed awkwardly, "Sir…may I?"

Seeing no reason to stop her, Neji indicated for her to continue.

She nodded her thanks respectively. "In the Hidden Village of Sound, we had one iron-clad law. Anyone could challenge the leader of the village, and if they defeated him then the others would have to obey them."

Neji frowned, "That seems…extraordinary."

"Orochimaru-sama only wanted the strongest of shinobi for his village."

"And if they believe they could become the leader…he's a lot cleverer than we gave him credit for." Neji had only heard stories of Orochimaru, none of them good. But he was developing a begrudging respect for the man, if nothing else for his ambition and drive.

He went to ask another question but was instantly on his guard as three figures came into view. He relaxed when he saw it was his three Sound companions, but still kept a close vigil on the others.

"You seem to find trouble wherever you go" observed Zaku, crossing his hands with a grin.

Neji frowned and stared at the three of them. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you have escaped by now?"

They stared at each other for a second before looking back at Neji. Kin stepped forward slightly with a slight blush, one that he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking. "We…thought it would be a good idea to follow you. Since you helped us…and…"

Even with only one eye showing, Dosu was able to give Kin his most contempt-filled look. "A guy gives you one look, and you lose your guts. Way to further the kunoichi cause, Kin."

Kin cracked her wrists menacingly at her companion, causing even Neji to flinch slightly.

Ignoring his companions' interaction, Zaku stared straight into Neji's eyes. "It was in our interest to help you out."

He turned and glanced at the ten Sound shinobi standing in formation. "I guess you guys got our message then. Are you all that are left?"

The two Jounin glared at Zaku, as if silently telling him to get stuffed. Again Neji wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but it had become clear to him that he was no longer in danger, at least not from these shinobi.

_I should check to see if Hinata and the others got out safely. If this place is no longer a threat…_

He activated his regular Byakugan and expanded its view as far as possible, which was a considerable distance, while the Sound shinobi stared off against each other as only companions could.

oOoOoOo

***Thirty Seconds after Separation***

Even though he could read lips at a considerable distance, Neji was only to catch the last thirty seconds of the exchange before all of the purple domes containing his companions winked out of existence. He couldn't quite comprehend what could have happened to his friends even as he watched the conversation between the white-armoured warrior and black-robed figure. As quickly as they appeared they disappeared in a very different manner to his friends.

_What…have I just watched…_

He knew it wasn't genjutsu, the Byakugan made him practically immune to illusionary techniques. He deactivated his doujutsu and considered all the possibilities, not even paying attention to the Sound shinobi around him.

_They were clearly under attack by someone…who could disable such a large group…without utilising chakra since there were no chakra signals coming from anyone…_

"Neji?"

_It didn't even look like they put up a struggle…_

The Hyuuga shinobi turned around with a glare that would have turned a normal man to stone. In this case Dosu was only forced to take several steps back in shock.

The one-eyed shinobi recovered quickly and stood up as straight as his hunched outfit would allow. "Is everything alright? What did you see?"

Neji stared at the hunched shinobi for a moment before looking over at the rest of the Sound shinobi in front of him. He took a moment to sit down with his hands on his knees.

"Just…give me a minute."

To their credit, the Sound shinobi were quite patient as Neji ran through all the scenarios in his head.

_There is only one likely possibility that makes sense, with the information I've got. _

He sighed loudly, but kept a stoic expression. "My companions are dead, by the hands of some unknown enemy. I'm…not sure how. But they are gone."

To his surprise, it almost seemed like they felt his loss at least a little bit. He wasn't going to show his grief to people who had just been his enemies, and Neji wasn't entirely sure if what he said was true.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked the female Jounin, Neji could almost hear sympathy in her voice.

Neji directed his white-eyed gaze to the Jounin. "It…I don't know."

_It's Konoha all over again. Except now…there's no-one left to grieve with. I have to remain strong._

"What will you do now?" It seemed like an obvious question, but it was one that all of them were curious to know the answer to.

Breaking his stoic expression, Neji let a ghost of a sad smile emerge on his face. "I guess…I'm actually not sure."

It felt strange to Neji. He felt like he should be grieving, or at least feeling something. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something unseen had happened before he watched his friends disappear, and he couldn't completely write the Konoha shinobi off just yet.

But the Sound shinobi didn't need to know that last bit. It was only a hope, not a rational observation.

Placing a hand on his chin, the male Jounin took an awkward step forward. "You could…stay here."

Neji stared over at the Jounin with a confused expression. "Not thirty minutes ago I was your enemy. Now you are asking me to be your friend?"

Despite clearly being older than the Hyuuga, the Jounin was intimidated by his stare, even though there was no malice in it. Neji was merely curious about how sincere the invitation was.

The female Jounin reached out and smacked her fellow shinobi across the back of the head, causing him to grimace in pain. "What he means is…you don't have to rush these things. We could all take a rest and consider our options."

"What about the Sound Four?" asked the recovering Jounin, not making any comment about being attacked by his female companion.

"Who are they?" asked Neji, genuinely curious about the figures mentioned.

Zaku crossed his arms with a frown. "They are…were…the strongest of the village, besides Orochimaru-sama. But your companions defeated all of them, we believe. They all had Cursed Seals too."

Dosu opened his single eye and regarded the rest of the group. "They are still alive. I can hear their heartbeats."

As one every single shinobi in the corridor stared at the bandage covered shinobi.

"That's really creepy Dosu" commented Kin.

Neji watched the exchange between the Sound shinobi, noticing several similarities between the Sound shinobi and his old companions.

_I guess…if I have start somewhere…_

He looked over at the Sound shinobi, seeing the smiles and expressions that reminded him of friends now gone.

_What would Father do?_

"I think we should find these Four you mentioned."

The two Jounin led the way out of the corridor. Neji took note of how there was no hesitation in following them.

"Have you made a decision?" whispered Zaku as they made their way through the torch-lit corridors.

Neji shrugged, which was a rare thing for him to do. "I'm making this up as I go along. Nothing is ever set in stone."

* * *

><p>***Two Hours after Separation***<p>

With Neji's Byakugan it had been fairly simple to locate the four fallen shinobi, but reaching them was another problem altogether. Shikamaru's plan of flooding the tunnels had been too efficient in cutting off large sections of the village. As they moved through the village, Neji noted quietly that the village wouldn't be a viable location for a long time.

Zaku laid down the multi-armed shinobi beside the other three and stood back, feeling the cool breeze against his face. They had decided to bring them all to the place where Jiroubo had fallen, above the village proper. On the way they had made sure to check for any other survivors.

There were none.

From a small shinobi village that boasted nearly three hundred active combatants, only seventeen remained. It didn't appear to Neji that they got along particularly well with each other, but considering the way they were brought together it didn't surprise him.

_No wonder we blasted through this place so easily. Even with skill, they don't have much in the way of cooperation._

He looked over the four unconscious shinobi lying in front of them. They seemed fairly normal on the outside, ignoring the multiple arms on the dark skinned one and the second head on grey-haired one. The woman was almost cute in Neji's eyes, though the angry expression she wore even when unconscious didn't particularly endear her to him.

"Will they live?" asked the female Jounin. She had told Neji her name on the way there, but for some reason it always escaped him when he tried to remember it.

Dosu stood back up from their bodies and turned to the rest of the group. "Under normal circumstances they would. Jiroubo has suffered a large trauma to his stomach but has recovered from the blow. The brothers and Tayuya seem to just be unconscious. Kidomaru is the worst off, but he should also be okay with enough rest."

He shook his head as an addendum, "But with the Cursed Seal…I can't say."

Neji watched the Sound shinobi discuss their situation between themselves. He was amazed that his companions had taken out shinobi of such strength. Through his Byakugan he could get a read on how much chakra each of them had, even without the Cursed Seals he could tell they would impressive foes.

"Can you do anything to help them?" asked Kin, turning to Neji with a curious expression. She seemed to be the most receptive to him, though Neji was reserving judgement until he knew more about them.

The Hyuuga survivor weighed up his options. With such small numbers there was no way for the shinobi here to continue as a force, but bringing back those four would add considerable strength. Neji didn't place too much faith on vibes or feelings, but something about his current situation caused him to continue cooperating with the Sound shinobi.

_They could make powerful allies._

"Everyone stand back" he commanded, placing his hand together while activating his regular Byakugan. Since performing the extraction process twice he had a fairly good grasp on how it worked, and resolved to continue perfecting it with the Uzumaki scroll if given the time.

The male Jounin leaned towards Dosu, "What is he doing?"

The one-eyed shinobi grinned, a difficult task underneath all his bandages. "Just watch. There is a reason why he was able to kill Kabuto."

After running through the seals Neji completed the technique and placed his hands on the ground in front of them. He watched the Cursed Seal collapse in on itself through his black and white vision. He used their chakra circulatory systems to burn out the Cursed Seal, leaving in most of the power-enhancing capabilities while removing the addictive and chaotic elements.

_It's no wonder the shinobi world tried to destroy the Uzumaki clan. If they wielded this much power and knowledge…it's frightening even in my inexperienced hands. _

oOoOoOo

It was already dark when the first of the four woke up from their fallen state. Kidomaru cracked his neck with a sigh, flexing his six hands around his body.

"It's like the worst hangover ever…" he mumbled, looking up to see the shinobi standing over him.

He recognised the Sound shinobi and even expressed surprise at seeing the three of them out of prison, but wasn't sure what to make of the Hyuuga's presence.

Before he could make an observation however he felt at where his Cursed Seal mark used to be, his eyes widened when he realised that he was no longer afflicted by it.

"What…who did this?"

Zaku lazily pointed to Neji, "He did. No idea how, but he removed all of our Cursed Seals."

The spider-like shinobi groaned and picked himself up from ground, standing a few metres away from Neji. He looked over the white-eyed shinobi for a few moments before shrugging and extending one of his many hands. "I guess I owe you a debt of gratitude then."

The ex-Konoha shinobi took the hand with a surprised look on his face. "You don't resent me? My people were the ones who attacked you guys."

Kidomaru shrugged again with a wide grin. "I dunno. I'm not one to hold a grudge. I've got to wonder what the 'illustrious' leader would think of you messing with his toys though."

With an infectious smile Kin stood beside Neji and pointed at him. "Kabuto is dead. By his hand."

"Really?" Kidomaru turned his gaze back to the Hyuuga shinobi. "And what caused you to turn such wrath upon such a deserving subject?"

Neji crossed his arms across his white robe. "He had it coming, let's leave it at that."

Kidomaru considered his point and nodded. "As good a reason as any. What's next?"

"You are surprisingly trusting for someone who was nearly killed not long ago."

"I'm a team player."

Neji watched the six-armed shinobi interact with the others quietly. He decided that he liked the calm mannered shinobi; he had mannerisms that made him easily likable.

"Oh shit…my head…"

They all turned to watch as the pink-haired shinobi picked herself up from the ground. She still wore an angry expression, but it lessened slightly when she saw Kidomaru standing in front of her.

"So you made it too? That would be right, no damn irony at all here."

Kidomaru grinned and offered her a hand up. "Nice to see you again too, Tayuya."

She swore under her breath and looked around the group, frowning again when she saw the three Genin. "And you kusogero broke out of prison? What the shit are you guys thinking?"

Stepping towards her, Kin stood in front of the female shinobi with a matching frown. She'd never gotten along with Tayuya, and never wasted an opportunity to win one over the foul-mouthed illusionist.

"Our Cursed Seals are gone, as are yours. We aren't a danger to our own people anymore."

Tayuya glanced down at her skin for a few moments before looking back at the dark-haired girl. "Well I'll be a shit covered asshole. I didn't think I was beaten so badly that the Cursed Seal abandoned me."

She took a step forward so that she was practically touching Kin's nose with her own. "Get the hell out of my way."

Kin went to respond in kind, but felt Zaku's hand on her shoulder pulling her back. "Another time, Kin. Another time."

Tayuya watched as the girl backed off, a wide smile creeping onto her face. "That's right…run away little girl. Run away."

Across from them the other Sound shinobi groaned in unison. Neji went to ask, but Kidomaru simply shook his head and indicated that he should stand back.

All the strength in the world couldn't help Zaku hold the dark-haired girl back as she launched at the pink haired girl with a snarl.

Twenty minutes later the Sound shinobi did their best to make the two girls comfortable as they recovered from their wounds. They hadn't caused too much damage to the environment, though there was a large layer of golden metal protecting the two unconscious Sound Four members.

Kidomaru grinned as he stood back from healing their wounds. He had his own version of the healing technique, one that was less effective than the medical techniques Neji was familiar with, but it seemed to work a lot quicker.

"Am I the only one that was totally aroused by that?"

Both Zaku and Dosu shot Kidomaru a deadly glare, while Neji struggled to keep a slight grin from his face.

The spider-like shinobi grinned again and placed his six arms in mock surrender, "I'm just saying what everyone is thinking."

He removed his shell around his two companions, noticing that Jiroubo had begun to stir. He indicated to the others to watch the two fallen women and moved to assist his large comrade.

He slapped Jiroubo lightly on the cheek with a smile, "Wakey, Wakey."

The Sound shinobi groaned again before slowly opening his eyes, looking straight into Kidomaru's grinning face. He frowned and struggled to sit up, clutching his head in pain.

"What…happened…"

"It's…a long story. I don't quite know myself."

He reached up and felt at his neck, frowning as he realised what had happened. "The Cursed Seal is gone. Did Kabuto do this?"

Kidomaru indicated to Neji with a thumb, "The Hyuuga saved us, it would seem. Killed Kabuto too."

"I see…" Jiroubo picked himself up completely from the ground and looked down at his companion, not able to see any lie in Kidomaru's eyes. "The others?"

"We are all that are left" said Zaku beside the spider-like shinobi.

The large shinobi walked around his companions and stood in front of Neji, staring straight into his white eyes. For a few moments Neji wasn't sure what he was doing, until Jiroubo dropped to one knee with a clenched fist on his chest.

"I am yours to command then, providing you are as strong as you appear."

Neji was unable to hide his surprise; he never expected something like that to happen. He could see that some of the Sound shinobi were almost wordlessly echoing Jiroubo's sentiment, while others weren't sure what to make of the declaration.

"That's…quite sudden of you" said Kidomaru. He wasn't as surprised by the action as the others, he knew Jiroubo was loyal to a fault and had a very strict sense of honour.

The large shinobi didn't respond to Kidomaru's comment, keeping his head down.

"I'm…not sure you want to do that. My friends put you in such a bad condition before you woke up."

"I was not myself when I fought the shinobi from Konoha. While I don't deny that I would have found them anyway, I do not judge or resent their actions."

Jiroubo looked up at the Hyuuga shinobi with a serious expression on his face. "Do you accept?"

Neji looked up at Kidomaru and the two male Genin, all of whom just shrugged.

He glanced back down at the large shinobi kneeling in front of him, and made a judgement call.

"I accept. But I'm no leader, so I'm not really sure what I can do for you."

Jiroubo slowly stood up and looked back down at the Hyuuga shinobi. He was nearly a head taller than him, but everything about his stance said that he had a large amount of respect for the shinobi. Each of the Sound Four had tried to take Kabuto at one point or another, but he had defeated them without even revealed the full extent of his strength. Defeating him, combined with destroying the Cursed Seal was worth a lot in Jiroubo's mind.

"You already are a leader, Hyuuga-sama. But I am not your biggest concern here."

Behind him Kidomaru bobbed his head in agreement. They both turned to look at the last unconscious survivor of the Sound Village. The grey-haired shinobi with two heads hadn't even stirred yet, and there was something about the looks shared between companions that caused Neji pause.

_Am I out of my depth here?_

oOoOoOo

Neji could tell that the conversation wasn't going well. Even if he couldn't read lips, the clear aggression on Sakon's face was enough to give him pause.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. What makes you think that this brat could defeat someone that killed Orochimaru-sama?"

"He says that Orochimaru-sama was killed by his teammate, Jiraiya. And the little three saw him do it." Kidomaru knew there was no real way to convince Sakon of the truth. He was both stubborn and pig-headed a majority of the time.

Sakon pushed past his teammate and glared at the Hyuuga shinobi standing slightly apart from the other shinobi. "Just because his friends were strong enough to defeat us, doesn't mean they could take him. Look at him. He probably couldn't even beat me, even without my Cursed Seal."

Neji glared at the beady-eyed shinobi, an idea coming into his mind. It was risky, but Neji mentally decided it was worth the risk.

"I'll take that bet."

Sakon gave him a look of both confusion and disdain. "What are you talking about?"

Neji motioned for the others to stand back, "The laws of your village state that if you defeat the leader than you become the leader. You can challenge me if that is your wish."

The two-headed shinobi continued to glare at him, but also clenched his fists slightly. "You aren't part of our village, so the law doesn't apply to you. Besides, you don't seem like the leader type."

Jiroubo went to stand between the taijutsu fighter and his companion, "Sakon…"

"**Take the challenge, Sakon."**

Neji had been told about the twin brother's abilities, but hearing the deep voice was particularly unsettling.

Sakon crossed his eyes as he seemed to be having a silent conversation within himself. After nearly a minute without a word he stared back at Neji with a scowl.

"If you defeat me…and that's a big if…then you'll have earned my respect. That's all I'll offer."

Neji took a moment before activating his Byakugan and taking a defensive stance. He had a plan, but it would only work once. There was something about the twin that leaned Neji closer to caution than haste.

"Come then. But you won't succeed."

Sakon didn't hesitate at all, diving forward with a fist raised.

Neji didn't waste any time either, pushing his doujutsu to its higher level and analysing the Sound shinobi's attack path. He identified an area that wouldn't be struck by the multiple-fist attack, moving easily into it while rapidly driving a finger into Sakon neck and forehead.

The speed was such that the shinobi couldn't react to Neji's counter, crashing into the floor with a groan. He tried to get up again, but his legs just flailed uselessly underneath him.

"You…what the hell did you do?!"

Neji deactivated his Byakugan completely and walked around his body, squatting down so that he was looking straight into his face. Having been in the situation Sakon was in now, he knew what it was like to be completely dominated, but he also knew that he still had to handle it delicately.

"This is the gap between us. I have no interest in being the next incarnation of your former captor. I'm looking for allies, not subjects."

Sakon went to spit at him but a hand came out of his neck and covered his mouth. The head on the back of his neck turned around and regarded Neji with cold eyes.

"**You are not like the men we have followed in the past."**

Neji frowned and stood back up with his arms crossed. "Why does everyone think I'm some kind of leader?"

He saw that the two fallen women were recovering from their fight, Dosu helping Kin to her feet while Zaku stood beside the other two male Sound Four members.

Kidomaru grinned and placed a set of hands behind his head. "I don't think you have much of a choice. Particularly with people like us."

The Hyuuga elder looked over the faces of the Sound shinobi around him. They seemed to be displaying a mix of emotions, but through his keen observation he could see there was a growing consensus.

"Does everyone feel this way?"

The shinobi looked at each for a few seconds before all eyes were on Neji. They nodded in unison.

"May I ask why?"

Kin thanked Dosu for his help and stood beside her fellow shinobi, regarding him with a slow smile. "You've done more for us than Orochimaru-sama did. We respect strength more than anything."

"Besides, not many of us liked the Sound Village to begin with" added Dosu.

Neji looked over the shinobi again, not able to tell whether they were just messing with him or not. It was a strange thing to consider doing, though he didn't think it was out of the realm of practicality.

_Working on the assumption that the others survived their…whatever that was. And that that warrior will be back...Naruto came up with the idea…perhaps I should complete it. _

"If…you are comfortable working with me…then I will do it." He hid the hesitation expertly, letting his voice exude the confidence that he often felt in stressful situations.

He reached down and fixed Sakon's chakra points, letting him stand up with a huff. The twin glared at him for a moment before begrudgingly giving him a slightly head bow. "We'll follow you…for now. But if you give us a reason, we will destroy you and take your place."

"You are welcome to try" said Neji.

Kidomaru had just finished explaining to the recently recovered Tayuya, who was reluctant at first, but admitted she had nowhere else to go.

Neji moved to the front of the group so that he could speak to all of them at once. He cleared his voice awkwardly with a cough before placing his hands by his side.

"The old Hidden Village of Sound is gone. Anyone who doesn't wish to stay is free to leave if they choose; I will not hold it against you. I'm new to this, but I can tell you now that I will never be the tyrant that Kabuto was. Having learnt more about the man, I'll admit that Orochimaru was a man of vision. His ambitions were admirable, but incomplete. With the destruction of Konoha, there is a power vacuum in this world."

"What the hell are you saying?" asked Tayuya in her trademark blunt tone.

Neji let the tiniest smile creep onto his face. "We have here some very strong shinobi. I believe that with the right way of doing things, we could do the things that the Hidden Sound could not. Orochimaru and Kabuto after him used your village as their personal army. There is a good reason why that didn't work."

Dosu stepped forward in front of the others. "We are at your disposal…sir."

The Hyuuga elder's smile grew at that. It was strange to hear, but felt strangely fitting. He looked over his new allies. "We have a lot of work to do then."

* * *

><p>***Eight Hours after Separation***<p>

Neji watched his Sound shinobi set up camp with surprising efficiency. They had determined that they didn't want to stay underground anymore, particularly in a base that was flooding through as they explored it.

They had retrieved their personal effects and had set up camp above the old village. Neji watched the large fire at the centre of the site with disinterest. The flames seemed to have a mind of their own, but that wasn't what was on his mind.

_This better not be a big mistake. These are not the kind of people I would want coming after me._

The female Jounin from before sat down beside him with a smile. Neji still couldn't remember her name, which was strange considering he had learnt all the others. He still regarded her with a smile though; she was surprisingly receptive to him.

"Something on your mind, sir?"

"You don't have to call me sir, you know. It feels a bit strange."

She laughed and leaned back on her seat. "Well we had a few other ideas, but they didn't get very far."

Neji turned to face her, "Like what?"

"Well there was White Eyes."

"Too obvious. I think morale would suffer."

Kidomaru walked around the fireplace and grinned at their leader. "I thought of the Grand Destroyer."

"I like that one" replied Neji with a grin.

"It didn't get past the committee, unfortunately. But there was one that everyone liked."

"Oh?"

The six-armed shinobi indicated to his female companion with one arm. She smiled and turned to Neji, unable to keep the joy from her face.

"We decided to call you Dasaiamai." (Uncool sap)

"Don't make me order you to collect firewood."

She gave him a mocking salute, "Yes sir, Dasaiamai."

"I hate you all."

Across the campsite Zaku made his way over to the laughing trio, standing up straight when he reached Neji. "Sir, I have a report."

Neji rolled his eyes, "You don't have to be so formal, Zaku."

"Of course, sir. We believe we've found a place we can set up permanently."

The new leader leaned back in his seat, unable to hide how impressed he was. "That quickly?"

The Genin nodded with a grin, "Yes sir. It's an area that is being used as a base for a bandit army in this region, but if we can clean them out then it would make the perfect staging area."

Neji stood up from his seat, "Good work then. We'll scout it out tomorrow morning and take the bandits out. For now, everyone should get some rest."

Zaku gave him his best mocking salute.

"Yes sir, Dasaiamai."

Neji rolled his eyes and sat back down at the fireplace.

"Seriously, I hate you all."

* * *

><p>***One Day after Separation***<p>

Neji looked over the complex with his Byakugan, whistling as he scanned the area completely.

"So what's the deal?" asked Sakon, tapping his foot impatiently.

It had become clear to Neji that the twin wasn't necessarily resentful of his assuming leadership over the group; he just didn't like authority in general.

He grinned at the grey-haired shinobi, "It's perfect."

The Sound shinobi rolled his eyes, "I mean the enemy forces…sir."

Neji turned to Dosu and nodded. The sound-user laid out a map on the grass between their small number of forces. "There are four hundred and seventy two bandits within the complex area. They aren't particularly spread out, nor do they sound very happy to be there."

"Has anyone ever told you that your hearing is really creepy?" asked Kin with a completely straight face.

Dosu turned to his female companion with a stoic expression. "Says the girl who spent most of the last night talking about…"

His sentence trailed off when he saw her slowly pull out a set of senbon, but his point was well made.

Neji complemented him on his good work and regarded their forces. They had eighteen shinobi, including him. He figured it was more than enough to take care of that level of enemy at that number. They were all Chuunin level strength and above from his estimations.

"We take the complex now. It's the best place to start a village anew."

The Sound shinobi began preparing themselves for battle. Kidomaru asked if he would be accompanying them, to which Neji immediately confirmed that he was.

"A leader that doesn't fight with his troops doesn't deserve their respect."

Kidomaru grinned and nodded in response. "Well said."

Making sure his robe was prepared properly, Neji reactivated his regular Byakugan. "But I'll be keeping an eye on our people as well. To see how strong we all are."

"Of course. We would expect nothing less."

Tayuya shoved past her spider-like companion with a smirk. "And we'll be watching you. To be a leader of a village means to be the strongest shinobi in said village."

"I do not profess to be best at everything, Tayuya. But if you wish, I can demonstrate my strength as well. Let's go."

"You heard him people!" she shouted. "Let's go get them!"

He watched as most of their force charged at the complex. While outwardly it appeared chaotic, Neji could see they were only showboating.

He turned and looked at Kidomaru with a sigh. "Are they always like this?"

"I think you bring it out in them" replied the Sound shinobi, who indicated towards the complex in front of them. "Shall we?"

"After you, sir."

oOoOoOo

Tayuya lowered her recently repaired flute and looked over at the bandits grovelling at her feet. She turned to watch Jiroubo slam a boulder into a small building, crushing a small group of archers that had been pestering him.

"So what do you think?" she asked over the noise of the battlefield.

Jiroubo brought back a hand and slammed it into the ground, bringing up a wall of stone to block a hail of projectiles. "I think it's worth it. He's done too much for us to just leave. Besides…we haven't worked like this in a while. It's…nice."

The pink-haired shinobi swore and spat on the ground. "Yeah, like pissing stones. I'm talking about obeying another again. We know nothing of this Hyuuga."

Jiroubo lowered his wall and sent dozens of smaller boulders into the clusters of resistance that came at them. "He deserves our respect. We should wait…and observe. There is something about him."

"Kin spoke of a quality…I might see it…in time."

Her large companion smiled, noticing a difference in the young girl since they had been separated when their Cursed Seals got out of control. She seemed to almost enjoying herself; he hadn't seen her smile that way in a while. He wasn't foolish enough to believe them out of the woods yet, but it had been a long time since they'd had any resemblance of a plan to work with.

_A quality indeed…_

oOoOoOo

Sakon took in how many bandits stood against him. It seemed excessive to send so many against one shinobi, but considering what he had done to the first shinobi he had met it didn't surprise him.

"This looks to be enough."

"**Showing off, Sakon?"**

The grey-haired shinobi frowned, "Shut your face, Ukon. I don't need to prove anything to anyone."

The head on his neck twitched as a deep laugh echoed in the air. **"If there ever was a time you were full of shit, Sakon, it would be now."**

"Why are you taking his side?" Sakon ducked under a thrown axe and leapt into the crowd of bandits, his fists flying everywhere at once.

His blows crashed through shield and axe, his strength having increased dramatically since the removal of his Cursed Seal. **"Not since Orochimaru or Kimimaro have you worked for someone with determination such as his."**

"He's a hesitant leader at best, Ukon." An arm shot out of his back to grab at an axe moving to decapitate him while a foot collected the attacker in the face.

He slammed two fists into the ground, the shockwaves dragged down over a dozen bandits while Sakon was already taking them out with concussive blows to their heads.

The bandits began to flee when they saw his frightening visage, having a seemingly invincible enemy with two heads was enough to break even the most stubborn of enemies.

Sakon breathed out slowly and regarded the battlefield with a grin. In less than a minute he had taken out nearly fifty of the bandits by himself. Yet he wasn't satisfied with his efforts, he knew that he could do better.

"What would you have me do, Ukon?"

"**I'm not saying to trust him. Listen to his orders, do what is appropriate. But if it comes to it and we aren't satisfied then we will drive him down into the ground and crush his skull." **

Sakon grinned slowly and began looking for more bandits to dispatch.

"I like that plan."

oOoOoOo

Dosu and Zaku destroyed their targets quickly, while Kin worked on finding out as much information as she could from a bandit she had 'persuaded' with her sound illusions. She was no musician like Tayuya, but had a more rounded set of skills, which included interrogation.

Zaku moved next to his female companion, flexing his sore hands. It hurt to use his air pressure attack so much in one battle, since he hadn't quite worked out the new power ratio. "So?"

She drove a senbon into the bandit's neck and let him fall to the ground before turning to her companion. "They seem to bear some kind of grudge against us."

"Well we are forcing them to vacate their home" said Dosu sarcastically.

Kin nodded and moved her hair out of her face, "It would seem that way."

Placing his hand up Zaku blasted a large shockwave of air into an open road in the complex, beating back a collection of bandits that had gathered against them. "This place seems a bit big, don't you think? There are less than twenty of us."

His teammates nodded while keeping their attention on the bandits moving towards them. It was hard to take the battle seriously, but they didn't want to risk any injury to their forces, considering how few of them there were.

"Do you think he has a plan?" asked Kin, pulling out a new set of senbon with bells attached.

Covering their rear, Dosu dropped his heavy arm to his side. "I think for someone who was essentially dragooned into command, he's been impressive."

"He doesn't know anything about this land or its people though" said Zaku, sending a deafening screech of sound into three bandits that had climbed on a rooftop to fire on them.

"We can help him with that though. It's better than becoming like these bastards." Dosu threw a fist into the direction of an overzealous axe-wielder, causing the bandit to fall to the ground screaming.

After a few minutes of fighting it seemed like there were no more bandits in the area. Neji hadn't specified on whether to kill the bandits or not, but the Sound shinobi figured that if they were to set up a shinobi village in this location, then secrecy was a significant factor.

Dosu covered up his metal arm and looked back at his two companions. There were few secrets between the three of them since their imprisonment, and he had no delusions that they were equals in each other's eyes.

"We still owe him a great debt. One that cannot be repaid so easily."

Zaku grinned and indicated to their female companion, "Besides, Kin has her crush to consider."

The air-user has the common-sense to duck under the inevitable head blow, but couldn't anticipate the kick to the face that followed. For the first time in it seemed forever, Dosu couldn't contain the laugh beneath his bandages.

It had been too long since they'd been able to relax like this.

oOoOoOo

Out of four hundred and seventy two bandits occupying the large area, there were fifteen survivors. They had surrendered to the Sound shinobi when it became clear that they were no match for their forces. They brought the bandits to Neji and they had pleaded for his mercy.

After checking to make sure that there weren't any stragglers, Neji considered his options. It was a difficult decision to make, but after a short interrogation by Kin and Tayuya it became clear that the bandits were not the kind of people one wanted alive in their country.

Neji ordered their executions, and they were carried out without question.

The Sound leader called his shinobi to one of the main areas of the complex for a debriefing. He had been very impressed with their performances; they were much stronger than he would have thought, given the defence of the Hidden Sound initially.

_I guess when given good motivation they fight harder._

He noted that Kidomaru was still missing, but that was intentional on his part. The playful shinobi was proving to be one of his most useful assets, and while he still didn't fully trust the Sound shinobi, they were slowly growing on him.

Once everyone was accounted for, Neji stood on top of a step above the others. "Good work everyone. I must say, I don't think Konoha could have done this so efficiently."

That drew a cheer from the shinobi, which he hadn't expected.

The male Jounin, who was called Jin, moved to stand beside Neji and pulled out a small notepad, licking the pen in his hand. "Alright. Everyone call out your numbers, and we'll see who won."

Dosu cracked his neck loudly, "Twenty-six."

"Thirteen" said Kin, feeling a little disappointed, though she knew her role in her team wasn't completely combat focused.

"Thirty-one" added Zaku with a grin.

"Twenty-nine" said Tayuya, irritated that the odd-looking boy had surpassed her number of kills.

Jiroubo went to console her, but changed his mind when he saw and felt the anger steaming off his companion. He turned back to their leader. "Forty-seven."

The female Jounin said her number, and the other eight followed suit.

With a smirk, Sakon crossed his arms, "Seventy-four."

Jin noted down the numbers, "And with mine…that can't be right. There are still a hundred and two missing."

"What about Kidomaru?" asked Zaku, noticing the spider-like shinobi hadn't arrived with the others.

Beside Jin, Neji shook his head slowly. "Kidomaru is surveying the outlying region. He should be back in a few hours."

"Okay, clearly someone miscounted then. You don't just have a hundred marks left out like that." It hit Jin quicker than the others, but that was because he had the numbers in front of him.

They all collectively stared at Neji who, to his credit, kept a stoic expression the entire time.

Sakon literally gaped at the Hyuuga leader, "You got over a hundred? How? There were no battle noises from your area at all."

Neji turned to Jin, still keeping a straight face, "I also got their leader too, if you want to note that down."

The Jounin smiled and did as he asked, stifling a laugh as he wrote on his pad.

Their leader turned back to the group, "So, what do I get?"

The Sound shinobi did their best to give him a confused set of stares.

"Get? Whatever do you mean?"

He crossed his arms slowly, "Come on. I won the bet. Pay up."

His subordinates looked at each for a few seconds before sighing as one. They began to dig through their pockets as Neji grinned and thought about what his old friends would say about what they had done.

He could get used to something like this.

* * *

><p>***Two Days after Separation***<p>

After a good night sleep, Neji woke himself to a strange feeling in his head. For almost three minutes he couldn't remember where he was, or how he had gotten there. It took a considerable effort but the images came straight at him and he sighed in a mix of emotions.

He felt a deep sadness for the loss of his friends, though he didn't truly believe them gone, but when he thought about his new responsibilities he felt a new emotion, one that he hadn't felt since coming to the Land of Rice Fields.

Hope.

A knock on his door drew his attention, and after hearing who it was Neji quickly threw on his white robes and opened the door. He rubbed his eyes as he saw the grinning face of Kidomaru at his door.

"Rise and shine, Great Destroyer."

Neji smiled slowly in return with a yawn, "I like you more and more, Kidomaru."

He bowed sarcastically to his leader, "I do what I must."

Neji indicated for him to lead the way, the Hyuuga shinobi closing the door to the small house he had taken residency in while they worked out what to do with the settlement. They had taken all the bodies to a far off part of the complex and burned them; Zaku had been clever enough to use his air abilities to direct the smell of burning flesh away from the rest of the residences.

"You seem to have won a great battle here, sir."

"We did, but this is only the first step. This place needs a lot of work before it is functional, and even then I'm not sure what the next step is."

The complex was about half the size that Konoha was, and after the battle it was in worse shape than Neji would have liked, but he was still satisfied with the location. There were dozens of buildings that needed repairs, but he could already see several ways for them to utilise the location as a town area and training ground.

He looked around and saw that he had slept longer than he had intended, the sun was already a third of the way up in the sky. He turned to ask Kidomaru to get everyone up, but didn't bother when he saw that all of his Sound shinobi had already gathered in the staging area of the complex.

"Were you successful?" he asked quietly.

The Sound Jounin nodded and crossed two sets of his arms, "I've got the locations. Not sure why you'd want to know them though."

"Consider them insurance, nothing more."

They descended down the staircase that led to Neji's residence slowly, the leader making little observations about the Sound shinobi beneath them. He could see that they were all well rested and ready to work, and when they saw him coming there were a mixture of emotions on their faces.

He was relieved to see that none of them seemed to resent him; he had learnt how to read that emotion a long time ago.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Zaku from the centre once they reached the others.

"We need to make this place more appropriate for shinobi. Setting traps, appropriate residences, the lot. Then we can focus on making a name for ourselves."

Dosu looked at some of his companions before hobbling forward, "We were talking…and we think you should approach the three main clans that used to be part of the old Sound Village."

Neji nodded with a grim expression, "I agree. If their numbers are anything like what I think, then we could have a real force at our disposal."

"Sir…if you don't mind me asking…what is our plan?"

Neji noticed that Jin was a little nervous; he'd probably lost a bet with the others and was forced to ask that question. He knew that both Orochimaru and Kabuto ruled through fear, and that wasn't the relationship he wanted to have with his subordinates.

He looked over the faces of the Sound shinobi again, he had a tendency to do that since he liked to see what everyone's reactions were a lot of the time. "We are becoming a proper shinobi village. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to live underground and work out of there."

He gestured to the complex to the side of them, "This is now our home. We don't have that many of us right now, but eventually I want us to be a force to be reckoned with in this country."

He could see some of them were a bit apprehensive, but he continued his speech. "With Konoha no longer around, there is a large power vacuum that has yet to be filled. I believe, and yesterday showed me, that we can be that power."

"That sounds…ambitious" said Jin, a slow smile growing across his face. "I like it."

"We have a lot of work to do, and only a set amount of time before the other villages realise that the Sound is still a force in this world. Secrecy is essential at this stage."

He smiled slowly when he looked over some of the shinobi that he didn't know that much about just yet. "If anyone has any family they wish to bring here they are welcome to do so. Anyone that isn't doing that, I want to return to the old village and gather as many of the resources we were unable to bring with us. We should have enough food to last a long time, but we'll need money as well."

They seemed to wait for a few seconds after Neji had finished, but when it became clear that he was done the Sound shinobi went about their business.

"You seem to have a flair for this kind of thing, sir" said Kidomaru with a grin.

Neji turned to his subordinate and returned the smile. "Perhaps. Before we get the clans though, we need a bankroll. Once the village is set up, I want to negotiate with the Daimyo."

Kidomaru cracked several of his hands in anticipation, "Things seem to be progressing smoothly then."

"For now."

oOoOoOo

Neji was using his Byakugan to indicate where he wanted Jiroubo to create escape tunnels with his Earth techniques when he saw Tayuya making her way towards their position. He gave his instructions and dismissed the large shinobi, welcoming the illusionist cautiously. He knew she, like Sakon, wasn't very happy with his assuming a leadership role, but recognised that she was an important part of their standing force.

"Something I can help you with?" he asked neutrally.

Tayuya snarled and swore under her breath, standing just that little bit too close to him. "I don't know what your plans are, but don't think I'll ever trust a shinobi from Konoha."

Her leader frowned and crossed his arms, not at all intimidated by her demeanour. "I'm not from Konoha. I'm from the Sound."

She snickered, "Nice line. Practise it often?"

"You have a problem with me? Leave. But since they seems beyond you, perhaps you should get back to your work."

The pink haired shinobi went to reach for her flute in her pocket but the glare Neji gave her, almost daring her to do it, caused her to hesitate and step away from him.

Without another word she turned around and walked away from him, leaving him to continue planning their village's construction.

Tayuya swore loudly when she reached her house, slamming a fist into the side of the building, which caused several cracks to appear in the stone.

"It's not like you to back down from a fight. Has the lioness been tamed?"

She looked up at the figure sitting on top of her assumed residence, spitting on the ground loudly.

"Screw you, Kidomaru. I'm not like you, lapping at his whims."

The spider-like shinobi laughed and dropped to the ground to stand in front of his teammate. "Is that what you really believe? That I'm pandering?"

"Then what is your excuse?"

"Excuse? You saw it earlier. You know why we are here, doing this."

Tayuya thought about what her teammate was saying, and it slowly dawned on her. She fixed her six-armed teammate with a stare. "The look in his eyes…"

Kidomaru nodded slowly, "It's the same as Orochimaru-sama. He's not the same man, but…"

She swore again and shoved past him, swinging open the door to her residence. "Fine. I'll listen, for now. But don't expect me to like it."

Kidomaru laughed again as she slammed the door behind her. Like Sakon, their female teammate was a task to get used to, but when it came down to it he knew that Tayuya would land on their side of seeing things. She was a confusing woman to be sure, but she knew the value of strength, and could recognise a good thing when she saw it.

He considered what he thought himself for a few seconds before shaking his head with a smile and turning back to see the others going about their business.

oOoOoOo

At the end of the day's work Neji had told the shinobi to go into the nearby town and take a load off, figuring that they earned it after the impressive additions they had created for the village. There were hundreds of traps laid under the ground around the village, and a Sound shinobi called Toriko had informed Neji that they would only be triggered when the guards triggered them. He had been impressed with their initiative, and was rather proud of the work they had done.

On top of an alcove looked over the village, Dosu joined his leader with a grim expression. "Things seem to be coming together nicely, sir."

"That they are, Dosu. I must say, I wasn't expecting this kind of drive from our people."

He handed Neji a cup of tea and stood beside his leader. "How long until we go?"

Neji sipped the tea and sighed, it was surprisingly good quality considering it came from the bandits' storage facilities. "I think we'll be up and running soon. How's the attitude among the others?"

"Cautious. They aren't sure what to make of you just yet. But you are making the right calls so far."

Neji smiled slowly, while he was making it up as he went along it felt good to see some of his plans coming together, though he was reserving judgement until the whole picture came into focus.

He sat quietly for a few minutes, taking in the view of the night across the village.

"Something is troubling you" said Dosu flatly.

His leader placed down his cup and indicated for Dosu to sit down beside him. "I…can't remember what my father looked like."

"Oh?"

"It's nothing serious; he died when I was very young. It's just whenever I feel troubled I try to remember what my father would do. But lately…"

Dosu stared at the Hyuuga with his single eye. "I understand, sir. These are interesting times to be sure."

Neji shook himself out of it and looked at his subordinate. "I know it might be distasteful, but I want to know everything I need to about the other shinobi. If I'm to be a good leader, I need to know what I'm working with."

Even under his bandages, Dosu expressed a long smile. "You are started to sound more like a Sound shinobi, Hyuuga-sama. Let me work up a list for you."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I've been waiting to write this chapter for practically two months. That might be why it only took three days to write.

The next chapter will be continuing his story. It only gets more interesting from here.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	32. Chapter 30 NEJI Necessary Tasks

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 30 – Neji – Necessary Tasks

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Hidden Sound would still be relevant.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

While preparing to die protecting his friends Neji was amazed to see that the ten remaining Sound shinobi had surrendered to him. A short explanation, accompanied by his three short-term allies, and Neji got the picture. By killing Kabuto and removing the Cursed Seals from both them and the Sound Four afterwards, Neji had unintentionally demonstrated that he was a natural leader. The Sound Four had mixed reactions to his presence, but with Kidomaru and Jiroubo's assistance Neji was more or less dragooned into assuming leadership over the Sound remnants. Working under the assumption that he was the only one left, Neji decided to take the role and make it his own. After a few colourful encounters within the ranks, he helped his newly acquired subordinates destroy an army of bandits that was occupying a complex that they decided would be the place for their new village to begin. Neji experienced a few minor memory lapses, but seemed to be in control as he began making plans for the new Hidden Village of Sound, with him at the top.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Four Weeks after Separation***<p>

Placing the heavy pack on the ground, Neji wiped his brow and looked over the results of their work. He wouldn't have thought it possible in just a month, but their village was more or less prepared for the next stage of Neji's plan.

Dropping his pack of supplies next to his leader, Zaku sighed and rubbed his shoulders. "I need a vacation."

"Quit your complaining, shithead." Tayuya resisted the urge to smack him across the head. Last time she had done that she had been attacked by his teammate Kin, the two of them had to be pulled apart by their Hyuuga leader.

Across from them Kidomaru led the rest of the Sound shinobi back into the village, each of sighing as they dropped their packs as well. It was the final set of supplies from the old underground village, with that they were almost completely settled into their new village.

Neji had allowed them to bring whomever they please into the village, so long as they didn't compromise the security of the village. Some of the older shinobi brought their families into the village, and with only a few fights between them they were getting along relatively well too.

"So who is going tomorrow?" asked Jin quietly. He had brought his wife to the village, a fascinating woman who had given him five children, all of whom looked nothing like either of their parents.

Neji breathed out slowly and turned around, regarding the seventeen shinobi that he had come to know fairly well over the past month. He indicated to the three unofficially promoted Jounin.

"Dosu, Zaku and Kin will accompany me to the capital. I would take more of you, but I don't want to intimidate the Daimyo."

Sakon let out a characteristic tsk, "What about the rest of us? Shall we play house?"

Neji ignored the barb and motioned to the others of the group. "Jiroubo, I want you to coordinate with the others and continue to fortify the village. If our meeting goes well, then our numbers may blossom rather quickly."

The large shinobi nodded his acknowledgement of the order quietly. He had been very receptive to Neji's leadership, which was a comfort to the young leader if nothing else.

"Jin, I have a mission for you to take Toriko, Mia and Fujiro on. I want you to meet me at the central hub in an hour. For now, you are dismissed."

"Yes sir" said Jin, giving the Hyuuga shinobi a quick salute before moving towards his home and loving wife. The others mentioned also broke off and went back for their well-earned rest, leaving Neji to regard his main seven shinobi.

"Is there a specific building you would like created first?" asked Jiroubo. He had spent much of the month remodelling the village to be more suitable location. It was fairly dull work, but after constructing a hospital building out of stone he had taken a measure of pride in his work.

Neji nodded in response, "It occurred to me that we don't have a dedicated armoury yet. When we get the supplies that'll be our main focus. Can you do that before we get back?"

The Earth-user grinned slowly, "With some help, it'll be ready, sir."

"Good. Now, Kidomaru, you know what to do?"

"Of course. I've almost got the second location worked out. I'll know by the time you return."

Neji thanked him for his hard work and dismissed both him and Jiroubo. It felt a little strange giving orders to the slightly older shinobi, but once he had been through the motions it was no longer a problem for him.

Before they could make a comment, Neji cut off the remaining members of the Sound Four with a wave of his hand. He had given the four of them the rank of ANBU of the Hidden Sound, and that had kept them happy, but these two seemed frequently angry at everything around them.

"Sakon, Ukon, Tayuya…" He had made it a point to mention both of the twins, particularly since Ukon was the more calm-minded of the two of them. "I had a very important task for you, one that is vital to the survival of our village."

Sakon and Tayuya stared at each other for a few seconds before looking back at their leader.

"Since finishing off the bandits here a month ago, I've had Kidomaru find the other bandits in the Land of Rice Fields."

He watched the smiles come across their faces, "Feel like flushing them out?"

Tayuya swore lightly, an amused yet satisfied word that would be entirely inappropriate in general conversation. "I guess we could do that."

Her grey-haired companion grinned and looked down at her, "Bet you I destroy more hideouts than you."

"You're on, shit-for-brains."

Neji sighed at the sound of the competition. "You can do what you like with the bandits, but no civilians."

"We know, we know. Have a little faith. We aren't the same as when we were affected by the Cursed Seal."

The two of them left the group, and Neji regarded his last three companions. Of all the Sound shinobi he had gotten closest to them, and they had proven to be very useful in advancing their cause.

"We leave in the morning?" Dosu sounded as disinterested as ever, but Neji had learnt to read the different tones in the sound-user's voice.

Neji nodded, "Yes. We'll need to secure the village first, but meeting the Daimyo is our top priority. With his support we can start to get missions, which provides us with a bankroll."

"What makes you think this'll work?" Zaku didn't mean to discourage his commander, but it was an opinion that several of their village had expressed to the Jounin recently.

"It's why Konoha was so successful. Not because they had the best shinobi, or the best field position. It was because they had the best connections with the right politicians."

"Why are you taking us? Surely you can negotiate on your own." Kin had changed her outfit slightly and now wore her hair in two long braids threaded with razor sharp needles. He wasn't sure why she had made the change, but he had seen her in combat and it certainly didn't hinder her movements.

Neji crossed his arms and sat down on a nearby stone step. "We aren't Konoha. We don't have the influence or the muscle to garner political favour. If the meeting goes south, I want my best people at my side."

They all smiled at the compliment, knowing that Neji wasn't the type to give out comments like that without reason. He had faith in them.

"You guys should get some rest. It's a long way to the capital, and we'll need to leave early."

They gave him a quick salute and left for their houses. Neji watched them go with a smile before looking over to where he had been living for the past month. He wasn't sure what the future held for him or his village, but if the next few days went well then they would be well on their way to establishing a fully-fledged shinobi village.

* * *

><p>It took them two days to get to the capital town of the Land of Rice Fields. While they were in a relatively poor country, Neji had to admit there was a nice décor to the capital town.<p>

They entered the town as the sun was slowly setting across the horizon. It was still warm enough to think it was still summer, but Neji insisted on wearing his Hyuuga robe whenever he could. His three companions wore their Sound forehead protectors with pride, and initially Neji had expressed an interest doing the same, but the other Sound shinobi had pointed out that as the leader it wasn't necessary. He figured it had something to do with presence, but didn't push the subject.

The town attached to the Daimyo's complex was very busy compared to their own village. People were moving and chatting between themselves from one stall to another. Neji noted with a small smile that you could never tell that there had recently been a war in their country, by how its civilians went about their daily business, moving from one stand to the next.

A few townsfolk stared at them while they walked through the town, commenting among themselves about what they saw. Initially Neji thought it was because they didn't see shinobi from their village too often in public, at least not in a positive manner. But it didn't take long for him to realise that they were staring at him.

"Do I stand out so much?" he asked quietly.

Walking in front of him with his arms crossed, Zaku turned his head slightly. "Well I wouldn't be trying to sneak into a dark room in that outfit."

The other two accompanying him let out a short laugh while Neji glared daggers into his subordinates back.

"I think it's the formation, sir. We probably look like a gang or such."

Neji grinned at Kin, "I did find a collection of cigars in my house the other day. Perhaps I should have brought them with me."

On the other side of Neji, Dosu rolled his single eye. "I thought we weren't here to intimidate him."

Their Hyuuga leader conceded the sound-users point and indicated for them to continue through the town. He'd tried to tell the three of them to relax on their trip, but they seemed to be constantly on the lookout for anyone that might dare attack them. Having seen how they fight, Neji had no wish to start a fight in a populated area. There was a good reason he didn't bring his new ANBU with him, despite how strong they were. He didn't want to deal with the inevitable collateral damage.

They reached the end of the town and looked up at the long laneway that led up to the Daimyo's complex. Neji stared up at the sky for a few seconds before looking back at his shinobi.

"How long do you think until our meeting?"

"Half an hour, maybe less" replied Kin with a yawn.

Zaku let out a scoff, "I don't understand why we don't just go in. It's not like he can stand up to us."

Neji shook his head slowly, "That's not the point, Zaku. We need to be working with the Daimyo, not intimidating him. It doesn't benefit us when he resents us."

"Fair point I suppose."

Kin gave the air-user a complementary smack on the head, which Zaku begrudgingly accepted without comment. "What are we going to do until then? I'm pretty hungry."

Her white-robed leader looked around the area for a little bit before his white eyes rested on a specific area to the east. He let a ghost of a smile come onto his face before turning back to his three bodyguards.

"Why don't the three of you go get some rest? It's going to be a long night, after all."

"What about you?" Dosu knew that he was up to something; he could hear it in his voice. It was a skill he had honed over years of working for Orochimaru. He could hear the slightest fluctuations in a speaker's voice meaning he was able to instantly tell if someone was lying or not, and if he concentrated he could hear to such an extent over extremely large areas. Neji often had Dosu cover him purely by sound, and the hunched shinobi got the feeling this was the same kind of situation.

Neji pointed to the area he had looked over previously. It was a tree-covered path leading up to a small shrine covered by cherry-blossom trees. "I want to pay my respects."

The other two of their group went to comment, but he cut them off with his hand. "Alone."

He could see they weren't happy, but they nodded their acknowledgement nonetheless. Zaku and Kin went back into town with the intention of have a bit of food together. Neji and Dosu shared a look before both shaking their heads. Neji had suspected it from the outset, and Dosu had figured it out well both the two of them even knew themselves. It hadn't progressed very far, but Neji suspected that given a little push they would come together.

"Are you going to be alright, sir?"

Neji bobbed his head slightly, "I just want to say a few things to the shrine, that's all. You should get your strength back too. I'll need you to start your mission once the meeting starts."

The hunched shinobi gave the Hyuuga a slight bow, "Yes sir, Dasaiamai."

"Go away now, Dosu."

oOoOoOo

Neji walked up the steps with his hands in the sleeves of his robe. He hadn't been to an ancestral shrine in many years, and with the destruction of his old home he hadn't felt like doing so until now. He knew it would be a bit strange not praying at a Hyuuga altar, but he'd felt a bit mellow since most of the construction of his village had been finished.

He grinned to himself as he kept climbing the steps.

_I wonder what the others from Konoha would think of me acting all sentimental. _

Neji reached the top of the steps quickly. While his mind was full of old memories of friends long gone he didn't notice that someone else was at the shrine praying silently until he was already there.

As a shinobi he had an unconscious habit of walking without making a sound, so the other person hadn't noticed his approach at all. Neji took a moment to look over the other occupant of the shrine, admitting to himself that it wasn't someone he would have expected at such a place.

Sitting on her knees with her head slightly bowed was a young girl that looked about Neji's age, though he could only see her from the back. She had a long set of silvery white hair that almost touched the ground from her seated position, and she wore a jet black kimono that contrasted her hair quite starkly.

Neji saw no reason to be cautious around such a person, so he quietly moved to the side and knelt down in a similar fashion, clasping his hands together while bowing his head at the shrine.

If the young girl was disturbed by his presence she made no mention of it, the two of them praying quietly at the shrine for a few minutes before Neji stood up slowly.

He went to turn around and leave, but the young girl turned slightly to face him.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you come here?"

Being a reasonably good observer of emotion, Neji could sense the sadness in her otherwise pleasant sounding voice. He looked down at her with a response on his lips, but froze the moment he saw her face.

She had an attractive set of facial features, but Neji was immediately drawn to her eyes. She was staring at him with the fullest set of violet-coloured eyes, one that was both enticing and fascinating.

Despite himself, he gave her a short smile. "I don't mind."

He sat back down, this time facing the young girl. "I came here to honour my friends, who are no longer here."

The girl gave him a short bow from her seated position but continued to stare at him with her violet eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss. Were they good people?"

Neji couldn't help but grin a little while he looked at the shrine. "At times. Sometimes they could really get on my nerves, but I do miss them."

He noticed that she didn't seem deterred by his own white-coloured gaze, which was a rare quality in a civilian. Most of the time people were unsettled by his eyes, and Neji often used it to his advantage.

"What about you? Why are you here so late in the day?"

She sighed and turned back to look at the candle-laden shrine. "I…have my own reasons."

"Oh?" He didn't know why, but a part of him wanted to know why she had such a sad expression on her face. He only had a few minutes before he had to go back, but for once Neji let his instincts guide him.

She looked at him for a few seconds before turning away. "I shouldn't say. It wouldn't be proper."

"Isn't that the point of confiding in a stranger?" He could tell she wasn't convinced, but put his hand up anyway. "You don't have to see me again, and you'll find I'm good at keeping things to myself."

The girl looked at him with suspicion, but Neji knew what it was like to need someone to confide in. He'd been lucky in that, before his untimely death, Gai had been a welcome ear to Neji's misgivings, and once he had gotten past their fight Lee was also a reasonable confident.

"But I will understand if you don't wish to talk. I know what it's like to want your own space."

"It's…it's not that. I don't know how to say it, that's all."

Neji placed his hands in his robe's sleeves and smiled slowly at her. He couldn't quite place it, but something about her reminded him of someone he used to know.

_It's not hesitation like Hinata used to suffer from…it is apprehension. _

He stood up slowly from the ground and turned to face the steps behind them. "I apologise for intruding then. Have a pleasant night, young lady. I'll take my leave."

He went to take a step, but paused when he heard a slight change in her breathing. As a Sound shinobi he had been working on his hearing to bring it up to speed with the others, an appropriate ability for the leader of their village.

A tug on his robe caused him to hesitate and turn around; though he couldn't see her face he could tell by her body movements that she was uncomfortable. He sat back down opposite her and waited.

"I'm…scared."

Neji cocked his head slightly, "What are you scared of?" He made sure to use a soft tone, but there was something that told him he needed to proceed cautiously.

She let go of his robe and placed her hands on her black dress. "Too many things. War, people close to me dying, not enough food…"

Neji frowned slowly, "Those are normal. But I sense it's something greater for you."

"You see a fair bit, don't you?"

He smiled and pointed to his eyes, "These things aren't for show. Now are you going to tell me what's troubling you?"

"I don't want to be a prisoner."

Neji could tell that was the real issue by the quivering of her voice, but he wasn't sure how someone like her could be a prisoner. She was very beautiful in his eyes, though he reserved judgement on such matters until he truly knew her personality.

"I don't understand. Is someone threatening you?"

She shook her head slowly, "It's not like that. I…as a man you wouldn't understand."

"You'd be surprised at what I can understand. So you are scared of becoming a maiden?"

She frowned at him, but even that didn't disrupt her features in a bad way. "It's not like that at all. I've gotten to an age where I should start a family. But I'm worried that I won't be relevant once I'm there."

Neji crossed his arms and considered what she said. Having spent his entire life surrounded by women who were shinobi or planning to be shinobi, Neji never considered the role that civilian women played in society.

"Are you scared of being ignored? Or being abused?"

She glanced at him for a few seconds before looking back at the shrine. "Maybe both…I don't know." Her violet eyes slowly tracked their way back to his white globes. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Neji smiled again at her and stood up slowly, "What can I say? I'm a good listener."

He turned around and took a step towards the stairs leading back to the rest of the village. Taking a step down the staircase he turned his head slightly so that he could look at her with a grim smile.

"Birds can only fly freely once they have broken out of their cage."

With that he left her to her thoughts, making his way towards the Daimyo's complex. He wondered if he should have stayed and talked to her some more, but he knew that his time was up. The meeting with the Daimyo was more important than talking to a pretty girl.

As he walked down the steps however, he couldn't get that pair of violet globes out of his head.

* * *

><p>The others were already waiting by the time Neji got to the entrance to the Daimyo's complex. Both Zaku and Kin gave him grief for being late, while Dosu merely stood with a grin on his face. Neji could tell he was grinning even through the bandages. He shook his head to the sound-user and regarded the three of them.<p>

"Okay, here is the plan."

He indicated to Zaku and Kin. "You two will accompany me into the meeting. I know this might sound rude, but I don't want either of you to say anything. We aren't here to intimidate him, but we still need to show presence."

They nodded slowly and acknowledged why Neji had asked them to act in such a manner. It was why he had brought them and not his ANBU. Besides Jiroubo, the other three wouldn't have been able to keep their mouths shut.

"So while we are acting as statues, what is shorty here going to be doing?"

Dosu glared at his male teammate, "I'm not short, I hunch. There is a difference."

"You're still short."

"Enough." If Neji didn't intervene he knew they would argue to the point of Kin being forced to break them up, and he didn't need the hassle.

"Were you able to make the exchange?"

Dosu nodded and gave Neji a small sheet of paper. The Hyuuga leader nodded as he read over the information before destroying the note. "This is good. Can you settle this by the time we finish our meeting?"

"Of course, sir. How much discretion can I have in dealing with it?" Dosu turned to face the town with a grim look.

Neji breathed out slowly and motioned for the others to accompany him. "As much as necessary. If you have to kill him then do it. But remember, we want this whole thing to work."

Dosu nodded slightly and disappeared without a sound. His other two bodyguards looked at him curiously, but he waved away their questions. There were some things that not everyone in the village needed to know, and their skills were useful in other areas.

"Let's go. We don't want to keep our host waiting."

oOoOoOo

It had taken a month to arrange the meeting with the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields. While he wasn't at the same level as the Daimyos of the Five Countries, the Daimyo was still a powerful political force in the world. It was a careful task of correctly placed bribes and even a few veiled threats to be able to get a personal meeting with the generally reclusive Daimyo, without him knowing the real purpose of the meeting.

Neji figured that when he originally created the Hidden Sound, Orochimaru had been fairly 'persuasive' with the Daimyo to let him begin a shinobi village, but he also figured that the relationship was strained at best considering the deceased leader.

The spear-wielding guards bowed in respect as they made their way through the complex. They seemed to stiffen at the sight of the shinobi forehead protectors, but Neji noted with interest that they didn't freeze up when he stared at them.

_Surprisingly well trained guards. I'd be best not to underestimate this man. _

A guard wearing a golden helmet halted them just before they reached the main house in the complex. He didn't quite threaten them to stop, but it was heavily implied.

"What is your business here?" he asked bluntly. Unlike the other guards he didn't wield a spear; instead there were two scimitars at his side. At first it didn't look like it, but Neji could tell he was an expert with such weaponry.

Both Zaku and Kin glared at the guard captain, but as Neji had instructed they said nothing. Their leader took a step forward and smiled.

"Blood flows freely when people find ways to disagree."

The captain's demeanour changed instantly upon hearing that, even smiling slightly. "Ah, so you are here. I wasn't expecting you to come today."

Neji stared at the captain with a frown, "Our agreement is still in place?"

"Of course." He moved slightly so that he was out of their way and bowed slightly. "You'll need to see the housecarl first."

The Hyuuga shinobi nodded his thanks and the three of them entered the house. It reminded him of one of the Main Branch's houses, but with less signage than the Hyuuga used to use. It was fairly large, and even at night it was bustling with house servants.

They seemed to be surprised by their presence, but before they could be questioned a large woman came out of nowhere and practically shoved them into a nearby room. Both Zaku and Kin adopted defensive positions instantly and moved to cover Neji, but he waved their concern away.

"Are you the housecarl?"

The large woman made sure that the room was secure before stared at the three of them. "I am Lord Yama's beloved housecarl. Do you three mind telling me why you are disturbing our household at this time of night?"

Neji hesitated at her tirade against them. The information he had gotten on her was comprehensive, but seeing it was another thing entirely.

_If I don't succeed here, then our work will be for nothing. _

He swallowed slowly and pulled out a small bell from his robe. The large woman stared at it with curiosity, but the moment it chimed she stood rigid and her eyes went dark.

Both Zaku and Kin stared at her for a few seconds before walking around her with fascination.

"What is this?" asked Zaku.

Neji grinned slowly and placed the bell back into his robe. "You ever wondered why Tayuya was so annoyed with me for the past week?"

"Because she's a horrible person?" said Kin quickly.

"Unrequited sexual tension?"

The two of them just glared at Zaku for a few seconds, before Neji shook his head slowly.

"Neither of those…and I should tell her you said that Zaku. I had Tayuya hypnotise some of the working staff, so that the Daimyo wouldn't get wind of our true purpose. A bit excessive perhaps but necessary."

Kin waved a hand in front of the large woman's face, "So what's the plan then?"

Her leader clicked in front of the large woman and stepped backwards. Her eyes seemed to glaze over, and for a few seconds he suspected that Tayuya's hypnosis hadn't been as successful as the foul-mouthed illusionist claimed it to be. But when the housecarl bowed to him and opened the door for them to walk through he knew she was just as good as he knew her to be.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and signalled for his two bodyguards to follow him as the large woman led them into a nearby corridor. She moved with a quick pace as they went through the house. The Sound shinobi noticed that when they travelled with the housecarl none of the servants gave them a second look, which was Neji's plan in the first place. After five minutes of walking they came to a large sliding double door and the housecarl indicated for them to enter without her.

The room was large enough to hold nearly thirty people, Neji indicating for his two bodyguards to take positions on either side of the doorway. He stared at them and silently reminded them that they weren't to talk. They both nodded with bored expressions, but kept their postures defensive nonetheless.

Neji knelt on the cushion and placed his hands on long table in the middle of the room. It felt quite strange being in this kind of situation, in the position he currently held. Growing up in the Branch House, he had resigned himself to the life of a bodyguard. The highest position he could have aspired to was the one his father had held. While sitting and waiting Neji tried to remember what that position was called, but the name seemed to elude him.

_That's the third time this month I've forgotten something important from the past. _

He left the problem to another time when he saw the opposite double door slide open. He kept his personal observations to himself and was hoping that his two bodyguards were doing the same.

The Daimyo, at least Neji assumed it was the country leader by his demeanour, was not a small man by any measure. The Hyuuga leader could have sworn that the ground was actually shaking as the large man entered the room and stared at the three of them. He had a large grey beard and was fairly conservatively garbed considering his girth, yet given the information he had Neji knew that this had to be the man they had come all this way to see.

The Daimyo entered with three guards that weren't armed, but when his small eyes noticed the two forehead protectors he immediately froze in fear.

"Wha…what are you doing here? Didn't you get our tribute already?"

Neji stood up slowly, making sure that his stance was in no way aggressive. He bowed deeply to the large man, "We no longer operate that way, sir. I am Hyuuga Neji, the new leader of Otogakure."

He'd spent a large amount of time arguing with his shinobi about how to represent their village, and they had finally settled on representing themselves no longer as a 'Hidden Village', but rather as similar to Konoha and Suna as a named presence.

The Daimyo stared at him, "Why are you here then? Are you here to extort more money from me?"

Neji shook his head and indicated for the Daimyo to take a seat. "I am taking our village in a new direction, and that's why I am here."

"My information suggests that your village was recently destroyed, with no survivors."

"We survived, and have relocated. Please, shall we talk?"

The Daimyo was suspicious of Neji's intentions, but took a seat opposite him on the table, an act that would have knocked Neji off of his feet had he not been prepared for it. Neji sat back down and thanked the Daimyo for the opportunity. The guards behind the Daimyo still seemed on edge, but the fact that the country leader was sitting at the same table as Neji was a positive indicator.

"Why are you here then?" It was a simple question, but the Hyuuga shinobi knew that his next answer determined the Daimyo's reaction to his plan.

"I recently came into a leadership role within our village, and I am taking our shinobi village on a path that is very different from the one that the previous leaders have taken it on. For our new direction however, I require your help."

The Daimyo frowned and leaned forward onto his large stomach. "You sound very different to the shinobi I have spoken to in the past. But I'm not seeing an answer here."

Neji smiled slowly, the Daimyo was cleverer than he would have thought. He was a heavy set man that looked like he had eaten a smaller man for breakfast, but despite the fear in his eyes he could tell the man was a cunning politician.

_If he was able to survive the previous leaders of Otogakure…this might actually work. _

"With Konoha destroyed, there is a power vacuum in the world. Now I know that you haven't had the best relations with our village in the past, but I've come here to tell you that we want to work with you to make this country stronger."

The Daimyo leaned back with a snort, "That's the same thing Orochimaru said when he initially proposed the idea of us having a shinobi village. Then he decided to murder my father and extort us for money and 'test subjects'. Why should I trust anything you say?"

Neji took a slow breath, this part was important. He leaned onto the table and stared at the Daimyo through his white eyes. "Because the Daimyo of the Land of Fire was assassinated two months ago, more than a year after his shinobi village was destroyed. The other countries have been marshalling their strengths, and you know that you don't have the means to defend yourself or this country."

"And this is supposed to intimidate me into helping you?"

"No, it's meant to give you some perspective. We came here to forge an alliance with you, for both our benefits."

For the next few minutes the Daimyo didn't say anything, placing his hands together and staring at Neji intently. The Hyuuga shinobi could see the range of different emotions in the large man's eyes, and he could see that he was slowly getting to the country leader.

Finally the Daimyo leaned back and breathed out slowly. He looked back at the shinobi, not able to read anything from Neji's stoic features. "Do you have a plan?"

"I do. Would you like to hear it?"

The Daimyo turned slightly and motioned to his guards. They bowed slightly and exited the room without a word. He turned back and gave Neji a wide smile.

"Let's discuss this over a light snack."

oOoOoOo

The Daimyo bellowed out a laugh and clapped his stomach. He didn't quite spit food onto the table, but Neji figured that the large man was probably holding back due to his company.

"That's quite a bold plan. I must confess you have me most intrigued."

Neji took a sip from his tea with a smile. "Can I count on your support then?"

The large man placed down the large drumstick in his hand and wiped his chin. "Now hold on, young man. You've explained what you are doing, and it is certainly impressive."

"But?" Neji knew it was coming, he had sensed a slight amount of apprehension in the Daimyo's presence for a little while now but wasn't sure of its origin.

"I don't think you are giving me enough credit."

The Hyuuga shinobi took a slow breath and clasped his hands together. "What do you mean?"

A few maids came in to remove their plates, not saying a word as the two leaders continued their conversation. Neji could feel his bodyguards' boredom behind him, he was tempted to dismiss them so they could rest, but he didn't want to let his guard down. During their conversation the Daimyo had shown himself to be quite a shrewd politician and much cleverer than Neji would have originally thought.

"You would have me and my country act as a bankroll for your village, which in turn will assist in making the Land of Rice Fields a country worth remembering."

"I don't quite see where the problem is" said Neji quickly.

His would-be ally leaned back on cushion while still looking at Neji with a stare. "If we are to forge an alliance, then I think you are underestimating how useful I can truly be. I understand you wanting to create a shinobi village worthy of the Five, but perhaps we can work out a more efficient plan."

Neji frowned slightly, he hadn't considering that. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been working on a Konoha-based strategy, with some heavy modifications of course.

"What do you propose then?"

"You are of a young age, and from speaking with you this past hour I can tell that you are a man of both integrity and ambition. I would call for a union of equals."

"I fail to see the difference between the previous plan and this one, if you don't mind me saying. Are you suggesting we run the village out of your town?"

With a strange look on his face, the Daimyo leaned forward slightly onto the table.

"I have a young daughter around your age. I would have you join our houses and work together in collaboration."

Neji nearly fell off his cushion in surprise. It seemed so obvious, yet he seemed to have completely missed that angle.

_I could have proposed that in the first place, and forced an alliance through that. _

He quickly dismissed the negative thought; he didn't want to run things that way. It didn't seem so strange a concept to him, the Hyuuga had often performed arranged marriages in order to keep their bloodline 'pure'. He found the entire idea distasteful, but if it meant both the safety and advancement of his village and its people, he didn't see that he had a choice.

"Should I not meet the girl before we decide her fate? I don't want to impose on somebody I haven't even met yet."

The Daimyo stood up from the table and for a moment Neji was afraid he had offended the large man. However his fears were for naught as the Daimyo burst out laughing, clapping his belly in a strange manner. "You are a cautious man, Hyuuga Neji. I can appreciate that in an ally."

He called in a maid and whispered an order to her with a grin. He then bowed to Neji and took his leave of the room, leaving him with his two bodyguards.

Neji breathed out slowly and stood up from his seat, stretching out his sore legs. He turned around to see the impatient yet amused faces of his subordinates. Zaku went to make a comment, but Neji shook his head to indicate that they weren't out of the woods just yet.

"I need the two of you to step out for a moment."

To their credit they didn't move an inch; he couldn't help but feel proud of their commitment. But if he was to make a good impression on this girl, he didn't need the two of them glaring daggers into her.

"I know what you want to say, but you'll need to trust me on this."

They looked at each other for a moment before both shrugging and exiting the room. He knew that they would be listening in regardless of what he would order them to do, but Neji ignored that fact and turned his attention back to the room.

_Regardless of what she looks like, I have to make nice. I don't have a choice in this matter, but I don't want to force her either. I'll need to be…charming._

He knelt back down onto the cushion and stared at the closed door.

_I know it seems petty, but if there is a god please let her be easy on the eyes. _

He couldn't help but hold his breath as the sliding double door opposite him slowly opened.

oOoOoOo

There were a thousand possibilities running through Neji's mind when the door opened, but none of them prepared him for what entered the room and sat down opposite him.

"You…you're the daughter of the Daimyo?"

The young girl smiled slowly and regarded him with the pair striking violet-coloured eyes that had been haunting him for the past two hours. She was still wearing the dark black kimono that he had seen her wearing earlier, but she had placed her stunning silver-white hair into a bun behind her head, in a manner more befitting a girl of her stature.

"You're that surprised?" Her tone was surprisingly neutral; she seemed neither happy nor displeased with his presence.

Neji smiled and placed a hand on his chin, "Our previous conversation makes a lot more sense now actually."

She nodded and continued smiling without any real emotion in it.

"Do you know what your father and I have been discussing?" asked Neji.

"It doesn't matter that much to me at this time. I know what my father intends however. I don't see what choice I have."

Neji leaned forward and placed a hand across the table between them. "You always have a choice. That's what I said before, and I stand by it now."

"And if I say no? Wouldn't that ruin your plans?"

Neji smirked slightly, "I wouldn't hold it against you. I know what it's like to be stuck in a cage."

She stared at him in a manner that wasn't particularly unsettling in any way, but he could see her making little observations about him during the silent exchange.

Suddenly she stood up from the table, gathering her black dress around her legs before stepping back from the table. Neji caught himself glancing at her bare legs before they were covered by her kimono.

_There is a god, clearly. I'm not in the clear yet though. This is a girl who…_

He found his thought cut off when he saw her spin around in place and face the door. Even from the back he couldn't help but be intrigued by her. It wasn't something he had experienced before, even when he was surrounded by beautiful women. There was a difference, in Neji's eyes, between beautiful and striking.

"Okay."

At first Neji wasn't quite sure he had heard her right, considering she wasn't looking at him, but it slowly dawned on him what had happened.

"Re…really?" He stood up slowly, trying and failing to hide a warm smile. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

She was still staring at the door, but he could see her visibly relaxing. "I know a good person when I see one. With you…I wouldn't be a prisoner. I would be my own person."

With that she reached out and opened the sliding door slowly.

Neji smiled even wider and began thinking about what this meant for his plans, but he suddenly realised that there was something he had forgotten.

"Um…this might sound strange, but I never caught your name."

She froze just as she was above to leave the room. The young girl turned slightly and smiled straight at him. It was the single most beautiful thing Neji had ever seen; he swore his heart had literally skipped a beat at that moment.

"My name is Yuko Yama. It's a pleasure to meet you…"

"Hyuuga Neji. I guess we'll be finding out more about each other over the next little while."

She gave him a slight wave and walked out of the room. "We've got some time."

He waited until she was out of earshot before turning around and opening his own door. He stared at his two bodyguards and sighed as he saw them snickering.

"The two of you are done for the night. Go do whatever it is you want, as I work out the details with the Daimyo."

They bowed slightly and went to leave, but Zaku leant down and whispered into his leader's ear.

"Nice pull sir. She's quite a catch."

Neji grinned and stood back from his subordinate.

"Toilet-cleaning duty, Zaku. I'm not kidding."

The air-used gave him a salute with a wide grin and the two of them left the area. Neji sighed and re-entered the room. It was going to be a long night, but for once he felt like things were coming together the way he needed them to.

* * *

><p>***Six Weeks after Separation***<p>

After two weeks of preparation, Neji found himself in a strange situation. Nevermind being the leader of a shinobi village with plans for expansion. Nevermind being a newly-wed husband.

He sat on a silk blanket covered bed and watched his silvery-white-haired wife remove her wedding dress in front of him. He didn't consider himself a pervert, the kiss they had shared during the ceremony had been his first, but when she smiled and looked into his eyes he felt something almost primal emerge within him.

"Are you nervous?" she asked with a smile, taking her time removing the elaborate design of her garter belt.

Neji grinned back awkwardly, "Would you judge me if I said yes?"

"A little, but I don't hold it against you." She finally undid the one clasp that was irritating her and joined him on the bed. As he was enticed by her, she was intrigued by him.

They had gotten to know each other over the past two weeks, and while she had no illusions that she wasn't in love with him, she liked him a great deal. They were both in a similar position within the marriage, and Neji had constantly promised her he would be needed her help for his village, and had even began to relay some of her ideas back to his village.

Feeling more nervous than the first time he had fought with his father, Neji reached out and lightly touched her shoulder. She had the softest skin he had ever touched, and despite all the information Neji could have gained with his Kuroi Byakugan he had no clue what to do next.

She shivered slightly at his touch, but leant down and kissed his hand regardless.

"Come on…we've got a marriage to begin."

The Sound leader smiled warmly and reached out, touching her bare cheek lightly.

"I think I'm beginning to like this."

oOoOoOo

It had taken a few tries, but both of them were no longer nervous in each other's presence. Neji found himself subconsciously stoking the length of her arm while she slept in his arms. He still felt like he had won the lottery when it came to arranged marriages, and he felt like she would be one of his most useful assets.

_And if I get to keep doing that…this I could most certainly get used to._

It took him nearly half an hour before his thoughts turned back to his old friends from Konoha. He still didn't know their fates; he had heard small inklings of information pertaining to odd groups moving around in the world, but nothing substantial.

He wondered what had happened to Lee, still engrossed in Gai's death that Neji wasn't sure he'd ever get over it. Neji had been affected by the Jounin's death as well, but he acknowledged that their relationship was something special.

As he went through the group, his thoughts finally came to his cousin and her blonde-haired boyfriend. After spending a short amount of time with Yuko, he was beginning to understand why the two of them acted the way they did.

_And they chose to be with each other too. I feel like I might have been able to do with Yuko given enough time, but the end result is still the same. And she certainly has qualities I enjoy... _

He looked down to see her sleeping face, noticing the remarkably peaceful expression on her face. He reached down and slowly brushed a few strands of her silver white away off her face.

_Such a beautiful…wait…_

It was a horrible thought, but one that Neji had been repressing ever since learning of the relationship.

_If Naruto has…with her…I'm going to kill him. Slowly, painfully, and with a blunt instrument._

He could feel Yuko stirring in his arms, which immediately caused all thoughts of his cousin to depart his mind.

_Focus on the moment, Neji. That's all you can work with right now. Kill Naruto another time. _

* * *

><p>***Three Months after Separation***<p>

Neji dropped down into the chair behind his desk with a look of pure shock on his face.

"Are you sure?"

The violet-eyed woman sitting on top of his desk grinning and placed her chin into her hand. "It's not as if I'm getting fat, husband."

He shook his head with a proud grin, "I wasn't suggesting that…I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."

She reached down and grabbed one of his hands into hers, rubbing it affectionately. "It's certainly not for a lack of trying. Besides, this is a good thing, remember?"

The Sound leader nodded with an ever-widening grin. "It definitely is. But that means you'll have to take it easy from now on, okay?"

"I promise. It's hard to believe our marriage was arranged, isn't it?"

He stood up from his seat and kissed his wife on the side of her cheek. "We're adaptable people, that's what I always say. Can you hold down the fort until we get back? Or should I stay?"

"Don't be silly. You need to go. I'm not going to keel over just because there are things growing in my belly." She shifted the stacks of intelligence on his desk with a sly grin. "But you've got time, right?"

"It's going to be like that, isn't it?"

Yuko nodded slowly and grasped his other hand. "You have to do everything I ask for. It's a rule or something."

"You've got to stop spending time with Kin and Tayuya. It can't be good for your health."

"Shut up and take off your pants."

oOoOoOo

Sakon cracked his neck and stared with the others as Neji jogged to catch up to them.

"Nice of you to join us, oh great leader."

Neji ignored the twin shinobi's barb and straightened out his white robe while looking over the four shinobi that were accompanying him. Considering the scope of their task he had decided to take all four of his ANBU, and left the village in the capable hands of his Jounin and his wife.

It had been a pleasant surprise when they had returned to the village, but Yuko had proven herself to be a very capable administrator for the many issues that a shinobi village would face. Even with their small numbers, they had many little problems that required a certain touch. He hadn't expected it either, but it seemed that she had a unique way of dealing with the shinobi and he had never heard anyone say anything negative about his wife. He had been paying attention too.

"Why were you late, sir?" asked Jiroubo. He was extremely grateful to be out of the village for the first time, he had spent far too long building defences and was aching to get into a good fight and crack some heads.

Neji had made it a point to spar with all of his shinobi at one point or another, for several reasons. Primarily it was to increase their skills and to keep his own abilities sharp, but it was also to show that he was still the strongest in the village. Jiroubo was deadly, but slow, and it was something they had been working on during their time together.

"I was being given some very interesting news. It would appear that I'm to be a father."

The four of them simply grinned at the news, which told Neji that they already knew about it. He simply shook his head and indicated for them to move out.

"It's not that far to the complex, and we need to be ready to fight."

"We know…sir." Tayuya always had to say the last bit through her teeth, though Neji knew that wasn't because she resented him. He knew that she had an image to maintain, and she enjoyed being the foul-mouthed blunt shinobi they all knew.

Three of the ANBU disappeared, while Kidomaru reached out and clapped his leader on the shoulder with a wide grin. "Congratulations are in order, I suppose."

Neji returned the smile, "And if today works, we'll have increased our numbers five-fold."

"Don't count your eggs before they are cooked, sir. They aren't the most stubborn lot, but they aren't to be underestimated."

The Hyuuga leader nodded his acknowledgement and indicated for Kidomaru to move out.

They both disappeared without another word between them, moving rapidly to catch up to the other three Sound shinobi that had gone on ahead of them.

oOoOoOo

The five Sound shinobi stared at shinobi that had surrounded them, keeping their personal comments mostly to themselves.

"This is a friendly welcome to be sure." Kidomaru had one set of arms on his waist, one behind his head and the other crossed in front of his chest.

Neji had ordered none of them to act aggressively to the shinobi that had slowly surrounded them, which was easier for some than others.

They had come to the most northern part of the Land of Rice Fields to recruit the Fuuma clan back to their village. Their clan leader had expressed an interest in joining their village a month ago, but had since ceased communications with them. Neji wasn't going to pander to the clans, but they were vital to increasing their shinobi numbers in a short amount of time.

He activated his regular Byakugan and looked around at the seventy shinobi that were around them. Most of them seemed to be armed with less than effective weapons, many seemed to be wielding wooden bows and arrows, yet they stood proudly and defiantly against them. He didn't want to unleash his ANBU on them, but if they fired first he would have to destroy them on principle, to show the other two clans of the country that they meant business.

"Stand easy. Wait for Arashi to show himself."

Almost on cue, a young grey-haired man slowly walked to the front of the surrounding clansman, a small smile on his face that displayed absolutely no emotion. He looked over the Sound Four without comment before setting his grey eyes on Neji.

"You are the new tyrant of the Sound?"

"I am the leader of Otogakure" corrected Neji. "And you are the Fuuma clan, yes?"

The grey-haired leader focused his gaze completely on Neji. "We want nothing to do with you. We had dealings with Orochimaru, and it gave us nothing but sorrow."

Neji nodded slowly while again looking over the shinobi around them. "I'm not asking for servitude, Arashi. I'm looking for partnership. You were once proud shinobi, but you've been relegated to mere bandits."

The Fuuma clan head twitched slightly but made no other facial recognition at Neji's statement. "You mean to suggest that we are not strong unless we are in a village? You presume too much."

"I presume nothing. I'm simply making an observation. I understand why you are apprehensive about joining us."

"Please, enlighten us."

Neji indicated to the rundown complex the clan had been using for their base. "You don't have the resources to sustain your abilities. Your previous experiences with Orochimaru and Kabuto have left you bitter about the Hidden Sound, but I'm here to tell you that village doesn't exist anymore. We are becoming something more, and we would like you to be a part of it."

A shinobi beside Arashi whispered to him, and another behind him starting talking as well. Neji and the others waited as they discussed the issue between themselves.

"I reckon we are being way too nice to these losers" commented Tayuya with a spit to the ground.

"It's called communication, Tayuya. It's what allies do." Jiroubo always made a point of telling off the foul-mouthed shinobi for her lack of teamwork, and since they had started Otogakure he felt she was making progress, though you couldn't tell by her demeanour.

"It's called being a sissy" laughed Sakon, though it was short-lived because of a glare from his leader.

After nearly ten minutes of discussion, Arashi emerged again and looked down at them from his elevated position. He coughed a few times to get their attention and to clear his voice.

"What you say…makes sense. But how can you deliver on your promise to incorporate us? How do we know you are as strong as you say?"

Neji let out a small smirk; he had them right where he wanted them. He motioned to the four shinobi around him. "Shall we do a demonstration then? These are the four best fighters in our village. If they can beat your best four, then you will join us. Sound like a deal?"

The grey-haired leader thought about it for a little while before letting out a long breath. "I won't make any promises, but that's because we won't lose. Let's move to a better location."

oOoOoOo

"No killing" instructed Neji once they reached the arena the Fuuma clan had led them to.

He had to admire the design of the place, once they got back to the village he would instruct Jiroubo to construct them one of a similar nature, for practise if nothing else.

Sakon swore under his breath, "And why is that?"

Neji rolled his eyes, a fascinating task when you have no pupils. "I'm not going to explain myself, Sakon. You can fight as hard as you please, but I need them alive."

The brutal shinobi glared at him but didn't make another comment as the first Fuuma shinobi entered the ring. He was a strange looking bald man with a scar across his right eye. He grinned arrogantly at the Sound shinobi, with his hands on his hips.

Kidomaru cracked four of his hands with his regular smile. "I've got this one. Who's timing?"

He couldn't believe he was doing it, but Neji pulled out a stopwatch and indicated for him to continue. He had to keep reminding himself it was a friendly competition between fellow shinobi, but it still felt stupid to do something like time a fight.

oOoOoOo

"Seven point three seconds" stated Neji as Kidomaru walked back down from the arena.

The spider-like shinobi shook his head shamefully, "It's not my fault he didn't know when to give up."

The Fuuma clan shinobi struggled to pull their companion out of Kidomaru's webs that had pinned him to the arena floor. It was only with a flick of Kidomaru's fingers they were able to release the one-eyed shinobi.

After a few minutes the next Fuuma shinobi entered the arena. It appeared to be a young dark-haired girl, who had a long instrument between her hands.

Almost immediately the Sound shinobi stared at Tayuya, who glared back at them. "What the hell are you looking at me for? Just because she's a woman means I have to fight her?"

The four men beside her shared a look between themselves before looking back at the pink-haired shinobi.

"Yes" they all said at once.

She spat on the ground in disgust, "Pigs."

Drawing her flute from her clothes, she stepped onto the arena floor and placed the instrument to her lips.

oOoOoOo

"Four point one seconds."

"That's bloody right. Shove that up your ass, Kidomaru" said Tayuya with a wide grin as she took her position next to her companions.

It hadn't even been a battle, though Neji had seen what had really happened. From the moment her flute began to produce music, her opponent had begun to scream almost ear-piercingly. It had taken Tayuya the four seconds to walk over to her opponent and knock her out with an unceremonious punch to the head.

After helping their companion from the stage, the third Fuuma shinobi walked into the fray. He wore a set of razor-sharp scissor pincers and a matching grin.

Having won the required paper-scissors-rock match, Jiroubo slowly made his way onto the stage, cracking his neck slowly. A long sadistic grin came across his face; he had been away from the battlefield for far too long.

Neji saw the grin and considered reminding the Earth-user of his original command, but nonetheless he reset the stopwatch and waited patiently for the match to start.

oOoOoOo

"Eight seconds flat."

It was clear to the other Sound shinobi that Jiroubo had spent 90% of the fight toying with his opponent, but the moment he had broken the Fuuma shinobi's weapon, he had conceded the fight.

It seemed like most of the clan was ready to concede that they were clearly outmatched, but when a grotesque-looking hunched shinobi walked onto the arena they started to cheer for him.

Neji complimented Jiroubo on his fight and indicated for Sakon to enter the arena.

The grey-haired shinobi stared at him for a few seconds. It didn't take Neji long to realise that it wasn't Sakon he was dealing with right now.

"Ukon? You are going to fight?"

"**Brother is indisposed at this time. Besides, I haven't had much to do lately." **

"Fair enough" responded Neji. He watched his shinobi enter the arena without another word, cracking his neck whilst glaring at his buck-toothed opponent.

"Anyone want to make a side bet?" asked Kidomaru jokingly.

oOoOoOo

"That was…"

"Don't give the time, I don't care."

The four of them grinned as the clearly furious Sakon returned to their little group. It had been a fascinating fight to watch, particularly from someone who knew how strong Sakon and Ukon were.

"She had you on the ropes for a bit there, Sakon."

The grey-haired shinobi glared at Kidomaru and let out a tsk. "How was I meant to know that ugly bastard was actually a young girl, and that she had that much strength?"

Neji left his four ANBU to their bickering; he knew there were times when they just needed to fight it out amongst themselves. He made his way over the arena floor towards the Fuuma clan head and waited until Arashi was ready to speak to him.

If the young leader was embarrassed by his clansmen's performances, he made no show of it when he acknowledged Neji's presence. He kept the same smile he had worn from their initial meeting, but surprised Neji when he extended a hand.

The Hyuuga leader clasped the hand with a smile. "You are with us then?"

"You are clearly very strong. And any idiot could tell your people were holding back a fair bit."

Neji released the handshake and looked at the four fallen shinobi his subordinates had defeated. "If your people weren't malnourished and underequipped, I suspect the fights would have been closer than one might originally think."

The Fuuma clan head glanced around at his clansmen for a few seconds before staring back at Neji.

"If you would have us, the Fuuma are at your disposal. As you mentioned, we aren't doing so well right now. But if you can arm us properly, you will find us to be valuable allies."

Neji grinned slowly as an idea came to his mind.

"I know the perfect person to do that."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Same as the previous chapter, this is a story chapter I've been waiting a while to write. I know the Fuuma fights were a bit of a cop-out, but let's face it they were all pretty short.

I know there seem to be a fair number of OCs in this story piling up, but when you do something like destroy Konoha and 95% of their standing force you've got to make up the numbers elsewhere, particularly in a story of this scope.

The next chapter continues Neji's story, and has tons of action. After that it'll be back for another Naru/Hina chapter before moving on to other chapters. Long way to go yet.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	33. Bonus Chapter 3 Tenten's War

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – Tenten's War

**A/N**: Like the first 'Bonus' Chapter, consider this story canon within my story. Because let's face it, flashbacks are overrated, and there is enough going on in the main story as is.

Also, this chapter is absurd. It's a Bonus Chapter, so why not.

Wow, 250 reviews…that's beyond words. Ironic coming from a writer, but such is life.

After writing this, I've realised that it's a little…dark. So yeah, look at the warning.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, well…more Tenten? Yeah, I dunno.

* * *

><p><strong>WARNING<strong>

This Bonus Chapter contains excessive amounts of Badass Tenten

If you cannot handle Badass Tenten, then do not read this chapter.

You have been warned.

* * *

><p>***One Month before Separation***<p>

She shoved her way through the crowd, thankful that the pouring rain made her tears feel appropriate. The crowd didn't seem to notice her presence until she had made her way through to the front and dropped down to her knees with a scream.

Lying in front of her was the still form of her father.

To say he was dead would be an understatement. His arms had been ripped off his body and his guts were strewn across the water-drenched road.

He had been butchered.

The young girl went to reach out and hold the dead form of her father, but several of the townsfolk held her back. They knew that to hold the disembodied remains of the only family she ever had would scar her for her whole life.

She raged and screamed, but they refused to let her go.

After ten minutes she ran out of energy and stopped squirming, dropping to the floor again with a dispassionate grunt. The rain seemed to get more intense the worse she felt, and it was at that time that the town had its worst flooding in decades.

The orphan reached into her pocket and withdrew a short blade, pointing the hilt at the corpse while gripping the blade with her bare hand. The protests of the surrounding townsfolk became silent as her grip tightened and blood dripped down her arm.

At that moment she swore an oath, one that she would not rest until it was satisfied.

Placing her other hand on the hilt and driving it into the ground next to her father's body, she stood up slowly and turned around. Even in the rain, people cleared a path for her to walk through.

Taking one step at a time, her dull black eyes slowly darkened as she returned to her workshop.

She had much to do.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: I find this makes for more entertaining reading when awesome fight music is playing. My recommendation is the fight music from the Matrix, or from Dragonball Z.

* * *

><p>Tenten cracked her hands and continued to walk towards the castle. She wore a set of jet black armour that covered her from head to toe, moulded to fit her growing female form. It seemed impractical to have high-heels in her boots, but Tenten felt she needed the extra height and weapons.<p>

Around her shoulders sat a pitch black cloak that covered the three large scrolls on her back. She wore her hair in her traditional twin buns with long needles holding them together.

She slowed her walk and watched as the bandits gathered their strength. At first they didn't seem so concerned about a single girl coming towards their castle, but the two streaks of blood that marred her features combined with a sphere of overpowering chakra was enough to have them come out in full force to face her.

The Konoha shinobi stopped out of their archers' range, pulling a single shuriken out of her pouch. She scanned across the dozens of facing lining the castle walls until her gaze landed on a horned-helmet wearing bandit. He seems to be shouting orders at the others.

She waited until he was looking down on her before throwing the shuriken.

Tenten was a good three hundred metres from the castle, with a strong breeze and nearly a dozen bandits between him and the battlements.

The shuriken removed his head at the base of his spine.

**One**

A slow smirk came across her face when the bandits around the decapitated leader began to scream and shout at her. She pulled a glove onto her left hand and flexed it before slowly walking towards the castle again. The glove had a seal on the back of it and appeared out of place with the rest of the weapons in her arsenal, but Tenten took no heed.

As she came into range an archer on the walls became overly excited and let loose an arrow straight at her. The projectile bounced harmlessly at her feet, Tenten taking note that it had given an indication to the others that she was nearly in range.

After ten steps it became clear to the one hundred archers on the walls that she was in range, so they drew back their bows and let loose a hail of arrows that were directed straight at her body.

Not breaking her stride one step, Tenten placed out her gloved hand as if to embrace the projectiles. Just as the arrows went to pierce through her body a massive black shield appeared out of her hand, absorbing all of the arrows directly into its form. Tenten moved the shield around so that absorbed every arrow shot at her, and continued to walk towards the castle.

It quickly became obvious that shooting Tenten wasn't going to work, so the bandits put down their bows and made their way down the stairs back into the castle. A massive gate kept the castle closed to the young shinobi, but Tenten seemed unconcerned.

She moved the large black shield and faced it at the gate barring her way. Tenten was barely fifty metres from the gate when her shield shot out into a small ball of black energy that slammed into the centre gate.

A personal design of Tenten's, the wooden gate appeared to crumble inwards and disappear within the black ball until it was like the construct wasn't ever there. The energy floated back to Tenten and returned to her glove, the young girl removing it quickly and placing it back into her pocket.

The bandits that were hiding behind the gate were amazed at what she had done; she knew that they had never been breached since occupying the castle decades ago.

That was about to change.

Keeping the small smirk and deep frown on her face, Tenten moved her head slightly to avoid a knife through in her direction. She stepped over the precipice of the castle boundaries, and a look of fear slowly came over the bandits faces. She didn't normally look like this, but today was an exception in Tenten's mind. She had a plan, and was about to execute it.

Nobody was leaving that castle with their lives.

oOoOoOo

Two axe-wielding bandits charged at her first, aiming to slice her apart for the death of their captain. Tenten never broke her stride, flicking her hands twice before continuing to walk past the two bandits that had leapt towards her. They landed on the ground softly, and for a moment it seemed like nothing had happened.

However after a few seconds their companions saw a slight reflection from Tenten's hands. Her smirk grew as she revealed the two small knives that she held in her hands. The bandits behind her slowly fell apart into a bloody mess on the ground.

**Three**

A bandit near the front of the pack yelled at her hatefully, "You bitch!"

He pulled up the spear he had driven into the ground and threw it at her with a roar.

Moving her head as little as possible, the projectile skimmed past her face and bounced harmlessly behind her. The Konoha shinobi flicked her knives back up her sleeves and widened her smirk as she pulled out a small scroll from her pouch. The bandits seemed unimpressed by her 'weapon', but were unsettled when she made a point of counting how many enemies were in front of her. Once she got the number she pulled out a small amount of chakra and faced the scroll towards the bandits.

With a flick of her fingers the scroll opened in front of her, hovering in front of her with a set of black seals across its front.

Exactly one hundred bandits stood within range of her attacks, charging straight towards her while weaving from one place to another. Having seen how easily she struck their captain, it seemed that the best way to fight her would be to close the distance and slice her up in close combat.

Making sure that the scroll wasn't blocking her view; Tenten reached out and activated the first seal in her least-powerful technique.

Fifteen seconds later she wrapped up the scroll and placed it back into her pouch. The young shinobi cracked her neck and made her way over the dead bodies of her enemies. The bandits each had an identical hole in the middle of their forehead, the shurikens used to kill them still imbedded in the back of their skulls.

It was an effort that was child's play to the projectile user, but she wasn't able to take pride of her achievement like she used to.

**One Hundred and Three**

The bandits that had held back caught on fairly quickly that she wasn't to be messed with and were already running away as fast as possible from the Konoha shinobi.

Tenten reached back and removed the pole strapped to her back, snapped it together before grasping it in one hand. She inserted a small amount of chakra into the long red weapon, revealing a wicked set of spikes across its length. It appeared to be a highly impractical weapon, but as she fingered it in her hand it was clear she knew what she was doing.

It became obvious that none of the bandits wanted to attack her again, after seeing what she did to their companions, so Tenten was forced to break out into a chakra-fuelled run to catch up to them.

As a shinobi she was ten times faster than her enemies, so just when they thought they were pulling away from her, she appeared in their midst. They had retreated to a large courtyard that would have been the perfect place for an ambush, had they not been so arrogant in believing their defences couldn't be beaten so easily.

With a flash she landed on both her feet in the middle of a large pack of bandits, her barbed-spear flashing in the sunlight as it struck out against the bandits.

The specially-sharpened blades easily slashed through both armour and bone, sending several heads flying.

**One Hundred and Eight**

In a hurried defence a bandit thrust a spear towards her, but she twisted so that it glanced across the side of her armour. For his trouble, she buried a long knife in his face without breaking stride, slashing through a nearby bandit's ankles before driving her weapon into his chest.

**One Hundred and Ten**

Switching her weight from one leg to the next, she kicked away a sword strike aimed at her head and slashed the throat of the attacker before landing on her hands and spinning like a top with her feet stretched out against the large group closing in around her.

With a tiny amount of chakra her heels turned into razor-sharp spikes, and as she spun faster they slashed into the faces and bodies of her attackers.

**One Hundred and Twenty**

A large chunk of her shoulder plate was torn off when she regained her footing as a well-timed axe strike hit her from behind. She grimaced in pain and drove a fist into the bandit who damaged her armour, using the small blade between her fingers to tear a hole from his stomach to his neck.

**One Hundred and Twenty-One**

Blood sprayed onto her armour and face, but Tenten didn't care. She felt a sting in her back, causing her to turn around slowly and glare hatefully at the optimistic bandit that had tried to stab her with his spear, but had failed to pierce through her armour. She moved an arm slowly around the hilt of the weapon and snapped it in two without effort, sheathing her weapon onto her back when she saw that he was the only bandit left in the area.

He screamed out in fear and began to run towards the entrance of the castle. Tenten scoffed and faced the main section of the castle. She considered it for a few seconds before casually flicked her wrist and walking towards a large building at the centre of the castle area. It looked important enough to be her goal, and she couldn't sense any other signs of life beyond that area.

Spitting out some of the bandit's blood that had crept into her mouth onto the ground, Tenten cracked her neck and pulled out one of her large scrolls, making her way into the building.

Near the entrance, the bandit that had fled Tenten's wrath crossed the threshold of the gate with a grin on his face. He hadn't wanted to be here in the first place, and now he could return to his old companions.

Before he could take another step, he heard a slight buzzing next to his ear. Suddenly all the strength in his body seemed to vanish and he had a nearly overwhelming urge to scratch at a line across the back of his head.

He felt the strike more than he thought possible.

**One Hundred and Twenty-Two**

oOoOoOo

There had been two armoured guards with halberds hiding behind the door, waiting to slice her into pieces with their weapons. Unfortunately for them, Tenten had sensed their presence, and stabbed through the door with two swords for good measure. She had tried to dislodge the weapons; she hated leaving good steel behind, but the bone mixed in with wood kept them firmly stuck in the door.

She shrugged and pulled the doors open, ignoring the two hanging bodies as she walked into the building.

**One Hundred and Twenty-Four**

The inside of the building was surprisingly dark, almost suspiciously so by Tenten's reckoning. With a quick flick through a smaller scroll, she activated two seals and two long swords appeared in her hands. This was not a time for her to fight any way other than with her full strength.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark as she made her through the building. For several minutes it seemed like the place was empty, but the ex-Konoha shinobi knew better. She might have walked into the trap in the next room blind, if she hadn't developed a way to sense the latent chakra in other people. It wasn't even a point of consideration for Tenten.

She walked straight into the large room in front of her.

It wasn't until she was in the middle of the room that the lights snapped on and illuminated her bloody visage to the roomful of bandits waiting to ambush her.

"You're pretty dangerous for a little girl."

Tenten ignored the barb and counted how many bandits were in the room around her. She had used her main long ranged attack already, and these bandits appeared both more organised and more cautious than the fools she had slaughtered before.

A red bandana-wearing bandit walked up to her by himself, holding his head up arrogantly as he stopped just before her.

"Now listen here bitch, you can't…"

Tenten flicked her hands and buried both her swords into his throat from a distance.

**One Hundred and Twenty-Five**

Her smirk dropped when she heard the roars of anguish around it. She knew she had angered them, which was accidental but fortunate in her mind. Since the bandits were now jumping down from their positions and closing in around her with their weapons raised.

Placing her large scroll straight in front of her, Tenten clapped her hands together before flicking the scroll open. This was the majority of the remaining bandits, and since they were in an enclosed space her long range attacks were far less effective.

She decided to resort to mid-range weaponry, which was still perfectly fine for her.

Her first weapon was a short scythe, which was instantly thrown in a boomerang-like fashion before burying itself in the wall to her left. In its path were the decapitated bodies of eight bandits that had been easily sliced apart.

**One Hundred and Thirty-Three**

She blocked a sword strike with an axe appearing out of her scroll, taking a moment to bat the weapon aside before slicing through his stomach, spilling his guts onto the floor.

**One Hundred and Thirty-Four**

Normally such brutality would offend Tenten to the point of being sick, but she wasn't looking at the bandits with the same eyes she used to wear. Her mind was surprisingly focused, and she had only one goal in mind.

The death of everyone in this castle. Even if it meant her own life was forfeit.

She buried the axe into another attacker's face and drew her next set of weapons. The bandits were beginning to hesitate attacking her so forcefully, they didn't understand why she was killing them so brutally, most of them didn't even know why she was attacking them.

**One Hundred and Thirty-Five**

With two quick tosses she leapt up high into the air, guarding her face with her hands. The bandits seemed confused at her movements, but they still stood their ground and waited for her to come down. Unfortunately for them they didn't notice the two small black balls that had landed in their midst. It was a technique Tenten had developed herself, one that seemed wholly appropriate in her current situation. It used up a lot of her stored weaponry, but that didn't bother her. Weapons could be replaced.

While suspended in the air, Tenten pulled out another scroll and bit at her thumb, sliding the blood across the scroll before clapping her hands together. Perfectly on cue, her two weapons shined brightly for a moment before exploding loudly.

Like a grenade, they shot out thousands of shards of metal pieces. Unlike a grenade, their missiles were guided, aiming directly for weak spots and vital organs.

The bandits never stood a chance.

Once the dust cleared, the scroll that Tenten had swiped her blood on dropped to the ground, bouncing twice before landing face up. In a puff of smoke Tenten appeared above the scroll, rubbing her neck sorely. She hated transferring herself into a scroll, but to survive her previous attack it was her only option.

The weapons-user looked around the blood and metal-covered battlefield with a grim look.

**One Hundred and Ninety-Eight**

oOoOoOo

Tenten breathed out slowly and wrapped up her large scroll, placing it on her back again. She couldn't sense any other life forms in the castle area besides her own. She didn't hide her disappointment, there was one more she needed to kill but if he wasn't here then she would need to begin her search again.

She hadn't been a shinobi for a long time, but the instincts Gai had beaten into her were ingrained into her very being.

It was those instincts that caused her to move herself backwards slightly, saving her from the sword slash that would have cut her face clean off. Instead it merely slashed through her mouth slightly, leaving a short cut that curled her lip up into a forced smirk.

Tenten grimaced and leapt back, her dark eyes immediately noticing the dark red armoured warrior that had attacked her. He seemed entirely displeased with her, despite wearing a clear mask of hatred he appeared to be completely calm.

"So you are the one who slaughtered the bandits. Curious."

Tenten frowned, ignoring the pain in her face as she tried to analyse him for any weaknesses. She instantly realised why she didn't sense him before, it would appear that he didn't have any latent chakra for her to sense.

In his hands was a long sword that was surprisingly thin, almost like paper, but Tenten wasn't fooled. Having been cut by the blade, and being a forgemaster herself, she recognised a quality weapon when she saw one.

She breathed out slowly, doing her best to not swallow the blood seeping down her mouth. Reaching to her back, she threw away her large scroll and pulled out another small one. Faster than the eye could see she threw a shuriken straight at his unarmoured face.

Unsurprisingly the unusual enemy merely moved his head slightly so that the shuriken flew harmlessly past him. Tenten nodded slowly and tried to smirk, but she found her mouth was already stuck in the motion, which felt appropriate. His movements didn't tell her too much about his fighting style, but she knew that if he could dodge at that speed then using projectiles was pointless.

"Feisty one, aren't you? I think I'll present you to the mistress."

Tenten had no interest in conversing with the enemy, he wasn't on her list of targets, yet his association with the bandits was enough to make her want to kill him.

With two taps of an open scroll she unsealed her favourite weapons and placed them on her hands. Protruding from her hands were a set of long bladed gauntlets, pitch-black in colour and seemingly unwieldy, though that was because only Tenten could use them. She fed them a small amount of chakra and the blades lengthened to the size of a long knife, the ex-Konoha shinobi taking up a defensive position.

The armoured enemy cocked his head curiously and placed his sword against his shoulder, "Your stance is good, but you have all that dirty shinobi training behind you. That won't do."

His eyes widened when he saw that she disappeared right in front of him, but his surprise didn't last long. Spinning around he placed up his blade and blocked the twin slashes that were about to slice his head off. A loud metal clang echoed throughout the building, but even before her blow was completed Tenten vanished again.

She knew she couldn't maintain her speed for long, she'd only learnt the taijutsu technique to a certain degree, but if she could get one clean blow in she knew she could kill him. Her blades were the sharpest metal known to the shinobi world, which was a testament to her opponent's blade to be able to sustain her attacks without being sliced apart. They were designed to destroy armour and other weapons after all.

Tenten couldn't see any clear openings, but her chakra was declining rapidly while she maintained the speed technique, so she decided to go on the offensive. She stabbed at the weak point behind his kneecap, but her opponent easily moved out of the way and stabbed at her instantly with his thin blade.

She was barely able to deflect the blow and stab at his face with her free hand, but he switched his grip and slammed an armoured elbow into her face, sending her crashing backwards.

The warrior began to laugh, but didn't get complacent when he saw her recover quickly back onto her feet. He recovered his stance and aimed his sword at her.

Tenten grimaced as she flexed her hands, ignoring the increasing pain in her face. It was clear to her that she wasn't going to win in a war of speed. That meant it had to be a war of skill. And despite herself, Tenten was an expert with any weapon available.

"Ready to fight seriously now?"

Tenten didn't respond to the taunt, taking a moment before diving straight at her enemy.

He sighed and positioned his sword outward. "If you wish to die, I can't fault your decision."

As she ducked and weaved to try and disguise her attack vector, Tenten noticed how he was tracking her movements easily with his blade. For a moment she forgot her bloodlust in awe of the blade, but she replaced fascination with hatred once again as she closed in on her enemy.

His blade seemed to snake between her gauntlets and strike her in the shoulder, but Tenten just took the blow. She slammed both her bladed gauntlets into his grip, using her shoulder to keep the blade steady as she wrenched it out of his hands.

The armoured warrior struggled to hide his surprise at her unexpected method of fighting, but didn't get a chance to retaliate.

Even while grimacing at the agony in her shoulder, Tenten fuelled all the chakra she could spare into her gauntlets, causing her blades to extend rapidly. With a quick slash she drove both her bladed gauntlets straight through the warrior, dividing him into thirds straight down.

**One Hundred and Ninety-Nine**

She was able to take a step back to avoid most of the blood spray, but her armoured had no trace of black left that wasn't covered in the blood of her enemies.

Tenten cried out in pain as she wrenched the sword from her shoulder, dropping to her knees with heavy breathing as she tried to deal with the pain. It was nowhere near the worst pain she had ever experienced, but it was fairly high on her physical pain threshold.

Holding the blade in her hand, Tenten couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship. It was nothing like a shinobi could make, the metal was nothing she had ever seen before.

A few minutes of recovery later and Tenten's eyes widened when she picked up a tiny signal of chakra at the very back of the castle grounds. It was so miniscule she couldn't believe it to be worth her time, but she had resigned herself to a complete job, and even with her rage slowly subsiding she wanted to finish the job.

oOoOoOo

While he might have had a tiny chakra presence, he certainly wasn't a tiny man. The folds of fat around his stomach nearly covered his knees from his seated position.

She slowly began to walk towards him, a short blade held tightly in her hand. Initially he didn't understand who or what she was, but upon seeing her blood soaked form he began to scream out in fear. It wasn't because she had slaughtered her way through his men to get to him, or that she was moving to kill him.

It was the pure hatred in her eyes that told him there was nothing he could do to stop her.

Tenten was the reaper, and his time had come.

He tried to beg and plead for her as each blood step came closer to him, but she didn't relent for a second. Her deceptively smirking face coupled with her rage filled eyes was enough to make him wet himself right in front of her, but even that wasn't enough to stop her.

"I…I don't understand…wha…the…why?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Tenten stopped two feet away from the obese man, keeping the short blade that had cut into her hand earlier held tightly. She had no interest in his reasoning, it changed nothing.

With two flicks of her other hand she pinned both his hands to the stone chair armrests. He screamed out in pain, but after a second his lungs gave out and no more sound could come out.

Tenten took a slow step forward and brandished her short blade, grateful that her face was already smirking. She knew she shouldn't, but she knew that she was going to enjoy this.

**Two Hundred**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I did warn you. Badass Tenten.

When I say this is canon, it's true…to an extent. She may not have been so…dark…but this did happen in the story.

Next week will be the third and final chapter in Neji's arc. For now. Then it'll be another Naru/Hina, then onto the other characters. When I said I was doing all of them, I wasn't kidding.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	34. Chapter 31 NEJI Personal Burdens

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 31 – Neji – Personal Burdens

**A/N**: I know the antagonists of this series are very odd, compared to what normal bad guys in Naruto are like. So what I'm going to do is after this chapter and the Naru/Hina one, I'm going to write Lee's chapters. It is in his part of the story that the bad guys are mostly revealed. I want to thank everyone who gave feedback around this issue, it's a learning experience for me, so I'm sorry if its more convoluted then I meant it to be. There is a lot happening in this story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be some lasting injuries.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

After setting up the village to his specifications, Neji went to the capital town in the Land of Rice Fields to meet with the Daimyo. After taking a small detour to pray to a shrine for his supposedly deceased companions, he had an interesting conversation with a young girl before meeting the man face to face. He made a convincing case for his village, and with a few addendums the Daimyo agreed to his request, but only on one condition. Neji agreed to an arranged marriage with the man's daughter, and was pleasantly surprised that the girl was the same one he had spoken to earlier. With Yuko he found a kindred spirit, one that he hadn't expected to be so enamoured by considering their union was arranged. Several months later he discovered that she was pregnant with his children, which he was ecstatic about. With his ANBU with him, Neji travelled to the Fuuma clan complex, and after a set of battles convinced them that joining Otogakure was the best move.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Eighteen Months after Separation***<p>

The white robed leader of Otogakure leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Come in."

A team of four shinobi apologised and entered the room, saluting as they took their positions in front of the long desk at the back of the room.

Neji reached out and showed them a piece of paper, taking note of their reactions to their mission. It wasn't that they were apprehensive; they just thought it was probably beneath them. They were relatively young, two of them were from the Fuuma clan and one was from the Nakaru clan, their leader a Jounin from the founding of the village.

"Do you understand? This is a very important mission for our village." Over the past year and a half Neji had perfected his 'leader' voice, which was both reassuring and commanding at the same time. It meant that even with his youthful appearance, he still came off as a wiser older shinobi.

The Jounin showed the sheet to his team, who all nodded in turn. He turned back to their leader and bowed respectfully, "This shouldn't be a problem, sir."

"Good." The Hyuuga crossed his arms with a slight frown, a look he had been adopting for a long time now. "If you require another team, get word back to us as quickly as possible and we will send a backup team."

"Yes sir."

They left the room and Neji sighed, leaning back in his chair again. "They better come back in one piece. I'm sick of losing my people."

"It's called being a good leader" came a voice from beyond the door.

Neji sighed again as the door opened, revealing a young woman walking into the room with a set of books in her hands.

"Don't give me another speech, Tenten. I get enough flak from my wife as it is."

The ex-Konoha shinobi dropped the books on his desk and placed her hands on her hips, staring straight into his white eyes. The musical symbol on her forehead protector was scratched and torn, but the projectile user refused to have it repaired. She was proud of what she had accomplished for her village.

"Don't play that card with me, Neji. You'll get no sympathy from me."

Neji smiled slowly, "You know, with that scar I can never tell if you are being serious or not."

His old companion scratched her face absentmindedly, her fingers running over the old scar on her lip that set her face in a constant smirk. "It's called being deceptive, Neji. I never hear the others complain."

Her leader shook his head and stood up from his chair, turning around to look through the glass at the village he had created. After a year and a half they were several hundred shinobi strong, and Otogakure had enjoyed remarkable success as a shinobi village, yet Neji still felt it wasn't enough. When he had heard about Shikamaru and the other's survival he was initially overjoyed. But after listening to the council of his top shinobi and his extremely wise wife, Neji decided that it was best that their village continued to progress in secrecy.

"I just sent those four on a mission…they might not come back from. I can understand why some people would want to be in a powerful position like mine, but the burdens of leadership are quite heavy."

He continued to stare out across the night as Tenten joined him beside the window. "I don't know what it's like, so I can't give you any advice. Have you talked to Yuko about this?"  
>Neji turned his white-eyed gaze to his old teammate with a frown attached, "While she might be used to her condition, my wife has enough on her mind. Being that pregnant has taken its toll on her."<p>

Tenten responded by slapping him lightly across the shoulder with a laugh. She was the only one besides Yuko that got away with treating him so casually; Neji was treated with a large amount of respect by his subordinates.

"That's what you get." She looked at the clock on the wall for a few seconds before gasping. "Damn, I'm going to be late again!"

"Your six-month anniversary dinner?"

Despite being unable to control most of her mouth movements, Tenten was able to convey her amusement easily to her old friend. "You know, that's always going to be creepy. Knowing everything that's happening in the village is kind of weird."

"You haven't shut up about it for the past week. Don't be giving me grief; I can give you kitchen duty if I wanted to."

It was the same banter they always had; their relationship hadn't changed since their days in Konoha. They both wondered how those they hadn't heard from were going, they were both concerned about Lee and the others, but they tried to keep positive.

"Then no-one would operate the forge, and you know that. I should go. Kidomaru isn't the most patient person in the world."

"No, he's not." Neji grinned again at the reminder of his ANBU shinobi. "I don't think I'll ever understand what brought the two of you together. You two are so different."

Tenten scoffed and walked across the room, opening the door slowly. "I'm just going to say one thing. Six arms."

"Get out of my office."

He tried to make it sound like a joke, but out of all the images he wanted in his mind that was far from his preferences.

Tenten laughed again and shut the door behind her, leaving Neji to sit back down at his desk and begin sorting through the reports in front of him. Their intelligence network had grown substantially, and the amount of dirt they had begun to gather was substantial.

Several hours later Neji groaned as he emerged from his bathroom with a towel around his waist. He lived above his office since he spent so much time in that area, and with a long day of giving out missions and reading reports he was exhausted.

"Long day?"

Neji smiled as he saw the silk-covered form of his young silver-white haired wife. She stood at the window in their bedroom wearing a long black silk dress. Neji had no clue as to why she liked wearing black so much, but he found it a fascinating contrast to his white robes.

"Same as usual. Not as hard as yours, I'll bet."

She smiled with both her lips and violet eyes as her husband of over a year walked over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. As was their custom over the past few months he helped her to their large bed and let her rest her head on his chest. They both placed their hands on her large belly and smiled; it was only a few months before they would be getting a new addition to their family.

Neither of them had expected it, but after nearly a year and a half of marriage they found that they truly loved each other. It wasn't just a physical relationship, as Neji might have suspected initially. He found that Yuko filled in the aspects he wasn't good at, and was adept at getting the tense Hyuuga to relax.

A short knock on the door broke their little moment together, Neji sighing as he thought it was another problem he would have to mediate. The Nakaru and the Chiza clans had been working well since their inception into the village, but the number of little squabbles between the clans was enough to give Neji a migraine.

He went to get up, but Yuko refused to move, preferring to cover the both of them with a blanket and call out for the person to enter. The door swung open and an old woman walked in with an exasperated look on her face.

Her entry caused both of the expecting parent's faces to light up, but that wasn't because of her personally. It was the pair of eight-month old babies in her arms.

"They wanted to spend the night. Is that okay, sir?"

Neji grinned slightly, he'd told her that as his children's nurse she didn't need to address him in such a manner, but she never listened. "Of course. Yuko and I will make room in the bed."

Both of the children were fast asleep when they were placed under the blankets, but that didn't stop their parents from doting on them. Their boy had short spiky white hair and was the picture of his mother, despite both of them having inheriting Neji's eyes. Their daughter had Neji's black hair, but beyond that and her eyes she looked nothing like either of her parents or her twin brother.

The nurse excused herself and left the family to their own devices. As Neji watched the sleeping faces of his children, he couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride. He hated that he wasn't there at their birth, but every second he spent with them was a joy he never thought he would experience.

"Soon they'll be walking around by themselves" commented Yuko softly. She cooed quietly as Neji massaged her shoulders.

"And then another one will be here. We should think of a name for the new baby before it is born."

They decided not to know the sex of the baby until it was born. The first time they hadn't even realised that she had been carrying twins, but it worked out perfectly in settling their original arguments over what to name their children.

Their little girl had been named Akari, after one of Yuko's childhood friends that had died when she was young. Their son was named Hizashi, after Neji's father. He felt it an appropriate sentiment, considering his Hyuuga lineage and how his father had been such an important role model for him.

Yuko nodded slowly and nuzzled her head into his chest. "After this one, let's not have another one for a while, okay? I'd like to spend some time not being pregnant, if that's okay."

Her husband kissed her on the forehead, but before he could respond he saw that she was fast asleep, just like their children.

Neji couldn't help but smile and stare at the family he had created lying in bed with him.

_Even before leaving Konoha to compete in the Chuunin Exams, I could never have imagined myself in this kind of position. A loving and beautiful wife, two amazing children, with another on the way. _

Despite the circumstances that had led him to this point, Neji was extremely grateful at his current situation. He was not a man easily impressed, but living as the leader of Otogakure and as a husband was more than he could ever have asked for.

* * *

><p>A week later Neji watched the last council member enter the room. He nodded at the robed man's bow and indicated for him to take his seat. They had this meeting once a week, Neji liked to keep the leaders of the village informed about what was happening in the village, it also gave him a reason to sort out any internal issues that might have arisen.<p>

The council of Otogakure was made up of six members. Neji as the leader of the village, the three current heads of the clans that made up the bulk of the village, Yuko as a representative of the civilian and Daimyo's interests, and Jin as the elected representative of the non-clan associated shinobi of the village.

Despite being heavily pregnant, Yuko still took to her job in gusto. If anything, people found she was more effective when she had less time to do things.

The clock on the wall ticked past the hour, signalling for the meeting to begin.

Before any of the clan heads could speak, Neji placed up a hand to silence them. "Before you say anything, I have a few things to clear up."

Standing behind him, his secretary silently passed him a sheet of paper, to which Neji nodded his thanks while placing it in front of him.

"Our current forces stand at four hundred and thirty one shinobi. With our ANBU now at thirty, and our number of Jounin increasing, we are almost at a level of strength that we can make ourselves properly known to the shinobi world. We have been operating like we are still Orochimaru's personal army, but that time is almost over."

The clan head of the Chiza crossed his arms with a frown, "And then what? You haven't exactly been forthright on what the next stage of the plan is."

"I know that Touro, and in a few weeks it will be made clear. I simply wanted to give you the outline." He indicated to the three clan heads with a wave. "You all have things you want discussed, I know that. But for now I want you all to take a look at this. This is something we've only been able to confirm in the past month."

He made his way across the floor to the side wall beside the large table in the room. Flicking a switch on the wall, he waited until the map on the wall appeared completely before extending a pointer and indicating to the map.

The other council members didn't bother to hide their surprise, but Neji cut them off. "This is what we know."

"Konoha was destroyed over two years ago. As far as we know, there is no shinobi presence in the Land of Fire. But that isn't the main point."

He pointed to the Land of Wind. "To this day, the Hidden Village of Sand has been attacked thirteen times. It began with an attack by one of their own, but after that we haven't gotten any more intel about who is attacking them, and why they are so persistent. Suna is holding, for now, but their forces are dwindling."

"Are we going to render assistance?" asked Arashi, the clan head of the Fuuma. He was the most level-headed of the clan heads, and Neji was constantly impressed with his efforts in improving the village.

"No. Unless they ask specifically, I would rather not expose our infiltrators to save another village that could become an enemy later on down the track. Some of my old companions are in that village, they can handle themselves."

Neji indicated to the next point of interest on the map. "Something that we all know, but it is worth mentioning again since we have new information. Kumogakure was attacked a year ago, this we know. What I can tell you, that we've discovered, is that they were almost destroyed by the invasion. We don't know how they survived, because our information suggests that it wasn't a shinobi force that attacked them."

Jin snorted, leaning back in his chair. "Are they that soft?"

"It's not like that. I suspect it was the same force that destroyed Konoha. Something is moving in this world, and I don't know what or who it is. Coupling with the uprising in the Land of Earth, things are very odd in the world of shinobi." Neji didn't hide his apprehension, it was extremely unsettling, especially considering the information he wasn't telling them either.

He pointed back to the map, trying to keep his voice level. "This is the main point of contention. Something extreme happened in our world and it was so well covered up that we had to pay a small fortune to get the bribes necessary to get this information."

He let out a slow breath.

"The Hidden Rain, the Hidden Moon, the Hidden Star, the Hidden Grass, the Hidden Haze, the Hidden Waterfall."

He hesitated momentarily, not sure how he should frame the next bit. Before he could however, the clan head of the Nakaru spoke up. "What about those villages? They are all pretty minor, except probably the Hidden Rain and Hidden Grass."

Neji placed his pointer across both his hands and stared straight at his gathered council members.

"Over the past year all those villages have been destroyed."

For the first time in a while, there was dead silence in their council room. None of them seemed to believe what Neji had said, but considering the massive increase in the number of missions given to them as a village from their Daimyo it made a scary amount of sense. Yuko wasn't surprised, Neji had told her previously. He didn't keep anything from his wife, primarily because she was so very good at getting him to talk.

Eventually they recovered from their shock enough to have a proper discussion about the implications.

"What does this mean?" asked the Chiza clan head.

"Are we next?"

Neji shook his head at Arashi, "The other villages don't even know we are here. We have gotten no inclination that we are a target just yet. However I've had several teams booby-trapping the old village in case that gets attacked. Our survival is the most important thing we have going for us."

"So we don't know anything about this enemy, why they are attacking shinobi, or even if they can be stopped? All that effort into an information network seemed to have gone to waste, sir."

"That's not true, Touro. We do know some things. As you know, last month I declared the Land of Fire a dead-zone for our shinobi. This is why. We have nothing substantial, but it is the only reason why they would destroy Konoha first besides fear. Whoever this enemy is, I believe they are using the Land of Fire as a staging area. That's why any shinobi that are sent there or pass through don't return."

He sat back down at his seat and watched his shinobi leaders begin to discuss their concerns among themselves. As much as he trusted Dosu as the head of their intelligence division of the ANBU, the information seemed so unbelievable it was hard to swallow. Judging from the pattern of attacks, and going by some of the shinobi that they had lost in the Land of Fire to unknown reasons, Neji had come to a frightening conclusion that he dared not share with his companions, lest it cause panic.

Someone wanted to destroy the world of shinobi, and they were succeeding.

"I have an obvious question." They all turned to the heavily pregnant Yuko, who blushed slightly. She'd been flushed for most of the day, but that didn't stop her from wanting to contribute. "What villages are left, and should we be seeking alliances with them?"

A smile slowly came over Neji's face. It was something he'd wanted the other shinobi to come up with, but Yuko had clearly sensed they weren't going to come up with it on their own.

He turned their attention back to the map from his seated position, "At this time, seven. The big four: Suna, Iwa, Kumo and Kiri are still the major powers, but they have been losing people as well. The other two are the Hidden Snow, who have yet to reveal themselves completely but we know they are still strong, and the Hidden Water, which we all know about."

The other shinobi grumbled their acknowledgement. They had all had 'dealings' with the Hidden Water in the past, none of them friendly. Neji had tried to keep diplomatic with the troublesome village, but his patience had worn thin as well. They were on the verge of war with the smaller village.

Jin shook his head slowly in disbelief, "It's hard to comprehend. That must be nearly a thousand shinobi, gone. We haven't seen such numbers since the last Shinobi World War. At least then, we knew who we were fighting."

They all nodded in agreement, while Neji's secretary passed him another sheet of paper. He skimmed it quickly, and by the time he reached the numbers he felt a violent need to throw up.

Instead he chose to swear loudly and slam a fist into the table.

The conversation within the room stopped immediately, and they all turned to face their leader.

Yuko reached out from her position beside him and lightly touched his arm. "What is it?"

Neji slowly stood up from his chair, not bothering to hide the furious look on his face. "Too far…they've gone too far…"

He flipped around and glared out at the village, his fists both clenched in a rage. Behind him, the shinobi turned around the piece of paper to see what had incised him so. They all collectively gasped when they saw what had happened.

Touro Chiza rocketed out of his chair in outrage, "How could they…all those people…"

"It's unthinkable. No human could do this…"

Jin scanned over the numbers with a scowl, "We are going to get them for this, right? You have some sort of plan, right?"

"Calm down! We can't do anything if we don't think rationally." Arashi was the calmest in the room, but the anger was clear in his voice.

Yuko was calm as well, but she was immensely saddened by the news. "Those poor people. They did nothing to deserve that…"

"Was it because of our shinobi? Was our presence the factor in them doing this to that town?"

"Sir, what are we going to do?"

"Hyuuga-sama!"

"Sir? What is the plan?"

"ENOUGH!" Neji's raised voice was enough to shake the table in the room, and later he would realise that doing so with his heavily pregnant wife in the room was a bad idea. But for now, he needed his most important people to be focused.

He turned around and regarded his people, trying not to look his concerned wife in the eyes.

"Call all our shinobi in the field back to the village. Every mission is cancelled unless it is deep-undercover and at least an A rank or higher. Dismissed."

The three clan heads bowed their acknowledgements and disappeared from the room. Jin lingered for a moment and walked around the table. "You have a plan?"

Neji nodded slowly, closing his eyes as it became clear to him what he needed to do.

"We will march across the countryside, attack the Village of Water, and burn it to the ground."

Jin threw him a quick salute, "Yes sir. Anything else?"

His leader considered it for a moment before regarding the shinobi with a serious expression.

"I want every Jounin and higher in our forces in the meeting hall by the end of the week. We need strategies, defences and planning."

His shinobi nodded and disappeared, leaving Neji alone with his concerned wife. The Hyuuga leader slowly retook his seat, sighing as he looked back at the details on the report.

"Will we be going to war?" Yuko sounded surprisingly calm to Neji, but he knew she was hiding her stresses.

"You can't talk me out of it. This won't stand."

She smiled sweetly and took one of his hands into hers. "I won't. This is something we have to do."

Neji stared at the four photos attached to the report with a heavy heart. "I knew this was going to happen. When I sent them on that low ranked mission…I had such a bad feeling…"

"You can't blame yourself. They did their duty, you know that."

He tried to smile, but couldn't bring himself to actually feel anything other than outrage at the situation. Even if they had been normal civilians he hadn't known, no-one deserved that kind of treatment.

They sat in the room for a few minutes silently, while Neji tried to work out how they were going to work his declaration.

"Neji…"

He turned to his wife slowly, "What is it, Yuko?"

She frowned, something she rarely did, taking the report from his hands and looking at some of the smaller details from the scout that had given them the information. "What if this is a set-up? To force you to destroy another village that the enemy could not?"

Neji had thought of that, but the evidence was overwhelming against the Village of Water. "Perhaps it is. It certainly will work out for them in any case. But we can't let this attack on our people, and our civilians go without a response. I refuse to let any of my people go unavenged."

* * *

><p>The next day Neji had buried himself into his work when a loud knock on his door caused him to lose concentration on the report he was reading.<p>

"What is it?" he snapped to the empty office door.

It opened slowly and his expression immediately changed upon seeing the silver-white hair he had come to love. "I'm sorry, Yuko. It's been one of those days."

His wife smirked as she let herself into his office. "It's okay."

Neji smiled back, and then frowned when he saw a woman enter with her. She wore a Sound forehead protector, but Neji didn't recognise her. He had made a point of personally analysing and assessing each of his shinobi, he was a micro-manager at heart, but she didn't resonate with him at all.

"Who is this?"

Yuko just shook her head and turned to the woman, "This is what I'm talking about. Can you do anything about it?"

The woman bowed respectfully to the pregnant leader, "I'll have to do an analysis first."

Neji stared at his wife through tired eyes, but before he could ask again she placed up her hands. "She's our head doctor, husband. She's here about that thing we've been talking about."

He continued to look at her with a blank expression; he had no idea what she was talking about. Trusting his wife, he indicated for her to proceed, sighing as he rubbed his eyes.

The doctor bowed slightly and moved around his desk, placing her hands around his head. "Sir you'll need to relax so that I can get a proper analysis."

"What is this about, Yuko? I have a lot of work to do."

His wife of a year and a half moved some of the papers on his desk and sat opposite him, taking one of his hands into hers. "It's about the memory problems you've been having, dear. We talked about it the other night; you were really concerned about it."

Ignoring the blue aura around his head, Neji nodded slightly. "Okay then. But it can't take long; I have a class to teach in twenty minutes."

Yuko grinned and straightened out her skirt. "You don't have to teach every taijutsu class you know. We have people who can do that."

"That's not the point. It's…look we'll talk about it later, okay?"

A few minutes later the doctor stopped her analysis and began to write on her clipboard, but Yuko shook her head. She told the doctor this was strictly off the books; they didn't want the other shinobi knowing anything about something that was wrong with their leader.

The doctor hesitated, but agreed to keep it to herself. She stood back slightly so that she could speak to both of them. "I've completed my analysis, and all I can tell is that I'm not sure. The section of your brain that contains memories has a small number of burnt-out neurons, but there is nothing to explain how they might have happened. It would explain some long-term amnesia though."

Neji took a slow breath and leaned back in his chair. "Are you telling me that I'm going to be like this forever?"

"Long-term memories, once embedded, cannot be recovered if lost. Even if they somehow are retrieved, they cannot be completely recovered."

He looked over at his wife, who seemed to be taking it all in fairly well. It was likely that she suspected it was something like that, and while he was grateful to her for bringing the doctor, he would have liked to have done it without worrying her.

"How detrimental are we talking here?" he asked quietly.

The doctor considered what she had analysed for a moment before looking at him grimly. "In the short-term, it shouldn't be so bad. You'll very occasionally forget names, perhaps locations, but nothing to suggest you aren't at full strength."

Neji nodded his acknowledgement and placed his hands together, contemplating what he had heard. "I think I know what has caused this problem. Can you do another analysis?"

She looked at him curiously, but moved to place her hands around his head again anyway. "I'm not sure what more I could look at though."

The blue aura appeared around his head, and once Neji knew she was in position he pushed his eyes through to their second stage. His black and white eyes instantly began taking in massive amounts of information while the doctor analysed his brain.

She kept her surprise to herself, and after twenty seconds she told him to cancel the technique and try to relax. He complied without a word, while staring at his wife with a sly grin. She frowned at his look but didn't say anything as the doctor continued her work.

After another minute she sat back down and looked at Neji straight. "Your assumption is correct. In those twenty seconds you had that technique active, I could see clear degeneration of your neural tissue. The flood of information was literally burning out the other memories to compensate."

Neji sighed; he didn't want to hear that. "So I can't use the Kuroi Byakugan then?"

"I didn't say that. I said those were the consequences. There was a short period of time through which there was no damage, you could use it for that and then cancel it to prevent further memory loss."

"How long?"

"Two seconds."

He snorted, that might be enough for the technique to get some information but it was hardly combat effective if it was only used for two seconds. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

The doctor bowed to him and Yuko before taking her leave. Yuko waited until she was gone before asking Neji what he thought.

"To be honest, I'm relieved it's that" he responded quietly. "It means I have control over how this affects me, and by how much. I don't have to worry about getting worse until I need to."

She smiled and stood up off his desk, giving him a light kiss on the cheek before moving around the desk. She was due for another check-up at their hospital, and despite Neji reminding her that she didn't need to; she liked keeping herself busy with work.

"You seem pretty calm, for someone who has just been told he is losing his mind."

Neji just grinned and picked up the report he had been working on, pulling out a pen to begin writing again. He waited until his wife had left his office before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling.

_It does concern me, this is true. I've overused the Kuroi Byakugan over the past year and a half, but it has been necessary. I'll likely have to do the same for the next while as well. Especially if this attack requires it. _

_But how can I complain? It just showed me I'm having another son._

* * *

><p>The distance between Otogakure and the Village of Water was surprisingly short, though Neji was grateful that they were able to catch a scout and re-establish their estimation on where their enemy resided. Two days across the country and they found themselves behind a hill looking at the small shinobi village.<p>

It was a third the size of their village, and by Neji's estimation their standing force was around eighty shinobi of around Chuunin strength or higher.

He had left a full quarter of his shinobi in charge of the defence of his village, all specialised in defensive techniques. He had also set up a communication seal that would be able to instantly tell them if their village was under attack, and he took comfort in the fact that they were only four hours away at break-neck pace.

He wiped the water off of his face and stared back at the village. It had been his intention to attack immediately upon reaching the enemy village, but his closest advisors had indicated that invading a village called the Village of Water, while it is pouring down rain, is not the best tactical manoeuvre.

They had been waiting and holding their current position for the past two hours, both waiting for the rain to finish and to recover their strength. He watched his shinobi silently preparing themselves for battle, the general cheer and laughter that usually came between his shinobi was gone, replaced with the grim realisation that they were not here to do good things.

Neji had given a speech to all his shinobi before leaving Otogakure, reminding them that they were fighting an enemy that had destroyed their own, and this was something he couldn't forgive. They had all cheered when he had led them out of the village, and on the way he had made sure that there were no participants that were apprehensive about the attack.

They all wanted to avenge their companions. And none of them thought it was an overreaction.

"Bah, why is there so much damn rain…"

Neji felt a smirk come onto his face as he looked over at his forgemaster, seeing her wring out her hair with several unseemly words under her breath.

Beside her Kidomaru flicked a wrist and produced a wide umbrella, holding it over the young girl with a charismatic smile. She nodded back to him and thanked him for his help, since she was still unable to smile any more than her forced smirk allowed.

"My pleasure" responded the six-armed shinobi.

Behind the two of them the pink-haired ANBU shinobi let out a short scoff, "Can the two of you take your shit elsewhere? Some of us would like to fight without that image in our heads."

It was hard not to recognise Tayuya, even while she wore her ANBU mask that appeared positively demonic. She was the only one of the current ANBU who wore such a mask.

Just to spite her, Kidomaru and Tenten displayed a show of affection that caused even the fool-mouthed shinobi to blush, which was surprisingly easy to tell despite her mask.

"So what are we going to do sir?"

Neji turned to see his intelligence officer standing beside him, with his squad behind him. Dosu had been one of the first to adopt a group of shinobi to work under him, and while he was a strict leader he seemed to bring the most out of his people.

"We wait an hour for the rain to stop; if it doesn't then we move to strike anyway. I don't want them to have any more time to set up their defences before we attack."

"Do you think they know of our movements?" Dosu already knew the answer, but he wanted to see if Neji knew. They had an interesting relationship, one of both equals and non-equals.

"If they don't, then this will be far easier than I expect. Always assume your enemy has prepared at least somewhat for your approach."

"Of course. We'll be ready to move on your mark."

oOoOoOo

Neji never professed towards being a genius when it came to tactics, but enough study had rendered him well equipped to handle such an engagement. They had split their attack into three venues. The left-hand side would be taken care of by a quarter of their force, led by Sakon and Ukon. The other side was to be attacked from afar, which was to be led by Kidomaru and Tenten. The remainder of the shinobi force was going to attack the village head-on. Neji was going to lead that attack himself.

Several of his subordinates had expressed concern over their leader placing himself in harm's way, but Neji had reminded them that he would never place one of them in danger without willing to put himself there.

True to his prediction, the rain didn't let up one bit. They had located several scouting parties, but the bulk of the Village of Water shinobi had gathered in their village.

It wasn't a castle, nor did it look particularly well defended, but the Sound shinobi knew better. What they lacked in numbers, the enemy shinobi made up for in both cunning and brutality.

So when Neji's forces attacked the village with over three hundred shinobi, it wasn't that he was aiming for overkill, it was that he wasn't the type to underestimate his opponents, not anymore.

He commanded the two side groups to move into position before ordering his Jounin in his attack group to prepare their shinobi.

"Sir, if I might speak to you for a moment."

Neji nodded and indicated for Jin to stand beside him. They had all given up on shielding themselves from the rain, though the women seemed to be having a worse time than the men. "What is wrong?"

"I have a concern about this attack." Jin hadn't said anything before, and wasn't known for this kind of thing, so he caught Neji's attention.

The Hyuuga leader indicated for him to keep it down so that the others couldn't hear, but motioned for him to continue regardless.

"This has all the indications of an enemy trap. I kept it to myself for the most part, but I felt it was something I wanted to share with you. Something doesn't feel right here."

"I agree. But this is something we have to do." Neji no longer had a seething rage in his voice; instead it was replaced with a cold fury.

"Have we tried negotiation?"

Neji simply glared at his subordinate. "It's a matter of respect and honour, Jin. We tried to keep the peace, and they bit us time and time again. I won't tolerate anything they have done."

Jin grinned slowly, "I agree. Just wanted to make sure we are on the same page."

"I don't know how your wife puts up with you, Jin."

"You should hear the things the women say about you."

Neji just shook his head, "Get into line, Jin."

He waited until the moment was just right before turning to his shinobi.

"This won't be fun. This won't be easy. But it is necessary."

He indicated to the village.

"No quarter."

* * *

><p>Neji trusted his shinobi enough that he didn't watch the entire battlefield through his black and white vision from his Byakugan. He instead concentrated on the people he was personally leading, on the main area they were attacking.<p>

From what he saw, there were about half the enemy forces standing against them, just over forty shinobi. The small skirmishes they had been having with the Village of Water rarely ended in their defeat, so it wasn't surprising to him that their forces were so depleted.

Despite this, Neji waved forward the two hundred shinobi at his side. He didn't wait for them to move past him, choosing to charge forward himself with his arms rapidly running through a large set of handseals.

His orders had been for each unit of shinobi to follow their leader's orders, who in turn were to follow the ANBU's orders. They all had their own set of objectives to complete, but ultimately they were there to destroy the village and its inhabitants.

Before calling for the attack, Neji had checked and felt a wave of relief that there weren't any older people or small children in the village, meaning he didn't have to worry about collateral damage.

It was a sound that he would never forget. All his shinobi charged forward at once, each activating their own techniques while defending themselves from the defender's thrown projectiles.

Neji nodded wordlessly to the bodyguard by his side, silently informing Jiroubo to cover his own approach while he completed his technique.

The ANBU shinobi nodded in response and clapped his hands together, sending a massive chunk of earth straight into the side wall of the shinobi village. The Village of Water shinobi tried to stop the attack, but Neji slammed a hand outwards, sending a large pressure vacuum of chakra into the massive projectile.

The combination attack obliterated an entire section of the village, allowing their shinobi to advance into the village without too much opposition. Neji swore under his breath as he saw a Fuuma shinobi fall to the ground, having been impaled by a thrown spear from the wall. He was thankful that the offender was destroyed immediately by a dozen Fuuma clansmen, but it still hurt to see someone die for his war.

He leapt onto the wall from the ground below, using several spikes of chakra to deflect thrown projectiles before landing and immediately defending himself from two attackers coming at him with raised swords.

He ducked underneath a head-high swing and rapidly tapped the chakra points in the attacker's throat, closing up his wind-pipe permanently before spinning around and slamming a closed fist into the stomach of the other shinobi about to attack him.

As Neji helped him to the ground, making sure that his strike hadn't killed his attacker before indicating to one of his subordinates that had joined him on the wall.

"Find out what he knows, and tell me yesterday" he ordered, already on his way into the main portion of the village and expanding his view to see how the battle was faring.

It was one of the most one-sided battles he had ever fought in, from what he could see. While the Village of Water shinobi might have the territory advantage and the weather advantage to enhance their techniques, the sheer number of enemies combined with their superior abilities made the battle almost laughably short.

The long range group from one side had encountered a reinforcement party that they had identified earlier, but had taken care of their objectives without suffering a single casualty. As per Neji's orders they hadn't left any of them alive, and while he could see some of his shinobi weren't so happy about the order, none of them hesitated. They all wanted their revenge for their companions.

On the other side, it was a massacre that nearly turned Neji's stomach. Sakon and Ukon didn't waste any time destroying the small amount of resistance that had been set against them. There were barely any remains to recognise that they had been in a fight, but Neji was satisfied that they hadn't suffered any casualties either.

A group of shinobi appeared at his side, each of them bowing in respect while making sure there were no other enemies around.

"Sir, I have the information you asked for."

Their Hyuuga leader continued to stare around the complex while indicating for the shinobi to make his report.

"The leader of the village is hiding out in a small encampment several miles away. His best shinobi are there."

"So he abandoned his village to save his own skin. The bastard."

Neji smiled grimly as he saw the majority of his forces coming together around him. He nodded in acknowledgement and waited until all the leaders were in position before relaying his next set of orders.

"Find anything valuable in the village and return it back to Otogakure. I want this village gone by the end of the day."

He indicated to three of his main shinobi. "Jin, Tayuya, Jiroubo, I want the three of you to come with me. We are going to find and destroy their leader, making it as if their village had never existed."

His shinobi bowed in acknowledgement and went about their work, while Neji moved out of the village with his three bodyguards.

He figured it would have been wiser to take more people with him, but he wanted to find a few things out from their leader, which meant minimising who could hear it. He also wanted their forces to return to Otogakure as quickly as possible, in case one of his horror scenarios came true.

* * *

><p>"They don't look that tough…"<p>

"Grow a pair of balls, Jin. Go home to your woman, you sissy."

"Guys…teamwork…condescension…blah blah blah."

Neji just shook his head and concentrated on the group in front of them. He knew Jiroubo had started to give up on telling his companions off for their lack of teamwork. It was partly because he knew that they never listened, but it was also because he was just tired of dealing with Tayuya's crap.

"Why are we waiting? Shouldn't we just take them out? I want to go home."

"To go back to that boy-toy of yours?"

"Screw you, Jin. At least I'm getting some."

"Would the two of you shut up for five seconds to let me concentrate?" Neji had a headache that could crack a boulder, and he didn't want to deal with them either.

"Sorry sir."

"Yeah"

Neji analysed the situation with his regular Byakugan, taking note of the small group of shinobi a hundred metres away from them. They obviously knew of their presence, since there were four shinobi standing in defensive positions around the shinobi that was clearly the leader. He looked like he was wearing a bizarre parody of the Kage robes that the Sandaime used to wear.

_I doubt he is of Kage-level strength, but his bodyguards are clearly Jounin. I should have brought more people with me. _

Neji expanded his vision, noticing two shinobi hiding a short distance away with their hands placed in unusual handseals. He nodded his approval at the tactic; it was clever for what they were trying to do. But with Konoha destroyed, they had no idea there was a sensory type like Neji faced against them. He had made special care to not let it out beyond the Land of Rice Fields that he was in charge of Otogakure, and control over their level of information was the key to Neji's long term plan. He knew it was controlled because of the spies placed in the other villages, but after this attack he knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to admit their level of strength to the world.

_Which may bring that enemy onto our heads. I still need another year or so. _

He turned to his three shinobi and gave them their orders.

oOoOoOo

The enemy shinobi all frowned as they heard slightly alluring flute music coming from all around them. They seemed to recognise that it didn't make sense in relation to their rain-heavy environment, but before they could do anything they were under attack.

Neji appeared within their ranks out of nowhere and slammed his fingers into the leader's body, causing him to slump down to the ground. The four shinobi around him raised their weapons to avenge their leader, but found themselves unable to move. Standing with his back to his leader, Jin slowly sheathed his sword, waiting until the blade was completely sheathed before letting the shinobi fall apart from the dozens of slashes he had given them.

Tayuya stood up from her hidden position and sighed, placing her flute back into her pocket and putting her hands on her hips. "That was far too easy. Why are we even bothering with these losers?"

Neji ignored her and watched through his Byakugan as Jiroubo destroyed the other two shinobi with his Earth techniques from underground, acknowledging that the battle was over before looking back at the unconscious leader.

He tapped him twice on each limb before slapping him awake. The leader's eyes snapped open, but he couldn't even move an inch. He resolved to spit at Neji's robe and glare at him hatefully.

The Otogakure leader shook his head and wiped the spit off of his clothes. "Don't give me that. You knew this was coming. You couldn't not know."

"Screw you. We did what we knew to be right!"

Neji didn't change his expression, but he was surprised at the leader's reaction. Not about what he said, but what his eyes were telling him.

_This isn't a butcher wanting more land or power. He has the same attitude that I do right now. _

"Before you die, why did you destroy one of our towns? Slaughter our people and abuse our shinobi? It makes no sense. Did you want to die?"

Despite being immobilised, the leader still found the ability to laugh at Neji's confusion. It was a pained and angry sound, with the Hyuuga leader unable to sense any begging in his voice.

"We…only did what you did to us. They…they will come for you…" He laughed again. "You are going to die, just like we did. There is no place for us anymore…"

He continued to laugh incoherently, causing Neji to stand up slowly and turn around to regard his shinobi. "He's mad. Tayuya, use your genjutsu to extract as much information as you can, then kill him."

The pink-haired ANBU let out a tsk, but pulled out her flute again and kneeled down opposite the leader.

Jin reattached his sheathed sword to his belt and noticed the look on his leader's face. "Something on your mind, chief?"

The Otogakure leader looked over at his most experienced Jounin with a sigh, "I don't know what's going on in our world, but it can't be good. Will we become like this lot? Mad and slaughtered in mass numbers?"

"We'd tell you if you were going mad, you know that. The stuff you've done for our village is far more than any of us could have imagined."

"Thanks. Let's go home. I'm sick of this country."

* * *

><p>***Nineteen Months after Separation***<p>

Even as the leader of a shinobi village, Neji had felt an overwhelming need to have a day off. It wasn't his suggestion, but Yuko had delighted in informing him that he was to have a day of 'rest and recuperation'.

He sat on the roof of his office and watched the village quietly. It was fairly late in the afternoon, and many of the families were gathering to have dinner together. After their attack on the Village of Water things had quietened down considerably, but the missions were still coming in. He'd just finished a negotiation with the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water, meaning that their income would increase again.

Despite being his 'day off' he still found himself preoccupied with what had happened in the attack. While he had tried to dismiss the leader's comments as the ravings of a madman, he couldn't shake the feeling that they needed to be stronger, and it needed to happen quicker than they had been going.

_That goes for me too. The progress of the ANBU is astounding, and I need to be better. _

"Aren't you meant to be 'relaxing'?"

Neji let out a short laugh and indicated for the voice to join him. "This is relaxing for me."

Tenten sat down beside him and sighed, her hands were still sore from her metalworking. "Just when I think I've got you figured out. Did you give any thought to what I suggested?"

"Yeah. You made a good point, but the timing is wrong."

"What makes you think that?" Tenten enjoyed a unique position amongst the Sound shinobi, and Neji often used her as a soundboard for his more outlandish ideas. She had a fresh perspective that was in contrast to both the ANBU and Yuko a majority of the time.

"We know the positions of what…five of them? While you and I would both like to see our friends again…I think it would draw too much attention to us."

"It bothers you that Naruto and Hinata haven't been found, doesn't it?"

Neji smiled, he'd already had this conversation with his wife. "My cousin can handle herself. And even so, I know Naruto wouldn't let anything happen to her. What bothers me are the others: Lee, Kakashi, Itachi…all of them. There are so many things happening that I worry they might have been caught up in it like we have."

"Yeah. You'd think Lee would have found us by now."

"Regardless, I know what I have to do. It might take a year or more, but we'll find our friends again. All of them."

Tenten went to make another comment, but was silenced as a shinobi appeared in front of the two of them, bowing his head respectfully.

Neji cocked his head slightly, "What is it, Rokuro? Jin is handling business for the day, you can report to him."

The Chiza shinobi shook his head slightly, still staring at the ceiling floor. "Respectfully sir, you asked me to tell you when Lady Yuko was taken to hospital."

Neji frowned for a moment as Tenten couldn't help but squeal beside him. He shrugged and thanked the shinobi for his efforts, dismissing him before standing up and stretching.

Tenten looked up at him with her eyes sparkling. "Aww, you are gonna be a daddy again."

He took a few moments before smiling slowly and looking down at her. "I suppose I am. Tell Jin he may have to cover me for another day or two. I don't want Yuko to be on her own like last time."

"I don't think she blames you for that Neji. You were on the other side of the country at the time."

"Still, I want to be there."

Tenten let out a short laugh and made a loud whipping sound.

Her leader took the time to glare at her with contempt. With her face constantly in a smirk it was hard to be frustrated at Tenten for extended periods of time, so Neji had found other ways of punishing her.

"Just for that, you don't get to see the baby."

Her cries of anguish were drowned out as he leapt off the building and raced towards the hospital.

oOoOoOo

Seven hours and four fractured fingers later, Neji was once again a father. The doctors allowed them a few minutes to themselves with their white-eyed son, which the young couple was grateful for. Neji had tried to hide his knowledge that it was boy and failed, but Yuko was just happy that their son was healthy and safe.

The three of them lay on the bed quietly as the baby slept in Yuko's arms. Neji couldn't keep a massive smile off of his face, they only had a few minutes before the nurses were going to bring the twins in to meet their younger sibling, and then there would be no quiet at all.

"He's so small" commented Neji absentmindedly.

Yuko let out a tired sigh and used her free hand to poke his arm. "You try pushing that out and see how small he is."

Her husband grinned in return and showed her his bandaged hand. "I've suffered enough pain for one day. I never thought you had such a strong grip."

She simply smiled and continued to rock their son slowly. He was fast asleep in her arms, making little baby sounds that were absolutely adorable to their ears. He seemed to be the same as the twins, able to sleep soundly from the get go, which Neji found was a strange trait for young children to have but wasn't complaining. It was nice to be able to sleep when he wasn't piled up with work.

He leaned over and lightly kissed his wife on the cheek before placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. Yuko looked like she had stormed a castle by herself, yet she still looked radiant to him.

"Hey…did you find out what I asked you about?"

Neji frowned, which he often did when he was thinking, before shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Remind me what it was again."

"How I don't really want to have another child in the next few years? That thing?"

"Ah, yes. I talked to Tenten about it, apparently kunoichi make a sort of…thing…that stops them getting pregnant. I could ask her to help you with that, if you'd like."

She nodded slightly and nuzzled his arm around her shoulder slightly. "Don't expect any for a few months…but I think three is enough for the moment."

He laughed lightly at her comment, but understood why she wanted to wait. He'd been given the horror stories, and after seeing his wife give birth he had no real inclination to repeat the act anytime soon.

"Have you thought of a name yet?"

When he didn't get a response Neji repeated the question, but upon looking down he saw that Yuko had fallen asleep in his arms, just as their newborn son had fallen asleep in hers. Her silver-white hair was across her face and down onto her hospital gown, and in Neji's face as well, but he didn't care.

He was happy.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

For those concerned, the attacks that Neji mentioned in the council meeting that haven't happened yet, I will be writing a bit later on. The destruction of Amegakure, the attack on Kumo, those kinds of things have happened at this point, but not from his perspective. So I must ask for a bit of patience in that regard. And any villages not mentioned here, assume that they aren't in the story. I tried to mention the known ones, from the anime and more.

Sorry this came out so late. I was out of the state at the NRL Grand Final, and didn't get any chance to write during that weekend.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	35. Chapter 32 NARUHINA Saving Her

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 32 – Naruto/Hinata – Saving Her

**A/N**: Just in case it seems ambiguous, I've known the full plot to this story since before writing it. There might be smaller aspects that I write on the spot, but the main plot has always been the same.

Also for the next month my writing is going to be slower as things get busier. So chapters will be coming out slower for the next while. The next one probably will take a few weeks.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be dramatic walks.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

A year and a half after his friends were separated, Neji has settled in as the leader of the newly formed Otogakure. His lovely wife Yuko has given birth to twins and is heavily pregnant with their third child, and even with Tenten joining their village Neji isn't satisfied with their level of progress. In a meeting with his village leaders, he informs them that only seven shinobi villages are left in the world, but after reading about a horrifying slaughter of his own people he decides to make it six villages. Before they could attack the Village of Water, Neji has his head checked by a doctor on his wife's request, discovering that his use of the Kuroi Byakugan is causing him to lose his memories. Resolving to only use it when absolutely necessary, he led a force of over three hundred shinobi straight into the enemy village and burnt it to the ground, killing every enemy shinobi in the village only after making sure there could be no civilian casualties. When they found the village leader he was raving mad, and Neji waited for Tayuya to extract any useful information before taking him out as well. Back at Otogakure a month later, Neji was once again a father, and Yuko pointed out that she had no interest in repeating the act anytime soon, which Neji was fine with. Looking back on his activities within his village and the people he had become close with, Neji couldn't help but consider himself extremely lucky for what he had.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Four Weeks after Separation***<p>

Naruto had prepared himself for almost anything when he came to. With what the Kyuubi had eluded to in his mindscape, Naruto had attempted to prepare himself for the fact that Hinata might be dead, or something similar.

So it was to his pleasant surprise that he saw Hinata wringing out a hand cloth in a nearby pool of water, looking no different than when he had accidently knocked himself out.

Ignoring the stiffness in his legs, Naruto launched himself off from the ground and pounced on her from behind, hugging her as tight as possible.

Hinata gasped slightly and stopped herself from falling into the river. "Naruto! You're awake?"

Leaning in to kiss her neck lightly, Naruto sighed in relief and tightened his hold on her waist. "You're okay…thank god…"

She struggled to get him to let her go while simultaneously letting out a short cough into one of her hands. "You shouldn't be up yet, Naruto."

He didn't want to let her go, but conceded her point, now very concerned about her cough. "How long was I out?"

"Three days. You hit your head pretty hard."

_Three days? That makes no sense…but why is she okay? I got the impression the Kyuubi wanted her dead. _

He cracked his neck slightly and flexed out his arms. It was just like he had woken up after a long sleep, but beside the stiffness he felt fine.

"Are you sure you are okay? I don't want to aggravate any injuries your Kattoken might have given you."

Naruto smiled slowly and shook his head. "Hinata, I'm fine. Just had to sleep it off. What about you?"

"I'm…" she went to say she was fine, but after seeing the serious look in Naruto's eyes she stopped herself.

She placed a hand on her stomach with a grimace, "I'm sorry for hiding it, Naruto. I didn't want to slow you down…"

"Hinata, you are the most important person in my life. If you are sick, you need to tell me. How else am I going to help?"

She hung her head slightly, "Sorry…"

He reached out and hugged her again, making sure to hold it enough for her to understand just how much she meant to him. Once they broke apart, he indicated for her to sit down while he sat opposite her, holding one of her hands.

"So, do you know what is wrong?"

Hinata shook her head slightly, feeling a strange weight lifted from her shoulders. "My stomach is in knots, I'm constantly coughing…sometimes with blood coming out…I don't know what it is."

She kept describing her symptoms, most of the medical information went over his head but Naruto concentrated on some of the more important details.

_She looked after me for three days, despite being on the edge of collapse herself…she has strength I don't think even she knew she had. _

"Hinata, we need to go to a doctor."

She went to say she could get better, but Naruto would hear nothing of it. They hadn't seen anyone in the country besides Magnus that wasn't hostile to them, which meant that the likelihood of meeting a friendly doctor who knew more than Hinata was slim at best.

"Where are we going to go?"

Now that he was concentrating on it, he could hear the strain in Hinata's voice. She wasn't hiding any of her illness anymore, but he could tell she was still trying to be strong.

Naruto placed a hand on his chin and thought about it for a little bit. He didn't want to move her, since it was likely that her condition would be aggravated by excessive physical activity. That only left them with one mode of travel.

He stood up from the ground, and before Hinata could join him he indicated for her to stay there. "Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you here."

He gave her a short grin before placing his hands together. While he could do the technique without handseals, he had a large amount of things to order them to do, which required more control than usual.

A relatively small number of Naruto clones nodded their acknowledgement as they appeared in a circle around them before turning around to move out. The fifty clones spread out and vanished in every direction, moving as fast as possible.

Hinata understood immediately what Naruto's plan was, smiling tiredly as the original Naruto sat back down and took one of her hands into his. "You were always looking after me. Now it's my turn."

She didn't respond, simply smiling and closing her eyes in exhaustion. Despite knowing very little about healing, she felt comfortable enough in his hands that she could finally rest without concern.

He would look after her.

* * *

><p>Within their tent, Naruto swore silently as he stared at the pouring rain outside. It had been three days since his clones had dispersed in search of the city Magnus had told them about, and none of them had dissipated so far. With no information to go on, he'd been left to try his best to help Hinata maintain consciousness, which was a difficult task when they realised how sick she actually was.<p>

Naruto didn't tell her about his encounter with the Kyuubi, or how her being sick was his punishment for trying to get rid of the Kyuubi. He didn't know how it had happened, but until he did he didn't want to worry her, not unlike how she had hidden her illness from him previously. Sometimes caring for someone meant not burdening them with unnecessary things. Naruto had grown up with that mentality, and he didn't like people who placed their burdens on others.

Breathing heavily at his side, Hinata looked at her lover through tired white eyes. She had grown flush red over the past few days, and her breathing had begun to sound wheezing-like. She hated that she couldn't help looking like she did in front of him, but the embarrassment was overshadowed by the growing pain in her mid-section. She hadn't been able to locate its origin, and had struggled to keep herself conscious while they both waited for Naruto's clones to find the city.

"Naruto…"

He quickly turned his attention back her with concern on his face, "What is it?"

He spoke softly, since he knew she had a fairly bad headache to accompany her other symptoms.

She smiled slowly and tried to reach out with one of her hands, which Naruto took carefully while shuffling to sit next to her.

"I'm not going to be able to stay awake much longer…no it's not that bad…I just want to save my energy. You need to…keep an eye on my breathing…and my heartbe…"

Her hand fell limp in his, and for a few agonising seconds Naruto thought he had lost her. Thankfully with a quick check he saw that her chest was steadily rising and falling despite her eyes being closed.

Naruto found himself shaking his head uncontrollably; he struggled to believe that any of this was happening. They had been so happy just a week ago, and then everything had been tipped on its head.

_If the clones don't find the city in the next day or so…I don't know how long she's going to last…_

He placed her hand down at her side and stood back slightly, wishing that he'd paid attention more thoroughly when Shizune trying to teach him some medical techniques.

_I can't give up. I won't give up. Somehow I'll…_

He felt a sudden jolt up his spine as memories came flooding into his mind. There was almost a one second delay before all the other clones came to him as well, clearly sensing that they weren't needed anymore. When a clone dispersed every copy of Naruto gained its memories, so when Naruto learnt that one of his clones had achieved his goal, all of them did.

It was initially difficult to go through the muck of his memories to find the specifics, but Naruto couldn't complain with what he found.

_That's…okay that…really…I guess there isn't much choice, is there? _

He took a quick glance around and made a quick decision about what he needed to do. He regretted having to leave so much of their stuff behind, but time was not on his side.

Being as careful as he could, he made sure Hinata had enough blankets that she would be warm in the small amount of time that would be spending in the rain before picking her up as delicately as possible.

Despite being unconscious she seemed to respond to his touch, her fingers gripping slightly on his orange jacket as he held her bridal-style before breathing out slowly. He'd done the technique hundreds of times, and occasionally with others as well, but he felt an overwhelming sense of nervousness surrounding the Hiraishin at that moment. It caused nausea occasionally, and now that he was at this point he hoped that his technique didn't do any additional injury to the young girl.

Trying his best to put it out of his mind, Naruto made sure Hinata was tightly gripped in his hands before running a reasonable amount of chakra though both his seal and hers for good measure.

They both disappeared in a crack of lightning.

* * *

><p>Naruto recognised the high walls immediately, moving to cover Hinata's face in his arms from the rain as he looked around for an entrance into the castle-city. He hadn't been able to confirm whether it was the city Magnus had told them about, he found it hard to believe that the joyful old man would have sent them to such a place, but Naruto had no other options.<p>

Seeing no obvious entrances, he concentrated a small amount of chakra into his feet and leapt high into the air, landing as softly as he could on top of the battlements. There were a dozen soldiers nearby that seemed amazed at his landing, but he paid them no heed as he moved down into the city.

It appeared to be a city mostly in ruins, as if a castle had been stretched and thrown around in a completely disorganised manner. If he had more time to look around, he would have noticed the escape tunnels that were scattered around the city, or the buildings that had completely flat roofs on the same level as the battlements, allowing for archers to defend the inner city if an enemy army were to breach the walls.

An army like the one camped just outside the city.

His clone had slipped past it when approaching the city walls and hadn't gotten a good chance to analyse the forces, but once Hinata was secure Naruto fully intended to ensure that they weren't at risk. He knew that when she was healed they would be able to escape easily, however if she was to be incapacitated for an extended period of time, Naruto was prepared to fight, to the death if necessary.

"Doctor! I need a doctor!"

His cries were met with odd looks; they seemed very out of place compared to the armoured soldiers moving in formation and the civilians going about their business with the impending army attack.

He ran up to an old woman, demanding to know where the nearest doctor was. She seemed to be taken back by his quick tone, but nevertheless indicated to a building on the east side of the castle.

Naruto nodded his gratitude and sped off in that direction, trying to ignore the fact that Hinata's breathing had become worse since he had picked her up.

He found the entrance easily enough, a wooden door that had several characters Naruto didn't recognise. With Hinata in his arms, Naruto had no traditional means to open the door by the handle.

He reached up with a sandaled foot and kicked the door in lightly, making sure that he only broke the lock rather than the hinges.

Inside was a large room full of empty beds, with several women in white dresses jumping as the door slammed open. As Naruto came inside with his ill lover in his arms, a man wearing a set of doctor fatigues with black-rimmed glasses on his face marched in from another side.

"What the hell is this?" he spat, glaring at the young shinobi.

"Please…you've got to help her…"

The doctor barked out a laugh at his request. "You do realise this city is about to be a battlefield, right? We don't have time for your little girl's cold."

Naruto swallowed the yell he had prepared and stepped forward, placing Hinata down as carefully as possible on a nearby empty bed. He turned around and stared down the doctor.

"She has a high fever, stomach pains, her coughs have become bloody over the past week, and she has been unconscious for nearly ten minutes. If you will not help her, then find me someone who will."

"It's not just a matter of healing her; we need to get ready for the soldiers that will be injured in the coming battle…"

"If you don't heal her…I…please…she's everything to me…and I can't help her…" Naruto turned back around and looked down at Hinata. "She has to get better. She just has to."

He couldn't see behind him, but if he could Naruto would have noticed the silent conversation going on between the doctor and the other women. After a few moments the doctor pushed past him and grasped Hinata's hand, feeling for her pulse.

Naruto looked up at him expectantly, feeling a slight glimmer of hope at his action. "Can you help her?"

The doctor placed down the young girl's hand and barked several orders to the nurses that Naruto didn't understand before turning to the young shinobi. "As a doctor, I have an obligation to help the sick whenever they are in front of me. You have my word I will do my best. But the moment the soldiers begin to come in, you must understand that they are our priority. If we are to defend ourselves, we need as many people up and about as possible."

Naruto grinned and bowed deeply to the doctor. "Bring her back, and she can fight better than a hundred men. You can…"

Naruto collapsed onto the ground beside Hinata's bed, snoring before his head even hit the floor.

* * *

><p>The explosion sounds were deafening, almost enough to distract Naruto from glaring at the door in front of him. He'd left a clone disguised as a glass in the room which would tell him if anything changed with Hinata, but beyond that he hated that he couldn't be in the room with her. It made sense, but that didn't stop him being angry about it. After sleeping almost an entire day, the doctor and his nurses had thrown him out, telling him that if anything he should be on the walls defending them.<p>

A loud whistling sound came to his ears. It took Naruto a few seconds before he swore under his breath and jumped to his feet. With two swift movements he jumped onto the side of a nearby tower to the top of the building where the doctors were housed.

He stared at the large boulder hurtling directly at the place where Hinata was being looked at with utter contempt in his eyes. With a short breath he pushed off of the roof straight into the boulder's path, pulling back a fist with a heavy concentration of spiritual energy. He figured he could probably do the same thing with chakra, but using wind power was safer for their position.

His fist slammed into the boulder, and in dramatic flair he appeared on the other side, landing softly on the ground. The object seemed to hover for a moment in the air before being rapidly shredded into nothingness, to an extent Naruto didn't even realise he could achieve.

Looking around at the interior of the castle town, he saw that dozens of similar sized boulders were slamming into the town; they didn't appear to be discriminating in relation to targets.

He glanced down at his hands, his eyes widening when he saw that they were shaking.

It was fear.

_I can't do anything to help heal her…_

Glancing at the soldiers lining the walls, Naruto came to a slow realisation about what he could do.

_I can do what I do best though. I can fight. _

Breaking out into a sprint, he leapt onto the walls in a single bound, causing some of the soldiers on the ground to gape in surprise. He figured they had never seen a shinobi before, and if Magnus' warning was any indication he didn't want to over-exemplify that fact.

Naruto was a veteran of several massive battles. He had found at both the Village of Whirlpools and the Hidden Sound, plus he had fought in over a hundred other battles. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw on the other side of the castle walls.

Standing beyond the walls of the town was the roaring sound of twenty thousand armoured soldiers, with scattered catapults between their ranks. Naruto could see they were both well-armed and well-disciplined, similar to the bandits he had taken out earlier in the week.

They were a fair distance from the town, just barely within catapult range. Naruto saw that the town itself had no means to defend itself from the barrage, forced to wait until the enemy army was within range of their archers.

_We were so lucky that my clone was able to slip past this army._

"Who the hell are you, and why the hell are you on my wall?"

He turned to see an angry looking soldier with red stripes across his armour and a dozen scars on his face. Even if he hadn't confronted him, Naruto would have picked him as the person in charge.

"I'm Naruto. You seem to have a bit of a problem." He tried to sound calm and collected, but his hands were still shaking even though they were clenched into fists.

The general spat on the ground at Naruto's feet and stared out over the walls. "You could say that. Are you any good with a bow? We could use another body for the enemy to slaughter."

"How many men have you got?"

"A thousand give or take. All of them are worthless saps."

The general bellowed out an order to a nearby soldier and turned back to Naruto with a frown. "If you aren't here to fight, get the hell off my wall."

With couldn't help but grin at the general's demeanour. The soldiers around him clearly respected the man, and Naruto felt that the man knew what he was doing.

He cracked his knuckles and indicated to the soldiers scrambling below, trying to clear the debris and move the civilians to a safer location. "If I gave you an hour, could you get your men ready for the battle?"

The general stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a loud bark of a laugh. "Give me twenty minutes and we'll throw those bastards to the winds. But I fail to see how one boy who barely looks like he could stick it to a maiden could do such a thing."

A wide grin came across Naruto's face. "Ready your men, general. And tell them not to shoot me."

The rigid soldier scoffed in response, but couldn't help but be surprised as Naruto leapt off the walls straight to the ground, landing softly just outside the castle walls. As a shinobi a fall of a few dozen feet was nothing, but to the normal soldiers it must have been quite the impressive feat.

Naruto regarded the army that hadn't noticed him yet with a cold stare. The image of Hinata lying in the bed with her face in such pain was enough to cause him to lose all concept of holding back.

He couldn't heal her, but he could beat them back and keep her secure.

As confident as Naruto was, he was only one shinobi. An army of twenty thousand trained soldiers would have been a struggle for several hundred shinobi.

However Naruto wasn't just one shinobi.

He began to walk at a reasonable pace towards the army, his hands at his sides permanently clenched. Two clones appeared behind him, walking in perfect synchronisation as the original.

Four more appeared behind them.

Then eight.

Sixteen clones followed. The enemy army has begun to notice something was different.

Thirty-two.

Sixty-four appeared behind those. The soldiers on the walls had begun to cheer loudly.

After only a minute of walking, Naruto moved at the front of just over a thousand shadow clones, all walking in perfect unison with him. As a single shinobi, Naruto barely made a sound when walking. With over a thousand shinobi moving, they made some noise.

The trained soldiers had finally turned to face him, unable to comprehend how this small army had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The catapults fell silent as the loaders tried to rapidly recalculate their firing arcs, while their archers struggled to string their bows with arrows to fire onto the army of orange-clad shinobi.

Every clone pulled out a pair of kunai and grasped the knives in each hand while continuing to walk dramatically towards the enemy army.

_I will protect Hinata…even if it costs me my life!_

Naruto didn't need to vocalise any orders to his clones. They all knew what to do.

With a synchronised roar that was nearly deafening, the army of Naruto clones charged at the invaders at full pace.

oOoOoOo

Boulders and arrows came screaming into the rampaging horde of clones, dispersing dozens at a time yet they didn't even flinch as they crashed into the shield wall of the enemy army.

The forward line dispersed to the initial spear thrust of the enemy soldiers, but right as their companions fell another line of orange-clad shinobi leapt over the top. Their kunai bit straight into the vulnerable points of their armour, hundreds of soldiers suddenly finding themselves fighting for their lives.

As a shinobi Naruto had significantly more combat training than the average soldier. While his clones could only take one hit before disappearing, for every Naruto that was taken out several soldiers were knocked out in the process. It was still a mostly one-sided battle that Naruto had no delusions on winning, but as a delay tactic it was perfect.

The catapults were unwilling to fire into their own ranks, and after the first two ranks of soldiers fell under the sheer weight of numbers and determination of the clone army it became clear what Naruto's objectives were.

While the clones fought with kunai and bare fists, the original Naruto was a veritable force of nature through their ranks. Each punch and kick was enhanced to the maximum with wind energy, causing soldiers that were dozens of feet away to be blasted apart with each swing.

Several soldiers tried to move around to flank the original Naruto, but were subsequently swarmed by the clone army supporting the Konoha shinobi. The battle of attrition was not going in Naruto's favour, but if he completed his objectives then he didn't care.

A hail of arrows came down on a freshly made batch of clones, piercing straight through the smoke while a group of thrown kunai came back in response, taking out the small group of archers in turn.

The noise of the battle was deafening, but Naruto's clone army still focused on what he had ordered them to do. A small contingent of clones that had disguised themselves as soldiers broke through the initial ten ranks of soldiers and laid into the loading crews of the first two catapults in front of them.

The soldiers were easily taken out, and with several quickly thrown kunai with explosive notes attached the boulder-throwing devices crumbled to the ground in loud explosions. The clones took a moment to revel in their success, and found themselves quickly overwhelmed by spears and swords from the soldiers around them, causing them to disperse into a large grey cloud of smoke.

Using a circle of clones as a shield, the original Naruto took a second to survey the battlefield. He watched as several more groups of clones destroyed more of the catapults with pride, he figured if they destroyed them then the enemy army couldn't easily target Hinata's building, and would be forced to march into range of the castle's archers.

_How did we get so caught up in someone else's war?_

He instinctively ducked under an arrow shot at his head, springing up from the ground quickly and burying a kunai into the side of a soldier that had tried to stab him from behind. In those few moments he had taken his clone army had been reduced massively, and while Naruto had the chakra to produce another thousand he saw that the last catapult had been taken out, meaning the majority of the damage he could do by himself was done.

The last fifty clones spread out amongst the enemy ranks all pulled out large amounts of chakra and slammed their hands into the ground. Massive tendrils of lightning struck the ground as every clone that remained exploded in a spectacular fashion. It provided the original Naruto enough time to get a bee-line on the castle walls and disappear with a sound, appearing on top of the battlements with a drawn-out breath.

He noticed the general he had spoken to earlier standing beside where he had appeared, with every soldier that could was staring at him with amazement.

Naruto gave the general the slightest grin, "Was that enough time, general?"

"Wha…what the hell are you?"

The shinobi looked back at the building he had left Hinata at, turning back to the general with a grim expression. "Someone who keeps my precious people safe."

With that he disappeared again, the general seeing him appear at the building door with amazement.

An archer coughed to get his attention beside him. "Who is that boy, sir?"

"I have no idea. But be glad he's on our side."

The general had to rethink his defence now that Naruto had retired back to be by Hinata's side. Without the catapults the opposing army had no long-range firepower, which meant they had to assault the walls directly to destroy them. Naruto's attack had taken out nearly two thousand soldiers, several hundred from the final explosions alone.

He watched as the orange-clad boy entered the building and closed the door behind him.

_He's a shinobi. I'd bet it on my life. But why would one be here? This land has nothing to offer them anymore. _

The general placed the concern in the back of his mind, turning to bark orders at his soldiers. The enemy army wouldn't be able to attack for the rest of the day, but that didn't mean they should slack off. They were still both out-armed and out-numbered.

* * *

><p>Naruto slumped down into his chair and stared at the doctor. "What are you telling me?"<p>

The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose slightly and looked down at his chart. "She should be dead. So should you, as a matter of a fact. The fact that you are standing at all defies all medicine I've ever learnt."

Naruto frowned and clasped his hands together. "I don't care about me. Why is she sick?"

"You aren't listening. I just tested your blood against hers, and you both have the same problem. It's as if your immune systems are attacking your vital organs, because there is a key component missing from your blood."

_So the Kyuubi has killed both of us. But how? Could it have been..._

The doctor coughed and flipped the page on his chart. "The two of you are shinobi, am I correct?"

"Is that a problem?" Naruto had gotten the impression from the general and Magnus that shinobi weren't particularly welcome in this country.

The doctor shrugged, "I don't care. That was ages ago. But it explains what the problem is, and why we can't cure you."

Naruto felt his heart freeze in place. "Are you saying Hinata is going to die?"

"In time, yes. As will you."

The doctor continued talking, but Naruto couldn't hear him. All he could do was look at the pained body of the only person he's truly loved, with the knowledge that he was going to lose her.

_And then I'll…NO! I refuse to let this beat us. There has to be a way!_

"No."

The doctor halted mid-sentence and stared at him curiously, his response made no sense in context to what he was saying. "No, what?"

Naruto stood up slowly and stared at the doctor eye-to-eye. "I will not accept something like that. There is always a way. I won't let her die! There has to be something!"

The doctor sighed and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He'd been examining the young girl for a while, and hadn't rested in hours. "You're not listening."

The young shinobi walked past the doctor and sat next to Hinata, taking her hand into his. Since coming to the castle she hadn't regained consciousness, Naruto was petrified he'd never hear her voice again.

"Doctor, I'm sure you hear this all the time…but there has got to be something. Some kind of cure that's a long shot. Right?"

"Look, I'll tell it to you straight. I'm out of my depth here, since this is clearly a shinobi-based illness, but I'll tell you what I know. As shinobi the two of you have different blood than regular people, because of your energy-stuff."

"Chakra?"

"Yes, that. Now normally we could help something like this with a blood transfusion and clearing out your systems, but your blood types are too rare out here. Even if we could transfuse between the two of you, which we can't because you have different blood types, it wouldn't help."

"So…we need something to clear our blood? But how could this have affected both of us? We haven't exactly swapped blood lately."

The doctor shrugged, "I'm not sure. Since this 'chakra' is involved, anything is possible. The way I see it is that wherever this thing originated, both of you have had extended amounts of expose to it, and that's what is killing you."

Naruto looked down at the unconscious body of his love with a sad expression.

_So it is my fault. The Kyuubi sought to punish me, but because of my healing he couldn't finish the job, and in turn the person I've had the more contact with falls ill. _

He turned back to the doctor as a horrible question came to his mind.

"Could…could this have been…transmitted….?" He didn't know why it was so hard to say.

Sensing where the young shinobi was going, the doctor shook his head slowly. "It is nothing sexual; you don't have to worry about that. By the sounds of it, you blame yourself. Well don't, this could have happened to anyone."

_No, it couldn't have. This is my punishment, in the worst way possible. _

Swallowing the sadness in his throat, Naruto asked the doctor the only other question that mattered. "How much time does she have?"

The doctor told him.

* * *

><p>The next day, a clone of Naruto sat on a set of steps leading up to the battlements, swinging his feet absentmindedly. They had been told that the enemy army would likely be attacking again, but Naruto had no interest in participating in the battle. He'd relented in letting a few clones gain some information on the battle, to see where they could help, but he had no intention of leaving Hinata's side.<p>

Down in the courtyard he could see several children playing a strange game; they appeared to be chasing each other while swinging imaginary weapons at each other.

The clone frowned slightly. "I thought all the civilians were evacuated" he said to nobody in particular.

"If the young ones are in danger, than the town is lost." A soldier sat down next to the cloned shinobi and rested his spear on his shoulder.

The clone resisted the urge to scoff at the naïve perception of the situation. While it was completely true, he didn't seem to understand the value of survival like he would expect them to.

"What are they playing?" he asked curiously.

"Seiken and the Dragonknights. Haven't you heard of it?"

"Let's just say we aren't from around here."

The soldier smiled slowly beneath his helmet. They'd all been there to see Naruto's attack on the enemy army, and it was clear he was a different type of person than most. He was happy to spend some time with the boy who had stopped the boulders falling onto their heads. "It's an old tale in this country. Seiken was a great hero who fought bravely for his people. One day there was an evil man who had four children, each of them terribly powerful. They destroyed Seiken's land and murdered his people, so the great hero set out to stop them before they could do the same to others. Each of the children fell under his great sword, which was imbued with the blood of each foe slain. It was said that Seiken was granted immortality by the gods, and he could heal any injury that he was given. He's seen as an idol among our people."

"Sounds like a powerful guy. Did he really exist? Or is it just a legend?" Naruto's clone didn't mean to sound bored, he was actually quite intrigued by the tale, but he'd never been good at displaying sincerity during conversation.

The soldier shrugged and stared up into the clear sky. "All legends start from tales in history. Whether Seikan existed…who knows? The sword though, that certainly exists. A blade capable of healing any wound, or slaying any foe…that would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Battles aren't won by heroes wielding swords, soldier."

They both turned to see the general standing behind them, a warbow in hand. "Back to your post, before I put you on a triple shift."

The soldier scrambled to his feet and gave the general a quick salute before running back up the battlements.

The general grinned and walked down the steps so that he could face the clone face-on. "Can we count on your assistance? The men could use the moral boost, and quite frankly I could use the extra fighting strength."

"I'm not sure how much help I could be to you, general. I'm sorry; I don't think I'm up to fighting at this time."

The general scoffed and placed his warbow on his back. "Too caught up in legends and tales to fight a man's war? If you are so interested in that sword, you could have a look over the walls."

"Why is that?"

"That army is led by a man wielding the blade. Why do you think they've never been beaten in a fight?"

The clone frowned and stood up from his step. "What, are you telling me he's immortal? That's ridiculous."

"Of course it is. But if you are wielding a sword that has the bloodstone gem capable of healing any wound, it's pretty damn hard to kill you."

_Heal any wound…wait…a bloodstone? Could it be…_

A slow smile came across the clone's face, as a small glimmer of hope arose within him. "A stone that heals any wound…How long until their army comes within range?"

"Half an hour. Probably less. Why? Don't tell me you are going to go for the sword?!"

His smile turned into a smirk as he cracked his knuckles. "It'll take too long to explain, general."

With that, he dissipated into a puff of grey smoke, causing the general to jump slightly before shaking his head in surprise.

"Bizarre child. If you weren't such a good fighter, I'd have you running laps around the castle. Maybe there are some rookies I can yell at to amuse myself before the battle."

oOoOoOo

At the bedside, Naruto felt a smile come over his face as the information from the clone entered his mind. He knew it was a long shot, and probably not what he thought it was. But despite all that, he had to try. There was little else he could do.

He patted Hinata's hand in his before reaching down and kissing her cheek lightly. He'd been talking to her as much as he could, trying to see if she would wake up but without any luck.

"Hinata…I've found something. I don't know if it'll help, but I think it'll be worth the risk."

He let out a slight laugh and kissed the hand he held. "I have to fight again. I wish you were at my side; I always seemed to fight best when I'm with you. I'm leaving a set of clones to watch over you. If you wake up, I'll come back here instantly."

"I won't let you die. Even if it costs me my life, I swear I'll make up for what I've done. Maybe when you wake up, you'll forgive me. I know we've only got a few weeks, but I won't be too long."

He let go of her hand and stood up from his seat, looking over her blanket covered body for a few seconds before turning to face the door.

"I love you Hyuuga Hinata. I will be back for you."

oOoOoOo

"Get those bows loaded! If you aren't ready to fight, get the hell off my wall!"

The general continued to spit orders at his soldiers, while out of the corner of his eye he noticed an orange blur moving towards the battlements. He swore under his breath and began to run towards the place where he estimated the young shinobi to be moving towards. His armour wasn't particularly heavy, but it still made him tired as he moved to intercept him.

Naruto came to a halt when he saw the general moving towards him, looking at the old man curiously as he caught up to him quickly.

"Something on your mind, general?" Naruto didn't mean to sound humorous, but it helped put his off the enormous task he had to do.

The general breathed out slowly and gathered his strength. "You look like you are about to do something stupid."

Naruto frowned, "I know it seems stupid, but I've got to try. If that sword can save her, it's worth the risk."

"Boy, you are all manner of stupid." The general shook his head and looked over the battlements at the approaching army. They were no more than ten minutes away from their archers' range, and considering what Naruto had done previously he had every interest in having the young man participate in the battle.

Naruto nodded his agreement and went to leap off the battlements, but the general grabbed his jacket and held him back.

"What are you doing?"

"Think about this for a moment, boy. You attack them now, we can't assist you."

He stared at the general with a cocked head, "I'm short on time, general."

"I'm not saying don't attack. I'm suggesting we be strategic about this."

Still feeling a need to go on a rampage, it took a massive amount of effort not to shrug off the man's grip and leap off the battlements. Instead Naruto fought to calm himself down and stare back at the general.

"What did you have in mind?"

* * *

><p>"This is stupid, even for you."<p>

"I dunno, it might work"

"Says number forty-one"

"I don't want to hear anything from either of you."

Naruto rolled his eyes as heard the bickering of his clones all around his position. He'd given the clones a larger amount of sentience, but he hoped they would have to see too much combat, since they were within the castle walls in case the enemy soldiers broke through the gate.

The original Naruto controlled his breathing and waited patiently as the army slowly made its way into range. He was standing on the outside of the massive closed gate, with his clones on the inside.

He could start to see the faces of the enemy soldiers, and as he came into their view he could see the apprehension in their expressions.

_They remember my previous attack. Good. That means when I move out, I should be able to move more freely._

The general had told him that the enemy leader wielding the sword he was looking for would be on the frontlines, since he was apparently a symbol for their army. Naruto didn't know why they were attacking the castle, or even who they were; the general had been remise in explaining the situation to the shinobi.

He heard a soft twang of a bowstring a short distance away. A second later he watched as an arrow buried itself a few dozen feet in front of his position.

_I'm almost in range of their archers, which means they are nearly in range of our archers. Time to move out. _

Pulling out two kunai with tags attached, Naruto eyed a patch of land just behind the enemy army. It was within line of sight, and on the same ground level as the gate.

Riding along the wind, Naruto disappeared and reappeared in the patch of land he had just seen. Now looking at the rear of the army, Naruto could see the apprehension in most of the soldier's stances as they moved towards the castle.

_They don't want to attack the castle, but are being forced to do so. Someone has a hand in this attack. _

With two flicks he buried the kunai an even fifty feet apart, making sure that the tags were secure before taking a moment to see if he could see any command structure at the rear.

All he could see were more armoured soldiers; nobody appeared to be in charge from the angle Naruto was looking at.

_I guess the general was right; he's either at the front or in the middle of the army. _

Giving it no further thought, Naruto concentrated on the seal he had placed on the gate, disappearing in a crack of lightning before reappearing at his first position.

He immediately ducked underneath a sword strike and discovered that the enemy army had advanced quicker than he could have anticipated.

_This makes things harder. _

Naruto summoned his spiritual energy around him and began a swift counterattack against the small force of soldiers that had reached the gate. His arms slammed into their armour and sent them flying away, each strike taking out several soldiers in succession.

For every set of soldiers Naruto blew away another five would take their place, even though a hail of arrows had already begun to fall on their ranks. It didn't take much stamina to fight with the Kattoken, but with the enemy's numbers he knew it was a losing battle.

_I need to clear the field for my seals. _

Taking out another set of soldiers with a wide kick, Naruto leap back and attached his feet to the gate quickly. Before the soldiers could react, he summoned up as much spiritual energy as he thought he could handle and clapped his hands together straight at the enemy army.

The effort was similar to that of a shockwave, as over a hundred soldiers were blown back by the wave of air energy.

Sensing his opportunity, Naruto threw two more kunai to either side of the gate and rapidly ran through a short set of handseals. He detached himself from the gate and landed on the ground, taking note of the black seals along the ground that connected his new kunai to the ones he had previously placed.

The enemy soldiers were already moving back to attack Naruto again; a small selection even had a battering ram between them. Naruto refused to give them an opportunity to take down the gate however; he knew that beside siege ladders the gate was the only way for the soldiers to enter the castle.

Before the soldiers could reach him, Naruto slammed both hands onto the ground and activated the technique. A strange thought came into his mind as the ninjutsu came into effect.

_I suppose this isn't really that original. I don't think Father would mind though. _

"Hirai…bugger I don't have a name for this one. Oh well."

He looked and felt a smirk came across his face as he saw what he had done.

In the column between the seals at the gate and the seals behind the enemy army was absolutely nothing. The almost six hundred soldiers that had been marching forward in that area had vanished completely.

Naruto could see the enemy soldiers looking around for their companions in confusion, while a massive cheer came from the castle walls.

An enemy soldier near him stared at him with a mixture of both confusion and horror before shouting at him in a language he didn't understand.

Naruto let his smirk drop and pointed upwards, indicating that the soldier should mind his head.

He looked up and gasped in surprise as he saw the soldiers that had disappeared descending rapidly from the clouds above.

The cheers from the battlements were muffled by the screams of the falling soldiers.

The young Konoha shinobi watched with appreciation for the immensely powerful technique. It was a massive drain on his chakra, but Naruto didn't mind that so much considering his and Hinata's new techniques that didn't require chakra.

He hadn't been able to control where the soldiers went, his control over the technique was at the same level as when he was first learning the Hiraishin, which happened to work to his advantage in this circumstance.

The soldiers weren't falling from a survivable distance, nor where they falling where they had come from.

They fell on top of their companions, crushing them as they struck the ground heavily.

Naruto watched the devastation passively; he felt little sympathy for the soldiers but could appreciate the situation they found themselves in.

_Fighting against an enemy they don't understand, and cannot seem to overcome. Not unlike us with that Shouri guy. _

Despite the discord he had sown in their ranks, the enemy army still advanced on the city with some resemblance of strategy. With his attack, and the one conducted previously, the enemy army had been cut by a third from its original standpoint.

Traditional siege warfare dictated that an army needed a ten-to-one numerical advantage to take a castle by siege, and while Naruto hadn't studied too much warfare tactics he knew that the battle had suddenly shifted in favour of the defenders.

_I could leave this battlefield right now, and they would likely win the battle now. Presuming they don't fall over themselves. But I can't do that. _

He noticed a gleam several hundred feet away, to the point that his eyes were instantly drawn to it. He couldn't quite make it out, but considering the movements of the soldiers around the gleam he judged that it could only be one thing.

Gathering his strength, Naruto concentrated on that spot and disappeared.

* * *

><p>When Naruto appeared in the ranks of the enemy army he had been expecting to come out swinging and fighting tooth and claw.<p>

To his surprise, there was a wide circle for him to appear in, as if they had been anticipating his arrival. Naruto had a pair of kunai in hand immediately, but it quickly became clear that the soldiers in formation around him had no interest in attacking him. They simply stared at him with hate and waited.

"What the hell is this?"

After a few seconds a soldier broke through the ranks and stood in the circle opposite the young shinobi. Even though he wore the same regalia as the other soldiers, the look in his eyes indicated to Naruto that this was someone on a whole other level to the normal rank-and-file soldiery.

"Are you one who killing my men?" His Japanese was heavily accented; Naruto could tell it wasn't his first language.

He squared off against the man and held his kunai up, "Are you the general?"

"Yes. You shinobi?"

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, a shinobi from Konoha."

The man snarled at his acknowledgement and reached down, pulling a sheathed blade from his belt. He held the sheath up in front of him, as if demonstrating to Naruto before pulling the blade from its cover and holding it tightly, placing the sheath in his other hand.

The blade was long and wide; it seemed to be made of a metal Naruto didn't recognise as it gleamed in the sunlight. The hilt was made from gilded steel and silver, and upon close inspection he could see two dark red gemstones buried on either side of the hilt. As his eyes gazed over the stones he thought he saw a strange flame in the stones before they turned back to their regular dark red.

_The sword!_

"You must be the general."

His enemy cocked his head slightly, "The master did not say shinobi be here. Shouri will reward Azahi for killing shinobi menace."

"Shouri?! You know the white armoured warrior that sent us here?"

"No more talk. Seiken's sword demands shinobi blood."

Naruto took one final glance at the blade and placed his kunai back into his pocket. It didn't take a genius to tell that the enemy's sword would cut straight through his kunai without any effort required.

_If blades of metal won't work…_

The Konoha shinobi placed up his hands in an offensive taijutsu stance and motioned for the general to attack him.

_I have to leave the gate to the clones. If I take this one out, it's likely that the army will retreat. _

The soldiers around the two of them stood back slightly and widened the circle for the two of them to fight in, watching without comment as the general moved towards Naruto with the sword and sheath in hand.

oOoOoOo

When he still had his father's sword, Naruto had spent a large amount of time practising his swordsmanship, sparring many times with Sasuke in order to better defend himself against sword-users.

Sasuke had nothing on the general of the enemy army.

The general, who called himself Azahi, struck at Naruto like a brute trying to bash his head in, but when Naruto moved out of the way of the blade the sheath was there to block his counter-attack.

He wielded the blade with uncanny skill, constantly pushing Naruto back towards the other soldiers.

Under the quick advances of Azahi, Naruto had no time to attack in turn; he spent all of his concentration on ducking and weaving his way out of getting sliced apart by the legendary blade.

Nearly a minute of retreating in a circle later, Naruto leapt back out of the general's range and observed his movements carefully.

_He's holding back. He wants to embarrass me in front of his men, to raise their morale. _

Placing up a fist, Naruto gathered a small amount of spiritual energy and smirked.

_No need for me to hold back anymore then. _

Azahi leapt at him with Seikan's sword raised, aiming to slash straight down Naruto's centre line. Instead of retreating like he had been, Naruto placed up an arm up and caught the blade on his forearm.

The blade stopped just before striking at his clothes, and for that moment it seemed like the general had stopped the strike, but the two of them knew differently.

The general pulled the blade back and brought it crashing back down on Naruto's arm, this time with more strength than before. He once again caught it on his arm, but grimaced under the strain as the wind struggled to keep the blade from his flesh.

Naruto swore silently and held up his arm with his other hand, trying his best to increase the flow of wind energy swirling around his arm. He could feel it cutting into his skin, but ignored the pain, concentrating on keeping the more dangerous blade from cutting his arm off.

While concentrating on the sword, Naruto neglected to notice the fact that the general was only using one hand to continually strike at him with the sword. So when the sheath came crashing into his side, Naruto was forced to take the blow without any defences up.

He rolled back with a grimace and held his side painfully. It felt like he had just been hit by one of Lee's punches, which were easily able to break brick walls if needed.

_I need to go on offense. He's too clever with those weapons. _

Azahi moved to strike him again, taking advantage of his injured state. However just as the sword went to slash through him, Naruto disappeared into thin air.

The general frowned and went to pull back his sword, but he stood no chance against what Naruto had planned.

The shinobi had reappeared just above the general and drove a fist straight down into the general's back. He tried to make his spiritual energy into a drill, and while he had struck a clean blow all he was able to do was shattering the armour around his back and chest.

To his credit, despite taking the blow to his back the general spun around and slashed at Naruto with his sword, causing the shinobi to jump back and resume his stance.

Azahi stood up from the ground and grimaced, holding his sides as he felt the impact of Naruto's attack. He hadn't pierced through, but the strike itself was enough to hurt his muscles.

"You strong shinobi. Better than others master kill."

The general threw the sheath away and placed his open hand onto the sword hilt, changing his stance so that he could take advantage of his two-handed grip.

Naruto took note of the different grip, and the confidence it seemed to inspire in the general.

_I probably can't do the attack from above again, unless he's distracted. _

He blinked, and the sword was already coming crashing down towards him. Naruto went to block it with a wind-covered arm, but thought better of it and rolled away from the strike.

Azahi held the legendary sword at his sword and grinned, showing Naruto his missing teeth. "Know when going to lose arm. Smart shinobi. Not too smart to fight though."

_I need to get that sword away from him. He can out-muscle me with it in his hands. _

The general hesitated for a moment, and Naruto saw an opportunity to attack. With nearly unperceivable speed he threw a hail of shurikens at the general. Using his sword he was easily able to deflect the projectiles, but it gave Naruto the distraction he needed.

He sped as fast as he could towards the general, analysing the movements of his sword before preparing both fists and slamming them into each side of the legendary blade. It was only for a few seconds, but Naruto tried to dislodge the blade from his enemy's grip.

Unfortunately the general was smarter than Naruto had given him credit for, twisted the blade before driving it towards Naruto, negating his chaotic wind attack.

The shinobi cried out in pain as the sword bit into his stomach, causing him to disappear and reappear on the other side of the circle. The cut wasn't particularly deep, but it still hurt like anything Naruto had experienced before.

Using the short time he had between assaults, Naruto was able to get an understanding of how the greater battle was faring. It wasn't looking good for the attacking army, the ladders had been thrown from the walls and they had failed to breach the gate as well.

_I'm out of time. Hinata won't last much longer. _

Standing up straight, Naruto threw down four kunai in a perfect square around the two of them. He placed his hands together into a handseal and stared at his opponent.

"It's nothing personal. I just need that blade."

The general stared at him with a cocked head, but before he could say anything Naruto leapt at him, his fists raised. He almost couldn't help but laugh at the brazen assault, it was child's play for him to reach out and slice the shinobi in half with Seikan's sword.

As the blade cut through Naruto's head, he vanished into a puff of smoke. Remembering his previous attack, Azahi spun around and prepared himself for the air-based attack from above.

Unfortunately Naruto hadn't used teleportation; he had transposed himself with a Kage Bunshin. Appearing underneath the general's guard, Naruto slammed a fist into the general's chin, while simultaneously driving his other fist into the blade again, into the same place he had struck before.

The effect was instantaneous. Even with a heavy set helmet on, the wind-spiritual energy spun his head in such a way that the human body was not capable of maintaining, while his sword span out of his grip onto the ground.

Naruto leapt back and stared at the fallen body with fascination. He hadn't expected that to work, he'd planned for a more elaborate technique with the kunai around them.

_I guess sometimes you just need an opening. _

It took him a few seconds before he realised that he was still in the middle of the enemy army, and had just killed the enemy general in single combat. He looked around at the soldiers around him, taking note of the variety of expressions on the enemy warriors.

Not sure whether he wanted to keep fighting or not, Naruto placed up his hands and held a defensive stance. The air around him began to sway as he made the wind pick up chaotically, stopping just short of blowing the soldiers back.

Naruto discovered that he didn't need to put on such a show, as the soldiers began throwing down their arms in droves. They weren't surrendering themselves to him; they were simply giving him their weapons so they could flee from the battle.

This happened quickly among the enemy ranks, as word of their leader's demise spread. The unit leaders tried to keep discipline, but they all knew the battle was lost. The fleeing soldiers gave Naruto a wide berth as they fled away from the castle, allowing Naruto to take a moment to breath out a sigh of relief.

When he had gathered his wits, and ensured that the general was in fact dead, Naruto found himself wondering why he knew who that Shouri warrior was. When he had time, and when she woke up, he planned to talk it out with Hinata.

Upon remembering her, Naruto smacked himself on the head for forgetting his initial purpose in participating in the battle. He ran over and reached down to pick up the legendary blade that had nearly killed him. As his fingers touched the hilt the metal of the blade shattered into thousands of pieces.

Naruto held up the hilt and stared at the now-broken blade in his hand. "I guess I shouldn't have attacked the blade itself huh…"

He tapped the two bloodstones in the hilt with a free hand, making sure that they were still okay within the hilt.

"I hope this thing works…"

* * *

><p>Naruto came crashing into the hospital building, the broken sword in hand. As if anticipating his arrival, the doctor simply waved him over.<p>

"This is a stupid idea, you know that right?"

Placing the hilted blade in the doctor's hand, Naruto threw off his bloody jacket and knelt beside the bed, taking one of Hinata's hands into his. "I don't care. Will it help?"

The doctor produced a switchblade from his pocket and began to jimmy one of the two bloodstones out of the hilt. Naruto went to yell for him to stop, but it only took him a few seconds to get the stone out.

"What are you doing? Don't we need those?"

Holding the bloodstone up to his eyes, the doctor stared at it like a professional jewelcrafter. "As an outsider, I don't want to hear anything from you. Shut up and let me do my work."

_I only saved your city. No need to thank me or anything. _

The doctor pulled back the sheet covering Hinata's unconscious body, making sure that her neck was properly exposed. Naruto felt a need to protest at her exposure, but resolved to simply making sure that her breasts were properly covered.

Placing the bloodstone on the centre of her neck, the doctor stepped back and folded his arms.

Nothing happened.

The Uzumaki shinobi stared at the doctor, "I don't understand. Why isn't it working?"

"It was a long shot, you knew that. Legends are just that."

Naruto felt an overwhelming weight come crashing down on him, forcing him to his knees as the finality of what was going to happen came to him.

_I failed her…and now…Hinata…_

"Naruto…?"

His eyes shot open immediately, and before he could even think about it he had leapt to his feet and embraced the young girl on the bed in the tightest hug he had ever given her.

Barely able to open her eyes, Hinata grimaced at the hug, but nevertheless was able to the smile and nuzzle her head into his neck.

The bloodstone fell from her neck onto the ground, the doctor picking it up and placing it next to the broken sword. "No way…"

Hinata could hear Naruto saying something, but it was entirely unintelligible. It wasn't for a whole minute that she realised that her lover was crying into her hair. Despite having just woken up from nearly dying, Hinata was able to muster the strength to place an arm around his shoulder and hold his head into her shoulder.

"I made you worry…I'm sorry…"

"No…it's my fault. I should have worked harder…none of this would have happened…"

"Naruto, you're hurting my sides."

He immediately jumped off and tumbled backwards, causing the nurses and doctor to laugh loudly, even Hinata had to stifle a giggle. From his awkward position with his legs around his head, Naruto started to laugh as well.

_She's safe…I can't…believe…_

Then fatigue hit him and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

oOoOoOo

Taking the stone off of the fifth patient, the doctor swore and stared at the dark red gem.

"Nothing?" asked a nurse attending the soldier before them.

He shrugged and tossed the bloodstone back towards the broken sword hilt on the bed besides the two shinobi. On the young girl's insistence they had organised two beds together so that she could take care of the orange-clad boy who had gone so far for her, and they now slept soundlessly as if he had never been in such a horrific battle.

"It makes no sense. It worked for her, but not for anyone else."

He glanced over at the two shinobi for a second for a few seconds before regarding one of the nurses beside him.

"Well at least I won't be out of a job. Get some more gauze; I don't want this soldier bleeding out on me again."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

There are a few things I'd like to address, that have been brought up from the reviews.

This story originally began as a Naruto/Hinata story, and that was its intention. But the more I wrote the more I realised I could make it more than just a fanfiction about their romance. They are still the most 'main' characters in the story, but almost everyone gets their share of the story.

I also know there are a fair number of OCs in this story, and that is intentional. We know the characters in Naruto damn well, and we don't read fanfiction to see them do the same stuff as the original (at least I don't). I'm writing different aspects of the characters so that we get different views on how they would react to certain situations.

And bugger, I forgot to put Karin in the last chapter. Only just occurred to me. She'll be in the story, but much later now.

I know the bloodstone bit doesn't make much sense at this point. It gets explained further in the next Naru/Hina chapter, which will be in a little while down the track.

I've learnt a lot from writing this story, and I have every intention of finishing it. Beside the Bonus Chapters, nothing in this story is padding. Everything makes sense in some aspect or another and is relevant.

I should also point out that I use this story to test out certain elements of characters and plot devices to see how they might work in my other fiction works. So by all means, be as brutal and honest as possible. It helps me more than you might think.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	36. Chapter 33 LEE Knife's Edge

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 33 – Lee – Knife's Edge

**A/N**: The beginning of this chapter has some…colourful background imagery. Not enough to be completely disturbing, but hopefully enough to grimace at. Just a warning.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Lee wouldn't be so ridiculous. Consider his backstory. I liked him during the Chuunin Exam, before he became an element of comedic relief.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

After waking up and a short reunion, Hinata collapsed from a mysterious illness that Naruto knew originated from the Kyuubi. He sent out his clones to find a doctor, and after three days he teleported the two of them to a castle-city that he hoped had a doctor that could help her. He found such a doctor, but the prognosis wasn't good, particularly since the city was being attacked by twenty-thousand soldiers in an army like Naruto had never seen before. Frustrated at his inability to heal Hinata, Naruto attacked the army with gusto, destroying all the catapults they had been using to pound the castle. It was after that that the doctor told him that they both had the same illness, and that she didn't have much longer to live. Feeling helpless, Naruto heard a folktale from a soldier about a sword that granted the wielder immortality, and upon hearing that the enemy general had the sword he took a risk and once again participated in the battle. Destroying a large number of soldiers himself, Naruto fought the general in single combat and after nearing dying he destroyed the general and retrieved the sword. At first the bloodstone within the hilt didn't make a difference, but eventually Hinata woke and was reunited with Naruto, who promptly collapsed under the stress he had been feeling over the past few days. The doctor who had helped the two of them tried the bloodstone on other patients, but found it had no effect, causing him to question just how Hinata had woken up from an illness that should have killed her.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Unknown Time after Separation***<p>

When he had disappeared from the purple sphere he had been placed in, Lee wasn't sure what to expect. If the white-armoured warrior wanted to kill them he had the opportunity to do so many times, but from the one-sided conversation he heard Lee figured that he had been ordered to keep them alive.

So when he opened his eyes and found himself strapped to a chair by an intricate collection of chains and seals, it wasn't so surprising.

His vision was blurry when he first opened his eyes. He could barely make out a solitary figure standing opposite him with a distinctly red dress on. Even while blurred, he could tell it was both a woman, and someone he should be wary of.

"Ah, you have awakened already? How fascinating…"

Lee strained his arms against the chains, but found they drained his strength to the point that he could barely move his fingers.

The woman, who was slowly coming into vision, shook her head and waved a finger at him. "We don't want you going anywhere, now do we?"

Summoning up what strength he had, Lee glared at her while still fighting his restraints. "Who are you? Why have you captured me?"

The woman, who had rather striking features with her bright red hair, crossed her arms and took a step closer to him. She had an oddly distinctive smell, and while Lee didn't find her attractive he knew his inhibitions were likely being lowered intentionally by her.

"Are you with Shouri? Did you destroy our village?"

She walked around him slowly, making small marks on a notepad she held in one of her hands. Lee continued to try and struggle, but it became clear that even while using chakra to reinforce his limbs the restraints weren't going to budge. By the time she had come back to stand in front of him, Lee had expended what energy he had, sitting limp in the chair while continuing to glare at his captor.

The red woman nodded slowly and placed the pad in her pocket, puckering her small lips with her long tongue. Lee knew it was meant to be a seductive movement, but he felt nothing but contempt for the woman.

"These are all valid questions. But I have more pressing patients to attend to, so I will ask for your patience."

Before Lee could do anything about it, his captor reached down and kissed him square on the lips, holding the touch just long enough to savour it before pulling back and licking her lips again. Lee felt like he should spit in protest, but he was so taken back by the movement he had no response to give.

"Hmm…not as good as the others, but you have potential. I will have to make you a warrior; you'd hardly satisfy me as a lover."

Finally back to his senses, Lee found himself frowning in confusion.

The woman shrugged as if answering her own question and flicked a thread of hair that had gotten in her face when she had kissed him.

"I am Sensou, your new mistress. Now I'm afraid I have another to apply my…delicate touch to. One who is a far better kisser I must say."

She reached out again and lightly touched his forehead with an extended finger, causing Lee's vision to turn to black as he collapsed into his chair.

* * *

><p>Lee was woken up by an odd dripping sound close to his ears. He felt very groggy, and still had no clue as to where he was being held.<p>

"Ah, you have awoken again." He couldn't see the speaker, but the male voice had an oddly disturbing tone that Lee couldn't quite place.

He opened his eyes slowly and found himself staring at a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, standing in front of him with a half-smile on his face.

Lee felt his restraints were still keeping him from getting out from the chair, so he merely fixed the man with a glare.

"Okay, let us see if the trouble of getting you here was worth it…"

Lee had very little ability to move his head within his restraints, so when the man walked around him he wasn't able to see what he was doing.

He did however feel the spike that the man drove partially into the back of his head.

Grinding his teeth together and clutching at the chair arms, Lee fought the urge to call out in agony.

The man popped his head slightly into Lee's view and stared at the young shinobi's pained face. "No scream? Well I suppose there is a first for everything. Let's see what we can do with you…"

"I…won't…tell…you…a…thing…"

He heard a disturbing chuckle behind him as a spike of electricity shot through his head. "My dear boy, we don't need you to tell us anything. We already know all about you, Rock Lee. A shame about your teacher, he would have made a fine addition to our forces."

Lee stopped his struggle and felt a terrible sense of fear at the information the man seemed to have on him and Gai. "What…do…you…want?"

The man moved in front of him and leaned down so that he was at eye-level with his captive. Even through the man's glasses he could see the light blue outline of his dark eyes.

"I wouldn't recommend struggling. The result is always the same, regardless of the pain involved. It's not so bad…the mistress is a fair and kind ruler. We are furthering a more righteous cause now."

It took him a few seconds but it finally clicked in Lee why the man seemed oddly familiar, despite his actions. "You were a shinobi once."

The man nodded with a smile and moved back to behind the taijutsu-user.

"I got better. Now let's see if this works."

Lee felt a strange sensation on the top of his head, just above where the spike had gone through. It felt like the last time he had drunken alcohol, but without the memory blanking aftereffects.

He could feel his mental strength being tested by whatever the man had entered into his system, but Lee refused to let the man beat him.

_Gai-sensei wouldn't give in. Sakura-san wouldn't give in…_

After nearly a minute of stubbornly sitting silently, the man moved back around to the front and crossed his arms with a frown.

"Well, I suppose it would be less fun if that level worked. The mistress won't mind if I do the next part on my own, especially if you are going to be stubborn."

He eyed a table near the dark coloured wall, walking over to it before busying his hands above where Lee could see.

_I won't break. I refuse to break!_

The man picked up an object from the table and walked back in front of Lee, showing him the widely curved knife in his hand.

"This will hurt. A lot."

Lee fixed him with a hateful glare. "I won't scream."

The man scoffed and moved towards his captive.

"You undoubtedly will."

oOoOoOo

Lee screamed up into the point that his heart stopped beating and he fell dead in his chair.

Then the man revived him with several jolts of electricity, and began his work again.

Again, Lee was brought over the line of death, and brought back.

He lost any sense of time he had left as the process of being tortured to death and being brought back to life continued seemingly endlessly.

He was never given food or water, each time he was resurrected there was only a momentary pause before the pain began again.

_I…will…not…be…broken…_

"Fascinating…this may take longer than we assumed."

Lee couldn't see anything through the pain shooting through his body, but his ears heard the distinctive sound of a blade being pulled out of its sheath.

He was proved correct as the blade was dragged across his face.

Lee began to scream again.

oOoOoOo

_I can't break…I can't break…I can't…_

He tried to open his eyes again, and found that this time he was able to do so without fainting from pain. His left eyes seemed to be covered in a haze of red, and even without being able to feel it with his hands he knew it was because of the deep cut just above the eye.

The man that had been tormenting him had left the room, having left his bloody instruments on a table near the wall.

_He's probably taking a break…_

Lee felt like he should say to himself that he's felt worse, but it would have been a lie. Everything hurt, more than anything he had ever experienced.

He strained against the chains on his arms, still unable to summon any chakra to break free of his bonds. The spike was still attached to the back of his head, which he figured was keeping him from recovering any resemblance of chakra.

_I'd like to say this is going to kill me…but I think I've already died…_

He went to move his head, but felt a spike of pain in the back of his head, keeping him in place. Lee wanted to scream out in frustration, but he didn't want to invite the man back into the room.

Even as a shinobi, Lee was afraid of him, only because he could do nothing against him though.

_Gai-sensei wouldn't let himself stay in this position…he would fight to his last breath._

Lee forced his arms up as high as possible, feeling the bite of the chains directly onto his skin. He didn't have much movement space, but Lee refused to believe that his cause was pointless.

_Everything I've done…I won't let this beat me!_

Ignoring the agony in his arms, Lee tried as hard as he could to push his arms out of the chains. He could feel his muscles burning in protest, but he ignored them and continued to push upwards.

It was slow at first, but he could feel the chains slowly moving with his arms upwards.

There was no chakra involved, but Lee could feel the strength slowly coming back to him, like being drenched in water after walking in the desert.

_I have to…ARGH!_

Using a vestige of strength he didn't know he had, Lee dragged his arms completely up to his shoulders, causing the chains to fall off them and slink to the floor.

He let out a long breath and grimaced at the pain in his arms, ignoring the bright red blood stains that he had just inflicted on himself. He only had to think about it for a second before reaching back and gingerly removing the long spike from the back of his head, biting back a cry of pain as he felt the metal sliding against his skull.

Once the spike was out of his head it didn't take him long to remove the other restraints, and the moment he placed a foot cleanly on the ground he felt like all the pain he had just suffered had struck him at once.

It took every ounce of strength and more to not fall unconscious, and even more to steady himself onto his feet. It felt like every part of him was trying to give up on him, but ever the stubborn person Lee took every step as a means towards getting further away from the pain he had been put through. He made his way to the table that held the deadly implements, finally able to see all the things that had been hurting him over the past unknown number of days, weeks, possibly months.

His hand wrapped around a short serrated blade, pulling it from the table and holding it as tightly as possible so that he didn't drop it.

Looking around the room, he noticed how small it truly was. Besides the table against the wall with the instruments, and the chair he had been living in, there was only a steel door behind the chair that clearly led out of the room.

Lee slowly dragged himself to the door, the blade in hand, positioning himself just to the side of the door. Placing an ear to the wall, it took a fair amount of concentration before he could hear a set of footsteps coming towards the room.

He clutched the blade in his hand even tightly, waiting until he could hear the footsteps stop just in front of the door. The steel object opened slowly, and the man he had become accustomed with walked into the door while flipping through a set of papers in his hands.

He immediately noticed that the chair was empty, but before he could do anything else Lee came up from behind him and placed the bloody weapon against his throat.

"Give me one good reason not to slit your throat right now…"

The man barked out a laugh and turned his head slightly, causing the blade to bite slightly into his throat. "I suppose you would be justified. It makes little difference; you will become one of us eventually."

Lee felt all the anger he had been accumulating towards the man come to the surface, and before he could even think he dragged the blade completely across the man's throat and let him fall to the ground.

He had no interest in watching the man die. He'd already seen it thousands of times in his mind, in far more destructive ways than that which was available to the taijutsu user.

Sticking his head out of the door, Lee could see no enemy forces within his view. He didn't believe that he was safe by any capacity, but Lee knew that his newfound strength would only last so long before he collapsed due to his overwhelming fatigue.

Despite all his injuries, Lee could feel the agony in his stomach the most.

_How long has it been since I've eaten? Or had water? _

Lee knew that if he hadn't gone through all the rigorous training that Gai had put him through, he wouldn't be standing let alone walking around.

_I have to recover my wounds before breaking out of here. I doubt I could fight anyone in my current state. _

The bob-haired shinobi tried to summon a small amount of chakra to help him along, but found that none of the usual methods were working. It was a similar sensation to when he tried to use ninjutsu or genjutsu; it just didn't seem to work.

Lee decided to ignore the problem for the moment and made his way into the corridor, still holding his blade in hand. Unless told otherwise, he wasn't going to take any chances with anyone he met in such enemy territory.

oOoOoOo

Lee never placed that much faith into luck, but when the first door he opened in the corridor revealed a pantry full of supplies, it was difficult to do anything but be amazed at his fortunes.

He stumbled into the room and shut the door behind him, using a nearby wooden box to block the door from opening inwards. Inside the supply room was a set of water bottles, basic food supplies, and various other things Lee would have expected to see in a military base.

It took all the foresight he could muster to not stuff his face with food, resolving to properly take a large draught of water before delving into a piece of dried meat. After the burning of his tongue Lee could feel little taste in the food, but just the idea of it seemed to replenish his strength.

Once he had eaten his fill, Lee barricaded the door as much as he could and made himself as comfortable as possible. Unlike Naruto, Lee needed to recover like a normal shinobi, and with the revelation that he couldn't use chakra momentarily was enough for him to justify waiting until he was at such a point that he could fight properly again.

He expected that the man he had killed would be discovered eventually, and was taking a huge risk in doing so, but he had no more strength to push on.

For the first time since he could remember, Lee fell asleep without agonising pain accompanying it. Completely intentionally, Lee's dreams were of a singular nature.

* * *

><p>The first room Lee found after recovering enough strength for him to move around properly was full of video screens unlike anything he had ever seen before. He opened the door without a sound, making sure that the two people he could hear chatting inside couldn't hear him coming in.<p>

With a clenched fist, and two rapid blows later, Lee found himself once again alone in the room. Despite being unable to manipulate chakra through his fists, unintentionally the blows had killed the two men operating the system, though Lee felt no sympathy for their demise. Unlike the rampage he had gone on after Gai's death, considering the things he had been put through, Lee had no problem taking them out.

_It's a good thing Sakura-san isn't here to see this. She wouldn't like what I've had to do, though she would probably understand. _

Looking over the video screens, seeing that it was a surveillance room, Lee found himself thinking more and more about the pink-haired girl he had grown so close to.

_I hope she isn't here. If Sakura-san was put through what I was…I could never forgive them. _

He ran through his other friends in his mind, but he couldn't help but keep coming back to her.

_When I get out of here, and find her…_

From what he could see, his breakout hadn't been discovered yet, which seemed miraculous in its own right. One of the monitors showed him the room he had previously been imprisoned in, with the slumped body of the man still in front of the closed steel door.

Lee didn't recognise any of the symbols on the keyboards in front of him, but he did see a headset that connected to a separate video feed. Seeing no other options, Lee pushed the guard's unconscious body from the chair and took his place, placing the headset around his head, carefully avoided his facial wounds.

The sound quality was surprisingly good, and seemed to act as if Lee was actually in the room itself. On the video feed he could see the red-haired woman wearing a red dress that could barely be described as covering. Through the video feed, even one such as Lee could see all of her as she lounged on a stone chair.

Almost as if waiting for Lee's attention, an old man wearing a black robe walked into the shot, looking like every step was to be his last.

_Maybe there are some answers here…_

oOoOoOo

The red haired woman threw down the last bit of wine in her glass before placing it carefully back on a nearby table and crossing her barely covered legs.

She fixed the black robed old man with an icy glare. "What are you doing here, Kyoukou?"

"Don't talk to me like one of your underlings, Sensou. I am your older brother, and you will pay me the respect I deserve." His voice was old and coarse, yet carried enough power for the woman to indicate for him to sit opposite her.

"Fine, fine. Why are you here then, beloved brother?"

He hobbled over and sat down with considerable effort, placing his walking aid across his robed knees. Fixing a gaze on his younger sister, he decided not to comment on her scantily-clothed appearance.

"The others…including me…have expressed an interest into why you are acting on such a grand scale."

"I'm doing Father's will, as are you. I'm not the one destroying food stocks and forcing shinobi to fight each other for scraps."

"We are not here to talk about my works. You know that. We would like to know why you are focusing so much on conversions, using shinobi against one another."

Leaning forward slightly in her chair, Sensou placed her hands together while continuing her cold stare. "Did Father send you here?"

"Don't change the subject. We came to this land with a singular purpose, one that you seem to be in contradiction of."

Sensou scoffed and placed her hands back onto her lap, running a finger along her arm with a bored expression. "If this is about the love slaves, I see no issue with it. Father might not like it, but I fail to see why we can't have fun with them. I have a few girls you might be interested in. Large ones, full of life for you to devour."

Kyoukou shook his head slightly and leaned back into his chair, flicking his black robes up so that he could cross his bare-skin arms. "You are acting like a spoiled child. The power you have been given was designed to destroy our enemies, not for you to have your little orgies."

After hearing that, the red-haired woman stood up from her chair and motioned dramatically around the room. "Have I not done good works? The so-called Land of Fire is nearly entirely cleansed, as are several smaller countries, BECAUSE OF MY SOLDIERS!"

She slammed a hand onto the table, "I refuse to be chastised by an old man that wouldn't know a fight if it bit him in the ass. Brother or no, it has not been Shouri that has killed the most shinobi. It has not been Shikyo, even with all her 'mystical strengths' that has furthered our cause. It has been MY EFFORTS, and MY WORK that has placed us in the position we are in today. So, don't you dare lecture me on staying on task."

She stared at her older brother intently, and after nearly a minute she walked back over and sat back down opposite him, not caring that her normally withheld anger had come out so ferociously.

Kyoukou maintained eye-contact with her for the whole time she yelled at him, and even when she had said her piece he refused to let her settle with just that.

After another minute of deadening silence, Sensou threw up her hands in exhaustion and placed them back on her lap. "But these are not new arguments. You all know my opinions on this war."

"So why state them again?"

She rolled her eyes again, "Why are you here, Kyoukou? You could have just asked for a personal conversation, we didn't need to meet in person like this. I have much work to do, despite what you lot might think I have a war to win."

"Shouri has expressed a dislike in using your soldiers in his battles. He prefers to use our own people to fight our own battles."

Sensou snorted at the claim and leaned her feet on the table in front of her. "And he's a fool for thinking so. We do not have a numerical superiority over these people. We don't even have power superiority, besides from a certain level and above. If Father wants all shinobi to be destroyed, then he needs for me to do my work. Otherwise I'm just a warrior, and we have enough of those."

"You sound bitter."

"Bitter? Hardly. What the shinobi did to us entirely justifies what we are doing to them, and the fact that we have to keep our motives secret from them is completely abhorrent to me. Let Shouri fight his grand-scale battles. That's why he gets replaced every decade or so. I want to see the enemy in front of my face, so that I can slit his throat and enjoy the look in his eyes. Beyond that, I just want to enjoy my work."

"For such a gifted fighter, you seem to be so obsessed with breaking down people's minds and getting them fighting each other. Back at home you didn't seem so…focused."

"I am Sensou, as the other three before me have been. However I have the techniques and technology available to me to really explore what it means to be a warrior, and why the shinobi are the way they are."

Kyoukou leaned forward slightly, holding his stick in one hand to keep himself level. "Are you seeking a reason for their attack on us all those years ago?"

"Maybe. Just because there are none alive who were there, doesn't mean there isn't some underlying rationality behind the massacres of our people."

She stood up again, having noticed what the time was and all the things she needed to get done before moving to her next laboratory. Turning to her older brother she reached down onto the table and pushed across a small stack of paper in front of him.

"You sound like you want to understand them. There won't be any left for us to understand in a few years."

"Look, I love war as much as the next girl. And we don't have any civilians to protect anymore, as a people we are hanging on by a thread. But what will be left? We can't rebuild, so we are just slaughtering? If that's the reason, then fine. But Father should at least be clear to us."

The black-robed old man leaned over and looked at the stack of paper, noticing a picture of a girl with an elaborate set of headgear. He placed the papers within his robe and stood up slowly from his chair, leaning on his walking aid to keep himself up.

"A discussion for another time perhaps, sister. As you have work, as do I."

"Get out of my laboratory, Kyoukou. This is a place of science and psychology, and you are sucking the essence out of it." Sensou turned around and began flicking through a chart on a nearby table, ignoring the look her older brother gave her before disappearing into an opening within the air of the room.

Once she couldn't hear the wheezing breath of the old man, Sensou sighed and moved towards a nearby closet, throwing off her see-through dress and quickly putting on her fatigues.

"So many to convert, so little time" she said quietly to herself.

As an opening appeared within the air, she found herself humming an unknown tune to nobody in particular. It had been a good few months, and there was much more to be done yet.

* * *

><p>Lee watched as the woman disappeared into thin air, leaning back into his chair in astonishment. He didn't understand half of what had transpired between the two figures, but they seemed related to the warrior that had sent him there, and that was enough to put him on edge.<p>

"What am I meant to do with this?" he asked to himself, looking around at the other monitors to see whether there was anything else of interest in the area.

From what he could see, there didn't seem to be any personnel within the facility, which itself appeared small considering the number of rooms he could see. Initially Lee thought he had been the only prisoner of the enemy forces, but upon closer inspection he saw that there was one other figure on the monitors.

The prisoner was bound angel-style, with his head covered by a hood and his body hidden from the camera's view. Using the number on the monitor, Lee was able to work out a general idea of where the room was.

_If he's a prisoner, then I should release him. No-one deserves the treatment I got. Strange that the restraints are so different though. No spike in the head or anything. _

oOoOoOo

He still made a point to move cautiously through the facility, but after a few minutes it became clear that the complex was indeed deserted. Lee figured it was only the Sensou woman and the man who had been torturing him that had been working in the facility.

_No manpower, means no need to explain to the underlings. Particularly with that kind of stuff…_

After checking several rooms, Lee found the one he was looking for, opening the door carefully to ensure it wasn't booby-trapped.

Unlike his old room, this prisoner's room wasn't covered in spilt blood. Nor did it have a table full of wicked instruments. Within the room was a single wooden cross with the prisoner attached to it with an elaborate set of chains. He was covered in a brown nondescript robe, and from behind Lee could tell virtually nothing about the prisoner besides the fact that he couldn't even tell if he was alive or not.

He walked around the cross and let out a slow breath. He wasn't sure what to expect, but there was a part of him that was terrified the man could be one of Lee's companions.

_I don't know what I'd do if it was…anyone of them really. _

Seeing nothing else to it, Lee reached out and pulled back the hood on the prisoner, looking at his face with fearful anticipation.

He was not proud of the fact that he was relieved that he didn't recognise the man's face, though his shaggy white hair seemed oddly distinctive.

The prisoner was old, by Lee's estimation at least fifty years old. His face was somewhat wrinkled and he had more scars than Lee could count. An initial feel on his neck told Lee that the man was alive, but unconscious. It was no trouble to remove the restraints, though Lee struggled slightly to get the man smoothly onto the ground. One of the drill wounds in his side had reduced his ability to lift heavy objects to a certain point, and while Lee knew he could remedy it there was no way to fix it now.

_What the hell is this guy? He looks more beat up than I am…and ancient…_

The old man's eyes slowly opened up, and the moment they made eye-contact Lee watched as the world around him turned completely white as the room disappeared around them, as did the man.

"You are not of the Quiraji."

Lee nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice. He looked around immediately, and found himself confronted by the man standing erect in front of him, looking none the wiser.

"Wh…how…"

The prisoner cocked his head slightly before breathing out slowly as if it was an effort to explain the situation. "You are a shinobi, no? Did you have any training in genjutsu?"

Lee frowned and crossed his arms, well aware of the fact that he was probably still just staring the man in the eyes. He'd done some training with Itachi to counteract genjutsu, but this was something on an entirely different level.

"So you are a shinobi too? Which village were you from?"

The man took a step back and crossed his arms to match Lee, frowning slightly. "I have not been part of a shinobi village for nearly a decade. However there is something familiar about you. You remind me of a Genin I once knew…one who was a friend to one of mine."

"Are you talking about Gai-sensei? Did you know him? Are you from Konoha?" Lee couldn't help but fire questions at the man; he had no knowledge of anyone else from their village surviving the destruction.

The man watched him ask questions with growing amusement, the lines in his face smoothing out as he realised that Lee was not a threat to him. Visibly relaxing, the man waved an arm across the white background, causing it to fade back to the room from before.

Lee glanced around with surprise, he didn't understand what was happening but it was clear that this man was an ally. The man had vanished from the ground and now stood with his back to the nearby wall, resting as if he had always been there.

"Did you know Gai-sensei? Please, I have to know if you are a fellow Konoha shinobi."

"I am. And yes, I am aware of our village's fate." There was something bitter in the man's voice that Lee couldn't quite place, but he didn't comment on it.

"What is your…oh I'm sorry…my name is Rock Lee. Nice to meet you."

A smile crept onto the man's face at the shinobi's greeting; even the small bow was something he hadn't seen in many years. "It's nice to meet you, Rock Lee. I thank you for releasing from my bonds."

"Why were you imprisoned here? Were they trying that…conversion…thing with you?"

The man gazed across Lee's body, noticing all the wounds and scars the young shinobi had accumulated under his residence, taking special note of how remarkable it was that Lee was walking around with such injuries.

"No. They…had been using my skills…to do the process. Without me here, they can't convert anymore shinobi. They have very…persuasive methods…"

Lee frowned, that sounded far too convenient for his taste. "I got the impression they wanted to break me, and then turn me to their cause. Yet I get the feeling that they utterly despise shinobi."

"Oh, they do. The Quiraji wish to exterminate every single one of us, and for good reason."

Lee wanted to ask the man more, but didn't feel the need to tempt fate. "We should leave as soon as possible. If that Sensou woman returns, I don't know if I can fight her."

The man nodded slowly, standing up off the wall and gathering the robe from his legs. "Neither of us could. She is beyond what normal shinobi could fight."

Lee went to offer the man an arm, but after seeing him walk a few steps he could see that the man was in a better condition than he was.

He walked around the cross and went to pull the door open, but unintentionally he wrenched the steel door off its hinges, nearly taking out his companion in the process.

They shared a confused look as Lee dropped the doorknob to the ground. "That wasn't intentional…"

"No, it didn't look it. Tell me, have you been able to mould any chakra since escaping?"

Lee glanced down at his bandaged hands, feeling no difference like normal when he used chakra. "I don't think so. I've never been that good with chakra anyway."

"Can you use that kind of strength again?"

The young shinobi shrugged and turned around, pulling back a fist before driving it into the nearby wall. With chakra, Lee could have driven his fist straight through to the other side.

His fist struck the wall, and shattered the stone, sending massive cracks up the sides as he pulled his fist out.

"I don't…what did they do to me?"

The other prisoner stared at him for a few seconds before taking one of his hands into his, looking at the bandages carefully. "That's similar to what they do. Not using chakra…but something else."

He let Lee's hand go and walked towards the destroyed doorway, "We can use this to destroy this place, so that no-one else will suffer here. Can you do that?"

Lee clenched his fists slowly and nodded in agreement. "We should move quickly."

* * *

><p>The two of them grimaced at the sunlight hit their faces, but with the small building complex collapsing behind them it was a sight they were happy to see. Like Lee, the other prisoner didn't know how long he had been a prisoner, but he didn't seem like the type to talk that much, which Lee understood.<p>

They turned around and watched as the entrance collapsed inwards with the rest of the building. It was subtle at first, but Lee could feel the difference in his strength. After destroying key parts of the building he had discovered that he was slowly regaining his ability to use chakra, but it felt easier to continue the way he was.

_It's like stopping halfway to making chakra. I always had issues with spiritual energy…and this feels much more natural than anything else I've done. It's like I've always been meant to fight this way…_

He looked towards the older prisoner, noticing his expression hadn't changed since they had met an hour ago. "Where to now?"

"I could use a bath and some decent food. Would you like to join me?"

"Definitely. I don't have any money though; I left my pack behind when I was captured."

For the first time since meeting him, a tiny smile came across the man's face.

"That's no problem. I have my ways."

oOoOoOo

Lee sighed happily as he placed down his chopsticks, patting his stomach in satisfaction. He had been a little suspicious when they had been treated like royalty in the restaurant of a town close to the destroyed facility, but after the curry started coming out his hunger allowed him to ignore such suspicions.

His companion was a little more composed with his satisfaction, but wasted no time in asking Lee about himself. They knew that both of them were ex-Konoha shinobi, and while he hadn't revealed much about himself Lee felt no need to mistrust the prisoner.

"So you were Maito Gai's student? That makes sense, you remind me of him in more than one way."

"Did you know Gai-sensei?"

The ex-prisoner leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "In a manner of speaking. He was the rival to a man I used to work for. It is a shame he is gone."

Lee couldn't help but feel a ping of sadness, there weren't many moments where he didn't think about his deceased father-figure. "I miss him so much. It's…hard to think about what happened."

"The death of those close to you always is. It's the curse of being a shinobi."

"So…what are you going to do now?" Lee had a fairly good idea of what he needed to do, but didn't want to abandon his new companion.

"My old companion will want to know my mission was a success. I'll need to keep on the move, to avoid Sensou's men. She would need my abilities to convert more people, though it's odd that she would leave us be like this. She's not the most patient person in the world."

Again Lee wasn't sure what was going on, but he got the impression the man was more involved in the conflict than even he was. "I need to find my companions again. But if she is trying to take out shinobi in the Land of Fire, it means two of my old teachers are in danger. I have to warn them."

A waitress came over to give them the check for their feast, but an almost unnoticeable wave of the man's hand caused her to nod and walk away as if they had just paid.

"We should leave" said the man, ignoring the shifty look Lee gave him for using genjutsu to get the free meal.

Once they were outside, Lee regarded his companion with resignation. "I guess this is where we say our farewells."

The man nodded and extended a hand, the two of them shaking as equals.

"Be careful, Rock Lee. The Quiraji are not a people to take lightly. You might be better suited to fighting them than any of us, but that doesn't mean you should ignore your friends. Tell Kakashi when you see him that I send him my greeting."

Lee nodded and let go of the man's hand, turning to leave before realising what he was missing. He turned back and bowed slightly in apology. "I'm sorry; I never caught your name."

The robed man pulled the hood over his head and stared at the other former prisoner.

"We have similar faults, Rock Lee. My name is Jito. With the death of my cousin, I am the last of the Senju clan."

_He's the one that Kakashi-sensei spoke about from his memories. What are the odds of that?_

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Senju Jito. I hope we have the opportunity to work together again."

Jito showed Lee the ghost of a smile before vanishing from sight.

"I'm sure we will."

* * *

><p>After asking around the town, Lee discovered that he was in a small town on the northern side of the Land of Fire. Taking into account the season and how long the townsfolk said it had been since Konoha's destruction, Lee figured it had been a month since he had been separated from his friends.<p>

Once he was confident that he knew where he was going, Lee moved at top speed towards the village that Asuma and Kurenai had retired to. It hadn't been explicitly stated, but Lee figured that if there was ever a place for them to meet up, it would be there.

_I just hope that someone is there. If it's already been a month…_

After a day of travel Lee took a moment to relax at a small lake, splashing his face with cool water.

He sighed in relief at the touch; it felt surprisingly good on his face. Lee wasn't concerned over not having eaten since his meal with Jito, he'd spent weeks without eating in the past during training, and using the new form of the more physical-based energy didn't tire him as much as using chakra. He wasn't sure how it would react to some of his other techniques, or how fast he was without his weights on, but without weapons Lee spent his traveling time creating ideas on how to combat a threat that negates chakra like the Quiraji did.

The shinobi reached down to splash his face again, but paused when he saw his face reflected in the water. The moon gave him more than adequate light, one of the rare nights were there weren't any clouds in the night sky.

Lee never thought he was a particularly attractive boy, his hair and eyebrows didn't give him too many options in that regard.

What stared back at Lee wasn't the face he had become accustomed to.

He knew that the scars wouldn't heal completely, but he hadn't expected that there would be so many, particularly on his face. A long scar ran across the right side of his face, with several long cuts across his forehead and along his nose.

Lee stared at his face for nearly a minute. He thought long and hard about it before standing up straight and nodding slowly.

_I'm not ashamed of these scars. Gai-sensei would wear them proudly, so I will too. _

He reached up and lightly touched the scar just above his eye, tracing it with a finger.

_I wonder what Sakura-san will think…_

His thoughts stayed on that topic as he rested his back on a nearby rock, staring up at the night sky. It was difficult not to wonder how he had missed so many clues surrounding the young girl, or how much she truly meant to him.

_A lot of Naruto's comments to me make more sense, now that I think about it. _

His eyes slowly began to close, and for some inexplicable reason all he could see in his mind was the frowning face of his old rival. He wasn't sure why Neji was judging him, but as before he didn't care so much about what the Hyuuga thought, even though he was just a figure of Lee's imagination.

* * *

><p>The town looked no different from many months ago when Lee was here last. The last time they had been to the town he'd had a small breakdown of sorts, and he knew he had gotten irrationally angry at Sakura, but nevertheless he felt some relief at seeing the familiar town.<p>

_It's like the home that we could stay at, since Konoha isn't around anymore. _

Not willing to wait any longer, Lee quickly moved into the town.

He had reached the town at the middle of the day, so it wasn't so surprising that there were plenty of townsfolk walking around the village. As he walked the streets he was given a fair few shifty looks from the villagers, but considering how he looked Lee wasn't surprised.

It took him a while to remember where their house was, and then another few minutes on how to get there from the entrance of the village.

Now that he was within the village, Lee suddenly felt very tired, resolving to walk leisurely towards the Jounin's house. He wondered if anyone else was there, since he couldn't sense chakra like most of the others he had to look the old fashioned way. He wasn't even sure if the two Jounin were still at their house, but it was something he hoped was true, he felt an overwhelming urge to sleep in a real bed.

He turned a corner in the village, and recognised the street immediately. Looking down the village street, he recognised the roof of the house he was looking for. He took a step towards the house.

And watched in horror as it exploded into flames.

It wasn't an explosion, Lee could be certain of that. It appeared like the house had been simultaneously set on fire from all directions.

The Konoha shinobi swore under his breath and sped towards the house, knowing that it wasn't coincidental that it was only that specific house was being burnt down.

Just as Lee was about to reach the house, he saw five figures leap away from the house faster than any normal could move. In a split second Lee made the decision to pursue them, rather than check to see if anyone was alive inside the house.

_They are both Jounin, much stronger than me. If they can't look after themselves…it's likely those figures are fleeing a lost battle. _

Using his traditional chakra methods, Lee sped towards the fleeing robed figures as they left the village and moved across the countryside. It was uncanny at how fast the figures were moving, Lee figured only shinobi could move like that, and he was amazed at how much percent of his true speed he required to catch up to them.

However Lee was one of the fastest shinobi left in the world, even without removing his weights.

So it was no real effort for him to overtake the fleeing figures and stop them in their tracks, swiftly kicking them all to the ground. He was surprised at how little impact his kicks had on the figures, watching as they landed perfectly in formation and stood perfectly opposite him.

Lee breathed out slowly and stared at the figures, trying to get as much information on them as possible. They were all wearing dark robes, and four of them were clearly male, though they seemed to be showing some kind of reverence to the single female in the group. She was shorter than the men by far, and wore an elaborate helmet that seemed very excessive.

"Who are you people? What did you do to Asuma and Kurenai-sensei?"

The woman stepped forward and the ice-like globes in her helmet seemed to stare straight through him. She looked over him for a moment before turning back to her fellow figures.

"**The mistress requires my presence. The four of you kill this shinobi, while we proceed to the next objective."**

"HEY! Don't just ignore me! What the hell is going on?!" Lee balled both his fists, suddenly wary of the fact that they had the same presence as the red-haired Sensou woman.

The masked woman turned back to him for a few seconds before disappearing in a flash, leaving her four companions to combat the young shinobi.

Lee's eyes widened when he saw how the woman had escaped, he felt like he recognised the technique, but couldn't quite place it. He tried to push it out of his mind as he regarded the four masked figures in front of him.

"Are you guys Quiraji too? No…I bet you were once shinobi. Why are you fighting for them?"

They never responded to him, choosing to leap forward to attack him with raised fists.

oOoOoOo

Considering the two shinobi they had just likely killed, Lee would have expected the figures to at least be wary of a shinobi that was able to catch them. So when they leapt at him with so many gaps in their defences it wasn't funny, Lee actually hesitated in surprise.

But only for a second, before lashing out and caving in the head of the first one with a clenched fist.

The other three jumped back immediately when they saw what he had done to their companion, taking up defensive positions a short distance away.

Lee stared at the body on the ground, looking at the face of the man he had just killed. His shattered mask lay beside him, and besides a few scars that looked eerily familiar he looked like a normal man.

He glanced at the other three and made a quick decision.

_I only need one to interrogate. But that was too easy…they couldn't have killed Asuma and Kurenai-sensei like that. Unless…_

He decided to go on the offensive, gathering a large amount of chakra into his arms before leaping towards them. They seemed to react quickly enough, jumping back to avoid his strike.

Taking advantage of their backwards movements, Lee bounced off the ground and attempted to drive a fist into the stomach of the closest robed figure.

The man stepped back slightly and braced himself, taking the fist straight, holding off Lee's strike with his own hand. The shinobi could feel the strength in his blow disappear the moment he touched the enemy's hand, as if the chakra he had moulded had fallen away.

Lee frowned and jumped back, feeling like the enemy was smirking underneath his mask. He looked down at his fist for a moment before nodding to himself.

_That confirms it. They can negate chakra. Considering that…Asuma and Kurenai-sensei…_

He spared a glance at the first enemy he took out, figuring it was because he struck him without truly moulding chakra. Jito's comment about him being able to combat them better than other shinobi made more sense to Lee in such context.

_When I survive this…I'll have to tell the others about this…physical energy thing. If they can specifically take out shinobi because of chakra, than we need to get stronger as well. _

Not willing to let him attack them again, the three of them dived straight at him with raised fists, and suddenly Lee found himself fighting for his life.

A blow nearly struck him in the head; Lee barely able to move out of the way before a leg crashed into his side from behind. He cried out and took several leaps back, holding his side in pain.

_Damn…not even Gai-sensei would hit me that hard. And that's without chakra too…_

The enemies didn't give him a chance to recover however, as they came at him again. Having seen how they fight, Lee felt he was getting used to how they fought.

A punch straight into his scar-covered face proved otherwise.

_Okay, this isn't working. _

He placed his hands crossed in front of his body, and went to activate his most powerful technique, but stopped himself just before he could.

_I don't even know if I can open the gates at the moment. But even so, it only increases my chakra output, which is pointless against them. _

He breathed out slowly and stood in a defensive stance with a single hand in front.

_It isn't that they are faster…or even stronger…_

Lee watched as one of them moved forward to strike him, noticing dozens of imperfections in their form. He ducked out of the way of a high kick and shifted his weight on his feet, kicking upwards straight into the man's face. As the masked foe dodged out of the way, Lee's eyes widened when he realised what they were doing. He was barely able to dodge the man's counterattack and leapt back again, this time taking a more aggressive stance.

_I'm so used to moving with the slightest bit of chakra to enhance my strength and speed that it has become instinctive, and by negating that I'm slower and less powerful. _

Lee wasn't taken to arrogance during a fight, but after figuring out the enemy's trick he couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of himself.

_If that's how they fight, then I can fight differently as well. _

The three of them moved to attack him again, but this time Lee took the offensive, moving his hands randomly from one form to the next. His movements seemed to confuse them momentarily, and in that hesitation he struck.

He batted away a punch aimed at his head, and struck the man several times in the stomach before crashing an elbow into the man's mask. He could feel the familiar drain on his chakra, but he did what felt more natural to him and was able to bypass the weakness, breaking apart the mask and destroying the man's face underneath.

Leaping back from the others, he let the other two check on their companion, watching the shift in their postures. Despite being unable to see their faces, he could tell they were no longer confident in their ability to eliminate him so quickly. They seemed to switch dispositions quickly, and before long they stood against him again.

"Persistent, aren't you?"

They both looked the same, but Lee decided that on what he was going to do once the battle was finished, having made up his mind already.

The enemies sped towards him, one of them aiming a long kick to his stomach while the other moved around the side to flank him. Lee shifted his stance so that the kick glanced off his chest, and peppered the man with punches before flipping onto his hands and kicked out wildly, clipping the other masked figure in the head. With two quick motions he leapt back again, but saw that only one of them had taken any damage, and it was minimal at best.

_I guess it'll take some getting used to. I should have practised more before coming to the village. _

Figuring he would learn more from fighting than anything else, Lee leapt at them again, realising that he needed to finish the battle quickly. He didn't think they would outlast him in prolonged combat, but he also didn't want to find out any other abilities they might possess.

He could see the one he had kicked making a few elaborate motions with his hands, but Lee wasn't going to let him finish whatever he was planning. In one quick motion he tapped the weights on his legs, and moved as fast as could towards him, so fast that it appeared he had vanished and reappeared. Summoning up his strength, he kicked out the man's legs and drove his head into the ground, hearing the man's spine shattered underneath his skin.

He went to leap back like he had been, but when the enemy moved to intercept him Lee lashed out, landing a fierce kick into his sternum. The man seemed to flinch, but was otherwise unaffected by the blow. He reached out and went to punch Lee in retaliation, but Lee was able to intercept the punch with his superior speed, driving a fist into the man's elbow and forcing the bone to splinter within his arm.

The masked man cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, which allowed Lee to reactivate his weights and kick the man down onto the ground. He reached down and ripped the man's mask off, seeing nothing to indicate the man's origins besides an odd glow in his eyes, and familiar looking facial scars.

Standing back up, Lee pulled the man to his knees and stared into his eyes, the hateful glare enough to tell him that the man was still alive.

"Now, what can you tell me about the Quiraji?"

oOoOoOo

Lee sighed as he watched the man flee into the distance. He had been completely silent, even when lee threatened to dismantle him piece by piece. When it became clear that he wasn't going to get any information from him, Lee opted to let him go. The man had been suspicious at first, but Lee said unlike them he had no interest in prisoners.

_Besides, he'll leave a trail to follow. Hopefully that'll lead to that woman leader, and maybe even Sensou. If Jito is right, and what I heard was correct, I need to take them both out before they kill anyone else. _

When the man's figure was gone from view, Lee turned around and looked at the village behind him. The fire was still going, but Lee knew what had already happened. If the two of them hadn't gotten out during the fight, than there was nothing he could have done to save them. As hard as it was to swallow, he had more important priorities now.

Letting out another characteristic sigh, Lee moved around and began rifling through the three dead bodies at his feet, seeing if there was anything of value that he could use.

_I'll wait an hour, and then I'll give pursuit. My tracking skills aren't the best, but if I find places in the Land of Fire where other shinobi live than they will find me eventually. Hopefully by then, I'll have a grip on this energy thing. _

A grin slowly came over his face as he thought about the task ahead of him.

_And if that one tells them about me, all's the better. I spent that time fearing them…if they think they can just come here and destroy us than they have a reckoning coming. _

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And the enemy has a name. Let me know what you think about that name, the Quiraji, since it's a group in a fantasy novel I'm working on, though a completely different set up and make.

For anyone thinking about it, Lee and Ino just missed each other in the village, by little more than a few minutes. I figured Lee would adopt fighting with just physical energy far better than anyone else. I'm essentially writing it like he was always meant to fight that way. I'm not sure whether that came out in the chapter or not.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	37. Chapter 34 LEE Hunting Prey

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 34 – Lee – Hunting Prey

**A/N**: If anyone is curious, the personal stories after Separation will be until Chapter 44, if my plan is anything to go by. Then we'll go into the last third of the story.

Did I mention this is a long story?

Also a review last week said that I had pirated other people's stuff. Since it was all in capitals it was hard to take seriously, but I can tell you the only thing I've taken from another story was Naruto's Kattoken, and I credited Mattwilson83 and got his permission first. Everything else in this story is from my own ideas, perhaps shaped by other things, but nothing pirated.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more personal struggles with strength.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Having been captured by the enemy, Lee was tortured to death and revived dozens of times at the hands of an unknown enemy connected to the warrior that separated him from his companions. During a lull in the torture, and through considerable personal effort, Lee was able to break free of his restraints and kill his torturer. Despite finding himself temporarily unable to use chakra, but instead a strange kind of physical energy that was easier for him to use than chakra, Lee was able to find a video feed that showed him a conversation between two of the leaders of the mysterious group in charge of the systematic slaughter of all shinobi. Within the facility, Lee rescued a long-term prisoner, who was able to inform Lee of many things about the organisation, including giving it a name. After discussing what to do against the Quiraji, Lee discovered the man who Jito Senju, and they subsequently parted company. Lee attempted to find his companions by travelling to Asuma and Kurenai's home, but when he got there it was already on fire, and a group of Quiraji were fleeing from the scene of the crime. Using his immense speed Lee caught up to the group and destroyed all except for the leader Iceheart, who got away from him at the start of the fight. By letting a single converted shinobi go with only minor injuries, Lee formulated a plan to stop the Quiraji before they could catch up to any of his friends.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Six Months after Separation***<p>

Lee frowned and placed his hand to his head to shield his eyes from the sun, watching a black figure move among the clouds. He watched patiently as the figure appeared as a small hawk, without any detail beyond the shadowy black colour.

Reaching out a hand, Lee let the odd bird land on his hand. The shadow-hawk cawed at him twice before dissipating into a small scroll. Lee opened up the scroll and immediately felt a smile come across his face.

After decoding the Konoha-based code, Lee read it carefully, making sure he didn't miss anything.

_Lee, _

_I wasn't expecting someone to find me so quickly. I've only just been accepted in this village, but it's nice to know that someone else survived. Thank you for the information, it correlates with much of what Suna has already gathered. The man you mentioned is of concern, but we should focus on 'getting the gang back together'. I know you are set in your crusade against them, but if you do see anyone please send them our way. We doubt that the Quiraji will leave us be, and we could use the extra strength. We are only as strong as each other. _

_Regardless, I hope you are well. This is a hard time for all of us. _

_And because she refused to let it go…Temari says…no I'm not writing that it's just stupid. Oh great, now I'm writing as I'm arguing. In code. Troublesome woman. _

_Shikamaru_

Lee destroyed the letter, but not after grinning at the final bit of the scroll. He didn't know that much about the Temari-woman mentioned, but by the sounds of it Shikamaru was having some fun with his new village.

_Tracking Iceheart near to Suna was a better risk than I expected. She never crossed the border after setting those troops loose, but only Shikamaru could have come up with that kind of plan. _

Lee wondered whether he should have made proper contact with his companion, but he'd only been able to send a message before moving on to track the group he had been following. The woman known as Iceheart hadn't met him in battle since the murder of Asuma and Kurenai, but in six months Lee felt he had accomplished more than he had set out to do.

It still bothered him that the only person he had been able to find was Shikamaru, but Lee was getting better at tracking the Quiraji warriors. He found himself wishing that Neji was accompanying him; it would let Lee get to the warriors before they killed their targets rather than just missing the act as he usually did.

Breathing out slowly to regain his thoughts, Lee cracked his neck and continued to run across the countryside. He had just left the Land of Fire, and had moved into the Land of Hot Water. He wasn't aware of any shinobi presence in that area, but the signs on the ground that he had been following led towards that area.

_I haven't seen them kill civilians yet…so she must be tracking someone. Someone who can use chakra._

It puzzled Lee immensely that they hadn't dedicated more resources to dealing with him. After five months of work, Lee had personal taken out dozens of warriors and severely crippled several operations in the Land of Fire. He was intentionally being a nuisance, but they hadn't taken the bait yet.

He noticed a small field of wheat a short distance away, which he was more than happy to run towards and look around for any signs of people. It didn't seem like there was anyone around, but the tracks of the Quiraji he was tracking didn't come near the field, telling him they had skipped the area all together. It had been subtle at first, but the Quiraji seemed to have a slightly different presence that he could follow than normal people, though Lee had lost the trail many times while learning how to properly track the warriors.

Seeing that there was no point in staying, Lee popped a piece of wheat into his mouth and chewed on it to distract himself as he tried to find the trail again.

Humming a tune he had been taught by Gai to dodge punches to, Lee began the same process he always did when trying to find Iceheart and her crew.

Find the nearest body, and go from there.

oOoOoOo

There had been no bodies, but Lee found himself in a small town that seemed rather homely to his constantly mobile life. There were no burning buildings, no screaming children, no bodies, so Lee figured that Iceheart mustn't have found what she was looking for.

At the edge of the town, still hiding himself from the townsfolk, Lee found the familiar looking footprints of the heels that Iceheart wore. They were surprisingly clear within the hard ground, leading Lee to quickly work out that she was trying to lure him into a fight.

_So she finally wants a conflict. She must be sick of losing soldiers. I'll bet Sensou has given the order._

He didn't think he was arrogant enough to justify that level of attention, but he had made a point of making a nuisance of himself so that he could find out more about the leaders of the Quiraji. It had taken some effort, and some serious financial investment that he had 'liberated' from some soldiers, but Lee had convinced a retired shinobi to place a special seal on his body. If he were to be killed, then any information he had obtained since the technique's activation will be transported into a bird that would travel to Shikamaru in Suna.

Lee didn't want to die; he no longer had that wish. But he understood how risky his task was. And while he didn't want to leave people like Sakura or the others behind, Lee felt an uncontrollable need to pursue the deadly foe.

Just before moving out, Lee noticed something very familiar in the corner of his eye. He turned around and his eyes immediately widened when he saw a very thin Chouji chatting with a pretty-looking girl. He looked no different than when they had been separated, Lee didn't know all the details but he knew the Akimichi's weight loss was linked to some technique he had been forced to use at the Hidden Village of Sound.

He went to show himself to his old companion, but a few thoughts stopped him in his track.

_Iceheart has clearly been through here. With four companions no less. Yet there Chouji stands, without a mark on him. _

_They don't leave shinobi alive. That must mean something either prevented her from killing him…or he isn't a threat as a shinobi anymore. _

He stared at Chouji and considered the situation, watching as Chouji laughed and chatted casually with a group of children. Lee couldn't tell properly, but considering how close the girl was standing to Chouji he figured they were somehow involved.

It was odd, but he didn't particularly want to interrupt their conversation. He couldn't quite explain why, but Lee felt he knew what had happened to Chouji, or at least why Iceheart hadn't touched him.

_He probably doesn't think the rest of us survived, considering he was unconscious when Shouri separated us. If he's decided to become a civilian…and to settle down…_

_I can respect that decision. _

Using his shinobi training, Lee crept away from the village, ensuring that Chouji never noticed his presence. They had talked amongst the group about the idea of settling, and after seeing the reality in front of him, Lee didn't want to disrupt it.

_There is enough war going on. If he has chosen not to fight…then I should leave him be. Besides, Chouji and I were never particularly close. I'll send a message to Shikamaru; he can decide what to do about his friend. _

Lee felt himself smiling as he moved away from the village, following the tracks Iceheart had left for him to follow. He knew it was leading into a trap, but Lee had every intention of springing the trap.

oOoOoOo

With his impressive speed even with his weights on, it took Lee barely an hour before he found his quarry. Five robed figures stood in the middle of a rice field, waiting for him to approach them.

Once he saw them Lee smiled grimly and made his way towards them. This had happened several times in the past, but each time the others had been used to delay him so that Iceheart could get away.

"You aren't going to run away this time?" Lee stood in front of them just out of mid-range attacks, holding up an arm in a defensive position.

It didn't surprise him that none of them responded, but he was curious as to why the metal mask-wearing Iceheart hadn't retreated yet.

She stepped backwards slightly so that her four companions were in front of her. Without any indication or direction from her, the four of them ran forward to attack Lee.

It had been a month since he had last fought against Iceheart, and each time he'd demonstrated a growing ability to take them out.

But with the amount of training Lee had done, he didn't think it would have mattered if they had sent forty warriors at him. He grinned and ran forward, not wanting to let them perform whatever strange technique they also seem to come up with. Each warrior was difficult, and in the knowledge that they were converted shinobi Lee knew almost anything was possible.

_The converted shinobi don't absorb chakra that affects only me…I'll only show her taijutsu at the moment. She needs to be drawn into battle. _

Two of his opponents moved to his left flank while the others drew short swords and moved to strike at his advancing form. Using a small amount of chakra in his feet, Lee leapt into the air just above the warriors. With immense speed he rapidly kicked the air above him, causing his momentum to shift straight down on top of the weapon-wielding enemies.

"Konoha Inkan!" (Leaf Stamp)

He slammed both his weighted feet into the heads of the sword-wielders, causing them to slam into the ground with loud cries of pain.

The two other warriors hesitated momentarily, but Lee was not finished with them. He sped over to the two of them and swept a leg under their feet. They jumped up from the strike easily, but before they could land Lee had disappeared from their sight.

Appearing behind them and two quick chops to the neck later, it was just Lee and Iceheart left on the battlefield. He stepped away from the bodies, to ensure that they had plenty of room to fight. He had no clue of what her abilities might be, but he wasn't going to underestimate her.

"Any more underlings? Or will you fight a real shinobi?!"

It was difficult to tell through the hooded mask, but Iceheart clearly cocked her head slightly upon hearing his taunt.

"**A shinobi that cannot utilise ninjutsu, genjutsu, and struggles with chakra-sensory techniques… You believe yourself a threat to us?" **

Lee frowned immediately upon hearing her voice. It was oddly metallic, and nothing like the others he had heard before. The other converted shinobi tended not to speak too much, but as the leader he expected something other than what he had heard.

"You've fled from me at every opportunity. If that doesn't make me a threat, than you shouldn't be targeting us in the first place."

"**Enough chatter. Your disruption to the mistress' plan comes to an end here." **

Lee placed up a hand and motioned towards himself. "Come then."

Iceheart reached up slowly and removed her hood, flicking her hands slightly before removing her robe altogether. She wore a black skin-tight outfit with red armour plates across it, with black gloves on her hands. Her mask was elaborate and only served to make her appear even more alien than she already did.

_There's something…odd…about her body…_

Lee shook off the feeling and prepared himself, unsure of how she planned to attack him. She didn't look like the type to be particularly physical, but neither did Neji's cousin and Lee had seen her do some considerable damage at times.

The woman called Iceheart placed both her hands facing the ground stretched outwards, in a motion that appeared like she was commanding him to kneel before her.

_She's probably like Shouri…chakra attacks won't work. I need to get close and knock her out. _

He went to attack her, but hesitated when he felt a strange presence around him. Focusing his gaze towards her hands, he noticed that the air around them appeared to be moving differently than it should have been.

Tiny drops of moisture emerged from the ground and moved towards her hands, few at first but after a few seconds there was enough to make Lee wonder what she was going to do with water from the ground. He couldn't feel any chakra, so it wasn't a ninjutsu technique, but he'd seen converted shinobi use elements with spiritual energy before so it wasn't so surprising.

In the knowledge that she could use water to her advantage, Lee leapt towards her, unwilling to let her attack him unprompted. She seemed unconcerned by his movements and continued to collect water from the ground, moving her hands closer to her body at the same time.

Lee kicked out from behind to push himself forward and kicked outwards towards her face.

Also lazily she placed up a hand and caught his foot just before it struck, rendering both his momentum and power useless. Lee could feel his chakra slowly being drained by her touch, but he ignored the pain and swung his other leg around to strike at her side.

His foot was blocked by her other hand, but he had expected that. With nothing to block his attacks, Lee struck out with both his hands against her unprotected head.

To his surprise the strikes hit her mask cleanly, causing her head to snap back and forcing her to release his legs from her grip. Lee grinned and jumped back slightly, standing in an offensive stance as he let her stand up again.

"Seems you aren't as strong as you appear." It was cheap, but he figured if he could put her on edge than she might slip up like just then.

Picking herself up from the ground, Iceheart glared at him with her ice-coloured eyes through her mask. It was impossible to read any emotions from her, it was as if she was a part of the environment in how little she conveyed to him. His punches didn't look like they had even bothered her; there wasn't a single mark on her mask at all.

_It felt like punching an unbreakable wall. I can't strike at the mask; I need to attack her body. _

Iceheart casually motioned towards him, as if trying to flick him away. It was too late when Lee realised that the water she had collected had disappeared from sight. He looked down and cried out in pain as two spikes of water went straight through his legs, penetrating straight through his weights.

All the strength in his legs disappeared as pain shot up his spine, almost knocking him out by those strikes alone.

He was forced to drop to the ground as the strike shredded the muscles in his legs where the water had gone straight through to the other side. As he fell two identical strikes went through his hands, causing him to cry out in pain and fall completely into the ground.

_Something like this…how can it…_

As he struggled to look up at her, Lee watched her disappear into thin air.

"That's…!"

He cried out in pain again as another spike of water slammed into his back. It felt worse than any injury he had suffered before, and he felt a hand on his back preventing him from using chakra to get himself up.

_This isn't over…I can use physical energy to force myself up…_

_I refuse to let myself die so easily!_

"**Such is the fate of all shinobi. Death is all you deserve." **

Lee struggled to turn his head, but all he could see was one of Iceheart's legs in front of his face. She had surprisingly smooth skin despite her remarkably evil presence. Despite himself, Lee found his eyes tracking up and down her leg until his eyes rested on something horrifying.

"No…not you…"

Before he could say anything else, a spike of water slammed into his neck and Lee's vision turned black.

* * *

><p>When Lee's eyes opened again, it was a very different environment to the one he had been expecting. There was no rice field. No clear sky. No hospital room that he was recovering in.<p>

Everything was black, Lee couldn't see anything. He knew he wasn't blind though.

This was something different entirely.

"Where am I?" His voice seemed to echo throughout the darkness.

Lee brought up a hand and remarked at his ability to do so.

_Didn't I have holes in my hands and feet? Yet I'm standing up and moving my hands. _

He took a step forward and felt an invisible ground beneath him. Shrugging his shoulders, Lee looked around, trying to find a way out of wherever he had been put.

After a few minutes Lee saw a familiar looking building in the distance. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the characters across the sign on the front of the building.

_I guess I know what has happened to me then…_

He went to open the door to the dojo but paused with his hand on the handle. It wasn't something he normally felt, but Lee couldn't help but feel ashamed at his current predicament.

_I don't know if I could face him…I failed in my mission…_

Seeing nothing else to do in the area, Lee summoned up his courage and opened the door wide.

The dojo was the same as he remembered it. The floor was covered in wood and the walls paved with weaponry, with various weight-training instruments scattered around the sides.

Lee smiled widely; he had always felt more at home in the dojo than he had at the orphanage he had grown up in.

_It was a place where you were judged on your skills, not your circumstance. Here, I always felt like I could defeat Neji if I tried hard enough. _

To the side he saw someone that caused his heart to beat twice as fast within his chest.

Practising against a wooden dummy was Gai, looking the picture of health as he slammed strike after strike into the practise dummy.

"Gai-sensei!"

The deceased Jounin stopped his practise and turned around, frowning as he saw his student at the entrance.

Lee ran to embrace his teacher, unable to stop the tears from flowing as he opened up his arms.

Just as he went to hug his father-figure, Gai reached out and punched him straight in the face, sending him spiralling into a nearby wall.

Picking himself up with a groan, Lee stared at his teacher with a despairing look. "What was that for?" He wasn't angry at his teacher; Gai did that many times in the past.

Placing a hand on his hip, Gai deepened his frown and glared at his student.

"Why are you here, Lee?"

Since being killed by Kakuzu, Gai hadn't changed from the image Lee remembered him by. Even though it seemed harsh, Lee knew his teacher meant the best for him.

Staring at the ground as he collected his feet and crossed his legs. "I…I'm sorry Gai-sensei. I…wasn't able to…"

Lee was cut off as Gai ran up and kicked him in the face, once again sending him crashing into a nearby wall.

"You aren't the Lee I trained. Lee wouldn't have given up like you have."

"That…that's not true, Gai-sensei! I didn't give up…it's just…"

Reaching out a hand to help him up, Gai stared down at his student, noticing that he had gotten taller since he had last seen him. "This is not your place, Lee."

"It's not like I was trying to die…it's just…"

"Just what, Lee?"

Placing his hands together on his chest, Lee stared at the ground depressed. "It was Sakura-san. The woman who killed me had Sakura-san's tattoo on her leg. I…I can't fight her, Gai-sensei. I can't do it."

Gai stood back from his student and stared down at him sadly. "Lee…"

"What was I meant to do, Gai-sensei?"

oOoOoOo

Gai laughed as Lee struggled to pick himself up from the ground, rubbing his face sorely. "That is enough for now, Lee. You have improved since we last met."

"Thank you, Gai-sensei!" It never got old for Lee to be praised by his teacher, even when they were dead he looked to the man for guidance.

Throwing his student a bottle of water, Gai sat down to rest opposite him. He would never admit it to his student, because it would defeat the purpose of their relationship, but Lee had pushed him much further than he could have expected. Neither of them had opened the Inner Gates, but Lee's physical strength and speed were on par with Gai's when he opened the Fourth Gate, which was a frighteningly quick surge in strength.

"I've been thinking about what you said, Gai-sensei."

"Oh? And what did you think of it?"

Lee blushed slightly, he'd never spoken to Gai about Sakura before, and it felt strange particularly considering their current situation.

"I think on some level I knew it was her before we fought…but I couldn't fight her properly. I can't explain it properly, Gai-sensei."

Gai grinned and gave his student a dramatic 'Nice Guy' pose. "You are burning with youthful love, Lee!"

"EH?! Love? With Sakura-san? But…that's…"

Gai let out another laugh and put down his water bottle. "How nice to have my student in love. So what are you going to do about this budding love?"

Lee stared at his teacher with surprise. "What will I…do? Gai-sensei…I'm dead. There's nothing I can do."

"Eh? What kind of attitude is that? With hard-work you can do anything! Even defeat death itself!"

Even with a 'Nice Guy' pose, Lee found it hard to believe his teacher. They had created a legacy of ridiculous claims, but even so it was difficult to imagine something like that.

"Gai-sensei…even if I could go back…I don't know what to do. If Sakura-san has…then what…"

The deceased Jounin reached out and clocked Lee in the face again, standing up as he did so.

"If you cannot protect the one's you love, then you are not qualified to be a man."

"Gai-sensei…"

Lee picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off. Standing up as he could, Lee finally realised what he had been trying to think of before. He gave Gai his best imitation of the 'Nice Guy' pose with a wide smile.

"Thank you, Gai-sensei! I think I understand now."

He didn't have a plan, but Lee felt like he knew what he had to do.

He looked around at the dojo, noticing that it was slowly disappearing back into the black darkness he had first encountered. Turning to his teacher, Lee wasn't able to hide his sadness.

"Gai-sensei…I think I'm…"

The taijutsu Jounin grinned and nodded slightly at his student.

"There is no need for words between youthful men, Lee. Just go."

As the dojo came apart, Gai began to fade into the background as well, even in his 'Nice Guy' pose. Lee couldn't help the tears coming down his face as his teacher disappeared. Lee had no clue what to expect on the other side, but after seeing Gai-sensei's smile again he was confident he could do his best.

"I'll always be proud of you, Lee. You were the son I never got to have."

* * *

><p>Even before opening his eyes, Lee knew he was alive.<p>

He could feel the agony all throughout his body.

Crying out in pain he struggled to open his eyes and look around his surroundings, feeling that the wounds in his body had been healed even though he could still feel the pain with such a dramatic healing process.

"How did…"

The first thing he noticed was that it was night, the sky was surprisingly clear for such a cold feeling night. With considerable effort Lee rolled over and breathed rapidly with the exertion.

_Was it just a dream?_

Shaking his head to try and bring himself back to reality, Lee made the considerable effort of sitting up to find himself sitting opposite a figure in a pale robe standing in front of him.

He could tell it was a woman by its figure, but a long hood hid her face from his view, and the darkness seemed to hide any other features he could have used to identify her, though he did note a particularly cruel-looking serrated scythe-like blade on her back.

"Are…are you Death?"

The woman said nothing, standing frozen with her arms crossed in front of her.

Lee flexed his hands, making sure that he could actually use them before checking his feet as well. It still felt the same as the last time he had opened the Third Gate, but to his surprise he was able to stand up, albeit slowly.

"Were you the one that healed me? Why?"

The woman took a slow step towards him. He still couldn't see her face, but Lee suddenly felt an immense sense of foreboding from her. He wanted to step back, to flee, but his body refused to listen to him.

The pale-robed woman reached out with a single hand, showing him a hand covered in flesh that was barely hanging on the bone. A single finger touched his forehead, and Lee knew that he was inches away from death.

He could not explain it, but the aura the woman projected was more horrifying than anything he had ever experienced. By touching him, he felt like all the light in his life had been snuffed out, and there was nothing he could do but resign himself to oblivion.

_Kill me! Just get it over with! _

Lee knew it wasn't like him, but he couldn't help but despair in front of her. It was like he was being compelled to throw himself off a cliff.

Luckily for Lee, the moment the woman withdrew her hand and stepped backwards the feeling disappeared, though Lee would always remember that feeling of helplessness.

He cocked his head slightly and stared at the odd woman curiously. "I…don't understand…but thank you. I know what I have to do now."

The hooded woman nodded slightly, just enough to convey her message. A large crack appeared in the air beside her, and as Lee's eyes widened as he recognised her method of exit she was gone.

_That woman…was she…_

He looked down at his bandaged hands, feeling the agony ebb away to a dull ache. He flexed his hands a few times before breathing out slowly and coming to a decision.

_If that is what Sakura-san is going through…then I have to stop her. As her friend…as a man who loves her. _

_I will not let her suffer anymore. _

* * *

><p>***Seven Months after Separation***<p>

Shouldering the pack over his shoulder, Lee looked over the valley he had been using for the past month. He felt back for all the damage he had done to the environment, but he'd made sure that he hadn't injured any animals during his intense training.

Lee had always trained obsessively, but with a new goal in mind he had felt renewed energy in discovering new techniques and improving himself beyond what he was originally capable of.

_I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I wish Gai-sensei could have seen what I've achieved. He would have been so proud. _

Making sure that Gai's flak jacket was secure around his chest; Lee turned around and began to walk to the nearest village.

oOoOoOo

"I'm totally serious. The Mist has been all manner of messed up for ages now."

"That's ridiculous. They are one of the most powerful villages still around."

"Yeah, but haven't you heard about all those shinobi going missing? Apparently that's happening there now as well."

Lee didn't visually react to the conversation, he didn't want to give the two drunken men the impression that he was eavesdropping. One of them was a nobody civilian, but the other was a man close to the Daimyo of the land, who Lee had been following for a few days.

_The Hidden Mist, huh? If they are the next target…_

Lee continued to act like he was interested in the meal in front of him, but after a few minutes it became clear that the man didn't know anything on the subject. He sighed and continued to eat.

_It couldn't hurt to have a look. If I know Sakura-san as she currently is, she'll have left bodies in her wake. I hope she is still in there somewhere. If not…_

oOoOoOo

Lee approached the wrecked village cautiously, aware that he had no means of checking whether there were enemies within or not. It didn't look like the destruction had been that recent, but Lee knew his foes to be thorough if nothing else.

After a few minutes it became clear he had nothing to fear from the village, so Lee began checking the villages from survivors. Just as the ones he had come through before his 'death', the only people still residing where the elderly and the children, none of whom had any association with the shinobi that had resided in and failed to protect the village.

An elderly woman offered him a cup of tea when he made it clear he wasn't going to hurt her. He accepted it graciously and watched as the old woman went about setting it up calmly, even amidst the ruins of her home.

"It's so nice to see a young man these days. Everyone left since those people came."

Lee sipped his tea, it was mostly water but he was grateful for the thought. "How long ago was that? I'm tracking the group that has been attacking the villages in this area."

"Oh? Why would you want to do that? They were most rude. Particularly that woman. You should have seen what she did to the young lad down the street. Very rude."

_Sakura-san! So she was here. _

"This woman…did she have an elaborate mask on? With a gravelly voice?"

The old woman sat down beside him with a struggle and stared at him through her small eyes. She seemed to be struggling to remember, but after a minute she nodded slowly and sipped her tea.

"She didn't want any tea. I don't like rude people."

Lee frowned slightly and stared at the woman when he knew she wasn't looking.

_She's snapped. Seeing what Sakura-san and the other Quiraji did has probably proven too much for her to handle. Or she was always like this, it's hard to tell. _

"I don't want to impose, but I need to find this woman. Do you know where she went?"

"Hmm? Oh there was a nice man the other talking about some shinobi…but I would think that the Mist village would take care of people like that. They were always so nice to me…but that rude woman doesn't know what she's in for with them. Did you know my young daughter was once a shinobi? She was living with me just the other day. She's due any minute, I think."

Lee nodded slowly and tried to decipher the information he was getting from the old woman. He was certain of a few things, and entirely confused on many other things. But he was willing to indulge the elderly lady, it was the least he could do after what she's been through. After all, he knew her daughter wouldn't be returning to her, and he suspected that she knew that too.

_All this death and misery…it's so pointless. What could be worth this?_

Lee knew where he had to go next, once the old woman had been indulged enough. The Hidden Mist would have more information, and if nothing else he could warn them about what they might already be facing.

* * *

><p>Unlike Konoha, the Hidden Village of Mist was surprisingly difficult to find. Only by following a large cloud of mist in the area was he able to find the shinobi village.<p>

He wasn't wearing his Konoha forehead, but the two guards at the entrance to the village immediately recognised him as a shinobi.

The Hidden Mist was a large selection of buildings beside a massive lake, all shrouded by a deep mist that served to give it an ominous presence. Lee was impressed; it took him some time to see all the guards that had slowly surrounded him.

He placed his hands up to show that he meant no harm, waiting for two Kirigakure shinobi to approach him.

"I'm not here to spy. I need to talk to the Mizukage."

One of the guards scoffed and pointed a kunai at Lee. "And why would we let you do that? You are the worst infiltrator we have ever seen."

"We should just kill him and dump him in the lake."

Lee frowned and placed his hands down. He had been expecting that kind of reception, but he had no interest in fighting them. "I need to talk to the Mizukage. It's about the people who are destroying your villages."

The two guards paused and stared at each other for a few seconds. They communicated silently with each other in an elaborate set of hand signals that Lee didn't recognise. After nearly a minute they turned to him and put down their weapons.

"Come with us. We'll have to cuff you. Do you understand?"

Lee placed out his hands to let them approach him.

oOoOoOo

Behind her desk, the Mizukage placed her hands together and stared at the cuffed shinobi in front of her. "This is a lot to process. We have been losing people for months now, but to believe it is some continent-wide organisation bent on the destruction of all shinobi seems foolish to me."

"It's the truth" Lee stated bluntly. He didn't have time to placate the female leader, but he knew he might need her resources if he was to find Sakura.

"And why should we believe you? For all we know you are one of them, since you said they use converted shinobi."

Lee shook his head and stood up slowly from his kneeling position. The guards in the room were instantly on edge, but he made no aggressive motions towards her. With his cuffed hands he reached up and pulled down the top part of his jumpsuit, revealing the Konoha tattoo on his shoulder blade.

"They destroyed my home. They killed my friends and have my precious person captive. I came to warn you as a courtesy."

The Mizukage leaned forward slightly, her green eye staring at him intently. Lee didn't move an inch under her gaze, determined to see this through the end.

After nearly a minute of silence her constant smile widened and she nodded slightly to the ANBU guards around them. She stood up from her desk and walked around to stand in front of him.

"You have made your case well, young man. If they come to Kirigakure, they will find we are not so easy prey."

"I'm glad. There has been enough death."

She nodded slowly, "Yes, indeed. But you must know we cannot let you leave this place. Unlike Konoha, Kirigakure does not suffer outsiders in its halls lightly."

Lee grinned and stared straight back at the imposing woman. "With respect, you cannot keep me here."

"I think you'll find we are within our rights to do so. You know too much for us to let you go."

"That's not what I meant." Lee pulled up his cuffs, and with a tiny burst of physical energy he simply pulled apart his hands and the cuffs fell to the floor. "We all have our strengths, Lady Mizukage. I'm not done quite yet. I still have someone I need to save."

Unsurprisingly there were a dozen swords at his throat immediately, though the Mizukage simply looked amused. She leaned back on her desk and crossed her arms.

"And what would you do in this situation? Even as we are grateful to you, you are hardly able to make any demands on us."

Lee flicked his wrists slightly and all the swords at his neck fell to the ground as the ANBU holding them grimaced and held their hands sorely. Lee nodded respectfully to the Mizukage, and before they could do anything to stop him he leapt out of a nearby window.

The ANBU shinobi immediately went to pursue him, but the Mizukage simply shook her head and walked slowly to the broken window, watching as Lee rapidly escaped the village without any Mist shinobi able to catch his immense speed.

"Such a fascinating young man. So determined and focused…"

* * *

><p>Lee watched as the group of robed figures moved across the mist-covered countryside. He had practically stumbled upon the Quiraji group, and even though he couldn't see Sakura among them he knew that they would eventually lead him to her. He didn't know much about the structure of the Quiraji, but he knew that Sakura was in charge of a large portion of their forces.<p>

_If she is nearby, then I should prepare myself. _

He pursued the group silently, watching as they moved over a ridge and into a valley. As he moved over the ridge to follow them, his eyes widened at what he saw.

Within the valley were over a hundred robed soldiers, kneeling in respect as a single figure spoke to them.

Standing at the front of the army, was Sakura. She still wore the mask that identified her as Iceheart, but to Lee's amazement he saw the red-haired Sensou by her side.

_An army to attack Kirigakure. Only a hundred or so warriors, to destroy such a powerful village. They are either arrogant, or have a plan. _

Ensuring that he wasn't seen, Lee reached into his pack and checked his equipment. He wasn't arrogant either, but he knew he couldn't let the army attack the shinobi village. If there were to defeat the Quiraji eventually, they would need all the help they could get.

In the distance, Sensou whispered to Sakura for a few seconds before disappearing into a crack in the air. Lee didn't wish to fight such a powerful figure while at the same time protecting Sakura, so he was grateful that she had left. He couldn't hear what was being said, but Sakura continued to address her soldiers, giving them orders and instructions.

Reaching down to his leg warmers, Lee removed the weights from his legs and placed them on the ground. He'd been meaning to replace them with heavier weights, but never had the time to do so.

Placing a dozen kunai in his hands, Lee worked out the best places to attack. Once he knew what to do, Lee disappeared without a sound.

Moving fast enough to break the sound barrier, Lee placed his kunai strategically between the robed warriors, kicking off against the air to keep his momentum going without them noticing he was moving within their midst.

Less than five seconds after jumping from his location, Lee landed back where he started, smiling as he put his weights back on. They didn't seem to have noticed his movements, but Lee wasn't going to risk them finding the kunai covered in tags scattered among them.

Placing up a hand, Lee activated the handseal and set off the dozen tags he had placed in their army.

The explosions were devastating, taking out nearly every robed warrior in the army instantly. He'd made sure that Sakura wasn't in range of the blasts, but everyone else was an easy target for his attack.

Waiting until the smoke cleared, Lee moved down into the valley to ensure that he had taken out every one of them. He quickly discovered that his attack had been more devastating than he had initially expected, there weren't that many bits remaining of the army on the burnt out ground for him to identify.

As the last bit of the smoke cleared, Lee found that the only person standing against him was the woman he had spent so long following.

"**You are a larger threat than the mistress estimated." **

Lee glanced over her, noticing several identifying marks that he hadn't seen before.

"Sakura-san…I hope you are still in there. I know it must be really scary, but I'm going to save you."

He grinned and gave her his best 'Nice Guy' pose. "It's a promise of the lifetime!"

She seemed confused by his pose, and for a split second he thought she was hesitating, but it quickly became apparent that she was only stalling for time as water began to gather around her.

_The explosion sounds will probably have drawn Kirigakure's attention. I need to save her quickly, because they probably won't distinguish between friend and foe. _

"Sakura-san, I want you to know…that I forgive you. I know it isn't you."

"**Enough chatter. Are you going to fight or not?"**

Lee placed up a hand and stood defensively. "You're right. There is no more need for words."

Two globes of water around her shoulders formed into long spikes, and without a single motion from her they sped towards him, aimed directly at his face.

Lee moved his head back and forth, easily dodging the projectiles. It was embarrassing to him that such an attack had defeated him before; the speed was nothing he couldn't handle although he knew there destructive power was immense.

"My turn"

Lee leapt towards her, pushing off the ground with a quick set of kicks. He motioned to punch her directly in the mask, but when she moved to block her face he swung around and collected her in the side with his leg.

Sakura was sent flying away, though Lee noticed she had softened the blow with a shield of hardened water. He stood rigidly and watched as she picked herself up from the ground.

"How pitiful. Sakura-san, I know you are a better fighter than this."

Sakura glared at him and threw off her robe, clenching her fists in an aggressive motion. He wasn't sure what her plans were, but he wasn't going to underestimate her any longer.

He leapt to the side, watching as the two spikes that had attacked him before barely missed shredding his neck from behind. Lee watched as she collected the spikes around herself and faced off against him.

_She can manipulate the water once she gathers it around herself. I can't let my eyes off her attacks. _

With a respecting nod, Lee pushed forward towards her, dodging and weaving as her projectiles began flying against him. Once he knew how she could attack, Lee had no trouble reaching her. Once in close-range he began to unleash a hail of rapid firing punches at her front.

She was able to block the majority of his extremely fast strikes, but Lee was able to penetrate her defences easier than he had expected. Her body was as hard as nails, but by the groans underneath her mask he could tell he was doing some damage. He batted away her arms and with a roar kicked her straight in the stomach, sending her flying backwards with a groan.

Lee grinned and put up his hand again. It felt strange fighting Sakura seriously like this, but Lee couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Even before she was converted, Sakura was a better fighter than this.

"I know you have more than this, Sakura-san. I don't want to hurt you, but this is just sad."

She picked herself up from the ground and shook her masked head. **"Enough games." **

Tapping a foot on the ground, Sakura clenched her fists again before disappearing.

Lee smiled as he turned around quickly, placing up a hand to catch the fist coming at his head. He stared straight into her masked head, reaching out to grab her other wrist and holding her tight so that she couldn't escape.

"I taught you that technique, Sakura-san. It won't work on me. I'm faster than you are."

She struggled to break free of his grip, but Lee held her as tightly as he could. He could feel his chakra fading away at the touch, but luckily he didn't need it to fight effectively anymore. Almost all his taijutsu utilised physical energy, which she wasn't able to absorb from him.

Taking a deep breath, Lee pulled back a foot and kicked straight into the base of her mask, sending her flying into the air as he let go of her hands. He grimaced and clutched at his foot. He knew how tough the mask was, but it still hurt like hell.

Falling dozens of feet away from him, Sakura landed easily on the ground and acted as if she had done it on purpose.

However a small crack just beneath where her mouth would be told Lee that the opposite was true.

_I can't just beat her until she dies. There must be some way to reverse the conversion process…_

He went to attack her again, but hesitated when he saw her gather a massive amount of water around her. It appeared to cover her like a suit of armour, and was segmented like armour plates as her fists tripled in size as water.

"That's…new. I guess that means my physical attacks won't work anymore." Lee didn't mean to voice that last part, but if the water was covering her entirely than he would struggle to penetrate through it. As hard as her body had become to damage, the water shield dispersed whatever strength he put into his blows.

_She knows my strengths and weaknesses. If there was any proof that Sakura-san is in there, it would be that. That's probably how she knew to go after Asuma and Kurenai-sensei…_

Cracking his knuckles, Lee prepared to defend himself while he worked out a plan of attack. He knew that he outclassed her in speed, but if he couldn't attack her then there was no way for him to save her.

From the short distance away, Sakura swung a water-armoured fist at him. At that distance Lee knew she couldn't reach him traditionally, but as a precaution he moved out of the way anyway.

It was lucky that he did so, as a massive projectile clone of her fist slammed straight through the space he had just occupied. In a few seconds her fist was back to normal, and Lee knew he was in a world of hurt.

She swept an arm across her front, sending a crashing wave of water straight at him. Lee was able to jump up in time, but even as he cleared the water Sakura had already gestured again and sent dozen of spikes towards him.

Flying in the air, Lee swore under his breath and placed his hands across his chest.

"Dai ichimonko Kaimon…KAI!" (Gate of Opening Release)

The veins on his arms and forehead started to pop out slightly as the technique came into effect. He knew it was risky using a chakra-based attack, but he had no choice as the projectiles came screaming towards him. Using his feet to kick himself slightly away, he rapidly punched the air between him and the spikes, making sure that he didn't actually touch any of the deadly weapons.

The force created through the air by his punches was enough to divert their angle of entry, causing them to just barely miss him. He looked down to see that he was about to land on a massive collection of water, but he also saw that the water-armour around Sakura had diminished significantly.

_So she can only control a finite amount of water. Maybe that's a downside to not using chakra, she can't actually create the water, only manipulate it. _

Kicking off in the air, using his temporarily increased muscle strength was enough to send him straight towards her position. His feet barely touched the water underneath before he leapt straight at her exposed front.

"Konoha Senpuu!"

His foot swung at her face, but before it connected her shield was back up again, absorbing all the strength in the kick before he kicked himself away back onto solid ground.

Lee frowned as he landed, staring down at his hands with fascination. It was only brief, but the contact with her water armour was enough for her to absorb all the additional chakra that opening the First Gate had generated.

_I thought it required physical touch with her…if I need to avoid the water as well. _

_I don't know how to fight her. _

Collecting her water around her completely, Sakura tended to face him again and prepared to attack him again. Lee went to jump away again but grimaced in pain as the effect of opening the gate took its toll on his body. He'd gotten better at mitigating the pain, but it still slowed him down.

He couldn't help but grin slightly at the pain, it reminded him of the first time he had learnt the Lotus.

_Gai-sensei had to drag me to the hospital because of the damage to my muscles. He was bawling, he thought he had killed me. _

_Wait…Gai-sensei…that might be it! _

He grinned as the idea came to him, the memory of his beloved teacher enough to allow him to recover completely. Dodging out of the way of several water projectiles, Lee moved backwards as far as he could muster, trying to find a way to get out of range of her attacks.

Sakura didn't seem interested in moving closer towards him, confirming Lee's idea that she was grounded in that position while using that water technique.

He landed close to the ridge he had arrived on and crossed his arms across his chest.

_Sakura-san…if we survive this…I hope you can forgive me…as I have forgiven you._

"Kaimon…KAI!" (Gate of Opening)

The veins in his forehead began to pop out slightly as the limiters in his brain broke free again.

"Kyuumon…KAI!" (Gate of Healing)

His fatigue vanished as his body forcibly healed itself.

"Seimon…KAI!" (Gate of Life)

Lee's skin turned from its beaten colour to a deep red, as he could feel his blood racing under his skin.

"Shoumon…KAI!" (Gate of Pain)

A ripple of pain shot up Lee's spine, but he ignored it as he moved to the next level.

"Tomon…KAI!" (Gate of Limit)

It was an unimaginable feeling, the amount of power flowing through him, but he wasn't done.

"Keimon…KAI!" (Gate of View)

The air and ground around him seemed to split apart as enormous chakra exploded out of him.

_Not yet…not yet…_

"Argh…Dai nanamon…Kyoumon…KAI!" (Gate of Insanity)

Lee cried out in pain as a green aura slowly surrounded him. He'd only heard about his teacher reaching this level, and he didn't think he would have been able to do it if it wasn't for Sakura in front of him.

It was hard to tell because of her mask, but the sheer amount of power flowing out of Lee's body was enough to make the water around Sakura ripple and come apart.

"Sakura-san…I do this for you."

Lee leapt high into the air and placed his hands together. Facing one palm forward, Lee tapping it with a closed fist, straight at Sakura before forming the unique seal as the punch screamed towards her.

"HIRUDORA!" (Daytime Tiger)

The punch formed into a white tiger-like spectre and slammed into her. Lee fell to the ground as his punch ripped apart her water shield like it wasn't even there. He was surprised that she hadn't moved to avoid his blow, but considering the look of it she probably thought it was a chakra attack and could absorb it.

He closed his eyes as he landed on the ground, the green aura emanating from his sweat still surrounding him. He didn't want to see the damage he might have done to her, but Lee knew the battle was over, one way or the other.

After a few seconds he opened his eyes to see that she was lying face down on the ground in a large puddle of water. Lee couldn't see her moving an inch, causing him to instantly appear in front of her, his body still under the influence of an explosive amount of chakra.

He reached down and as gently as he could he turned her over so that he could make sure she was still alive. She still wore her mask, but it was covered in cracks and seemed to be falling apart at the seams.

With his hands firmly on the edges, using his massive amounts of strength he ripped the mask straight off her face.

Tears flowed freely from his face as he saw Sakura's face for the first time in over seven months. Despite wearing that mask for so long, she looked unchanged facially. Her green eyes stared at him with the same level of affection he showed her, though she couldn't move a muscle to respond to him.

He smiled and dissipated his green aura of sweat, cancelling out his opening of the Inner Gates. Lee figured he had a few minutes before the side effects kicked in, just enough for him to make sure she was okay.

Reaching down to place his hand through her pink hair, Lee smiled again and felt her soft skin.

"Thank god…you are okay…"

Sakura's eyes welled up as she stared at Lee's face, still unable to move an inch in response. "I'm really sorry Lee…I couldn't stop myself."

"It's okay, Sakura-san. I don't blame you."

"I couldn't resist her. I'm really sorry Lee…I…oh god…Asuma…Kurenai…Shino…Lee I killed them. I…oh god!"

_Shino is dead? Damnit, this goes further than I thought. _

Lee grinned and rubbed a thumb across her cheek. "Will you be able to get up? I don't think this place will be safe for much longer."

Her lips quivered slightly as her tears continued to fall down her face. "I don't deserve to live anymore Lee. Not after what I've done. Just let me die, Lee…"

"Not a chance." He bent down and kissed her on the lips, as gently as he could without hurting her before standing up and turning his back, using the last bit of his strength to stand with crossed arms and a determined look on his face.

"We will survive, Sakura-san. I didn't come all this way, fight that hard for you to give up on me."

"But I…"

"But nothing. It is what is it. There is nothing else to it."

"I don't want to fight anymore, Lee. I don't want to do anymore harm to anyone else…"

Lee wanted to respond, but he had already fallen unconscious in his standing guard over her immobile body.

Unable to move at all, Sakura could only stare at his back, wondering what she had done to deserve such a saviour.

"Lee…I…I'll try. I promise I'll try."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Not gonna lie, that ending was going down a very dark path until I agonised over it and finally decided to make it the way it is.

I found the relationship between Gai and Lee very touching in the anime, and wanted to find an excuse to put more into my story.

And that's right; Lee can totally use Geppou from One Piece. I figured with his speed and strength, if there was ever something he could do it would be that. But not flying, just momentum changes.

Next up is Sasuke's story. There is a character in his arc that I made for another story that I want to see how they work.

I've been thinking of writing another fanfiction surrounding Naruto. One that is more…I suppose comedy-based. Not ridiculous, but less serious than this one. I'm not going to be taking any time out of this one, but I keep thinking about the idea and it's difficult not to want to write it. Something may pop up in a little while, if I have the time. It'll be therapeutic. Besides, after destroying Konoha it might be nice to have a story with it still around.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	38. Chapter 35 SASU Gladiator Arena

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 35 – Sasuke – Gladiator Arena

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke would cop a proper beating every now and then.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Having pursued Iceheart to a remote town in the Land of Hot Water, Lee is happy to find that Chouji is very much alive. However he doesn't disturb the young ex-shinobi, deciding to leave him to his own devices while he pursued his quarry. To his surprise she stood against him with four companions. After a short battle, Lee found himself at her mercy, which was short-lived. A strange encounter with the deceased Gai-sensei later, and Lee knew what he had to do. Tracking the Quiraji group to the Land of Water, Lee took it upon himself to inform the Mizukage of Kirigakure of the Quiraji threat, finding the encounter rather enlightening. He finally tracked down Iceheart and singlehanded destroyed her army of warriors about to attack Kirigakure. In single battle Lee was able to defeat her by opening the Seventh Gate and shattered her mask, freeing Sakura from her servitude. Having been relieved of her indoctrination, Sakura lamented her previous actions as Iceheart and pleaded with Lee to let her go, but he refused. Standing guard over her immobile body, Lee was able to convince her that he wasn't going to let her go.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Five Seconds after Separation***<p>

Sasuke blinked twice, and seemingly in an instant he found he had disappeared from the purple dome holding him captive, and immediately felt his eyes sting as a hail of dust slammed into his eyes. Unable to see anything the young Uchiha dropped to his knees and shielded his eyes, trying his best to clear them while using what little chakra he had left to extend his senses outward around him.

_I can't sense Nii-san…or anyone else for that matter. _

After a few rapid blinks his eyes began to clear, and a slow brown colour filled his view. He recognised the ground beneath his feet as an earth-like ground that seemed entirely different from anything in the Land of Rice Fields he had just been in.

_Where the hell am I?_

Looking up slowly he suddenly became aware of all the noise around him. It was frightening at how he hadn't noticed it before, as the crashing sounds of blades slamming into one another and the screams of people being killed were practically deafening.

Sasuke stood in the middle of a blood-covered arena, one that held over a hundred warriors trying to slaughter each other with blood-curdling screams. He frowned immediately and went to place his hands in a handseal. Sasuke barely had enough chakra to stand, but he didn't have much choice in the matter.

He heard an odd sound behind him, and as he turned to react to it a long wooden staff collected him directly in the face and he collapsed onto the ground.

* * *

><p>***Five Hours after Separation***<p>

"He's kind of handsome."

"Sure, in a first-to-die-on-the-battlefield kind of way."

"Bitter?"

"No, practical. Just wake him up."

Sasuke could hear the two voices talking but it wasn't until he had a bucket of freezing cold water splashed into his face that he was able to open his eyes.

He found himself sitting in a large jail cell deep underground, with large metal bars attached to a dark stone wall. To his surprise he wasn't restrained at all, though he felt like he had been hit in the face by a heavy object.

A girl came into view, her sandy blonde hair and freckles beamed as she looked at his face. "See, look into those eyes and tell me he isn't handsome."

He heard a scoff from the other side of the cell, and an odd tapping on the stone floor. "Mika, I don't want to hear it. Go back to the others."

The blonde girl let out a tsk and smiled at him for a second before leaving the jail cell. Sasuke struggled to sit up, noticing he had been placed on a stone bed and that his face was particularly sore.

Standing against the wall was a girl who looked to be about the same age as Itachi, though that was mostly due to the frown on her face. She had short spikey brown hair and tanned skin that was unblemished and surprisingly reflective considering there was no particular light source in the jail cell. She wore black tights with a deep brown coat over her shoulders, but Sasuke found himself staring at the pair of light purple eyes that were glaring at him.

He coughed lightly to make sure that he could talk before breathing out slowly and staring at her properly. "Who are you?"

The girl concealed a girl and crossed her arms. "A direct question? Effective, if a little crude."

Sasuke had to resist the urge to groan, he knew her type. "You didn't answer my question."

She cocked her head slightly and stared straight into his dark eyes. "No, I didn't. Perceptive of you. Mind telling me why you were on my battlefield?"

"Battlefield? I have no idea where I am."

She stared at him again for a few moments before deepening her frown and leaning forward slightly. "You aren't lying. Fascinating, and yet completely irrelevant. You are currently sitting in a jail cell, beneath the arena."

"What land? I was in the Land of Rice Fields…wait, was there anyone else with me? Maybe a taller man with red eyes and deep groves on either side of his face?"

The girl shook her head, "After I knocked you out, nothing. You're lucky to be alive; I hear it's a smart idea to drop into a massive battlefield with no strength and a stupid look on your face."

"How did you do that?"

She scoffed and flicked a wrist. Seemingly out of thin air, a long wooden staff appeared in her hand, the girl using it to push herself off the ground and stand a bit closer to him. Sasuke flinched immediately; he hadn't sensed any chakra from the girl at all despite her seemingly summoning a weapon to her hand.

"What…how did you do that?"

The girl grinned and placed the staff upwards, watching as it shortened to an arm's length before floating slowly above her hands into the shape of a long needle. She reached out and grabbed the wooden object, placing it through the top of her hair.

"Don't think you shinobi are the only ones with tricks up your sleeves."

Sasuke jumped up immediately and had a kunai in hand before she could even blink. His eyes flashed to their Sharingan state and he stood defensively against her.

"Who are you? How could you do that without chakra? Where am I?"

The moment his eyes changed her expression cracked slightly, as if surprised to see his doujutsu. "Those eyes…just like…"

Ignoring his aggressive manner, she stepped closer to him and stared at him intensely. Sasuke baulked slightly under her gaze, he'd never had someone look at him so intently without being able to read their intentions. The girl was like a closed book to him, and he resented the idea that she could do something he couldn't explain.

After a few seconds she reached up and slowly pushed the kunai down to his waist-level, so that it was no longer a threat. Taking a step back, she crossed her arms again as the wooden needle in her hair flew up and into her hand, extending back into a short four-foot pole that she held tightly.

"My name is Fiore. You are currently in the Land of Earth, in an underground prison below the Arena of Stone."

Sasuke frowned at her sudden change in demeanour, but put away his kunai nonetheless. With his generally weakened state he wouldn't be able maintain his Sharingan for very long, let alone a prolonged fight. There was something about her that told him that she was a dangerous fighter, but he couldn't quite place it. She had the look of battle-experience that he saw in Itachi and Kakashi occasionally.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I am…was…from Konoha."

"As I suspected. For a shinobi, you aren't particularly subtle." She walked over to the bars and opened the gate, twirling the wooden pole between her fingers. "You should get some rest. We'll be fighting in the arena again tomorrow, and somehow I think you need to recover your strength."

She shut the gate behind her, but Sasuke noticed there was no lock on it to stop him from leaving.

_A symbolic jail cell…is she a prisoner as well then? _

"Why are you helping me?" he asked bluntly. It still bothered him that he couldn't get a read on her, which meant he would have to resort to actually conversing with her.

The odd girl turned around and stared at him again with her purple eyes, tapping the bars lightly with her wooden weapon. "If that Sharingan is any indication, you could prove to be useful. We could use you, maybe."

"Use me for what?"

She gave him her best are-you-kidding-me look before turning around again.

"To escape this hole."

* * *

><p>***Twenty-Hours after Separation***<p>

Sasuke didn't realise how exhausted he was until he was woken up by the sound of footsteps nearby. He looked up groggily to see the blonde girl opening the gate to his cell with a grim look on her face.

"Rise and shine, pretty boy." Despite the look on her face she sounded surprisingly cheerful.

Sasuke wasn't sure how he hadn't seen it before, but on her back were two short swords that seemed ridiculous for a prisoner to have within a jail.

He groaned as he picked himself up from his cot. "This isn't a normal prison, is it?"

Mika grinned and offered him a hand up. "You could say that. Ready to go?"

"I don't have any weapons besides that one kunai. If you guys want me to fight, then I'm going to need to prepare myself." Sasuke straightened out his clothes and looked at her through dark eyes. He didn't activate his Sharingan as he normally would, something told him he might need all the chakra he could muster in the coming battle.

"Follow me then. You can meet the rest of our group."

"Are they all as chirpy as you are?"

oOoOoOo

Sasuke hadn't been expecting much, but when Mika showed him the armoury, he was pleasantly surprised. Within the room were walls of various weapons, some of which he didn't even recognise.

"This is…impressive." He walked over to a wall and began to look through the swords.

Mika leaned on the door with her arms crossed. "They wouldn't want their prisoners to be killed too easily."

Sasuke pulled off a katana and examined the blade, "You still haven't told me what this is all about? I've never heard of a prison like this before."

"It's a…"

"Mika!" A voice from the door cut her off, though she seemed unsurprised by the interruption.

Sasuke turned to see two men walk into the armoury, both looking like typical prisoners. One had a deep beard while the other had a long scar across his face.

Mika rolled her eyes upon seeing them and straightened out her shirt slightly. The bearded man indicated for her to leave, which she did without comment. Sasuke tensed as the two men stood in front of him with their arms crossed.

He frowned and stared at them. "What do you want?"

"Watch your tone, boy. Just because she thinks you are useful, doesn't mean you have the right to be snippy."

Sasuke scoffed and placed the sheathed katana on his back. "I have what I need. Where is Fiore?"

The one with the scar snarled and reached out to grab his collar. "He told you to watch your tone."

The Uchiha shinobi rolled his eyes and glared at the man grabbing him. "Get out of my way."

"I don't think he understand the position he's in" said the bearded man.

Sasuke's eyes flickered red for a moment before reverting back to black. "I don't think you understand the position you are in."

The two of them looked at him curiously before he tapped the hilt of the blade he had placed at the man's throat. It took them a few seconds to notice that the sheath on his back was empty.

Contrary to what he would have expected, the scarred man boomed out in laughter and let go of his collar. He stepped back and grinned wildly. "You've got balls, boy. May be you don't die immediately after all."

Sasuke sheathed his katana and shoved his way past them. "I have no interest in dying."

He left the other prisoners to themselves in the armoury as he tried to find someone who could tell him where to go.

_That Fiore woman seemed to know what was what. I'll help her, then go about finding Nii-san. _

He paused while walking through a bar-covered corridor as the thought came to him.

_No…maybe I shouldn't go after Nii-san. If we've been separated intentionally, then maybe I should find my own path. I spent so many years following in Nii-san footsteps…even after I knew what really happened. _

He reached back and grabbed at the hilt of the sword on his back.

_Time to make my own path. _

He turned a corner and found himself standing in the midst of dozens of prisoners all armed to the teeth.

In the middle of the group he saw Fiore walk slowly towards him, a pick sitting in the corner of her mouth. "So you made it here, Uchiha? Took your sweet time."

"If you want my help, Fiore, you are going about it the wrong way."

She grinned and bit at the wooden pick in her mouth. "Got you here, didn't I? Come on, we don't want to disappoint the crowd."

oOoOoOo

As the group walked into the arena Sasuke recognised as the one he had first appeared in, Fiore gave him a quick rundown of how the prison worked. He wasn't sure why she was bothering explaining it, since it became fairly obvious once they entered the crowd-filled arena, but he indulged her anyway.

"This is a prison of the worst kind. Here in the Land of Earth they send some of their worst criminals here to die."

"So they let the prisoners kill each other off for their entertainment?"

"Not particularly. It would be over too quickly if they did that."

She didn't say anything more than that, but Sasuke found he had more questions than answers by the time they had entered the centre of the arena.

It was a massive arena; you could fit an entire army of shinobi within and still have space for siege machines by Sasuke's estimation. There were eight massive columns in a perfect circle around the arena floor, which was covered in a mix of dust and dried blood that seemed to be trying to escape from his feet as he walked.

A quick count told Sasuke that there were fifty-seven prisoners in a group around him, including the two men that had confronted him earlier, and even Mika stood there with her characteristic grin.

_These don't seem like normal prisoners…but then nothing here seems normal. _

Looking around at the grandstand, he could see a growing crowd of cheering faces around them. He couldn't see any of their faces, but from the cheers he could assume why they were there.

_They want blood…_

He grabbed the katana from his back and placed a hand on its hilt. "So if we kill whatever they put against us, they let us go?"

Mika pulled out her two swords and held them at her sides. "That would be too easy. Trust in Fiore, she has a plan."

The Konoha shinobi glanced up at the high walls of the arena without emotion.

_It would be easy to leap over those walls and escape this place. _

It made sense for Sasuke to take that action. He had no interest in participating in a battle that didn't involve him. But there were too many factors involved that bothered him. Not least of which was the fact that Fiore recognised his eyes when they were activated, despite being a civilian. She had chakra, but nowhere near enough to be a shinobi, which only serviced to confuse him more.

_I'll play the game…for now. _

The prisoners were armed particularly well considering their apparent incarceration. Judging by the general disposition of the prisoners, Sasuke figured that most of them weren't fighters. There were a few exceptions like Mika who looked like they shouldn't be handling their blades but Sasuke knew better.

A rumbling sound around them made the ground shake as all the other prisoners began to shake in fear. He wasn't surprised to see Fiore pull the pick out of her mouth and extend the wood into a long pole. It was a seemingly impossible action considering she wasn't using chakra; Sasuke could not work out how she managed the feat.

_If it's a trick…it's a very good trick. In the battle I'll use my Sharingan to watch her movements._

"So what are we fighting against?"

Sasuke sighed as he heard a loud roar from one of the gates nearby opened slowly.

"Never mind, I think I got it."

* * *

><p>"What are they?" asked Sasuke as he unsheathed his sword and held it defensively.<p>

The group watched as massive creatures stomped towards them, easily deafening the roaring crowd around the arena. No two creatures were alike, and each seemed oversized for what they looked like.

One appeared as a gigantic beetle with large pincers and venom dripping from its fanged mouth, while another beside it appeared as a long spiked horse covered in scales with clawed feet.

"They are the summons of the guards. Particularly designed to kill us." Fiore sounded calm considering their situation, her wooden staff shifting into a spiked trident that she hefted easily in her hands.

Sasuke frowned and pointed his katana at a large slug-like creature moving towards them. "They don't seem so dangerous."

She scoffed and planted her weapon in the ground. "For a shinobi maybe. Do you see any of us like that?"

"I guess not." Sasuke hadn't made a comment about it before, but he'd scanned the group and found that she was indeed correct. He was the only shinobi in the whole group. "Plan?"

Flipping the trident in her hands, Fiore stared at him for a second before turning back to stare at the creatures. "Survive. Then we'll talk."

He glared at her for a moment before shrugging and turning to pick a creature to attack. He'd been able to recover a majority of his chakra the night before, but he was nowhere near full fighting strength. Letting out a slow breath he ran a hand along the steel blade of his katana and faced against a strange demon-like creature with barbed bat-like wings.

_I'll conserve my chakra, and fight up close. With my Sharingan it should be easy to take out creatures like this. _

His eyes flickered to his three-tomoed Sharingan, and not a moment later his body leapt to the side as a long spike came screaming towards him. Because of his manoeuvre the spike missed him and impaled a young man in the neck, not giving him the chance to scream as he dropped to the ground.

Sasuke flipped around and tried to find the creature that had shot such a dangerous projectile. Slowing moving around the back ranks of the creatures was a hunched creature with a large cannon-like object protruding from its back.

_If that isn't taken out, they won't stand a chance. _

He placed his katana back in its sheath and placed his hands together in a handseal.

_Alright Lee, let's see if your technique works as well as when I copied it. _

Fuelling a large amount of chakra into his legs, Sasuke vanished as he sped towards the creature. His body's muscles screamed out in protest as he used immense speed to cover the arena floor quickly. A lion with two heads moved to intercept him, surprising the Konoha shinobi that the creature could follow him at such speeds.

Running through a rapid set of handseals, Sasuke leapt over the creature and moved his hand like a claw across the top of its mane. He landed on the ground and vanished again towards his initial target. Sasuke didn't have time to voice his technique, but he thought of it as his Sharingan analysed the creature's roar of pain.

_Katon: Tsumehi (Fire Element: Fire Claw)_

As he moved towards the other creature the first one burst into flames in three lines across its back, caused it to shudder twice before collapsing onto the ground, dead. Sasuke had no time to celebrate as he moved out of the path of another projectile and used his Sharingan to work out the weakest point in its carapace.

Reaching back to withdraw his sword, Sasuke dodged another projectile and drove his sword into the creature's face, charging it with lightning before running over the top of it and pulling out the sword on the other side.

The creature made no sound as it died, though it did spew green and yellow blood all over his clothes as he sheathed his blade.

He made a disgusted noise as he looked at the ruined sleeves of his Uchiha clothes. "Fantastic. Itachi would love this."

He glanced over at the other prisoners, noticing that several of the more dangerous creatures were in their midst, tearing them to pieces. It was quite a distance away, but he could see Fiore fighting for her life against the demon-like creature he had seen before.

Her wooden weapon was like a blur, slammed constantly into the creature's wings and head. It took him a moment before realising that she wasn't actually holding the wooden weapon at all, it seemed to be moving on its own while she ducked and weaved under the creature's counter-attacks.

_She just gets stranger and stranger. _

The staff slammed into the demon creature's chin, before she leapt onto the demon's fallen chest and reached out to let the wood fly back to her hand before transforming into a spike that she then drove into its throat.

Unlike Sasuke she was clever enough to avoid the blood spray, jumping off its body into another creature that just pulled apart the scarred man that had attacked him earlier.

Sasuke frowned and took in an account of the battlefield. He had killed the only long-ranged creature in the arena, and about a third of the creatures had been taken out by mass stabbings from the other prisoners, but the death toll had been immense.

The crowd was cheering constantly, and Sasuke noticed that there were even a few Iwagakure shinobi scattered among the civilians. He looked up at the wall near his position with a grim expression.

_I could flee now, the opportunity is here. This isn't my fight. _

He always went to leap over the arena walls, but his Sharingan was still tracking the other prisoners, causing him to hesitate when he saw Fiore defending herself from the beetle creature with a wooden shield.

_It…that was the old me. He would do anything to get stronger, to kill Itachi. But…_

He took the time to sigh before cracking his hands.

_Stupid Naruto, making me care about others. When I see him again, I'm going to kick his ass. _

oOoOoOo

"Jon, you need to keep that side covered!"

"Easy for you to say! I don't have funky wood powers to fight with!"

"Don't poke the dragon, Jon. Remember the last time you pissed her off?"

"Mika, don't make me come over there!"

The other prisoners ignored the odd group within their midst and continued to struggle against the oversized creatures. More than half of their number was already strewn across the floor in dozens of pieces, and those that remained were hard pressed against the ten creatures remaining.

Fiore swore under her breath as she landed on the ground and summoned her staff to her hand. She shook her head as she counted the number of prisoners left. It bothered her that she couldn't see the Uchiha anywhere, but she put that out of her mind.

_If he's gone, so be it. I figured him for a coward anyway. _

She ducked under a scythed claw and pointed her wooden staff at the creature's face. It extended and retracted as quickly as she could blink, easily destroying the shell around its head and sending it crashing backwards.

She moved towards the other prisoners, using her staff to defend another prisoner from being bitten in half. "Everyone! Move into a tight circle!"

The other prisoners were slow to obey, and Fiore was horrified as she was forced to watch as Mika was ripped into quarters by a large gorilla-like creature with four arms and a scythed tail. She seethed through her teeth and leapt at the creature, using the momentum to launch herself through the air as her wood transformed into a massive serrated battleaxe. The creature attempted to duck underneath her blade, but her speed was too much for it as the wooden blade beheaded the creature as if its neck wasn't even there.

Blood sprayed upwards into the air as she jumped back to the group, breathing heavily as she took in an account of the battle.

The seven remaining creatures seemed wary of approaching the group, despite their obvious advantage against the fifteen remaining prisoners.

"Why are there so many creatures?" asked the bearded prisoner, a long spear bloody in his hands.

Fiore spat blood on the ground from a blow she had taken to her face earlier in the battle. "We've fought off their creatures for days. They are probably sick of losing battles."

"Can…can we win?" asked a tired prisoner, holding a broken arm at his side.

_Probably not…_ thought Fiore, her piece of wood hovering cautiously near her head.

"Well, I'm not going to wait to die!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's get those bastards!"

She watched as the majority of the prisoners roared in approval and charged at the remaining creatures with their weapons raised. Fiore shook her head as the bearded prisoner stood beside her.

"They are all going to die" he said quietly.

Fiore grimaced and reached out, holding a newly transformed wooden sword in her hand. "Everyone dies, Jon. If there was ever a dramatic way to go out…"

He grinned and readied his blade. "Yeah, because your mother won't come after me if I let that happen. You underestimate your importance Fiore-sama."

"Don't call me that, Jon. Not here."

He shook his head with a widening grin and charged at two of the creatures that had split apart from the others. The other prisoners had taken down two more of the creatures, but had nearly been decimated in the process.

Fiore picked out a creature that had just bitten the head off of one of prisoners, her sword transforming into a spear before she hurled it towards the creature's scaly face. Its speared tip went straight through its right eye and through to the other side before flying back to Fiore, landing softly back in her hand.

She turned to see how Jon was doing, but felt the strength in her legs fail as she saw his decapitated body on the ground between a creature's dead body and the creature that had killed him.

Looking around the battlefield, she saw the other prisoners had finally been taken out by the remaining three creatures that fought them. She jumped back several dozen metres and swore under her breath. The four creatures turned to face her, their mouths dripping with the blood of their victims.

_No way am I going to survive this._

She breathed out slowly and readied herself for an inevitable death, until she noticed that the sun that had been blazed onto the arena had been suspiciously stifled. Looking up in the sky she noticed that there was a strange-looking cloud above the arena.

She frowned as she saw a figure standing behind the creatures with his arms raised. He said something that she couldn't hear, and in a split second a massive crack of thunder echoed in the arena as a flash of light temporarily blinded her. When her sight recovered she saw that the four creatures were no longer even on the arena, there were barely even burn marks on the ground to indicate that they had been there to begin with.

She blinked and found herself staring into the grim red eyes of the shinobi she had thought had fled the battlefield. "I'm sorry that took so long. The technique takes a long time to activate."

Frowning at him she resisted the urge to slug him in the face. "My friends are dead…they are all dead."

Sasuke glanced around the arena with his Sharingan, noticing the few Iwagakure shinobi in the crowd had entered the arena and were speeding towards them.

"Can you run? I don't think they are coming to give us sake and fish."

Fiore looked past his shoulder, seeing the shinobi rapidly moving towards them with a frown. "Let them come. I lost several good friends today because of their barbaric game."

"And get yourself killed in the process? Would that we were so lucky. Come back later, when it isn't such a one-sided battle."

"You would flee? After such a fight?" She made no effort to conceal her anger, the wood hovered beside her was almost shaking uncontrollably.

He took a step towards her and pointed at the oncoming shinobi. "It's the smart move. I don't like it either, but your friends wouldn't want you to die pointlessly."

Her arms tensed again but Sasuke could tell that she understood his argument. He may have stolen much of the speech from one his brother told him, but it was relevant enough, and he didn't want to see her die. He didn't understand why, but he got the feeling she was important.

"Fine…" she said through her teeth.

Sasuke placed his hands together to prepare a ninjutsu to clear a path for them. However he stopped the flow of chakra when he saw the floating wood transform into a large wooden plank between the two of them.

"What are you doing?"

The girl jumped onto the wood and indicated for him to do the same. "This is much faster."

He gave her a shifty look, "And how safe is that?"

"Get on the wood, or be left behind, Uchiha."

Seeing no way to argue with her, Sasuke scrambled onto the floating plank. He then proceeded to hang on for dear life as they sped up into the arena far above the arena, several large attacks from the surface falling short.

"Are…you…psychotic?!" he called out as the wind slammed into his face.

Not feeling any of the effects that Sasuke was, Fiore made no comment in response as they moved rapidly through the air. Sasuke struggled to keep his footing on the bizarre mode of transport as his red eyes stared at the grim face of his new companion.

_I can't figure this woman out. Though I'm pretty sure she's going to hit me when we get to the ground. How is it she's the only one that doesn't fall to pieces around me? This whole situation makes no sense._

* * *

><p>Sasuke was right, to an extent.<p>

When they landed on the ground, Fiore immediately lashed out and drove a fist into a nearby rock. Since she wasn't a shinobi it didn't shatter like it would if he had hit it, but it still caused cracks.

Sasuke didn't make a comment as the wooden plank they had ridden on transformed into a needle that inserted itself into the middle of her spiky hair. He still wanted to know how she did that, but felt that there was a time and place for such a thing.

He wasn't much for a shoulder to cry on, but he nevertheless felt the need to say something.

"I…understand what you are going through."

She snarled and glared at him through those purple eyes he was somewhat intimidated by. "How could you? Did you just watch your companions die?"

He bit down the immediate retort he thought of and leaned on the rock she had just attacked. "You've heard of the Uchiha clan, yes?"

"Your point being?"

"I do, know what you are talking about. I'm not trying to diminish your pain."

Her arms tensed, but she took a step back nonetheless and sighed. It was a few moments before she nodded slowly and stared out at the slowly descending sun. "They knew what they were getting into…maybe they'll forgive me one day."

"So, do you mind telling me what this is all about? Why was someone like you in a place like that?"

Fiore stared at him for a moment before shrugging and taking a few steps backwards as the pin in her hair floated out and turned into a large wooden chair that she sat down on and indicated for him to make himself comfortable.

Sasuke gave her his best are-you-kidding-me look before crossing his arms and indicating to her chair. "Why don't you start with that? I can't think of any way one could do that without chakra."

In her chair the purple eyed girl shrugged and crossed her tanned legs. "I have no idea. I've always been able to manipulate this wood in any way I want."

_Like a Kekkei Genkai, but without chakra? Kakashi would have a field day with this ability. _

"Just that wood?"

She nodded and waved a hand over the arm of the chair, making the wood extend upwards until it touched her hand. "One solid piece. But with it…I can do anything."

"Okay, that makes no sense, but never mind. Something tells me you weren't a prisoner in that arena though."

"No, I wasn't. I infiltrated the arena with five of our best men, and they all died because of this mission."

"Mission?" Sasuke knew she wasn't a shinobi, but she spoke as if she at least worked for one.

Fiore slowly sat up from her chair and placed a hand out, letting the chair transform into a pick that she then placed in her mouth. "It ain't just shinobi that do things for the world, you know. We normal people can do things too."

"I'm sure." Sasuke reached down and sniffed the collar of his shirt, grimacing as he smelt the blood strewn across his clothing. "I need a clean set of clothes."

"You do look like you sleep in a bog."

He glared at her but recognised her point. "Where is the nearest town?"

"You sure you want to travel with me? I can't promise I won't hit you at some point." Her voice suggested sarcasm, but with his Sharingan still active Sasuke could tell the look in her eyes said different.

As much as he wanted to find his companions again, and his brother, which to be fair wasn't particularly high at the moment, he felt an odd feeling in his stomach.

It was sympathy. And that scared the hell out of him.

BREAK

"I'm not wearing that."

She pouted and put down the shirt. "Why not? It's all colourful and such."

Sasuke pointed at the brightly coloured shirt with disgust. "I'm from the most powerful clan in the country. You couldn't pay me to wear that."

Fiore grinned and threw a black shirt at him. "Well go ahead and spoil my fun. Maybe you wouldn't look so emo if you wore something other than black and dark blue."

Slipping the shirt over his chest, Sasuke frowned at her. "Emo?"

"A new term, you wouldn't get it."

He put down the last bits of his money on the counter and nodded to the blushing girl behind it before the two of them left the shop. Sasuke watched as Fiore stretched out her arms with a sigh, as her own new clothes hugged her body. He'd heard of such things before, and he found himself wondering what it was about her that kept his attention so.

"You know they aren't going to come off just by you staring at them?"

He didn't stutter in return, but there was a definite pause before he scoffed and pushed past her. "Don't flatter yourself. Where do we go from here?"

She let the ghost of a grin come across her face as she watched his back while they walked through the bustling town. It was far too much fun to tease him like that, and she wasn't in any particular rush to get back to her job.

"You want to get something to eat? I'm famished."

He spun around and glared at her. "What about…you don't have a care in the world, do you?"

Fiore shrugged and placed her hands on the back of her neck. "No point in going anywhere on an empty stomach."

_Dear god she sounds like Naruto. _

He considered it for a moment before letting out a slow breath and rolling his eyes. "Fine. Anything but ramen."

"No problems there, I hate ramen." She began walking towards a nearby open store while scratching at her cheek.

He wasn't much of an emotional type, but Sasuke couldn't help but curl the edge of his mouth.

_Thank god…I can't stand that crap. _

oOoOoOo

Sasuke stared out at the night sky through the window in their room, watching as clouds slowly moved from one side to the other. It was a strange change of scenery considering where they had been earlier in the day, but he wasn't complaining.

_I wonder what Nii-san is doing right now. _

His shinobi instincts allowed him to place a hand up to catch the bottle Fiore hurled at him without effort. He frowned and glanced at the non-descript bottle before turning around to look at his companion.

"What is this?"

Fiore fell onto the couch in their room and rested her feet on the table. "It's water. You've heard of it, yes?"

Sasuke removed the top and sniffed it cautiously. "Are you always so sarcastic?"

"Comes with the company I suppose. So where are you from, Uchiha?"

After he was sure that it wasn't anything suspicious, Sasuke took a sip from the bottle, noticing that it was indeed simply cold water. "Konoha, until it was destroyed. Then we moved around a lot…wait, why am I telling you this?"

She grinned and rocked slightly in her chair. "It's called trust, Uchiha. Not used to it, are you?"

_I hate this woman so much…_

"What about you? What's your tale?"

She tensed slightly, not enough to display that much but Sasuke noticed it nonetheless. She looked around the room with a suspicious look on her face before indicating for him to move closer to hear her.

"What is it?" he asked as he sat on a table next to her feet.

"I…uh…are there any…you know…listening devices in this room?"

He frowned at the comment, but upon seeing she was serious stood up slowly and placed his hands together. "Is there any reason why you are so paranoid?"

"We have enemies, Uchiha. It's not paranoia if you are right."

He extended his chakra throughout the room, scanning it for any possible disruptions. For a few moments he was just indulging her, but after looking a bit harder he noticed a section of wall had been recently replaced with several shinobi seals that were indeed listening to their conversation.

He opened his eyes and walked over to the section of wall he had analysed, running a small amount of chakra into it to destroy the seals. He turned around and stared at her curiously. "How did you know?"

"Are we clear?" When he nodded in response she let out a short sigh and stood up from her seat. "Good. You can never be too careful."

Sasuke crossed his arms suspiciously; things seemed to get more and more confusing. "And why does someone like you have a shinobi-based listening seal placed in a room that you only organised an hour ago?"

"Because I'm so cute?" She tried to give him her best puppy impression, but upon seeing him unimpressed she crossed her arms and leaned on the windowsill. "Fair point."

"Shinobi aren't the only ones that do things in the world. Even during the Shinobi World Wars, it wasn't just the shinobi that fought one country against another. It was the rest of us too. I know that won't mean much to you, but just run with it. Suffice to say I'm part of an organisation that does the things shinobi seem to ignore."

_She doesn't seem to be too bad…for a nut-job. _

"So you're what, a freedom fighter?"

"You might mock, Uchiha, but we do things that you wouldn't dare attempt."

_I can hardly believe that. _

"So where do we go from here?" she asked, waving her hand around lazily as her piece of wood followed her motions.

"What do you mean?"

She reached out and grabbed her wood with a single fluid movement. "Well my mission was a failure, so I have to report back. But you are under no obligation to follow."

Sasuke considered her point, he certainly had enough reason to go and find his previous companions, but there was one thing that was scratching at the back of his mind.

With a trickle of chakra he activated his doujutsu and stared at her directly in her purple eyes. "When I first woke up in that prison cell, your attitude changed immediately upon seeing my Sharingan. That wasn't the first time you've seen these eyes, was it?"

She stared at him intently for a few seconds before slowly shaking her head. "No…it wasn't. What is your point?"

Sasuke kept his doujutsu activate for a few more seconds before reverting back to his regular black eyes. "There are only three Sharingan users left in the world, including my brother and my teacher. So my question is why you had such a serious reaction to the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai."

Fiore looked away slightly so that she could stare at the night through the window. "I'm not meant to talk about it. Suffice to say, I've seen the Sharingan before. Let's leave it at that."

"No, I'm not going to leave it alone. My clan is down to my brother and me. If there is another Uchiha still alive, I need to know about it."

The wood-user turned and glared at him. "Don't order me around like you would a waitress. I'm under no obligation to indulge your little quest."

Sasuke tensed and went to argue back until he was reminded of how Kakashi used to speak to him. She hadn't spoken angrily or in a harsh tone, but there was something in her voice that gave him pause. He considered her point for a moment before placing his hands up in defence.

"No need to bite, I understand. All I'm looking for is information. Besides, you seem like someone who could use the company."

He wasn't sure where that last line had come from, but it clearly made an impact on her as the expression on her face changed slowly from frustration to something else entirely.

"Could use the company? I think you underestimate the value of your companionship. I'm not that desperate." Her words said one thing, but Sasuke could read in her tone that he had convinced her.

"You've lost people. So have I. All I'm suggesting is a temporary partnership." Sasuke wasn't sure why he was bargaining to the woman, but he was increasingly curious about the figures behind the girl's organisation.

Fiore considered his point for a few moments before leaning on the wall and crossing her arms, placing a hand on her tired eyes.

"I…fine. You can come to our village, but that's it. She's going to kill me for this…"

"Who will?"

Fiore grinned and shook her head as she reached down and grabbed her own bottle of water.

"You don't want to know."

* * *

><p>The next morning they set out to return to Fiore's organisation. Sasuke had no idea what to expect, but there was too much for him to ignore. He stared at her back as they walked across the dry landscape.<p>

"Hey, there's something that has been bothering me."

She turned around with a grin, "Just one?"

Sasuke walked a bit faster so that they were at the same pace. "We got out of that arena pretty easily. Why didn't you escape with your friends before I came?"

She gave him a serious glare, but didn't break pace as they moved from stony ground to grassland. "You saw what happened when we flew out, right? All those projectiles and attacks they threw at us?"

"So you wouldn't have been able to escape like that with so many people?" It made sense to him, but he still found it suspicious.

"Pretty much. We would have left earlier, but Jon was concerned over the other political prisoners. He always was soft for people like that."

"Like that Mika girl?"

Fiore stopped walking and stared at him again, "You knew she was a legitimate prisoner?"

"Educated guess. You still haven't told me why you were there in the first place." Sasuke hadn't stopped like she did, preferring to cover as much distance as possible.

She thought about it for a second before running to catch up to him, placing her hands in her pockets as she walked beside him. "We were looking for someone. It doesn't matter now, as he was already dead when we got there."

"For someone who just lost her friends, you seem pretty calm about it."

She resisted the urge to shrug, resolving to concentrate on the path in front of them. "I've lost friends before. I'll lose friends again. There is only so much I can express."

_She's covering. It's the same as Naruto would when people ignored him in Konoha. _

He stopped walking and begun stretching his legs. It took Fiore a few seconds before realising that he wasn't walking beside her, causing her to frown and turn back to see him stretching his arms as well.

"What are you doing?" she asked impatiently. Just as he couldn't figure her out, he wasn't giving anything away to her either. She could sense the typical arrogance in someone like him, but it was tempered by something she couldn't quite place either.

He stood up from his stretches and stood in a defensive stance. "Let's have a match."

"What?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "We don't have time for this."

Trying his best not to sound like Lee, Sasuke stared right back at her. "It'll be a good way to indicate how strong you are. Besides, I think we both need to blow off some steam."

She went to call him an idiot, but the look in his eyes gave her pause. She knew that he hadn't been fighting properly in the arena, and while that angered her it also made her curious. Besides, it was always beneficial to fight against a shinobi, if not just to put them in their place.

Seeing the benefits finally, she reached up and pulled out the piece of wood in her hair, extending it to a short pole from pointing it at him with a sly grin. "Don't think I'm a pushover, Uchiha. If you underestimate me, I'm going to crush you."

Sasuke nodded and activated his Sharingan, watching her static body movements carefully with his doujutsu. He knew that since she didn't use chakra the Kekkei Genkai was largely wasted, but if it could read her physical movements to give him an advantage then it was worth it.

_I'll swing around her and push through her defences and knock her out with an electrical shock. _

His Sharingan didn't show him any change in her stance besides her wood pole pointed at him. As such he wasn't able to react when the wood extended instantly and slammed into his chest, causing him to fly backwards. He grimaced as he landed on the ground and looked at her, seeing that she hadn't moved an inch.

The grin on her face was insufferable.

"So you can control it that quickly?"

She didn't respond to his taunt, simply twirling her pole in her hands and standing as if she was relaxing at a hot spring.

_I will beat this woman if it's the last thing I do._

He placed his hands together and ran through a quick set of handseals. He placed his hand to his mouth and brought up a ball of chakra from his stomach.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A gigantic fireball screamed across the battlefield towards her, as Sasuke grinned and stood up straight. Since she wasn't a shinobi, he didn't expect her to be able to move out of the path of the blast completely intact.

"I warned you not underestimate me."

He spun around immediately upon hearing her voice, but before he could react he saw a massive wooden fist coming at his face. Sasuke was barely able to jump back in time, his eyes staring at her as the wood retracting into a small wooden stick hovering near her grinning face.

"Not bad, Uchiha. But is that all you've got?"

Sasuke frowned in anger and drew the katana from his back. Her eyes widened in surprise, but even as he prepared himself to attack her, her wood shifted into a sword of identical shape.

"You don't think you'll be able to match me as a swordsman, do you?"

She grinned and adopted a defensive stance. "Try me."

He gritted his teeth and leapt at her, swinging his sword straight at her head. He didn't really want to cut her up, but the arrogance in her smile reminded him of Itachi's during the few times he actually did smile.

He brought down his sword and she caught it with hers, easily holding his strike at bay. Despite being made out of wood, her sword's edge was as sharp as his, and while it wasn't his family's katana his sword was still made of tempered steel.

Frowning, Sasuke brought his sword back and changed the weight in his hands, sending the tip at her side. Her wooden blade seemed to appear in its path, and they began to clash blades at a rapid pace. Sasuke wasn't using his full speed, but he could tell that she was holding back too. Neither gave any ground as their swords slammed into one another again and their faces were nearly touching.

His red eyes stared into her purple eyes, and in that moment he felt something in his gut he couldn't quite describe. Unfortunately that feeling distracted him for just a moment, allowing the wood in her sword to extend outwards and wrench the blade from his hands, hurling it far away behind her back. Sasuke looked down in surprise, and in that moment her sword changed to a club and slammed into his face, sending him flying backwards.

The Konoha shinobi grimaced as he picked himself up from the ground, clutching at his cheek as he glared at her angrily. She was toying with him, and they both knew it.

_She's not a shinobi, and yet she's as strong as Nii-san without his genjutsu abilities. _

He ran through a rapid set of handseals and placed a hand towards the ground, still staring at his opponent. "You want serious? You'll want to dodge this attack then."

His hand began to crackle with lightning, deafening bird chirping sounds surrounded him as he dove towards her with his lightning blade extended outwards. He was aiming for a glancing shot, but was no longer holding back. She still had that insufferable look on her face, which only incised him further.

To his surprise, or not considering her personality, she didn't move, rather placing herself in a defensive pose with a small wall of wood between the two of them. Sasuke grinned as he ran towards her, since wood was part earth his lightning technique should go right through it. He increased his speed and threw his lightning charged hand at her shield.

"Chidori!"

As he predicted, his hand went straight through the wooden wall. However just as his lightning-charged attack passed the threshold, the hole his hand created closed in around him and nearly crushed his wrist as it trapped him tightly. He let out a cry of pain, but before he could try to free himself the wood exploded around him and bound him tighter than any rope he had been tied by. Sasuke fell to the ground and watched helplessly as the wood moved up and bound him on the mouth. He could hear a laugh that sounded surprisingly light-hearted as her legs came into his bound view. Fiore kneeled down beside him and grinned as she tapped his wooden restraints. "Not very smart, are you Uchiha?"

Sasuke stared up at her, ignoring the fact that he slightly see up her skirt. An uncharacteristic grin came across his face.

"I have my moments."

Her eyes widened as she felt a piece of cold metal against her neck. The Sasuke bound by the wood disappeared in a puff of smoke as a smile grew on her face. "Not bad, Uchiha. Not bad at all."

He pulled back his kunai and pocketed it, offering her a hand up. "My name is Sasuke. I suggest you use it."

She shook her head slightly and spun around, collecting him in the head with her foot and sending him crashing into the ground. Her wood trap transformed back into a wooden pick that she subsequently placed in her mouth and grinned.

"Not a chance, Uchiha. Let's get going."

Sasuke rolled over on the ground and clutched at his other cheek, trying his hardest to resist the urge to send a lightning strike straight through her head. Eventually he picked himself up from the ground and jogged to catch with her. Neither of them made a comment, but the battle had only created more questions than answers for Sasuke.

However he had to admit he was impressed with her combat abilities, compared to the shinobi he had fought before. He couldn't make sense of how she was so strong considering her lack of shinobi abilities, but that in turn made her all the more intriguing.

_Nii-san would fine this situation hilarious. I've got to remember to smack him as well. _

* * *

><p>Two days of travel later they arrived at the location Fiore indicated was her organisation's headquarters. It was a relatively small affair, with very little indicating that there was any kind of organised military presence in the area, which Sasuke supposed was part of the point.<p>

"Doesn't look like much" he commented bluntly.

Fiore shrugged and pushed through the front gate. "Everyone says that. It was built that way, lest we draw too much unwanted attention."

Following her through into the empty-looking village, Sasuke looked around with curiosity. "You still haven't told me anything about this organisation you are a part of."

"Makes it more fun. This way." She indicated to a nearby door, but before they walked through it she put a hand in warning.

"We only have two rules. If someone offers you a drink, you have to drink. And don't, if you value your life, antagonise the leader."

"Is he really that frightening?" Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes. Every organisation said their leader was scary, and he was yet to be intimidated by such a person.

She thought about it before shrugging and placed her hand on the doorknob. "Frightening? Perhaps. But let me put it this way; if you disrespect her…she'll destroy you. It won't even be a thought to her."

"Just open the door, and cut the theatrics."

She shrugged again and opened the door, walked in first before being quickly followed by her Uchiha companion.

oOoOoOo

The inside of the building looked like a large festival hall, with a massive table across the middle covered in food and drink with cheering people eating and chatting loudly. Sasuke was surprised that he couldn't hear them before, considering how loud they were once he was inside. A man stumbled up to them and clapped Fiore on the back, saying something completely unintelligible to her and bringing a smile to her face.

"Welcome to the Hall. Watch your step, they are vicious here."

Sasuke snorted and stared at two people sneaking away from the group to enter an adjacent room. "Yes…clearly…"

Fiore grinned and went to take a step forward but froze uncharacteristically. Sasuke wasn't sure why she had immobilized herself, but the reason became rapidly clear.

A loud female voice thundered through the hall, silencing every single voice in the hall immediately. "FIORE!"

Sasuke found himself looking around for the voice even while noticing that everybody in the hall had frozen the same as his wood-using companion. Seemingly out of nowhere a woman appeared in front of Fiore, in a move that Sasuke couldn't have worked out if given the time to analyse it.

She wore a set of leather armour with a long cloak behind her, with long scars across her face. She bore the same set of purple eyes that Fiore had, and despite being significantly older than him Sasuke could tell she was a decidedly striking woman.

The woman slowly reached out and brushed a small piece of brown hair from the young girl's face. She stared at her for a few seconds before her angry-looking face slowly broke into a smile. "You are late, daughter."

Fiore mirrored the woman's smile and nodded slowly. "There were complications…mother."

The woman moved her head slightly and stared at Sasuke intently. "You brought a shinobi to the Hall? Is that wise?"

"It's not that simple, mother. I would think there was someone here he'd want to meet."

She walked past Fiore and stood in front of Sasuke, running her eyes up and down him like he was a scroll containing intelligence she had to know about. He was uncomfortable under her gaze, but didn't make a comment until she stood back slightly and crossed her arms.

"Well, well, this is a surprise. I can't say my daughter has good taste, but you are an interesting case."

She extended a hand to him, which given by the look on Fiore's surprised face he took with a respectful bow.

"My name is Elika. I am Fiore's mother, and leader of Cascading Flow."

Sasuke shook her hand tightly. "Uchiha Sasuke. Your daughter helped me out of a bind, and I owe her a debt of gratitude."

That last bit was a bit of a lie, but he seemed to have had the desired effect as Elika nodded in approval. "A conversation for another time. Before we speak however, I suspect there is someone here you would like to meet."

Sasuke frowned, "Who?"

Neither the mother or daughter responded, but began walking down the steps towards the back of the hall. Sasuke watched as the chaos within the hall seemed to resume the moment Elika stopped their conversation, such was the respect they held for her.

_And she isn't a shinobi either. What the hell is this place?_

Deciding to indulge in his curiosity, Sasuke followed the pair of women, letting them lead him to a door on the back wall. Elika opened the door slowly and indicated for him to enter.

"Who is in there?" he asked, noticing that it led to an outside courtyard.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment before looking back at him and indicating for him to go. Seeing he wasn't going to get an answer, Sasuke walked through the door, hearing it close behind him.

The courtyard was surprisingly large considering the size of the village, and a figure in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned around to see a figure standing in the middle of the courtyard wearing a long black set of combat fatigues.

It took him a second to realise who was standing in front of him. He hadn't seen the person alive in nearly a decade, and had only recently come to an understanding on who the person was.

He could feel the strength in his legs slowly disappear as he recognised the familiar black eyes and warm smile on her face.

"Mum?"

The woman's smile grew as she took a few steps towards him with her arms open.

"Hello Sasuke. You've grown up so much."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

There a kind of pathological amusement to the cliffhanger device. It's not as bad as some of the other ones I've done, but still, amusing.

Any feedback on Fiore's character would be greatly appreciated. She's a character that I'm developing for a novel I'm writing, and any notes would help me immensely.

I know Sasuke seemed to have pulled Kirin out of his arse, but let's face it he does that all the time. He's a surprisingly difficult character to right without getting OOC, even though he isn't a bastard in this story. It's part of the reason why my new piece has him as a particularly central main character and not as a bastard either.

Mentioning that, I'm working on the first chapter to that story now. I have an exam on the 15th for University, so my timetable is a bit frantic at the moment. Apologies in advance.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	39. Chapter 36 SASU Cascading Flow

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 36 – Sasuke – Cascading Flow

**A/N**: This chapter is long. Really long. Most of my chapters go around 10,000 words, but I had too much material for Sasuke's story, and I didn't want to make it a third chapter. But this was fun to write, once I figured out how to write Sasuke's character properly.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Sharingan would just copy techniques.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Sasuke found himself dropped in the middle of an arena, right in the middle of a battle. After being knocked out and recovering, Sasuke allied himself with a strange woman called Fiore, who demonstrated abilities beyond his comprehension. A brutal battle in the arena later, all of Fiore's companions were killed in the battle, with only the two of them escaping with their lives. Deciding not to immediately seek out his brother, Sasuke followed Fiore back to her organisation's village. He met the leader of the organisation, Elika, who is Fiore's mother. To his surprise he met another person he never even knew was still alive. Uchiha Mikoto, his mother.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Three Days after Separation***<p>

Sasuke took a double-take back and stared at the warm smile on his seemingly resurrected mother. Seeing her face brought back the horrible memories of watching his brother butcher his mother, reminding him that while he had forgiven his brother there were some things he could never forget.

"How…but…you're dead. I watched you die…"

Mikoto put down her arms and watched as her son went through a plethora of facial expressions. "I know this is hard to digest, Sasuke. But I you are not dreaming, this is real."

The young Uchiha flared his Sharingan at her, trying to see if she was using a Henge to disguise her true face, but he saw no chakra movements within her circulatory system. Not only that, but for all extent and purposes she looked like the mother he had known years ago, though noticeably older.

"I don't understand…"

Sasuke slowly sank to his knees and looked up at her, his eyes turning back to black as he fought the urge to cry. He was still proud enough to not cry, but the urge was immense.

Mikoto knelt down in front of him and lightly brushed at his hair. "We have a lot to catch up on."

He looked up at her and all doubt that she wasn't his mother vanished when he smelt the perfume she always wore, even the day she had been supposedly killed.

"Make it make sense…"

oOoOoOo

She indicated for him to join her at a table in the training yard. Sasuke was hesitant but nonetheless sat down opposite her. There were no hugs between mother and child, Sasuke wasn't the most affectionate person in the world so it didn't surprise Mikoto that he wasn't looking for a mother's embrace.

"It's…a difficult story to tell, Sasuke. It goes back to the night when our clan was…destroyed."

Sasuke put up a hand to cut her off, "I know about that, I was there."

"But you don't know why your brother did what he did."

"Yes, I do." Sasuke looked down at the table grimly. "Itachi found me after Konoha was destroyed. He showed me what Father had done…and why the clan wished to rebel."

Mikoto frowned and crossed her arms across her chest. "Do you agree with his actions?"

"No. But I understand why he did it." It was true, Sasuke did not approve of his brother's slaughter that night regardless of his motivations. "And I have forgiven him."

A smile came across his mother's face, "I'm glad the two of you were able to reconnect. When you were children you were so close."

"You haven't explained how you survived the massacre. I saw Itachi murder you."

"If you know about your brother, then you must know I did not agree with your Father's rebellion. Our marriage…was not an easy union."

Sasuke nodded slowly, Itachi had told him as much as he could about the work she had done with Kakashi during the War, including what he knew about their mother's time as a shinobi. "You are not answering my question."

Her smile grew as she admired how much her little boy had grown. "I guess I can't treat you as a child, can I? When I was a shinobi, when your brother had just been born, I worked with a very special group of shinobi. We encountered an enemy that threatened the village more than any other foe we had encountered before. I won't go into details, but one of my companions was particularly skilled in genjutsu."

From what Itachi told him, Sasuke could deduce who she was talking about. "And he made it appear like Itachi had killed you? Why would he do that?"

She slowly stood up from the table with a long drawn sigh. "I wanted to protect you…but sometimes shinobi must do things beyond what is normally expected of them. I was meant to die that night, but when Jito saved me we were confronted by the Hokage and given a very particular mission."

"To abandon your children?" asked Sasuke angrily. It sounded like the same excuses Itachi made when they were younger.

"You are not a child anymore, Sasuke. You understand how this world works, and some of the sacrifices people have to do to save the people they love."

Sasuke stood up from the table as well and glared at his mother angrily. "I spent years alone, plotting the murder of my older brother, with no knowledge that my mother was alive and well. You dare to make excuses?!"

Mikoto shook her head with a sad expression on her face. "I'm not trying…"

"All mothers make sacrifices for their children." Sasuke turned to see the organisation's leader walking towards the two of them, nodding a greeting to Mikoto before standing next to her.

Mikoto gave a slight bow in return, "Elika. Is something wrong?"

The leader indicated to the nearby building, "Food is on. I figured your son could use something to eat considering his journey."

Mikoto turned to her son, who still had a confused angry look on his face, but the growl from his stomach was enough to cause him to consider her proposal. "Come and eat, Sasuke. We'll have time to talk."

Her son wasn't sure what to make of his mother and the current situation. She didn't seem like the mother he had known as a child, but he felt like it was worth playing along.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke sat down at the long table in the middle of the hall, staring at the odd situation he found himself in. It seemed so implausible that he couldn't help but admit its reality. He was hungry, but felt little urge to actually eat anything.

Strewn across the large table was a grand feast of a variety of foods, and dozens of people sat around him and his mother.

Across from him Fiore pulled off a chunk of bread from a large plate and bit into it, turning to him with a grin. "Not hungry, Uchiha?"

He turned to her with a frown, "It's been a…tiring day."

"You need to lighten up, Uchiha. You look like someone trampled all over you. Eat some food, find a girl, do whatever you need to, but you are bound up way too tightly."

Sasuke frowned and leaned forward. "You have no sense of responsibility, do you?"

Fiore simply grinned and bit off another chunk of bread, leaning back on her chair. Seeing that he wasn't going to get a reasonable response from her, he sighed and reached across the table to take a slice of meat and put it on his plate.

Sitting next to her, Elika drank a long draught of ale before looking at Sasuke. "Don't let my daughter bother you. She's headstrong, but doesn't yet know her place."

"I've been meaning to ask about her. How is she able to manipulate that piece of wood like she does? Who are you people?"

Elika grinned slowly, suddenly reminding him of her daughter's usual expression. "You should show some respect, boy. You may be talented, but that doesn't give you the right to act that a spoilt brat."

"Mother, give him a break. It's not his fault he's got a metal rod stuck up his arse."

The leader turned to her daughter with a frown, while Sasuke looked to his own mother to the answer to his question.

Mikoto smiled warmly at her son, "It takes a little bit to get used to the two of them. But they grow on you, after a while."

"Aren't they civilians?"

"I suppose you should know about them. As you know, with many of the larger clans in Konoha, they tend to keep marriages within the clan to keep the bloodlines 'pure'. My marriage with your father was such a union. The other clans are no different, though they were less strict about the policy."

Sasuke frowned, "How does that relate to the two of them?"

"If a shinobi marries a civilian, and has a child with them, there is a chance that the child will have no abilities to become a shinobi. Even with the more powerful clans, this can occur. Usually such children are placed outside of the village, because of the shame it brings upon the clan."

"And that's what happened to them?"

The two of them were arguing on the other side of the table, in an odd way that he used to with Naruto before the destruction of their home.

Mikoto smiled and indicated to Elika. "Her clan exiled her because she was considered to be a genetic failure. Rather than stay in the village, she left to pursue her own life."

"That's a bit extreme, isn't it? She could have still been in the village, fought for her people."

Mikoto shrugged in response, "She doesn't talk about it, I don't ask. Suffice to say that she is as strong as me, even without any special ability."

"I find that hard to believe. What about her daughter then? She's not exactly normal."

"We have no idea. It might be a genetic mutation, or a latent ability from the clan's Kekkei Genkai, we aren't sure. But I can tell you that that piece of wood is…well let's just say she's very good at wielding it."

Sasuke felt at his cheek, remembering the sparring match they had had on the way to the village. It made more sense now on why Fiore was so strong, but that didn't mean he liked it.

"This is…a lot to take in. I'm not sure how to process all this."

Mikoto smiled again and placed a caring hand on his arm. "I know it's been difficult. But you should know that I'm here for you. Anything you want to know, feel free to ask."

"Thanks…mum."

She reached up and ruffled his hair slightly before sliding over a plate of green food. "Now eat your vegetables."

oOoOoOo

Later that night Sasuke sat down on a couch and watched the others talk amongst themselves. He felt very much the outsider in the organisation, even in the strange knowledge that his mother was a high level member of Cascading Flow.

"Still sulking?"

He looked up to see Fiore standing in front of him. She had changed out of her combat fatigues and was wearing a deceptively short skirt with a white singlet, which only seemed to accentuate her figure. It didn't seem like she was trying to appear seductive, it just appeared like it was a more comfortable outfit to wear.

"I'm not sulking. I'm just tired. It's been one of those days."

She thought about it for a second before shrugging and sitting down beside him, swinging her legs over so that they sat on top of his legs, scooting herself up to make herself more comfortable. "You concentrate too much on the past, Uchiha."

He frowned and looked down at her legs, wondering when he had given the impression that he was okay with her sitting like that. He couldn't quite place it, but there was an odd warmth trickling through his body at her touch, one that he wasn't particularly uncomfortable with.

"You're a very strange girl, you know that?"

"I do what I can. Now quiet down, so I can get some sleep."

He stared at her in confusion, but could only watch as she closed her eyes and began to breathe out slowly. He didn't need any special skills to recognise that she was asleep already, though it occurred to him that he was now trapped underneath her legs and unable to get up without waking her.

_This day just gets stranger and stranger. Do these people just come out a box to frustrate me?_

Looking up he saw both his mother and Fiore's standing a short distance away, chatting quietly to themselves. They looked over at their children and smiled, while Sasuke simply shook his head.

"You must be a special guy."

He turned his head to see a young girl standing beside him, a wide smile on her face. "She's not like that with most people."

Sasuke frowned and looked at Fiore's sleeping face. "How do you mean?"

The girl walked around so that she was standing in front of him, crossing her arms slowly. "It's a hard life, here in Cascading Flow. Unlike shinobi we can only fight with normal skills, meaning we lose people all the time."

Sasuke nodded slowly, he understood what that meant. "So you don't form bonds easily, because you might be dead the next day. What do you people actually do?"

"We take out raiders and bandits; we protect civilians, and generally do the work for people who can't afford to pay for shinobi assistance. But when Lady Mikoto came along, we realised we could do so much more."

"What does my mother do in your organisation?"

The girl smiled and shook her head slightly. "You'll have to ask her, or Leader. If you want to help us, I suggest you wise up and take a number."

"You people are very strange" said Sasuke, watching as the girl shrug in agreement and walk away from him.

He looked over at Fiore's sleeping face, wondering what he had gotten himself into. She seemed to mumble slightly in her sleep, and for some reason he found that quality endearing.

_I wonder if this is how Naruto and Hinata started up. Not that I'm thinking about it, particularly with someone like her, but I could see why someone like him would do such a thing. _

It took him a while but Sasuke found a position underneath Fiore's trapping legs that was comfortable enough, and before long he was fast asleep, the past few days fatigue hitting him hard.

Elika and Mikoto smiled together as they walked over and looked at their children asleep on the couch.

"They look good together" commented Mikoto.

"Maybe. Your son is particularly strange compared to most shinobi I've met."

The Uchiha kunoichi turned to her companion with a frown. "You want to take him with us, don't you?"

Elika crossed her arms and looked at the expression on the young shinobi's face, noticing that even while asleep he still seemed rigid. "Fiore didn't just bring him here for his looks. He's clearly made an impression on her, which is good enough for me."

"We should tell him about the plan."

"Tomorrow. They look too peaceful to disturb. Have you heard anything from your partner?"

Mikoto sighed sadly and shook her head. "It's been almost a year. He was captured by the enemy…I have to assume they have killed him."

"I'm sorry for your loss. He was a good man. Do you want to get a beer?"

"Definitely. I was never expecting to see my youngest son like this. I thought I had prepared myself…but it was still shocking."

* * *

><p>Sasuke groaned as he slowly woke up from his slumber. The first thing he noticed was that Fiore was no longer lying on top of him, which invoked both happy and sad emotions in him.<p>

He picked himself up from the couch and looked around the area.

_So I really am in this place. It would have been too convenient to be a dream. _

There was no-one in the hall that he could see, which was a refreshing change from the boisterous noise that was there from his initial entrance.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a young boy running along a nearby corridor towards the back end of the hall. Sasuke cracked his neck to get rid of the cramp from sleeping in such an awkward position and yelled at the boy to stop.

"Where is everyone?" he asked as the boy skidded to a halt.

"Don't you know? It's that time of the month! Come on, you've got to come out into the training yard!"

Sasuke found his curiosity piqued and followed the boy, entering the training yard to a peculiar situation. All the people that had been in the hall were gathered in a large crowd and were cheering loudly, yet Sasuke couldn't see what they were cheering about. He pushed his way through and saw Fiore and her mother fighting as if the world depended on it.

He immediately noticed that Fiore wasn't using her wood to attack Elika, but to his surprise he could see that she was quite adept at fighting in hand-to-hand combat. Since they weren't shinobi he could easily follow their movements as they traded punches and kicks at high speed, and he was impressed by their technique. They fought with a modified version of shinobi taijutsu, and Sasuke couldn't tell who was winning.

For each punch that broke through their defence, two more responded in kind, and while the blows weren't particularly deep he could see that Fiore was being beaten back.

"What is going on?" he asked to nobody in particular.

Walking up behind him, his mother smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "They do this every month. It'll be good for you to see how these people fight. They are no less committed than any shinobi."

Fiore ducked under a kick to her head and flipped onto her hands, sending both her legs crashing into her mother's chest. Elika was able to get her arms across her body in time, but was still sent flying back nonetheless.

The young girl grinned as she flipped back onto her feet, but her joy was only momentary as Elika came roaring up and drove a fist into her face. Fiore let out a cry of pain and dropped to her knees, clutching her face in pain.

Elika grinned while standing over her. "You've gotten better, daughter. But you still have a ways to go before you can defeat me."

Her daughter nodded slowly, and then leapt up and threw her legs around her mother's head, attempting to slam her down into the ground. Unfortunately for Fiore, Elika was able to drop to the ground and place her legs into a hold, immobilising her in place.

She tightened the grip and stared down at her daughter's face. "Say it."

"N…ev…er…" said Fiore through her teeth.

"Stubborn girl." Elika relaxed her grip and stood up from the ground, wary of another surprise assault. "Get up. We've got preparations to make."

Fiore swore under her breath and stood up from the ground, wiping herself down before bowing slightly to her mother and watching her smile before walking through the crowd back to the main building, the crowd dispersing in disappointment.

Mikoto nodded to her son before following the others back, leaving him and Fiore in the training yard.

Sasuke walked up to her with a smug look on his face. "Do you usually let your mum beat the snot out of you?"

Fiore snarled, but seemed to be in good humour nonetheless. "I'm getting faster. One day I'll be able to defeat her."

"Why didn't you use your wood against her? I've seen you fight with that thing, you could have overpowered her easily."

The spiky-haired girl shook her head then grimaced in pain. "It doesn't work on her. For some reason the wood doesn't listen to me when I'm fighting her."

"You do that regularly? Why?"

"Keeps me sharp. Mother was the one who taught me how to fight. She said that the day I defeat her in combat, is the day she tells me about where we came from."

Sasuke frowned at her, remembering the conversation he had had with his mother the previous day about Elika's past. "You don't even know your last name?"

"I don't have one. I'm just Fiore, I don't know my origins. I'm going back inside; she'll want me at the meeting." She cracked her neck with a loud sound before straightening out her shirt and turned to the main building. "Are you coming with?"

"Should I? I don't know if I want to get mixed in with your little organisation."

Fiore froze in step and turned around to glare at him. "You want to fight the people that destroyed your village, correct? Then we have a common enemy."

"What do you know of them?"

She gave him a familiar look, then turned around and walked back into the building. Sasuke watched her walk away with a sigh before placing his hands in his pockets and following her.

_Nobody will give me a straight answer. It's like a whole group of Kakashi's and Itachi's. _

oOoOoOo

Sasuke followed the group into a small room with what appeared to be the leaders of Cascading Flow. He was the youngest in the room by a fair margin, once he learnt that Fiore was in fact four years older than he was. She didn't look it, but there was something about her confidence that spoke to her own experience level.

Elika pulled out a large map over the top of the table in the middle of the room, indicating for everyone to take their seats. Sasuke didn't have a seat so he stood off to the sides, still with a reasonable view as everyone else sat down. He noticed with interest at how close his mother was next to the organisation's leader, impressed that his mother had achieved such a position.

"I'd like to thank everybody for their patience with this. I wanted to wait to initiate this plan until my daughter had returned from her mission." Elika held the immediate attention of the group, and reminded Sasuke of how the Hokage used to speak.

_She's a real leader. I don't even know her, but I already respect her. _

The leader of Cascading Flow indicated to the map on the table. Sasuke didn't recognise the building details or any of the outlying regions on the map. Considering his location in the Land of Earth it wasn't so surprising, but Sasuke was still wary of what he was getting himself into.

"For our guest over there, I'll go over what we know. For a long time now there have been food shortages in this land. It isn't just shinobi of Iwagakure that have been affected, but everyone here. New intelligence has given us the ringleader of the group that has been causing such chaos within this land."

She pointed to the name of the building at the top of the map, causing many of the group to let out quiet remarks of surprise. Sasuke could only frown; he didn't recognise what had put them on edge.

"Is this information accurate?" asked one older warrior.

"Surely that can't be right" commented another.

Elika put a hand to silence the group. "Enough. This information came to us at the gravest expense. Both Mikoto and I vouch for its authenticity."

"Even so…this is madness."

Sasuke leaned forward to whisper in Fiore's ear. "I don't understand. Who's the target?"

She looked back to him with an amused look. "Not very quick on the uptake, are you?"

"Would it kill you to give me a straight answer?"

"Maybe. Do you know who is in charge of each of the countries?"

It only took him a second before he realised who she was talking about. He whistled lowly as the plans on the table made a frightening kind of sense. "That's…bold."

"We hate to disappoint" she responded with a grin before turning back to concentrate on the meeting.

Elika continued her speech, but offered a quick glare to her daughter as a reminder for her to know her place.

"We've been looking for a reason to destroy this corrupt government, and now we have enough evidence to justify an attack. First we shall…"

"You can't seriously be thinking of assassinating a Daimyo" interrupted Sasuke. The whole room stared at him, but the young Uchiha didn't relent. "You wouldn't get anywhere near the Daimyo before the shinobi from the local village tear you apart."

Dozens of people began chatting at once, but Fiore slammed a foot into the table to shut them up. She nodded silently to Sasuke before looking over at her mother with a serious expression.

Elika thanked her daughter before regarding the Uchiha shinobi with a scowl. "The boy has a point. Iwagakure has an invested interest in keeping their Daimyo alive, but if all goes well we shouldn't encounter any shinobi resistance."

Beside her, Mikoto shook her head. "With respect Elika, it doesn't work like that. Every Daimyo has a different way of contacting their affiliated village, and regularly has ANBU-level shinobi guarding them. Sasuke has the right of it; there is a reason that Daimyo are rarely targeted."

Elika turned to her, "Are you saying this can't be done?"

"I don't know how you would go about…"

"I know how to do it."

Once again everyone turned to face Sasuke, and he stared them down through his dark eyes.

Elika frowned again and also stared at him through her darker purple eyes. "You are a guest here, Uchiha Sasuke. We have decades of experience fighting these kind of battles. What makes you think you know better than us?"

Walking up to the table so that he was standing beside Fiore's seated position; Sasuke stared down at the map. "Because I knew of someone who's done it before."

"Sasuke? Who are you talking about?" He could hear the concern in his mother's voice, but he was quick to reassure her.

"When Itachi was part of a country-wide criminal organisation, he worked with a man who once assassinated a Daimyo of a country. He told Nii-san, who told me of how he did it."

Elika continued to stare at him, her eyes not betraying a single emotion as she considered what he said. After almost a minute of silence, she glared down at the map before placing her hands down on the table.

"Everyone is dismissed. We shall reconvene later this afternoon."

The warriors of Cascading Flow murmured among themselves, but nonetheless left the room dissatisfied. After a minute the only ones left in the room was the leader of the organisation, her smirking daughter, and Sasuke and his mother.

Fiore turned her head to face the younger Uchiha, her grin widening. "You don't know much about people, do you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked honestly.

She didn't respond, but when he saw Elika nearly seething behind the table he understood what she was talking about.

"If you weren't my companion's son, I'd reach over this table and shove my fist down your throat for interrupting so."

Seeing as he was already in serious trouble, Sasuke felt there was no harm in speaking his mind further. "But there was no point going along with your plan, since it was so flawed."

"There are ways to convey your point while still being respectful. As I said before, you are a guest here."

Sasuke frowned and stood against her. "If you don't want my advice, fine. I'll re-join my companions and fight the fight we started."

"Perhaps you should. Clearly you don't work well with others."

His mother attempted to stand between the two of them to strike an accord, but Sasuke shook his head. "I have no real interest in your goals, though your target is of concern to me. I am not the one that has issues with authority; it is you that has an issue with someone challenging your decisions."

Down at the table, Fiore sighed loudly and placed a hand on her face. "Oh, that just wasn't smart at all."

Taking a step forward so that she was nearly nose to nose with the Uchiha shinobi, Elika stared down at him. "For a boy, you have a man's courage. Or an idiot's stupidity."

Trickling a small amount of chakra up through his chakra system, Sasuke's eyes flickered red as he stared her down. "If you have an issue, then perhaps you should back it up with more than just empty threats."

Her eyes flickered angrily for a moment before Elika snarled at him and took a step back. "Come to the training yard now. I'll beat some respect into you."

With that she turned around and walked out of the room.

His mother sighed and moved to follow her. "I'll try and calm her down."

"Don't bother" said Sasuke just as Mikoto left the room. He watched as Fiore picked herself up from her chair and stared at him in a different manner to her mother. "Do you have something to say to me?"

"Are you insane? Nobody provokes Mother like that. Do you have a death-wish?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you" spat back Sasuke, moving to follow the older warriors out to the training yard.

He felt himself pulled back as Fiore clutched at his shoulder with a tight grip. She glared straight into his angry Sharingan eyes with her own light purple orbs.

"This affects more than just you! For what little time I've spent with you I would not have considered you a rash person, yet you are demonstrating a lack of intelligence and insight! Why would you undermine our efforts to seek your support with our people?"

Sasuke gave her a final glare before pushing past her and exiting the room. Behind him she could only stare with a mixture of anger and surprise. His actions made no sense to her. Her mother's did, but that was because she was used to it.

It wasn't long before she realised that she needed to follow after him. Not to stop the fight. To make sure her mother didn't kill him.

oOoOoOo

When Sasuke entered the training yard he saw Elika standing in the middle as she adjusted the black gloves over her hands. He hadn't noticed it at first, but her brown hair was tied in a small ponytail and he guessed that it was actually quite long.

"This isn't a good idea, Elika. If you want to continue the plan then it wouldn't do for you to be injured."

The leader of Cascading Flow glared at Sasuke's mother, which was enough for the Uchiha matriarch to shake her head in disapproval and stand out of the way. Sasuke took position opposite Elika and saw that Fiore was now standing beside his mother.

"Lady Mikoto, do you understand what he is doing?"

"Not really. Sasuke never dealt well with authority, but this seems out of character even for him."

Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets and grinned at his opponent. "Are you ready?"

Flexing her hands within her gloves, Elika stared him down with a seemingly controlled fury. "Enough words, boy. Real warriors solve their differences with their fists."

He smirked slightly before adopting a traditional Uchiha taijutsu stance.

_I could almost like her. Not that that's going to stop me from destroying her. _

His hands flew through a set of handseals before placing a hand up to his lips.

"Katon: Housenka!"

A collection of small fireballs flew towards her, but Elika was already on the move. She dodged the fireballs by the minimum distance required; her movements were entirely unwasteful as she moved closer to Sasuke's position.

Sasuke ran through a new set of seals before extending a hand backwards and flaring up a large amount of chakra, letting his hand extend outwards in a large tendril of burning flame.

"Katon: Kamuchi!" (Fire Element: Fire Whip)

With a flick he sent the fire-covered whip straight at her position, watching as she easily evaded the blow and moved closer towards him. He circled the whip around himself to force her to jump back and analysed her movements with his Sharingan carefully. She wasn't using any chakra to move, and he didn't expect any particular special abilities from her, but her movements spoke volumes about her combat experience.

_She moves like Lee does, almost as fast as him too, though with his weights on. For a civilian to reach this kind of physical ability and not have the training scars he does…What kind of talent does this woman possess?_

He cracked his whip towards her position, and watched in frustration as she easily evaded the attack. Figuring he was only wasting chakra by trying to hit such an elusive target, Sasuke let his fire-whip fizzle out before he fuelled a small amount of chakra straight into his red eyes, ensuring that he was maintaining eye contact with her as he activated an advanced genjutsu his brother had taught him.

For a split second Elika's movements stopped and Sasuke thought he'd trapped her in the illusionary world that consisted of a completely white room that contained only a moose.

His victory was short lived however as a huge spike of pain shot into his eyes, causing him to grimace in pain and break off the eye contact. As he was attempting to rub the imaginary pain out of his eyes he was unable to notice her moving rapidly towards him with her fists raised.

His instincts allowed him to look up in time to see a gloved punch screaming towards his face. He put up his hands to block the attack, but Elika's strike easily bypassed through and slammed into his forehead.

Sasuke's head flung backwards, but before he could recover he felt her arms snake around his neck and bring it forward to meet a rising knee aimed directly at his nose. He was able to bring a hand up to mitigate the damage, but that only caused his hand to be driven into his face instead.

Her arms let go of the back of his neck and he felt a hail of blows aimed straight at his broken guard. Seeing no other option, Sasuke struggled to clasp his hands together in a tiger handseal.

"Ka…ton…Katouben!" (Fire Element: Defence)

A wall of fire expanded around him, forcing her to fall back as Sasuke used the defence to gather his wits before dropping the wall and glaring around the training yard. A part of him wanted to see the reaction from the two observers, but he was more concerned over the fact that he couldn't see Elika anywhere on the battlefield.

"Too slow!" came a voice from behind him.

He attempted to turn around to defend himself, but he felt a boot slam into his shoulder, causing him to drop down to the ground. Elika didn't hesitate, bringing her fists back to rapidly pound into his exposed back.

After a few seconds she stood back up from the dust cloud that had gathered from her rapid fire punches, allowing herself to smirk as she recognised that the battle was clearly over.

"This is what happens when you attempt to fight your betters."

Her whole body froze as she felt the lightest touch on the back of her spine.

"Raiton: Dageki" (Lightning Element: Shock)

A jolt of electricity shot up through her spine as she noticed a large rock has been placed where she had been attacking the Uchiha boy's body. She let out a quiet groan as she fell to her knees, watching as Sasuke walked around and knelt down in front of her, confident that his electrical attack had disabled her nervous system adequately.

"Want to call me boy now?"

Under a seemingly difficult struggle, Elika moved her head upwards slightly so that she was facing him directly. Even in the position she was currently in, Elika didn't seem intimidated at all by him.

"…boy…"

In a movement that even his Sharingan couldn't follow, her head came flying forward and slammed into his own, causing him to fall back with blood spurting out of his nose.

oOoOoOo

"Lady Mikoto, is it just me or are they fighting on even ground?"

Fiore wasn't sure how to take in what she was seeing. She still felt angry at how Sasuke was acting, but a part of her wanted to see him keep fighting.

Beside her Sasuke's mother wasn't able to keep a happy smile off her face, even as she watched her son and her friend fight each other with the intent to kill.

"He's come a long way…"

In the training yard Sasuke had recovered from Elika's headbutt and was currently on the offensive using his fire techniques to keep her at bay, since he knew he wasn't able to keep up with her close quarters speed.

Fiore couldn't believe her eyes as she watched them fight on equal ground, with neither having a clear advantage over the other. "I don't understand, he wasn't like this when we fought. And Mother seems different too. From those movements..."

"Fiore, I know your mother wouldn't want you to know this…but if your wood worked against her you would be able to defeat her."

"What? But her speed, strength…"

Mikoto shook her head, watching as her son deflected a punch to his face and retaliated with a kick to Elika's midsection. "Fiore, it's your generation that will overcome ours. As strong as we are…you kids are something else entirely."

"Do you think Sasuke will defeat her?"

"Not a chance."

oOoOoOo

Sasuke skidded backwards and wiped his mouth painfully. He'd been able to land several blows against her, but her physical abilities went beyond nearly any shinobi he had previously fought.

_Wait…she has no mid to long-range abilities…_

He clapped his hands together into a large fist before tapping his hands on his chest and summoning up a large portion of his remaining chakra. A crack of lightning came down from the open sky, striking him to transform into a coat of constantly moving lightning tendrils around his body.

"Raiton: Raigeki no Yoroi!" (Lightning Element: Lightning Strike Armour)

Sasuke grinned and whipped his arms out, letting Elika see that he was completely covered by the armour. "You can't beat me if you can't hit me."

Elika stopped her elusive movements and knelt down onto the ground. "You talk too much."

Even through his Sharingan, Sasuke was unable to track her movements as she vanished from sight, in a manner quite remise of a Konoha taijutsu technique.

Sasuke immediately strengthened the lightning surrounding him as he attempted to find where she had disappeared to. His eyes widened as he saw her appear in front of him, but even with all his chakra concentrated in that area her punch still connected with his stomach.

He coughed painfully and dropped to the ground, all his strength dissipating as he sensed her standing over him. He couldn't see, but Elika had been shocked quite heavily by his lightning armour, yet was clearly standing over him as the victor.

"I'm…not done…yet…"

She looked down at him with a stoic expression, ignoring the pain she felt through her sides.

"You've made your point, Uchiha. I still don't like your attitude though."

Cracking her neck loudly, Elika put her hands in her pockets and walked towards the two observers. As she passed her daughter she turned to Mikoto with tired eyes. "Tell your son to meet me in the meeting room once he is healed up."

"Are you sure you don't want to hit him a few more times?" asked Mikoto with an amused expression.

Elika stared at her friend's eyes for a moment, and a silent conversation occurred between the two of them that Fiore had no clue how to follow.

After a few seconds the leader of Cascading Flow nodded to Sasuke's mother before smiling slightly to her daughter and walking back to the complex. Mikoto grinned down at Fiore before following her friend into the main building.

Fiore watched them walk away with a shaking head, turning to look over to see Sasuke picking himself up from the ground with a groan. Seeing nothing else to do, she bounded over to him and grinned her usual grin, amused at the frustrated look on his face.

"Unsatisfied?"

Sasuke glared at her, his dark eyes locking on to her purple eyes. "I'll get her next time. I know how she fights now."

"What was this all about? I don't think I've ever seen my mother pressed like that, but I still can't work out why you wanted to fight her."

Sasuke grimaced again and clutched at him nose, wincing as he set the bone back into place. He knew enough rudimentary medical ninjutsu to heal a broken nose, though the rest of his injuries would have to heal on their own.

"You wouldn't understand."

"That just means you had no reason" she responded quietly. "Which is pretty stupid…"

Sasuke pushed past her without responding, hobbling back to the main building. He never took loss well, it wasn't something that happened often, but for some reason he didn't feel like he had been beaten too badly. Though his body begged to differ.

* * *

><p>***Four Days after Separation***<p>

Elika explained the 'revised' plan of attack while Mikoto pulled Sasuke to one side so that she could tell him what Elika wasn't going to mention to the others.

"First of all, I don't want to understate what an achievement it was to get her to listen to your ideas. Elika is a brilliant tactician, but you were right, this attack required a shinobi's touch."

Sasuke grinned proudly, but could see that his mother wasn't finished. He could still see the slight black mark on Elika's neck that held the seal which had blocked his genjutsu during their fight. Since she wasn't a shinobi she had elicited that level of protection, which was powerful enough that Sasuke wasn't able to break it even with his best genjutsu.

"You still haven't told me why you are here, mother. This is hardly the environment for someone with our kind of enemies."

Mikoto smiled in her usual warm manner and leaned against the wall beside him. "That's where you are wrong. I've spent a decade finding out what I can about our enemies, and I can tell you that it's people like Elika and Fiore that we need on our side."

"What do you know about them? The enemy, I mean."

She hesitated slightly and he noticed, but upon seeing his serious disposition Mikoto came to the realisation that she would need her son's help in the coming fight. It was a difficult moment for her, since she hadn't returned to the village so that she could keep him safe from their enemies.

"We don't know what they call themselves. They showed up in shinobi land approximately two decades ago, doing many minor things to disrupt our affairs. From what we can tell, they seem to have suffered some kind of grievance and despise everything about us."

"And they are the ones that destroyed Konoha?" asked Sasuke angrily. He didn't have as much attachment to the village as the others of their group, but it had still been his home.

Mikoto nodded grimly. "Yes. There are four leaders that we know of, which are supervised by another. One is a warrior; I believe you met him at the Hidden Sound. Another is a scientist and a singularly righteous bitch, and the most senior one we have no intelligence on."

Sasuke frowned as he worked it out in his head. "You only mentioned three. Who is the other one?"

"He is the reason I came to this land a while ago. Even before Konoha was destroyed there have been food shortages across the country. Small at first, but there was a pattern that we discovered. The reason we are going after the Daimyo of this land is that we believe he is being either controlled or actually is, the third leader."

"I'm not quite seeing the link, or why these people would be so gung-ho about killing someone as powerful as a Daimyo."

Mikoto indicated to the group around them, "They are all refugees of one sort or another, drawn to Elika out of desperation or fear of their oppressors. The Daimyo in the Land of Earth is tyrannical at the best of times, and uses Iwagakure as his own political warfare machine at the worst of times. If he is working with our enemy, then he is a priority target for us. It just so happens that it'll help them as well."

Sasuke appeared sceptical, but turned back to hear Elika wrapping up the plan details.

"If there are no other comments, I want everybody prepared to move out by tomorrow morning. This mission isn't time sensitive, but the more time it takes the more people are affected by this man's actions. So the usual drinks and shenanigans, but I want everyone in top shape for this mission."

The group slowly moved out of the room, several of the members nodding their acknowledgement of Sasuke's influence on the plan. It had quickly moved through the organisation on what had occurred between him and Elika, and while no-one quite knew why they appreciated the fact that he was still walking around as a sign of her approval of his presence.

Elika waited until the last person had left before closing the door behind them and turning to him with her usual stoic expression. "I expect your support on this, Uchiha. If you are correct, and there are high-level shinobi guards, I will not risk my people in a fight they may not win."

Sasuke smirked at her, ignoring the pain that shot through his face at the use of his facial muscles. "If I get to fight strong opponents, then you have my support."

The leader of Cascading Flow simply rolled her eyes and motioned for Mikoto to follow her as the two of them left the room. Sasuke sighed tiredly and looked at the plan strewn across the table. It was still risky, but they were far more likely to succeed than the initial plan.

_What would…okay I've got to stop thinking about what my brother would do. It's my life. _

"Regretting dropping into that arena now?"

He turned around to the familiar sounding voice, noticing the girl that had brought him to the group in the first place. Fiore still wore the ridiculous short skirt, and unlike the girls he had known before she reacted very strangely around him. There were times he thought she was just playing around with him, but others when she had impressed him with her abilities and personality.

"Considering the alternative, I'm fine where I am."

She grinned widely before indicating the main hall. "You gonna join us? We always have a bit of fun before missions, and since you are helping us I figure you might want to come with."

"I think I'll pass. I'm not a party person."

To his surprise she walked straight up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt, turning around to drag him towards the main hall. "That was a rhetorical question, Uchiha. These people will live and die by our actions tomorrow. The least you can do is let them see you at your most honest."

Sasuke struggled initially, but conceded the value of her argument, if nothing else for the fact that he was unable to break her grip.

oOoOoOo

Fiore slammed a mug of bubbling brown liquid in front of him before sitting down beside him and crossing her legs with a grin, sipping her own mug at the same time.

The Uchiha shinobi leaned forward and sniffed the drink suspiciously. "What is this?"

She rolled her eyes at his reaction, "You are way too stuck up, Uchiha. It's called beer. Surely you've heard of it before."

"Of course I've heard of beer before" he snapped. "I meant this…brew specifically."

"Uhuh, sure. Drink your beer, Uchiha, then we'll talk."

He gave her an apprehensive look, but nevertheless he took a cautious sip of the cold drink. It had a slightly bitter taste, but Sasuke decided he liked it, taking another deeper sip.

Beside him Fiore let out a short laugh and drained her own drink, before standing up and clapping him on the back cheerfully. "It's all about loosening up. I reckon your biggest problem is that you never switch off."

Sasuke took another drink and moved around on his chair so that he was facing her, looking at her curiously. "What are you talking about?"

She noticed a small red blush slowly developing under Sasuke's cheeks, which was cause for much amusement that she would later give him grief for. "Everyone has two faces, Uchiha. The one they wear in battle, and the one they wear among their friends. Your problem is that you are always wearing your combat mask. Have you ever relaxed? Ever?"

He went to make a snide retort, but her remark made a scary amount of sense. It was a similar comment to some that Itachi had made, and Naruto before him. It actually forced Sasuke to look back and consider some of the things he had done in his life.

_I was so bound up in seeking revenge against my brother that I never really learnt to be a person. Is that the barrier that's been holding me back from getting stronger? Is that the only thing I should be focusing on?_

He stared down into the beer in his hand, watching the cold froth bubble slowly. "What…what should I do then?"

"You aren't kidding, are you? Have a few more drinks, maybe dance a little, throw down with a homely girl, it's all up to you."

He gave her another glare, but took another drink and considered her points. He certainly wasn't going to be ridiculous, but he could see the value in letting himself loose.

In moderation of course.

* * *

><p>***Five Days after Separation***<p>

Mikoto frowned as she walked beside the leader of Cascading Flow in the middle of the group of warriors. Walking a distance in front of them was their children, and it wasn't difficult to notice that Sasuke was holding his head tendering as they made their way to the main city in the Land of Earth.

"What happened last night?" she asked, having chosen not to participate in the festivities.

Elika grinned and scratched at one of the scars along her face. "My daughter has a strange way of amusing herself. I assume your son will be ready when we arrive?"

"I have faith in Sasuke. He won't let us down, even if he has a hangover."

Elika lowered her voice significantly so that only Mikoto could hear her. "Do you think he'll ever forgive you?"

Her Uchiha companion sighed and stared at her son's back, watching as Fiore patted his head amusingly while Sasuke could only groan and mumble in retaliation.

"He's been through a lot. It might have been better for him had I not revealed myself. With what his father did…and his brother…I don't know. I don't think I deserve his forgiveness."

"You did what you had to do. If he is a warrior, then he can't fault you for doing your duty."

"He's a child, and shouldn't have that kind of responsibility."

Elika scoffed, "I've fought him, he's no child. If I were to face him on the battlefield, I might fear him."

"The great scythed terror is losing her edge?"

"Mikoto, I've been fighting for my life since I was eight years old. I'm training Fiore as hard as I can so that one day there won't be any more battles for us to fight."

"Where is the fun in that?" grinned Mikoto, taking note of the rising cityscape in the distance. "We're close now."

"Yes, I see that." Elika turned around and signalled to the rear guard of their group. Four warriors nodded and began moving to a small line of rocks away from the city. Elika's orders were to create a proper place for their force to fall back to, if the situation necessitated.

At the front of the group Fiore began to relay individual instructions to the group members. They were not invading the city, nor were they attacking it in force. Elika had thirty warriors under her command, and with the revised plan they all had their own individual missions to complete.

The closer they got to the city the more of the group split off into different sections. Mikoto and Elika caught up to their children, as the group dwindled in number.

"Are you up to this, Uchiha boy?" asked Elika bluntly.

Sasuke gave her a quick glare, "I'll be fine. I don't know why I have to work with her, but we'll get the job done."

"You have no sense of humour, Uchiha" laughed Fiore, taking a moment to nod to Mikoto before walking slightly away to share a word with her mother before they commenced the mission.

Sasuke watched the odd pair converse as his mother came up beside him. He still wasn't sure what to make of the woman, she seemed quite different and yet quite similar to the mother he once knew.

"Why did you go to such efforts to change the plan?" asked Mikoto quietly, not wanting the other two to hear.

Sasuke initially didn't respond, but once he saw his mother pressing him he knew his cover story wasn't going to fly with her. He looked over at Fiore talking beside her mother.

"It's…difficult to explain. I knew it wasn't going to work, and they were going to get killed. I guess…I didn't want to see that happen."

Mikoto smiled warmly and placed a hand around his shoulder. "You aren't your father, Sasuke. Beneath all your stubborn pride, you do care about other people just as much as anyone. I just wish you had a better way of showing it."

"Thanks…I think. Do you think this plan will work?"

"I believe in what we are doing. If we succeed, I'd like to think we'll have struck a significant blow against our enemy. But…I couldn't say for sure."

Sasuke looked up at his mother, and saw a mixture of pride and apprehension in her dark eyes. "We should get going. If the timing isn't right then it could all be for nothing."

His mother smiled proudly before nodding and moving to join Elika as Fiore made her way across to Sasuke. The two children gave their acknowledgements to their superiors and moved towards the city.

"Shall we go?" asked Mikoto with a slow grin.

Elika turned to her and mimicked her expression. "Let's go start a rebellion."

* * *

><p>Fiore groaned as she applied the final piece of her makeup onto her face, making her appear like she had just had the fight of her life. "Do I really have to go like this?"<p>

Her Uchiha companion couldn't help but grin slightly as he collected a small amount of rope in his hands. It had been her idea, and he had been quick to comment on how good an idea it was. Once she appeared as if she had been beaten heavily, Sasuke tied her wrists tightly and activated his Sharingan. It wasn't necessary to have the doujutsu active, but he found the intimidation factor to be significant.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She stared at him with a dark glare before nodding slowly and standing in front of him. "When you are ready, master."

Sasuke shoved her with a false anger towards the main building in the city. "I'm your captor, Fiore. Throw me some insults when we are inside, like I'm a villain."

"That shouldn't be too hard" she replied with a grin.

"And stop looking so happy. I've just killed your friends and have tortured you, remember?"

"Yes, yes."

Sasuke took his 'prisoner' up to the main building, keeping a scowl on his face as he presented her to two guards at the entrance. They seemed surprised by his approach, even more so as Sasuke shoved her down to her knees and placed a forceful hand on the back of her neck.

"I have a prisoner for Lord Kenji" stated Sasuke loudly.

One of the guards stepped forward with his sword still sheathed, staring at Fiore's 'beaten' face. "Our lord doesn't handle minor matters like that, boy. Take her to the bounty house if you want to collect your money."

Sasuke smirked and shook his head, making a show of forcing Fiore's head to face to the ground.

"Let go of me you bastard!"

"Shut up! Or should I start cutting you again?"

Sasuke attempted to sound as psychotic as possible, and was quietly impressed when Fiore let out a slight whimper and went limp underneath his grip.

The Uchiha shinobi looked back up at the guard and spat on the ground beside Fiore's face. "I am no bounty hunter. I am an ex-shinobi, and your lord should be very interested in my captive."

"And why is that?"

Sasuke reached down and pulled on her hair to show her beaten face to the guard. "This is the daughter of Elika, the leader of Cascading Flow."

That drew both the guard's attention, and upon seeing her odd purple eyes they recognised her. The first guard stared at his companion and nodded to the door behind them. The second guard bowed in acknowledgement and entered the building, closing the door behind him.

"We shall take the terrorist into custody. You can expect a reward for your service."

Sasuke pulled back Fiore as the guard reached out to grab her. "Not a chance. I have information that I will only tell to the Daimyo. It concerns a larger conspiracy from within his ranks."

"And how did you obtain this information?" asked the guard sceptically.

"I am a shinobi, guardsman. So I am well versed in torture and interrogation."

"I…I'm sure" stuttered the guard, clearly intimidated by his direct prolonged stare.

After a minute of agonising silence the second guard returned, giving the first guard a reason to sigh in relief. He turned to Sasuke while wondering why his companion was so unsettled.

"The Daimyo has agreed to see you. He is very interested in meeting the daughter of one who has caused so much trouble for our country. You can hand her over to our custody now."

Sasuke shook his head slightly with a snarl. "As I said to your companion, I will only take her to the Daimyo personally. I'm a patriot, and I trust only him with the information I obtained."

"Hmm. Admirable. Follow me then, if you will."

Sasuke simply grunted his approval and shoved Fiore through the door. He liked this bit of the plan.

oOoOoOo

They were led to a secure room near the armoury of the building, and told to wait for approval of their identities before they would be allowed to be presented to the Daimyo. Sasuke made the sure the room was secure and they were alone before reaching down and removing her restraints.

Fiore stood up and rubbed at the back of her neck where he had held her tightly. She groaned and turned around with a tired smile. "You were having fun with that, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you mean" he replied quietly, securing the room quickly.

She glared at him, but still produced a minute piece of wood from the collar of her shirt, extending it to her classic pole-like form. "So now we wait?"

Sasuke looked around the room, recognising it from the map they had analysed back at their village. He looked around the area with his Sharingan, seeing no immediate chakra senses. He could have extended the view up to the Daimyo's room, but that might alert any guards up there, and that would blow the whole operation.

He considered their position before placing his hands together in a basic handseal. "I just thought of an idea."

"We shouldn't deviate from the plan, Uchiha. We need to wait for Mother and the others."

"Put your hand on my shoulder" he instructed. She gave him a weary glare, but complied nonetheless as he activated a technique he had learnt at the Konoha Academy. "I can get us even closer."

He felt her hand leave his shoulder and stepped back to check his handiwork. He wasn't sure whether someone like her could be influenced by ninjutsu, but he saw that even someone without the ability could still be transformed.

Fiore had been changed to a taller version of herself, covered in the same armour as the guards that had accompanied them to the room, though she noticed that her transformed self has a larger bust than she normally did. She glared over at Sasuke, who had only transformed his clothes, but decided to seek her revenge after their mission was done.

"How does this help us?" she asked, tugging at her armoured front uncomfortably.

Sasuke opened the door to the room, noticing with relief that the armoury was temporarily empty. "Our job is to take out his shinobi guards. If we can get closer, I might be able to take them out without raising the alarm."

Fiore watched him walk out into the armoury, staring at his back through her transformed dark eyes. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but she still felt compelled to follow him for a reason she couldn't quite explain.

oOoOoOo

They walked up a staircase onto the next level without any guards challenging them; Sasuke's disguises were more than enough for the bored guards around the building. His skill with Henge was to the point that he still had his Sharingan active, yet anyone looking at him would only see a set of black eyes.

They passed a long corridor, with Fiore taking a glance out a window into the main city. She forced herself not to grin as she saw a large mob slowly making its way towards the main building.

_That means that we are out of time. It mustn't have taken much for Mother to rile up the citizens. They must really hate this bastard, if they are so willing to attack his headquarters like that. _

She turned back and tapped Sasuke on the shoulder, the disguised Uchiha getting the message immediately as he identified their target room. As they expected there were two guards standing in front of a large double door, with Sasuke's Sharingan unable to pierce through to the other side.

The two of them moved in front of the guards and gave them a quick salute. The guards nodded and saluted back.

"Captain Eri ordered a shift change" said Sasuke rigidly. The intelligence they had on the Daimyo's bodyguards was fairly reasonable, but it was still a risky bluff.

The two guards frowned and stared at each other for a few seconds before turning back to their apparent replacements.

"Did he now? I was not informed" said the male guard hesitantly.

Sasuke nodded and indicated to the nearby window. "There have been reports of unrest in the city, and he is ordering his best soldiers to assess the situation."

The female guard stepped back slightly, her hand slowly drifting to the sword sheathed at her belt as the male guard stepped up to Sasuke.

"I find that difficult to believe."

"It's the truth. Captain Eri was very specific in his instructions."

The male guard placed a hand on his sword's hilt and glared into Sasuke's eyes. "As I said, I find that difficult to believe, as I am Captain Eri and I believe I would remember giving such an order."

Sasuke swore and clapped his hands together to activate a lightning technique, but before he or the other two guards could react, Fiore flicked a hand and cracked both of them over the head with a long pole of wood.

The guards crumpled onto the ground as Sasuke turned to her with a frown, pulling his hands apart. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Fiore grinned and summoned the pole to her hand, shorting it to arm's length and holding it against her hip. "And miss you making an arse of yourself? Not on your life, Uchiha."

Sasuke let out a sigh and turned back to the doors, "I'm opening it. Be ready for anything."

He couldn't see her nod in acknowledgement as he pulled open the door and cancelled their transformation; he saw no more need to be disguised.

Inside the room sat an old man staring down at a scroll on a table in front of him. He had a long grey beard and moustache, with creases under his eyes that reminded Sasuke of his brother's. Unlike with the captain, there was no mistake. This was the Daimyo of the Land of Earth.

Fiore flipped her pole in hand and transformed it into a long sword, aiming it at the distracted Daimyo. "There he is. Let's kill him and be on our way."

She went to strike at him, but Sasuke reached out and grabbed her, pulling her back forcefully. He tapped himself with his other hand before touching her cheek softly.

Fiore glared at him with confusion, but understood what he had done when she saw the Daimyo shimmer twice before disappearing completely, having been replaced by two shinobi wearing ANBU animal masks. The taller of the two had the imprint of a hand across his mask, while the other one had a set of teeth marks along the sides of his mask.

"You are good, to dispel my genjutsu" said the hand-print ANBU. "But judging from your eyes, I'd say it isn't so surprising…Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked, "You sensed our approach. I'd have expected better from the Iwagakure's ANBU, but it makes sense coming from a lesser village."

As he expected neither of the ANBU reacted to his taunt, though he could sense them both gathering chakra within themselves.

The teeth-ANBU cocked his head slightly at the young shinobi, "At least we have a village. I hear Konoha's hole-in-the-ground is nice this time of year."

Next to Sasuke, Fiore looked around the room with frustration. "Where is the Daimyo?"

"Away from the two of you. If you thought we hadn't anticipated your infiltration, then you are a pair of fools."

Sasuke simply stared at him, giving nothing away to the ANBU shinobi even as a lightning-covered hand shot through the back of the hand-print ANBU. Sasuke's clone smirked as the other ANBU leapt back from his sneak attack, though his victory was short lived as the ANBU shinobi he had attacked melted into a mud clone that slowly fell away from his clone's Chidori onto the ground.

Seeing as the battle had begun, Fiore snapped up her weapon and began attacking the teeth-ANBU, forming her wood into a spear and thrusting rapidly at him. The ANBU shinobi easily avoided her strikes, snaking around her spear and delving a rapid kick into her stomach, sending her flying out of the room with a groan.

Sasuke watched as she disappeared out of a destroyed window, making a significant hole in the wall as she fell towards the city below, the ANBU who attacked her leapt after her quickly. For a second he entertained the idea of going after her, but figuring she could handle herself he turned to see his opponent appear from within the ground, standing against him imposingly with his hands in an elaborate handseal.

Using his Sharingan's innate ability, Sasuke's hands adopted the same handseal as they ran through the exact same set of handseals. Knowledge flooded Sasuke's mind as he understood the technique the ANBU shinobi was attempting to use against him. He couldn't help but smirk as they both activated the technique at the same time.

"Genkaku Sekai ni Hairu!"

"Genkaku Sekai ni Hairu!"

(Enter the Illusionary World)

oOoOoOo

Fiore stood on her hovering board of wood, watching as the ANBU warrior summoned a large collection of rocks around himself.

_I'm at a disadvantage at range, particularly if I'm forced to stay in the air. He's an Earth shinobi, so he could trap me if I touch the ground. _

One of the rocks came screaming up towards her, causing Fiore to drop quickly to avoid the strike. She leaned forward on her board of wood and dove straight at the ANBU warrior. He seemed to be surprised at her ability, but shot up several more large rocks in order to disrupt her approach.

_Surely he's got more than this_ thought Fiore as she rapidly flew at him.

Another rock came at her, but instead of dodging it Fiore performed an acrobatics flip from her wooden platform, bouncing a boot off the rock projectile and transforming her wood into a large axe that she gripped in her hands and swung heavily at the ANBU's face.

The ANBU shinobi dropped to the ground and slammed both hands into the rocky city ground, causing a large circle of rock to appear around him like a shell.

Sensing that she wouldn't be able to penetrate that kind of defence, Fiore retracted her wood down to a pole and bounced off the rock shell, flipping in the air before landing on her newly transformed platform, hovering just above his shell.

_Okay, this is a problem. _

Fiore flew back as the shell retracted, watching as the ANBU began a new set of handseals. She saw the ground beneath him rumble ominously, confirming her suspicion that her being on the ground would not end well for her.

_I need to attack him at range. Hmm…how would the Uchiha fight?_

She considered adopting a stoic depressing expression to try and get in his mindset, but didn't have to as an idea sprang to her mind. She was only limited in that her wood had to stay in one single piece, which was why she hadn't been able to attack the ANBU shinobi before. But that could also work to her advantage.

Large columns of rock shot up from the ground, trying to dislodge her from her aerial position. Fiore flew higher into the air and attached her feet to her platform with restraints of wood. She placed her hands over the front portion of the platform, commanding the wood to extend upwards in an elaborate manner as she aimed herself at the ANBU shinobi who seemed frustrated that he couldn't catch her.

The wood formed around her arms and pointed forward with her hands, making Fiore wonder why she hadn't thought of it before. She angled the platform and aimed her new trick at the ANBU shinobi.

The ANBU's stance changed once he realised what she was going to do, but Fiore didn't give him a chance to react. The pole extended almost instantly, slamming its blunt edge into his face.

The ANBU's mask shattered as he fell down to the ground, letting out a cry of pain as he clutched at his face painfully. Fiore frowned and retracted the wooden projectile attached to her arms, transforming its edge razor-sharp before aiming her weapon again. Her opponent seemed to be struggling on the ground, scrambling to pick himself up.

Fiore's wooden spike drove itself straight into his neck, holding for a second before exploding outwards, shredding the ANBU into hundreds of pieces.

Above his body Fiore slowly floated down to the ground, transforming her wood down into a hair pin and placing it into her hair as her feet touched the ground. She felt a little sick to her stomach at the sight of the decimated body, but she took solace in the fact that it was the only way she could defeated the ANBU with such strong defence.

_I'm surprised it worked so well, and so easily. I guess I never thought of using it like that. _

She looked up at the main building, hearing the sounds of the rioting villagers behind her as she saw the hole in the building she had been kicked through.

_I should get back up there. The Uchiha might be struggling. _

oOoOoOo

Fiore stepped back into the room, surprised to see Sasuke standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. Huddling up in the furthest corner of the room was another man, who Fiore recognised as the other ANBU shinobi, though he was no longer wearing his mask.

He was sitting in a pool of his own urine, and was retching uncontrollably.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked, putting up a hand to block her nose from the smell.

Sasuke turned around and shrugged, "He wanted to have a genjutsu battle with me."

He pointed to the ANBU casually with a thumb, "He lost."

Fiore shook her head and looked back at the hole in the wall, hearing the clashing sounds of the rioters fighting against the guards. "What do we do now?"

"You should link up with Elika; she might need the support down there."

"And what are you going to do?"

Sasuke smirked at her and unsheathed the katana he had attached to his back. "I'm going to my mother's location. She's likely got the fleeing Daimyo in custody by now."

His companion nodded slowly and watched as Sasuke leapt out of the hole in the nearby wall, hearing him use chakra to soften his landing as he broke out into a sprint. She let out a short sigh before pulling out her hairpin and transforming it into a long pole in her hands. A sound to her left drew her attention as several guards appeared to confront her, their swords raised steadily.

_If Mother is coming in from the ground up, I'll go from the top down. _

oOoOoOo

Sasuke left the village rapidly, moving in a straight line towards the escape tunnel they had known the Daimyo would inevitably use when their attack had been discovered. Sasuke's infiltration had been a success, if only to remove those two guards from the Daimyo to give them a greater advantage.

He passed through a collection of large stones before noticing two figures standing shrouded underneath a collection of dead-looking trees.

He couldn't help but grin as he recognised his mother standing over the begging form of the Daimyo, though he was impressed at the eight ANBU bodies lying on the ground covered in what appeared to be black flames.

_That's just like Nii-san's…I guess it isn't just male Uchiha who are strong. _

"Tell me why you have been blocking food trading routes! Why have you brought so much death to your own people?"

The Daimyo shivered under her red gaze, "I…I can't say. You have no idea what he would do to me!"

Mikoto reached down and grabbed his collar, bringing him up to her face as Sasuke landed beside her.

"You have no idea what I will do to you, right now, if you don't tell me what I want to know!"

"But I can't…"  
>Sasuke coughed slightly to get his mother's attention, nodding as she acknowledged his presence. He turned his own Sharingan onto the whimpering Daimyo. "Mother, we don't need him to talk. I can just use genjutsu to get the information we need."<p>

Mikoto considered it before nodding slowly, "That's a good point. Get what you can from him."

"Of course."

Sasuke reached down and grabbed at the Daimyo's hair, trying to force him to stare into his eyes.

"**We cannot have you do that, boy." **

Both the Uchiha were instantly on edge as they heard the voice all around them. Mikoto signalled silently to her son, asking him whether he recognised the voice, which he quickly replied that he didn't.

They looked around rapidly, but were drawn back when they heard an ear-piercing scream beside them. Looking back to the Daimyo, they saw an old man in a black cloak standing over the leader with a decrepit hand on top of the Daimyo's head.

To their horror, they both saw that the Daimyo seemed to have turned almost skeletal, his skin was barely hanging off his bones as he tried to scream but had no voice to convey his agony.

The old man's hand seemed to be rejuvenated momentarily as the Daimyo fell face down into the ground, a mere husk of a corpse.

The cloaked man looked up at the two Uchiha shinobi, and both of them felt a ping of fear as they saw his full black eyes with no irises at all. **"I do not tolerate loose ends."**

"You are part of the group that destroyed Konoha" observed Mikoto angrily.

"**This situation has been resolved. You are the only loose ends." **

He took a step towards the two of them, his hands raised as if to pat them on the head. Mikoto reacted first, turning back to place a hand on Sasuke's face to throw him a far distance away with her wind chakra.

She then attempted to jump away, but found herself unable to generate any chakra; even her red eyes had been deactivated in the old man's presence.

"**You have been pestering us for too long."**

Mikoto looked over at her son as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground, trying to summon a warm smile before turning around to stare at the old man.

"Who says I'm done?"

She reached down and opened up the front of her shirt, revealing a massive collection of explosion notes that covered the old man's cloaked form. He continued to move ponderously towards her, but she jumped back to a fair distance and placed up a hand to activate the tags.

Nothing happened.

Mikoto swore under her breath and turned around, seeing that Sasuke was running quickly towards her. She put up a hand to stop him, sending a column of wind to once again beat him back.

_The second time fighting one of the four leaders, and I'm just as useless as I was over a decade ago. I need to hold him off until Elika arrives, as she can fight him more effectively than either of us can. _

She glared at him, watching as he stopped walking towards her and placed his hands into his cloak.

"**You fight against inevitability. All life needs to consume, and without that it is all meaningless."**

Mikoto rolled her eyes and stood up defensively, "Spare me the evil madman speech."

The cloaked man didn't respond, but in front of her eyes a crack in the air appeared and the old man disappeared without a trace.

_I can't have scared him off. _

She shivered as she felt a touch on her shoulder, and knew that she had erred.

_Sasuke…I'm sorry…I only wanted to…_

Her thought was cut off as the life was rapidly drained from her body, causing her to feel an agony unlike nothing she had felt before, until she felt nothing at all and felt to the ground, her last thought of the last time she had seen both her sons together as children.

Sasuke froze mid-step as he saw his mother fall to the ground, as dry as the Daimyo had. He felt the urge to drop to his knees and scream out in grief, but the shinobi part of him caused him to understand that he needed to take the situation as it was.

His grief rapidly turned into anger, and before he even realised it his hands were together in a handseal and a massive fluctuation of chakra shot through him.

Gritting through his teeth, Sasuke aimed his hands at the old man, who seemed to have aged backwards by several years.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Element: Great Dragon Fire)

A large dragon of fire sped towards the old man, but just as it came within a few metres the fire fizzled out into nothingness. The old man cracked his head and went to take a step towards him, but something bothered him as a large crack in the air appeared beside him, which he quickly stepped through and disappeared completely.

Sasuke was on edge for the old man to reappear beside him, but he sensed two people running up beside him. He didn't need to look to know that it was Fiore and her mother, and it occurred to him after a few seconds that they were yelling at him but he couldn't hear them.

His eyes set on the crumpled body of his mother, and reality struck him harder than anything he had experienced since he was a small child. Sasuke did the only thing that made sense to him.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed face first into the rocky ground.

* * *

><p>***Six Days after Separation***<p>

Fiore sighed and stared at the back of her new companion, watching as he stood in front of a slab of granite. Their assassination had been successful, to a point, but Cascading Flow still retreated back to their village.

"How is he doing?" asked her mother, standing beside her.

Fiore was only able to shrug in response, "He hasn't said anything since waking up. I think he doesn't know what to say."

Elika placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Give him time. Mikoto was a good friend, and it's always difficult to lose a parent."

Her daughter looked at her mother sadly before looking back at Sasuke's back. "I'm going to go keep him company. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"We are leaving in a few hours. Your things are already packed, and the others understand about what's going on here."

Fiore nodded her thanks and walked towards her Uchiha companion, while her mother smiled sadly and nodded in the direction of the grave before turning back to organise the move.

He sensed her approach, but made no inclination to greet her as he read the writing on the grave for the hundredth time. They had burned her body so that nobody got any ideas about digging her up to steal her Sharingan, but Sasuke had insisted on placing a marker that indicated that his mother had died in service of the organisation.

"Hey" said Fiore quietly.

Sasuke didn't respond, still staring at his mother's grave.

"We're moving out in a few hours. Are you going to be okay?"

The Uchiha looked over at her face, showing her the dark rings under his eyes. He hadn't cried over his mother, he had spent a decade grieving her already.

"I…no. I'm not okay. But I will be."

Fiore smiled sadly, "We'll be here for you. If you ever want to talk, then I'm here."

"I'm not staying. I'm going after the man who killed my mother."

"Are…are you sure? I don't know if you can defeat him, particularly if your mother couldn't." The moment she said it, Fiore knew it wasn't a smart thing to say.

Despite what he wanted to say, Sasuke could only let out a sad sigh and stare back at his mother's grave. "Maybe. But I have to try. That's what she would have wanted. The Uchiha are not forgiving."

"I guess those eyes hold a lot of responsibility, don't they?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, flicking his eyes to their Sharingan state. His eyes widened immediately as he felt a high-level genjutsu cast on him through his eyes. He knew that she couldn't see what was going on, but regardless he watched as the world around him seemed to freeze in place.

His eyes scanned around quickly, and he was surprised to see that everything was indeed frozen in place, as a fly was frozen in the air just above Fiore's head. "What the…"

"I'm sorry it had to come to this."

He flipped around as he recognised the voice. His red eyes widened as he saw his mother standing opposite him with a smile across her face.

"How…"

Mikoto's smile widened. "If I'm here, that means I'm dead. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to spend any more time with you."

Her son took a cautionary step back, "How is this possible? I saw you die…again."

"When I pushed you back the first time, I was able to implant a genjutsu that would trigger the next time you activated your Sharingan, assuming I was gone. It would appear…that is the case."

"I…don't understand."

"I don't have much time; I wasn't able to give much chakra to the technique. You need to stay with Cascading Flow. I know that you'll want to seek revenge, and I understand that, I really do. Anger is good, but hatred is not."

Sasuke frowned, still unable to understand what was going on. He looked over at the frozen face of Fiore beside him. "I can't let that man get away with murdering you."

"By all means get him back, but don't be consumed by it. You'll need Elika's help, and particularly Fiore's. They are the best equipped to attack our enemies, and you should know that."

"I…yes mother. I'll do what you ask."

"Don't do it because I've told you to. Do it because you want to. I'm sorry that I can't be in the fight with you anymore; I never intended to bring you into it. If he is still alive, a man called Jito will come and find you. You need to help him; he knows more about the enemy than I ever did."

Sasuke nodded slowly, he understood that much. "I'll try to find Nii-san as well. He…will want to know about you…and what happened."

Mikoto smiled again, "That would be good. Tell your brother that I don't blame him for what happened to the clan."

She reached over and placed a motherly hand on his shoulder, Sasuke surprised that he could feel her touch within the strange genjutsu. "I was able to give you my eye techniques, for what they are worth, since I knew I wasn't going to be able to defeat that man. If you ever activate the Mangekyou, speak to your brother about the side effects, and how to put them at bay."

Sasuke nodded slowly, absorbing the last memories he would ever have of his deceased mother. Once she had finished talking, she pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

"I'll always love you, Sasuke. Remember that, and…"

The world around him unfroze as Mikoto vanished from his hands, Sasuke blinking rapidly as the transition was rather jarring.

He looked around for a few seconds before realising that Fiore was staring at him curiously, wondering why he was suddenly acting so strange. He took a long deep breath and deactivated his Sharingan, looking over to Fiore with a sad expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm…I'll be fine. What were you saying before?"

"I was talking about how the group was moving on…"

"Right. Tell your mother that I will be ready to move out within the hour." He took a glance at his mother's grave before turning around and walking towards the village.

"Yeah I will…wait…" She jogged to catch with him and walked beside him. "Does this mean you'll be coming with us?"

"Hn."

Fiore faltered slightly in step, unable to understand why he had had such a sudden reversal. In those few seconds she saw that he had pulled away from her and was nearly at the main village.

She couldn't help but smile a bit and ran to catch up with him again. "Wait up, Sasuke!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so concludes Sasuke's story, for the time being. Unlike all the others, his only took five days within the story. What can I say, he gets things done quickly.

Sasuke is an interesting character to write, when he's not being a bastard like the normal story. Very easy to go OOC, but more satisfying when you feel you've gotten him right. And no, he hasn't suddenly gotten the Mangekyou. It's more that IF he gets it, then he'll have adopted his mother's abilities.

The next chapter is a NaruHina chapter, and is quite entertaining.

Anyone concerned about the bad guys being WAY too powerful, I tend to agree. I compare them to how obnoxiously powerful Itachi was until he was killed. But for this story, all I can do is ask for your patience.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	40. Chapter 37 NARUHINA Rightful Revenge

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 37 – Naruto/Hinata – Rightful Revenge

**A/N**: I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story. I never thought I'd hit such a milestone as 300 reviews, it makes me proud to be a writer. Even if it's only a few reviews with each chapter, it means a lot to me.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Kyuubi would be a more complex character.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Sasuke was amazed to find his mother, Mikoto Uchiha, alive and well, though he wasn't sure about her explanation as to why she hadn't contacted him in so long. He found himself embedded with the organisation called Cascading Flow, and oddly found himself enjoying the company of his previous companion Fiore. After formulating a plan of attack, Sasuke decided to assist in Cascading Flow's efforts in assassinating the Daimyo of the Land of Earth, since it served his own battle efforts as well. Unfortunately after confronting the Daimyo, Mikoto was killed by one of the four leaders of the Quiraji, who subsequently fled when he was confronted by Elika and Fiore. Sasuke confronted his own grief and decided to stay with his new allies, figuring he'll need their help in the coming battles.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Four Weeks after Separation***<p>

Naruto let out a groan as his eyes slowly opened to his surroundings. He could feel a soft bed beneath him and a silk blanket over his front. As his eyes adjusted to the light he noticed that he was lying in a bedroom he didn't recognise, but a smile came over his face when he heard a soft humming from the adjacent room.

It was the one that Hinata would hum whenever she was cooking.

He struggled to sit up in the bed, ignoring the aching muscles that lined his body. Through the open door in the room he saw the woman he loved humming softly to herself as she worked over a kitchen bench. It was strange to him that she was wearing his orange jacket over her own clothes, but the simple fact that she was up and about was enough for him to let out a sigh of relief and fall back onto the soft pillow behind him, happy that her illness hadn't returned.

Even without chakra Hinata heard his sigh with an almost startled jump, turning around quickly to see him lying on the bed she'd placed him on with his eyes open and a smile on his face.

In a single fluid motion she dropped the utensils and vegetables from her hands and leapt into the room, throwing herself onto the bed and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Naruto's smile widened as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, "Hey…"

Nuzzling her long dark hair into his neck, Hinata let out a short laugh while struggling to keep herself from crying in happiness. "Hey…I…Nar…"

He let out a laugh of his own and stroked her hair affectionately. "It's okay. I'm just happy you are safe."

The Hyuuga heiress turned her head slightly so that she could kiss him on the cheek before looking into his eyes. "Is it true what the townsfolk are saying? Did you really do all those things?"

"I don't know…what are they saying?" asked Naruto with a confused gaze.

"That you carried me here on your own for days…That you charged down an army of thousands by yourself to keep me safe from enemy catapult fire…That you led a charge into an army just to take out their general, to collect some stone that healed me of an illness that even doctors couldn't cure?"

Naruto smiled in a rare case of embarrassment, "Well, maybe I did that stuff…"

Hinata stared at him through her big white eyes, "You did that…for me?"

"Well you are my precious Hinata; I wasn't going to let you di…"

His sentence was muffled as she swung a leg over his body and shoved her lips onto his, kissing him deeply than they had ever kissed before.

"Hm…Hin…arms…" struggled Naruto, unable to move underneath her surprisingly tight embrace.

After a long time Hinata pulled her head back and smiled warmly at him. "I…um…don't know what to say…"

Finally able to move his arms so that he was lying in a more comfortable position, Naruto smiled and ran his fingers along the side of her face. "Me neither. I'm just happy you aren't sick anymore."

She smiled with a slight blush and slowly sat up so that she was sitting on his hips. She seemed to have a confused look on her face, causing Naruto to once again wonder about what she was wearing.

"Hinata…why are you wearing my jacket?"

The young girl looked down at the unzipped jacket around her shoulders, her blush deepening as she turned to him shyly. "Well…you were asleep for two days, and the doctor said I shouldn't move you…I had gotten kind of lonely and so I put it on so it felt like you were hugging me…it's just a stupid thing, I'll take it off now…"

Naruto grinned and patted her legs. "I think it's very cute of you. Though I might need it back at some point...when you're done, of course."

She let out a short squeal and buried her head in his chest, in a vain attempt to hide her embarrassment. Eventually she looked up at him with an oddly serious expression.

"What is it?" asked Naruto, trying not to be concerned.

"I…I've got to make it up to you. You did all that stuff…and I haven't done anything in return…"

"Hinata you don't have to…no wait...you don't…wait…"

She looked up at him from her lowered position underneath his legs. "You don't want me to?"

Naruto considered it for a second, and then mentally slapped himself for having considering it. He smiled at her and nodded, as he felt a shock up his body.

_I need to do heroic stuff more often…_

oOoOoOo

Naruto smiled and played with Hinata's hair as she made herself comfortable beside him. His body was still sore, but it had been totally worth it.

"Ano…Naruto…"

Naruto turned his head slightly so that their noses were almost touching. "What is it?"

"Do…you think I'm…loose?"

He placed a hand on the back of her head and rubbed her dark hair caringly, "What? What gave you that idea?"

"Well we do…those kind of things…quite often…and I was talking with some of the woman in the town, and they said…"

Naruto cut her off by lightly pecked her on the lips and placed his forehead onto hers. "Hinata, I love you. No matter what you do, that is never going to change."

"O…okay. Thank you, Naruto…I don't know what I would do without you."

He smiled back at her and closed his eyes, feeling a wave of fatigue come over him after their session together. But Naruto was not planning to sleep.

He had a prior commitment. One that he wasn't going to wait any longer for. And it was not going to be pleasant.

* * *

><p>For his third trip to his mindscape, Naruto had prepared himself for anything the demon fox was going to throw at him.<p>

To his surprise, the sewer hadn't changed one bit from the last time he had come here. The blood red water still came up to his ankles, and it still had the distinct smell of death and misery about it. Underneath his feet he could still hear the cracking of something he didn't want to recognise.

"I guess some things never change" he mumbled while looking around the area.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get anything done by standing around contemplating his frustrations, Naruto began to walk down the main sewer corridor. He had no idea how long it would take to find his quarry, but he had the time to do so since anything that happened within his mindscape took virtually no time on the outside. As much as he wanted to spend his time with his beautiful dark haired girlfriend, Naruto felt compelled to ensure that nothing would happen to her like that again.

He knew what he had to do, and nothing was going to stop him.

After a few minutes of walking he came to the ruined remains of the large gate he had encountered the last time. The seal paper that had been broken upon the Kyuubi's initial 'death' still lay in the red water beneath, which this time Naruto picked up and examined carefully. He still had no clue what it meant or what it did, as the scroll containing his family's seal knowledge had been given to Neji before they had been separated by the white armoured warrior, but given the information his father had left him he figured it was important.

_I might need this, even if it is ruined. It doesn't hurt to be holding another card. _

Leaning towards caution, Naruto placed the large piece of paper in his jacket and stepped through the massive hole in the bars, hoping he wouldn't have to climb a gigantic staircase like last time.

Naruto trudged through the sewer, occupying his mind by wondering if there was a specific reason his mindscape smelt like the awful ramen that he had once tasted in Suna.

oOoOoOo

_Okay…this is just cruel…_

Naruto groaned as he climbed the twentieth set of stairs, causing him to also wonder how he felt pain in a non-existent space within his head.

_If I get the time…I'm doing some redecorating. Some wallpaper…less blood and despair…_

As soon as the thought came to his head Naruto turned around on the staircase to find himself standing in front of a set of blood red silk blinds. He frowned and turned around again, rolling his eyes when he saw that the staircase that he had just spent forever climbing had seemingly disappeared.

_I hate this place so much…seriously, my hatred is unending…_

He let out a short sigh and pushed through the silk blinds, recognising the plush bedroom that the Kyuubi had created for itself before. He noticed that it had gotten significantly larger since his last visit, but it was still covered in 'exotic' jewels and tapestries that depicted a massive demon fox destroying one civilization after another.

_How big can one's ego…No, actually considering the source material, I can't say I'm surprised._

The large bed from his previous visit had been pushed back to the far side of the room, as Naruto looked around for the reason he had entered his mindscape in the first place. He could see dozens of shadowy figures cowering behind silk curtains, but Naruto paid them no heed.

"Come out! I know you are in here somewhere!"

He tried to spread out his chakra to sense the demon's presence, but after a few seconds he knew it was a waste of time as he saw a female figure hidden behind a section of wall. Naruto didn't have to look particularly hard to see that the figure behind the blinds was naked, though in quick order he could see that she was pulling a long dress over her arms and tying it at her waist.

He rolled his eyes again and crossed his arms, tapping his foot onto the cushioned floor impatiently.

After half a minute the figure walked out of the barrier and into his view, causing Naruto to almost take a double-take in response to seeing the woman standing at the other side of the room.

She was tall, taller than Naruto ever expected to be, with a flourishing blood red silk kimono that hugged her more than considerable figure tightly. Her hair almost ran to her knees with a flame pattern running up its long strands.

Her black and red eyes stared at him as she licked her flush red lips.

"Captor…you have returned to my humble abode." It was the same voice as the little girl from before Hinata got sick, though it seemed far more appropriate coming from the more adult persona and body shape.

Naruto frowned and uncrossed his arms. "You appear to have aged considerably since we last spoke."

"I no longer needed to maintain that form. This one…has its benefits."

_Why is the Kyuubi like this? How does a demonic fox become…wait, I'm angry at this thing._

He took a deep breath and glared down at her. "I have come here for a reason, Kyuubi. You cannot seduce me, so I wouldn't bother."

The Kyuubi smiled widely, showing a full set of razor sharp teeth, "This body isn't for you, Uzumaki Naruto. If I am to be trapped in this prison for the rest of your life, I may as well take some pleasure in my transparent punishment."

Naruto slowly closed a fist and glared at her angrily. In an instant he teleported directly in front of her and gave her the hardest punch to her face he had ever thrown. It was as if all of his anger and frustration he had accumulated over the days when Hinata lay dying in the town was released in that single blow.

The Kyuubi fell to the ground and spat blood onto the ground beneath her, swearing loudly as she did so.

Naruto took a step back and unclenched his blood-covered hand, "Get up. I know that wasn't enough to put you down."

Beneath his feet the Kyuubi stared at him hatefully and picked herself up from the ground, wiping her mouth as the teeth he had broken with his fist grew back to their full length. "No…it was not."

She straightened out her dress, making sure that she was still adequately displaying skin, though to what purpose Naruto could not figure out. "Is this why you have come here? To torture your prisoner?"

"I'm here to avenge Hinata's illness! You deserve far worse than what you will EVER receive from me!" Naruto wasn't one to yell in such a fashion, but seeing the evil smile on the demon's fake face was enough to send him into an almost blind fury.

_I can still see her face as she lay on that bed dying…this thing has to pay._

The Kyuubi eyed him warily, flicking her wrists so that she could cross her pale arms. "A beating? It's a little crude, don't you think?"

Naruto gritted his teeth angrily and clenched his fists again. There was nothing it could say to him to calm him down, not until that image of Hinata was gone from his mind. He reached out and grabbed her on the shoulder.

The Kyuubi put up no resistance as he charged as much physical energy as he could, driving his fist straight into her face again, causing her to spiral backwards and slam into an invisible wall just before she would have struck the thin walls behind her.

Naruto grinned slowly as he saw the Kyuubi struggle to pick itself up, flailing almost helplessly while spitting out large globs of blood as the large cuts on its face quickly healed back into its regular form. He knew that he couldn't kill the demon fox; he doubted he could even damage it for long periods. But from its reactions, he knew he could cause it pain and discomfort, even for a short time.

And that was fine by him.

He teleported directly in front of her and reached down to grab at the scruff of her kimono, ignoring the exposed skin from her chest while pulling back another fist. "You aren't even going to fight back?"

The Kyuubi didn't grimace in front of his aggression, but Naruto didn't care about its reactions, only that it suffer for it what it had done.

He brought down his fist again, but felt resistance as looked down and saw his fist blocked by a hand extended away from the fallen Kyuubi. Naruto turned his head angrily to see what had stopped his blow, but his expression immediately shifted when he saw the person who had blocked his punch.

The figure pushed Naruto's hand back and stood between him and the Kyuubi, staring down at the young shinobi through a set of familiar light blue eyes.

"That is enough, Naruto" said the figure, holding a grim expression as he looked down at his son's surprised face. "There is no point in striking the Kyuubi."

"D…dad? What are…you doing here?" Naruto immediately relaxed most of his body, though a part of him considered the possibility that it was a trick the Kyuubi was playing on him.

Minato turned around to make sure the Kyuubi had picked itself up from the ground, covering itself up as if it had modesty and retreating backwards slightly from the two blonde shinobi. He looked back at his son with a slowly growing smile. "It is good to see you again, son. You've grown so much since we last spoke."

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes as he looked up and down at his father, "Why are you protecting the Kyuubi? Wait…better question…how are you here?"

Minato crossed his arms and frowned, "I am unsure. Clearly some of my chakra resided within you, and that's why I'm here."

"What about mum?" asked Naruto hopefully. Since his encounter with his parents, Naruto had missed them terribly, and any chance to spend more time with them was something he wasn't going to let slip through his fingers.

His father shook his head, "I'm sorry. But I don't have much time, Naruto, so I must be quick."

"Why did you stop me? Why did you help the Kyuubi?"

Behind the Fourth Hokage, the Kyuubi let out a huff and flicked her hair so that it partially fell on her front. "I did not ask, nor did I need, your assistance."

Minato turned his head to face the Kyuubi, "It was not for your benefit. I will not let my son become a monster like you."

"Give it time" muttered the Kyuubi, walked to her bed and sitting with her legs crossed.

Naruto watched the interaction with confusion, taking a step forward so that he was closer to his father. "I don't…can someone tell me what is going on?"

His father nodded with a smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You need to calm down, Naruto. Things here are not as you would expect."

Naruto frowned and indicated to the Kyuubi sitting behind his father, who was filing her long nails casually. "That…thing…nearly killed the most precious person to me. I have every right to hurt it for what it did!"

Minato shook his head slowly, "Are you so naïve?"

"Naïve? What are you talking about?"

"Are you calm? Can you talk like a civilised person?"

The younger shinobi glared at the Kyuubi for a few seconds before closing his eyes and letting out a slow breath and looking back at his father. "I'm okay. Really. Now can you tell me why I shouldn't be attacking the Kyuubi, who so thoroughly deserves it?"

His father nodded with a smile, indicting for Naruto to take a seat at a table that appeared beside them, while the Kyuubi merely scoffed and waved her hands, causing a set of red blinds to cover her area as another shadow joined her on the bed.

Minato glared at the blinds before turning to Naruto, shifting their chairs around so that they wouldn't have to look at the Kyuubi going about its 'business'.

For a few seconds neither of them said anything, until Minato's smile widened and he tapped his son on the arm affectionately. "It is good to see you, Naruto. I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, Dad. How much time do you have?"

"Enough. Why don't you tell me what happened?" Minato was exactly how he remembered him, though it was strange seeing him without his mother to influence his father's actions.

It didn't take Naruto long to give his father the abridged version of what had happened since they had last spoke, though he concentrated on the things he had done with Hinata.

Minato smiled as he watched his son's face light up at every mention of the Hyuuga heiress, reminding him of his own affection towards Kushina during their childhood.

"It sounds like you've had some interesting adventures" commented Minato as Naruto finished his tale. "It is good that Hinata is well too."

"No thanks to that…thing...over there. You understand why I'm here, right?"

"Tell me something, Naruto. You cured her disease and your own by the sounds of it, how?"

"By taking the sword that had that bloodstone in it, I told you that." He was fairly sure he had mentioned that in his story, and wondered how much his father had actually been listening.

"Hmm…" Minato placed his hands together and stared at his son's eyes intently. "And you honestly believe that is the reason she was cured?"

"Of course, why wouldn't…wait…what are you suggesting?"

The Fourth Hokage said nothing, watching as his son slowly tried to work it out for himself. To his credit, it didn't take Naruto long to work out what his father meant. His eyes widened as he leaned back into his chair, "You are saying that the bloodstone was not the thing that cured Hinata? Then what did?"

His blonde father indicated slightly with his head to the blinds away from them, at the now solitary shadow that seemed to be sitting patiently and listening to their conversation.

Naruto shook his head; he couldn't believe that was the case. "Surely you are making a joke."

Minato smiled slowly, "Your mother was the prankster, Naruto. Not I."

"But…why? It was the one that gave us the illness in the first place!"

His father stood up from the table and again indicated to the Kyuubi's shadow. "Perhaps you should ask it. Not everything is so black and white, son. In fact, almost everything is more grey than us shinobi would like."

Naruto slowly stood up from the table and softened the frown he had adopted since entering his mindscape. "I…I can't think of a reason why it would do such a thing."

Minato looked down at his hands, noticing they were fading in a similar manner to the last time he had seen his son. He looked up at Naruto with a warm smile, "My time is up. Hand me that seal you picked up earlier."

Giving his father the large paper seal, Naruto couldn't quite shake the feeling that his father had only appeared to give him some life lesson, one that he hadn't quite understood.

Beside him, Minato tapped the seal twice before giving it back to Naruto carefully, "The seal has been remade. Whether you apply it or not…is your choice. But I must warn…"

His voice faded away as Naruto watched him disappear from the room completely, left holding the large seal that had been completely restored. He looked down at it with a grim expression.

_He could have just applied it himself. I guess I'm being asked to make a choice. _

Looking over at the blinds, Naruto pocketed the seal within his jacket as they parted and the Kyuubi walked out in her kimono again, an odd aroma of sweat that smelled rather sweet to his nose.

_Tough choice…_

"Has the Hokage gone?" she asked, still licking her lips oddly on each syllable.

Taking another deep breath to prevent himself from reaching out and throttling her, Naruto stared down the Kyuubi's black and red eyes. "He has. He told me that you had something to do with Hinata getting better, which I find hard to believe."

The Kyuubi scoffed and flicked her hair dramatically, "Why should I care whether the Hyuuga girl lives or dies? It doesn't affect my existence."

It was only for a second, but Naruto could have sworn he had seen a slight softening in the demon's eyes. There was something here that he wasn't sure of, and he wasn't going to leave until he found out what it was.

"You're lying. Hinata's health directly affects what happens in here." Naruto kept his voice level, covering the fact that he was still working things out.

"You're delusional, boy. What does one mortal's life matter to a thing like me?"

_I was right. Something is definitely going on here, as Father indicated. _

Naruto grinned triumphantly, feeling like a few of the pieces were coming into place. It was rare for him to make such a bold conclusion, but since it involved him it made more sense.

"The longer Hinata lives, and influences me, the less I need to draw on your power. In fact, since becoming close to her, I've never had to utilise your power at all. That's probably why you aged so quickly and why this place has gotten so much bigger. You are regaining your strength."

Crossing her arms with a frown, the Kyuubi stared him down intently. "Say you are correct. I do have an invested interest in making my living situation more…tolerable. That doesn't…"

"You were responsible for healing the two of us" interrupted Naruto, finally understanding what his father had been alluding to.

He could see the annoyance on the demon's face, which only confirmed to him that he was correct. Still unsure as to why the Kyuubi would have cured an illness it had given them in the first place, he continued his hypothesis. "My guess is that you figured I might hurt myself upon seeing her die, which would damage your recovery here."

The Kyuubi narrowed her eyes before scoffing and turned around, flicking her hands to draw back the blinds before sitting back down on the bed. "It doesn't matter what you think. What's done is done."

There was something about the Kyuubi's manner that gave Naruto pause. He thought a creature as powerful as the Kyuubi would've been able to hide its emotions completely, and in its fox form that was the case, but in a human form it was a whole different story. It occurred to him that the Kyuubi had only taken a female form to toy with him, but it only served to cause Naruto to become suspect on the demon's reactions.

"That's not it at all…" he said quietly.

He looked around the room, noticing that the shadows around the room had disappeared completely. They weren't real people, that he knew. But there was a look in the Kyuubi's eyes that he recognised as clearly as a bowl of ramen in front of him. It was something he used to see in the mirror.

He took a cautious step towards the seated Kyuubi, "I think I understand…a bit."

"You understand what, boy?" asked the demon angrily. This had been the longest conversation it had had with the blonde shinobi that didn't involve teasing, and for some reason that annoyed it.

Naruto didn't want to sit on the bed, particularly since he could still smell what the Kyuubi had been doing on it, so he resolved to simply stand in front of the tall woman.

"You are lonely. It never occurred to me before…but even something like you must get lonely at times."

The Kyuubi scoffed again, but the expression on her face told him he was on the right track.

"Did you heal Hinata because of sympathy? Or for some other reason?" asked Naruto.

The flame haired woman turned her gaze to him, but there was no malice in the expression at all, something new to both of them. "I'm old…boy. Very old. Ever since that Sage locked me up in the first place, I haven't met any of my brothers and sisters. There are certain aspects of human existence I can…sympathise with."

"What do you mean?" This was a whole other side to the Kyuubi, one Naruto had never even considered before today.

"Your relationship with the Hyuuga girl…is hardly normal. I gave you that illness because I was angry at you. I'm still angry with you, as a matter of a fact. But seeing what you did in a vain attempt to save her…I can, at the very least, appreciate the effort."

Naruto felt all the anger he had brought into the room vanish upon seeing how oddly human the Kyuubi was, though a part of him still wondered whether it was messing with him or not.

"Well…thank you…I guess. Never thought I'd be saying that to you."

The Kyuubi seemed to nod her understanding, though she still stood up slowly from the bed and took a step towards him, seemingly growing another few inches so that she was towering over him easily. Looking down on the blonde shinobi, a teeth-filled smirk came across her face. "You should know that I will now be focusing my efforts on you, yes? You may have paid for your attempt at killing me, but I get bored easily in here, and may have to do some more redecorating."

Naruto felt the seal in his jacket, making a quick decision that would drastically affect the rest of his life. He looked up at the Kyuubi and smirked back. "You'll find me a gracious host. Leave everyone else out of it, and I won't reapply the seal completely. But if you try anything, then I swear I will lock you up in here so tightly that you won't be able to move a tiny finger, let alone have you little…parties with those other things."

Seeing the resolve in his eyes, the Kyuubi took a slight step back and barked out a short laugh. "How interesting! You are a most fascinating host, boy. So be it."

Naruto indicated to the Kyuubi with a cautionary finger, "That better be a yes, demon. I am not as even-tempered as my father, and when it involves those around me I can become quite vengeful."

"So I've seen." The Kyuubi sat back down on her bed and indicated to the doorway he had come through. "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

Naruto rolled his eyes and turned around, placing his hands in his pockets. "You aren't half-bad, Kyuubi. You might be a good person after all."

The flame haired woman looked at his back with a tired expression, "Do I need to burn down a civilisation to prove my point?"

Leaving their confrontation on that note, Naruto walked out of the room; trying to remember how to leave his mindscape in the same manner he had entered it.

* * *

><p>Naruto jerked himself awake and clutched at his head with a tired expression on his face. It was never an easy transition going from reality to his mindscape, and he still wasn't quite sure how he did it, but the revelation of how Hinata had been cured was enough to cause him to wonder what else had been going on without his knowledge.<p>

Beside him in the bed, Hinata stirred and ran a caring hand around his shoulder, sitting up beside him. "Are you okay, Naruto? You woke up rather suddenly."

He turned to her with a grim expression, his face immediately softening upon seeing her warm expression. There was something about her that calmed him down instantly, just one more thing he found amazing about her.

It was because of that fact that he felt there was no sense in hiding anything more from her.

"I have to tell you a few things, Hinata."

The Hyuuga shinobi nodded quietly and pulled him back down so she could lean on his chest. Naruto smiled sadly and began to tell her about the Kyuubi's return.

oOoOoOo

Not leaving any details out of his story, Naruto finished telling his lover about the things that had been going on without her knowledge, looking back at her with a hopeful expression. It wasn't lightly that he told her about his responsibility in her getting sick, but he trusted that she wouldn't hold it against him for too long.

It wasn't until he heard the soft purring that she usually made for him to realise that she had fallen asleep on his chest.

His face broke out into a smile. _I wonder how much she actually heard. _

Naruto didn't want to break her out of her rest, so he nuzzled back down into the pillow behind him and reminded himself of how lucky he truly was.

_For her to trust me like this…I should see the general when I have the time. There's something I should pick up first…_

He let out a sigh and stroked Hinata's hair absentmindedly. It was going to be difficult to get back to sleep, particularly since he didn't think the Kyuubi would waste any time in messing with him now that they had an accord.

Naruto was never given the opportunity to rest again as a massive tremor shot through the building they were staying in, causing both of them to spring up instantly, producing weapons that neither of them had gone to bed with.

"What do you think?" he asked cautiously, holding his kunai tightly.

Hinata activated her Byakugan, ignoring the immense fatigue she felt as she scanned the area. "It seems to be affecting the whole village. There is a large hole in one of the walls, like a blast has passed straight through."

"Can you see what did it?"

She shook her head, finding it difficult to concentrate on her doujutsu for an odd reason. "There is a…I'm not sure what it is. It's an area where I can't see anything."

Naruto swore under his breath and placed his kunai on the bed behind them. "We should get out there. If someone is attacking the city, we have to defend these people."

Beside him Hinata couldn't help but smile. She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. "That's why I love you. Always rushing to help others, regardless of the danger."

He grinned, and looked down at her. "Thanks. I think we should put some clothes on first."

A blush ran deep on Hinata's face, though it wasn't at her own nakedness, but rather at the pose the two of them were standing in that looked rather ridiculous considering their situation. Hinata quickly made her way to closet and began to clothe herself, while Naruto simply watched with amusement.

_This…I could get used to. Particularly…_

"Naruto, you should get ready too."

"Ah, good point. I would look pretty silly on the battlefield like this."

Hinata walked past him while shouldering on her jacket, kissing him again on the cheek. "I don't know, I think it would be a nice thing to see."

_Her confidence has just gone through the roof lately. It's amazing to watch. _

The ground trembled beneath them again, twice the strength of the previous quake. Naruto rushed to put his own clothes on, wary of the similar sounding quakes from when the town was being bombarded by the enemy army.

oOoOoOo

Standing on the battlements, Naruto frowned as Hinata scanned the two holes in the wall. They were massive, larger than a boulder could have produced, though Naruto couldn't think of a machine that could have done something like that.

"That area is still there, Naruto. It's about two kilometres straight north from here."

Her boyfriend frowned as he tried to see where she was talking about. It was in the middle of the day, and yet there was something about the light that obscured the area she was talking about. "We should go look into it. If whatever is doing this is related to the army from before, then this could be big trouble."

"Are you okay to move, Naruto? You were pretty worn out."

Naruto gave her a grin and placed a foot on the edge of the battlements, "I'm 100%. What about you? You nearly died a few days ago. I can check this out on my own, if you want."

Hinata shook her head again, placing her own foot beside Naruto's. "I want to be by your side Naruto, as we fight. You know we fight better together."

"I just wanted to make sure" replied Naruto with a widened grin.

They continued to smile at each other, seemingly forgetting that they had to move out.

Another blast slammed into the wall, causing them to almost fall off the battlements. Naruto frowned and leapt off the battlements as the wall began to collapse underneath them, not checking but he was sure that Hinata was following in his steps.

As they landed on the ground in front of the wall, they sped towards the suspicious area that they figured the attacks were coming from. Considering the scope of the attacks, both of them were on edge, but the fact that they were going to be fighting together made them happier than the fear of an unknown enemy.

oOoOoOo

It didn't take the two of them long to find out what had been attacking the town's walls, though neither of them had expected to see what was in front of them.

Standing a short distance away was a figure covered in white armour with light blue sheets around his shoulders, a pair of hate-filled burnished gold eyes staring at them as they ran towards him.

"Naruto, isn't that?"

"Yeah. Prepare yourself."

The two of them skidded to a halt a practical distance away from the warrior, their hands held up in taijutsu stances as he made the large bow in his hands vanish into thin air and crossed his arms upon seeing them.

"There was meant to be an army here, and that castle was meant to be destroyed. Instead I find myself without any of the soldiers training here, and two shinobi children standing before me. How is it this has occurred?"

Naruto signalled silently to Hinata, _He may not recognise us. _

She nodded and signalled back, _This is an opportunity. Find out how to defeat these people. _

_I agree._

A kunai slid out of Naruto's sleeve and struck the ground behind his leg without a sound, as he took a step forward to confront the warrior. "Leave these people in peace. They have done nothing to deserve such an attack."

"And what do you know of war, boy?" The warrior snarled as he looked over the two of them. "Poor shinobi, stuck in the wrong end of the world. Shall I show you the true strength of the Quiraji?"

The two shinobi glanced at each other for a second before turning back to him, neither of them had heard that name before, but both figured if it was surrounding this warrior then it couldn't be good.

Hinata grimaced as she tried to look at the warrior through her Byakugan, a sharp pain shooting through her head as if the doujutsu was resisting her efforts to maintain it. "Naruto…I think he's the cause of the area that I can't see."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I have a theory, are you ready?"

Hinata smiled with admiration at his taking the initiative and cancelled her Byakugan, placing her hands together in a handseal. She'd been with him long enough to work out part of his plan without him having to tell her what it is.

In turn, Naruto placed his hands together in a seal he hadn't had to use in a while, but if he wanted a larger concentration of chakra it required the handseal to be activated.

In front of them the warrior placed up both his hands aimed at the two of them, "I don't think so, shinobi."

He manipulated his fingers slightly and just as a month ago the two of them found themselves trapped in separate large purple domes, causing both of them to stop their techniques and look around at their prisons.

Hinata glanced at Naruto fearfully, but upon seeing his serious expression she calmed herself down and stared back at the warrior.

"Goodbye, shinobi. A fall from this height, you won't survive."

He closed his hands and the two prisons disappeared into thin air. He shrugged and took a step towards the castle walls, cracking his neck as he went to summon up his ranged weapon once again.

To his surprise he saw a crack of lightning as the two shinobi he had sent away appeared in front of him, staring at him triumphantly. His eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists angrily. "How did you escape? What kind of trickery have you shinobi committed?"

Naruto grinned and indicated to Hinata. "You shouldn't underestimate us. If people like you appear before us, we get stronger in response."

The white-eyed girl beside him nodded with a smile, "And you can't defeat us when we work together."

Staring at them through his burnished eyes, the white-armoured warrior took a long breath before reaching up and removing the sheets from beneath his shoulder plates. "Fascinating. Though mere children…you may provide some challenge after all. I'll even let you have the first punch. If you can't hit me, then you don't deserve the title of warriors."

Naruto clutched his fists up in defiance, "I'll pummel you into the ground!"

"Be careful, Naruto. There is something wrong here" warned Hinata.

He winked at her and rushed at the warrior, a fist raised to strike him. Just as he got close to the warrior, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The warrior frowned as he watched the smoke dissipate. Once it cleared he saw that the orange-clad shinobi hadn't moved from his position.

"Clever, shinobi. You are more cautious than I would have expected."

The grin on Naruto's face widened, "You'll find us full of surprises."

He turned to Hinata and adopted a more serious expression, whispering quietly to her. "Did you see?"

She nodded slowly, "I think so. But I can't be sure…"

"Then you keep an eye on it, and I'll test it out."

"Are you sure? He looks dangerous…"

Naruto gave her a reassuring look and began running towards the warrior, dozens of clones appearing beside him as they charged at him.

The warrior frowned and placed a cautionary hand on the sword hilt at his belt. The clones of Naruto charged at him rapidly, but as before they vanished just before they were able to reach his position.

"What kind of strategy is this? You waste your energy for no purpose."

The Naruto clones continued to dissipate around him, while Hinata observed carefully from a distance. He was a patient warrior, but this was no kind of battle he had encountered before. Even through the smoke he could see one of the orange-clad clones was seemingly directing the other clones, avoiding coming within range.

Seeing that there was no threat to him from the chakra-clones, the white armoured warrior placed up his hands as a bow of spiritual energy appeared in his hands. An arrow quickly shot through the air, striking the warrior's target straight in his chest.

A grin came across his face as he saw the remaining clone dissipate quickly, the technique having been cancelled. "Only a shinobi…"

All of the smoke on the battlefield disappeared, and to his frustration he saw that the orange-clad shinobi was non-the-wiser, standing beside the female. "These shinobi are getting on my nerves…"

oOoOoOo

"Have you got it?"

Hinata nodded; even without her Byakugan she had better sight than most shinobi. "It's a radius of ten point four metres wide, all around him. It's as if anything in that area doesn't work, like a chakra nulling field or something."

"I think I get it. If chakra doesn't work…"

"Then we go with something else" finished Hinata. She took a short breath before nodding to him and running towards the warrior, Naruto right by her side.

The Quiraji warrior frowned and prepared his bow again, aiming down the weapon's sight at the blonde shinobi. He didn't see either of them as a threat, but the boy was more a concern than the dark haired girl.

He loosed an arrow at Naruto, easily able to track his weaving movements. The energy sped through the air, but just as it went to strike him in the face the shinobi disappeared, reappearing a few metres to the side of the strike while continuing to run at him rapidly.

Looking down the battlefield, he saw the two of them closing the distance quickly. Placing his hands up the warrior clenched his armoured gloves and waited to see how they planned to attack him.

As Hinata moved around the side, Naruto dove straight at the warrior, his fists raised. As his punch went to collide with the warrior's head he blocked the strike easily, though Naruto was already swinging himself up to strike straight into the warrior's chest.

Since he had entered the ten metre bubble Naruto could feel a debilitating feeling in his stomach, but it wasn't enough to stop him attacking the enemy warrior. His blow struck at the warrior's armour and bounced off easily, though it occupied the warrior's attention enough for their plan.

Behind the warrior, Hinata drove a hand into the warrior's side. It was a typical Jyuuken strike, but instead of using chakra Hinata had the idea of using her wind spiritual energy instead.

The warrior barely noticed the strike, but in a rapid spin he threw off Naruto's grip and struck at the girl, who was already moving out his range. He landed easily and glared as the two of them reconnected a short distance away.

"Foolish notions, shinobi. You cannot hope to defeat Shouri, the First."

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked over at Hinata. "Did it work?"

"My strike hit, but wasn't strong enough to penetrate his defence." Hinata looked down at her hands, "I'm sorry, Naruto. You could have…"

"Everything is fine, Hinata. Let's try it again, but this time I'll strike at him." Naruto clutched his fists, and looked over at the warrior, seeing him pull out his sword slowly. There was something about it that reminded him of the general's sword from before, though obviously without the bloodstone.

"Hinata, I want you to hang back and support me with Suiton techniques."

"What? Why?!"

Naruto smiled at her and patted her reassuringly on the arm, "Trust me, Hinata. I have a plan."

She looked dubious, but followed his lead as he stared down at Shouri. "Okay, I've got your back, Naruto. Let's go."

Shouri readied his sword, seeing that they had some kind of plan of attack he wondered how they were able to survive near him, most shinobi fell to pieces when they came into range.

"These shinobi are different…somehow…" he muttered to himself.

Naruto went to run towards the warrior, but upon seeing his opponent's readied stance he thought of a different plan of attack. Signalling quickly to Hinata, he prepared himself for one of his newer techniques.

A large cascade of water shot from around Hinata towards the white armoured warrior, falling to the ground just at the ten metre zone around Shouri. Despite the chakra-filled attack failing to do anything, Hinata kept up the attack, trying her best to cover the sphere around him completely with water.

Inside his null zone, Shouri watched as the water continued to shoot towards him and fall to the ground as the chakra disappeared in the attack and caused it to fall to the ground. "What is this?"

He sheathed his sword, frowning as rolled his eyes, feeling bored out of his mind. As a general, Shouri rarely got his hands dirty in a soldier's fight, and this barely registered as a distraction.

Looking down he saw the blonde shinobi standing in front of him, with one hand placed on his chestplate with the other pulled back to strike him.

"How did you…"

Naruto grinned and summoned up a large portion of his strength, driving his fist straight into the warrior's chest.

"KATTOKEN!"

His wind spiritual energy spun around his fist in a drilling motion, splitting apart Shouri's armour as his fist pushed straight through his chest while his other hand held him tightly so that he couldn't avoid the blow.

Shouri roared out in pain and struggled under Naruto's grip, slamming his fists into the blonde shinobi's face over and over again. Naruto grimaced in response, but continued his strike until he couldn't hold on anymore, sending the warrior flying backwards as he fell to the ground in pain.

The water stopped firing towards him and fell away, Naruto sensing his lover running towards him as he felt at his face painfully. The punches to his face weren't particularly strong, but since they were delivered by armoured gloves he had suffered more damage than he would have expected.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" Hinata ran up beside him and placed her hands caringly on his face, healing the bruises while doting on the boy she had come to love.

Across the makeshift battlefield, Shouri groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, holding his chest painfully. Bringing up his hand to his face, his eyes widened when he saw blood coming from his hand.

"How the…that wasn't chakra…that was spiritual energy! How did these shinobi learn our techniques!"

Several pieces of his white armour fell to the ground as he drew his sword angrily. "That does it. These shinobi will pay for their transgressions!"

oOoOoOo

Hinata took her hands off his face and kissed him tenderly on his forehead. "Are you better, Naruto?"

The blonde shinobi smiled warmly and stood up from the ground, "All better. Thanks, Hinata, but I don't think this is over."

"Did your attack work?"

"I think so…but I doubt he's finished by something like that." Naruto grimaced again, but ignored the pain shooting through his arms. Even when he protected his arms with physical energy, the Kattoken still hurt a hell of a lot, and probably damaged him more than he realised.

A shiver ran up his spine, and on instinct he pushed Hinata out of the way and placed up his arms defensively, running his Kattoken through them as a sword came crashing down onto his guard.

Shouri snarled as he attempted to cut off Naruto's arms, but found his defensive technique too strong to break through with just one swing. "Why didn't you teleport away, boy? I know you have that ability."

Naruto grinned and struggled as the warrior slammed his sword again and again into his guard. "I didn't need to. With attacks this weak, why should I bother?"

_Never mind that I still have two more seconds before I can use it again. _

Naruto wanted to attack back, but it was impossible to retaliate while defending himself from his attacks. Luckily he didn't have to as Hinata ran up beside the warrior and slammed a kunai into his side, using a blast of wind to increase her momentum to pierce through his armour.

The Quiraji leader grimaced in pain and stopped his attacks on Naruto, turning around quickly and driving the hilt of his sword straight into Hinata's chest, sending her flying backwards.

"Hinata!" Naruto vanished and appeared behind her, catching her and skidding along the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Hinata grimaced, but stood up on her own, clutching her side. "I'll be fine. He's still coming."

"Do we keep fighting or retreat?" asked Naruto, concerned over her getting injured so soon after being healed from her illness.

She shook her head, "No. If we don't finish him off, then he might keep attacking the town."

Naruto nodded his agreement and pulled out his own kunai. "You're right. Let's go kick his ass."

* * *

><p>The two shinobi panted heavily as their arms hung by their sides painfully. Across from them the white armoured warrior grimaced as he clutched at his shoulder, his armour in pieces around him.<p>

"This is…absurd! No shinobi has this kind of power!"

Despite having almost no strength left, Naruto still grinned and pointed a fist at his enemy. "We aren't just any shinobi! I am Uzumaki Naruto, and this beautiful girl is Hyuuga Hinata. Remember our names!"

Beside him Hinata tried to stop herself from blushing, despite feeling more tired than she had before. It was embarrassing for him to call her beautiful like that, but she couldn't help but feel happy despite their situation.

Shouri frowned and let one of his hands hang uselessly at his side. "Clearly I have underestimated how strong you Konoha shinobi truly are. I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"Yeah, you should have. It's too late now."

A large crack of darkness appeared in the air behind Shouri, as the white armoured warrior reached down and picked up his broken sword, placing it into the sheath on his belt.

"For now, you can have your victory, shinobi. Do not think this changes anything. The Quiraji remember what happened in this land, and we will not forgive you."

Before either of them could say anything in return he disappeared within the crack, which promptly closed behind him. The two of them glanced at each other for a few seconds before smiling and collapsing on the ground beside each other.

"That was…a tough battle" puffed Naruto, feeling every ache in his body a thousand times over.

Hinata let out a short laugh, then regretted it as she held her side painfully, "Yeah. I was a little worried when you…"

"Yeah, it was a bit touch and go for a while there. How are your injuries?"

"I don't think either of us will be able to move for a while, but we should be okay." Hinata didn't sound concerned, though at a great struggle they moved so that they were able to hold hands while they lay on the ground and recovered from their injuries.

After a few minutes Naruto turned his head so that he was able to look at Hinata's face. He smiled as he tugged at her hand lightly. "Hey Hinata, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a while now."

"What is it?" asked Hinata quietly.

_Alright, Naruto. Sink or swim. _

"We've…been through a lot together. I used to wonder how I didn't notice you before the Chuunin Exams in Suna, but I know it's because I wasn't ready to be with someone as stunning as you. I…didn't have anyone growing up. At best I had Iruka-sensei, but even then he was just a friend. But when I'm with you…all that pain, all that loneliness…it's as if it never happened in the first place. I feel stronger when I'm with you, I feel calmer…hell I just feel better. Someone like me doesn't deserve someone like you."

"Ano…thank you, Naruto. But I don't understand what you wanted to ask."

He smiled knowingly, "I'm getting to that. I just wanted to compliment you a little bit more first."

Hinata responded with her own smile, feeling too tired to even blush properly. "Don't let me stop you then. But if I faint, you need to wake me up."

"I promise. As I was saying. I never expected to meet someone like you, not even in my vain attempts to get Sakura's attention. It took me a while, but I realised the difference between the two of you is gigantic. You are the nicest…kindest…best person I've ever met. If you can love someone like me…then I must have done something right."

"What are you trying to say, Naruto?"

He laughed painfully, tightening his hold on her hand. "Well, I can't get on a knee, but imagine I'm doing that."

Hinata gasped as she realised what was happening, but let him continue without interruption.

_Oh my god…oh my god…_

"So yeah, imagine that kind of pose. I…um…know this might be a bit sudden and all. It's something that I wanted to ask for a while, but I could never find the right words. It's strange actually, this is the kind of thing I'm normally terrible at, but…oh now I'm rambling."

"It's okay Naruto, I think I understand…"

"Yeah, but I want to ask anyway. I know we are only 16…and are pretty young by this world's standards…but considering what we just went through, and our lives…I don't want to wait anymore. I love you, Hinata, and that's never going to change, no matter what happens. I know we spend all our time together, but…I know this might sound selfish…but I want more."

"Naruto?"

Looking deep into her white eyes, Naruto tried to look as adult as possible, but he couldn't keep the grin from his face.

"Hyuuga Hinata…will you marry me?"

He could feel her grip on his hand tight instantly, as her white eyes widened as far as they could. A thousand thoughts ran through her head at once, and she internally cursed the fact that she couldn't move any more than her hand.

But all her thoughts were centralised on one point, and her answer was right in front of her.

"Naruto…you are the most wonderful man I know. I know why you sell yourself short…and that's because you aren't used to people pointing out how strong you actually are. Naruto, you are a very kind man, and considering what you did to save me…I can't think of anyone I would rather be with. I know it took a while for us to be together, but that first time we kissed…even though I think we were drunk…I knew right then. There was no-one else I wanted to be with."

"Hinata…"

Using more strength then she thought she had, Hinata shuffled herself forward, though only enough so that their foreheads touched.

"Uzumaki Naruto…I would love to marry you."

He brought up their hands and kissed her hand, it was the best they could do considering their immobility. He stared deep into her eyes and widened his smile.

"I…I don't know what to say now. I only practised the first bit."

Hinata shut her eyes and laughed softly. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Um…I don't have a ring or anything yet…but when we get back to the town I'll…sort out something."

Hinata simply nodded and loosened the grip on his hand, as her head fell onto the grass completely. "As long as we are together…I…don't…min…"

Naruto watched as Hinata fell asleep lying beside him, the fatigue finally overwhelming her. He pulled her hand towards his chest and closed his own eyes.

"I'm so happy you said yes, Hinata. I wasn't…concerned or anything…but you never…know…"

His own fatigue caught up with him and he in turn fell asleep, holding the hand of his fiancé.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I will be writing the wedding, fear not. The fourth Bonus Chapter will be their wedding, as if I had just added it on to the end of this chapter. It'll be after Chapter 40.

Three more people to go. Next up is Kiba, then Kakashi, and finally Itachi. After their stories are finished, and a final NaruHina chapter, we move into the last third of the story, which is when some serious stuff goes down.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	41. Chapter 38 KIBA Frozen Glacier

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 38 – Kiba – Frozen Glacier

**A/N**: In case it may have slipped through the cracks, this is just a friendly reminder that Kiba was unconscious when Shouri separated them.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the talking between Kiba and Akamaru would be funnier.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Having made a full recovery from her illness, Hinata made sure that Naruto was able to recover from his own fatigue as they continued to reside in the strange country. Having ensured her safety, Naruto dove into his mindscape and confronted the growing Kyuubi on its actions. However before he could fully realise his anger, he was stopped by his father, who had left enough chakra to stop Naruto from being consumed by anger and hatred. Naruto then discovered that it wasn't the bloodstone that cured Hinata's illness, but the Kyuubi itself, out of an understanding of the things Naruto had to do to save her. Reaching a tenuous accord with the demon fox, Naruto left his mindscape and came back to the real world, telling Hinata everything he had kept from her. As they went to relax they discovered the castle walls were once again under attack, though it wasn't an army attacking this time. They confronted the single warrior, Shouri, who was the same warrior that had separated them a month earlier. After a prolonged battle in which they discovered an inherent weakness in his chakra-cancelling abilities, Shouri fled and left the two of them to recover from their injuries. Having made up his mind a long time ago, Naruto proposed to Hinata, who accepted graciously.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***One Hour after Separation***<p>

Having surrounded himself with furry creatures, and even having grown his own tail unintentionally, Kiba had a high tolerance for the cold, as did Akamaru with his white fur.

However as he aroused himself from sleep, the Inuzuka heir could almost feel his eyebrows frozen on his face. Even without opening his eyes, Kiba could feel his white companion nuzzled up alongside him.

"Akamaru? Are…where are we?" he asked, feeling like his whole body was on fire from fatigue.

His eyes slowly opened as he heard a soft set of barks next to his ear. At first he was concerned that he couldn't see Akamaru anywhere, but he quickly realised that it was because the entire background around him was white.

"Oh god…don't tell me…"

Using what little strength he had, Kiba groaned as he pushed himself up from the ground, rubbing Akamaru's fur affectionately. He looked up at the dark night sky, feeling a massive wind slam into his face, almost blowing him back onto the white ground.

Even through his shoes he felt like his feet were frozen in place, the snow having already piled on up to his knees with the storm.

Placing his hands on his hips and securing his tail in his jacket, Kiba let out a loud sigh.

"A freakin' mountain. Akamaru, why do we always get the short end of the stick?"

Standing up on his own, the large white dog barked at him twice before moving behind his legs so that he was protected from the harsh wind.

Kiba rolled his eyes and tightened his jacket around his shoulders. "No, I don't have a stick. You are so singled-minded sometimes, Akamaru."

Behind him the dog barked again, but Kiba ignored what he said and attempted to look around properly at his surroundings. He sniffed at the air, confirming the suspicion he had felt the moment he had woken up. "No-one else is here. We're on this bloody mountain all by ourselves."

Akamaru nuzzled at his leg a bit before indicating to an obscured area a short distance away from the two of them.

"Is that a cave? Nice find, Akamaru!" Kiba patted him on the head and tried to move his feet through the dense snow. It was hard going to even take one step, particularly since Kiba had very little chakra to keep himself upright.

Bounding across the snow easily, Akamaru barked loudly through the storm at the cave entrance, a short distance from Kiba. The Inuzuka heir snarled as he struggled to move towards his companion.

"Oh sure, it's easy for you. I'm not that light. Go see if there is anything inside!"

Through the wind Akamaru tilted his head slightly with his ears perked up, sitting down on the snow beside the entrance and scratching his face with his leg.

"Damn dog…" swore Kiba, stamping his feet as the only way of traversing the snow. "Couldn't have been a nice bathhouse…or a restaurant…had to be a freezing mountain top with nothing but snow…"

It took him ten minutes to traverse the few dozen metres to Akamaru's position, giving the dog a quick glare before trudging into the cave. His white companion bounded in after him and let out a short bark while sniffing the air.

Kiba let out a long sigh and placed a hand on the edge of the cave wall, feeling like walking through the snowstorm was like a terrible beating. "I…need to sit down, Akamaru. I feel like my legs are going to fall off…"

Akamaru looked up at him with a confused look, which took particular skill considering he was a dog, barking at him loudly.

"No…I didn't mean…why are you being so picky? Can't I just rest for a little bit?"

The white dog cocked his head at his companion before moving deeper into the cave, barking loudly for him to follow. Kiba groaned, but saw the wisdom in moving further away from the entrance. He still had no idea how they got there, or where all their companions had disappeared to.

_Something must have gone terribly wrong after we…wait…_

As he moved through the cave slowly, Kiba reached up into his head, brushing the snow off his dark hair before feeling down the sides of his head. He let out a sigh as he felt the grey fur between his spiky hair, next to where his forehead protector used to be.

_For the love of…they really are there. I don't mind gaining new abilities…but if I end up turning into an animal completely…and they seem more wolf-like than dog…what would sister think?_

When he found Akamaru again he saw that the ninja dog had collected a small collection of twigs and sticks that he had no idea where he could have gotten them from, putting them in a small circle.

Kiba frowned as he dropped to the ground and leaned his back on the wall, with the sticks just beyond his feet. "What is that for?"

His companion glared at him before settling himself down just beside his legs.

Rolling his eyes, Kiba placed up a hand facing the pile of sticks. "Good idea. I don't know how long I can keep it up for though; you think you're depleted of chakra…"

A short set of barks was all the response he got as a small trail of fire trickled from his hand onto the pile of sticks, creating a small fire that warmed up the cave slightly.

Kiba settled into the back of his jacket, pulling his tail over his hips and placing his hands underneath the dense fur.

"I suppose these changes are good for something…"

He heard a soft mumble from Akamaru, causing him to let out a short bark of a laugh in response. "Not if I can help it, Akamaru. I'm pretty sure I don't need that part of an animal."

* * *

><p>***Seven Hours after Separation***<p>

As a light sleeper, Kiba had trained himself to wake up to any noise that seemed out of place in his environment. However since he had been so fatigued earlier, it took Akamaru a while before he could wake up his companion, ending in the white dog having to bite him on the leg, causing him to wake up with a loud howl.

"Gah! Akamaru, what the hell?!"

He glared down at his companion angrily, while clutching his leg. Akamaru barked at him three times before barking towards the entrance. Using his enhanced ears, Kiba could hear the reason why he had been woken up.

All around the entrance to the cave, he could hear the distinctive howling of a pack of wolves.

Swearing as he picked himself up, Kiba went to prepare himself for defence when he sniffed at the air. The snowstorm outside had lessened considerably, but it was still fairly chaotic outside for what he could see. Even though the snowstorm, Kiba's nose was able to detect any unusual scents in the area, and after only a tiny amount of chakra he could tell that something about their situation was very off.

Squatting down beside Akamaru, Kiba nodded to the dog slowly. "I can't smell any wolves out there. This has to be something else" he whispered quietly, wary of the fact that they might be under observation.

Akamaru barked at him and indicated to the entrance with his head.

"Yeah, that's what I smell too" responded Kiba.

He looked around for his pack, then realised he hadn't brought it with him.

_Fantastic. Stuck on a mountain, with no supplies._

Reaching into his jacket, he felt at the inside pocket his sister had sown into it, doing a mental count of the remaining items. He went to pull out one of them, but reconsidered when he took an account of how much chakra he had recuperated.

Turning to Akamaru, Kiba let out a short bark, a skill he had learnt since he had begun working with the white dog. Akamaru nodded in acknowledgement and moved to one side of the entrance, while Kiba's nails extended out into long claws.

"Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)" he muttered softly, feeling his chakra expand outwards as he adopted his more bestial qualities.

Pushing on his back legs, Kiba exploded out of the cave, letting out a loud howl in echo of those around the cave, his eyes scanning through the snowfall rapidly.

As he had predicated, the cave was surrounded by dozens of pure white wolves that had no scent, telling Kiba that there were part of a ninjutsu. With his reaction sped up to extreme levels, Kiba understood the situation immediately and aimed himself at the middle of the pack.

With an explosion of chakra, Kiba spun rapidly into the wolves. "Tsuuga!"

His whirlwind technique slammed into the first wolf, shredding it to pieces as he moved quickly onto the next wolf. The chakra-based creatures attempted to strike at his whirlwind form, but due to the nature of Kiba's taijutsu they were in turn destroyed. In short order the army of wolves were destroyed, Kiba resuming his defence position at the cave's entrance on all fours with his fangs bared against any other potential attacker.

_That was easy enough…_

It became quickly apart that Kiba had celebrated too soon, as the pack of wolves rapidly reassembled and stood against him with fangs bared. The Inuzuka heir snarled as he looked at his battlefield.

_Damnit, I need to find a way…maybe I should eat one of my…_

A figure appeared from among the wolves, Kiba immediately seeing that it was the strange scent he had smelled in the cave.

A scent of blood and death.

Standing with his arms crossed arrogantly was a tall man with long purple hair and teal pupil-less eyes, wearing a simple long-sleeved shinobi outfit with a forehead protector Kiba didn't recognise.

He looked down at the crouching Konoha shinobi with an emotionless expression. "What is a shinobi such as you doing in our territory?"

Kiba bared his teeth at the shinobi, figuring he must be part of some kind of local shinobi village, though he couldn't see why a group of shinobi would want to reside on a death mountain like this. "It isn't intentional, believe me. I don't know how I got here."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Not particularly. It's the truth though."

The shinobi's teal eyes stared at him for a few seconds before he placed a hand upon the nearest chakra wolf. "Nevertheless, this mountain is our territory. You will become just another victim to this wilderness."

Doing a calculation of how much chakra he had left, Kiba didn't respond to the shinobi's threat, working out a strategy of attack. His strategy worked on a lot of assumptions, but Kiba didn't see much choice in his current situation.

He placed his clawed hands together and grinned wildly. Despite his situation, these were the moments Kiba enjoyed the most.

The shinobi stood back slightly as he saw a large shield of fire surrounding the young shinobi.

Sensing weakness, Kiba spun towards the nearest wolf, using the flames generated by his chakra to create a spinning whirlwind of fire-made blades.

As before he shot straight through the snow-based wolves, but unlike before the flames melted them into the snowy ground.

Kiba's whirlwind made short work of the wolf pack, and as he had guessed they were unable to reform when he attacked them with fire-based attacks. He landed back in the cave's entrance, and saw the changed expression on the shinobi's face. He had also guessed that his action would have goaded the shinobi into charging him, but to his disappointment he was already running through a long set of handseals.

_Come on…any time now…_

As it appeared the shinobi was about to finish his technique, a large whirlwind slammed into the shinobi's back, causing to him to grimace and fall towards Kiba's position.

Kiba grinned and brought back a claw, pushing himself forward and slamming it into the shinobi's chest with his immense speed, using his fire nature to activate a technique he had just thought of on the fly.

"Kasai Juuji!" (Fire Cross)

The shinobi's eyes widened as two long fire lines appeared across his chest. After a two second delay the lines of fire shredded through his clothes and sliced straight through him, shredding him into four pieces in front of the young Konoha shinobi.

Kiba cancelled his Beast Imitation Technique and looked down at the quartered body as Akamaru slowly walked up towards him, giving him an odd look with a cocked head.

"Wow…I never expected it to do that…"

Akamaru barked at him as the two of them saw his body was already starting to become covered in snow.

He looked up at his white companion, "You took your time getting into position. If you hadn't distracted him when you did…"

The white dog barked twice loudly, causing Kiba to wave off the dog's comment. "Yes, yes, I'm very impressed that you got there undetected. Now what should we do with this body?"

Akamaru gave him a look that he recognised immediately, the dog didn't have to tell him what he was talking about.

"I'm not going to…I'm not an animal completely, Akamaru. We haven't reached that point yet. Let's just…find out if he had anything on him."

Rifling through a body that had been cut up into quarters was a gruelling task, and one Kiba certainly didn't enjoy. He was thankful that the cold was keeping the body from smelling bad, and that his use of fire techniques had given him a momentary platform of rocky undergrowth to do his work.

To his surprise the shinobi didn't have any proper supplies on his body, though there were a selection of kunai and shuriken that he placed within his projectiles pocket gladly.

Having found nothing else of interest, Kiba stood back from the body and looked over at his companion. "What should we do with him?"

Akamaru barked and ran back into the cave.

He nodded and placed his hands together in a handseal. "Yeah, that's a good point."

As the body burnt he ran back to the cave, the snowstorm was gradually getting worse and he didn't want to go through something like he had the previous day. Inside the cave Akamaru had already settled into a corner beside their burnt out fire, mumbling to Kiba as he sat down beside him.

"What are we doing, Akamaru? Fighting on this mountain…unable to find our friends…"

His white companion picked up his head and looked over at Kiba. The Inuzuka heir rolled his eyes and moved his tail to a more comfortable position, running his hand through it in a failed attempt to brush it.

"I guess we are on our own. Just like old times, huh?"

He didn't need to look at Akamaru to tell what his life-long companion was thinking. Brushing his tail with a sigh, Kiba looked over at the entrance.

"Maybe not…"

* * *

><p>***One Day after Separation***<p>

Trudging through the snow, Kiba found it difficult going moving across the mountain ridges. There were no markings to indicate where he was, and Kiba couldn't think of any mountains that he had heard of to tell him where he had landed. He didn't recognise the four marks on the shinobi's forehead protector, which meant he wasn't part of any of the main shinobi villages.

During their Chuunin Exams in Suna he had come across a number of Genin from the other shinobi villages, and while his impressions hadn't been particularly good; he had come to respect some of their abilities, particularly Suna's shinobi.

A few metres ahead of him Akamaru sniffed along the snow-covered ground. They had been travelling for several hours, and they hadn't even reached a part of the mountain where they could see the bottom. Any time they came to an edge and looked down precariously, all they saw was a dense white fog beneath them.

Feeling like his legs were freezing within his pants, Kiba let out a long breath, seeing a mist emerge from his mouth. It had taken him some time to get used to his elongated canines, but he had discovered that opening his mouth while on the mountain hurt both his gums and tongue.

"Can you see anything?" he asked, rubbing his hands together while trying not to shake uncontrollably.

Akamaru stared at him for a few seconds before walking around in a circle and lifting a leg.

Kiba rolled his eyes and looked away, taking a moment to stare up at the mountain peak. They hadn't travelled up or down yet, and from the sheer scope of the mountain Kiba estimated it would take months just to go from one side to the other.

"I think we should start going down, Akamaru."

The white dog bounded up beside him, barking happily as he shook his rear in the snow.

"Oh sure, it's easy enough for you. What do you think?"

Akamaru barked twice and scratched at his head with his front paw.

"That's…bold." They walked up to the edge of the cliff and peered over the edge. "Akamaru, I could hurl a boulder down there, and I don't think we would ever hear it hit the bottom."

A quick sharp bark was the response he had.

Kiba growled back and placed his hands in his jacket pockets. "I am not. You know I love crazy plans as much as the next guy, but that's just stupid."

Akamaru looked up at him for a few seconds before turning around and walking back a few metres. The Inuzuka heir looked at his companion with confusion, until he recognised what he was doing. "Wh...hold up a sec…"

He watched in horror as his white friend took a running start and leapt off the edge of the cliff.

Kiba ran up to the edge of cliff and looked over the edge. "Akamaru!"

All he could see was white fog.

Looking back at the snowy ground, Kiba let out a groan and took several steps back.

"I'm gonna kill that bloody dog…"

Seeing no other option, Kiba gathered his courage and leapt.

* * *

><p>Kiba was tough. He had trained hard during his tenure as a shinobi for Konoha; he had survived his battle with the S-ranked Akatsuki shinobi and had been instrumental in defeating an extremely dangerous shinobi in the Hidden Sound.<p>

But when he fell through the white fog, Kiba screamed like a little girl.

Once he remembered what he was doing, the Konoha shinobi struggled to open his eyes as the wind slammed into his face.

He couldn't see anything beneath him; the fog he had followed Akamaru through seemed to go on forever. Kiba hated the sense of falling, but had the sense to spread his arms and legs out in a vain attempt to slow his descent.

His tail flailed behind him. Kiba felt like it was going to fly off his rear, which was a sensation he never thought he would experience.

After nearly a full minute of free fall, the fog beneath him broke apart and Kiba could see where he was falling towards. It was something he would never have expected to see within a mountain range.

He was falling towards a lake that was covered in a thick layer of ice.

_If I hit that full on, I'm gone._

With no time to think of another alterative, Kiba summoned up every piece of chakra he had and surrounded himself with it, feeling the instinctive need to add his fire element to the bubble.

Turning himself into a falling meteor, Kiba curled up into a ball and prepared himself for a fairly quick and painless end.

Fortunately for Kiba his chakra nature worked to his advantage. Even before he hit the lake, the fire surrounding him had begun to melt away the ice beneath him, though the impact was still powerful enough to dislocate his shoulders and break several of his ribs.

Kiba let out a cough of blood as he was submerged in freezing cold water. Grimacing as he realised he hadn't held his breath, a large amount of water slammed through his mouth and into his throat, freezing his insides rapidly.

He looked around underneath the water, trying and failing to ignore the pain rampant throughout his body. A large section of the ice above him had been melted away, but when he tried to swim upwards he found his arms unresponsive.

_Shit…I'm not gonna…Akamaru…hel…_

Feeling himself unable to breath due to the copious amounts of water in his throat, Kiba blinked rapidly, wondering what his tomb was going to look like. He could have sworn he saw some kind of glint near the bottom, but the pain in his ribs caused him to turn around and look straight up.

To his surprise, and unbelieving cynicism, Kiba saw himself swimming towards him, reaching out a hand to grab him.

_I guess…this is it…now I'm hallucinating…_

The other Kiba swam quickly towards him and grabbed one of his arms, pulling him up with a long stretch. Kiba didn't have the strength, or the air, to cry out in pain.

He could only let the other Kiba pull him out of the lake, from one freezing environment to the on top of the freezing ice. He slid across the ice and clutched at his sides, vomiting up large amounts of water onto his stomach.

His eyes were barely able to stay open, but he was able to see as the Kiba who had saved him walking up to him and leaning down beside him.

The other Kiba placed one of his clawed hands on his shoulder, causing Kiba's eyes to widen while he still felt the urge to vomit up more water.

"You're not going to…"

He didn't get to finish as the Kiba pushed down on his shoulder and popped it back in its socket. Kiba roared out in pain, but before he could do anything about it his saviour reached over and popped his other shoulder back in as well.

Rolling over in agony, Kiba clutched his hands into fists. "Stop it!"

The other Kiba stood back from him and bowed his head slightly.

Trying to ignore the pain, Kiba sat up on top of the ice and stared at his doppelganger. "Since when can you transform on your own?"

His saviour grinned and cancelled his transformation, turning back into the large white dog he was quite familiar with. Akamaru barked at him happily and ran up to him, sniffing at his chest.

Kiba grinned and fell back to the ice, groaning as he did so. "That was the stupidest thing we've ever done. How the hell did you make it down without injury?"

His companion looked at him curiously and barked three times.

"Why didn't I think of that? No, it was rhetorical Akamaru, you don't need to answer."

Moving his head along the ice, he looked over at his 'impact' site. "Going down the side…it's a wonder you didn't create an avalanche."

He shivered uncontrollably, reminding him of where he was. His jacket was partially destroyed by the impact, and his shirt and pants stuck to his skin since they were drenched.

"We've got to…find shelter so I can dry my clothes" he said with a groan, attempting to push himself up from the ice.

Akamaru barked in agreement and went to look around for a cave, but Kiba called him back.

Feeling at his chest, Kiba could tell that his ribs weren't actually broken, they were likely only bruised, which was remarkable in of itself. He had a reasonable range of motion with his arms, though he never thought he would experience that kind of pain before.

He indicated to the hole he fell through with a sore arm, "I just want to check something out first."

Akamaru barked at him questioningly.

"Well, my clothes are drenched already. I think I saw something down there, but I'm not sure."

Kiba walked over to the ice hole and rotated his arms painfully. He was very low on chakra, but had always been a strong swimmer, so he wasn't so concerned about drowning.

He didn't need to tell Akamaru to wait up for him; they had worked together so long they knew each other better than anyone else. Kiba took a long breath and dived into the freezing cold water.

After nearly a minute, Kiba's head popped up from the water and breathed out dramatically. He looked over to see Akamaru cleaning himself at the edge of the hole. Upon seeing him emerge, Akamaru barked him a quick query.

A grin came across the Inuzuka's face. "You're not going to believe this."

* * *

><p>It hadn't taken them long to find a reasonable-sized cave for them to stay in. Unlike the previous one, Kiba and Akamaru found the remains of another group that seemed to have stayed there many years ago. Using what little chakra he had left, Kiba lit a fire and placed the majority of his clothes beside it to dry them.<p>

Kiba's attention however was focused on the object they had retrieved from the bottom of the lake. It had taken some effort, but the two of them working together had been able to drag it into the cave.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

Sitting against the wall in their cave was a massive block of ice. Inside this block of ice was a curled up person, who Kiba couldn't quite make out through the ice.

Akamaru sniffed cautiously at the block, taking a moment before barking at it and moving back to the warm fire.

Kiba nodded in agreement and leaned against the cave wall, staring at the strange block of ice. "This seems like such a cliché. I wonder who is in there."

He shivered again, having been forced to sit with only his underwear on until his clothes were dry, he had resolved to using his tail as a makeshift blanket. "Damn, this cold is annoying. The moment we get out of here, I'm taking a warm bath."

Akamaru barked in response, causing Kiba to roll his eyes and lean forward to see if his clothes were dry.

"Maybe. I can't do anything without some rest though. I could use a soldier pill, but something tells me I should be saving them."

The white dog nodded in agreement and nuzzled up beside his leg, trying to help him get warmer. Kiba grinned and rubbed the dog's fur affectionately. "Don't think this changes what happened before. That was a reckless thing for you to do."

Akamaru mumbled a bark beneath one of his legs.

"No, I'm not angry. Just…tired."

oOoOoOo

Once he had recovered sufficiently, and his clothes had been dried, Kiba stood up and stretched his arms sorely.

"Well, shall we see if we can't crack open this thing?"

Akamaru looked at him with suspicion, but Kiba stopped him before he could bark at him.

"I meant it figuratively, Akamaru. I don't have anything to smash it apart with anyway."

He walked up to the block of ice and attempted look at the person inside. It was strange that simple ice was so dark that he couldn't make out anything except the shape of a curled up person inside.

Kiba ran through a quick set of handseals and let out a slow breath. He wasn't very good at precise chakra control; his combat style required him to be sporadic with his chakra.

Placing his hands on the ice block, he ignored the chilling sensation on his hands and activated the technique. His chakra flowed slowly through his hands, and onto the block.

Initially nothing happened. It took him a few moments to realise he wasn't using enough chakra to manipulate his nature element. Surging more chakra through his hands, Kiba smiled as he heard a slight fizzle coming from his contact with the block.

It was one of his more inspired plans, though Kiba was a little concerned at how long it would take as the outer layer of the block near him melted away around his hands.

"Well how about that, it's working…"

As the ice melted beneath his fire-based chakra, Kiba began to get a better picture of who was inside the block. He still wasn't sure whether it was a good idea or not to free them, but considering his circumstance he saw little else to do.

The block began to melt away completely under his touch, and as the person was revealed his eyes widened in amazement. He turned to Akamaru as he nearly completed the process, indicating for him to transform and get prepared to receive the occupant.

He turned into a clone of Kiba as the block of ice melted entirely, the Inuzuka heir jumped forward to grab the curled up figure.

Sitting in his arms, unconscious, was a young girl that looked barely older than him. She had short spiky dark hair, and a long fur cloak with regular shinobi clothing, but they weren't the things he was so surprised about.

The young girl had a Konoha forehead protector across her forehead and a set of fang-like marks on her face.

She was quite light in his hands, though Kiba still shared the burden with Akamaru's transformed state so as to not cause her any discomfort.

"Akamaru…I think she is an Inuzuka. But how is that possible?"

The clone of Kiba growled under his breath as they brought her towards the fire. They could tell she was still breathing by the way her chest rose and fell through her black shirt, and while Kiba wasn't a trained medic he recognised that she was in a precarious state.

They lay her down on a soft part of the ground and stood back slightly. Kiba looked at his companion with a raised eyebrow. "Akamaru…look at her markings."

The clone of Kiba nodded before transforming back into his large white canine form. He reached up and nuzzled at Kiba's jacket.

The Inuzuka heir glared at him for a second before understanding what the dog meant. Using as much care as possible, he reached down and removed her cloak, placing his jacket around her shoulders and covered her up. He wasn't sure how long she had been imprisoned within the block of ice, but her clothes were drenched, though not as badly as his had been.

Kiba took a step back and looked down at her sleeping form. "She's got the black mark on her clan markings. That means…but I don't recognise her." He turned to Akamaru, "Do you?"

The white dog shook his head and sniffed at the young girl. He turned back to Kiba, barking several times before moving back towards the fire.

"Fair enough. What are we going to do with her?"

He didn't get a response from the white dog, which told him what Akamaru was thinking regardless.

"I wasn't going to…you have gotten really judgemental since Suna, you know that?"

Settling down beside his companion, Kiba looked over at the sleeping Inuzuka as he performed a slight transformation to hide his tail and ears.

"She's kind of cute, when you think about it. No, don't say anything. I don't want your opinion."

He heard a short grunt as Akamaru tried to fall asleep beside the fire created by Kiba's chakra.

The Inuzuka heir rolled his eyes again and placed his hands behind his head. "Charming."

* * *

><p>***Two Days after Separation***<p>

It was difficult to rest completely while in such a precarious place, but Kiba felt like he was getting used to the cold. He placed with the fire with a bored expression, feeling a tightening sensation in his stomach.

_I can't remember the last time I ate anything. I doubt there is anything on this mountain that is…_

He heard a shuffling sound inside the cave, but having not smelt any usual scents he turned without preparing himself for battle. To his surprise he saw the girl crouching in a corner of the cave, her hands extended into long claws as her tanned skin began to turn into black fur. Kiba was surprised by the look in her eyes.

She appeared to be both angry and confused, but her animalistic eyes were the same ones his clansman used to have.

He stood up quickly from his seated position, but placed up his hands to show he meant her no harm. "Easy now…I'm not here to hurt you."

The girl snarled and sniffed at the air, looking around the cave with darting eyes.

Kiba indicated to the fang marks on his face. "Are you an Inuzuka?"

She glared at him, but the black fur across her body receded quickly. He could tell she was weak on her feet, but there was still fight in her eyes.

"I…"

Her voice failed as she dropped to one knee, her claws receding back to short nails and she began breathing rapidly.

Kiba took a cautious step towards her. "I'm not going to hurt you…but you need to let me help you."

She looked up at him with confusion, but he sensed she was either taking a leap of faith with him or was desperate, as she relented and began to fall towards the solid ground.

He leapt forward and held her lightly by the shoulders, stopping her from falling completely. He gave her a more traditional Inuzuka greeting that his mother had taught him as he laid her back on the ground.

"When you get your voice back, we'll chat. For now, you need to rest a bit more."

The girl stared up at him, clearly unable to convey the thousand questions in her head. Her eyes began to droop and she fell asleep in his arms.

A sound distracted him from her as he turned to the cave entrance. He watched as Akamaru walked into the cave, a trio of hares caught in his mouth.

The white canine dropped the hares onto the ground and stared at the odd pair of shinobi.

Kiba placed the girl carefully back on the ground and stood up awkwardly, patting down his pants while he walked over to the entrance.

He picked up the hares and patted the dog on the head, turning back to look at the girl's strangely peaceful sleeping face.

"Good work, Akamaru. Something tells me things are about to get a bit more interesting around here."

Grabbing a stick from the ground, Kiba extended a claw and began preparing the hares to be cooked.

oOoOoOo

An hour later the girl woke up again, though this time she was far calmer than the first time. Kiba didn't notice her waking up; he was consumed in attempting to cook the hares Akamaru had brought over the fire, though with little success.

His white companion noticed her struggling to sit up, bounding over to her and sniffing her in an open manner. Unlike most people who first encountered the dog, she didn't shirk away from him, rather grimaced and looked over at the fire.

Akamaru barked to get Kiba's attention, which only served to distract the Inuzuka long enough for him to drop one of the hares into the fire. Kiba snarled angrily at the fire, but saw that it was completely ruined, so he wiped his hands on his shirt and walked around to see what the fuss was about.

His expression softened slightly when he saw there guest was awake, though he could tell she was quite confused.

"What's your name?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck sorely. It had been stiff since his fall, and had been bugging him all day.

The girl looked up at him and opened her mouth slightly. At first her voice didn't work at all, but after a few moments she regained the ability to talk.

"Na…Nagisa. I'm Nagisa."

Kiba grinned in his characteristic fashion. "I'm Kiba. That there is Akamaru."

Akamaru barked happily to accentuate the introduction. He offered his head to Nagisa, and while she appeared apprehensive she still patted him lightly on the head.

"It's…where am I?"

The Inuzuka heir indicated to the walls around them with a large gesture. "A cave, somewhere in the middle of a giant-ass mountain. We fished you out of a lake."

"A lake? That doesn't…argh…" She clutched at her head, feeling a sharp pain as her body attempted to readjust to not being frozen.

Kiba squatted down in front of her, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. "What's the last thing you remember?"

The dark haired girl closed her eyes in an attempt to remember what happened to her.

"I…was falling. It was…there was so much wind…I was spinning…and then there…so much water…"

Her shoulders seemed to shake uncontrollably, as if recalling the memory was enough to cause her to relive the experience. Kiba wasn't game enough to try and comfort her, but Akamaru had no problem nuzzling his head against her leg, barking softly in concern.

She put down her hands from her shoulders and looked at the white dog sadly. "That's nice of you to say."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at her immediately. "You can understand Akamaru? You are an Inuzuka, right?"

The girl nodded slowly. "I am. Though, I don't recognise your face."

"I was just about to say the same to you. I thought I knew everyone in the clan, before what happened."

"What…what happened?" she asked quietly. Her soft voice was nothing Kiba would have expected from an Inuzuka, although the look in her eyes was softer than most of his former clansmen's.

_She doesn't know about Konoha. I should be careful about what I say to her. _

He grinned and stood up, indicating to the fire where the last two hares were burning away. "We should sort out our food problem first, Nagisa. I'm sure we can work something out."

Looking at his happy expression, Nagisa could feel the confidence flowing from him. She wasn't sure who this boy was, why he had the Inuzuka markings, and an Inuzuka hound, but the instinctive part of her trusted him.

Whether she could trust his cooking, was still up for debate.

oOoOoOo

The hares tasted awful, but after days without eating, Kiba wasn't in a position to complain. Nagisa hadn't touched her food; she claimed to not have an appetite though Kiba knew she was just being polite.

Akamaru had taken one sniff at the food and fled the cave quickly, Kiba figuring he was going to find his own food.

"So, I guess you've got a lot of questions, huh?"

Nagisa nodded slowly, bringing his jacket around her shoulders tightly. Her fur cloak had been destroyed when she had been frozen, and when she had offered to give it back Kiba had told her she was being ridiculous.

"You aren't wearing a forehead protector" she observed quietly.

Kiba looked up at his forehead before nodding quickly, picking at his teeth with a claw. "That was out of necessity. Our group didn't want anyone to know we came from Konoha."

"Missing-nin?"

"Ah, not really. It's…a long story, I guess."

She sniffed slightly at the air, turning to him with a frown. "You are deceiving me."

_Can she smell the transformation? Mother said it was possible to smell chakra, but I've never seen it before. Akamaru can smell chakra levels, but never when an actually technique is used._

He nodded apologetically and stood up from his seat. "Sorry, I'll cancel it. I just didn't want to frighten you."

A small cloud of smoke covered his body as he returned to his 'original' state. His ears pocked out through his spiky hair while his grey tail appeared behind him.

Kiba felt a strange blush coming across his face, though he fought it back with some effort. "I just thought…"

She stood up from her seat slowly, taking a step towards him to examine his animal-like ears. Kiba felt tiny under her gaze, despite being taller than her, but he could see she wasn't apprehensive about his appearance, merely curious.

"You underwent a partial transformation."

Kiba nodded as his tail flicked about behind him with a mind of its own. "Akamaru and I performed a technique we…weren't ready for. This is the result."

She went up to touch the corner of his ears, but stopped herself and stood back with her hands at her sides. "And you don't know how to reverse it?"

Kiba grinned and ran a hand through his tail. "I dunno, it's kind of useful. The ears can hear particularly well and…yeah."

Looking into his eyes for a few seconds, her face broke out into a tiny smile for a second before turning back to her usual sad appearance. "You are…strange, Kiba."

The Inuzuka heir shrugged and sat back down beside the fire. "I do what I can. I suppose we should…talk about Konoha, huh?"

"That would be good. I'm guessing I wasn't in that ice for just a few days."

"Before we do, how did you survive that? I meant you hear tales of that kind of thing, but I can't think of anyway anyone could survive."

Nagisa looked down at her hands, still feeling a slight chill from her long incubation. "When I…fell, I covered my body in chakra. It was a…desperate attempt, but I thought…"

Kiba's eyes widened, "That's impressive. I suppose you knew that was the only way to survive."

"What happened with the War? Did we win?"

"The War? Wait, do you mean the Third Shinobi War?" Kiba's eyes unfocused as he tried to remember what he had been told about that time. "We didn't win. There was a…truce, I think. But that was a long time ago, why do you ask?"

Nagisa's expression darkened immediately as she stared at the rocky ground beneath her boots. "When I fell, we were still fighting it. How many years has it been since then?"

Kiba thought about it for a few seconds, history had never been his strong suit. "Fourte…fifteen years? Maybe longer, I can't say. It was before I was born though."

"Fifteen years…" Nagisa brought up her legs to her chest and held them close. For a shinobi, fifteen years was a very long time, in a profession that had a high casualty rate. "What about the rest of my team? Mikoto…Jito…Kakashi…"

"You knew Kakashi-sensei? I guess you must have worked with him during the war then."

Upon hearing that her eyes lit up immediately as she stared at him intently. "Kakashi is alive? Then…he survived the mission. Thank god…"

_Though fifteen years…he's probably forgotten all about me…_

Kiba noticed her change in expression but chose not to comment on it, rather choosing a different topic altogether. "You said your name was Nagisa right? I remember everyone in the clan from up to a certain point, and I don't think your name was ever mentioned."

She shook her head and leaned back, placing an arm over one leg while staring at the fire. "It wouldn't have been. I was an…outcast."

"Because of your markings? I know they are the marks of grieving."

Nagisa reached up and touched her cheeks lightly, still feeling the dull ache of the markings she had done just before their mission. "It was before…but I lost my companions during the war. I…"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's fine. You speak your mind." She looked away from him for a second. "A true Inuzuka" she said under her breath.

His ears heard what she said, and he could hear the pain in her voice. The clan had done something to this girl, and for some reason that angered Kiba greatly. Before Konoha had been destroyed he had only started to learn how the Inuzuka clan worked, but there had been some things he hadn't agreed with even then.

"I'm sorry I brought it up. I'm sure this has been difficult for you."

_It feels weird talking like this. I'm never this polite…_

"I'm fine. They are old grievances." She let out a slow breath and looked over at him, seeing his tail flick around with a mind of its own. "Tell me about you, Kiba. And why you have a tattoo of the Leaf as opposed to a forehead protector."

"You know about the tattoo? Ah, you can smell the ink, right. I tell you, when I got it, it drove Akamaru absolutely insane."

She didn't say anything in response, simply looking at him silently.

"I guess I should tell you. Hmm…where to begin. Ah! I suppose you should know what happened when our group left Suna after the Chuunin Exams…"

oOoOoOo

"And then I woke up on this bloody mountain, and yeah, that's about it."

Kiba had watched her face as he had told her about Konoha, and how she looked like she had been expecting it, but was still shocked in response.

"So the village…the clan…"

"Yeah. It…hasn't been easy." Kiba could feel those horrible feelings he had felt when he'd first learnt about his mother and sister's deaths, but after a year he had learnt to push them down into the back of his mind. They still lingered, but it was easier to deal with this way.

Nagisa felt at his jacket around her shoulders, rubbing the fur between her fingers. "So…how many of us are left?"

"Hmm, let me think. Me, Akamaru, Shino, Hinata…just under twenty. Though some of us decided to retire, as I told you."

"Twenty…out of a village of thousands…"

Kiba nodded sadly, "Yeah. We weren't sure what to do after that…and to be honest I have no idea what I'm doing here either."

For a few minutes they sat in silence, neither of them sure what to say next. Luckily they didn't have to as they both sensed Akamaru returning to the cave.

The white dog trotted up to the cave, barking happily to Kiba before looking at Nagisa questioningly.

"That's nice, Akamaru. Did you find a way out?" asked the Inuzuka heir.

Akamaru barked at Kiba a few times before settling down beside Nagisa, mumbling as she ran a hand across his back.

Kiba rolled his eyes and crossed his arms at the scene. "Nice to know where your priorities are, Akamaru."

The white dog barked at him before nuzzling into Nagisa's leg. The young girl smiled at their interaction and continued to pat the dog's fur.

_These guys are…very strange. But there's something…comforting about this…_

Kiba stood up from his seat and stretched his arms. He wasn't used to sitting in one place for such a long time, and all he wanted to do was run around for a little bit, thought that could be because he could feel his brain freezing in place.

Looking out at the entrance, Kiba flexed his hands slowly. "I'm gonna go have a look around. If there is a way out, then it might be around here."

Akamaru looked up under Nagisa's hand, but before he could get up Kiba put up a hand to stop him. "No, Akamaru. You stay here and keep her safe. I just want to take a look around."

Nagisa felt a bit embarrassed, but seeing the look on Kiba's face she saw that he was also embarrassed by what he had just said. "Are you sure? I could…"

"Don't be silly." He indicated to the fire with a hand, "Someone's gotta keep the fire going. Besides, I hate being cooped up for long periods of time."

"O…okay then." She saw him walk towards the entrance, and a thought came to her. "Wait, Kiba."

The Inuzuka heir turned around with a confused look, "What is it?"

She didn't get up from her position, but moving her arms around she shouldered off his jacket and offered it up to him.

Kiba put up his hands, "No, no. You should…"

"Take the jacket, Kiba. You need it more than I do."

He stared at her, but upon seeing the look in her eyes he relented and took the jacket from her hands. "I'll be back soon" he said, throwing the jacket across his shoulders before leaving the cave.

Nagisa smiled at his stubborn nature and turned back to Akamaru, who was sleeping beside her legs. Looking at the fire, she wondered what she was going to do next.

"I guess…this isn't so bad" she said to herself, scratching Akamaru's head affectionately.

* * *

><p>***Four Days after Separation***<p>

Kiba looked up at the clouds with a long sigh. "Does the sun even exist in these parts?"

Akamaru barked and dug at the snow underneath their feet, while Nagisa looked up as well. They had been travelling downwards from the frozen lake for two days since Kiba had discovered that they were still on the mountain itself.

"The Land of Snow only sees sunlight every few months."

"So this is the Land of Snow. Do you know how high this mountain actually goes?"

She shrugged and continued walking through the dense snow. "My team went from the other side, which had a path."

"So we are forced to do this the hard way. Fantastic."

Kiba walked after her, as Akamaru walked by her side. If it had been anyone else, he would have been concerned at how quickly his white companion had taken a liking to her, but as an Inuzuka it was only natural for her to be like that.

Looking around on the ground, Kiba grinned slowly and scooped up a small ball of snow. With little effort the snowball slammed into Akamaru's back, causing the white dog to turn around with a growl.

Kiba whistled inconspicuously, making no small effort to hide his grin. Akamaru trotted up to him and stood in front of him, staring into his eyes.

Nagisa turned to watch, curious as to why Kiba had thrown a snowball in the first place.

Quicker than Kiba could react, Akamaru ran up a long line of urine over his pants. Kiba jumped back immediately with a yell, kicking up snow at the dog in defence while holding his pants like they were on fire.

"Aw, it's seeping through and everything…"

Akamaru barked loudly and moved back to stand beside Nagisa, barking again before sitting down.

Kiba looked up at the two of them with a depressed face, "Don't tell me you are in on this too, Nagisa."

Unsure how to respond, Nagisa simply shrugged again and adopted a slow smile on her face.

Throwing his hands up in disgust, Kiba tried to use snow to cover up the stain, as the other two kept walking towards the path they had determined was the way down.

After another hour of walking they came to a small alcove near the edge of the cliff facing. Both Nagisa and Kiba had recovered sufficiently, but moving through the mountain was slow going since the snowstorms were so frequent.

Just before they went to settle down for a rest, Kiba's ears perked up and he looked around the area quickly.

"What is it?" asked Nagisa, unable to smell anything to cause such a reaction.

Kiba sniffed at the air as well, but using his advanced hearing he was able to determine the area he was hearing the odd sound from. He indicated to the two of them to follow him as he jumped high onto a ridge above them and began moving along the side carefully.

Nagisa looked up at him with confusion, but upon seeing Akamaru scale the distance easily she joined them as well, feeling like she was following an animal that had just found something shiny.

After a minute she caught up to the two of them, her eyes widened at what she saw.

In a small area protected from the storm was a pack of dead arctic wolves in a circle, covered in shuriken and kunai. Both the Inuzuka's felt their anger spiking at the scene; they both hated the idea of an animal dying, particularly at the hands of a shinobi.

"What happened here?" asked Nagisa, clenching her fists angrily.

Kiba walked up to the scene, looking carefully at the bodies. It was a safe bet to assume the wolves were killed by shinobi from the local area, but that wasn't what had drawn him there.

It didn't take long for him to notice that one of the smaller wolves that looked only a few years old had no injuries at all. It was also a complete dark shade of grey compared to the white and light blue of the other wolves.

Kiba indicated to it with a finger, "This one's still alive."

The wolf didn't make a move, though Kiba could smell the fear surrounding it.

Nagisa joined him quickly and knelt down next to the wolf. "Is it hurt? Why isn't it moving?"

Their canine companion kept to the edge, not wanting to antagonise the likely traumatised animal.

"I'm not sure. It…"

Kiba was cut off as the grey wolf cub perked up immediately and glared at the two of them through dark yellow eyes. It snarled for a moment before sniffing cautiously, seemingly relaxing slightly when it recognised a more animalistic smell to the two of them.

"What should we do?" asked Kiba, seeing that while the wolf wasn't injured, it was clearly under stress.

Feeling unsure of what else to do, Nagisa leaned forward and offered a hand to the grey wolf. She knew what it was like for people to die around you, and felt an odd sense of companionship.

The wolf stood a slight step forward, sniffing at her hand cautiously. It appeared apprehensive at first, but after a few moments it began licking her hand with a tired expression.

Nagisa smiled warmly as the wolf showed its affection, while the other Inuzuka grinned and stood up slowly. "It appears to have taken a liking to you, Nagisa."

"Yeah…"

She moved her hand up and rubbed the wolf's head, smiling as she remembered the first time she had met her previous companions. As she saw the two hounds in her mind her expression immediately darkened, the memory of them being killed by Sasori's puppets was something she had been seeing constantly since coming to the mountain all those years ago.

As if sensing the change in her disposition, the wolf reached up and bit her on the hand, drawing blood. She grimaced in pain, but wasn't angry at the action.

It had woken her up from her memories.

Beside her, Kiba barked out a short laugh. "Haha, it must really like you."

The grey wolf released her hand and looked over at him for a second before walking forward and letting out a short burst of growls before placing its head beside Nagisa's leg.

Nagisa smiled warmly in response and rubbed its head affectionately. "Yes, I agree. But he's not all bad."

Kiba frowned and looked over at Akamaru for a second before turning back to the odd pair. "Did you understand what it said?"

Nagisa nodded slowly and turned to him, "The clan used to teach us many different languages. I'm surprised you don't understand her either."

"Her?" Kiba sighed and indicated to the area around them. "We should go back down. This place is depressing the hell out of me."

Nagisa nodded in agreement and reached out, clutching the wolf around its sides. The wolf seemed to be okay with her picking it up, though it gave Kiba a dirty look before closing its eyes and nuzzling itself into her chest.

The Inuzuka girl stood up slowly and smiled again, feeling happier than she had felt in a while.

"You gonna be alright?" asked Kiba, unsure what to make of the quickly developed bond.

"Yeah…" Nagisa turned to the wolf in her hands and breathed out slowly. "Her name is Yuki."

oOoOoOo

***Five Days after Separation***

It had been odd at first, but as they walked through the snow Kiba had to admit they were a reasonable looking group. While the grey wolf was still cautious around Kiba, it seemed to have connected easily with Nagisa, to the point that it reminded him of the way he used to act with Akamaru, before he started to become as big as a horse. He hadn't noticed it until Naruto had pointed it out, though he couldn't stop noticing it now.

Yuki had taken to Akamaru cautiously at first, but the two animals seemed to communicate well as they walked in front of the two Inuzuka.

Nagisa frowned and tapped Kiba on the shoulder as they continued to walk through the snow.

Kiba nodded and turned to her at a whisper. "I know. They've been following us for an hour."

"Should we escape?" she asked quietly.

The Inuzuka heir frowned and looked at the two animals trotting away in front of them. Yuki wasn't full sized, but she was bigger than Akamaru was during the Chuunin Exams in Suna.

He shook his head and motioned for her to keep walking. "We are outnumbered, outmatched, and it's favourable terrain for them."

"Agreed" said Nagisa.

After a few minutes the two animals stopped walking and turned back to their companions, with the two Inuzuka nodded in response and stopping as well. Neither of them had weapons to speak of, since Kiba had lost his weapons pouch in his fall, but for their clan that wasn't a factor.

"Do we fight?"

Kiba watched as dozens of shinobi appeared in the area around them, with a variety of weapons pointed at the four of them. They all wore the four dotted forehead protector he had seen before, and from the reaction of Akamaru they could tell that every shinobi was at least ANBU level.

A large man pointed a gauntlet at Kiba with a snarl. "You are surrounded. Drop any weapons you have, or we will destroy you."

Nagisa shared a look with Kiba for a second before nodding and turning to the man who had made the declaration.

"We have no weapons. We are just travellers in this area."

The shinobi scoffed and pointed to the dark haired girl, "And we are just meant to believe that? Just because Konoha has been destroyed, doesn't mean you Konoha shinobi have the right to prance around in our territory."

Kiba snarled loudly and extended his claws threatening. "Just try us, fat man! I'll tear you to shreds!"

He went to leap at them, but Nagisa put up a hand to stop him. She turned to him with a quiet whisper. "Calm yourself. We wouldn't survive. There are other battles to be fought."

He looked at her with fury in his eyes, but found himself agreeing with her. Kiba retracted his claws and swore under his breath, sensing Akamaru and Yuki coming up between the two of them. He relaxed his posture and motioned to the apparent leader.

"We surrender."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Hands up anyone who thought Nagisa was really dead.

Yeah, that's what I thought. It wasn't very subtle, since I came to enjoy writing her character. It's difficult to write a quiet character, but she seems to be quite simple. This wasn't my attempt at an Obito either; she was always going to be back.

It's pretty strange writing conversation between a person and a dog that can only bark in response.

Next week will also be Kiba's.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	42. Chapter 39 KIBA Icy Prison

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 39 – Kiba – Icy Prison

**A/N**: I would warn against some gore, but there has been worse earlier in the story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the minor villages would be more than background.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Waking up on a snow-covered mountain, Kiba and Akamaru found themselves unsure of what had happened to separate them from their companions. Once they found shelter in a cave from a deadly snowstorm, they were confronted by a Snow shinobi who Kiba was forced to kill in self-defence. After a day of trudging through the horrible weather, Akamaru and Kiba decided to take a 'leap' of faith, moving down the mountain at a frightening pace, straight into a ice-covered lake. After recovering from his injuries, Kiba retrieved a strange ice block from the bottom of the lake, and to their surprise it contained a shinobi he hadn't met before, Inuzuka Nagisa. She was confused at first, but after an explanation she understood what had happened from fifteen years ago with her mission with Kakashi. She decided to travel with Kiba, and during their descent of the mountain they found a wolf cub that took a liking to Nagisa, who joined their odd group. Just as they had set a decent pace, the group was surrounded by Snow shinobi. Nagisa talked Kiba down from fighting, and they surrendered to their forces.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***One Week after Separation***<p>

Kiba grimaced as he was pushed to the ground, his eyes still covered by the blindfold they had put on him when they had surrendered.

"Oh, tough guy huh?! Take off my cuffs, and let's see how much of a badass you are! Go on and do it! I'll kick your…"

"He's gone, Kiba" came a soft voice near him. He recognised Nagisa's voice, and then wondered why he hadn't smelled her scent until she had interrupted him.

Flipping around while trying to maintain his balance, Kiba tried to find the source of her voice. "Can you see? I've got this stupid blindfold on, and my hands are cuffed."

He felt a soft pair of hands on the sides of his head, but he didn't recoil as Nagisa removed the blindfold from his face.

She stepped back with the black cloth in her hands with a tired smile. "Maybe you shouldn't have bitten that shinobi, Kiba."

Kiba grinned wildly in response, "He was searching places that shouldn't be searched."

Nagisa gave him a stare, but understood his frustration. She hadn't been cuffed like Kiba until they had gotten close to the shinobi village, but she had suffered some of the more…enthusiastic types of searches.

Looking around Kiba could see that he had been shoved into a moderately sized prison cell. There were three walls covered in ice-like concrete, and a wall of prison bars that Kiba recognised as the type that prevented chakra from passing through them.

He frowned when he thought it was only the two of them in the cell, until he saw Akamaru lounging in the corner with Yuki sitting on top sleeping quietly.

"Did I…miss something?"

Nagisa shook her head and leaned against the nearby wall, pulling his jacket tighter around her shoulders. "Not really. It's difficult to tell where they took us since I was also blindfolded."

Kiba swore under his breath and turned to face his back to her. "Can you get these off?"

She looked down at his hands, seeing that his hands were bound by a pair of chakra-dampening handcuffs, though the design was far more complex than she remembered. "Um…doubtful. Considering how annoyed they were with you, these will probably hurt you if I try."

"Fantastic" said Kiba sarcastically. He glanced over at their animal companions, finding it difficult to get worked up when he looked at their peaceful expressions. "How is it possible for them to be so calm in this situation?"

"The guards gave them something to knock them out. Apparently Akamaru is more like his partner than I initially thought."

Kiba walked over and sat down beside the animals, grimacing as he scraped his hands on the wall. "Yeah, that sounds like him. What about Yuki?"

His clansman shrugged and stared out at the bars. "No clue. So…what are we going to do?"

Kiba stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're asking me? You're the Chuunin; shouldn't you be taking charge, or something?"

There was a look in her eyes that he couldn't quite place, though he could tell he had unintentionally hit a nerve. Nagisa reached out and rubbed Yuki's fur affectionately, as if to try and put her mind in a different place.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Kiba let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. In a quick motion that hurt his shoulders something horrible, Kiba jumped through the gaps between his arms, pulling his hands up to his front.

He flexed his hands through his cuffs and showed them to Nagisa. For some reason it reminded her of when Yuki had attempted to give her a 'present' of a dead hare. She gave him a tired glare, but Kiba refused to curb his enthusiasm.

"Alright, so let's start our plan to escape."

He attempted to mould a small amount of chakra, but a large jolt of electricity shot straight up his spine, causing him to seize slightly before wavering on his feet. "Okay…so that isn't going to work."

Nagisa sniffed at the air, ignoring the smell of Kiba that had been surrounding her since he had refused to let her give it back to him when they had started travelling. She figured it was some kind of bravado since Kiba felt the cold as much as she did, but she appreciated the sentiment.

"Someone's coming."

"Yeah. Can you move?"

Nagisa stood up and flexed a hand. "No problem."

A few minutes later a loud group of footsteps came towards their prison. They revealed themselves as three tall Snow shinobi, who appeared extremely serious despite being concealed by ANBU masks.

They didn't seem to care that Kiba had shifted the position of his hands, though it did cause them to be a point of interest as they opened the cell door.

The middle ANBU pointed to Kiba with a gloved hand. "You. Come with us."

Kiba looked over at Nagisa for a second before nodding slightly and turning back to the ANBU. "Fine. But leave the others out of this."

The ANBU reached out and grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt. "Don't try to order us around, punk. This isn't your little cave. We hold all the cards."

The Inuzuka heir looked down at the hand on his shirt, and then stared straight into the ANBU mask with a grin that showed his long teeth. "Didn't the other guards tell you?"

In an action that in hindsight wasn't particularly smart, Kiba leaned down and sank his teeth straight into the ANBU's hand.

The Snow shinobi cried out in pain and tried to pull his hands away from the animalistic shinobi. Unluckily for him, Kiba shifted his mouth with his hands and tore off three of his fingers, taking particular care to spit them into his mask, causing them to bounce onto the ground.

Kiba grinned with the shinobi's blood dripping from his mouth. "I'm a biter."

His joy was short-lived as the other two ANBU slammed their fists into his face, driving him into the hard ground. The ANBU he had maimed fell back out of the cell as his companions stomped on Kiba's head angrily.

At the other side of the cell, Nagisa immediately leapt to defend her clansman, but with a turn of his head Kiba gave her a look that told her to stay back.

She snarled and clenched her fists at her sides in frustration.

_This better be part of your plan, Kiba. I can use chakra…so I could take them out before they could do anything about it. This better not be just your bravado. That's what got my father killed. _

One of the ANBU picked up Kiba from the ground and held him at a length cautiously. The Inuzuka heir still had his insane grin on his face, despite being covered in cuts and bruises from their beating.

He spat a glob of blood into the ANBU's mask. "Is that all you've got?"

"Take him to Huron" demanded the maimed ANBU, walking back into prison cell to pick up his slightly chewed fingers.

Nagisa could only watch as they dragged him out of the cell and slammed the door shut. One of the ANBU stared at her for a few seconds before joining his companions down the corridor.

The young Inuzuka brought up her knees and bit into her leg in a vain attempt to keep herself from worrying about the stupid shinobi that had saved her life.

_He's such a typical Inuzuka. He's going to get himself killed…and us too. _

* * *

><p>From his travel between the prison cell and the room he had been taken to, Kiba didn't struggle one bit in the ANBU's grip. They had beaten him pretty badly after he had bitten off the ANBU shinobi's fingers, and when they strapped him into a chair in the middle of a darkened room they had been extra cautious when removing his handcuffs.<p>

After they had secured him to the point that he couldn't move even a finger or have a dirty thought, they left him alone in the room. Kiba snarled and tried to struggle against his bonds, but was still unable to mould any chakra.

_Okay, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all…_

For two hours he sat in the room by himself, unable to break himself loose. His stomach growled loudly; they hadn't been given any food or water during their travel to the prison, which Kiba had figured was a tactic to make them more vulnerable and willing to cooperate.

It was a shame he didn't like cooperating with authorities.

Just as Kiba felt like he was going to fall asleep from boredom, the door opened and a bright light shone straight onto his face, blinding him temporarily.

"So you are the shinobi who killed Rouga Nadare."

Kiba squinted his eyes to see a blurry figure standing in the light, closing the door behind him and lighting up the room with a flick of a switch.

"Don't know who you talking about" he said with a bored tone.

The Snow shinobi frowned and walked over to a table to Kiba's side. "Indeed. So, we have many questions for you. However we are not new to this game."

He produced a large curved blade and showed it to Kiba with a sadistic smile. "You will surely resist. This is good. I enjoy a challenge when it comes to my art."

Kiba gritted his teeth and stared at the closed door, not giving the torturer the satisfaction of his gaze. The Snow shinobi let out a short laugh and began his work.

* * *

><p>Nagisa had just woken up from a troubled bout of sleep when two ANBU shinobi opened the door to their prison cell and through Kiba's body into it without any resemblance of ceremony. Jumping to her feet she caught the Inuzuka heir in her hands and grimaced as she slammed into the wall, his body was heavier than she would have expected.<p>

"Kiba? Kiba!" She laid him on the ground and looked over his body in horror.

A long cut ran across his forehead, with a cross-section on his left cheek and a cut over the side of his right eye, all bleeding heavily into the ground beneath him. She didn't have to look to guess that he had similar wounds on his chest and other areas as well.

She put her head on his chest, sighing in relief when she heard a heartbeat coming from him. Looking up she nodded to the recently woken Akamaru and Yuki, who both expressed their relief as well.

Nagisa leaned backwards and placed a hand on Kiba's head, running it through his spiky hair, taking care not to touch his ears that had had their ends cut off.

"Stupid man…why didn't you just answer their questions…"

Kiba groaned in her arms and opened his eyes slowly. "They…didn't…ask any…"

His clansman shook her head and shifted back so that he could sit up, though Kiba chose to simply lie on the ground in pain.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, concerned. It wasn't because she was particularly attached to the Inuzuka heir; she didn't get close to people on principle.

Kiba brought up one of his hands, flexing his fingers slowly. "I've been better. It…argh…my face is killing me."

His companion grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "You aren't going to be winning any modelling contests any time soon."

From the ground Kiba grinned tiredly and turned his head slightly to see Akamaru walking up to him with a slight whimper. He rolled his eyes, which was extremely painful, and turned his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Didn't need to know that, Akamaru."

"Did you find out anything? I assume that's why you went crazy on that guy."

Kiba shrugged with a groan, "Not really. All I know is that they seem to really hate us for some reason…and I think I unintentionally killed one of their leaders."

Standing up to check if anyone is coming, Nagisa propped Kiba up and placed his jacket over his shoulders. "Are you going to be able to stand?"

Kiba put a hand on his face, nearly jumping when he saw how much blood was on it. The torture had lasted for such a long time that Kiba had passed out from the pain, but as he struggled to his feet he realised that he was stronger than he thought.

"I…think so. Do you have a plan?"

Nagisa nodded and went to tell him, but stopped herself when she looked at his body. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Kiba…your tail…"

He nodded grimly, "Yeah…I know."

At the back of Kiba's pants was a short bleeding stump that was barely three inches long, with virtually no fur left.

Akamaru moved through the prison cell and sniffed at his long-time friend's rear end. He looked up at Kiba with a sad-sounding bark, but Kiba simply smiled and rubbed his head.

"I'm okay, buddy. I'll figure something out."

He turned to Nagisa, flexing his hands painfully. "I don't have much chakra, so I don't know how much use I'll be to you."

She understood, but indicated to his jacket pocket nonetheless. "There is a soldier pill in there. Eat that, and you should be right until we get out of here."

Reaching into his jacket that had been around her shoulders, Kiba produced the pill with a look of suspicion on his face. "They took all our weapons, how did you keep this?"

"You don't want to know" was her response, turning away from him to hide a slight blush, fingering her own soldier pill in her hands.

Kiba wasn't going to complain, though if he found the bastard that cut off his tail and did all the torture to him, he had plenty of things he wanted to talk to him about.

"So what's this plan of yours?"

oOoOoOo

Kiba stood in the corner of the prison cell with his arms crossed. The cuts on his face had stopped bleeding, though he knew they were going to scar horribly, but Kiba was attempting to convey that he was more injured than he really was.

Akamaru and Yuki were lying in the same position that they were in when they were drugged, the two of them working under the assumption that the Snow shinobi were underestimating the two animals.

Nagisa was nowhere to be found within the prison cell.

A pair of ANBU guards came around a nearby corner and looked into the prison cell, noticing that Kiba was huddled in the corner and shivering.

"Who does he want next?"

"He wants the girl. Something about a special…wait…"

One of the ANBU unlocked the door and stepped in with his fists clenched. "Where is the girl?"

His companion came into the cell as well and slammed an arm into Kiba's front, pushing him up against the wall. "Where did the other Konoha shinobi go?"

Kiba opened his eyes to give the ANBU a dead-looking expression. He wasn't much of an actor, but he figured he was giving off a good enough image of a broken man when the ANBU turned to his companion and said that he wasn't going to get anything from him.

"She didn't just disappear…"

The ANBU holding him up looked back at Kiba and placed a hand to his throat. "Then I'll take out this boy and…"

Through his mask Kiba couldn't see the ANBU's face, but judging from the hand protruding from his chest, he guessed he was in a lot of pain. Nagisa removed her hand as Kiba pushed the ANBU off him and faced the other shocked ANBU shinobi.

He snarled under his mask and went to place his hands together into a handseal, but was bowled to the ground by a large white bullet that bit into his chest. Before he could try and fight off Akamaru, the wolf stood on top of his mask and with a tooth-filled grin bit down onto his neck, killing him instantly.

Kiba rubbed his neck sorely, still feeling the weight of the ANBU's hand. "Well that worked. I've never heard of an Inuzuka that could turn invisible."

Watching Yuki eating part of the ANBU's chest loudly, Nagisa turned back to face Kiba, feeling Akamaru come up beside her. She put up an arm near Kiba, letting it slowly cover itself with black fur before disappearing completely as if it was never there.

"It's not invisibility. Like your t…it's a transformation, of sorts."

"That's odd. Wait, is that why you were an outcast?" She hadn't given him details, but given his mother's attitude as the clan head, he could see why someone quiet like Nagisa wouldn't be welcome.

Nagisa turned away from him and put her hands on the bars. "I don't want to talk about it."

Patting Akamaru with a smile, Kiba walked past her and bumped her on the shoulder before walking out of the prison cell. "Well, as the current head of the clan, consider yourself fully reinstated. Now get Yuki off that guy so we can get out of here."

His female companion looked at him arguing with his white dog outside the cell with a mix of confusion and admiration. He was exactly like the clan head that had essentially thrown her out of the clan, yet he treated her like blood. It wasn't romantic, she knew what that was like and Kiba didn't treat her the way Inuzuka's generally did when they were looking for a partner. Rather it was like how he acted with Akamaru, and how she was with Yuki.

_I reckon Riyo and Yakiro would have loved him. They were always so adventurous. _

She was brought out of her memories as she felt a pressure against her leg. Looking down she saw Yuki standing beside her, licking her paws innocently like she hadn't just eaten her fill of a human being in a few seconds.

Smiling in a way she hadn't done since they had been taken prisoner, Nagisa whispered to Yuki quietly before the two of them followed the only male survivor of the Inuzuka clan.

* * *

><p>Nagisa and Yuki ran down a corridor quickly, following Kiba and Akamaru's scents as they looked for their first objective. Despite both of them having taken soldier pills, they weren't particularly high on strength since they had been starved for a long time, and when Akamaru had suggested they find some food first they all agreed quickly.<p>

The female pair rounded a corner and skidded to a halt when they saw Kiba and Akamaru hiding behind a wall, indicating for them to be quiet and join them.

"What is it?" she asked with a whisper.

He indicated with six fingers before pointing to the area in front of them. Nagisa nodded in acknowledgement and signalled back with a question.

Kiba shook his head and bit at his lip, "No, there are no other ways. Akamaru says the food stores are through there."

He turned to her as an idea popped into his head. "Can you?"

She was already gone.

Kiba chuckled silently and leaned back on the wall, placing his hand on Akamaru's head. His body was still aching in pain from his torture session, something he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. It seemed like a good idea at the time to try and get some information from an interrogation, but he hadn't expected the Snow shinobi to be so quick to turn to torture, without even asking any questions.

He placed his hand at the back of his pants, feeling that the stump had finally stopped bleeding, though it stung like nothing he'd felt before. Despite not being born with it, Kiba found himself grieving for the long bushy limb.

A shape suddenly appeared in the corner of his eyes, causing him to jump in surprise as Nagisa knelt down beside him with a grin.

Kiba shook his head and stared out across the corridor, "Are we clear?"

She nodded and helped him to his feet, smiling to Yuki before indicating for them to continue onwards.

As they passed the six bodies on the ground, Kiba had to admire her handiwork. They were all killed cleanly and he hadn't heard a sound through his highly tuned ears. He was grateful that they hadn't been cut off like his tail, though they still stung from the tips being 'trimmed'.

Kiba let out a low whistle and turned to his clansman. "You are pretty useful in a dodgy situation."

His female companion smiled with thanks and opened a nearby door, poking her head in before coming back out and indicating to him quickly.

Kiba grinned wildly and slapped Akamaru's back happily. "I'm gonna stuff my face!"

Akamaru barked out in unison and bounded after his companions, wondering whether there was any dog-appropriate food in the storage room they had discovered.

* * *

><p>Nagisa took a slug of her water bottle and swung her legs on top of her box like she used when she was a little girl. They hadn't covered their tracks particularly well, but they had trapped the door in case they were discovered.<p>

Walking up towards her, Yuki growled softly and indicated her head to the door.

Her female companion nodded in understanding and turned to their teammates. "She's right. We should keep moving."

Both Kiba and Akamaru turned around with sad expressions, legs of meat hanging out of their mouths. Kiba tore a chunk out of the ham and swallowed it loudly.

"Really? But we aren't full yet."

Nagisa gave him a look that only someone who had been an older sister could perform. "It's pretty difficult to see the difference between the two of you."

Akamaru barked happily, while Kiba grinned and began stuffing chunks of meat into his jacket. "I take that as a compliment. Apparently Akamaru is insulted though."

They disabled the traps on the door and checked the corridor before moving through the halls again. Akamaru was at the front, followed by Kiba, since they figured they were the quickest attackers in the group, though he didn't know too much about Nagisa's abilities. Behind the two of them ran Yuki, who had proven herself to be a formidable ally despite not being a chakra-using creature like Akamaru. Nagisa brought up the rear, using her Chuunin training to set small sets of traps behind them so that if they were followed it was not going to end well for the Snow shinobi.

oOoOoOo

After an hour of moving through the prison walls, the group skidded to a halt as they discovered some of Nagisa's traps in front of them.

"We are going in circles" she observed quietly.

Kiba swore and looked back at the corridor they had just come through. "All these damn hallways look the same. I haven't seen anything resembling an exit."

Just in front of him, Akamaru barked twice and scratched at his head.

"He's right; it's strange that we haven't found any other shinobi since breaking out."

Behind them Nagisa placed her hands together in a handseal and tapped herself on the shoulder. She let out a long sigh and shook her head. "It's not a genjutsu. We are just…lost."

Kiba sighed and sniffed at the air. "There are no enemies around here."

He ruffled his hair in frustration before clapped his hands together and summoning up a moderate amount of chakra. "Akamaru!"

The white dog barked in acknowledgement and moved to his side.

Nagisa looked confused as she saw the two of them turning to face the nearby wall, until it clicked.

"No wait…"

"GATSUUGA!"

The two whirlwinds slammed into the walls, driving straight through to the other side. Nagisa and Yuki stared at each for a second before the young Inuzuka shrugged and began crawling through the hole created by Kiba and Akamaru.

The two of them emerged in a large courtyard covered in a thin layer of snow. Nagisa took in a deep breath of the fresh air when she saw Kiba and Akamaru standing in the middle of the courtyard with grins on their faces.

"Well that worked" said Kiba.

Nagisa sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair. "I'm pretty sure everyone heard that, Kiba."

He looked back to her and chuckled while looking around the area. "Totally worth it."

Both Akamaru and Yuki warned the two of them as they sensed a large group of shinobi heading their way. Kiba extended his claws and widened his grin.

"I could use a good fight" he said happily.

Nagisa went to tell him that they shouldn't, but when looked at his back and saw his stump even someone like her felt her blood pumping. Her own hands matched his as they stood back to back and let Yuki run to her side as Akamaru stood beside Kiba.

A dozen Snow shinobi appeared from on top of the buildings around them, holding a collection of kunai and swords against them with hate-filled expressions.

At Kiba's side, Akamaru growled softly and picked out his first target.

"Yeah, I'm getting that impression as well" agreed Kiba.

He turned his head slightly to say something to Nagisa, but only grinned when he saw her on all fours beside Yuki growling angrily, in a move that was very familiar to him.

"I guess you can't always do things from the shadows, huh?"

Nagisa didn't look at him as she nodded in reply. "My father used to say sometimes you have to get your claws bloody."

Kiba bared his teeth at the Snow shinobi coming towards him, feeling his adrenaline spike as his own beast technique activated.

"Smart man."

The two Inuzukas leapt at their opponents with glee, their animal companions quickly following in step.

oOoOoOo

Kiba moved quicker than the Snow shinobi were able to track, slamming his shoulder into the closest shinobi. The Snow shinobi fell back with a roar of pain, but before he could pick himself up Kiba had moved on to the next shinobi as Akamaru leapt on the fallen shinobi and tore into his front with his own claws.

Three shinobi working in unison clapped their hands together and sent a massive dragon-like creature made of snow straight at Kiba. The Inuzuka shook his head in amazement and simply ran away from the seemingly straightforward attack.

The Snow shinobi snarled at him and all placed their hands towards him, directing the dragon attack towards him. As they forced it to follow him, the attack gained speed, to the point that it was catching up to Kiba's enhanced speed.

The other two shinobi that had squared off against Kiba were fighting against Akamaru, and were struggling against the white dog's speed and ferocity.

Seeing as he wasn't going to be able to get away from the attack without confronting it, Kiba skidded along the snow-covered ground and clapped his clawed hands together quickly before aiming himself at the dragon coming towards him.

Kiba flared up with fire as he span into a whirlwind straight into the dragon's head. The fire tore straight through the snow-like attack, but as Kiba went a third into it he hit solid rock and bounced back to the ground holding his head gingerly.

"What the hell?"

Turning to the shinobi that had made the attack, Kiba saw that they were already replicating it by running through the same handseals as before. It was difficult to make out at first, but Kiba noticed them running through several Earth-element seals.

_An attack within an attack. They knew I was going to attack it head-on with a fire-based attack. These shinobi are smarter than we thought, and they can clearly tell what my strengths are. _

Kiba grinned when he saw Akamaru dispatching his two opponents, causing the young Inuzuka to rethink his strategy so that he didn't look bad in front of his companions.

_Okay Kiba, new way to fight. Ignore the attack, and go straight for the users. _

Leaving out his fire element from his chakra, Kiba pushed as much chakra into his legs as possible and activated a taijutsu technique he had learnt from Lee. He vanished from sight, causing the Snow shinobi to cancel their technique and search around for him in the courtyard.

Kiba stood behind them with an amused look on his face, resisting the urge to stand right next to one of them and yell boo.

_It would be a useful technique if it didn't use so much chakra. _

Seeing no sense in wasting time, Kiba silently took out three kunai that he had taken from the bodies within the building and threw them at the Snow shinobi, hitting each of them in the back of the neck, killing them instantly.

Kiba breathed out slowly to re-centre himself and moved to the bodies to see if they had anything useful on them. He couldn't smell any enemies nearby, and if they had any soldier pills he figured it was worth the effort.

oOoOoOo

Unlike Kiba, even though she was using the Shikyaku no Jutsu, Nagisa still used her head in battle rather than relying mostly on instinct to make up for her immense speed.

The six Snow shinobi facing against her and Yuki threw a hail of projectiles at the two of them, holding nothing back as they attempted to hit the fast-moving shinobi.

As they ran towards the Snow shinobi, Nagisa growled to Yuki to tell her to move out of the path of the projectiles, thought the snow wolf simply let out a howl in response and began running quicker, easily able to dodge the shuriken and kunai.

Nagisa moved to a path that wouldn't be hit by the projectiles and used her claws to catch a pair of kunai, throwing them into the path of two shuriken that were about to hit Yuki in the side.

The young Inuzuka crossed her hands across her chest as she jumped high into the air and moulded chakra straight through her arms.

"Inuzuka Ougi: Juuji no Kuuki. (Secret Inuzuka Technique: Air Cross)

Two dark claw-like shadows slammed straight into three of the Snow shinobi, causing them to fall apart where they had been sliced.

The other three Snow shinobi hesitated as they saw their companions torn to shreds and in that moment the two females struck.

From behind Yuki sprung onto the back of one of the Snow shinobi, roaring as she clamped her jaws around the shinobi's throat.

Nagisa snarled and dropped to the ground, using her hands to leap off the ground and dodge a kunai thrown at her, as the two shinobi put up their swords in defence. In a showy move that would have made her teacher from twenty years ago cry in his grave if he had been buried, Nagisa used a Bunshin to force the first shinobi to strike it with his sword.

As the sword destroyed her clone, Nagisa jumped up and used the sword as a stepping stone to leap straight at the shinobi, placing her clawed hand on his face lightly before appeared on the other side with a stoic expression.

The Snow shinobi's companion stared at him for a second, wondering what effect the attack had on him, though it became clear as Nagisa ran towards him and he saw one of her hands was drenched in blood.

The Snow shinobi's companion's head bounced onto the ground as Nagisa disappeared from sight and appeared in front of him, driving both her hands into his chest and causing him to fall back with blood spurting out his front.

Nagisa stepped back from her fallen opposition and looked over at Yuki, who was walking up to her with a blood-covered grin. She barked at the Inuzuka and cocked her head slightly.

She reached out and patted the wolf's head with a smile. "Yes, I'm very proud of you."

Turning around she saw Kiba walking towards the two of them with his hands in his jacket pockets, Akamaru barking at him by his side, causing Kiba to laugh in response.

"You guys done?" he asked as they came up to their companions.

Nagisa nodded and nearly jumped when he threw a soldier pill at her. She looked down at it with suspicion. "What's this for?"

He shrugged and looked around at the buildings. "Precaution. Where do you think we are?"

The snow-covered courtyard held three large buildings that all appeared similar to ones she recognised from some of her old missions, though they seemed out of place on the back of a tall mountain.

"Maybe a small village, though we travelled too long for it to be close to that mountain we were on."

Kiba acknowledged her point, though upon jumping towards the nearby cliff's edge he saw that they were both wrong.

Just below their position was a large collection of buildings, spread out across a wide area at the base of a familiar-looking mountain. The Inuzuka heir's eyes widened at what he saw, causing him to wave Nagisa and the others over to take a look.

"What is it?" she asked, jumping over to stand beside him.

She didn't bother waiting for a response when she saw what had been so concerning to him.

Staring up at them was nearly two hundred shinobi, with a full contingent of ANBU warriors preparing to jump up and attack them.

Almost like he was in slow motion, Kiba flipped around and motioned for the others to follow him.  
>"Run, run, run!"<p>

The four of them sprinted away towards the buildings in the courtyard as fast as possible as the first group of Snow shinobi leapt up and began their pursuit.

"Any ideas where we are going?" asked Kiba as they leapt off the building towards the mountain neither of them really wanted to go to.

Nagisa ducked under a thrown kunai and leapt from one rock to another up the mountain. "We need to hide and regroup."

Kiba spun around and saw over fifty Snow shinobi preparing themselves to follow them up the mountain side. He gritted his teeth and stopped running to let the other three pass by him.

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Nagisa as she ran past him.

Kiba pulled out a soldier pill from his jacket and threw it into his mouth, clapping his hands together into a handseal. "Covering our escape."

_Sasuke this better work or I'm going to kick your ass._

He placed a hand to his mouth and brought up his chakra from his stomach.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A wide spread fireball emerged from his lips, covering the village below him quickly. Kiba nodded in agreement when he saw the shapes within the flames falling back to avoid the attack.

_Not bad for a first try. _

He turned around and sprinted up the mountain to catch up to his companions, pushing what little chakra he had left into his legs to increase his speed.

Nagisa didn't agree with his methods, but when they moved around the snow-covered slopes to the side of the mountain she had to admit it was the perfect distraction for them to hide in the mountainside.

The four of them tried to put as much distance between them and the Snow village as possible, but it became quickly apparent that the mountain was far too long for them to find a field to properly utilise their speed advantage.

"Hey, I have an inherently stupid question."

Nagisa turned to him with a frown, jumping along the snow with little effort. "What is it?"

The Inuzuka heir turned to their two animal companions, indicating to the grey wolf running alongside Akamaru. "How can Yuki keep up with us? Akamaru I can understand, because he's a chakra-user. But Yuki's just a normal wolf, right?"

Looking over at the grey wolf, Nagisa wondered about that as well. It had been bothering her since it became clear that Yuki could understand them talking, but as they moved considerably faster than a normal shinobi could she found it peculiar.

"I'm not sure…" was all she could respond with as she saw a frozen waterfall a few hundred metres away.

Kiba noticed it at the same time she did, recognising it as a good place to get their bearings before they ran out of steam. He patted Akamaru to indicate for him to follow him, while Nagisa let out a low growl telling Yuki to make for the waterfall.

The four of them moved quickly under the frozen water, discovering a small crevice large enough to fit ten people. The two animals stood prepared for any intruders while the two Inuzuka set up traps with what little gear they had.

Once they had secured the location, Kiba let out a silent sigh and leaned back on the cold wall behind him, stretching out his legs. "It's just one thing after another. I need a vacation."

Nagisa smiled and rubbed her legs sorely, thankful that their animal companions had offered to take the first watch to ensure that no Snow shinobi found their location. "I know how you feel."

"They are going to find us eventually. They seem to really hate people from Konoha. I got that much from the torturer."

"We need to find a way out of this area, without being pursued by those shinobi" said Nagisa.

Kiba let out another sigh and stared up at the makeshift roof. "We don't know the area though. They have all the advantages."

Scratching at the side of her neck, Nagisa found herself agreeing with him. However when she looked over at him and saw the marks on his face that were beginning to scar, an idea came to her.

"We need information."

Kiba stared at her with a confused look, "What's your point?"

She stood up from the ground and patted Yuki on the back. "We should capture one of them, and get them to tell us how to escape."

"That's not a bad idea. Give me a few minutes and I should…"

Nagisa shook her head and indicated for him to sit back down. "This is my area of expertise, Kiba. Leave it to me."

He went to argue with her, but she gave him a look that reminded him of the last time his mother had gotten angry with him.

"Ok…okay then. Will you be okay?"

Nagisa grinned and threw the soldier pill he had given her into her mouth, biting into it with her canines. Her skin began to turn into black fur as she disappeared from sight.

"I'll be back soon."

Kiba shook his head and scratched at one of the wounds on his face. "I guess I should get used to that kind of thing."

Akamaru turned around and let out a slow growl in judgement.

The Inuzuka heir rolled his eyes and placed his hands behind his head. "It's not like that, Akamaru. She's…"

The white dog barked twice.

"I suppose that's accurate. Though I doubt she'd like your labelling her like that."

Akamaru barked in response and went back to smelling the area for any unknown scents. Beside him, their grey companion cocked her head slightly before going back to covering her area.

oOoOoOo

Two hours later the two animals growled at Kiba, waking him up from his slumber. The Inuzuka heir rubbed his eyes tiredly as he saw Nagisa slowly appear between the animals, dragging a Snow shinobi by the scruff of his neck. He had short red hair and a terrified look in his eyes, but it was clear that he was a shinobi by his forehead protector.

Nagisa had taped his mouth shut, and when she threw him onto the ground Kiba could see that he didn't have a scratch on him.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side" he said, standing up beside her so that they were both looking down at the Snow shinobi.

Nagisa grinned showing her teeth down at the shinobi, "I'm more Inuzuka than you might think."

Extending the nails on her hand and placing it at the shinobi's throat, Nagisa leaned down and put on her scariest face.

"If you scream, I will slit your throat immediately. Do you understand?"

Seeing the look in Nagisa's eyes, the redhead nodded in compliance. The female Inuzuka reached down and tore the tape away from his mouth, keeping her claws near his throat to maintain the threat.

Kiba grinned at the success and crossed his arms in an attempt to look more threatening. "Okay, let's start with something simple. What's your name, kid?"

"Azuma…wait, why should I tell you anything?" His voice trembled at the look Nagisa gave him, so he directed his gaze at the decidedly less-threatening face of Kiba.

Nagisa conceded his point, waving her free hand at Yuki and beckoning her over. The grey wolf trotted over to the interrogators and bared her teeth threateningly at the Snow shinobi.

The female Inuzuka grinned wildly in a way that made Kiba extremely proud as she indicated to her female companion.

"If you don't talk, then I'll have my friend here bite off your favourite bits and upwards from there until there is nothing left."

He was trying to put up a serious façade, but Kiba couldn't help but grimace at Nagisa's threat. Even at the edge of their small cave Akamaru grimaced in turn and turned away from the others.

The redhead nearly choked on his tongue as he stammered his understanding of the situation. He wasn't restrained in any way beside her claw at his throat, but it had the same effect as when Kiba was strapped to the torturer's chair.

Nagisa leaned down closer to the Snow shinobi, "Now that we have come to an understanding, why don't we start again. Who are you again?"

The redhead stammered initially, but relented and began explaining himself.

"My name is Azuma Hiriko. I'm a Genin at Yukigakure. I…um…I'm not a very interesting person…"

"We figured as much" said Kiba with a tsk.

Ignoring Kiba, Nagisa continued her interrogation. "Why do Snow shinobi hate us?"

Despite his situation, the redhead changed his expression to one of pure hatred. "Because it was people like you who stole our princess away! We swore to never forgive Konoha for this transgression!"

The two Inuzukas looked at each other with confusion for a few seconds before turning back to their prisoner.

"When did this happen?" asked Kiba.

The redhead bulked slightly under his gaze, "A…about ten years ago…I think…"

Nagisa frowned, as it was after she had been frozen, while Kiba had no idea since he was only five at the time. Having gotten that out of the way, they turned to the main reason for capturing the Genin.

"Is there a way out of this area without going through the village?"

The Genin trembled slightly, "I don't know what…"

He cried out in pain as Nagisa drove her nails deep into his legs, causing blood to trickle onto the floor below.

She didn't like this part of being a shinobi, but as a veteran of the War she understood why such measures were necessary at times.

"Let's try that again. How do we escape this place?"

The redhead went to stall again, but when she dug her nails in again he relented and stared at her animalistic eyes. "From here, the only way out is up and around the mountain. Not that it'll work, since we know this area better than you ever could."

Kiba placed his hand to his chin and considered their situation. "Well that's not an option. We spent all that time coming down that monster; I'd rather not go back up it."

His female companion nodded in agreement. Her journey up the mountain fifteen years ago hadn't been easy either, though with Mikoto controlling the winds she'd had an easier time of it.

"Agreed" nodded Nagisa.

She turned to Azuma. "There are no other ways out of here? Does your village not have escape tunnels in case of enemy attacks?"

Her prisoner shook his head under her grip. "We don't. Our village was built over the ruins of a destroyed city, so we evacuate in other ways."

Nagisa looked up at Kiba, "What do you think?"

"It could work. It'd mean fighting our way through, but I reckon we could do it."

"I think it's worth the risk."

Azuma frowned, unable to understand what they were talking about.

Nagisa turned back to him and removed her nails from his leg. "Where is the entrance to this city?"

oOoOoOo

Kiba bit at his thumb, smelling a large group of shinobi near their position. "We need to get moving" he said quietly.

His female clansman nodded in agreement and placed the tape back over Azuma's mouth. "Yeah."

"What are we going to do with him? We can't leave him here; he might tell others where we are going."

The Snow shinobi's eyes widened and he struggled to speak under the tape.

Drawing back a hand, Nagisa quickly dragged her claw across the redhead shinobi's neck, causing him to choke on his own blood and die.

Kiba recoiled slightly at the action, wary of the fact that it wasn't the first time she had done something like that. "That was…sudden."

"Do you disagree?" she asked, wiping her hand on her shirt.

He gave her a disapproving look and crossed his arms. "Well, no. But…"

Nagisa stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You lived in times of peace, Kiba. This is how the world really is."

Remembering their battle at the Village of Whirlpools, Kiba found himself understanding her position. "You have a point. I don't like it though."

"Neither do I. But this is the world we live in. Can you take care of the body?"

Kiba nodded, preparing to place his hands together until he realised that it would draw attention to them. "How are we going to get there? It's right in the middle of the village."

Nagisa placed her hands together and transformed into a woman in her thirties with a Snow shinobi outfit on. "When we were fleeing I saw several of the shinobi using wolves as their companions. I think Yuki and I can sneak through."

Kiba turned to their animal companions, watching as Akamaru transformed into the redhead Nagisa had just killed. It wasn't a perfect transformation by any stretch of the imagination, but Kiba would have struggled to tell the difference without smell, and that was good enough for him.

"The two of you should move out first, so that we don't draw suspicion" said Kiba, running chakra through his hands slowly.

Nagisa and Yuki both bobbed their heads in acknowledgement. As she walked past him, Nagisa patted him on the shoulder and left their dwelling with her wolf companion.

Kiba looked over at his transformed companion, seeing Akamaru growl a question to his with the Snow shinobi's mouth.

"She's nothing like her. And remember, we aren't to talk about her like that."

He placed a hand on the body, setting it on fire with his chakra before transforming into a generic Snow shinobi.

"If we start talking about her, she'll come out of her grave and hunt us down."

He shivered at the thought and indicated for Akamaru to move out, as the fire on the body was already melting some of the waterfall. It was unspoken between the two of them, but they wished each other luck and went their separate ways, so that they could each make their way to the target area.

_Get there quickly, Akamaru. You too, Nagisa…and Yuki. I lost enough family when Konoha was destroyed; I'm not going to let you die either. _

* * *

><p>Kiba had to supress a grin as he walked through the Snow village. He hadn't been challenged once, not even a shifty look from the few Snow shinobi that had remained in their village. It seemed to him that almost every shinobi in the village had left to pursue them, which seemed irresponsible to the Inuzuka heir.<p>

_They must really hate us, to nearly empty their village. Or they are desperate._

While walking through the village, Kiba had to admit it was starkly different from what he remembered of Konoha. Each building was placed close together with bridges going from one to the other, in a way that seemed very accommodating for their surroundings.

Despite himself, Kiba stared up at one of the buildings as if he wasn't in the middle of enemy territory.

_If I was a passive observer, I wouldn't think this is their main village. In fact, I doubt it really is. _

Remembering where he was, Kiba took an account of where he was in relation to his goal and kept moving through the village. He bit at his lip as he felt his chakra reserves dipping slightly, the soldier pill having worn off a while ago.

Seeing a small courtyard near a well, Kiba recognised that he was close to his goal. He couldn't see the others, but their plan had been for them to go on ahead, and he would catch up.

Even through his transformation, Kiba still had his heightened sense of smell, so when a Snow shinobi followed him even when he made several 'wrong' turns, he knew it was something he wasn't going to be able to shake easily.

"It would appear we have underestimated you people."

Kiba turned around slowly and went to finger the kunai he had in his back pocket. Down near one of the buildings was an ANBU shinobi who had the visage of dragon with a dark red edge around his mask.

Baring his teeth, Kiba undid the transformation and squared off against the Snow shinobi. "When did you figure it out?"

The ANBU shinobi scoffed and clenched a fist in his direction. "Since the beginning. I was curious to see what you were up to, and it's clear you don't have particularly evil intentions."

"Then why do you pursue us? Why did you torture me for a crime committed by someone else?"

Placing his hands together slowly, the ANBU shrugged in response. "This is how the world is. I am curious as to how you escaped your village's destruction, but I think a little test is in order."

Kiba had to resist the urge to groan, he always seemed to find the most troubling opponents at the worst time. His chakra was frustratingly low, but it wasn't the first time he had been driven into a corner.

The Inuzuka heir bit his lip until he drew blood, reaching up to swipe it onto his thumb. He was running a gamble, but if his guess was correct, he wasn't dealing with the average ANBU shinobi.

As if that was something he could stand up against in a one-on-one battle to begin with.

Adopting a wild expression his mother had taught to him at the tender age of two, Kiba ran through the handseals rapidly and placed his hands on the ground.

"Ninpou Kuchiyose: Kakekomi no Ookami!" (Summoning Technique: Stampede of Wolves)

A large cloud of smoke appeared in front of Kiba as dozens of black and grey wolves ran straight towards the ANBU shinobi.

The wolves dove at the Snow shinobi, trying to bite at his throat with extended fangs. Scoffing again under his mask, the ANBU warrior simply shifted his position and dodged the wolves' attacks. Weaving his hands dramatically, he reached out and touched the wolves lightly, causing them to dissipate into small clouds of smoke.

"Is this it?" he said with a bored tone.

As the last wolf fell to his effortless blows, the ANBU looked over the battlefield through his mask. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing nothing out of the ordinary left behind.

He cracked his knuckles in amusement. "Clever girl."

Running through a quick set of handseals, he extended one of his hands. A long sword of ice appeared in his hand, which he twirled quickly before running deeper into the village.

oOoOoOo

Kiba's back slammed against the wall as he clutched his side painfully. Across from him the ANBU warrior licked his blood off his sword and stood opposite him.

"You have some interesting abilities, boy. But you cannot stand up to a real shinobi."

The Inuzuka heir snarled at the insult and swiped at the ANBU with a claw, but his attack was easily batted away.

The Snow shinobi pulled up his sword and aimed it at Kiba's throat. "It's a shame. You were amusing, while it lasted."

Kiba eyes widened as he felt fear for the first time in a while, sensing that there wasn't a way for him to get out of this situation.

Just as he could feel the weight of inevitability crash into him, Kiba's nose picked up a scent he had become familiar with. A grin came across his face, the confidence allowing him to stare straight into the ANBU's mask.

"It's been a pleasure, ANBU man. But I think this fight is over."

Even without an obvious facial expression, he could tell the ANBU shinobi was confused by his sudden confidence. He didn't have time to wonder though as an arm appeared around his throat.

In one quick motion Nagisa slit his throat, jumping back as the ANBU's death throes nearly decapitated her with his sword.

Kiba breathed out in relief and sank to the ground, looking at Nagisa with a tired smile.

The female Inuzuka wiped her hand on her shirt and walked up to Kiba, offering her hand to help him up. "So much for the quiet approach."

"He had me tagged from the get-go."

"Can you move?" she asked, pointing to his injured side.

Kiba heaved one foot in front of the other, grimacing at the pain shooting up his side. "I'll live. The others?"

Ignoring the Inuzuka's injured pride; Nagisa placed his arm around her shoulder and helped him walk towards their goal.

"If my mother could see me…she would roll around on the ground with laughter."

Nagisa grinned as they came up to the well. "Tsume always had a twisted sense of humour."

"You knew my mother?"

"Another time, Kiba. Another time."

She reached into the well and removed the lid covering it, helping Kiba to climb down the ladder that was revealed within. The Inuzuka heir climbed down carefully, before Nagisa followed afterwards and closed the lid behind her. They knew they were likely going to be followed at some point, but they were betting on the confusion giving them enough of a head-start.

After a painstaking fifteen minutes descending on the ladder, Kiba's feet hit solid ground, though he couldn't see anything at all.

Taking care to feel his way around the solid ground, Kiba stepped back from the ladder to allow Nagisa room to follow him down, though he was nearly barrelled over as a large white dog tackled him to the ground.

Kiba chuckled in relief and patted at the figure licking his face, trying to force his eyes to adjust to the dark. "It's alright, mate. I'm okay."

"Do you have any chakra?" asked Nagisa, landing behind him softly.

Kiba shook his head, and then realised she couldn't see him either. "Bone dry. I had thought of lighting the area with a fire technique, but I'm coming up empty."

He heard a soft sigh as Nagisa sat down beside him, smelling Yuki patrolling the area with her heightened senses. "Then let's…just…rest for a few minutes."

Kiba chuckled in amusement, "So even you run out of steam eventually?"

"I'm…not a machine, Kiba. I just…need to sleep for a…"

Her sentence trailed off as Kiba felt her head land on his shoulder. He smiled as his own fatigue threatened to overwhelm him, placing his arm around his clansman so that they were both comfortable.

"We've got it tough, don't we, Nagisa-neesan?"

With their eyes better at seeing in the dark, their animal companions shared a look at the odd image in front of them.

Akamaru barked happily and settled down next to Kiba's legs.

Yuki growled softly and pawed at the ground before turning around to look at partially destroyed city they had arrived at.

It expanded far beyond the wolf's sight, and looked entirely out of place to be underneath a snow-drenched mountain. There were dozens of rundown grey buildings that seemed unlike anything that she had seen before. She turned to ask Nagisa if she had seen anything like it before, but remembered that the Inuzuka girl had fallen asleep.

Seeing little else to do except wait and patrol the area, Yuki went about her duties, taking care to kick Akamaru as a reminder that he had to protect the two of them while she was gone.

The white dog glared at the wolf before letting out a mumble that was close to a sigh, standing up and stretching his stiff legs. As Yuki began searching the area, Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba and began climbing back up the ladder to seal it up.

He had to protect his family after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

That's all for the Inuzukas, at least for this part of the story. I could write their travels in the city, but it wouldn't justify another chapter, and when they come back into the story it's much more interesting this way, in my opinion.

Oh, and I may have called the Snow shinobi Azuma because I was watching Yakitate! Japan at the time.

The next two chapters are Kakashi's. His story does draw away from the main story quite a bit, but screw it this is fanfiction. We have fun with these kinds of things.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	43. Chapter 40 KAKA Harsh Realities

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 40 – Kakashi – Harsh Realities

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Rinnegan wouldn't be related to the Sharingan.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

When they surrendered themselves to the Snow shinobi, Kiba and Nagisa expected to be taken to the village for interrogation. They were correct, but the Snow shinobi decided to torture Kiba without asking any questions after he fought back. Resolving to escape, the two of them with their animal companions killed the guards and fled into the village. They fought against the shinobi in the village but were forced to flee back towards the mountain when the entire village came after them. Nagisa captured a Genin and forced him to explain why the Snow shinobi hated them so much, and he generously told them of a way to escape the area. The group split up and infiltrated the village in disguise; however Kiba was forced into battle with the leader of their ANBU, who nearly killed him. Just as he was about to be cut down he was saved by Nagisa, who killed the ANBU and led the wounded Kiba down a ladder that led into an underground destroyed city beneath the mountain range. Having secured their freedom for the time being, Kiba and Nagisa collapsed in exhaustion, thankful that they had their companions to keep them safe.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***One Month after Separation***<p>

The room had a strange mixture of hope and defeat as Kakashi walked into it to save himself from the rain. The occupants didn't even notice his entrance, though the man behind the counter gave him a quick glare before going back to washing the glass in his hands.

Seeing nothing else to do with his time until the storm passed, Kakashi sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.

"You got money?" asked the bartender with a grunt.

Reaching into his pocket, Kakashi placed a small collection of notes on the counter. He'd been wasting his money for the past month, though for someone of his skills it wouldn't be hard to find work as a mercenary or such.

The bartender looked at him with suspicion, but took the money nonetheless and filled a glass before pushing it over. Kakashi went to pull down his mask, but stopped himself when he realised he had taken it off a while ago.

Since he was passing himself off as a civilian, he felt it wasn't right to be wearing a mask, or his Konoha flak jacket. It had been many years since he had started wearing the mask, but Kakashi felt like enough time had passed.

_I forgave you long ago, father. Besides, enough years have passed that no-one would recognise you in my features. And it's not like the others are around to be surprised anymore. _

He scratched at his chin, feeling subconscious without his mask on. The whiskey in front of him was of a strangely high quality for this part of the world. Since his time around the world as an ANBU he'd come to an understanding of alcohol, and was normally quite strict with it because of his shinobi duties.

Staring into the glass, Kakashi let out a slow sigh and let the alcohol do its work.

_I'm the only one left, so who cares?_

It was difficult to tell when the day became night due to the constant rain outside, but Kakashi assumed the townsfolk were used it by the type of people that came in and out of the bar. Unlike normally, Kakashi felt no compulsion to track who was around him and be careful, since there was little risk of him being recognised.

_No mask, both eyes, no forehead protector…even I wouldn't notice me. _

He finished his third whiskey and asked for a bottle of sake. The bartender had been giving him shifty looks the whole time, but as long as Kakashi kept giving him money he kept giving him alcohol in response.

As the night went on the number of occupants in the bar increased, but Kakashi noticed that they weren't getting any louder like a normal bar would. Each group of people that came into the bar seemed to only be occupied with their own small social group, and didn't socialise with anyone else.

_I know bars are meant to be depressing, but this is just sad. _

The bartender looked up to the doorway, watching as a figure out of Kakashi's view walked in and sat down beside the silver haired Jounin.

"What are you having?" asked the bartender.

"Sake. Juyondai."

The person sitting beside Kakashi had a calm and serious voice, yet he could hear a slight feminine charm to it, in addition to something he recognised in his own voice that he couldn't quite place.

He turned to look, trying to be subtle about it since he'd had a few drinks. Sitting beside him was a woman in a plain dark blue outfit, looking like there was nothing in the world but her problems. From where he could see, she had short dark blue hair similar to Hinata's before she started to grow it out, and there was a calm disposition about her when she accepted her drink.

She sipped at the small cup and let out a long drawn sigh, placing her arms on the bar. She had lithe looking arms with amber fingernails on long fingers.

Kakashi smiled to himself and stared down at his own ordinary sake.

_I guess it's influencing me more than usual. I haven't leered at someone like that in years. _

The woman didn't say anything as she drank her sake. Several drunken men came up to her and tried to talk to her, but the blue haired woman ignored them, seemingly bound up in her own problems.

After she finished her whole bottle of sake in a short amount of time, she reached into her pocket to get more money, but let out a sigh when she realised she didn't have more.

"Done for the night?" asked the bartender.

She put her hands to her sides and stood up from the stool, "I suppose so…"

Beside her, Kakashi pushed a small pair of bills across the bar, "Another bottle of sake, for the lady."

The bartender rolled his eyes excessively and swiped the bills off the table before putting another bottle of Juyondai sake in front of her stool.

Sitting back down the woman turned to him with a confused smile, "Thank you."

He smiled back at her, feeling self-conscious without his mask in front of her. She had a beautiful face, but it was marred by the sadness in her amber eyes. However it wasn't her face that truly drew his attention, but it was the four lines on the forehead protector on her head.

_She's from Amegakure? So that's where I am…_

Taking the sake bottle and pouring the alcohol into her glass before pouring some into Kakashi's. "I don't recognise you. Are you new in town?"

"You could say that" said Kakashi, bowing his head in respect before tasting the sake. It had a rich fragrant taste that he hadn't experienced before, though that could have been because he rarely drank sake.

The woman watched him drink, feeling the strong alcohol taking its effect on her. "Have you…come here before?"

"First time," replied Kakashi. He wasn't sure whether it was the alcohol, or the fact that he wasn't sure whether he was the last shinobi from his village or not, but Kakashi no longer cared about being careful.

She took a sip from her sake and looked out at the rain through the open door, "Bit of a strange place to be visiting."

Kakashi let out a sad laugh and leaned back on his stool, "I guess I needed to get away. It's not like anyone's waiting for me."

"I can understand that," she replied. "It's been…bah, you don't want to hear me complain."

Looking into her sunken eyes, Kakashi agreed with her, he didn't, but was smart enough not to say that. He lifted up the bottle of sake that they had nearly finished together, "That's what the alcohol is for, right?"

She smiled at him in an attempt to seem happy, pushing at the piercing on her bottom lip with her tongue inside her mouth. "I guess we all have our things to drink for."

The night dragged on, and as the patrons of the bar slowly stumbled out into the rainy weather the odd pair kept drinking without saying anything to each other. For Kakashi it was less about fearing that he would act like a fool when he was drunk, but more about the fact that he didn't know what to say.

He'd been struggling with the fact that people seemed to continuously die around him, and the destruction of Konoha had nearly broken him. In fact, he was sure that if it wasn't for the fact that he had students to look after, he wouldn't have been to go on as he had.

Looking to his drinking companion, he noticed a deep blush across her features. He was sure he had a similar look on his face, but he didn't feel too impaired so he kept drinking.

"My friend is dying…"

The woman staring down at the clear liquid, almost like she hadn't realised she'd said it.

The Konoha Jounin stared at her with surprise, feeling his heart break at the slight quiver in her voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that," was all Kakashi could think of in response.

She swirled her cup of sake with a swagger. "Yeah…"

For a few minutes neither of them said anything. Upon hearing her say that, Kakashi felt all his bad memories come flooding back to him. The war, the wandering, and the month he spent trying to find his companions.

"I…don't have anyone left."

It didn't help much to admit it, but Kakashi didn't care. It was about time he said it to himself.

She looked at him with surprise, particularly when she recognised the same look in his dark eyes that she saw in the mirror. "I…don't know what to say."

With a grin he wouldn't have been able to pull off if he had his mask on; Kakashi offered her the remainder of the sake. "Another drink?"

She let him pour the alcohol into her glass with a drunken grin.

"Definitely."

* * *

><p>The first thing Kakashi felt was a throbbing pain in his head, but a short burst of chakra healed that up quickly. He opened his eyes and groaned as he sat up on the bed, feeling a set of silk blankets over his legs.<p>

Looking over to the other side of the bed, he grinned to himself as he saw the woman sitting on the edge of the bed. Her naked back was a thing of beauty, and Kakashi mentally high-fived himself before remembering that he wasn't a teenager anymore.

Besides, he wasn't a bragger.

He went to say something, but nothing came to mind. All he could think of was to swing his feet over the edge and sit on the other side, scratching at his chin. He still felt self-conscious without the mask, but tasks like the night before, and the early morning would have been very difficult with it on.

"I don't do that often."

Kakashi smiled and turned around, looking into the woman's eyes. "I was about to say the same thing."

His eyes had no choice but to wander, but the blue haired woman pulled up the blanket to cover her front subconsciously. She ran a hand through her hair with a tired expression on her face.

"I was looking forward to a good night's sleep…"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed, "Sorry about that…"

She waved a hand in front of her face, "No, no. It was my fault. I…well I have no reason."

"Best reason I ever heard." He reached out and offered her his hand, "Kakashi."

She smiled back, taking his hand with a slight nod. "It feels odd to do this now. I'm Konan."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, with Kakashi feeling her eyes running over the scar on his left eye. It had taken him several days to get used to always having proper vision again, as opposed to only occasionally, but he still felt strange without Obito's Sharingan.

Konan looked over at a clock on the wall, trying to conceal a panic as she stood up from the bed and ran over to her wardrobe.

She poked her head from behind the wardrobe door, "Sorry, I have to get to my duties."

He nodded his understanding and reached down to grab his pants. He'd never admit it, but it had been so long he'd wondered if he would have been able to perform, but since he'd heard no complaints, he felt he must have done alright.

Having finished putting his clothes on, Kakashi pulled his plated gloves over his hands and let out a long breath, looking around the room for the first time in proper light. It was still pouring rain outside, he figured the reason the shinobi village was called the Hidden Rain was more than figurative.

He stood up and stretched his arms, "Do you…want me to leave?"

She walked out of the wardrobe, buttoning up a robe that turned Kakashi's blood cold. "If you want, I don't mind. You might…what is it?"

_Don't panic, Kakashi. Keep calm. Centred. _

"Konan…are you part of the Akatsuki?"

The blue haired girl froze as she made a paper flower to sit in her hair. She put a hand behind her back, "Where did you hear that name?"

"I once knew a member of your organisation. He was…a good man."

Behind her back a small collection of paper began to appear, wavering in the air. "Kakashi…that name…you wouldn't be Hatake Kakashi of Konoha?"

Sensing her hostility, Kakashi took a cautious step backwards, "Perhaps. What's that to you?"

The paper began to whirlwind around Konan as her amber eyes darkened. "This man…are you acquainted with Uchiha Itachi?"

_I could lie, but she would see through it. How did I go from one extreme to the other?_

"We don't have to do this," he warned, hoping that she would listen to him.

He could tell that she was normally the calm and collected type, but the look she was giving him was one of pure hatred. She placed out a hand and swirled a large collection of paper around it.

"You are the reason he's going to die! I'll kill you!"

Her chakra spiked massively as a group of paper bombs went flying at Kakashi's face.

_Oh shi…_

* * *

><p>"Suiton: Mizuhashi!" (Water Element: Water Bridge)<p>

Kakashi flipped in the air and landed on the stream of water, sliding down towards the edge of the city as explosions rang his ears from behind him.

With the rain and the massive rivers of water near the roads, he had a large amount of water to use his ninjutsu, though for the past few minutes he'd just been fleeing.

Jumping off the water bridge he attached his feet to the side of a building with chakra, watching as Konan flew towards him with wings made of the same paper she'd been trying to kill him with. Despite the heavy rain, there was a small ray of sunlight shooting through behind her, as if following her flight path.

_She looks like a real angel. Well, if there ever was a time to go out, against someone like her…_

He could almost feel the slap on his back that Gai would have given him in such a situation. He hadn't voiced it to the others where they were together, but he missed the bizarre Jounin, and felt like he could really use someone like that in his current situation.

"FIGHT ME!" screamed the blue haired woman attacking him.

Looking up Kakashi realised that he'd been caught up in his memories, an action he'd been doing more and more since Konoha's destruction. Konan flew straight at him, a circle of concentrated papers appearing around one of her hands before she hurled it towards his head.

Kakashi pushed off the building and landed on a nearby ledge, watching as the chakram sliced through the stone of the large building and through to the other side.

He jumped away from the path of dozens of paper bombs towards the large lake surrounding the city and used chakra to keep himself afloat.

Looking up at the woman he had been acquainted with, Kakashi couldn't stop himself from admiring her passion. It was like she was a completely different person from the previous night and earlier morning, and her abilities were like nothing he had seen in a kunoichi.

He just wished those abilities weren't so hell bent on killing him.

Up in the air, Konan turned to see him fleeing away from the city. She'd only ever been this angry once before, but unlike then there was nobody to stop her. Using her wings to shoot through the air, she surrounded herself with sheets of paper, slowly turning them into deadly projectiles as she exited the city limits.

Kakashi stood on a half sunken pipe, watching as she sent her projectiles straight at him. He didn't want to fight her; he rather liked her though he couldn't quite work out why. However as he dodged the paper sheets and felt one of them slice across his cheek, he realised that if he was to survive he would need to take her down.

_Well, if she's got paper, then…_

He placed his hands together, feeling the knowledge of the technique come to his mind. Without his Sharingan he'd been afraid that he would lose a large portion of the skills he had copied.

"Katon: Karyuudan!" (Fire Element: Fire Dragon Bullet)

A large stream of fire shot out of his mouth at the flying shinobi, who immediately banked and put up her hands, shooting thousands of paper sheets at his attack.

Coated by the rain, the papers were slow to burn by Kakashi's attack. His fire stream was slowly pushed back by her attack, forcing the Konoha Jounin to leap back onto the water to avoid being shredded to pieces.

_How can her paper attacks be so powerful when soaked with water? I've never seen a ninjutsu like hers…let along to that extent. _

Kakashi put a hand towards the water, summoning his chakra to his hand before realising that with the rain pouring down over him he would suffer the effects of the technique as much as she might.

_Besides, without the Sharingan it's back to an incomplete technique. _

The projectiles stopped flying towards him and began to collect absurd amounts of paper around her wings. Her hair and robe were completely drenched, but Konan didn't care. Every fibre of her being was concentrating on catching the illusive Jounin and tearing him to pieces, even if it meant she had to go out with him.

She folded the papers into large spikes, sending them flying at Kakashi while still keeping herself afloat with her wings. The Jounin was slippery and able to dodge her attacks easily, but she noted that he hadn't attacked her in response after his fire defence had failed.

"Why won't you fight back?" she said through her teeth.

From behind her position, Kakashi had his hands together in a handseal. "I didn't come here to fight you. I didn't even know you were part of the Akatsuki."

She spun around and went to attack him again, but large tendrils of water came up from the lake and clutched at her wings. The Akatsuki female struggled under his water technique, but Kakashi held onto her tight as he brought her down to his level.

"Can we talk?" he asked, unsure of how to approach her.

Konan stared at him with a deadpan expression, her paper wings limp under the water tendrils. "No."

The Konoha Jounin felt a sting in his side, looking down to see a long paper-like spear poking through.

Behind him the original Konan placed a hand on his back. "There will be no talking."

"That's a shame. Because I really have no idea what's going on."

She turned around and frowned when she saw Kakashi rising out of the water a short distance away. The Kakashi she attacked disappeared into the water, which in turn released her paper clone from its grip.

"Why are you attacking me? We didn't set out to destroy Akatsuki, surely you must know that."

She glared at him, calculating her next move. He was a tough opponent, but Konan had faced worse.

Kakashi put up his arms in a non-aggressive motion. "Is this to do with your friend?"

"You were responsible for attacking our group, and condemning my friend to death," was her reply.

Remembering back to the battle they had conducted after the Kyuubi had been extracted, Kakashi tried to think of who she could be talking about.

_Itachi only told us about the members he knew about, she wasn't even mentioned. _

"I fought to defend my student, who had nearly been killed by your group. The only person I fought was Deidara, and he didn't seem like the type to associate with someone like you."

Her amber eyes seemed to penetrate straight through him, but years of experience told Kakashi that her anger was lessening.

Though, when she jumped back and sent dozens of paper shurikens at him he began to question his analysis.

_I can't use fire, lightning, or earth since there is no ground here. The genjutsu techniques I know that would affect someone of her calibre were all Sharingan techniques, and my water techniques clearly aren't up to par. _

Letting himself sink into the water, Kakashi created a small bubble of air around his face while swimming underneath the lake. He watched Konan leap back into the sky, using her impressive skills to ensure that he would be able to get close to him.

_What a scary user of techniques. I don't think I can win here, without my Sharingan. _

High above the lake, Konan looked around for him, frustrated that she was fighting such a slippery opponent. His words hung in her mind, eating away at her anger towards him.

Seeing that he wasn't going to come out and attack her, Konan decided towards a different approach.

Under the water, Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw her pulling a piece of paper from the flower on her hair and folding it manually with her hands.

Feeling a surge of self-preservation, Kakashi sank as quickly as his chakra allowed him to, in an attempt to put as much water between him and the woman trying to kill him as possible.

Once her piece of origami was complete, Konan dropped the paper bird towards the lake. She flew up as high as she could, wary of how powerful the technique was.

After a few seconds delay, the bird hit the water. Despite being made out of paper it swam easily through the water, to a depth appropriate before Konan detonated it.

Even slightly dampened by the water pressure, the explosion was on a massive scale. It rang out for several miles in every direction, blasting the lake apart. A large wave crashed over the city of Amegakure, causing little structural damage to the buildings, while the rest of the waves fell away from the city.

For a few seconds she could see all the way to the empty bottom of the lake, though she could barely make out a small shell of earth that she was sure contained the Jounin she had been trying to kill.

The water collapsed in on itself, with the rain attempting to fill what was destroyed by her explosion.

Konan floated down back to the water and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "Why won't this bastard die?"

Appearing slowly in front of her, Kakashi shook his silver hair in a vain attempt to dry it, looking at her with a sad smile.

"I won't die, not yet. Someone clearly thinks I haven't suffered enough."

For a split second Konan recognised herself in his voice, and she couldn't help but unclench her hands slightly. "What are you talking about?"

Sensing an opportunity, Kakashi let his eyes drop slightly since he sympathised with her frustration.

The frustration of not being able to save one's friends.

"I have watched everyone I cared about die in front of me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I recognise that you are in pain, but believe me when I say I know what you are going through."

"What do you suggest I do? Just let you leave?"

He could hear the wavering in her voice, though he didn't think he was home free just yet.

"How about we just talk? I can see that, like me, you have been fighting for too long. Why don't we try to act civilly?"

Konan dissipated her wings and felt her arms go limp at her sides. For some reason the rain felt heavier than it did a moment ago and Konan wanted nothing more than to sit down in a nice warm bath.

"Are we okay?" asked Kakashi cautiously.

Looking back at the city, Konan turned to him with a question. "You led me out of the city…why?"

Putting his hands into his pockets, Kakashi shrugged and began walking towards her. "I figured you were going to attack me with everything you had. I didn't want there to be any casualties."

Konan's expression softened as she was reminded of someone she had lost a long time ago.

_He's so different from him, and yet they have similar mindsets. _

Kakashi stopped a few metres away from Konan with a smile on his face. He was glad his judgement of her hadn't been completely inaccurate, though his previous experiences with kunoichi were sporadic at best.

"So, what now?"

"I want to make something clear. You helped Uchiha Itachi take down the Akatsuki over a year ago?"

Kakashi nodded, though he wanted to explain himself to the blue haired woman. "I only wanted to keep my student safe. I'll admit to knowing nothing about your organisation besides what Itachi told us."

"You aren't going to apologise?"

Kakashi smirked, remembering something his father had said to him before the incident that had caused his death. "A man takes responsibility for his actions, regardless of the outcome. If I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn't change my actions."

She stared at him with her amber eyes. It sounded like something her old teacher would say, and being a woman she knew the idea applied to her as well. Since that day, she'd been adrift without any idea of what to do with herself.

But looking at Kakashi, she felt like she could actually do something, though she didn't know what.

She let out a breath and began walking back to Amegakure.

"Follow me. There's someone you should meet."

With nothing else to do, and slightly intrigued, Kakashi walked at her side. "Who are we meeting?"

Konan couldn't help herself; a small smile grew across her face.

"God."

* * *

><p>The two of them walked through the rivers inside Amegakure, Kakashi noting that there were very few paths inside the actual city itself on the ground level.<p>

"Where are we going?"

Konan pointed to a building in the centre of the city, one that had no apparent entrances besides a ledge near the top. "He's in there."

"God lives in there? Kind of drab, don't you think?"

She looked at him with a calm expression, "Would you like to say he works in mysterious ways?"

Kakashi grinned as he cracked his neck, still aching after that last attack. He had been protected, but the impact was still enough for him to feel it down to his bones. "Somehow, I think I'll survive."

When they reached the building she turned around and faced him directly. "This is not a peaceful village, Kakashi. Unlike Konoha, we have never known what you would call peace."

"I wouldn't call what happened to us peaceful, Konan. Why are you telling me this?"

She pointed to her cloak, specifically at the red cloak near her stomach. "We created the Akatsuki a long time ago, to defend this country from our oppressors. When…our leader died, our order became more…desperate."

Kakashi listened silently, wondering how much of what she said was true or not.

_That goes in contrast to what Itachi told me, though he admitted to a lack of information when it came to the origins of Akatsuki._

"But at its core, we were a proud group. You need to remember that," finished Konan.

"Considering your previous companions, I'd say that you must have been quite desperate. But I can understand your position."

"Good. Follow me." She placed a hand on the building side, pushing through a small amount of chakra to peel away the large pieces of paper that made up the building's surface.

Looking up, Kakashi hid his surprise as he saw that most of the building was made out of the same material.

_She must have been holding back, particularly if she can do something like this. _

He glanced over at the lake around the city, where the waters were still raging around from their battle.

_Or she wasn't holding back, and I'm damn lucky. Either works. _

Konan turned to him while holding back a large piece of camouflaged paper, indicating for him to enter the building.

He couldn't see anything inside, but considering the entrance he wouldn't have expected anything less. Kakashi nodded to her and walked through.

Konan followed behind him and sealed the door behind her. The two shinobi stood in the darkness, with Kakashi attempting to use chakra to filter his eyesight.

"Is there a light switch or something?" he asked.

He heard two claps behind him, causing dozens of torches to light up in a long corridor in front of them. Kakashi swore silently as he felt a burn in his eyes at the sudden light.

Blinking rapidly he watched as Konan stood in front of him and indicated to the path ahead.

"A bit dramatic, isn't it?"

It was slight, but Kakashi could see a slight annoyance in her expression, though it was only for a second.

"Follow me."

Saying nothing more, Kakashi followed the robed woman, having no idea what to expect.

oOoOoOo

After ten minutes Kakashi had to admit he was becoming suspicious that Konan was just leading him around in circles. The building she had taken him into wasn't that big, but the torches seemed to be almost endless.

"Hey…"

"We are almost there," said Konan. She pointed to the area in front of them, "He's just through there."

"Just what am I…"

Kakashi swore as he slammed into an invisible wall, holding his face painfully. He looked over at Konan with a tired look, "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Walking past him, Konan placed her hand on the invisible wall, "I don't know what you are talking about."

The air shivered before transforming into a large steel door. Konan tilted her head and ran through a quick set of handseals before placing her hand in the middle of the steel.

"Place your hand on the door. If I don't register you, it'll kill you."

Kakashi followed her instructions, and after a few seconds he felt a small amount of chakra flow into the door before it opened slowly. "Your security is impressive. There are no other ways to get in here?"

"There are. But this is the simplest route."

Konan walked through the doorway, as Kakashi nearly took a double-take at what he saw inside.

The room was brightly lit, though he couldn't see where they could possibly be coming from. But it was the single figure in the room that drew his attention.

A skinny red haired man was hanging against the back wall, with a dozen poles attaching him through his back. His skin seemed to be barely hanging off his bones, and by his heavy breathing Kakashi could see that he was in terrible pain.

But the biggest surprise was the pair of circular eyes that were staring at him.

"You have the Rinnegan…" he said with surprise.

Konan indicated to the man, "This is our leader."

"He's…not what I expected."

The man chuckled, though it looked painful when his shoulders bobbed up and down. "You speak your mind, Hatake Kakashi. It would seem the rumours about you are mostly true."

"Mostly?" asked the Jounin with a raised eyebrow.

A near-skeletal hand arose beside the man's side, pointing to Kakashi's face. "Your nickname, Sharingan Kakashi, seems an inaccurate description."

Kakashi felt at his slashed eye, understanding that his two eyes were of a slightly different colour of black, as well as Obito's eye being back to its regular state. "A lot has happened, since the destruction of my village."

"Konan had informed me of your presence in my village. She believes that you were part of the group that caused the destruction of Akatsuki."

"Did she? Well I guess that's true. Though I only fought Deidara, in the defence of Naruto."

The red haired man shook his head and pulled himself up slightly, "You don't have to explain yourself…Kakashi…"

He coughed several times, with blood coming down his front. Konan immediately produced a cloth and wiped his mouth, "Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, Konan. Thank you."

"This is the friend you were talking about. The one that was dying?"

She nodded, stepping back slightly so that the two men could talk face to face. "This is Nagato. The leader of Akatsuki and the leader of Amegakure."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he looked over the leader's body. With the Rinnegan he was sure he could do a few things, but it looked like he could break apart with a soft wind.

He turned to Konan, "You seem to be taking a risk, bringing me here. Weren't you just trying to kill me?"

"The circumstances have changed," she said with a straight expression. There was no evidence of her previous anger at all, though the sadness was still hanging in her amber eyes.

"I trust Konan's judgement," said Nagato. "Besides, at this distance I could kill you with little effort."

He'd only heard rumours of the Rinnegan's abilities, but the serious look in his eyes told Kakashi that he wasn't joking. "Why did you bring me here then, Konan?"

"I wanted you to see what your actions have wrought," said the blue haired woman.

"Konan, that's enough. I have made peace with my lot, and I do not blame Kakashi for Itachi's actions." It was difficult to see, but Kakashi sensed a deep bond between the two Amegakure shinobi, one that was clearly being strained.

"Itachi told me that the leader of Akatsuki was only known as Pain, and that he had the Rinnegan same as you. But I'm not sure how us destroying your ability to extract the tailed beasts has put you in such a position."

Nagato turned his head slightly to face Konan, "The fifth group has returned, Konan. I need you to debrief them."

The Akatsuki member shook her head, "I'm not leaving your side, Nagato. My paper clone can handle the debriefings."

"Konan, if you are going to lead, you need to show your real face to the people. They need to trust you, as they did Yahiko."

She gave him a steely glare, but nodded her understanding and disappeared into a whirlwind of paper sheets, flying back down the corridor to the entrance.

Kakashi watched her leave before turning back to Nagato, "You shouldn't exclude her like that."

"I think I know Konan better than you do, Kakashi."

"With respect, I don't think you understand what she is going through. You are clearly important to her, and she cannot do anything about your condition."

Nagato stared at him with his circular eyes for a few seconds before staring back down at the ground. He was clearly uncomfortable in his state, but Kakashi couldn't see a way of taking him down without killing him.

"Perhaps you are right. I just…don't want her to see me like this for much longer."

Kakashi crossed his arms and looked around the room, dragging a nearby chair so that he didn't have to stand the whole time. "How did you get like that?"

"It's a long story. Years ago, I was forced to attach myself to a chakra statue called the Gedou Mazou…"

"…which was destroyed when you extracted the Kyuubi," finished Kakashi.

"Yes. Since that time, over a year ago, I've been slowly dying from chakra leaking out of me. I don't have much time left."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Kakashi. "Am I not your enemy?"

The red haired leader stared at him, with the cuts on his mouth shining in the light. "If you were truly our enemy, Konan would have killed you at the lake. The fact that you were able to talk her down has me intrigued."

"I only said what I felt," replied Kakashi. It was true, he felt he understood Konan better than most purely because of their mutual circumstances, but he also knew that if they were pitted against each other again then he would struggle to survive.

Nagato's head titled slightly as his eyes unfocused. He began muttering under his breath, which caused Kakashi a great deal of confusion.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

The Akatsuki leader put up a hand for quiet while he continued muttering. After a minute he looked back up at Kakashi with an exhausted gaze. "My apologies. In my state, I am forced to use proxies to defend our village."

"Proxies?"

"My Rinnegan allows me to reanimate bodies to use for my own purposes. Each use is shortening the time I have left, but I must defend my people and my village."

He placed his hands at his side, allowing Kakashi to see that the black poles were also attached to his arms. "I would like to propose an alliance, Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi frowned; he hadn't expected something like that. "Everyone I know is dead. People tend to die around me, Nagato. I don't think you want someone like me in your village."

"My eyes see many things, Kakashi. I understand your pain better than you give me credit for. This is a harsh world, one that I will not be around to see. This village is to be left to Konan, who I trust completely with its survival."

"So why do you want me?"

Nagato stared into his dark eyes directly, showing Kakashi the same determination he used to see in Gai's eyes before he made one his personal rules.

"To ensure her survival."

* * *

><p>Sitting on the ledge at the top of the building, Kakashi watched the rain pouring onto the city. He'd never thought he'd stumbled on Amegakure when he'd first arrived in the drenched city, but after a few days he figured it was an appropriate name for the village.<p>

He felt a presence behind him, but he didn't turn around as Konan stood beside him in her Akatsuki robe.

"Enjoying the view?"

Kakashi smiled, placing a hand over his knee. "Does it ever stop raining here?"

Konan considered it for a few minutes before sitting down beside him, swinging her legs over the edge. "Only when Nagato stops it. He's able to use the rain to detect any intruders in our village."

"You didn't stop me from entering," observed Kakashi.

"I asked him about that. He said that he didn't perceive you as a threat, so he let you pass."

"He has a surprising amount of control over the village."

She nodded in agreement, watching as a group of Rain shinobi practised techniques near the edge of the village. "He watches over us. To us, he is a God."

"And you are his Angel," commented Kakashi with a sly grin.

Konan didn't change her expression, but the slight look away told Kakashi a library of information. "You heard about that?" she asked quietly.

"In a village without intruders, your people are fairly loose-lipped. When you appear to people with large wings, it isn't hard to see why they call you God's Angel."

Konan pulled up her legs towards her chest, collecting her robe so that it didn't crease. "A necessary illusion."

"What I don't understand is how people in that bar didn't recognise you as God's Angel. You have quite a striking appearance, to say the least."

She turned to him, staring at the side of his face with interest. "Nice timing with the compliment."

"Thank you. I thought it was quite subtle myself," said Kakashi with a slight grin. He rarely flirted and he wasn't sure how he felt about the blue haired woman, but it wasn't something he'd felt for over a decade.

It was attachment, and that scared the hell out of him.

"To answer your question, if I'm in casual clothes, without my robe, my wings or the flower in my hair, they don't recognise me as the Angel. It lets me relax…from time to time."

"Makes sense. I guess even someone like you needs a break occasionally."

She nodded and turned back to watch the rain. "This is my favourite spot in the village. When I'm sitting here…I guess it's easier to deal with."

They sat quietly for several minutes, both simply watching the rain. Kakashi had been lamenting the loss of his only Icha Icha book that he had destroyed in a moment of frustration, and now more than ever he felt like he could use the distraction.

"What did Nagato ask you to do?" asked Konan, breaking the silence.

He looked at her, wondering if his mouth was giving away his emotions, since he never had to hide them behind his mask. "A few things."

"He mentioned you might be joining us," said Konan, giving away nothing to Kakashi.

"I don't know. I don't have anything else to do, I suppose." He looked away towards the sky, spying a tiny gap in the clouds, though he knew the sunlight wouldn't actually pierce through to the city unless the leader required it so.

"What happened to your companions?"

"I'd say it's a long story, but it's really not. Over a month ago I was separated from my companions through a strange enemy's ability."

"And you believe they didn't survive?"

He sighed and produced a small pair of bells, fingering them through his plated gloves. "The only reason I survived was because I was very lucky. Normally I wouldn't give up hope…but it's been a month…"

"And no luck finding them? We have trackers here, if you prove useful to us."

Kakashi could hear a slight bitterness in her voice, but he didn't comment on it. "I may not look it, but I am a tracking specialist. My canine summons can track almost anyone…but I they only knew two smells beside my own without that person's possessions on hand."

He smiled to himself when he thought about the last time he had summoned Pakkun in an attempt to find the others. The dog was stubborn, but sometimes things were not meant to work out the way he wanted them to.

He clutched the bells in his hands. "My friend Gai was killed in our battle with your organisation. The only other scent my canines knew was my student Naruto's. A strange mixture of ramen and body odour apparently."

"Sounds like an interesting boy," said Konan with a slight amusement in her voice.

"You could say that. Anyway, apparently his scent wasn't able to be detected anywhere in the continent. That could only happen if he was buried in the ground, or destroyed completely. I tried to find the others…but I've given up. They are gone, and there is nothing that can bring them back."

Konan didn't know what to say in response, so she just sat quietly beside him.

Kakashi placed his bells back into his pocket, standing up with a groan. He stretched his arms and looked down at her. "Sorry to get like that. It's been a long time since I've been open with someone, and since there is no-one left, well…"

"I understand," said Konan, standing up beside him.

He noted that despite being shorter and younger than him, Konan had a presence of confidence that reminded him of Gai for some unexplainable reason.

A sound behind them caused them both to turn around, though while Kakashi was on edge, Konan had been expecting it. Walking out of the shadows was a tall man in an Akatsuki robe, a long orange ponytail down to his side.

"There is a problem," said the man.

Kakashi frowned as he recognised the Rinnegan in the man's eyes, until it clicked and he understood what was going on. "You are one of Nagato's proxies."

The orange haired man stared at Kakashi with a dead expression, making the Jounin wonder if there was any life at all behind those eyes.

"When you are in the village, you are required to call these forms Pain, or God. Is that understood?"

Kakashi frowned at its tone, but understood why. "A morality thing, of course. I haven't made a decision yet…Pain."

The proxy body cocked its head to the side, its ponytail falling to its front. "Regardless, that is not why I am here."

It turned to Konan, "The Asura Path has detected a small group moving towards the village at a fast pace. My…abilities are lessened every day. Konan, I cannot conduct this defence."

She nodded her understanding, placing a hand on the proxy's shoulder. "Drop the bodies, Nagato. You need to save your strength."

"I will do…" the body's voice trailed off when its Rinnegan was stared down by her amber eyes. "Find those attackers, Konan. When you return, we will begin…"

"I understand," finished Konan.

A pair of paper wings sprouted from her shoulders over her robe, as the Pain stepped back into the shadows. She turned to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

"Would you like to come along? You said you had nothing better to do."

Kakashi thought about it, weighing up his options. With his companions gone, the silver haired Jounin figured he had nothing better to do.

_Better to die with some excitement than drunk in some seedy bar. _

"I'm not committing to anything, but it couldn't hurt to have a look."

A serious person by nature, Konan wasn't one to show emotion, but Kakashi could clearly see that she was glad for his company.

_A tough woman to crack, evidently. _

He looked over at her wings, impressed by the level of detail in such a technique. "Unfortunately, I can't fly, Konan."

She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Despite himself, Kakashi felt a shiver go up his spine, and suddenly he felt like he was back in her apartment. He smirked to himself, but hid it quickly before she could see it as two large paper wings grew on his back.

He looked back with suspicion, he'd flown once before. It hadn't ended well.

"Am I supposed to flap my arms?"

Konan gave him a tired look and ran off the ledge, her wings holding her high in the sky as she flew towards the edges of the city.

Kakashi crossed his arms with a long drawn breath. "Well, I can't really do that, can I?"

He was quickly proven wrong as the paper wings on his back flapped several times, lifting him up from the ledge before throwing him towards the ground.

Feeling sick from the rapid spinning, Kakashi resisted the urge to curse his circumstances as the wings directed him to follow Konan's path.

_I could have run there…oh god…_

* * *

><p>By the time the wings dumped him on the floor, Kakashi wasn't regretting his choice to not wear his mask anymore. After picking himself up from the ground and wiping his mouth, he looked up to see Konan standing on the top of a hill with her wings falling apart into a small whirlwind of paper sheets.<p>

"Never…again…"

"Did you say something?" she asked, turning her head slightly.

He groaned and shook his head, "No…nothing."

Making his way to stand beside her he looked over the area, smiling as he felt the sun on his face. "It's nice to be out of that rain for a change," he commented absentmindedly.

Konan ignored him and indicated to the area below them. Sitting in a small circle were four shinobi wearing the same colours that the Amegakure shinobi wore, all pointing to a small map between them.

"They look like yours," said Kakashi.

"They aren't. I know everyone in our village, and they are not ours."

Kakashi focused his eyes, spreading his chakra out in an attempt to alleviate one of his concerns. Without his Sharingan his sensing abilities were limited, but it wasn't hard to figure out what the intruders were.

"They don't have any chakra…"

Konan began collecting large amounts of paper sheets around her arms, "We should capture and interrogate them. Are you coming?"

He nodded and placed his hands together into a handseal. From his battle with her the previous day, he had learnt that his stamina had increased immensely without his Sharingan constantly draining him, meaning he could use many of the techniques he had copied.

Beside him Konan didn't waste a moment disappearing into her whirlwind of paper, floating down to the intruders. Kakashi could see the intruders already reacting to her presence, which in turn caused him to activate a technique from his library.

He placed his hands towards the sun, activating a technique he'd once copied from a shinobi during his ANBU days.

"Taiyou Furea!" (Solar Flare)

A bright light shone down on top of the intruders, forcing them to cover their eyes to prevent being blinded. In turn Kakashi had to cover his eyes, though he was used to fighting without much vision.

Using his other senses, Kakashi leapt down and blinked his eyes rapidly to clear his vision while ensuring his defences were intact.

"That was unnecessary, Kakashi."

His vision cleared and he saw Konan standing over the fallen intruders. They were covered completely in cocoons made of paper, and didn't seem to be struggling at all.

"That would seem like a dangerous technique to use," she said with an amused gaze.

Kakashi rubbed at his eyes and stared back at her, "It has its uses. Besides, I thought you could use the cover."

She looked down at the bodies, noting that in their distracted state it had been easier to take them down. Konan was a specialist when it came to capture and interrogation, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate his intervention.

She leaned down beside one of the intruders and went to begin the interrogation, but hesitated when she felt a strange presence a short distance away.

"Can you feel that?" she asked Kakashi at a whisper.

The Konoha Jounin nodded and pulled out a kunai, "Stay here and do what you have to do. I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure?"

He grinned at her and stood up slowly, "We each have our roles, Konan. Besides, I need the exercise."

She nodded to let him go and began to peel away the paper on the first body's mouth.

Kakashi leapt towards the strange discrepancy, unsure what to make the feeling going through his body at the time.

He skidded to a halt along the grassy ground when he saw a single figure waiting for him. It was clearly female, though she resembled a certain warrior that he hadn't been able to get out of his head. She wore shining white armour covered in gold and jewels, which seemed inhibitive to actual combat, though by the way she moved in it Kakashi could tell she was a warrior of some description.

"Who are you?"

The girl stared at him with a stare of pure ice blue, "The last Konoha shinobi? How…unexpected."

Kakashi gripped his kunai tightly, "Where did you send my friends?"

"Ah, you seem to have misunderstood what my master accomplished. Your companions were of no further use to us, so we disposed of them." Her voice had an uncanny sharpness to it, but Kakashi no longer cared who or what she was.

In a swift motion he jumped forward and tried to drive his kunai into her neck, using chakra to increase the strength of the blow.

The girl immediately had a long sword up to block it, a grin growing across her face. "You shinobi are so predictable."

A clone of Kakashi slowly rose from the ground behind her, pulling back a kunai to strike at the back of her neck. "Not as predictable as you might think."

In a movement that would have made Gai blush, the warrior pushed back the original's attack and kicked him in the chin to drive him back. In the same movement she produced a second sword and spun around, slicing straight through the middle of the clone, forcing it to disperse into its original mud state.

Letting out a painful groan, Kakashi clutched at his chin painfully. He couldn't sense any chakra from her, but her movements were the equivalent of some of the best taijutsu he'd seen.

"So you were the original? Damn shinobi and your clones." She began twirling her swords threateningly and walked towards him.

Sensing the danger in a close combat fight, Kakashi jumped back while running through a quick set of handseals. He aimed his final handseal towards her and fuelled his chakra through the technique.

"Raiton: Rairyuudan no Jutsu!" (Lightning Element: Lightning Dragon Bullet Technique)

A massive dragon made entirely of lightning chakra flew out of his hands and slammed straight into the girl's chest. She didn't even flinch as the thundering sound threatened to fry her within her armour.

Being a cautious person, Kakashi didn't drop his guard as the smoke from the technique began to clear, which was evidently a smart move as he ducked to the ground and rolled to the side to avoid being decapitated by her two swords.

Jumping back to his feet, Kakashi frowned when he saw that there wasn't a mark on her.

_She didn't dodge it, I was watching. Either her armour can absorb chakra attacks like those Snow shinobi from years ago, or something else is going on here. _

Pulling out a second kunai, Kakashi breathed out slowly to steady himself. The warrior gave him a wild grin and charged towards him, spinning her swords with masterful skill.

They met with a loud clash, with both her swords being blocked by his kunai. If he'd had his Sharingan, Kakashi would have easily been able to overwhelm her moves by copying them, but since he didn't have it the Konoha Jounin had to fight in a different manner.

The girl tried to kick at his side, but Kakashi blocked it with his knee and bit at his lip, letting blood fall down his face. The two of them broke apart from their clash and the girl readied her weapons for another attack.

However before she could jump towards him, Kakashi ran through a set of handseals and slammed his hand on the ground after wiping at the blood on his face. Initially nothing happened, so Kakashi stood back up and recovered his kunai, holding them in his hands.

Forcing himself to go on the offensive, Kakashi slashed at the warrior's face with one his kunai, which was easily parried away by her sword. She tried to strike at his chest, but Kakashi blocked the strike and used the momentum to flick a kunai into her face.

She was able to move her head out of the way for the most part, though the metal still slide across her cheek and left a long cut along her skin. The warrior snarled and gently touched her face with one of her hands, feeling the moist liquid running down her armoured hand.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!"

Kakashi didn't respond, clapping his hands together and watching as the ground beneath her began to rumble. She looked down with a surprised look on her face, but before she could react several creatures jumped out of the ground and bit at her legs, clamping their teeth onto her armour.

The dogs that bit into her armour immediately disappeared into puffs of smoke, but three of the dogs bit into the gaps near her ankles and held on tight, keeping her stuck in the ground as she let out a cry of pain.

She raised her swords up to try and cut the dogs down, but Kakashi was already in front of her with his plan having come to fruition. He drove a pair of kunai into the front of her elbows before reaching up and slapping a paper tag onto her forehead.

Jumping back, he put up his hand and activated the technique, setting off the explosion and destroying everything within a few metres of the blast.

Kakashi watched as the smoke cleared, feeling a little disappointed that it hadn't lasted longer. "I guess that armour was the thing that made her so dangerous. Too bad."

_I'll apologise to the dogs another time. I'm sure she didn't taste good. _

Jogging back to where they had immobilised the intruders, he saw Konan placing explosion notes on the bodies. She finished with the last one and turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

He smiled to her and wiped away the blood from his chin, "All clear. Did you find anything out?"

Walking towards him she shook her head, not flinching as the bodies behind her exploded, destroying all evidence that they were there. "Nothing useful. They weren't given any instructions, or directions apparently."

Kakashi sighed and put a hand on his hip, "That makes no sense. But I guess it doesn't matter. Do we go back?"

"Yes." She waved her hands and began to create a pair of wings on her back.

Kakashi took a step back with his hands up, "If it's alright with you, I think I'll walk."

She looked at him curiously for a few seconds before dissipating her wings and rubbing at her shoulder, "That's not a bad idea. Let's go."

"Ah, before we go. Are we going to talk about the other night?"

Turning back to him, Konan gave him her usual amber-filled stare. "What is there to talk about?"

"Well about…"

She cut him off by letting out a slow breath and putting up one of her hands. "I have a lot on my mind, Kakashi. Perhaps when this is all over…we can talk."

With that she began walking back to the village, her hands by her sides as her hair was slowly drying in the sun.

Kakashi watched her walk away, once again wondering what kind of woman he had become acquainted with. He wasn't sure what else to do, but the voice in the back of his mind told him that following her was the best thing he could do at the time.

Besides, he didn't mind the rain that much.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I love Konan as a character. Not because she's a badass or anything, though she is. It's because I understand what she went through, and her motivations. I believe she's about as close as Kishimoto has come to making a properly realised female character in Naruto.

I reckon my reasoning for Kakashi wearing his mask is pretty on the money, though I can almost guarantee that it will never truly be explained in the manga. People like mystery. And as Obito proved, hype something up too much, and nobody will like the result.

I may have totally copped out when it came to the Solar Flare…but…I have no excuse, I just wanted to do it at least once.

Next will be a Bonus Chapter. And it is totally pandering. And that makes it awesome.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	44. Bonus Chapter 4 A Small Wedding

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – A Small Wedding

**A/N**: If you haven't read the chapter for this week, chapter 614, go do that. Right now. I'll wait. All I want to say is that he was one of my favourite characters from the get go, and I'm happy with how he went out. Exactly how I would have imagined. I was planning on making him a more central character to my story regardless, but this just cements the idea in my mind. Expect to see more of him, once the Separation period is done.

**2****nd**** A/N**: This chapter is totally fanservice. Almost entirely. But still canon. Nothing terribly elicit though. I'm not writing that kind of stuff.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did more people would have died by now.

* * *

><p>***Five Weeks after Separation***<p>

The girl behind the counter smiled as she watched her blonde customer wandering through her shop, seemingly aimlessly.

"Would you like some help?" she asked with a warm smile.

Naruto stopped sniffing suspiciously at the roses and looked over at the girl with a confused face. "Yeah, that would be good. What would you recommend for a young girl, who doesn't even think about herself?"

The girl looked at his confused face with amusement. "Such a girl would be troublesome to get a gift for. When is the wedding?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed, "You know about that, huh?"

Placing her chin into her hand and leaning on the counter, the girl nodded. "It's pretty hard not to know you two. You did save our town after all."

"Ah…yeah. Um…it's tomorrow."

She let out a jealous sigh, "Ah, to be young and in love."

Naruto frowned, she didn't look more than a few years older than him. He started to look around the flowers again, with little idea of what to actually pick out. "So…what do you recommend?"

"What's the occasion?"

He looked over to her with glazed eyes. She grinned and pointed to a section of flowers behind him. "Those are all our best flowers."

Naruto nodded his thanks and turned around, his eyes widening as he saw a set of deep blue azure flowers. He leaned down and took a long sniff, sighing and standing back up with a smile.

"These are the ones."

"Just like that? How do you know?"

He pulled up the flowers and smiled as he ran a finger along one of the blue petals. "Everything about this reminds me of her. It's the same colour as her hair, and even these little white bits are the same as her eyes. These flowers even smell like her."

The girl let out a long sigh, leaning back on the wall with her arms crossed. "Ah, I am so jealous. Why are all the good men taken?"

Bringing the flowers to the counter, Naruto grinned and reached into his pockets from some money. "I wouldn't know. How much do I owe you?"

She put up her hands, shaking her head. "Don't be silly. We all said that we'd give the two of you whatever you need. Take the flowers; I'm sure she'll love them."

Naruto thanked her for her help and left the store with the azure flowers in hand, making his way back to their makeshift home.

He wasn't sure how long they were going to stay at the village, but as long as they kept feeding them, he wasn't going to complain.

* * *

><p>Standing in his dress uniform, the army general frowned with his arms crossed. "You know what you'll be missing, right? Freedom…the ability to win…the right to put your feet on the table…"<p>

Naruto laughed and fidgeted with his collar, "How is the marriage going, general?"

"My wife is fine. My dignity might be in a questionable state though."

"That's comforting," said Naruto dryly. He'd been ready for an hour, but they weren't going to start for another two. "Why are we doing this again?"

The general turned to him with his usual stoic expression. "We, as a people, are immensely grateful to the two of you. You may be shinobi, but we all said we'd do whatever is needed to make up for the great debt we owe."

"It's just…I proposed to her a week ago. We were expecting to have a reasonable time to plan this thing…have a bit of fun."

His companion indicated to the growing crowd, "Look at these people, Naruto. We have been under siege for months. They need something to perk up their spirits, and a wedding is just the thing to do it."

"Well, I suppose we are happy to help then."

Clapping him on the back the general grinned uncharacteristically. "This is only a small thing, boy. You can have the big thing once you find your friends again. Just enjoy your moment. You don't get many of them."

Naruto frowned, doing a mental count of the townsfolk gathering in the courtyard. By his calculation, nearly the entire town was present for the wedding. "A…small affair?"

The general didn't reply, simply smirking before turning back to the soldiers that were present and barking orders again. He seemed to enjoy doing such an action, and Naruto had to admit he was quite good at it.

An older man walked up to Naruto wearing a long grey robe and a tall pointy hat. He pointed to Naruto with his cane. "Are you the bride?"

The blonde shinobi pushed down the cane with a finger, "No…I'm the groom. Who are you?"

The old man put up a hand to stop his hat from falling off. "I am…who am I again?"

Having finished giving out orders, the general turned to the two of them, "Naruto, this is Father Yule. He's a bit…you know…"

"Yes, I can see that," replied Naruto. "Is he going to be doing the ceremony?"

With a quiet chuckle the general moved the priest to his position in front of Naruto. "He's all we've got. Don't worry, it should be fine."

Naruto let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Who's worried?"

oOoOoOo

Despite what he would have thought, Naruto wasn't nervous at all. He'd been opposed to the idea of having the wedding without everyone else, but something had occurred to him during one of the times he had been watching Hinata sleeping beside him.

They might not get the opportunity.

He frowned and glanced at the sun in the sky. They weren't planning to start until midday, but there were still a few things that hadn't happened yet.

Running through the list in his head, Naruto gasped when he realised what was missing.

He turned to the general, "I'll be back in a second."

"Running away?"

Naruto scoffed, "And let all this go to waste? I'm just getting something that hasn't arrived yet."

The general rolled his eyes, but indicated that he'd have things under control until he got back. There was dancing and singing as entertainment before the wedding started, and despite himself he was trying to force himself to relax.

There was no-one to fight today.

As a shinobi it didn't take Naruto long to get to the blacksmith, though he had been particularly careful not to crease the suit he was borrowing. Taking a slow breath he knocked on the wooden door, praying that they were ready.

A middle-aged man with burnished skin opened the door, nodding as soon as he recognised Naruto and indicated for him to come in.

The blacksmith was quite large, since it had been converted into an armoury during the attempted invasion there were plenty of weapons lining the walls. Naruto had actually planned to have him make the two of them some kunai, but that wasn't his reason for coming here at such a late stage.

"You have good timing, boy. The wife just finished making an apple pie." He indicated to the section at the back, which Naruto knew to be the blacksmith's house. "You want a slice?"

Laughing to hide his impatience, Naruto politely declined. "I'm here for the item I asked you about a few days ago."

"Ah, of course." Placing a hand to his mouth, the blacksmith turned to the back.

"WOMAN! BRING ME SOME PIE!"

The door at the back slammed open and a large blonde woman walked out with a spatula in hand. "Get the pie yourself, you lazy bastard."

She smiled warmly at Naruto when she saw him, "You are here for those? Hang on, I'll go and grab them."

She glared at her husband for a second before smiling again and walking back through the door, closing it behind her.

The blacksmith chuckled and turned to Naruto with a wide grin, "She's just a bit cranky this morning."

Naruto didn't say anything, figuring it wasn't his place to comment. After a few minutes she came back out with a small black box in her hands.

She handed Naruto the box with one hand while smacking her husband on the head with a spatula with the other.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Just cause," she replied.

"Thank you for these," said Naruto, clutching the box with a knowing smile.

The blacksmith rubbed his head sorely, "Yes well, despite her disposition, my wife is an excellent jeweller. It was a genius idea to use that sort of thing, though couldn't it have been easier to make them into the normal style?"

"It's…a long story. Thank you for this, it means a lot to the both of us."

She nodded and indicated to the door with her spatula, "No doubt. Now go on and marry that pretty young girl before someone else snaps her up."

The blonde shinobi grinned and ran out of the blacksmith, leaving the couple to themselves.

Turning to his wife, the blacksmith looked at her expectantly.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed him towards the back. "Fine. But only one piece."

He grinned and walked towards his prize.

* * *

><p>"Am I late?" asked Naruto, fixing the tie around his neck.<p>

The general shook his head, "Just on time." He indicated to the sleeping old man on a bench nearby, "Though it looks like our priest is down for the count."

"What will we do then? Who'll do the ceremony?"

His companion stared at him like it should have been obvious, "I will."

Naruto was surprised, but hid it as the makeshift band began playing music. Moving to stand in position, Naruto leaned over to whisper to the general, "If you are doing the ceremony, then you should know something."

He explained the situation to the general, who looked back at him with surprise, "Are you sure?"

The shinobi put up his hands with a sigh, "Believe me, it's the only thing we argued on."

Understanding, the general motioned for him to be ready as the crowd began to part. With an unsubtle gesture he nudged Naruto with an elbow, "You ready for this?"

"Absolutely," replied Naruto with a grin.

As he saw the girl he was planning to marry, it was clear that he was ready to do the deed, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

oOoOoOo

Hinata was not a crowd-type of person. She rarely liked the attention of others in a large setting, but with considerable effort she tried not to blush when she realised that every single person in the crowd was staring at her.

It was a quick job that the townsfolk had made for her, but clad in white silk with a long veil and white gloves Hinata felt like a princess from the stories her mother used to tell her before she died. She'd taken particular care to wash her hair and cover up the cuts and bruises that hadn't quite healed yet and she, like Naruto, thought it was strange they were getting married so early.

But in the same vein, she also agreed that it didn't matter when they got married, so long as they did.

She walked down the opening the crowd had made for her, thankful that her dress wasn't so long that it dragged along the ground, and she couldn't help but smile widely when she saw Naruto staring at her with his mouth wide open.

She took her time walking down towards him before standing opposite him, trying her hardest not to blush as she stared into his blue eyes.

Seeing the couple staring at each other, the general coughed loudly and motioned for the music to stop.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Breaking himself out of his stunned stupor, Naruto nodded and let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Yes, let's."

Hinata nodded, wondering what her father would think about her current situation. It pained her that he'd never get to see who she became, and there were times when all she wanted to do was sit in a corner and cry for her father and sister, but in this moment she knew one thing.

She was loved, and she was about to have a new family.

The general put up his hands towards the couple, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union between these two people. Though they may be shinobi, we no longer hold it against them. The two of them are some of the best people I am proud to say I know, and nobody can say otherwise, lest they want my foot up their collective asses."

With pride on his scarred face, he placed one hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I haven't known this young man long. But never have I ever seen a soldier with such dedication to both the woman he loves and to people he doesn't even know."

Indicating to Hinata, the general didn't do the same motion, primarily because he didn't want to crease her dress, but also because he knew that Naruto probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"And this young woman performed no small feat either. After recovering from a life threatening disease, she stayed by this man's side until he recovered, then threw herself into battle without a moments hesitation."

The general smiled at the girl before turning back to the crowd.

"Both of these two saved our town and are worthy of our respect. They fought with us, they bled with us, and they would have died with us if needed to."

He pushed his feet together, nodding to the soldiers to the side, "And we are honoured to be in your presence."

As one single unit, the soldiers present saluted the two shinobi in line with their general. Both Naruto and Hinata beamed proudly, it was nice to be honoured for once, though that wasn't why they fought the white armoured soldier.

The soldiers stood back in formation and the general put down his hand, "Sorry, had to embarrass you at least once."

"We are honoured," said Naruto, with Hinata nodding in agreement.

"Right. Well, let's keep going. Do the two of you have your vows?"

They both nodded, with the general motioning to Hinata, "Traditionally the bride goes first."

The Hyuuga heiress smiled happily. She had thought hard about what she wanted to say, and hadn't needed to write it down, she had committed it to memory.

Looking her fiancé straight in the eyes, she was reminded of all the times she had looked into him and been filled with confidence.

"Naruto. It's been…a long journey, one that we haven't even really started. When you first came into my life, I thought it was a dream. Whenever I felt my confidence wavering, I could look at you and just that would perk me back up."

She reached out and held his hands, running her fingers along his rough skin. "Even when we were kids, I wanted to be with you. It's not that I wanted your strength. I wanted your hope. I wanted to help you achieve your dreams, to be by your side no matter the situation."

She motioned with her head to the town around them, "And here we are. Even so far away from home, with none of our friends around, you helped me. Protected me. And in those times when I needed you, you were there."

She shared a smile with him, one that only he was able to bring out from her. "Naruto, I would walk up to Death itself and bring you back from its clutches, just to spend another day in your arms."

Everything she said, she said from the heart, and Naruto knew that from the look in her eyes. He had to resist the urge to lean forward and kiss her, but in that moment he was proud to be standing opposite her.

Hinata turned to the general, indicating that she was done. He smiled at her proudly, suddenly reminded of how his daughter would act before her death.

He motioned to Naruto, "And now, the groom."

Naruto went to pull out the piece of paper that he'd written down his notes on, but hesitated when he looked into Hinata's eyes. It was something his father had said to him when the Kyuubi was being 'extracted'.

When you truly love someone, you know what to say without having to think of it.

"I had written a few things down…but that's not truly what I want to say."

He reached out and took her hands again into his, looking straight into her eyes. "Hyuuga Hinata. I…am not an eloquent person. I don't truly have the words to describe to you how I feel. But…I'll give it a try."

Hinata's smile grew; she could feel the warmth flowing from his hands up through her arms.

"When I was young, I didn't know what love was. I saw kids with their parents…and wondered why I didn't have that. Little did I know that there was someone out there who did care for me. I was just too stupid to see it."

Hinata chuckled; it was something of a joke between them now over how Naruto seemed oblivious to her attentions during their days at the Academy.

"But despite that, we did find each other, and every day since then…well I've never had happier times in my life. Hinata, when I look at you, I realise what I knew all along. I love everything about you, Hinata. And that will never change."

He reached out and lightly touched the side of her face, "I nearly lost you once. Every time I train, and fight, I do it to protect you. Nothing is more important to me."

The two shinobi stared at each for a long drawn-out moment, before the general rolled his eyes and pulled Naruto's hand off her face, letting it fall back to his side.

"Keep it in your pants, people. We still have a while to go yet," he whispered.

Naruto chuckled, nodding before reaching into his pocket and produced the box he had been given from the blacksmith. He handed it to the general, who understood immediately and opened it.

"I'm sure there was other stuff to do, but frankly I don't know them so they can't be too important. Now we'll do the rings."

He went to pull out the rings, but sighed and closed the box, looking back at the crowd. "Sorry, forgot something."

He turned to the groom, "Naruto. Do you take Hinata to be your wife? To have, and hold, until she drives you insane?"

Naruto grinned, "I do."

The general turned to the bride, "Hinata. Do you take Naruto to be your husband? To have, and hold, until he gets old and fat?"

Hinata chuckled at the idea of a fat Naruto, "I certainly do."

Looking at the both of them, the general opened the box. They took out their respective rings, with Naruto offering to place the ring on her first.

Hinata extended her hand, unable to keep the joy off her face as he pushed the ring onto her finger. Unlike most wedding rings, their rings were pure dark red, made from the same bloodstone that Naruto had torn from the sword hilt in order to save her.

She placed her ring on his finger, completing their connection. Naruto had gotten the jeweller to fit perfectly on their hands, and they felt like extensions of their bodies immediately upon being put on their fingers.

"Then, by the powers vested to me by being the best damn solider in the land and commander of this city…I pronounce you husband and wife."

With a rare smile, he turned to Naruto, "You may now kiss the bride."

Without a moment's hesitation, the blonde shinobi stepped forward and kissed Hinata as passionately as he felt was appropriate in a public setting. The newly wed bride kissed him back as much as Naruto kissed her, the newly-wed couple trying not to get too carried away as the crowd cheered and clapped the celebrities.

Eventually they broke apart, but before they looked back at the crowd they stared at each other's eyes, as if there was nothing was around them but a black void.

"We did it," said Naruto proudly.

Hinata nodded, "That we did. Did you ever think we would be here?"

"Of course," replied Naruto confidently. "There wasn't a doubt in my mind."

His new wife offered him her hand, grinning from ear to ear when he took it and their rings touched. They both turned to the crowd, and to roaring applause they began walking through the aisle.

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed loudly as he slid into the hot bath. It had been the first time he'd bathed with hot water since before they moved out towards the Village of the Sound, and it felt like heaven to him.<p>

He leaned back and enjoyed the water as the door opened and his better half entered with a towel around her waist.

Hinata smiled as she saw Naruto relaxing with his eyes closed. Careful to not make a sound, the newly wed girl dipped a hand into the other side of the tub. The water was nice and hot, and looked incredibly inviting to the young girl.

The relaxing young man occupying it was just the icing on the cake.

Placing her towel on the rack beside the bath, Hinata leaned down and picked up Naruto's towel, putting it next to hers. She nodded in content then jumped when she felt a tug on her rear.

Turning around quickly she saw Naruto stared at the wall, with the guiltiest look she had ever seen on his face.

With a grin she leaned down and kissed the top of his head, "Good to see you too, husband."

He turned to with a grin, his eyes running up and down her body. "You don't have to call me that, you know."

Hinata sat down beside the bath and ran a hand down Naruto's neck. "I believe I have that right, now."

"I suppose you do," said Naruto with a smile. "Are you coming in?"

"Yeah."

Gracefully, Hinata stepped into the other side of the bath, sighing the same way her husband did as she felt the water wash over her skin.

"It feels like it's been forever since I've just…relaxed."

"I know what you mean. Not since…"

"…that night while Kakashi and Itachi were in their trance," finished Hinata, lifting up one of her legs and letting the water fall back into the tub.

Naruto nodded and watched as his new wife relaxing into the bathtub opposite him.

_Look at us. Not even sixteen, and married happily. I wish my parents could have been here. _

The bathtub wasn't long enough for the two of them to lie down completely, but Naruto had no interest in complaining as Hinata rested her legs on his hips.

For a long time neither of them said, simply happy to have a warm bath for once. It was a one-time deal that the townsfolk had offered them in lieu of a honeymoon, and they were immensely grateful for what the town had continued to offer them.

"Naruto…"

"Is this about the name thing again?"

Hinata nodded, it had been the one thing they had argued about, and she still wasn't satisfied with the result. "I still think I should take your name. It's only fair…"

"And I told you, not going to happen." Naruto never raised his voice to her, and he wasn't going to start now, but she had been developing a stubborn streak since finding her confidence. "Your clan is more important than my name, Hinata."

"But…"

"No buts. If Neji is…you are the Hyuuga clan, Hinata. When we…you know my arguments, Hinata. Why do you keep asking?"

"I…just don't want your name written out of history. Your clan has just as my history as mine…and yet…"

Naruto sighed; there was no arguing when she was right. As he watched her ran her hands down the long strands of blue hair attached to her head, an idea came him.

"Hinata…I've been meaning to ask you, but I could never find the words…"

"What is it?"

Naruto rubbed at the ring on his finger, something he had started to make a habit out of. "I know we are young…and I'm not talking for a few years at least…but…"

Hinata reached over and clasped her hands on top of his, letting their two rings touch lightly. "I understand, Naruto. And before you can ask…I know, and we will. But…not now."

"Yeah," replied Naruto proudly. He looked into her white eyes, which always served to remind him of why he loved her so much.

In a movement that proved cumbersome in the small bathtub, he reached over and kissed her lightly on the lips. "That's the future, right? Let's enjoy the now, while we can."

Smiling back at him, Hinata nodded, leaning her forehead onto his. "While we can."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Ah, such a nice break from all the grim dark reality of reality. I'd like to think that despite their age, the two of them are as mature as any couple, and have only grown in their travels after Separation.

But of course, the wars must continue. So next chapter will be back to Kakashi for one more. And boy will it be grim dark. I love that expression. Reminds me of Warhammer 40,000.

Grim dark.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	45. Chapter 41 KAKA Inevitability Incarnate

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 41 – Kakashi – Inevitability Incarnate

**A/N**: Same as last week. Read Chapter 615. DO IT! The NaruHina gods command you!

**A/N2**: This chapter does get pretty grim dark. I kind of felt depressed writing it, if that's an indication.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, resurrection wouldn't happen so damn often.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Having ended up in Amegakure unintentionally, Kakashi aimed to drink himself into a stupor after failing to find any of his previous companions. On the verge of giving up, Kakashi spends a drunken night with an Amegakure shinobi who introduced herself as Konan in the morning. To his horror, he discovers that she is a leading member of Akatsuki, and she nearly kills him in battle before he was able to talk her down. Konan took him to meet the friend she was previously trying to kill Kakashi for, revealing him to be Nagato, the leader of both Akatsuki and Amegakure. On his last legs after the destruction of the Gedou Mazou a year ago, Nagato implored Kakashi to spend some time with his village while he sorted out his affairs before his death. Kakashi was unsure of what to do, but with nothing else to do he agreed to at least try it out, if nothing else but to spend more time with Konan, who drew his attention for reasons he couldn't quite understand. Trying to make himself useful, he moved out with Konan to take care of an enemy scout group and killed a commander who gave him no reason to doubt the fact that he thought he was the last survivor from Konoha. With nothing else but his growing friendship with Amegakure, Kakashi returned to the village.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Months after Separation***<p>

Kakashi frowned as he looked over the board. He identified the strategy, but had no means to counter-attack it without heavy losses on his side.

"Well?"

He looked up to the origin of the voice, frowning when he saw the look on Nagato's face. "It's a difficult situation. I want to take my time."

Nagato chuckled, and then grimaced at the pain in his shoulders. He wasn't able to move his arms very far, and his hands were covered by gauntlets that prevented them from atrophying completely like the rest of his body.

After nearly a minute, Kakashi nodded to himself. "Okay."

Reaching to the table in front of him, Kakashi picked up one of the strategic pieces.

"Pawn to E8"

His white haired companion chuckled again, "All that posturing, to move a pawn?"

"It was a very strategic manoeuvre that required extensive thought."

Nagato gave him a look that was easy to identify even with his ringed eyes. "No doubt. Queen to E8."

Kakashi moved the piece since Nagato wasn't able to move, taking his black pawn from the table and replacing it with Nagato's white queen.

_Damn. I didn't see his queen. Now I'm down to only three pawns._

He looked out at the rain beside them. A week ago they had moved Nagato to the roof section of the building created by Konan's technique. He claimed to prefer the view, and safety was less of a concern these days.

"I thought I would get sick of the rain. But after a month, I find myself oddly intrigued. Rook to D6."

Nagato twisted his head slightly so that he was looking at the same area of the city that Kakashi was. "Having spent my entire life in this area, I can tell you that the rain here takes a mind of its own. I can cancel the rainfall for short periods of time, but even someone like me can't stop nature. Pawn to E5."

Kakashi turned back and moved the pieces, remarking on the makeshift pieces they had scrapped together on the board. "Remarkably like shougi, this game. I would never have thought something like this would have been here."

"We were introduced to it by Jiraiya-sensei. He said he found it in one of his travels. It's a shame I never got to speak to him again after he left." Nagato stared at the board for a few seconds before his pupils dilated slightly, a habit he had adopted when he was making a decision. "Knight to B2."

"I didn't know him, but Shizune said he died with honour." Kakashi moved his rook to capture one of Nagato's pawns, though he knew he was fighting an uphill battle.

The leader of Amegakure smiled slowly, "Knowing him, I don't doubt it. He was a good man, although he had some questionable habits. Move my bishop to take your rook."

Kakashi complied, quickly moving his queen to take Nagato's bishop. The battlefield was opening up, and he could smell victory.

They could hear the sounds of shinobi training beneath them, a testament to how hard working Nagato's shinobi were.

"Pawn to you come to a decision yet?"

Kakashi moved the pieces and leaned back on the chair he had brought up to play with Nagato. "It hasn't been easy. I know I'm not much older than the two of you, but I've been fighting for so long I can feel it in my bones."

"I know what you mean. Yahiko used to call it 'endless tears'. If you don't move your queen, I'm going to put you in check."

Looking down at the board Kakashi sighed and moved his queen to protect his bishop, which protected his king. "Konan seems adamant about the idea."

Nagato frowned, ignoring the spiking pain through his arms. It was an ongoing battle, one that he knew he wasn't going to win at the end. "She is passionate about her people. Besides, I've seen the changes in her eyes. Knight to D3."

Kakashi took Nagato's bishop with his queen, placing it in the small pile of white pieces at the side of the board. "What changes? What are you talking about?"

"Rook takes knight. Oh no, I'm not going there. You'll have to talk to her about that. Besides, I know the others have been appreciative of your support. Your knowledge of techniques is astonishing."

Picking up his queen, Kakashi went to place it down, but hesitated when he saw it would be opening him up to a check move. He put it back down and moved one of his pawns forward.

"I wasn't called Sharingan Kakashi for nothing. How many people have you got now?"

Nagato hesitated, looking over the whole board with his Rinnegan, analysing every potential move. "About one hundred and fifty. Nowhere near what the Big Four have, but we can hold our own. Hmm…move the king's rook next to your bishop."

Kakashi did as he said, "You are leaving your queen exposed. What are your intentions with the village with those kinds of numbers? What if the people who destroyed Konoha come after you?"

"As I've said before, I don't weep for Konoha. My long term plan including revenge on your previous village, although that is now a moot point."

"I suppose it is." He moved his rook into position. "Check."

"King to A9. So will you accept the position?"

Moving his queen to a space near Nagato's, Kakashi began to see an endgame. "It's been two months. I've resigned myself to the fact that they aren't coming back. Check."

"King to A10. So?"

Kakashi moved his queen, going in for the kill. "Check. I'll do it. But it'll be hard. I'm not that kind of person by nature."

"I'm grateful for your support, Kakashi. You're a breath of fresh air, which is rare around here."

"Are you going to make your move?" asked Kakashi, wondering how he could have gotten Nagato's trust so easily, considering he came from the same village that killed his parents.

Nagato stared at him without saying anything, which used to bug Kakashi but after spending time with the Akatsuki leader he understood that Nagato did much that wasn't physically apparent.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Nagato?"

The white haired shinobi shook his head to regain his senses, "Sorry, my last proxy just collapsed. My queen takes your queen. Checkmate."

"What?" Kakashi quickly moved the queens, his eyes running across the board for a long moment before he sighed and knocked over his king. "Well played. Lure me in by exposing your king…I never was much of a shougi player. I guess chess is no different."

"Don't put yourself down too much. It was a good game."

Kakashi got up from his chair and walked over to the nearby edge, leaning on the guard with his hands. Down in the city depths he could see Konan commanding a small group of Amegakure Genin on walking on water training.

_You know, I don't think I ever taught the three of them that. I wasn't much a teacher after all._

He turned back to Nagato, watching as he held in what would have been a violent cough. When he'd met him Nagato had had red hair, though it had been fading. Since that time it had been drawn into a full white, which was apparently indicative of how precarious his condition was.

It was a difficult question, but it was one that he had to ask. Walking around the area so that Nagato wouldn't have to bend his head, Kakashi put a hand on the chair he'd been sitting on.

"How much longer have you got?"

Shifting his shoulders in a vain attempt to get more comfortable, Nagato coughed several times before looking back up at Kakashi. "A few days, a week at most."

Kakashi shook his head; it was difficult even for him to watch someone as powerful as Nagato slip away. "Is there anything you need?"

His companion pulled his head up, looking at the rain falling down behind Kakashi. "No. It sounds strange, but I have everything I need. Tell Konan…well I'm sure we'll speak before that time comes."

Kakashi nodded slowly before walking up to pack up the chess set.

"Leave it. I like looking at the pieces."

The ex-Konoha Jounin stared at the leader for a second before shrugging and stepping back from the board. "If you want…"

Nagato grinned in thanks, "I'd like my last vision to be of a victory, if nothing else."

"I think I'll go get a drink to celebrate such a victory then," said Kakashi with a similar grin.

"Good luck, Kakashi. I'm sure we shall speak again."

* * *

><p>With a long sigh, Kakashi dried his head with a towel while looking into the mirror in the apartment he had been living in. As he put the towel over the shower he had just come out of, he smiled when his silver hair perked up as it always did. Gai would often speak of how much hair gel he used to go through to get his bowl-cut exactly how he liked it.<p>

He grabbed a second towel and put it around his shoulders before pulling on his pants and looked back in the mirror. Usually after a shower the scar over Obito's eye would itch, but since it had reverted to a regular eye it hadn't bothered him as much since.

_Are you still watching me, Obito? I know I've messed things up a bit, but at least I'm trying to make up for it. As I always seem to be, I suppose. _

A loud knock came through his apartment, causing him to jump slightly since the front door was so close to the bathroom. He walked up to the front door and opened it with his usual uninterested gaze.

Konan pushed straight past him in her Akatsuki robe, moving into the apartment.

"By all means…come in…" he mumbled, closing the door behind her.

She sat down at the single table in his apartment, putting the large bottle of sake she brought down before staring at him with her usual stoic expression. "Do you generally answer the door without clothes on?"

Kakashi looked down with his hands on the towel around his shoulders. "I think you are overestimating the number of people who show up at my door."

"Maybe."

He walked over to the kitchen and removed two small cups, coming back and sitting opposite Konan, sliding them over. "Are we going to just do this every night?"

Konan bit off the lip of the sake bottle and spat it away, pouring a cup before sliding it over to him. Seeing no reason to stand on ceremony, she took a long swig of the bottle before putting it back down on the table. "You have a problem with that?"

Kakashi chuckled, taking a sip from his cup. "Just thought I'd ask." He threw down the rest and pushed over his cup, "Pour me another."

"Nagato told me you made a decision," said Konan as she filled up his cup.

Kakashi nodded, watching as the blue haired girl threw back the bottle with the skill of a construction worker. For someone who looked like her, it was quite a confusing scene, though Kakashi found himself more amused than confused.

Konan gave a long sigh as she put down the bottle, unbuttoning the top part of her robe and leaning back in her chair. "Gods, I am so tired. I feel like my arms just want to fall off."

"I don't blame you. You take on a lot of responsibility for one person."

She stared at him for a few moments before laughing sadly and taking another slug of the bottle, not bothering to use the cup at all. "I don't want to hear that coming from you."

She took another drink before sliding it over to Kakashi and walking over to his window. He had a habit of always leaving the window open so that he could listen to the rain, and so he could also make a quick escape, and that allowed Konan to wet her hands on the rain outside.

Kakashi stood up slowly, leaving the bottle on the table half-finished. "Something wrong?"

For nearly a minute she ignored him, merely standing at his window with her hands in the rain. Eventually she turned around and walked towards him, reaching out to dry her hands on the towel around his neck. She moved towards the bed and sat down, unbuttoning the rest of her robe.

"Konan, what are you doing?"

Throwing her robe on the side of the bed, Konan indicated to him with her chin, "Take off your pants."

"Konan, wait. You don't have to do this…"

She stood up from the bed and stared at him expressionless, "You've never complained in the past."

Kakashi batted down one of her outreaching hands, "Enough. I don't know why you keep doing this."

Sitting back down on his bed, the blue haired woman stared up at him, "Why does there have to be meaning? Can't it just be meaningless fun?"

"Konan, I've seen your eyes when we do it."

She continued to stare at him stubbornly, but when he failed to relent she sighed and stared at the ground, mumbling something he couldn't hear.

Kakashi leaned closer to her, "What was that?"

She looked back up at him, with all the life seemingly gone from her eyes. "I'm…lonely."

Her companion smiled, reaching out to lightly touch her face just below her hair, "Why don't we talk?"

With care he passed her the Akatsuki robe, but Konan just pushed it away, preferring to sit without any clothes on. He'd been suspicious the first time he'd seen it, but she told him one night that when she came over she only wore her robe and nothing else for her visits.

She smiled sadly and put up a hand, letting the blue paper sheets from her hair float around before settling into her hand in a neat stack. "I travel all around this village, wearing that robe and this flower. They call me 'God's Angel'."

She scoffed loudly, "What a joke."

"I believe it's a sign of affection," said Kakashi quietly.

"Please," she snorted. "Most of them don't even know my name. If I'm not wearing that robe or the flower in my hair, none of them even recognise me."

Kakashi had noticed that over the past month, and it boggled his mind considering how striking she was. "You are going to be their leader, Konan. They'll come around."

"What if I don't want them to? What if I just want to run away and not look back?" Her voice was course, like she was trying not to be emotional and failing.

"Konan, look at me." He used his hand to push her face up to him. There was something in her gaze that reminded of when Rin was struggling with Obito's death.

"You are the strongest woman I've ever met, and that's saying something. Nagato is giving you this burden because he knows you can handle it. And you aren't alone in this."

"I'm not?"

He gave her a semi-serious frown, "Konan, I agreed to being your second. Why do you think I'm still here?"

"It's not the sex?"

Kakashi grinned widely, "Well…maybe a little."

She cocked her head slightly, her mood changing instantly. Without him noticing, her arms were on either side of his neck. "I'm…grateful that you are here."

He simply continued grinning in response.

Looking him dead in the eyes, Konan became serious for a moment. "I don't love you though."

"I'd be concerned if you did."

Removing the towel around his shoulders, Konan leaned forward so that their foreheads were just barely touching. "This leader has a command for her XO."

Kakashi rolled his eyes as she brought him down to the bed, "Yes, boss…"

* * *

><p>Kakashi had only barely made it into his 'office' before an Amegakure shinobi came barging in, breathing heavily. The blonde shinobi immediately frowned upon seeing Kakashi looking over a set of reports on his desk, "Who are you?"<p>

The ex-Konoha Jounin put down the reports and motioned him forward, "I'm the new XO. What do you have to report?"

He was clearly suspicious of Kakashi, but his inherent training kicked in and the Amegakure shinobi stood at attention. "Sir. A strange figure has been seen approaching our border. It has not made any change in direction, it is coming this way."

"Friendly?"

He shook his head, trying to hide his clear disquiet, "No sir. I was sent to report back from my group…but I know they are dead."

Kakashi frowned, "You know?"

"It's one of my skills, sir. I can't quite explain it…but they are gone."

Kakashi thanked him for his report and told him to rest, reminding him that his comrades wouldn't want him to fight fatigued. He put a hand to his waist as he looked out over the rain beyond his window.

_First day and already we are being invaded. How tiresome. _

He considered finding Konan to inform her, but hesitated when he thought of his new position.

_I can't run to her at every problem. She has enough on her plate. _

Shutting the door behind him, Kakashi rubbed at his neck sorely. It had been bothering him for a while, but considering the source he didn't mind it so much.

The scout had been the exception as Kakashi discovered when he began giving out orders to the other Amegakure shinobi. They all knew exactly who he was, and obeyed him immediately, although he could sense the resentment in their voices as they went about their duties.

Kakashi was not about to set the whole village on high alert for one intruder, though he had learnt to be cautious when facing unknown enemies. Their village was at full strength due to Nagato's soon-to-be passing and Konan's assumption of leadership, and as he had discovered Amegakure's military structure worked quite differently to Konoha's.

Instead of a single figure passing on missions and orders, they worked in groups of leaders, who controlled the shinobi under their command. It gave the individual shinobi a large amount of freedom, but it also meant that they could all be brought back at a moment's notice if required.

Kakashi sent three teams to investigate the situation, each capable of reporting back quickly to inform him of what had happened to the others. Two more groups set about their defences, in case the enemy got through his other teams, though he didn't expect that to happen.

After organising it all, Kakashi found himself with nothing to do, leaning on an edge on one of the many walkways. The city of Amegakure was expansive to say the least, but having gotten a grasp on the number of people residing in it Kakashi determined that much of the city was designed to be a deception, having been built after their rebellion against Hanzo's forces.

He thought about it for a moment before remembering what time it was. Running through a quick set of handseals he bit at his thumb and placed it on the ground beneath him.

A small cloud of smoke appeared beneath his hand and a small dog slowly walked out of it.

"Yo."

Kakashi grinned, waving back at his trustworthy summon. "Yo, Pakkun."

"That time again?" asked the dog, licking at his paw.

His summoner nodded, pulling out a scroll from his old flak jacket. Since being accepted into the village, he'd taken to wearing his old Konoha uniform again, though he wasn't going to wear his forehead protector again.

Not until there was another Konoha at least.

He knelt down and unravelled the scroll across the ground, showing Pakkun the large map of the country he had drawn on it. The map had dozens of crosses across each area, and Kakashi pulled out a pen before indicating to Pakkun.

The dog stared at the map for a few seconds before indicating with his paw to the top right area. "Urushi checked the north of the Land of Lightning. No sightings."

Kakashi nodded and crossed out the area.

Pakkun moved across and indicated to the Land of Rice Fields, "Bull scoured the area, including around the destroyed Village of Sound. No sightings."

With a sigh, Kakashi reluctantly crossed out that area as well. He pointed to the crater where Konoha once stood, "How about here?"

Pakkun hesitated for a few moments before shaking his head and placing his paw so that it covered the Land of Fire. He looked at Kakashi and shook his head dramatically.

"This whole area is gone, Kakashi."

"Gone? What do you mean?" Pakkun was always a grumpy and dramatic pug, but there was something in his voice that gave Kakashi pause.

The dog stepped back and sat down, staring down at the map. "None of us were able to get into the Land of Fire. It's difficult to explain, but this area is under some kind of severe lockdown, Kakashi. The furthest I was able to get was ten miles in, before I was forced to turn back."

"So what does that mean?" asked Kakashi, wary of what happened to his homeland after they left it.

Pakkun shrugged, "I don't know. But if any of your group was in that land, they aren't anymore."

Kakashi didn't look at Pakkun, still glaring at the map intently. He had already drawn his own conclusion on what had happened, and as painful as it was, Kakashi knew what he had to do.

With a grim expression on his face, Kakashi drew a large cross over his previous homeland.

"Are you sure?" asked Pakkun.

His master nodded and began rolling up the map. "I have no choice."

"I've never known you to give up on your companions."

He could hear the disapproval in the dog's voice, but it was nearly silent compared to the voice in his head. "I have to face reality, Pakkun. I will still look…but I need to move on."

The pug stared at him before huffing and turning around to show him his back. "In a time of war, we would never have left our companions behind."

Placing the map into his pocket, Kakashi stood up and turned around to look out to the city. "But we did, many times. Things are never that simple, Pakkun."

"I'm disappointed in you, Kakashi."

Pakkun disappeared into a small puff of smoke, leaving Kakashi by himself.

The Jounin sighed and leaned on the rail in front of him.

"Not half as much as I am…" he muttered.

* * *

><p>It was only after the scouts were late back from reporting by over an hour that Kakashi began to think he had underestimated the situation.<p>

He quickly moved to one of the groups in position near the edge of the city, thankful that they didn't shoot him down with ninjutsu as he climbed the metal tower.

"Sir," saluted the team leader, while the other three continued scanning the area with their techniques.

"Anything?"

"No sir. Were you expecting something?"

Kakashi stood beside one of the Amegakure shinobi, staring out across the massive lake that surrounded their city. There was no evidence of the battle he had had with Konan a month ago, though Kakashi had learnt not to piss her off in a general sense.

"I sent out three teams to investigate a missing scout team. They are yet to report back."

The team leader acknowledged his unspoken order and went to ask him for details, but hesitated when one of his team pointed straight at the single patch of land visible from their position.

"Contact!"

Kakashi moved quickly to the shinobi's side, "What do you see?"

The Amegakure shinobi used his other hand to adjust the goggles on his eyes, zooming in on the location he had noticed. "Single figure, approaching the city at point 322."

His teammates went to focus on that point, but the team leader shouted at them to maintain their vigil elsewhere.

Kakashi squinted, unable to see what the shinobi was pointing at, though he had nothing to enhance his eyesight. "What can you see beyond that?"

"I'm…not sure, sir. All I can see is a single figure in a black cloak walking on the water towards the city. My sensory techniques don't seem to be working properly either."

Kakashi bit at his lip, he had a bad feeling about the situation.

He turned to the team leader, "I need you to assemble a strike force, now. Whoever that figure is, it's the reason our teams never returned."

The Amegakure shinobi saluted and disappeared down the tower, with the other three shinobi wondering what was such a big deal.

Kakashi indicated to the youngest of the team, "Move as fast as you can to the nearest statue. The Angel must be informed. Tell her to put the village on high alert."

The Genin looked at him suspiciously, but moved out regardless, while Kakashi regarded the other two.

"What is going on, sir?"

"Are we under attack?"

Kakashi wasn't sure what to tell them, so he just told them to stay in their current position while he organised a defence. When he'd first heard of the missing scout he'd set up a small group to maintain a vigil, but if his suspicions were correct they would need everyone that could fight.

It was to the credit of the shinobi of Amegakure that they were prepared so quickly. By the time Kakashi had prepared himself for battle, thirty shinobi were waiting at the front of the city for him.

The team leader was nowhere to be found, but Kakashi assumed that he had resumed his post at the top of the tower.

"What are your orders?" asked one of the shinobi.

Looking over the faces of the shinobi, Kakashi noted to himself that most of them were Chuunin level, but with their numbers he hoped that they wouldn't encounter too many issues.

"An enemy is approaching the city. We do not know what their abilities are, or their purpose, but they must not be allowed to enter the city."

With two hand signals they all moved out towards the solitary figure moving towards the city. Kakashi quietly hoped that this wasn't what he feared it could be.

oOoOoOo

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Fifty Two**

It didn't take them long to find the figure moving towards the city, though it wasn't what Kakashi was expecting.

The figure was walking casually towards the city in a straight line across the water, unflinching even as thirty one shinobi surrounded it. It was cloaked in a pitch black robe that seemed to suck all the light out of the area around it.

It slowed to a stop as they moved to stand in its way, with Kakashi at the front. He couldn't see its face hidden beneath a dark hood.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The figure made no large movements, but shifted its head up so that its hood fell back. To their surprise it was a young woman, with long dark hair and pale-looking skin.

However her face was expressionless and none of them could see her eyes as they were closed.

After a few seconds of her not saying anything, Kakashi shook his head and indicated to a shinobi to his right. "Throw a kunai just next to her head as a warning."

The Amegakure shinobi nodded and quickly flicked a kunai towards her, which sailed just past her hood and past where another shinobi caught it.

Kakashi frowned in suspicion; she hadn't even moved an inch at the attack. He didn't think she was blind since she surely heard the attack, but to not even flinch was impressive.

"This is your last warning! Get off our land or we will attack!"

The woman made no motions at all, forcing Kakashi's hand. He motioned to the shinobi around him, "Take her out!"

True to their training, the shinobi obeyed his order immediately, a large group of them leaping towards her immediately. Two shinobi pulled out large swords and swung at her head while several others moved around to strike at her from behind.

To their surprise their swords met no resistance as they were driving into her neck. The shinobi supporting them held back in amazement, though it became clear that their hesitation was in error. Where the swords had been driven through her skin there was no blood seeping down her front. Her head cocked slightly as both her hands slowly reached out and she lightly tapped the shinobi on their faces.

The two shinobi's eyes rolled into the back of their heads and they fell to the ground, their hands letting go of their swords. Kakashi quickly shot forward and grabbed the two of them, dragging them away from her as the other shinobi maintained a circle around the woman.

Feeling at their necks with a gloved hand, Kakashi stared at the woman with an angry stare.

_They are both dead. She barely touched them…and how is she still alive? _

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Fifty**

With extremely slow movements, the cloaked woman reached up and pulled the swords out of her neck, letting the clean blades fall to the ground. There was no blood on them at all, and no mark was evident on her skin.

"Get her!" yelled one of the Amegakure shinobi, grabbing two kunai in his hands.

The others roared in agreement and leapt to attack her, as Kakashi observed from his backward position. She didn't flinch at all when four of them slashed at her face and throat with their kunai, while others clapped their hands together to activate their individual ninjutsu.

Three large streaks of water shot towards and consumed her position, as the shinobi that struck at her at short range jumped back to avoid the attack.

"Yeah!"

"We got her!"

From his position Kakashi was forced to disagree. If it was this easy, his scouts would have killed her and reported back. He couldn't help a sinking feeling that sat in his gut, and when the water died down his fears were confirmed.

Standing as still as she had when they had surrounded her was the cloaked woman, without a scratch on her. Her eyes were still closed, but her face was pointing towards one of the shinobi that had stabbed her.

She slowly walked towards him, prompting him to yell in frustration and try to slice at her face with his kunai. The woman easily shifted her head out of the way of the strike and lightly brushed his hand, letting his body fall to the floor before turning around with a hand raised to catch the wrist of another shinobi trying to attack her from behind.

They both hit the water and began to sink as four others began hurling projectiles at her. The kunai and shuriken peppered her body, but that didn't stop her as she continued to walk towards another group of shinobi.

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Forty Eight**

A group of shinobi leapt back and clapped their hands together simultaneously, a swirling whirlpool forming under her feet as the others jumped back to avoid the attack.

"This isn't going to work…" muttered Kakashi, watching as the woman fell into the whirlpool, her unchanging expression haunting Kakashi as she disappeared.

For a few seconds after the water settled back down, they all breathed out sighs of relief, but Kakashi wasn't so convinced. Without his Sharingan he was forced to use other methods to detect chakra, and it was a very large concern to him that he couldn't sense chakra from the woman before she disappeared.

In fact he hadn't sensed anything from her, not even the resemblance of a pulse.

He spun around on a suspicion, which was quickly confirmed when he saw the cloaked woman standing behind the five shinobi that had made the whirlpool, her arms hidden within her robe.

Kakashi went to warn them, but as they fell to the water he saw that it was a pointless task.

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Forty Three**

"What are we going to do?" demanded one of his subordinates.

Kakashi bit at his lip, wary of the fact that they were being slaughtered. He ran through a quick set of handseals and yelled for the others to stand back.

"Katon: Haisekishou!" (Fire Element: Ash Pile Burning)

A large cloud of grey ash shot through towards the woman, while Kakashi jumped back to formulate a plan.

_Close combat is clearly out of the question…this is not a battle that could be won easily. _

"We have to retreat."

"What?! We can't do that!" yelled one of his subordinates.

"We have no choice. She's too dangerous an enemy for us to defeat here." Kakashi gave several hand signals to the others, who all indicated back to him a similar motive to their companion.

Kakashi swore when he saw the others preparing themselves for battle, "Damnit, we have to retreat!"

The smoke cleared, and as he had suspected the woman was still standing there without a mark on her. A hail of projectiles and ninjutsu were sent towards her, but unlike before she seemed to simply vanish and let the attacks fall away.

"Everyone be on your guard!"

It was clearly a futile command, as she appeared in front of one of the Amegakure shinobi, tapping him lightly on the forehead before disappearing again.

Ten shinobi fell in quick succession, which only served to incise the others further. They all roared in outrage, but after seeing Kakashi furiously try to get them to retreat they understood that this wasn't a foe they could defeat one their own.

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Thirty Three**

"To the city!" yelled Kakashi, feeling immensely thankful that they were finally listening and falling back.

Once he was sure that they were all retreating he followed them, wary of the fact that he was almost positive that the woman was following them.

A Jounin came up beside him, "What are we going to…"

Kakashi turned at the odd way he ended his sentence and nearly leapt back when he saw the cloaked woman standing behind the shinobi as he fell into the water.

Her closed eyes seemed to stare at his face, and Kakashi felt like there was nothing he could do to stop her. However to his surprise, she allowed him to join the rest of the remnants of his squad as they fled back to Amegakure, though during his retreat he could see that she was still walking slowly towards the city as if nothing had changed.

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Thirty Two**

* * *

><p>It was only a short journey back to Amegakure, but to Kakashi it felt like an age. He'd lost men under his command before, but even in his immense library of experience he could not think of a way to counterattack against such a foe.<p>

By the time he passed the border of the city as the last of his group, he could see a massive army of shinobi standing ready to accept them, with Konan standing at the front with her full robe and a fierce look in her eyes.

"What is the situation?" she asked as he joined her side.

Kakashi breathed out heavily and stared out at the water. He could barely make out the woman coming towards the city, which only served to fill him with an unnatural dread. He was used to difficult opponents, but such an enemy was something he had only ever encountered once before.

And he had only survived the encounter because of luck, nothing more.

"It's…difficult to explain. There is a single enemy coming here but…"

"I see her." Konan motioned to a large group of shinobi at an elevated position. "Ninth squad, take her out!"

Twenty shinobi nodded in acknowledgement and clapped their hands together in perfect synchronisation. Beneath them Kakashi could feel the massive amounts of chakra being moulded as the water in front of the city began to writhe and form into a large dragon-like creature.

The rain that constantly fell on the area only served to increase the attack's size, and once they had aimed it properly the dragon opened its mouth and fired a highly concentrated beam straight at the approaching enemy.

Kakashi could barely keep track of its movements; the attack was so fast he couldn't think of anyone that could avoid it.

The enemy was no exception.

She took the strike head-on and disappeared from sight by the sheer force of the water. Kakashi's eyes widened, surely nothing could survive that.

Beside him Konan snarled and began collecting paper sheets around her body. "That can't be it."

"Are all the civilians evacuated?" asked Kakashi, not wanting any innocents to be killed.

She indicated with a robed hand to the army around them, "We have no civilians. Everyone who lives in Amegakure is a shinobi in their own right."

Kakashi looked around, seeing the bartender standing beside the young girl who organised some of the village's washing.

_So none of them are easy prey. Wise…_

"Look! Up there!"

Most of the army looked up to where the shinobi was pointing, but Kakashi already knew what had happened. Above the army where the long ranged shinobi had been stationed they could see the single black robed figure, standing over them like a dark reaper of childhood tales.

**Amegakure Shinobi = One Hundred and Twelve**

"Everyone back!" ordered Konan as she began to rise into air on paper wings.

As the army moved further into the city away from the figure, Kakashi swore and sped through a set of handseals, using the water beneath to propel himself up to Konan's position. The water fountain sustained him as he saw Konan preparing a familiar looking set of chakrams.

They could see the bodies on the ninth squad littered around the enemy, again without any indication as to what killed them, though they were clearly dead.

"What the hell is she?" asked Konan.

"I don't know. By all accounts she seems to be immortal."

She turned to him with her usual stoic expression, "There is no such thing. If we fight her enough, we will discover the trick to her abilities."

Kakashi shook his head when he saw her send two chakrams straight into the enemy who seemed content to ignore them and go after the main bulk of the shinobi force.

_But at what cost?_

Her attacks slashed straight through the woman and through into the building behind her as she fell towards the ground; though the attack didn't halt her descend at all. The building was slashed in half and collapsed into the water beneath it as she began to move with purpose towards the shinobi army.

The Amegakure shinobi were furious at their comrades' deaths and roared as they moved to attack her all at once.

"That attack went straight through her…" said Konan in surprise.

Kakashi looked over at her as his water pillar began to waver. "Konan, snap out of it! Your people are being slaughtered!"

She looked down, watching helplessly as the black robed woman merely stood still and let the shinobi fall against her. As each close combat shinobi reached her she brought them low with a single touch, despite their best efforts there appeared to be no way to stop her, or even slow her down.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Ninety Three**

_There is nowhere to retreat from here_, thought Kakashi as he descended towards the ground level. By his reckoning they had lost nearly a third of their force with nothing to show for it, and they had only discovered her less than thirty minutes ago.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

He shot a fireball straight into her, and again she simply walked out of the fire and towards the nearest shinobi. The Amegakure shinobi had learnt quickly to not get within her reach and attack her from a distance, but that quickly became pointless as she appeared to glide across the water faster than they could react, her movements shifting from a ponderous killing machine to something of an elegant dancer, though Kakashi couldn't feel any feeling in her movements.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Eighty Eight**

"Everyone fall back to the tower!" yelled Konan, hovering over the woman with her hands busy at work.

Kakashi wasn't initially sure of what she was doing, but his eyes widened when he saw what she was making out of the blue paper in her hands.

_Surely she wouldn't…_

**Amegakure Shinobi = Eighty Five**

Having dispatched all the shinobi within range, the woman looked up to see two paper birds floating down towards her. Despite her eyes still being closed, there was an odd expression on her face, one that would have piqued Kakashi's interest had he not been fleeing for his life with the rest of the Amegakure army.

Unlike his previous battle with Konan, there was no delay with these two attacks. The moment they were close to the enemy they both exploded with deafening sounds, sending massive waves of water away from the blasts as well as rubble from the destroyed buildings.

Being the closest to the explosions, Konan was forced to shield her eyes as almost a quarter of Amegakure was destroyed in the blasts.

"If that doesn't kill you…" she said dryly, hovering in the air.

She turned to look at her shinobi that had escaped the blast radius, doing a quick count while feeling relief when she saw Kakashi in the crowd giving out orders. She'd made sure that none of her own were caught in the explosion, but the sheer losses they had suffered were staggering.

A chill ran down her spine, forcing her to look down at the devastation beneath her. The Amegakure leader's heart sank as she saw the robed woman walk out of the area like she was in the middle of a stroll.

_She doesn't seem to be weak to anything. This doesn't make any sense! _

The blue haired shinobi blinked twice, and in that time her enemy appeared in front of her, hovering by some unknown power. With no malice evident in her movements the enemy reached with one hand, to dispatch her as she had with her subordinates.

Before Konan could do anything about it however, an Amegakure Jounin leapt up from the water beneath her and interposed himself between her and the enemy, taking the touch on his chest.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Eighty Four**

Konan was unable to do anything to stop his death, and for a second she found herself unable to move as his body fell towards the ground. The woman cocked her head slightly at the intrusion but nevertheless reached out again to kill Konan.

Unlike the other shinobi, Kakashi didn't interpose himself between the two of them. Rather he chose to grab at Konan's legs with a water technique and drag her away from the enemy, holding out his hands to catch her as she slammed into him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Despite her struggles in his hands, Kakashi refused to let her go, "Saving your life."

She continued to struggle, but her resolve wavered when she saw her subordinates form a protective circle around the two of them with their weapons raised.

"Protect the Angel!" yelled several of the shinobi, throwing shuriken and kunai at their enemy, and when they ran out of those they began throwing anything they could at the descending woman.

"Put me down," asked Konan calmly, not bothering to give him any thanks since she knew he knew her feelings already.

She motioned at the cloaked woman, sending hundreds of paper shurikens at her in conjunction with the other Amegakure shinobi attacks.

"We won't be able to defeat her by conventional means," she observed, as another group fell under her touch.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Seventy Two**

They weren't sure whether she was changing her methods or something else entirely, but the black robed woman was now moving extremely quickly, dispatching one shinobi after the other without any signs of slowing down.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Sixty Nine**

"Is there no place for us to retreat to?" asked Kakashi, adding his own long ranged techniques to the fray, wary of the fact that he was merely wasting chakra.

Creating a large spear of paper to throw, Konan swore as another group of shinobi fell under the enemies touch. "This is our home. We will not abandon it!"

**Amegakure Shinobi = Fifty Nine**

Kakashi snarled and ran his hands though a set of handseals before biting at his thumb and placing in on the water beneath him. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Nothing happened.

The Jounin swore and attempted to activate the technique again, but still nothing happened.

_Of all the times…damnit…_

**Amegakure Shinobi = Fifty One**

He turned to Konan, "We need to fall back!"

The blue haired shinobi shook her head as their attacks continued to do no damage to their enemy. "If this is where we die…so be it."

He reached out and grabbed her by the collar of her robe, "There is no noble death here! Only slaughter!"

**Amegakure Shinobi = Thirty Three**

It was to their credit that none of the Amegakure shinobi even considered retreat while their comrades fell to the implacable enemy; they kept throwing themselves at her without any regard for their own personal safety.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Twenty Six**

Kakashi pushed one of his hands towards the ground, trying to think of ways to protect the group from the woman's touch. However even his strongest water techniques did little but shower her in water, which seemed to slip away from her black robes as she rapidly appeared in front of individual shinobi and gave them the touch of her pale hands.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Nineteen**

_Wait…I have an idea. _

Kakashi turned to Konan and the others, "Cover me!"

They nodded and continued their assault as Kakashi sped towards the black robed woman, his hands speeding through a set of handseals he had copied over two years ago. She seemed aware of his presence as she removed her hand from the face of an Amegakure Genin she had just killed.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Eighteen**

Kakashi disappeared just as he approached her, wary that a frontal assault was suicide. He appeared behind her and placed one of his hands just behind her head.

"Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!"

A large collection of water shot up from beneath the woman and covered her completely in a perfect sphere, which was connected to Kakashi only until he released his hand from inside so that he wasn't susceptible to her touch from within.

"You did it!" proclaimed one of the few remaining shinobi, all of them including Konan running up to him.

_I should have thought of that earlier. If I had…they would still be alive…_

When Zabuza had trapped him in a similar water prison years ago, Kakashi had struggled to hold his breath within, it took most of his strength to keep himself conscious under the immense pressure of the water contained within.

The enemy seemed to have no issue within the sphere; she maintained the small emotionless expression she had held since he had first seen her.

There were only seventeen of them left on the battlefield, so when they closed in around the sphere they didn't take up much room.

Konan seemed to be unable to stop her head from shaking as she looked around at the faces surrounding her. Most of the survivors were Genin, some of them barely able to perform more than a few techniques without exhausting themselves. She was grateful that they hadn't fled as she might have at their age, but there was no way to revive their village with such numbers.

Such as it was, Amegakure was not going to recover from the day's events.

The woman turned around within the prison, facing Konan with her eyes still closed. As if sensing that the battle had come to an end, the woman visibly relaxed within her black robe.

In turn the shinobi around her relaxed, thankful that no more of them were going to be killed by such a foe. However Kakashi was not so convinced and neither was Konan.

The blue haired shinobi went to order the others to move back, but the enemy didn't give her a chance to do so as she vanished from within the sphere.

"Be on your guard!" yelled Kakashi, holding a kunai in one hand defensively.

Two of the Genin fell on their faces into the water as the woman appeared only for a second before disappearing again.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Fifteen**

"What are we going to do?" asked Konan, feeling more helpless now than when she'd been forced to watch Yahiko die for her sake.

A Jounin went to give her an idea, but he felt a tap on an exposed piece of flesh at the side of his neck, causing his eyes to roll back into his head and he fell into the water.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Fourteen**

Four Genin that had trained together since they were small children charged past Kakashi and Konan at her, their kunai raised high in a foolhardy attempt to avenge their friends, but in a quick spin they each fell to her touch.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Ten**

Seeing no other option, Konan yelled at the remaining shinobi to disperse as she ripped off the flower in her hair and jumped back to fold it as quickly as possible.

Kakashi tried to think of another technique to keep them alive, but everything he could think of had already been shot at her to no effect.

She moved with purposeful through their scattered ranks, tapped the shinobi on either their faces or their arms, whatever she could get a hold of. Regardless of how far away they were from her, she seemed to catch up with them and take them out.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Six**

One of the Jounin roared out and summoned up a massive creature from underneath the water, but as the creature came near the enemy it disappeared in a large cloud of smoke. In response she moved across the water and lightly touched him on his cheek, killing him instantly.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Five**

The last Genin turned to Konan with despair written over his face, "What are we to do, Angel?"

Beside him the last Chuunin fell just as he drove a kunai into the woman's face. She easily pulled out the knife with no marks remaining on her face.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Four**

"I don't know…I don't know!"

Konan tried to shield him with her paper techniques, but to no avail as the woman slowly pushed him down into the water beneath the city.

"NO!" she screamed, but he was already dead.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Three**

Seeing no-one else at her side besides Kakashi, Konan threw caution to the wind and let her blue paper birds litter the sky.

"This is my home! If you want my life, come and take it you BITCH!"

She went to detonate the birds, but hesitated slightly when she saw Kakashi trying to activate a technique in the corner of her eyes. In that moment of hesitation, the enemy struck.

She shot forward and grabbed Konan's face with her whole hand, forcing Kakashi to watch as the blue haired leader didn't even get a chance to struggle before she fell to the water, as dead as the rest of her people.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Two**

Kakashi screamed out in fury and dove forward to catch her body before it could fall into the water, staring up at the black robed woman with pure hatred in his eyes.

She stared down at him, and for the first time since seeing her, she opened her eyes.

Kakashi would never forget the look she gave him, even on the verge of his death.

Instead of a normal gaze, her eyes could not even be considered black by normal standards. Her dark orbs had no irises and seemed to pierce straight through him while consuming the light around them.

In them, Kakashi saw his death.

A death that never came.

Despite being completely at her mercy, the enemy did not kill him. She barely gave him the slightest stare before turning her face to the tallest tower in the now-ruined city of Amegakure.

He knew that she was likely sensing lingering Nagato's presence at the top of the tower, but after a few seconds she turned back and closed her eyes again.

Placing her arms above her head, the woman covered her face completely with her black hood before disappearing into a visible tear in the air beside her.

Using a tiny bit of chakra to keep himself afloat, Kakashi roared out in frustration as he held Konan's lifeless body in his arms. There was nothing he could do for her.

But there was someone who would want to see her, if nothing else than to say goodbye.

* * *

><p>Even before Kakashi set her body down at the top of the tower, Nagato knew that she was dead. His strength was so faded that he couldn't do anything except weep.<p>

Kakashi fell to his knees, feeling more helpless than when he had discovered his father's body. He'd lost his father, he'd lost his teammates, he'd lost his companions, and now he had lost her.

"What happened?"

"I…can't even begin to explain it. Everyone…"

Nagato coughed violently, ignoring the blood falling down his front as he looked at Konan's face. Kakashi had closed her eyes when he'd picked up her body, but it was impossible to make her look peaceful.

"I'm sorry, Nagato. I…failed you."

The white haired leader struggled for a moment before clearing his throat and struggling with his arms. With a not-so-inconsiderable effort, he wrenched his hands out of the gauntlets and let the metal break apart to reveal his weak-looking hands.

"What are you doing?"

Nagato grimaced as he put his hands together and slowly moved through a long set of handseals. "Bring me a blank scroll and place it in front of me."

Kakashi stared up at him suspiciously, but opened one of the pockets on his flak jacket and opened one of his scrolls, letting it fold out in front of Nagato.

"What are you going to do?"

Lines of text began to move from Nagato's hand down his body into the scroll, forming an elaborate seal that Kakashi didn't recognise. He could sense the immense amount of chakra being transferred into the seal, but to what purpose he had no clue.

What he did know is that at the end of the technique, Nagato wouldn't have enough chakra to sustain himself for much longer. He'd been hanging on a thread for weeks now, and as the scroll was completely filled he was panting heavily.

Kakashi rolled up the scroll and tied it up, "What is this?"

Looking at his eyes through heavy breaths, Nagato struggled to keep his eyes open. "A failsafe. I was planning on doing this for her, but I don't believe she would accept it anyway. So I'm entrusting them to you."

"What are you giving me?" asked Kakashi, putting the scroll back into his flak jacket.

"The Rinnegan."

Out of all the things he had been thinking, that was so far removed he nearly fell to the ground in surprise. "That's…I…don't know what to say."

Nagato shook his head, "It's not like that. The Rinnegan is a heavy burden, and I'm not giving it to you just because I will soon be dead."

"I don't understand…"

Nagato placed his hands back into a handseal, "I…don't have the strength to save them all. But Konan…I can still save her."

Looking down at the body between them, Kakashi still didn't know what was going on. "Nagato…she's dead. I know it's hard to accept…"

The Amegakure leader concentrated, his white hair beginning to flail behind him. "The Rinnegan gives the user limited control over death. I can't bring everyone back…but Konan…I can do at least this much."

Kakashi turned back to him, "You'll die…you know that."

Nagato nodded, motioning with his head to the scroll in Kakashi's flak jacket. "I can bring her back…but only you can keep her safe. Kakashi…if you use the Rinnegan it will eventually kill you. You must understand this."

The Jounin finally understood why Nagato was entrusting such a thing to him. He still wasn't sure why he was still alive, but he knew what he had to do. "I understand, Nagato. I promise I'll keep her safe."

"You are not like the others from Konoha, Kakashi. While you likely would have done the same as they did, I trust your judgement. She…trusts your judgement."

"Nagato…"

The Amegakure leader heaved loudly, "One final thing before I rest. I don't expect her to forgive me for this…but I doubt Yahiko would if I didn't do it."

His eyes dilated slightly as the ground at the top of the tower trembled, Kakashi jumping back instinctively. A large demonic face shot up from the ground and hovered over Konan's body, struggling as its giant mouth opened slowly.

_I know this is a selfish thing to do, Konan. Perhaps one day you will forgive me. _

Nagato clapped his hands together, moulding every scrap of chakra he had into the technique.

"Geou: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!" (Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique)

His eyes flashed as a single green light emerged from the demon's mouth, floating down into Konan's body and forcing its way through her chest.

The demonic face disappeared immediately and Nagato managed a small grin before his eyes dulled to black and his head hung to the ground lifeless.

**Amegakure Shinobi = Two**

Kakashi watched all of this without comment; he wasn't sure what to make of Nagato's claim that he could bring Konan back from the dead. But when he looked down at the woman's body, he saw that the former Amegakure leader wasn't exaggerating.

The blue haired woman twitched slightly, and Kakashi's heart leapt into his mouth when he heard the slightest groan from her mouth. He immediately fell down beside her and cradled her head in his hands, watching in amazement as the previously dead kunoichi slowly opened her eyes to look straight at him.

"My god…he really did it…"

"Did what?" asked Konan quietly, flexing her hands sorely as she attempted to get up from his hold.

Kakashi carefully eased her to a seated position, trying to think of what he could tell her to explain what had happened, but when she saw Nagato behind him she immediately understood.

"I died…didn't I?"

Her XO nodded slowly, "Everyone did. I'm so sorry, Konan. I should have saved you…"

She grimaced and clutched at her head, feeling the memories of the battle flood through her mind. "Kakashi, I remember what happened. You did everything you could. I'm not some delicate flower that needs to be cradled and cared for."

She looked over Nagato's body, wary of the fact that he wasn't moving and his hair was completely white. "He brought me back, didn't he?'

"I don't know how…but yes."

She smiled tiredly, "That's just like him. Not thinking of himself at all."

Konan had already gone through her grief over Nagato's death. Now that she was faced with it, she didn't feel too sad, or even lonely.

She was just happy he wasn't suffering anymore.

Using Kakashi to pull herself up, Konan was uneasy on her feet but was thankful when Kakashi pulled her arm around his shoulder to support her. The two of them hobbled towards the edge of the tower to look over the mostly demolished city.

The tower was still intact, as were a few of the residential areas, but beyond that everything else had been destroyed in the battle, mostly by her attacks.

"Where are the others? Are they pursuing the enemy?"

"Others?"

She turned her face in her arms to look him directly in the face, "The others Nagato revived. The Rinne Tensei was designed to revive everyone from a certain time period before activation."

Kakashi went to tell her, but hesitated when he thought of how traumatic it would be.

Being the observant type, she immediately noticed his hesitation. "Kakashi…tell me. Where are the others?"

He sighed and pulled her arm off his shoulder, holding her at an arm's length.

"There are no others. He only had enough strength to save you."

She stared at him for an age, trying to sense the falsehood in his gaze, but there was none to be found. All the grief and hatred she had accumulated during the battle slammed into her at once, and it was too much for her to bear.

Konan dropped to her knees and vomited on the ground, not caring that it was hitting Kakashi's feet in front of her.

He felt like he should say something to comfort her as she continued to retch, but nothing came to mind. When he'd lost everyone he'd been unable to do anything. When Rin had died by his hand, his mind had literally broken down. While he had the experience, he certainly didn't have the expertise.

"Am…I the only one left?"

Kakashi leaned down beside her and slowly moved her hair so that it was out of her face. "I'm here too. You aren't alone, Konan."

She turned and stared at him for a few seconds before scoffing and rolling so that she was lying down, away from the spray on the ground. "A whole village…by one person. I…was meant to protect them."

"You did the best you could." Kakashi immediately regretted saying that when he saw the pain in her eyes. He'd never seen her cry before; the liquid seemed to turn a shade of purple as it spoiled her eye liner, which only served to make her look even sadder.

"He told me to protect them. I couldn't save any of them…our people…"

_This isn't war_, thought Kakashi. In a war there was loss on both sides. The woman had killed every person in the village without prejudice, without as much as a scratch to show for it.

_Is that how Konoha went?_

It was strange, in that he hadn't felt like she did when he'd found out that Konoha had been destroyed. He'd been devastated to be sure, but without that many attachments to the village beyond those that had survived, it hadn't meant as much to him as some of the others, who had lost family and friends.

Kakashi had learnt not to get attached, but nevertheless he understood Konan's pain.

"It's just an endless cycle…"

"What did you say?" asked Konan, struggling to see him from her position.

"It was something Nagato told me once. In the world there is an endless cycle of pain and death."

Seemingly distracted by his comment, Konan forced herself up and wiped at her eyes, "Yahiko used to speak like that as well. He…they…wanted to break that cycle. We thought by taking out Hanzo we had freed ourselves…but with no one left it seems like a hollow victory now."

Walking back towards her, Kakashi extended a hand to her. "You are still here, Konan. You are their legacy. Not everything is lost."

"Kakashi…I can't do this. Seeing everyone…it won't end. Eventually you'll…I can't do it."

He reached down further and took her hand, holding it tightly as he helped her to her feet. "I've been through the same things you have, Konan. I know how you feel, you know that. When we were playing chess, and Nagato asked me that question, I didn't have a response at the time."

"And now?"

He helped her walk towards Nagato's body, "We should stop. The only way to break the cycle is to not participate in it any longer."

"What…are you suggesting?"

He smiled weakly, feeling a greater weight on his shoulders than just Konan. "I know of a quiet little place. It's out of the way, peaceful…"

"You want to run? Just give up without a fight? She killed our whole village!"

"You asked me for a solution and I gave you one. I know it's not what you want…but if you want to keep the Amegakure legacy alive, you have to stay alive." It wasn't particularly what he wanted either, but he'd been thinking of it since he had been separated from everyone else and come to the conclusion that he was the only one left.

Konan stared at him again before looked away, unable to look him in the eyes. She didn't want to give up…but she didn't feel the urge to seek revenge against the woman who'd killed her and her people. It wasn't just the fact that she wouldn't stand a chance, but also that she would be squandering Nagato's sacrifice. He'd been like a brother to her, and now they were both gone for no good reason.

She knew she shouldn't give in, but his offer had appeal to her, now that there was nothing left to fight for but herself.

She muttered almost unperceivably, but Kakashi heard her as clear as day.

He smiled sadly, "Okay then."

They went to move off the tower, but Konan pulled him back, taking her arm off his shoulder again. "Not yet. I…need to say goodbye."

oOoOoOo

The two of them stood in a small house that was barely standing up as the ravages of time brought it low. Kakashi watched silently as his companion reached out towards three tiles above three sets of names.

Without a word she turned over the tile above Nagato's name and hesitated before reaching out and turning over her own tile, so that all three were flush red.

She stood back and bowed her head, looking over at the three names beneath the tiles. They were meant to turn the tiles to red when they returned home, but Konan figured it more appropriate to do it this way.

_I'm not saying goodbye, Yahiko, Nagato…everyone. I hope you can understand. If given the opportunity I will avenge us…but for now…I want to stop fighting. You guys said you wanted to build a home without war…perhaps I can find it for you. _

She spoke a few words quietly before turning around to regard her travelling companion. They only had the packs on their backs, but there was a distinct appeal to what they were planning.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Kakashi as she came out of the house.

"No," she said with a shake of her head. She moved past him and shouldered the pack that he handed to her. It was still pouring down around them, yet despite herself Konan wasn't going to miss the rain.

Kakashi watched her walk, sensing the sadness that kept her shoulders slumped. He wasn't sure what to expect in the months to come, but he made it his personal mission to help her through it.

He felt the weight of the scroll in his flak jacket more than anything else he carried. He hadn't told Konan about it, and wasn't planning to.

But in the same vein, he didn't intend to use it, not unless the circumstances dictated he had to. What he had said to Konan was true; she was the legacy of Amegakure down to its core. There was much about her that he didn't understand, but despite himself he had become attached, and didn't want to see her harmed again.

_She can look after herself to be sure; however against such a foe…I am done. I do not ask for forgiveness from my comrades…nor do I seek it for myself. We are only human…and enough is enough. When that woman looked at me…I understood. _

He looked up at the sky, feeling the rain fall across his face.

_I don't want this life anymore. I've had enough. _

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so, Kakashi and Konan retire. For now. It certainly isn't the end of them let me assure you, but I wanted to give them a little bit of peace before it all goes horribly, horribly wrong. Again. At least three chapters.

It was difficult to convey the reason for them 'retiring', since it's hard to put that kind of feeling into words. I hope it was conveyed properly for you to understand why they were doing it.

Before anyone points it out, I am aware that the enemy in this chapter is absurdly overpowered. It is a key aspect of her character and similar to Madara at the moment, who appears to be unbeatable. I won't say any more than that, but to say that no-one is truly invincible.

I got the idea for the 'death' counter from a Warhammer 40k short story. If anyone has any feedback on this idea I'd love to hear it, since it's a mechanic I may put into my other stories given proper context.

I promise the next chapter will be lighter in tone. I've been laying on the depressing stuff in this story for a while now, and that's not what life is all about. Just mostly.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	46. Chapter 42 SHIZ Doctor's Patience

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 42 – Shizune – Doctor's Patience

**A/N**: Whoops, my bad. Totally forgot about this bit. Turns out I do need to do a chapter focusing on Shizune. But we are getting closer to the mark. And while it is her 'chapter', it certainly has other characters in it.

**A/N2**: I never thought I'd get as many as 350 reviews for this story. It's truly a humbling experience.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the summons would have better personalities.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

With Nagato on his last legs, Kakashi reluctantly accepted a second-in-command under the new ruler of Amegakure, Konan. He continued to pursue a confusing relationship with the blue haired woman, which he didn't quite understand but had no issue with spending more time with her. His first duty was to investigate an apparent invader coming towards the city. After three teams failed to report back, Kakashi resolved to investigate it himself with thirty other shinobi. They found themselves confronted by a single woman in a black robe, who proceeded to massacre two thirds of his subordinates. Upon fleeing back to Amegakure, the entirety of village stood against the single intruder, and attacked her en mass. Displaying an apparent immortality to any attack and an ability to kill with the slightest touch, the woman slowly killed every living person in Amegakure beside Kakashi and the dying Nagato. Sacrificing his last bit of strength, Nagato was able to revive Konan. After nearly giving up her resolve, Kakashi offered to take her away from fighting and war, to a quiet place where they could live without strife. She was reluctant to leave her people unavenged, but the weight of her lost friends pushed over the edge, and she agreed to leave with him.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Eighteen Months after Separation***<p>

Feeling the girl beside her wipe her forehead, Shizune concentrated harder on the task at hand. The bleeding had stopped outside the wound, but the damage to the veins was extensive.

"Tongs."

The nurse beside her handed her the instrument while she began to stitch up the wound. "Put him in the ICU, and tell Doctor Masaki to watch out for his blood pressure."

She wheeled out the patient as Shizune called out to the open door.

"Next!"

A blonde doctor wheeled in a Suna shinobi, who was screaming out in pain while holding at his chest.

"What have we got?" asked Shizune, putting on a new pair of plastic gloves.

"Stab wound to the chest. The wound has been healed properly but he still in significant pain."

The medical Jounin stared at the doctor, "Are you serious? Why did you bring something like this to me, Ino?"

The green haired doctor glared back at her, "I've already checked for poisons and other injuries, and found nothing."

Shizune didn't say anything back, placing her hand on the patient's head to knock him out before she pulled back the sheet to see the wound. Ino had healed it well enough, but there was a light red inflammation that told Shizune what it was immediately.

"This is a wound made by a special type of kunai used by Iwagakure shinobi." She pointed to the wound as it began to open back up from her glowing blue hand. "See the inflammation? This is made when tiny chunks of the kunai are splintered inside the body. You have to go in and remove every piece; otherwise he will bleed internally and die within days."

Ino nodded and handed her a scalpel.

The medical Jounin pushed her hand back, "This is your patient, Ino. You've been here long enough; you do this."

"But what if…"

Looking at the blonde girl, Shizune could see the fear and anxiety clearly in her green eyes. It had occurred to her the other night that she wasn't a very good teacher, at least not to Ino specifically. When Tsunade had taught her, it had been do or die and Shizune had excelled under such a regime.

Ino, on the other hand, didn't respond well to 'harsh' love, and so Shizune was at a loss for how to really teach her.

"Ino, you are a doctor. If you don't trust your instincts, and your abilities, then you have no place here."

Placing her gloved hands over Ino's, the head doctor took the scalpel from her hands and handed it back to her. "You can do this. Have faith in your abilities, Ino."

The blonde doctor nodded and went to mouth a thank you, but Shizune was already undoing her ponytails and walking out of the room, having thrown her plastic gloves in the waste bin.

Leaving Ino to do her work, Shizune walked through the halls of the hospital. When Tsunade and she had established the hospital it had been slow at first, but once people realised how high the quality of care was, and the fact that they weren't charging, they came in droves.

They had convinced the Daimyos of the lands that each of their hospitals was an untenable value to their land, but most of the time they ran them out of their own pockets. A difficult task for someone with a gambling problem, as Tsunade was known for.

Shizune smiled to herself as she reached her office, she often delved back into her memories with Tsunade to forget her own loneliness. Even with dozens of patients and her students, it was difficult to escape the reality of her existence.

On her desk were a stack of paperwork and a half dozen empty bottles of alcohol that Shizune silently threw into a bin near the door. When she'd discovered Ino at her hospital, she'd considered stopping drinking. But that had proven to be a difficult task, and since it didn't really affect her she saw no reason in enjoying the same vice that her old master had.

Picking up the first piece of paper, Shizune groaned when she saw the same requisition order she'd been seeing for the past month. Despite wielding the signal of the Kazekage, she had no problem tearing it up and throwing it away, as she had with all the others.

_He'll give up eventually. He has to. _

A knock on her door caused her to sigh and sit down behind her desk, calling out for the person to enter.

Excusing herself, a pink haired girl walked in and handed Shizune a stack of papers before moving to the nearby bookshelf and tracing a finger along the medical textbooks.

Flicking through the papers Sakura had brought her; Shizune sighed and reached into her desk, pulling out a sake bottle, pulling off the lid with a soft pop.

"Isn't it a bit early for that?" commented Sakura, still looking for a specific book on her bookshelf.

Shizune went to make a retort, but stopped herself when she saw the irony of her situation. Smiling to herself, she put the lid back on the bottle and placed it on her desk. "I guess it is. What are you looking for, Sakura?"

"There is a pregnant shinobi downstairs who is three weeks overdue, but all inducing techniques have failed. I'm looking for an herbal compound that could start the process."

Shizune thought about it for a few seconds before getting up and standing beside her student, looking at the bookshelf. She'd tried to get as many of Tsunade's textbooks as possible, but out of the three the last one had only been in Konoha, which was of course destroyed, so Shizune was attempting to rewrite it by memory. It was a slow process, and one she rarely had time for.

"Ah, here it is," she exclaiming, pulling out an old book and handing it to her student. "This should have what you are looking for."

Sakura took the book and nodded her thanks, "I'll take my leave then."

"Hold on a second, Sakura. Let's talk for a second." Shizune indicated to the chair near her desk, while she sat behind it. "Have you heard anything from Lee?"

Sakura didn't sit down, choosing to lean on its back with the medical book in her free hand, "Not for two weeks now. He is still hoping that there are others out there that just haven't showed themselves yet."

"And how are you?"

The pink haired medic stared at her for a second, unsure as to what she was referring to. "I'm…fine, such as it is."

Shizune stared back before dismissing her and waiting until the girl had left the room before pulling out a small notebook from her desk drawer. Flipping through the pages she came to the appropriate section and pulled out a pen.

_Subject seems to have made full psychological recovery, though long term observation is recommended. _

Dotting the final character, Shizune flipped back through the book to the first passage she had written on Sakura. It was dated six months ago, when she had first arrived with Lee.

Shaking her head, Shizune read the passage written in her own hand. Considering the state she had arrived in, six months wasn't nearly enough time to recover from such issues, but Shizune was certain she hadn't been told the whole story.

"I guess Ino's presence made things easier for her," she muttered quietly, shutting the notebook and putting it back into her drawer.

For all the flak she gave Ino, she was very impressed with her progress, and the fact that she worked so hard despite being the surrogate mother of a small child was amazing.

oOoOoOo

Shizune stood on the hospital's room and stared out at the wilderness around the building. They'd built a small river to feed into one of the larger ones that ran through the Land of Rivers, and she could see a small group of shinobi refilling their canisters before their patrol.

Feeling a slight breeze through her long hair, Shizune smiled when she saw two figures walking around in the small park they had made behind the hospital.

Ino pushed her daughter on the swing, the young girl squealed in happiness and yelled for higher, while the blonde mother smiled happily and complied. It was a strange sight, and even after nearly a year it was strange to see someone so young with such a child.

_Everything about this is out of place, I suppose. _

There were days when Shizune had wished she had fallen in her battle against Kabuto at Tsunade's side, but whenever she looked at Ino and Airi there was almost a compulsion to live that was difficult to strive against.

_I spent so much time helping Tsunade through Dan and Nawaki's deaths, that when I was in a similar position I had no idea what to do. Wherever she is, I'm sure Tsunade is watching over me somehow. _

She stared up at the sky as she felt a drop of water fall onto her face. The weather didn't change much in the Land of Rivers, but when it did it had a tendency to do so without much warning.

_Looks like a shower is coming. _

Running through a short set of handseals, Shizune used her medical technique to draw a small amount of blood from her arm, placing it on her hand before healing the wound and placing her hand down towards the ground.

A small white tiger appeared underneath her hand, scratching at its face like a common housecat. It stared up at her with its feline pupils, cocking its head to compensate for its inability to talk.

Leaning down Shizune rubbed the tiger's head affectionately for a few seconds. "Hey there. I need you to take a message to your father."

She whispered her request and watched as the tiger nodded and disappeared in a small puff of smoke. It had been on her mind for a while now, and Shizune decided that there were things beyond medical techniques that she wanted to pass down to her students.

The fact that she hadn't heard anything about Hinata had disturbed her greatly. She liked the quiet girl, she provided a good balance between Ino's fiery personality and Sakura's tenacity, and it felt strange without her there.

_Knowing her, she's probably somewhere with Naruto, fighting for her life. _

Remembering how much work she still had on her desk, Shizune began making her way towards the roof entrance, feeling the rain slowly fall onto her head.

It was difficult to see, but something in the air told her that something was about to happen. It was a strange sensation, one that couldn't truly be relied on, but Shizune made it a habit of following her instincts wherever possible.

_I guess I'll do an inventory first. It wouldn't do to be understocked. _

* * *

><p>The terrain in the Land of Rivers was comprised of mainly grasslands that fed into long rivers that ran the length of the country. It was mainly a farming country with few people and no truly dedicated shinobi presence.<p>

Leaping over a small river, Akamaru skidded to a halt and turned around, feeling the heavy rain fall onto his white head.

"What is it, boy?" asked Kiba on top of Akamaru's back.

Akamaru barked and nuzzled upwards as they watched their companions leap over the same river and walk up to them.

The last female Inuzuka frowned when she saw her two male companions waiting for them, "What is it, what's wrong?"

Kiba shrugged and patted Akamaru's back, "No idea, he just stopped after we cleared the river."

Underneath Nagisa, her large wolf companion yawned and glared at Akamaru. For a few seconds neither of them made a sound, before they nodded together and began running away from their position.

"What the hell is wrong?" asked Nagisa, holding onto Yuki's fur as tight as possible.

Kiba sniffed at the air, wary of the fact that the rain was dampening his sense of smell. "I can't smell anything. But something's got them riled up."

The female Inuzuka nodded, watching the terrain fly by as their two companions carried them across the Land of Rivers.

Beside her, Kiba's canine-like ears perked up, though it was difficult to tell since they hadn't healed fully since their escape from the Land of Snow.

His eyes widened and he grabbed at Akamaru's fur, yelling out for his companion to duck. Having worked with Kiba for over a year, Nagisa flattened herself over Nagisa's fur without hesitation. A hail of daggers shot past her back and missed her completely.

Yuki skidded around and roared, while Nagisa pulled herself back up to see who had attacked her. "Kiba, they've caught up with us."

"Shit…" The Inuzuka heir spun his head around, looking over where Nagisa was staring.

It was difficult to make out in the heavy rain, but both of them could clearly make out a large force coming their way.

Kiba barked at Akamaru and held on as the white dog shot off in the opposite direction, Nagisa and Yuki only hesitated for a brief second before speeding after him.

"I can't believe they followed us this far…" yelled Kiba as they fled across the water-drenched grass.

Moving her head to the other side of her wolf companion, Nagisa held on for dear life. Yuki wasn't a riding animal like Akamaru had grown up to be, but the wolf had proven to be far faster than Nagisa was on foot.

"Considering the damage you did, I don't blame them."

"You did more than I did! I only…set things in motion." Kiba squinted his eyes towards the direction they were running, hoping to see anything they could use as a staging point for a defence.

They had been running for three days and had run out of soldier pills months ago. Akamaru and Yuki had done an astounding job keeping them away from their enemies while the Inuzuka's recovered from their injuries.

"How's your chakra?" yelled Kiba.

Nagisa closed her eyes as she took an account of her energy, "Not good. Since we passed that holdout I've been circling the drain."

Kiba swore under his breath and felt at his weapons pouch, "That was five days ago. I have some…but not for a prolonged battle."

Beneath Nagisa, Yuki faltered slightly as one of her paws slipped on a small puddle.

"Yuki!" She turned to Kiba, "We aren't going to get much further!"

He nodded and patted Akamaru, telling the white dog to turn slightly so they could run closer to their female companions.

Despite their immense speed, the Inuzuka's knew that they were slowing down considerably, and that their pursing enemy was closing in on them. After half a minute he got as close as possible and signalled to the east, directing Akamaru to run towards a location he had barely glanced.

Their animal companions took them up a hill to a small alcove with two trees side by side. Both Inuzukas leapt off their friends and glared back at their retreat path, their claws extended.

Akamaru and Yuki quickly moved by their side and growled loudly, the four of them deciding that the high ground was the only option left to them.

Rapidly approaching them was an army of nearly a hundred warriors, each armed to the teeth.

Yuki snarled as she began to smell the different kinds of blood and death that their enemies carried on them, while she communicated to Nagisa that there were none attempting to flank them.

"They are underestimating us," she said quietly, feeling like the rain weighed a hundred tons on her shoulders.

Her Inuzuka jacket had been torn to shreds over the past year and a half, but she still wore it proudly along with her Konoha forehead protector, while Kiba had managed to track down his own forehead protector from a Konoha stash house during their 'eventful' escape through the Land of Fire.

"What do you think, Akamaru? Twenty-odd a piece?"

The white dog stared up at him before turning back to stare at the enemy force that had taken up position a few hundred metres from their position.

"Fair point. I guess if there was a place to do a last stand…"

Nagisa frowned as she glanced at her clansman, "I've never known you to be a pessimist, Kiba."

The Inuzuka heir grinned, baring his long fangs. "Six months on the run, Nagisa. Six months. Enough is enough."

She grinned in return, nodding to herself as the enemy force began to charge towards them.

"That's a good enough sentiment, I guess."

Looking through the ranks of the enemy force, it wasn't difficult for Kiba to find the most vulnerable part of the attacking force. While it appeared as an unstoppable force, and they were certainly tenacious, Kiba could smell the fear on a few of the soldiers.

Clapping his hands together to activate his Shikyaku no Jutsu, he sped towards the army while the other three followed close behind him.

Akamaru transformed into a massive wolf-like creature and bounded over Kiba's head to crash into the enemy ranks, while Yuki and Nagisa worked their way around to the side to avoid the projectiles being thrown at them.

While the enemy had superiority of numbers, nearly all of them didn't have the chakra-cancelling abilities that the Inuzuka family had faced during their exodus through the Land of Fire, so when they hit the army, they hit it hard.

Kiba leapt onto the first warrior he could get his hands onto and tore out his throat, snarling to the warriors around him in an attempt to get them to back off.

Just beyond him, Akamaru roared loudly as he swung giant claws into the army, sweeping away several warriors at a time, while ignoring the tiny projectiles thrown at him. Several warriors attempted to circle around him and stab him with long pikes, but were intercepted and cut down by Kiba.

At the side away from the other two, Nagisa swore as she felt a pinch in her shoulder. She reached up and wrenched out the dagger before hurling it back at its throwing, hitting him square in the eye as her wolf companion attempted to defend her.

They were severely handicapped in the fight, and while they might have stood a chance at full strength, none of the four were anywhere close to fighting condition.

As he kicked out at a few warriors that got too close, Akamaru could feel his transformation failing as he began to waver on his feet. In a last ditch effort he summoned all his strength and aimed himself straight into the middle of the army.

Spinning in a giant whirlwind of claws, Akamaru drove himself as far as possible before his strength gave out, tearing dozens of warriors to shreds before reverting back to his canine state.

Kiba's eyes widened when he saw the path Akamaru had laid waste to in the battle, but it closed quickly due to sheer numbers, and he lost sight of his life-long companion.

"AKAMARU!"

With a roar he dived straight into the pack of warriors, slicing and slashing as much as he could in an attempt to reach his fallen friend.

He grimaced as he felt a sword slash across his back, but since his legs were still working he ignored the agonising pain and leapt on top of a warrior's head, using him to propel himself as far forward as possible.

For the few seconds he was in the air, and avoiding thrown projectiles, he could see a large number of warriors converged on where Akamaru had ended up, which was were the line in the ground had finished.

Pumping as much chakra as he had left, Kiba landed on the ground and shot forward faster than any of the warriors could see. In his path he knocked down enemies left and right, but several stabbed out with swords and axes blindly, hitting him in the arms and shoulders, taking chunks out of him at a time.

He ducked under a wide axe strike and spun in a small whirlwind straight at the enemies in front of him, taking out several before he smelt his target and he cancelled the technique.

At his feet, surrounded by enemies, was a very bloody Akamaru. The white dog had several long weapons sticking out of him and he wasn't moving, but that didn't stop Kiba from dropping to his head to check to see whether he was still alive.

On instinct Kiba suddenly spun around with a claw, slashing across the face of a warrior that had come to stab him in the back. All around him the warriors closed in on him, their weapons raised and complimenting the hateful looks on their faces.

Summoning the last bit of his strength Kiba breathing in and let out a fierce roar, one that would have turned a beast's blood cold.

He maintained the roar for as long as he could, until he saw a rush of steel and everything turned black.

* * *

><p>Ino walked into the hospital room, closing the door behind her as she saw Shizune writing on a clipboard at the edge of the bed.<p>

"Has there been any change?" she asked, approaching the bed to do her rounds.

Shizune turned to her blonde student, "None that I can see. Check the bag before you do the rest."

Ino nodded and looked at the machines attached to the unconscious body. Despite her station as a doctor, Ino placed a hand on the body's head, feeling the warmth up her arm.

_Look at the state they brought you in as. _

Lying on the bed in a baring alive state was the Inuzuka heir, with a variety of stitches and bandages covering his many injuries.

From her position in the hallway, Shizune watched Ino work on Kiba's unconscious body with a sad smile. When he'd been brought in, Kiba had been so close to death that she'd almost been ready to write him off.

_Nineteen stab wounds, four cases of internal bleeding, torn lungs, spinal fractures…I would expect even Naruto to succumb to such injuries. _

Shizune, Ino and Sakura had fought as hard as they could to save his life, but there were some things that could only be left up to the patient themselves.

Quietly closing the door since she figured Ino would be a while, Shizune turned back to the hallway. Running towards her was Sakura, panting heavily as she skidded to a halt just in front of her, with Shizune giving her a second to catch her breath.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"Is it true? Are we really just packing up and leaving?"

Shizune looked back at the closed door to Kiba's room, "We have no choice. Whether it was intentional or not, this threat has come to us. We knew it would eventually."

Sakura straightened out her doctor's shirt that had been crumpled when she ran, "But we have nearly a hundred patients here! Surely you don't expect everyone to be moved in a week's time?"

"And what would you have me do?" snapped Shizune back. "The Suna shinobi that brought Kiba in reported a large gathering at the border to the Land of Fire. They will be here within a week."

Backing down under Shizune's angry gaze, Sakura still tried to reason with her teacher. "I don't mean to question you, sensei. It's just we have ten patients in the ICU that can't be moved, particularly not as far as Suna."

"Go about your duties, Sakura. We have a thousand things to do, and not enough time to do them in."

Her pink haired student seemed apprehensive, but still ran off to prepare the first group to be moved to Suna.

The moment they had brought Kiba in, and told Shizune what had happened, she had been forced to begin the evacuation. She hadn't wanted to, but the safety of her patients was paramount. Their patients were mostly shinobi, since Suna had been using her facility as a staging point. She wasn't sure what the enemy they had been fighting wanted, but she knew that the Kazekage had been pestering her to set up a similar facility in Suna for a reason.

Shaking her head to herself, Shizune walked down the stairs towards the ICU. It wasn't something she particularly wanted to do, but part of being a doctor was understanding the balance between saving a life and letting one go.

When she reached the bottom floor the doctor in charge greeted her with a concerned look, "Lady Shizune, we lost two cancer patients this morning."

"I know, I was there. Huo, you should see to your wife."

The doctor grinned and bowed his thanks, "Thank you, Lady. Are we really moving to Suna?"

"You don't have to, you know that, Huo. I know you have a history with Suna." Shizune walked with the doctor through the ICU with the other doctor beside her.

"Lady, I said I would stay with you, and I meant it. My wife will come around."

"I will sort out these patients, Huo. I want you with the first group to keep that group stable and alive." Shizune let him leave the ICU as she went to the first patient.

She knew all of their conditions already, but Shizune wanted to check their charts anyway. The girl lying in front of her had a severe spinal injury, and she was in a coma that Shizune knew she wasn't going to wake up from.

_Poor girl, only just became a Genin, and already near death. _

She put down the chart and sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. "I'm sorry, young one. Normally I would be against such a thing, but I don't see anything else to be done."

Looking over at the other patients, Shizune frowned as she thought she heard an odd sound near one of the patients. After a few seconds it was clear that was just her imagination, so Shizune shook herself out of it.

_I should send a message out to Lee, to tell him of our evacuation. Sakura will know how to contact him._

* * *

><p>The next day Shizune was checking the list of medications to be transferred when Ino burst into her office.<p>

Giving her a chance to catch her breath, Shizune put down the list onto her desk, "What is it, Ino?"

"Something's wrong with Kiba! His vitals are dropping rapidly!"

Having been in this situation a thousand times, Shizune calmly walked out of her office with Ino to Kiba's room, reassuring the blonde doctor that it happened frequently.

Walking into the room, Shizune immediately tapped at the bag of fluids beside him, ignoring the beeping of the monitor as Ino's glowing hands hovered over his chest.

After a minute his body stabilised, causing Ino to sigh in relief and fall back into the chair next to his bed.

"When was the last time you slept, Ino?" asked Shizune, leaning on the nearby wall.

She shook her head before running a hand through her hair, flicking it over her doctor fatigues, "I'm fine. I'm just tired from looking after him."

_She's not honest with herself _thought Shizune.

They'd brought Kiba in two days ago, and Shizune wanted to be fully evacuated in five days' time, which meant if he was to join them, she would need to wake him up now.

Reaching into a pocket on her coat, Shizune pulled out a small stick covered in an orange substance that Ino recognised immediately.

"Go find Sakura," she said. "It won't be pleasant, and it would be good if he can see all friendly faces."

oOoOoOo

Most of the time patients would wake up upon smelling the chemical when it was under their nose directly. The moment Shizune placed it near his body, Kiba's eyes shot open and he roared out in pain, struggling underneath Sakura and Ino's grip.

"Kiba! It's okay! You're safe!" Shizune immediately placed her hands on his head and dulled the pain receptors to his brain, quietening him down quickly.

The Inuzuka heir's eyes darted around the room for a few seconds before he finally saw their faces. "Ino…Sakura…Shizune? What…where am I?"

Seeing that he wasn't going to struggle again, the two girls released him. Sakura stood back slightly while Ino reassured him. "It's okay, Kiba. You're in a hospital. You're going to be okay."

With considerable effort he pulled up one of his hands, staring at the bandages with surprise. "I'm alive…but how? I was swarmed…ah my head hurts…"

Shizune gave him a quick injection that he didn't feel due to the numbness in his arms. "A patrol of Suna shinobi scared off the soldiers you were fighting. They dragged you here…you owe them your life."

Kiba thought about it with a chuckle, "Wish they had come sooner. Then I wouldn't have…wait…"

His head spun from side to side as he looked around the hospital room. With dismay he stared up at the medical Jounin's face, "Where is Akamaru?"

Shizune hesitated before looking at Ino and Sakura, who both weren't sure what to say either.

"Don't you tell me he's gone, don't you dare!" roared their patient.

Ino put her hands on top of one of his, "He's not dead, Kiba. It's just…"

"What is it? Tell me…please Ino…he's…"

It was extremely unsettling to see Kiba begging, but it was heartbreaking to see the fear in his eyes. On the other side of the bed, Shizune sighed, "You have to understand, when you were brought in you were hurt bad, but Akamaru was worse. We simply didn't have the knowledge of canine physiology here to treat him, so I had the shinobi take him to Suna."

"SUNA?! What the hell?" It seemed Kiba had forgotten they were the ones that had saved him, but when he tried to get up out of the bed he found his legs unresponsive.

"What…where…I don't understand…"

Sakura whispered something into Shizune's ear before taking her leave of the room, while Ino reminded Kiba that he was in a safe place.

"He'll be fine, Kiba," said Shizune. "Suna has been good to us here, and the shinobi said they would do their best for Akamaru."

The Inuzuka glared at her for a few seconds before slowly calming down and taking several long breaths. "Okay…okay then. What…what about Nagisa? Is she here?"

Ino and Shizune both stared at him with blank expressions.

"There was no one with you two, Kiba," said Ino. "The Suna shinobi said the only other people there were dead bodies of the enemy soldiers."

"What? That can't be right." Kiba winced as he moulded a tiny bit of chakra and sent it to his nose, smelling the room with his enhanced nose. As a hospital room it had very few scents, but each of them were distinct.

Shizune smelt of sake, though it was more on her clothes rather than on her breath. Kiba kept that observation to himself.

Ino had a strange perfume scent that he didn't recognise, but it smelt quite nice all things considered.

It was difficult at first, since it had been so long since he'd have to pick it out, but Kiba recognised Nagisa's scent in the room, though it was very faint.

Kiba tried to lean forward on his bed, but Ino pushed him back down, reminding him that he wasn't healed properly.

"Nagisa, I know you are there."

His two doctors stared at each in confusion before jumping when they heard a chuckle behind them. They turned quickly to see a young woman slowly appear on a chair at the edge of the room, with her legs crossed and a sly grin on her face.

"Took you long enough, Kiba."

The doctors stared at her in amazement, neither of them had sensed her whatsoever, but it was the pair of fang marks on her cheeks and her forehead protector that were most surprising.

"Who the hell are you?" said Shizune, wary of the similarities between her and Kiba.

The girl stood up slowly and uncrossed her arms, "Inuzuka Nagisa. I'm a Chuunin from Konoha."

"Nagisa, thank god you are okay," said Kiba with a smile.

His clansman walked over to his bed and patted him on the leg, "It's good to see you up, Kiba. I don't think I could handle being the last Inuzuka."

"How's Yuki?"

"She's okay, bit sore but she'll live."

Ino and Shizune both watched the exchange without saying a word, there was clearly many things that had happened to him in the past year and a half.

Nagisa turned and bowed respectfully to both Shizune and Ino respectively. "Thank you for looking after him. He's an idiot, but he's family."

"It's…no problem, but why were you hiding?" said Shizune slowly.

The Inuzuka female cracked her hands habitually, "Last time I was around, we were at a tentative peace with Sunagakure. You'll excuse me if I don't trust them out of hand."

From the bed, Kiba struggled to look over at her, "Nagisa, I'm sure you're exhausted…"

She turned to him with a grim smile, "I know. I'll go to Suna to check up on him."

Kiba nodded his head in thanks and leaned back, as Nagisa went to leave the room.

"Wait…Nagisa." Shizune pulled out a scroll and handed it to her, "If you are going to Suna, give this to the Kazekage. It'll tell him that you aren't an enemy, and it has some other details too."

The Inuzuka female nodded and walked out of the room, disappearing into thin air as she passed the room threshold.

The two women turned to Kiba with raised eyebrows.

"Just who…was she?" asked Ino.

Shizune walked over to the door and turned back to the two of them, "Ino, I still have a lot of things to prepare. Can you bring Kiba up to date before I come back?"

"Of course," said Ino, turning back to Kiba as Shizune walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.

After closing the door, Shizune stood with her back to the wall and pulled out a small flask.

Within the room Ino stared at Kiba, asking him again who Nagisa was.

"She's…I guess she's like my cousin," he said as she pulled back the blanket to check his bandages.

"So she's your relative then?" she said, tearing off one of the bandages on his side a little bit harder than necessary.

Kiba grimaced and bit at his lip to ignore the pain, "It's a weird story, believe me."

As she replaced his bandage, she carefully pulled out his tail, making sure that it didn't tug. "I might have you beat there. Hey, wasn't your tail larger before?"

Feeling subconscious, Kiba turned his head away slightly and tried to flick his tail away, "I don't want to talk about it…"

"Fair enough." Ino pulled back the blanket and put her hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

After thirty seconds she took off her hand and pulled out a chart to write down his temperature, unaware of the odd look he was giving her.

She turned to him with a smile, "It's probably related to those scars, huh?"

For several minutes she scrawled on the chart, while Kiba lay there awkwardly. Despite being unable to move his legs, Kiba was uncomfortable with the fact that they hadn't put his pants back on.

After finishing her report, Ino looked up at him, "So, what's new with you?"

"Really? A year and a half without seeing each other, and that's what you have to say?"

"What do you expect?" Ino got up from her chair and put the chart at the edge of his bed. "We were barely speaking to each other last night we met."

"Is this about the biting thing?"

"Can we not talk about that?" Ino went to leave the room, but she felt a tug on her coat. Turning around she saw Kiba's hand falling back to his bed. "Is something wrong?" she asked confused.

Kiba turned his head, "I don't know what you are talking about."

Ino rolled her eyes; he was always as stubborn as a mule when she didn't need him to be. "If you've got something to say, then just say it. I swear sometimes you drive me…"

Before she could finish, he pulled her down and kissed her. Ino wasn't sure what to make of it, but she didn't care as she enjoyed the kiss.

After a minute they broke apart, both unable to look each other in the face.

"What…was that for?" asked Ino, trying to hide her blush.

"I dunno…it just…felt right." Kiba pulled up his blanket further over his chest, "Sorry if I frightened you…"

"No, it's fine; I just…wasn't expecting it."

Behind the door, Shizune chuckled and put her empty sake bottle back into her pocket.

_It's a bloody pandemic. _

Back in the room, Ino sighed and patted him on the arm. "I'll be back in a few hours to check up on you, alright?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Kiba said dryly.

"Pain in my ass. I've got to pick up my daughter anyway, her teachers are leaving with the third group today."

Kiba turned back to her with his mouth hanging open, "Wait…you have a daughter? What the hell have I missed?"

With a soft laugh, Ino opened the door and turned around to look back at him. "Quite a bit."

oOoOoOo

With particular care, and making sure not to tear any of her stitches, Kiba gingerly put his feet on the ground, and using Ino's hand for support, pushed himself up.

When they'd offered to heal the scars he had accumulated during his capture in Yukigakure and their subsequent escape and travel through the Land of Fire, Kiba had refused. He claimed that they built character, but the three doctors all knew that he took a sort of personal pride in the injuries, though he refused to say what had happened to him during his absence.

For a few seconds it looked like he wasn't going to hold, but when Ino let go of his hand he held his own, though it was clearly difficult for him.

In the room were Sakura and Shizune, since Kiba was part of the last group to leave. "Is everything packed?" asked Shizune as Kiba steadied himself.

Shouldered her pack from the ground, Ino nodded, smiling as Airi took her hand beside her. "Are you sure about this? It probably won't be safe for you to travel on your own to Suna."

"We can't let the enemy force use this as a staging ground. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Both Ino and Sakura gave her suspicious looks, but understood that Shizune had a greater connection to the hospital than either of them did. Beside them, Airi flicked at Kiba's tail, letting out cute little sounds as he flicked it away from her.

"We should get moving," he said, picking up the walking stick he'd been using since he'd regained the strength in his legs. "The others will be ready to go."

Sakura turned to the two of them, "You guys go on ahead. I want to talk to Shizune-sensei for a second, and I'll be right behind you."

Ino and Kiba looked at each other for a second before shrugging and leaving the room to join the others at the hospital entrance.

Once she was sure the others were out of earshot, Sakura turned to her teacher with a concerned gaze, "I know what you are trying to do."

"Then you should let me do it. You won't be able to convince me otherwise."

The pink haired medic shook her head, "I won't. I just wanted to thank you for teaching us…and helping me when I really needed it."

Shizune sighed and looked at her student. Sakura had come a long way since she'd arrived at the hospital, but she could see the cracks that Lee had spoken to her about. She wavered between stability and despair, and it concerned Shizune greatly to see someone like that.

"It was mostly Lee, and you know that, Sakura." She motioned to the door, "You should go to the others. They are you and Ino's responsibility now."

Sakura stared at her for a few seconds before bowing deeply, "Thank you for everything, master. I won't forget you."

Shizune smiled and rubbed Sakura's hair affectionately, just like Tsunade used to do with her. "Keep them safe, Sakura. I doubt this is goodbye, but if it is, know that you were always a promising student. I know you don't want to fight anymore, but you don't have to fight to save people. Remember that."

"I will." Sakura shut the door behind her as she left the room, staring at it for a few seconds before sighing and jogging down the hallway to join the others.

_Shizune-sensei…please don't die._

* * *

><p>Shizune stared up at the sky, shielding her eyes from the blaring sun and the perfect clear sky.<p>

_The weather is mocking me. Fantastic…_

She stood in front of the hospital, wearing the kimono she had been wearing when she'd travelled with Tsunade, something she hadn't worn for a long time. She had never taken off her old master's necklace, but it felt oddly heavier than normal around her neck.

Walking towards her from a long distance away was a large army of warriors, the same group that had taken down Kiba had come back with reinforcements as she had predicted. Shizune wasn't happy that she was right, but it at least gave her satisfaction that everyone else had gotten away.

The medical Jounin patted her wrists, making sure that her old needle shooters were still secure. She'd upgraded them to fire multiple needles for each section after she'd been separated from the others, but she'd never fired it.

Since discovering that the approaching enemy army was related to the same people that had separated her, and likely been partially responsible for Konoha's destruction, Shizune had no trouble lacing all her weapons with the deadliest poisons she could concoct. They were indirectly responsible for Tsunade's death, and she was going to make them pay for that.

As the enemy army came closer into view, Shizune could see a woman wearing blood red armour at the head of the force, clearing leading with fear and respect. She had a bad feeling about her in particular, but Shizune was determined to keep them at bay for as long as possible.

With Ino's group having left the previous night, Shizune knew that the army would catch up with them before they could get to Suna unless she held them back, since Kiba was still barely able to walk and it was a long journey there.

Taking a long breath in, Shizune began to mould her chakra, sensing the large amount of water they had collected during the last storm in the small river nearby. She'd worked out a short term plan for the battle, but Shizune knew this was going to be her last fight. Against these odds, she knew she would fall eventually.

And a large part of her was okay with that.

A soft popping sound came from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise and turn around with a set of needles immediately in her hands.

Sitting on a flat stone was a tall man with pure white hair and crystal blue eyes, wearing a business suit that he looked very uncomfortable in.

Looking at her with a sly grin, the man's eyes shone for a split second, "This isn't like you, Shizune. I would hardly think you would resort to something like this. It hardly becomes you."

Shizune's eyes widened, she recognised the man immediately, though she hadn't seen him like that in a long time. "Byakko?! What are you doing here? I never summoned you."

The boss of the tiger summons stood up slowly from his seat, standing nearly two feet taller than the medical Jounin. "No, you didn't. An end-game fight like this and you didn't invite me? You've changed, Shizune."

"This is my fight, not yours. This is Tsunade's legacy, and I will defend it to my last breath."

"Ah, noble sacrifice. What about your legacy?"

"My legacy?" Shizune had to think about for a few seconds. Unlike Tsunade, who had set up the hospitals around the world, Shizune hadn't contributed anything truly substantial to the world. She'd always lived in her master's shadow, and she was perfectly okay with that.

Byakko pointed to her chest with a clawed finger, showing his tiger-like aspects despite his human appearance. "Your students, Shizune. They are your legacy. Are you just going to abandon them?"

At first Shizune was shocked at the implication, but as she thought about it she realised that she was still protecting them by staying. "I have to hold them off, otherwise my students will die. Don't make this harder than it already is, Byakko."

He put up his hands in defeat, "As you wish."

Moving to stand beside him, Shizune noticed that the enemy force had stopped just out of long range, clearly cautious about the fact that there were only two people standing against them.

"Why are you in human form? I thought you couldn't take that form outside of the White Palace."

He turned to her with his usual grin, "You always said you liked this form better. Besides, I told you the last time we talked. The offer is still there, Shizune."

"So you are just pushing your own selfish interests? You never change, Byakko."

"I never said I would. Besides, I know the others would love to see you again." He sniffed at the air, noticing that the enemy seemed hesitant but hateful. "The Palace is a much more peaceful place than this."

She stared at him as he stood stoically, the sun bouncing off his tanned skin. "Why do you keep asking? I'm just a human, what am I to you?"

Byakko clapped his hands together, transforming his suit into a large steel set of armour, with white fur pauldrons that made him look like a temple statue. He turned to her as his white hair slowly grew out to a mane behind him, "Because you are someone precious to me. And I protect those I care about."

_I still have the weirdest summons in the world. Though I guess he's more than that…_

A large white katana appeared in his hand, which he pointed to the enemy force numbering in the hundreds. "You wouldn't last five minutes against that, Shizune. If you die, than so will your students."

She sighed and looked over at the army, which seemed to be ready to charge the two of them. He was, of course, correct on every account. She'd been thinking about it for a while now, but since she was confronted with such a choice, the answer was clear to her, though she knew she'd probably regret it at some point in the future.

Placing her hands together in a handseal to activate a water technique, Shizune came to a decision.

"If you can help push this lot back…I'll come with you." She turned to his surprised face, "I'll go to the White Palace."

He smiled as wide as he could, showing his long fangs before he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "About time you came around. The wives will be thrilled."

Turning back to the army and ignoring the slight blush on Shizune's face, he clicked both his hands.

In a line to each side of them appeared ten tall tiger-like soldiers, which all wore similar armour and weaponry to Byakko. They all turned and saluted the two of them.

"The Ten…" said Shizune in amazement. She'd only ever met the first couple of the group, but to see them all in one place was unheard of.

Byakko snarled, he'd been unable to maintain a proper human form for long and was gradually adopting more and more tiger-like traits. "Yes, yes, it's all very magical. They all offered to help, without me having to ask, which is unheard of. Usually they want something in return."

The closest tiger-warrior to him bowed to his father, "We are at your disposal, Father…Lady Shizune."

The medical Jounin responded with her own bow, "Thank you, Ichi. It's an honour to meet you."

The warrior to her side groaned and pointed to the advancing army with his halberd, "Are we going to sit around, or are we going to fight? Because if we are going to talk, at least put some tea on."

Byakko glared at his second eldest son, but was forced to agree with his sentiment. "Ni is right. Form up my sons. Remember, none of you are allowed to die. If you did, your mothers would kill me."

"I'd get tickets to that," said a warrior with five stripes on his shoulder plate dryly.

The third son she remembered from her previous summoning indicated to Shizune respectfully, "Are you to accompany us to battle, Lady Shizune? In your state you may not keep up with us."

Beside her, Byakko snapped his fingers again, causing a large orange and white tiger to appear in front of her. "Runt will take her. We can't let a lady of the Palace walk to the battlefield."

Shizune shook her head and walked around to rub the head of the tiger in front of her. Considered the smallest of his children, Runt was still massive but he couldn't talk like his elder brothers or take those kinds of forms.

"Are you sure?" she whispered quietly.

He rubbed his nose into her hand before nodding slowly. She smiled back at him and leapt onto his back, landing on the saddle with a thud.

Byakko tried to hand her a long sword, "Would you like to wield this sword?"

"I'm no good with swords, you know that," she replied quickly.

He nodded and put it back in its sheath, "I had to ask. Tradition. Let's do this, shall we?"

Turning to the army they saw that was under a hundred metres away, charging at them with roars of fury with the red armoured woman leading the fray with a pair of swords in hand.

"Juu, if you would be so kind."

The tenth son nodded to his father and pulled back the giant bow in his hands, aiming it at the leader of the enemy army. The arrow shot straight through the battlefield, but before it struck her she transposed herself with a soldier that took the blow for her, nearly slicing him in half.

The tiger with seven stripes cracked his neck and unsheathed his pair of long daggers, "Let's get this over with. I was in the middle of a hunt."

With Shizune at their side, the ten tiger warriors along with their father Byakko counter-charged the enemy force.

On top of her orange and white tiger mount, Shizune began to collect the water from the river around her as the ninth son defended her with a large metal shield and Runt kept her mostly out of the fray.

The right flank of the enemy force ran straight into the spinning blades of Roku and Hachi. The two tiger brothers worked in perfect synchronisation to cut the soldiers to shreds, with Roku's bladed staff slicing apart limbs and Hachi's bladed gauntlets were faster than any of them could react to.

Shizune clapped her hands together as she completed her technique, "Suiton: Mizubousou!" (Water Element: Rampaging Water)

Two tendrils of water slammed into a section of soldiers before coming alive and flailed around, slamming them down into the ground and disarming them.

Protecting her from the front were the three eldest sons of the Tiger Lord, blocking, counter-attacking and generally causing destruction wherever they struck. Ni's halberd took a terrible toll on the inexperienced soldiers that tried to push through, while San's staff weapon smashed apart swords and axes as he spun in a blur of motion.

Unlike his brothers, Ichi didn't use a weapon to fight. Whenever an enemy came near him or Shizune, he used his fists to smash apart armour, bone and weapon alike.

Leaving her defence to his three older brothers, Kyuu leapt high into the air and slammed down with his barbed shield on one hand and a large mace that he swept around wildly. A soldier moved to strike at his weak point on his rear, but before she could strike him an arrow slammed into the back of her head, killing her instantly.

Kyuu knew that his younger brother Juu was covering them from the roof of the hospital, so he didn't bother to thank him as he continued to try and destroy the enemy's moral.

On the left flank, working individually in a competition to see who could take out the most was Yon, Go and Nana, who were going after the converted shinobi part of the army, since they would be the most difficult opponents.

Using spiritual energy to fuel their techniques instead of chakra, the enemy shinobi attempted to use a variety of ninjutsu, but the tiger warriors had centuries of experience under their belts, and they were easily able to dodge their projectiles and destroy them by their swords and daggers.

Unlike his sons, Byakko didn't bother with the rabble that threatened the hospital and the Land of Rivers. As the battle raged on around him, he slowly walked towards the army commander, who stuck out like a sore thumb among her troops.

Seeing as he wore full battle plate and was frighteningly tall, Byakko also stood out, but when they were close enough to see each other's faces, he towered over the confident woman.

She grinned and put her hands up to her chest, letting the swords melt into a metal liquid before reforming them into a pair of katanas that were similar to his long katana. "The shinobi sent her little pet to play with me? How adorable."

Byakko snarled and indicated to her with his white katana, "You shouldn't have threatened my Lady. Just because you have power, doesn't mean you will survive."

She growled back at him and jumped towards him, twirling her swords masterfully. The Quiraji leader was incredibly fast, and her swords had a mind of her own as she tried to slice through his armour and fur-covered skin.

Keeping a calm visage that was rare for him, Byakko easily blocked every strike she delivered, waiting for an opening before reaching out and clutching her by her long red hair, holding her high from the ground. Her katanas fell to the ground as she cried out in pain and struggled against his grip.

"How…you're a summon! A chakra-creature like you shouldn't be able to stand in my presence!"

The Tiger Lord pulled her face towards his own, staring into her hateful eyes with his own crystal blue eyes.

"And who said I was a summon?" he growled slowly.

Sensou's swords on the ground melted quickly, forming into a rapidly spinning scythe that threatened to cut his arm off at his wrist.

Byakko threw her to the ground before slamming the scythe with his sword, sending the metal spinning off into the distance while he stepped towards the fallen leader. "You consider yourself a metal-crafter? Don't flatter yourself."

Holding his white katana in one hand, he presented the other to her. In the air above his hand a small metal disc began to form from nothingness, spinning so fast that it sounded like the air was being cut apart before he angled the disc towards her. "Don't tread on areas you have no power in, human."

Feeling fear for the first time in a long time, Sensou leapt to her feet and jumped backwards in a rip in the air, disappearing from the battlefield.

Byakko barked out a laugh and let the disc disappear from his hand. He felt a vibration to his side, which he saw was an enemy who had bounced off his side armour with a massive axe in his hands.

Quaking in fear under Byakko's gaze, the Quiraji foot soldier could do nothing as the Tiger Lord reached out and crushed his skull in a single grip.

He looked over the battlefield, seeing that his sons were easily cleaning up the enemy army. It was embarrassing he felt. The first battle all ten of his first sons had participated in together in centuries, and they were barely fighting children.

He saw that Shizune, not one to shy from combat despite being a medic, was in a group with his eldest son to cut off the army's escape route, effectively ending the battle.

_That's my girl. _

oOoOoOo

Once the last Quiraji soldier had been taken out, Shizune hopped off her mount and let him return to his homeland as Byakko dismissed his sons and let them return home before he greeted Shizune with a smile.

"Are they all okay?" asked Shizune, hoping that her quest hadn't caused any of them harm.

Byakko cracked his neck as he always did after a battle, "Juu is currently intolerable because he won, but that isn't unusual. No injuries, though Yon has some explaining to do for his score."

"Do you ever take anything seriously?" asked Shizune with a sigh.

"Not when I can help it. Are you ready to go?" Byakko's armour was covered in blood, but he didn't care. The joys of being able to manipulate metal as easily as was able to.

Looking back at the intact hospital, Shizune felt an odd smile come over her face. It was something she'd realised something she had only just noticed.

She truly was ready to leave.

Turning back to him, Shizune removed her wrist launchers and sealed them back into a scroll before pocketing it. "You will look after the others, right?"

Byakko nodded, making a large scroll appear in his hand before it disappeared. "My pack has taken a liking already. They'll give her the scroll at some point, when it's appropriate. But for now, we should leave."

He offered her a fur-covered hand, "Your chariot awaits."

"I think I preferred you when you were just a perverted old tiger." She took his hand with a tired expression, one that she usually carried.

"I'm still that tiger, don't you worry about that."

The two of them disappeared in a large cloud of smoke, leaving the hundreds of Quiraji bodies to rot on the battlefield in front of the abandoned hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

If anyone has read the Dark Heavens series by Kylie Chan, they will know exactly who Byakko is, in relation to this story. If you haven't, then I definitely recommend the novel series. It's a fascinating story about the Chinese Mythology, and has a nice Australian main character, which is always a good thing.

Unlike most of the other characters, I know that Shizune's chapter only really had her in it, rather than it being ALL about her. But considering the story, I think she works better as a secondary character than making her a proper main character like the others. And no, she won't be coming back for the majority of the story, though I won't say she's gone for good. She might pop back up every now and again, nothing is set in stone.

And I haven't forgotten about Kiba and Nagisa's journey through the underground city and travels through the Land of Fire. It's sort of background for now, though I'll definitely go into some detail at some point. Just not now. Maybe a bonus chapter or something.

Two more to go before the end of this section. The only person left is Itachi, and then I'm ending it with a final NaruHina chapter. The next chapter is pretty cool, since it involves some pretty sweet characters.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	47. Chapter 43 ITA Cloudy Battlefield

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 43 – Itachi – Cloudy Battlefield

**A/N**: I'm trying a new kind of writing style in this chapter. It's difficult to describe (ironic, I know), but it should be noticeably different. Any feedback whether positive or negative would be greatly appreciated about it, and whether you'd like to see the rest written like this, or how I have been so far.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the other Tailed Beasts would get more screen time. It ain't all about the Hachibi and Kyuubi.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

After a year and a half, Shizune was still working in the hospital she had set up with her former master, with both Ino and Sakura working at her side for their own reasons. After their exodus from Yukigakure, Kiba and Nagisa Inuzuka found themselves in the Land of Rivers, pursued by an army of Quiraji that had pursued them since the Land of Fire, and after a devastating fight both Akamaru and Kiba fell. Kiba woke up in Shizune's hospital, having been rescued by patrolling Suna shinobi, while Akamaru was transferred to Suna. Deciding to evacuate the hospital for fear of the Quiraji having tracked them down. Once the hospital had been fully evacuated to Suna, Shizune resolved to remain behind and delay the army so that they couldn't catch up with the heavily-injured Kiba's group, which contained Sakura, Ino and the blonde's daughter. She was subsequently confronted by her summons' boss, Byakko, who offered to take her from the world to his more peaceful realm once they had secured her students' freedom. Apprehensive at first, Shizune agreed to join him and leave the shinobi world behind, but only after the battle. Byakko summoned his ten oldest sons to the battle and they slaughtered the Quiraji army, with the Tiger Lord personally sending Sensou fleeing with her tail between her legs. True to her word, Shizune took his hand and left to the White Palace, where she didn't have to worry about the troubles of the shinobi world anymore.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Months after Separation***<p>

Having travelled much of the world during his tenure with Akatsuki, Itachi always thought that the Land of Lightning would be a nightmare to attack in a war, and nothing had really changed his opinion of that fact.

The terrain was laced in rivers and mountains that had no rhythm or purpose to them, and there were no large staging areas besides a single area that Itachi recognised as the battlefield that Konoha and the Fourth Hokage had fought Kumogakure during the Third Shinobi War. When he'd visited that area it clearly still felt the impact of that fight.

The Uchiha exile sat at the top of an extremely tall tree, looking down at the shinobi village of Kumogakure with fascination. There had been no shinobi from that village in the Akatsuki, though he knew that they had their own share of missing shinobi, it was just that none of them shared the Akatsuki leader's goals.

The village was shrouded by mountains and clouds, through which it was difficult to make out the various buildings, training grounds and living areas. It was only with his excellent vision that he could see anything, which he gave them decent credit for. Out of all the shinobi villages he had visited, Kumogakure had the tightest security and the most impressive set up, far better than anything Konoha had before its destruction. Konoha's defence lay in its intimidating shinobi force and its name alone.

Itachi had intended to inform the village about what was about to happen, but seeing the force of two thousand shinobi standing outside the mountain range in perfect rank and file, it was clear that was no longer necessary.

Scanning the battlefield with his Sharingan, Itachi focused on a group at the forefront of the Kumogakure army. A large man stood with his head held high, wearing the robes of the Kage office, meaning he was likely the Raikage. Itachi initially didn't recognise him, until he saw the grim serious expression on his face and the same short hair he'd seen before.

It was the same man that had been Raikage at the end of the Third Shinobi War. He appeared to be ignoring the questions from the shinobi around him, staring across the battlefield like a cold statue.

Itachi recognised the Eight Tails container, Killer Bee, standing next to his brother, having not changed at all since the Third Shinobi War. It was strange recalling the two of them from his shared memory with Kakashi, but to him it felt like he had experienced everything Kakashi had during that time.

He seemed to be writing in a small notebook and waving his hands in bizarre manners, telling Itachi that he was still writing the awful rap that he had from the War. The Eight Tails had been a high priority target for the Akatsuki, but due to the age and experience of the container they had intended to take him almost last, as they calculated it would likely take at least two teams of them to take him down.

At the other side of the Raikage was a serious-looking woman with long blonde hair and dark eyes, who Itachi didn't recognise. He had a hunch that she was the Two Tails container, but he wasn't sure since Akatsuki hadn't found its identity before its destruction, though they knew that Kumogakure had two Tailed Beasts, unlike Konoha.

She held herself with a confidence that could only be achieved through understanding her own self-worth, something that Tailed Beast containers rarely achieved due to being widely despised.

The others he didn't recognise, but that didn't matter to Itachi. He'd identified the major players, and Kumogakure was giving him an impressive display of military strength.

Turning in his position to look at the other side of the oddly shaped mountain range, Itachi's eyes focused as he looked over the massive army that stood out of range of the Kumogakure shinobi.

An army of several thousand soldiers stood in staggered formation, with nothing to indicate any kind of allegiance or disposition towards a particular shinobi village. It was strange at first, since he'd struggled to actually see them through his Sharingan and he'd initially thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

It wasn't until he turned off his Sharingan and looked at the soldiers through his own eyes that he worked out that they were a kind of soldier he had never seen before, except in borrowed memories. None of the people in the army standing opposite to Kumogakure had even a trace of chakra within them, and as such were more or less invisible to the Sharingan's many abilities.

Such a force was clearly not native to shinobi lands, particularly in such a size and scope. Without chakra the soldiers were immune to many types of shinobi attacks, including genjutsu and a variety of taijutsu styles such as the nearly extinct Hyuuga style of the Gentle Fist.

From his far off position, Itachi had to strain his eyes to see if there were any other types of information he could gather about the opposing army, but there was only one thing that stood out from amongst the rank and file.

Standing in a resplendent array of shining gold armour and white shoulder plates was a tall warrior, wielding a familiar-looking bow made of shimmering energy that couldn't have been made out of chakra since Itachi could barely see it.

Itachi recognised him as the man who had called himself Shouri.

The same man that had separated him from his brother and friends, and admitted to being a leader of the same group that had contributed to the destruction of the home he had sacrificed so much for.

Ever the patient man, it took every fibre of his being not to leap down onto the battlefield and attack the man on general principle. Itachi knew that would be a foolhardy action, but nevertheless the urge remained.

The way he saw it, Itachi had two options. He could present himself to the Kumogakure shinobi and participate in the battle, offering his not-so-inconsiderable abilities in an attempt to sway the battle towards the shinobi's favour.

As it currently stood, the enemy army outnumbered the shinobi by nearly two to one, but with two Tailed Beast containers and a host of some of the strongest shinobi in Kumogakure it looked to be an even fight. However Itachi could not shake the feeling that they were underestimating their opponents, since he knew that Kumogakure had at least twice the amount of shinobi that was present on the battlefield, though security was so tight around the village that he had no means of accounting for the other shinobi's whereabouts.

His other option, and the one he had ultimately decided was more prudent, was to observe the battle and each army for strengths and weaknesses. Kumogakure had never had a reasonable relationship with Konoha even before its destruction, as the Cloud shinobi were quick to betray and slow to forgive.

Itachi doubted he would find allies there.

Sensing that this battle was only a prelude to a far larger conflict, Itachi had figured it would make more sense to get as much information on the shinobi's enemy as possible, so that he could share it with his allies and hopefully use it to their downfall.

The warrior called Shouri was the focus of his attentions, since he had so easily defeated and dispersed their group with a sweep of his hands.

When he'd been separated from the others, Itachi had initially intended to find his brother and the others as quickly as possible, but after the first group of strange warriors had been sent to kill him, his priorities had changed.

One prisoner had spat out the name Quiraji before dying under Itachi's torture, and their strange abilities and strengths despite their lack of chakra was of particular interest to him.

Taking a long breath to gather his strength, Itachi silently leapt down off the tree and transformed into a murder of crows, each able to instantly communicate with one another.

This was going to be a battle to mark the conflict that had begun with the destruction of Konoha. It was only right that a representative of that village be there to observe, even if Itachi had technically been an exile at the time of its destruction.

He was still a shinobi of Konoha, even if it was no longer there.

* * *

><p>The Raikage turned to his advisors with a heavy frown across his face, "Has there been any communication from the enemy force? Have they made any demands?"<p>

A dark skinned woman with grey hair shook her head while the others concentrated on keeping their force in line, "None, sir. We haven't been able to identify their allegiance either."

"It doesn't matter. If they got this far into our land without our notice, they aren't here for a negotiation." His white hair flared up as his body suddenly was covered in crackling lightning.

Beside him, his right hand man sighed and rubbed at his neck, "We going, boss?"

"Of course, Darui! Don't think I will let this slide!"

Killer Bee shut his notepad and put it into his pocket, "I just found this killer rhyme, and…"

"Sir, it would appear the enemy is charging," observed a blonde man behind the rapping Tailed Beast container.

"Your eye gonna take the dime…"

The Raikage's assistance turned to their female Tailed Beast container, "Yugito-san, perhaps it would be prudent for you and Killer Bee-san to retreat, since we can't be sure you aren't their target."

"It ain't a crime to be searching for a rhyme…"

She stared at Mabui with her regular serious expression, with Killer Bee still attempting to finish his rap in the background, "Regardless of your opinion about the two of us, Mabui, this is our home. We won't abandon it in its time of need."

"I wasn't suggesting that…"

"Enough!" The Raikage's lightning energy flared up, as he saw the enemy army moving towards them. They were still out of range, but whoever made the first move would determine the outcome of the battle.

He turned to the Two Tails container, "Yugito, take the Claw regiment and move around the flank. Wait for the signal then attack from the rear."

Ever the respectful shinobi, she nodded her acknowledgement and leapt away with a burst of chakra, moving to the side of the Kumogakure army to manoeuvre around the enemy army with her personal regiment. Since her Tailed Beast was the Fiery Cat Demon, the people that had accepted her leadership had called themselves Claw regiment, and they were particularly known for their speed and ferocity.

"What would you have us do, sir?" asked C beside him.

The Raikage turned to Darui, "Tell the shinobi to give them a volley, and then we charge."

"Hai, boss."

Above the Kumogakure army, several crows watched as the Kumogakure army moved in tandem, with a special group of shinobi moving to the front while the others gave them room. The man called Darui stood at the front with his hands clasped together while the others ran through their individual handseals and clapping their hands together.

The enemy army had just passed the first marker that was barely visible to the naked eye, though every Kumogakure shinobi could recognise it from their training. They had no long range weaponry to speak of, since the mountain ranges of the Land of Lightning didn't lend itself particularly well towards seigecraft.

With the dull-looking Cloud shinobi starting it off, a large group of one hundred Kumogakure shinobi fired off a variety of ninjutsu at the enemy army. Dozens of bolts of lightning shot towards the army enhanced by a strange type of black lightning that one of Itachi's crows had little trouble copying with its Sharingan.

After a few seconds the relatively slow lightning strikes slammed into the enemy army, causing dozens of soldiers to be thrown back with screams of pain. The Kumogakure army let out a loud cheer while Darui turned to his subordinates with his regular disinterested look.

"Spread out your damage vectors, and check to make sure you don't hit any friendlies."

The shinobi nodded around him and continued firing while their commander pulled out a large cleaver, lighting it up with lightning chakra. He frowned when he saw a large line of enemy soldiers putting arrows into their bows.

"Bows and arrows?" observed a shinobi besides Darui. "A bit primitive aren't they?"

Holding his lightning charged cleaver in front of him, Darui shrugged, "Perhaps. But don't underestimate them."

He frowned when he felt a strange sensation through the air as the first volley of arrows was fired on the Kumogakure shinobi. They were out of shuriken and kunai range, but there was something about the confident looks on the enemy soldier faces that caused Darui to hold up his sword to cover himself.

To their surprise the arrows screamed towards the shinobi faster than any arrows they had ever seen before, spiralling through the air before slamming into their targets at top speed. Any attempts to dodge the arrows were futile, as were some of the armour that the Jounin of the shinobi village wore, with nearly every arrow taking down a shinobi with unparalleled precision.

An arrow had been sent to Darui, he only survived due to his cleaver taking the hit for him, though the force was enough to send him back several feet and send a massive shock up his arm.

"Damnit…that hurt like hell…"

Recovering quickly, the Kumogakure Jounin looked over at his regiment, noticing with a grim expression that a large portion of his men had taken the brunt of the volley, and had paid for it with their lives.

"I…I'm sorry men…I couldn't protect you…"

He looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder, seeing the Raikage standing beside him. Killer Bee pulled up Darui by his coat and patted him with a grin, "It be okay, boy. You ain't no toy, we gonna fight to stop their joy."

Behind Killer Bee, C planted a hand into his face with a groan, "I swear it gets worse every time…"

Recovering from the blow and the loss of his men, Darui picked up his cleaver and held it tightly, looking over at his leader, "Boss, I'm good to go."

Not looking at him and staring at the enemy force pulling back their bows for a second volley, A put up one of his large lightning charged arms, "Send these bastards back to the holes they came out of!"

With a simultaneous battle roar, the Kumogakure army charged forward to meet the enemy soldiers, with the Raikage leading the charge at his highest speed, with his brother Killer Bee by his side with his arms outstretched and a wide smile on his face.

Observing with fascination, Itachi took mental notes on the dispositions of the Kumogakure leadership. He figured that if they survive the battle, it would be useful to know how they acted in such a situation, so that when they attempt a counterattack they would work in tandem with his other allies.

Providing they survived the battle though.

* * *

><p>Crows are not known for their hearing, but there was nothing that Itachi would ever forget about the sound echoing from the battlefield the moment the shinobi from Kumogakure and the enemy soldiers clashed together.<p>

The archers never got the chance to let off their second volley as the shinobi slammed into them at top speed, with the Raikage and his brother at the forefront.

A's lightning covered form hurled back dozens of soldiers at a time as he swept his arms left and right, with each attack bouncing off his lightning armour. With unparalleled speed that Itachi hadn't seen since the Fourth Hokage, A was a force of reckoning that was invincible amongst the enemy ranks.

Unlike his adopted brother, Killer Bee did not attack at random when he fought the enemy soldiers. Using a pair of lightning charged blades out of the seven on his back, he spun and flipped through their ranks, dodging and blocking every strike while simultaneously cutting his opponents to pieces. With each attack it seemed like he was trying to work something out, and there was nothing predictable about his movements whatsoever.

The enemy soldiers struggled against the devastating pair and fell back against the certainty of being killed by the two of them, but on the other sides of the battlefield the battle was not going as well for the Kumogakure shinobi as Itachi clearly observed from his vantage point above.

Against the regular shinobi the enemy soldiers fought with ferocious determination, unrelenting against the ninjutsu attacks thrown at them. For every soldier brought low by repeated blows and ninjutsu, three more took its place, overwhelming the shinobi with blade and tenacity combined with an intense hatred that fuelled their attacks further.

Down the middle of the enemy army, the soldiers began to split apart to reveal a single line that made a path directly to the Raikage and Eight Tails container. The two of them hesitated when they saw the strange opening, though while A found it a strategic misplacement, Killer Bee found it the perfect ending to a rhyme that had been bothering him since they had charged not so long ago.

Having little sense of the battlefield around him, Bee sheathed both his swords on his back and pulled out his notepad, writing dozens of characters with his pen frantically as he felt the words come to him.

At the opposite end of the opening the leader of the enemy army pulled back on his large energy bow and aimed it down the line. Despite himself, the white and gold armoured warrior allowed himself a grin; there were few moments like the perfect shot to turn a battle in one's favour.

He released his attack with a loud crack.

Sensing the impending danger, A shoved his brother out of the way and jumped away to avoid the attack.

The massive energy burst that shot from Shouri to the Raikage's position was almost instantaneous, made of purely spiritual energy and a blinding white in colour that burned away everything in its path.

While A and Killer Bee were barely able to get out of the way, nearly a hundred Kumogakure shinobi simply disappeared in the flash of light, with barely a slight burn mark along the attack vector.

Lowering his bow, Shouri decided that he was reasonably satisfied with the result and ordered the soldiers to close the gap created by his order and began walking closer to the front lines.

A picked himself up from the ground with a frustrated groan, while taking a moment to glance back at the damage the enemy commander had wrought. He could tell immediately that it wasn't a chakra-attack, since C hadn't warned him before the attack had come, only his lightning-enhanced reflexes had saved his and his brother's lives.

Still lying on his side on the ground after A shoved him away, Bee continued to write in his notepad without a moment's break, even from when he was flying through the air. When he found a rhyme that couldn't escape him, there was little that could stop him from finishing it.

Observing the strange pair from high above the battlefield, Itachi turned a large portion of his crows to monitor the enemy commander, the same one that had separated him from the others. Luckily for him, his crows drew no attention from the soldiers and shinobi on the ground, though Itachi was careful to stay beyond most attack ranges, using his superior vision to observe the battle.

From where he could see, Shouri's attack had indeed turned the tide, and the Kumogakure shinobi were slowly being pushed back, though the Raikage seemed intent on tracking down the leader and taking him out for the damage he caused.

The way Itachi saw it, if the Kumogakure shinobi didn't come up with a significant counterattack and fast, they would be pushed back to within the village. That was not a position he figured they wanted to be in.

oOoOoOo

Having quickly learnt what happened when they got in the Raikage's way, the enemy soldiers moved out of A's way as he shot towards their commander's position. While the Raikage sped past them, they counterattacked the Kumogakure shinobi with sheer numbers, trying to push them back by tenacity alone.

Shouri grinned and commanded the soldiers around him to move out of the way around him as A reached him in little time at all; leaving a trail of light that lingered for a few seconds before dissipating.

Standing with a furious look on his face, the Raikage's hair flared up and his shirt flailed behind him, barely clinging to his shoulders and arms.

"You'll pay for the blood you've spilt this day!" he spat.

Shouri let his bow disappear into thin air before placing a hand onto his armoured hip, "Don't flatter yourself, boy. The balance still weighs heavily against you."

The Raikage gritted his teeth, knowing that talking to the armoured commander was a pointless exercise. Not one to beat around the bush, A took a slight step back from shooting forward with his arm outstretched to slam into Shouri's neck.

"Lariat!"

As he came within short range of the enemy commander his lightning armour seemed to vanish and he felt extremely drained, but the force of his attack still allowed him to drive his arm into the commander's neck.

Or it would have, had he not put up a hand to catch it.

The Raikage's eyes widened when his attack was so easily blocked, something that had never been done before. The enemy's grip was iron-tight, and when he tried to activate his lightning armour again to tear his hand off him, his chakra refused to respond to his commands. It was like it didn't even exist within him.

Shouri looked at the Raikage's face with content amusement, "That's impressive speed. But as always, you shinobi flail against the inevitable."

He pulled back his left fist, and with a speed that A should have been able to dodge, but was unable to without chakra he was forced to take the blow.

The punch to his chest sent him flying back into the shinobi army, holding his side with a roar of pain as a line of blood fell onto the battlefield beneath him.

Within a nearby crow, Itachi felt the urge to shake his head in amazement. Someone as absurdly powerful as the Raikage had been thrown like a ragdoll, with seemingly little effort by the enemy commander. His eyes had caught the deactivation of the Raikage's lightning armour, which Itachi figured was not an intentional thing on A's part.

The only conclusion he was able to draw, is that the enemy seemed to have some kind of ability to deactivate chakra, or at least make it inert within the body, within a certain range. If he was right, than someone who fought extensively with chakra like the Raikage was akin to a lamb going to the slaughter in front of someone with such an ability.

But all abilities have weaknesses, and Itachi was determined to find Shouri's, if nothing else so that he could exploit it and kill the armoured warrior himself.

Yelling at his soldiers to get out of the way, Shouri charged through the armies towards where the Raikage fell, drawing a short sword from his back and using it to slice his way through any shinobi foolish enough to come near him as he tried to reach the fallen shinobi.

Spitting blood onto the ground beneath him, A struggled to pick himself up while holding his side with one of his hands. When Shouri had punched him, he'd been holding a long dagger between his fingers, driving the blade deep into his stomach while also using a strength unseen in A's vast experience to send him so far back.

Blinking through the pain, A looked up to see a glimmer of white and gold sending shinobi flying away in droves charging towards him. He swore and concentrated, trying to see if he still had the ability to activate his lightning as he usually did.

To his relief the taijutsu form activated instantly, surrounding him with crackling lightning. He tried to remove his hand from his side, but blood kept pouring out of it, telling A that if he didn't get it treated he would likely be dead in a short amount of time.

But he didn't care, so long as he took out that bastard that was coming for him.

Standing up on his feet, A clenched his free hand and activated his lightning armour to the maximum, an action he'd only ever done once before, to calm down the Eight Tails when it last rampaged through the mountains.

The final shinobi fell under Shouri's methodical slaughter and the armoured warrior stood a short distance away, letting blood drip from his sword down onto the dirt beneath him.

A glared at him angrily for a few seconds before disappearing in a flash of light. Almost as if predicting his attack vector, Shouri spun around and stabbed his short sword upwards, driving it straight through the Raikage's side as he attempted to attack him from behind, his lightning armour and speed once again failing him.

"Such a shame," said Shouri with a grin as the Raikage fell to the ground once again. "You shinobi once had such potential, but now you can only grovel at our feet."

He wrenched out his sword and moved to cleave the Raikage's head from his shoulders, but just as he went to take the blow his sword was blocked by a short sword coming from the side.

Shouri snarled and looked over at the wielding, quickly moving his head as another sword threatened to stab him in the face. He jumped back and gripped his sword with a single hand, watching as the Eight Tails container moved to stand over his adopted brother's fallen body, quickly flicking out all the swords from their sheaths to hold them in his Seven Swords pose.

Shouri rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword, seemingly exhausted by the situation. "Fine. My work here is done for the most part. You won't win this battle, you know that, shinobi. Enjoy your lives while you can."

A group of enemy soldiers attempted to swarm Killer Bee as Shouri walked back to his army's side, like he was taking a leisurely walk through a peaceful park. With A having fallen, and Bee occupied by keeping the enemy soldiers away from him, the battle was swaying into the enemy's favour, and the morale of the Kumogakure troops had bottomed out.

Moving out of the way of a stray shuriken, Itachi's crow watched carefully as Shouri took up his original position at the back of his army and continued to command his troops like the seasoned general he appeared to be.

For every opening that he saw, there were soldiers there to exploit it. With every weakening position, Shouri was able to manipulate the shinobi to move into positions that favoured his army over theirs. Yet Itachi was not overly concerned about the battle itself, there was a greater problem that troubled his mind.

The Raikage had been down for the count, with nothing to show for it, and Killer Bee, while strong, was not as strong as his brother. Yet the gold armoured commander had retreated, choosing to forgo single combat for an overall stance, despite his apparent immunity to chakra and his intimidating presence on the battlefield.

It made no sense to him, particularly with how adept he appeared to be with a blade, so Itachi decided to pursue his investigation further.

Or he would have, had Killer Bee not decided to forgo any pretence of patience and completely transform into the full form of the Eight Tails. The ox-octopus-like beast was gigantic compared to the shinobi below, and every tentacle caused shockwaves across the battlefield whilst simultaneously crushing dozens of enemies at once.

Directly beneath one of Itachi's crows, Shouri looked over at the beast with a look on his face that seemed a mix of frustration and annoyance. It was difficult to see from such an angle, but Itachi could have sworn there was a hint of recognition before the enemy commander sighed and put out his hands.

As the Eight Tails threatened to rampage through his army, Shouri saw the Kumogakure shinobi using his presence as a reinvigorating figure. He sighed and summoned his spiritual energy bow, aiming it at the giant beast's body.

Itachi could only watch as a large blast slammed into the Eight Tails, piercing through its shoulder and sending it crashing backwards into the shinobi army, killing dozens of Kumogakure men as Killer Bee was forced to transform back to his regular form and fall to the ground.

"Pain in the ass," muttered the enemy commander as his bow disappeared from his hands.

Initially Itachi couldn't understand why he was so frustrated by such a successful attack, but it wasn't until one of his crows saw a small force of Kumogakure shinobi slam into the side of the enemy army that he saw how the battle was going to play out.

Leading her men from the front, Yugito quickly transformed into her Two Tails form and let out a torrent of fire that was accompanied by a deafening roar. Unlike her fellow beast container, Yugito's full released form wasn't much taller than the others on the battlefield, and having seen Killer Bee fall she knew to avoid a similar strike.

Using chakra-enhanced claw and blade, Yugito's Claw regiment tore deep into the enemy army, skilfully avoiding Shouri's position while giving their comrades a reason to counterattack and try to push back the enemy force.

Itachi watched the battle with fascination; it was like a strange pendulum constantly swaying back and forth. While the enemy still outnumbered the Kumogakure force by a significant margin, the abilities and tenacity of the shinobi were slowly forcing them back, particularly with Yugito's flank attack.

Itachi turned his gaze back to the enemy commander, trying to get close to hear the orders that he was giving out.

With two waves of his hands, Shouri sent out a general retreat order. "Let the shinobi stew on their accolades. We will return and finish them in the night."

Every soldier in his army seemed to get the message at once as they fell back away from Kumogakure to an opposite staging point. The shinobi seemed content to let them flee, though Yugito and her regiment exacted a terrible toll before falling back to friendly lines.

For now, the battle was over.

* * *

><p>The medical ward within Kumogakure was loud with screams of pain as the medical shinobi struggled with the overwhelming number of patients from the battle. At the centre of the ward was the Raikage, who had the best of his village trying to heal the large whole in his side.<p>

"Hurry the hell up!" he yelled, clenching his hands to ignore the pain as he turned to his leadership group beside him. "What are our numbers?"

C and Mabui stared at each other for a few seconds, but both of them knew what would happen if they hesitated. Mabui flipped through her chart, "We lost a lot…sir."

"I asked for a number, Mabui!" He grimaced and turned to the doctor at his side, "Are you done yet?"

The doctor ignored the Raikage and continued to try and heal the normally fatal wound with her medical technique.

C shook his head as he saw the number written on the Raikage's assistance's chart, "We lost nearly half our people, and nearly half that number again are injured. If they attack again, we'll be forced to use our reserve force."

Their leader swore and slammed a fist into the table beside him, destroying it instantly. "We can't let this kind of enemy break us! We have to reform and attack!"

Walking through the crowd with a casual look on his face, Killer Bee stopped at his adopted brother's side. "Eh? You looking worse for wear, nii-san. That fool done stabbed you good."

"Shut your trap, Bee," snapped the Raikage. "You aren't injured?"

The Eight Tails container chuckled, pointing to himself like he usually did. "I ain't alone, so that fool got nothing on me. The Eight Tails took the blow since he's so cool…"

"Someone hit Bee, since I can't," said A dryly before turning to the man in the bed beside him.

Lying with his arms in slings and a disinterested look on his face was Darui, who looked extremely pale. From the way A could see it, their military strength was severely reduced, and with both him and Darui out of the picture, the only person he trusted to lead them was out commanding the defence right now.

"Tell Yugito to form a strike force. I want that army harassed for as long as possible before we launch our counterattack."

"I have something to say on that subject."

The Kumogakure shinobi all jumped and searched for the source of the voice. Slowly a figure immerged from the shadows, forming into an Akatsuki robe as Itachi showed himself to the medical ward.

Immediately there were a dozen blades at his neck, though the Uchiha exile didn't move an inch.

From his bed, the Raikage sat up so that he could see him, glared at him through angry and tired eyes, "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

Undeterred by the weapons pointed at him, Itachi stared at the Raikage through his Sharingan. "I observed your battle. In your current position, you will not be able to defeat an opponent such as them."

As one of the ones that hadn't bothered to threaten Itachi, Bee stared at him with an odd fascination, "This guy got killer eyes, bro. He ain't the type that would come in here by his lonesome."

"What is your purpose here?" demanded C, aiming a kunai at Itachi's throat.

He moved his head slightly to stare at the blonde shinobi, "It is none of your concern. I have advice for the Raikage, and you would be fools to ignore it."

C frowned and tightened his grip on his kunai, but there was something about the Konoha shinobi's eyes that scared the hell out of him.

"Say your piece, Uchiha, before we cut your throat!" The Raikage was in no mood for games, and now that his wound was mostly healed he had even less patience.

Itachi brought up a single hand into a basic handseal, as non-threatening as he could. "In one hour I will be attacking the enemy army, with the intent on assassinating their commander. My reasons are my own. If you want to break them and save your village, you would be wise to attack as well."

Having said his peace, Itachi cancelled his clone into a puff of smoke, leaving the Kumogakure shinobi's fate in their hands. Regardless of what they did or how they acted, he would fulfil his part.

Assuming that his observations were correct, and his plan worked.

* * *

><p>Like every army that was in the field, the enemy army was resting and reenergizing themselves with food and drink, attempting to recover before their next assault.<p>

Unlike other armies Itachi had observed however, there was no discussion among soldiers, no laughter or jokes being told.

The Quiraji army was silent.

Remaining in a small crow form, Itachi flew across the night sky, using the pitch black roof of the world to mask his approach. He wasn't sure whether the Kumogakure army was following him or not, but his plan didn't require their assistance, though it would make it easier.

It wasn't difficult for him to pinpoint the commander's position, since it was the only area that had a large triple tent with dozens of guards standing around it.

Swooping towards his target, Itachi noted that the terrain where Shouri's tent had been set up was surprisingly flat for the Land of Lightning, meaning it would make a good fighting group.

While his clone had been informed the Raikage of the situation, he'd used genjutsu to create an illusion around himself to gather the equipment he figured necessary for the battle. Itachi was working off a group of assumptions and observations, but the Uchiha heir was rather sure of himself when it came to this kind of thing.

Once he was flying directly above the commander's tent, Itachi activated his Sharingan within his crow form, gazing down at the area to analyse and gather information. By his calculation there were around thirty five enemy soldiers down there, but by the pain shooting through his eyes he could tell that the enemy commander was at the centre of the command tent.

With that in mind, Itachi cancelled his crow form and ran through a rapid set of handseals as he hung in the air. He clapped his hands together before spreading out his hands to cover the whole area underneath him.

"Katon: Gouenka!" (Fire Element: Great Flame Flower)

A giant meteor of pure flame shot down from his hands to cover the entire area beneath him, slamming into the ground with a loud crash. As he fell down to the ground, he could hear the screams as the normal enemy soldiers died covered in flames. The tent was immediately burnt away to nothing, but as Itachi fell to a patch of dry earth that hadn't been ignited, he saw that there was a single sphere that hadn't been affected by his fire technique.

As he suspected, inside stood the white and gold armoured commander, glaring at him with a hateful look while his soldiers burned around him. Itachi figured that he had a sphere of influence that nullified any chakra within a certain distance, but he didn't want to try and infiltrate the enemy army since he didn't know how many people had that kind of ability within the army of nearly a thousand.

The fire died down for the most part, though Itachi had manipulated the meteor so that there was a large sphere around his area. He didn't want the other soldiers to interfere with his battle, though he had a short timeframe before they would be able to bypass his fire wall.

Brushing off several pieces of scorched cloth, all that remained from his command tent, Shouri breathed through his teeth angrily. Not only had he just lost some of his best war strategists, but the maps of the area that they'd only just finished were of particular personal value to him.

"Who did this? What is your purpose?"

Itachi glared at him through his normal eyes, knowing that his Sharingan would only waste chakra and hinder his eyesight in the battle.

Shouri snarled as he recognised Itachi's distinct facial features and rather unique robe, "I knew you lot would come back at some point. First those two pricks, and now you. Clearly I didn't try to kill you enough."

He glanced around the burned ground, seeing his soldiers struggling to put out the fires around them to reach him. "You appear to have some skill though."

Itachi ran through a makeshift set of seals, not summoning any chakra for any technique, but rather just making it look like he was before placing both of his arms outstretched to his sides.

"That was only a taste of what I can do. If you don't do what I want, you won't have an army to wage your war with."

Shouri scoffed initially, but after staring at Itachi's serious expression for a few seconds his face darkened when he realised the kind of person he was dealing with. Cracking his head dramatically, the Quiraji leader reached back to pull out a sword from his back.

"And what is it you want? Retribution? Our retreat? Don't think you can threaten us and get away with it."

Itachi didn't flinch at all, even when he heard a loud explosion a long distance away behind Shouri's back. The fire around them had dissipated enough for a single soldier to push through to stand at his commander's side, though he seemed to ignore Itachi in order to deliver his message.

"Sir, we are under attack! The shinobi are attacking in force!"

Shouri sighed and turned to Itachi with a tired gaze, "Friends of yours?"

The Uchiha elder said nothing in response, still holding out his arms with the threat to set the Quiraji commander's army on fire. The bluff was clearly having an effect on him though, as he turned to his soldier and commanded him to counterattack.

"I will deal with this one myself," he said as the soldier fled back to the army to spread the word.

Itachi figured the Raikage must have taken his advice, and had likely seen his meteor strike as a sign to attack. Judging from the previous battle, Itachi figured they would likely use the two Tailed Beast containers to lead their assault, though from his observations it wouldn't surprise him if the Raikage himself was on the battlefield.

Those things didn't matter to Itachi though, his concentration was entirely focused on the warrior in front of him, since even someone like him could be cut down as easily as the Raikage had been.

As the army moved towards the front in a scramble to arm and defend themselves, Shouri stopped himself from drawing a sword and instead summoned his bow and aimed him at Itachi's chest.

"Will you throw yourself onto my blades the same way as those others did?"

He didn't wait for a response, unleashing a single arrow shot straight into Itachi's body, faster than the Uchiha could react. The bright white arrow stuck out of his chest, with Itachi's face barely registering a response to the attack.

Shouri grinned and lowered his bow, watching as his opponent fell to the ground, apparently dead.

"Well that was disappointing," he observed with a hint of annoyance that such prey had fallen with such ease.

After a few seconds Itachi's body collapsed into a small puddle of water, to the shock and subsequent disgust of the Quiraji leader.

Behind Shouri, Itachi emerged from a group of flickering flames, forming into his regular form as an advanced version of the clone technique. "So you only have a small sphere in which chakra doesn't work."

Shouri spun around and instantly shot another arrow, but before it could hit Itachi he dispersed into a murder of crows, reforming to the armoured warrior's side outside of his estimation of the sphere's influence.

"And you clearly have a short temper."

Itachi's speed didn't utilise chakra in the same way that the Raikage did, and as such he could see the frustration growing on his enemies face as he was able to easily avoid his fast attacks with his bow. He knew that if he was hit by the bow he was gone, but it had to hit him first, and Itachi was nothing if not cautious.

Seeing that he was merely wasting his time, Shouri dissipated his bow and clenched his fists angrily. It had been a long time since a shinobi had angered him, he wasn't like his sibling, but when he did it rarely ended well for his opponents. "So you worked out the trick? Good for you. That doesn't mean you can attack me though. And once I get in range, you are finished."

Itachi put up a single hand into a handseal, rapidly forming a dozen clones from the flames around them still standing outside Shouri's range. In perfect synchronisation, the Itachi clones drew kunai and got ready to throw them at his opponent.

Shouri frowned and looked around at the clones, wondering what his plan was, since the clones' weaponry was made out of chakra and wouldn't be able to hit him.

Each Itachi threw their kunai at him from every direction, Shouri trusting in his inherent immunity to chakra for his defence. Eleven of the kunai burst into puffs of smoke as they came within ten metres of him, but from one of his blind spots shot a kunai that dragged across his face and slammed into the ground in front of him.

Shouri swore as he felt at the long wound on his cheek, noting that it had also taken a chunk out of his nose. He grimaced under the pain and faltered slightly.

Using his opponent's defencelessness to his advantage, the original Itachi charged forward as fast as he could without using chakra and slammed a balled fist into the commander's face, sending him spiralling backwards onto the fist.

The clones dissipated around him as Shouri tried to pick himself up from the ground, using a hand to hold his newly broken nose. He glared at Itachi with a look of pure hatred in his burnished gold eyes, while struggling to keep his blood from pouring down his arm onto the ground.

"Who the hell are you? How can you do this to me?!"

Itachi held up a kunai, one of the dozens he had hidden throughout his person. "I am the shinobi that will kill you. Just because you are immune to chakra, that doesn't mean that you are immune to all our weapons."

Shouri swore and cracked at his nose, setting it back into place before standing up slowly, feeling the weight of his armour for the first time since his battle with the other two shinobi from Konoha that had come to a draw.

"Don't get cocky, shinobi. I haven't shown my true strength yet."

He reached back and pulled out the same sword he had stabbed the Raikage with, Itachi noticing without comment that there were likely some special properties that he hadn't been shown yet.

Brandishing the sword with impressive skill, Shouri grinned confidently, "Don't think you can cross swords with a Quiraji Lord and live, shinobi-scum."

Itachi didn't frown though he felt that would have been appropriate, resolving to put away his kunai back into his robe before pulling out a small scroll and activating the seal within.

A small puff of smoke appeared above the scroll, and with a slow gesture he reached out and grasped the sword that had appeared, gripping it tightly. The sword was a long double-sided blade, with a serpent-like hilt and a long grip, and it felt good in Itachi's hand, he hadn't wielded a sword in a long time.

"A chakra blade won't help you here, boy," said Shouri with a smirk, holding his sword in an aggressive stance.

Running a single finger along the blade before pointing it to Shouri, Itachi shook his head very slightly, "This Sword of Kusanagi isn't made from chakra. It was difficult to repair, but since its original wielder had no need of it, this is an appropriate sword to fight you with."

His opponent frowned; he wasn't sure why the shinobi had such confidence in front of him. It was almost like he wasn't intimidated by him or something, and that was something he wasn't used.

"I've had enough of your…"

"You fled from Killer Bee earlier because of his unique sword style." Itachi took a step forward and brandished his sword threateningly, "You are afraid of true taijutsu and kenjutsu masters, because they can break through your defences. That's why you attack at range."

His armoured opponent roared in anger and charged at him, swinging his sword faster than Itachi's normal eyes could follow. He leapt at Itachi with a wide strike in an attempt to cleave his head from his shoulders.

So dedicated he was to the strike that he didn't even notice until it was too late that Itachi had already been forced to disappear as he had come within ten metres. He didn't get time to react as the real Itachi came up behind him and slashed at the gaps between his leg plates and his boots, forcing him to the ground with a groan of pain.

Shouri spun around on the ground in an attempt to slash at him, but Itachi simply jumped away. He tried to get up from the ground, but Itachi's strikes had cut the tendons in his ankles and there was little he could do except squirm on the ground.

Dropping his sword to the ground, Itachi folded his arms across his chest as he saw the pathetic looking form of the enemy commander, who was still trying to get up with his sword in the ground.

"You can't do this to me! I'm Shouri the First! Rider of the Quiraji!"

Itachi reached into his robe and produced two items, holding them in his hands. The Quiraji commander continued to yell at him, but Itachi ignored him as he held up a small bottle in his hand.

"It seems sad that something this simple can kill someone like you." With a casual flick, he threw the bottle at Shouri.

The glass shattered over his head, dowsing the warrior with a sticky orange substance. The flames around them had disappeared, but Itachi toyed with a lighter in his other hand to compensate. The oil he'd taken from Kumogakure was extremely flammable, and he wasn't sure whether it would burn through Shouri's armour.

But that didn't matter as he flicked the working lighter onto Shouri's fallen form, igniting him immediately. The Quiraji warrior roared out in agony and flailed around in the ground in a vain attempt to put out the flames.

Not one to let his opponents wallow in their misery, Itachi took up the Sword of Kusanagi he'd taken from Orochimaru's body and leapt at his enemy.

A moment later he appeared at the other side of the Quiraji leader, flicking off the line of blood before putting it back into its scroll.

Behind him Shouri's head fell to the ground with a dull thud, while his body continued to burn from Itachi's attack.

The Uchiha heir turned around to watch the Quiraji leader's body burn. He hadn't thought he'd feel much satisfaction from the kill, but having found the trick to killing him, Itachi couldn't help himself but feel happy that he was at least somewhat closer to avenging Konoha's destruction.

"An impressive display, to be sure."

Itachi frowned and drew a kunai quickly, turning to see a familiar looking woman sitting on a metal stood with her exposed legs crossed. She wore a blood red dress that barely hit her knees, and had the same seductive mannerisms that Itachi recognised from his borrowed memories.

"You are the one he called his sibling," he observed, hiding the unsettling feeling in his gut he felt upon seeing her.

Staring at him through her icy eyes, the female leader found herself admiring the fact that he'd been able to take out her younger brother. "You have a lot of intelligence on us, for a shinobi with no intelligence network or allies to speak of. Very resourceful."

Unlike his fight with Shouri, Itachi had almost no information on her, so he wasn't willing to engage in combat with her lightly. With their commander dead, he'd hoped that the army that was currently engaged with Kumogakure forces would fall apart, but her presence created a shift in the balance of the fight.

He carefully put away his kunai, though he was still wary of any attacks she could throw at him. "What do you want?"

Standing up deliberately from the metal stool that he could have sworn wasn't there before, the red haired woman gestured to him with her bare arms. "You intrigue me, shinobi. It's been decades since a Shouri has fallen in combat, and certainly a long time since one has fallen against a shinobi."

Itachi frowned in confusion, "A Shouri? There has been more than one?"

She grinned, her eyes flaring up with a life of their own as she swayed her hips slightly, "Even now, trying to get information. Oh but you are interesting."

Figuring she was just toying with him, Itachi decided it was time for him to take his leave. He went to dissipate into a murder of crows to fly away, but without him noticing a single change in her posture at all two long metal spikes shot up from the air beneath him and pierced straight through his hands.

Itachi grimaced in pain and tried to move his hands, but he was unable to form the necessary seal to turn into his crows, one that he can normally form quicker than most people can follow with their eyes.

Waving a finger in front of him, Sensou chastised him with a seductive smile, "Now, now, let's not be rude. We were having such a nice conversation, why ruin it with such an action?"

Itachi tried to wrench the metal spikes out of his hands, but they wouldn't budge, cutting off any strength he could muster to his hands.

Not biting to her taunt, Itachi saw a path for him to escape on foot, turning quickly to run away from her and heal himself.

Unfortunately Sensou was a step ahead of him and created another two metal spikes and slammed them into his feet. Despite Itachi trying to dodge them, the spikes had a mind of their own and followed their path and immobilising him completely.

Itachi bit at his lip to try and ignore the pain, his mind racing as he tried to think of a battle plan. He'd been worried that something like this might happen, but every contingence he had relied on his mobility and his hands, both of which were no longer available to him.

Sensou walked towards him slowly, tutting as she ignoring the smouldering body of her dead ally and walked around to look at Itachi from the front.

As she came within short distance, Itachi felt the same queasy feeling in his gut that he'd felt when he'd attacked Shouri within his nullifying sphere.

"So…you all have that ability…" he said through clenched teeth.

The Quiraji female reached out and lightly touched his chin with her hand, "So we do. Though not all of us underestimate you like my little brother did. He was a fool, and there is little for you to be proud of for killing him."

She stared into his dark eyes, seemingly drawn to his stoic yet angry gaze. "Such eyes…I do believe I have a place for you. My current converter is getting on a bit in age, and from what I saw you would be much more suitable."

Itachi felt like he should have tried to bite at her hand, but he could sense that she had no real intent on killing him. His expectation was for her to torture him for information, and he would look for an avenue of escape from there.

He wasn't, however, expecting her next action.

With no warning the red haired seductress pulled her head down and kissed him full on the lips, driving her tongue into his mouth. Itachi nearly bit off her tongue in surprise, but before he could do anything she was already pulling back and licking her lips with a sly grin.

"Curious. You have a kind of exotic taste, a mixture of bitterness and flare."

Spitting on the ground disgusted by her action, Itachi glared up at her with his Sharingan active, not caring that it stung to look at her. "You're insane."

"Ah, don't be like that. We're about to be become so close. And with that…Sharingan I think you people call it? Such grand things you shall perform for us. The slaughter will be glorious."

She waved her hands across his front, forming a large metal shell that clamped down around him and sealing him inside. Like a child she playfully tapped on it with a gleeful smile before nodding to herself, satisfied in her prize.

Her gaze turned to the burnt remains of the man she'd called brother, which seemed to have burned out quickly while leaving his expensive white and gold armour mostly intact.

She walked over to it and kicked at it with one of her feet, sending a shoulder plate several feet away. "I never liked you anyway. I'll tell him to make the next one female."

A soldier ran up to her from the side, holding his chest as he struggled to breathe after running so hard.

"What is it?" she asked with an exasperated tone.

"They are overrunning us! What are we…" His sentence ran off when he recognised the armour at her feet, "What happened to Lord Shouri?"

Sensou sighed and rubbed at the back of her neck, "I got what I came for. Sound the retreat, move back to the Land of Fire. The shinobi have their victory, for what it's worth."

Knowing what would happen if he hesitated; the soldier quickly gave her a salute and ran off to obey her orders as the red haired woman turned to her metal shell.

She placed a caring hand on the shell, feeling a slight tingle up her arm at its cold surface. "Shall we go home now? We have so many things to do, and such little time to do them in."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And one of the four Quiraji leaders falls, but at a severe cost to Itachi. It was never my intent to make them invincible; they just need a specific kind of touch to deal with. Like Gaara or Neji, except really specific. It's all about the strategies.

Writing power-hungry insane people is quite fun honestly. You can have them say basically anything, and then put into context and it becomes entertaining.

Now the next chapter will be the final NaruHina chapter in this section of the story. After that, we move onto the final third of the story, which in itself may take a while in relation to chapters. I've got the story worked out, so I'm not just making it up on the spot. Just small details.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	48. Chapter 44 NARUHINA Journey Home

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 44 – Naruto/Hinata – Journey Home

**A/N**: And we have come to the last 'individual' chapter in this story. After this, we move into the last third of the story.

**A/N2**: Since I didn't get any direct feedback about my shift in writing style, I assume the transition wasn't that noticeable. That's a good thing for me; it means that you guys were focusing on the story. I'm essentially trying to be more descriptive, without being boring. A difficult task, but enjoyable.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be a proper timeframe for events.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.

Uchiha Itachi silently observed the Kumogakure army, taking mental notes of the dispositions of their leadership for future reference. The Cloud Village was under attack by a vast army of Quiraji warriors, and were outnumbered by a significant number. Itachi recognised the leader as Shouri, the man who had separated him from the others, deciding that it was his job to gather as much intelligence as possible. The two armies clashed and a massive battle ensued. The balance of power swayed from one side to the other many times, and even the Raikage was brought low by Shouri's unique chakra-cancelling abilities, though he retreated the army when they were counterattacked by the Two Tails container and decided he no longer had the tactical advantage. During the night, Itachi ambushed Shouri, and using the knowledge he had gained from the battle, was able to finally kill the first leader of the Quiraji army. With Kumogakure keeping the army occupied, Itachi suddenly found himself confronted by Sensou, the red haired woman he recognised from Kakashi's memories. Unlike her younger brother, the female Quiraji leader wasted no time in disabling and immobilising him with a strange method of metal creation and manipulation, before imprisoning him and declaring to nobody in particular that she had grand plans for him. With her prize in toy, Sensou ordered their army to retreat back to the Land of Fire, while taking Itachi back to her lab.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two Months after Separation***<p>

When Naruto went to sleep, his mind did one of two things. It either drifted in fantasy-style dreams about things that were no longer possible like him being the Hokage of a non-destroyed Konoha, or training with his father like he hadn't been killed by the Kyuubi.

That was a rarity though, for Naruto rarely had many bouts of unbroken sleep.

The other thing that happened was the same thing that had happened to him tonight. His eyes opened and he saw himself in a grand hall covered in red tapestries and golden ornaments. Every time he saw the palace he gaped in amazement, though once he remembered where he was it sobered him up.

He sighed with a roll of his eyes and looked down, grateful that he'd been allowed to keep his clothes on this time. His companion had a twisted sense of humour, and a temper that barely registered as thin.

"One of these nights, I'm going to have a pleasant dream. One of these nights…"

The grand open area was completely empty, though that wasn't irregular for his unintended visits. He turned around to see a tall man standing with a smirk on his face and the same frighteningly bright red eyes. Since he'd gotten married to Hinata, the Kyuubi had stopped messing with him in a sexual manner, but if anything that had made things worse.

At least the female Kyuubi had been decent to look at, though he'd never admit that to the tailed demon. It was a strange rivalry surrounding their truce, and one that both of them continued to step over the line on multiple occasions.

"We aren't going to play checkers again are we? Because I swear, I would rather that sparring match idea than other bloody game of checkers."

The male form of the Kyuubi smirked as he always did, clicking his fingers as he transformed his business suit into the Hokage robes that he so enjoyed tormenting Naruto with. He no longer wore the Fourth's cloak, mainly because Naruto had torn it from his back in anger. "No, boy. Tonight I have something serious to show you. It is extremely important."

Naruto glared at him with a suspicious look, the Kyuubi did nothing that wasn't for its own gain, or its own enjoyment. His gaze dropped slightly from its red eyes down its body, "You're not going to take off your pants, are you?"

To its credit, the Kyuubi was legitimately shocked at the suggestion, though it did make a mental note of the look of how concerned Naruto was that he would do just that.

That didn't stop him from being highly insulted though.

"Of course not! You pathetic little…"

Swallowing his anger, a difficult task for a creature made out of anger and hatred, the Kyuubi breathed through his fanged teeth and glared at his blonde captor.

"There are important things you need to know, boy. And we don't have time to mess around."

"So no checkers? Good. I've gotten tired of kicking your ass anyway." Naruto cracked his neck, he'd fallen asleep in an awkward position, and wasn't sure why that had translated into his mindscape.

The Kyuubi growled and glared at him, but waved a hand so that the area around them shifted to his specifications. Without a full seal keeping it in check, Naruto had allowed it a certain level of freedom within his mindscape, though he'd warned it against too much redecorating. Seeing an ocean of blood with dismembered bodies once in his lifetime was enough.

The grand palace around them disappeared in a swirl of colours before turning into a sea of white that nearly blinded Naruto for several seconds. He grimaced and blinked several times to try and adjust to the bright light, while the Kyuubi waited patiently, something it almost never did.

"So, why are we here?" asked the blonde shinobi once his eyesight had gotten better.

The Kyuubi bit at his lip with his long fangs, it wasn't clearly uncomfortable with the situation, but there were some things it had admitted to itself since Hinata's recovery from his 'attack'.

"It occurs to me that you haven't been…unkind to me…since we came to our arrangement."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Where's all the fire-breathing and spikes…stuff?" asked Naruto. This was a strange side of the Kyuubi, one that was entirely unsettling to Naruto. He preferred the Kyuubi when it was in its massive demon fox form. At least that he could manage from a personality standpoint.

He ignored Naruto's comment and continued his uncomfortable declaration, "My point is…it occurs to me that my fate is irrevocably tied to yours at this time. And as such, it is not to my advantage to withhold information from you."

"Enough beating around the bush, Kyuubi," said Naruto impatiently. "Get to the point."

The Kyuubi took a step towards him, extending a hand towards his head. "Before the Sage of the Six Paths decreed that we should be sealed…I fought against a great enemy. An enemy that you are facing now."

Naruto ignored the extended hand as his eyes widened at what he'd just heard, "You are talking about the Quiraji, aren't you? But you were first sealed centuries ago. That doesn't make any sense."

Taking another step forward, the Kyuubi placed his hand onto Naruto's head. The blonde shinobi had no reason to fear him, he was unable to hurt him without his permission within his mindscape, but it was still a degree of trust the Kyuubi hadn't expected from him. The boy continued to surprise him, but that didn't mean he had to like him. If anything it annoyed him further.

"I will show you what I mean. And why it is important for you to understand who and what you are up against."

The Kyuubi went to concentrate, but Naruto put up his hand quickly to stop him. "Hang on, before you do that. Why are you doing this? You've never wanted to help me in the past. Even curing Hinata and I was motivated by self-protection."

Glaring down at the boy's blue eyes, the Kyuubi was reminded of how naïve the boy truly was compared to the shinobi that had sealed him. He only trusted Naruto as far as he could metaphorically throw him, but the Kyuubi had come to a decision already surrounding this issue, and that meant going beyond his antagonism towards his captor.

"It is in my interest to stay alive. And…I have my own personal stake in this battle, which you will see soon enough."

Sensing that he wasn't getting the whole truth, Naruto regardless allowed the Kyuubi to proceed, curious as to what had riled up the Kyuubi so much that he would be willing to cooperate so easily.

At least it beat playing checkers all night long.

* * *

><p>Naruto blinked several times as he looked over the landscape the Kyuubi had taken him to. There was a familiar look to it, but he didn't recognise any of the landmarks of the area. There were mountains and lakes, but they weren't lively like he had been expecting.<p>

The land seemed scarred from centuries of battle, yet Naruto couldn't shake the feeling he'd been there before. He opened his mouth to ask the Kyuubi standing next to him a question, but found his voice non-responsive.

_Where are we?_ he thought to himself.

The Kyuubi turned to him with a frown, _Quiet. You're about to see something that no shinobi truly knows about._

The world around them seemed to shift and twist, hurting Naruto's eyes as light seemed to spin around the two of them with no rhyme or rhythm.

_What is going on?_

The Kyuubi made no response, crossing his arms and indicating to the scene in front of them with a slight nod of his head.

In front of them stood a single man who appeared to be in his early thirties. He had short spiky hair that seemed to push up into horns, giving him a somewhat demonic look, but it was his eyes that drew Naruto's full attention.

The man had strange eyes that were comprised of several circles, each folding into one another. He was staring straight at the two of them, but by the look in his odd eyes Naruto knew he couldn't tell they were here.

_This is a memory…_

_Yes, it is. Pay attention, and be grateful that you are seeing this._

The man had his hands together in a common ninjutsu handseal, but the amount of chakra he was moulding was beyond anything Naruto had ever sensed before. Even during the time he had exploited the Kyuubi's chakra in Suna had been but a drop in the ocean compared to what the man was doing.

A circle of seals appeared underneath the man's feet on the solid ground, Naruto unable to recognise any of the symbols, although there were several tomoe that reminded him of the Sharingan.

The cloak on the man's back flared up as an explosion of multi-coloured chakra expanded outwards from him, covered several kilometres in a single instant. Naruto instinctively blocked his eyes with his arm, though it was a futile effort as it blinded him for a few seconds regardless.

Once his eyesight recovered, Naruto looked over the area again, but could have sworn his eyes were betraying him. Standing in a circle around the man were nine creatures that towered over him, each of various shape and size.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the nine-tailed fox that stood directly in front of the man who appeared to have summoned them. It was clearly the Kyuubi, in a form he hadn't seen since Suna, although it looked like a comical baby version of the giant demon fox.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, _aww, he's so cute…_

_SHUT UP CHILD! _roared the Kyuubi in his mind. _I was young then._

Flipping his head around, Naruto looked at the other creatures that surrounded the man. He recognised the raccoon-like demon that was residing within Gaara, but the others were unknown to him. But he could guess who they were.

He turned to the human-form Kyuubi beside him, _these are the Tailed Beasts?_

The man in the middle of the circle was speaking to the creatures around him, but his voice was muffled so Naruto couldn't hear him. He looked at the Kyuubi's face, noticing an unconcealed look of both pain and longing in its red eyes.

_Are you okay?_

The Kyuubi's mouth twitched, but he swallowed the retort he was preparing. _I haven't seen him in so long…I'd almost forgotten._

_I don't understand, why are you showing me this?_

With a wave of his hand, the Kyuubi froze the memory. He walked towards the circle, with Naruto quickly in tow. The two of them stopped just before the man who'd summoned the beasts, with the Kyuubi tempted to reach out and touch the man, but held off and turned to Naruto with his normal angry expression.

_These creatures are my brothers and sisters. What you just saw was our creation._

Naruto grunted in surprise, _okay then. Congratulation, I suppose?_

_Cram it up your ass, Uzumaki. _

Looking over the man in front of them, Naruto couldn't shake the sense of importance that the man signified. _Who was this man?_

_You would have called him the Sage of the Six Paths. I had the honour of calling him, father._

Naruto's eyes widened, he'd heard the name in passing from Kakashi once. It was always spoken in such reverence, the man who created ninjutsu.

_This is the first shinobi? The man who created chakra and spawned all techniques?_

Shaking his head, the Kyuubi waved his hand and dispersed the memory back into the plain white background from earlier. He turned to Naruto; _the Sage of the Six Paths was indeed the first shinobi, and the creator of ninjutsu. However he did not create chakra. That…was something else. _

_What has this got to do with the Quiraji? Or are you simply chest-beating?_

His prisoner sighed; it didn't take long for him to get sick of Naruto's company. _I'm getting to that. Let me break it down for you. _

A silhouette appeared in front of them, standing so tall that even with his head arched as high as he could, Naruto couldn't see the top. It had a creature-like shape, but it appeared so alien that he felt uncomfortable just looking at its image, despite its lack of detail.

The Kyuubi pointed to it with a robed arm, _that is the Ten-Tails. It is the creature that my siblings and I came from. I won't go into details, but the Sage of the Six Paths separated us to save this world from its destruction._

_Sounds like a decent guy. So where did the Ten-Tails come from?_

_You aren't as dumb as you look_, thought the Kyuubi with a smirk. He made the Ten-Tails' silhouette vanish from their sight, and he turned to Naruto. _The Ten-Tails was created accidently, by the ones that once occupied this land. They sought to create a new weapon, but when they did they couldn't control it. _

oOoOoOo

The next image he was shown was something Naruto wouldn't have expected at all. Outward from the two of them was a sprawling city that expanded as far as he could see, though there was no life and joy in it like there used to be in Konoha. Each building was rigid and straight, while there were no stalls or places like Ichiraku's Ramen that he could see.

_What is this place?_ Naruto asked curiously.

The Kyuubi brought them to the edge of the city, where there was a large gathering of soldiers within the city limits. _This is the city that the world forgot. At the moment we are standing at the biggest battle of the so-called Endless War. History left out this period for a reason._

Naruto kept his observations to himself, knowing that the Kyuubi would reveal what it felt like in time. He wasn't that patient, but this went beyond him and his own experiences.

Standing opposite the city forces was an army the size of which Naruto had never seen before. Tens of thousands of men and women stood in scattered ranks, with a variety of ninja-like weapons which seemed like earlier variations of the kunai and shuriken used today.

At the head of the army was the man the Kyuubi had called the Sage of Six Paths, though he looked about twenty years older than the last time he had seen him. In his hands were a large red and white fan that seemed quite out of place among the other swords and bladed weaponry used by his allies and a large pot that looked like it contained all the secrets in the world. Either that or sake.

Beside him were two men in their mid-thirties, looking like army generals with armour and swords by their sides. One of them had the same eyes as the Sage, while the other bore a striking resemblance to a face that used to sit on the Hokage Mountain. That of the First Hokage.

_The Sage's sons_, pointed out the Kyuubi, anticipating Naruto's question.

Naruto's eyes ran over the Sage's army, seeing something that stood out immediately. _Where are the Tailed Beasts? Surely you guys would have been in this battle. _

_We were told we were not ready. _There was clearly anger in the Kyuubi's voice, though it was difficult to tell from its usual angry demeanour. _The Sage said this was their battle. Their war to fight and finish, win or lose. _

The Kyuubi didn't mention that he was reconstructing this particular memory from information he had been told. He didn't want Naruto to have anything to gloat about over him.

_And they were fighting against the Quiraji? Didn't you say this was at home though? Why were the Quiraji here?_

The Sage yelled out several muted words before pointing to the city, charging forward with the army of people at his back, his sons by his side.

Naruto struggled to keep his excitement to himself; this was a battle he would surely remember. The father of shinobi against his current enemy, a battle on such an epic scale it hurt his head just thinking about it.

So the Kyuubi cut the memory off back to white, grinning widely at the look of sheer horror and disappointment on his captor's face.

_What the hell was that for?! You could have at least showed me some cool stuff!_

_I don't have to show you squat_, smirked the Kyuubi. _I'm still mad at you, so don't think you are getting a free ride. _

Naruto frowned, but conceded that he had gotten him pretty good. _Fine. What else can you tell me?_

The scene shifted again to the same city, though it looked completely different. The buildings were almost entirely demolished; there wasn't a single building that didn't show battle damage. It was strange at first, but after a little while Naruto could sense the wrongness of the city beyond the damage. It stank of death, even though there were no bodies that he could see.

_The Quiraji came to the shinobi continent to conquer and control. When they arrived they found a people that had a skill they did not. _

_Chakra…_ It was hard for him to believe that the Endless War was against his current enemy, but from the evidence he was being shown, it made sense. The look on Shouri's face when they had fought him a few weeks ago was so full of hatred; it could only have been born from years of fighting and suffering at the hands of shinobi.

But Naruto couldn't make sense of the picture as a whole. _If they were the instigators or conquerors, why does this matter? Weren't they beaten?_

_The Sage of the Six Paths helped the people throw off their oppressors and free themselves to live out their lives. His sons helped create the first shinobi clans and villages, and through them the shinobi world prospered. _

The Kyuubi indicated to the ruined city, _But he knew they would not take such a victory without seeking retribution. The Quiraji were not peaceful people, and he knew that there was only one way to bring about final peace for his people. _

The scene began to shift again, and Naruto patiently waited to see what else the Kyuubi was going to show him within its memories. Everything seemed so complex and far beyond his pay-grade, but if the Kyuubi was entrusting him with such knowledge then he would need to absorb as much as possible.

oOoOoOo

The final thing the Kyuubi wanted to show him was different again, but it didn't disappoint Naruto's sensibilities one bit. What he'd been deprived of before, he knew he'd get in droves now.

This time he did recognise the landscape, though that was because he had seen it the day before. He'd been brought to the continent Hinata and he were currently residing in, which he had already begun to suspect was where the Quiraji had come from. In the distance he could even make out the castle they were currently staying at, although it looked far larger than it now was.

Looking like he was feeling the weight of time on his shoulders was an old man, who Naruto might not have recognised if not for the outfit he wore and the same circular eyes he'd seen twice before. However Naruto only gave the Sage of the Six Paths a quick glance before he gaped in amazement at the creatures standing behind him.

The Nine-Tails stood directly behind the Sage, looking as big and scary as the times Naruto had heard about when it had attacked Konoha, with each of its tails caused a shockwave each time they waved around in the air.

He also recognised Shukaku standing off to the side, with its massive single brown tail waving slowly and its arms balanced on its large belly. It hadn't been as big as the last time he'd fought it, and even though it was a memory he still felt the urge to defend himself against it.

Next to Shukaku was the smallest of the Tailed Beasts, though it was not any less fearless. It had the visage of a giant demonic cat with two long tails, burning in bright blue flames with a series of roars that hurt Naruto's ears to hear.

It seemed odd for Naruto to see a giant demonic-like turtle among the other creatures, but judging by its horns and dark gaze he figured that the three-tailed creature would be no less vicious than its brethren. It sat in the ocean just behind everyone else, bobbing up and down, looking at the continent with menacing eyes.

Just next to the Kyuubi was a beast with four tails that looked like a giant monkey covered in red fur, slamming its large fists onto its chest with a look that for some bizarre reason brought a smile to Naruto's face.

Standing with its head proud was a beast with five tails, one that looked like a mixture of a horse and a dolphin. Its appearance caused Naruto to wonder whether the Sage had designed them himself when he separated them from the Ten-Tails. If he did, there were a few things Naruto would have recommended.

Particularly with the giant slug-like creature standing near the Sage of the Six Paths covered in slime with six tails flapping about behind it. When Shizune used to talk about the slugs her master could summon, Naruto imagined they would look something like this. Even if it couldn't defeat an enemy with strength, it could certainly freak out the opponents enough to scare them away.

Flying just above its siblings was a massive insect with a large group of wings and a helmet-like head. Naruto figured it for the Seven-Tails, but that was only really because he couldn't figure it as anything other than that, its image was so confusing. It looked pretty out of place compared to the others, but little surprised Naruto anymore.

The last Tailed Beast among the group was also perhaps the strangest. Standing nearly as big as the Kyuubi was a creature with eight tails, it had the body and shape of a bison or an ox, but its tails were the same as an octopus would have, and it stood with its arms crossed with a serious expression that only looked comical on its face.

_So these are your siblings, huh? Fully grown…you have some strange-looking family. _

The Kyuubi glared at him angrily, but had to concede his point. _Not all of us were able to get the kind of…appearance befitting creatures of our stature. _

_Where are the other people? If he pursued the Quiraji back to their homeland, where is everyone else?_

_He didn't tell them. The shinobi had won their freedom, and nearing the end of his life, the Sage wanted to end the threat by his own hands. Having been left out of the previous conflict, he couldn't stop us from coming along. If anything, he needed our help._

Naruto chuckled, it reminded him of the last time he'd been told not to fight by Kakashi or one of the other Jounin. It was strange to imagine the Kyuubi acting like him, though after that many years he had begun to wonder whether he'd been adopting the Kyuubi's traits rather than the other way.

_Okay, so you guys invaded their homeland. I get that, but why do I get the feeling you're keeping something from me?_

The Kyuubi grunted, motioning to the scene playing out in front of them with its head. _Just watch this, boy. You might learn something you weren't expecting. _

_Riiiight…_

oOoOoOo

With the ocean at their backs, and no indication on how they had travelled to the continent, the Sage of the Six Paths spoke several muted words to the Tailed Beasts. Each of them nodded in their own way and began trampling, or flying in the case of the Seven-Tails, towards the wide variety of villages and soldiers lay in front of them.

Having read the Sage's lips, Naruto could scarcely believe what he'd said. Snapping his head quickly to the stoic Kyuubi, Naruto didn't hide his surprise at all. _He just ordered you guys to destroy their whole civilization! How could he do that?!_

_You were not there during the Endless War, boy. Neither was I, for most of it, but I saw some of the things they did to your ancestors. _The Kyuubi stopped the scene in front of them, not wanting to miss anything from the memory he was most proud of.

_But he ordered the destruction of a whole people! I thought the Sage of the Six Paths was a missionary of peace!_

The Kyuubi swallowed what he was going to say to the boy and turned back to look at the frozen figure that he saw as his father-figure. _The Sage…was a complex man. He…understood what had to be done, even if those around him disagreed with his decisions._

_You disagreed with the invasion? I'm surprised by you, Kyuubi. This sounds exactly like you._

The Nine-Tails glared at him angrily, seemingly growing in size in order to better intimidate his captor. _The invasion had to be done! I never disagreed with him on that. That was…something else…_

Sensing he'd hit a sensitive spot, Naruto dropped the issue, indicating for the Kyuubi to keep playing the memory. It was something he would try to find out later, if he could.

After a few seconds the Kyuubi saw that Naruto wasn't pressing his point, so he turned back and continued the memory.

Beings the fastest out of the Tailed Beasts, it came as little surprise to Naruto that the burning feline that was the Two-Tails was the first to reach its target. Leaping straight at a terrified group of soldiers, the demon sliced two apart with its claws in a single swipe before breathing out a wide blue flame that incinerated dozens of the soldiers trying to flee from its rampage.

Leaping high over the Two-Tails, who continued to tear into the groups of soldiers around it, the Five-Tails lowered its head and aimed itself at the closest castle to their entry into the land. With a massive burst of speed, it slammed its horns into the walls of the castle, causing a giant shockwave to pulse out from the strike as the wall crumbled instantly upon impact. Using the momentum, the Five-Tails continued pushing through the various defences, destroying wall and tower alike with little indication of slowing down.

Running on its four limbs was the Four-Tails behind them, slamming its shoulders through large groups of enemies at once, spraying lava from its wide mouth over its foes, melting them into the ground. It appeared to be roaring some kind of battle-cry, though Naruto couldn't hear it due to the muted memory. It boggled his mind at what he saw, and for once he was glad that he couldn't hear it, for he was sure that the sound of such a battlefield would be deafening.

From its ocean berth, the Three-Tails was as fast in water as the Two-Tails was on land. With its three tails flailing behind it, the demonic-turtle creature leapt onto the vast array of ships attempting to fire on the Sage of the Six Paths on the Quiraji continent. Its massive jaw bit the war galleys in two, while it fired concentrated bursts of water to destroy the transport vessels attempting to flee the battle.

Using its tentacles to launch itself forward, the Eight-Tails wasted no life in moving as far inland as possible, firing off small blasts of chakra from its mouth to pick off stragglers to each side as it flew through the air. Once it landed on the ground it began swiping left and right with its tails, destroying the reinforcements that were attempting to move towards their beachhead.

High above where the Eight-Tails had launched itself, the Seven-Tails buzzed through the air, using its wings to destroy forests and damage buildings to prevent the enemy force from hiding. Picking select priority targets from above, the Seven-Tails dive-bombed them with frightening speed, ramming the enemy force with its helmet-like head and flicking them high into the air, leaving them to a long fall and a painful death.

As the slowest of the Tailed Beasts, the Six-Tailed slug ponderously slithered towards a collection of enemies trying to shoot it down with physical energy-charged arrows, though they merely bounced off its dense skin. It left a burning trail of slime in its path, and once it got in range it breathed in and spat a toxic acid over a wide area, destroying anything it touched with a loud sizzling.

Standing by their father-figure's side, Shukaku and the Kyuubi worked in tandem to fire long range projectiles onto cities far off in the distance. Shukaku fired burst after burst of concentrated air from its giant mouth, rending stone and earth from the ground as each shot ran hundreds of kilometres to his targets. Gaping its mouth wide open, the Kyuubi accumulated massive amounts of red and blue chakra into a single dark ball, firing it in a gigantic burst of energy that travelled through the air at break neck speed before exploding far off into the distance.

Despite the carnage he was witnessing, Naruto allowed himself a chuckle at the odd scene. _It's odd to see the two of you working so well. I still remember how much you roared at him in Suna during the last Chuunin Exam. _

The Kyuubi grinned, he had enjoyed that battle. _He was getting uppity. As the eldest, I had to keep him in line. _

The two of them watched the carnage the Tailed Beasts wrought on the Quiraji defences, it appeared like there was nothing that could stop their rampage. Though he looked tiny compared to the beasts under his command, the Sage of the Six Paths was still a focus of Naruto's attention.

To the blonde shinobi's gaze, he looked like the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. Despite looking older than the Third Hokage had been the last time Naruto had seen him, the look in his eyes made him look nearly corpse-like.

_Why isn't he fighting? He's just…standing there. _

_I couldn't tell you. At this point the Sage was very old, but he was still the most powerful shinobi I've ever seen. There's more to this conflict than you might think. _

Naruto frowned as he saw the scene speeding up in front of him, as the Tailed Beasts destroyed thousands of Quiraji soldiers and demolished every settlement they came across. It was a slaughter on a scale he'd never seen before, and Naruto wasn't sure how to react to it. While he couldn't forgive them for what they did to Konoha, something like this...

Nobody deserved this, not even the Quiraji.

Eventually he decided he'd had enough. He turned to the Kyuubi, _Enough of this. I don't want to see anymore. _

_Squeamish? _The demonic fox chuckled at the idea. _I'm disappointed in you, boy. I'd have thought your bloodlust would have progressed at least this far._

Naruto sighed; the Kyuubi was always trying to get a rise out of him. He went to tell him to take him back again, but a thought came to him that shook him to the core.

_If you were able to do all this…how are the Quiraji still around? I thought you came here to exterminate them. _He winced as his choice of words, but judging from the battle there was no other conclusion he could draw.

The Kyuubi glared at him for a few seconds before staring back at the scene in front of them. _I was getting to that, boy. Patience is a virtue. _

oOoOoOo

The scene changed one final time, to the same battlefield they had previously seen, though it appeared as Naruto suspected it would after that much devastation. The land appeared scorched and dead, and with the sea at their back it looked like the battle had been finished, though the outcome didn't look like Naruto would have thought.

The Three-Tails sat in the water as it had before, though it looked to be bleeding out of several battle wounds. On top of its back stood the Sage of the Six Paths, looking like he'd been through hell and back since Naruto had last seen him. In front of him were the other Tailed Beasts sitting on the Three-Tails shell, though they all appeared to be a tenth of their other size when they had landed on the continent.

_What's wrong with you guys? Did you lose a ton of your chakra or something? _

He got no response from the Kyuubi, though the reason became clear once he saw what was opposing the Tailed Beasts and the Sage. There was no army that had pushed them back, no massive weaponry that could have taken out such beasts.

Standing on the land were five figures with hate-filled looks on their faces.

One was a young man, wearing an armour set of white and gold and had burnished gold eyes with an energy-covered bow in his hand. Naruto's eyes widened as he recognised the similarities between him and Shouri who had separated him from his companions. They weren't the same person since he looked slightly different, but the similarities were startling.

Beside him stood a man in a blood red robe with bright red spiky hair and a set of hovering metal spikes around his head. Naruto didn't recognise him, but something about the look in his ice-blue eyes that made him want to run and not look back.

The third figure looked completely out of place with the other warriors. From what Naruto could see, it was an old woman hidden under a black cloak and hood, her skin barely hanging from her bones as she struggled to keep herself up with a wooden cane. He couldn't see her eyes, but a quick glance down at the ground he saw that the ground beneath her seemed to just be…dead.

However that became irrelevant when Naruto laid his eyes on the woman beside her. She also wore a black robe, but her face wasn't hidden at all. She had pale white skin and seemed almost statue-like in that she didn't move an inch despite the tense-looking situation. Her eyes were shut, but Naruto could feel something that just felt completely off about her.

Behind those four was a single man who looked about Kakashi's age, though that was where the similarities ended. He had a shaved head and was covered in strange tattoos that looked nothing like anything Naruto had seen before. They covered the length of his body from his legs to his face, and only served to make him look more intimidating. He wore a simple light red outfit with armoured plates scattered across his body, and had no weapons to speak of, but Naruto could instantly tell he was the leader of the others.

It was his lifeless white eyes. He had single black dots for pupils, and looked almost completely alien compared to everyone else Naruto had seen before.

He appeared to be speaking to the Sage of the Six Paths with a furious look on his face, but Naruto didn't have to hear him to understand the general idea of what was being said.

_You were beaten back? By those guys?!_

_Don't sound so happy. _The Kyuubi walked closer to the five Quiraji enemies, indicating to them with a wave of his hand. _They discovered a way to become immune to chakra. As creatures made purely from chakra with only chakra-type attacks, you can see why we couldn't stand against them. _

Naruto's eyes widened at the revelation, that was something he would never had considered. _And the Sage of the Six Paths wouldn't have much in the way of fighting that either…is this what you wanted to show me? That these five are the ones that destroyed Konoha because of the Endless War?_

His prisoner glared at the five of them, remembering how quickly the battle had turned once they had appeared on the battlefield. That wasn't something he wanted to remember, but his survival depended on his captor knowing what had happened.

_They swore they would return, and destroy us. We killed them almost to extinction, but they have clearly returned to destroy the world of shinobi. We started this battle, boy, but you'll have to end it. You proved a few weeks ago that you can fight and perhaps defeat those we could not. _

Naruto watched the Kyuubi with a look of amusement; it was clearly uncomfortable by admitting that he had an advantage over the demonic fox.

He looked back at the Quiraji leader behind the four warriors, _So who is that guy then? Their leader?_

_I don't know_, replied the Kyuubi._ But when he took charge…we couldn't do anything to stop him. I have no doubt he is the one that leads your current enemy. _

_Take me back. _

The Kyuubi frowned at his statement, turning back with his hands on his hips. _There is…_

_No, I've seen enough. I understand what I have to do. _

Seeing the determination in his eyes, the Kyuubi sighed slowly and waved his arms over the scene, dispersing it quickly. _Don't forget who told you this, boy. This isn't out of the kindness of my heart. _

oOoOoOo

Naruto's eyes popped open and he shot up from under his blanket. His quick movement woke up Hinata who had been sleeping soundly beside him.

"Wha…'s wro…"

Her new husband helped her up with the same care he'd promised he would for the rest of their lives. Pulling the blanket to cover her front, Hinata stared at him with drooping eyes. "Are you…okay?"

"We have to go back, Hinata."

Blinking her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up, Hinata gave up and laid her head back onto their pillow, placing a hand on Naruto's chest. "In the morning…"

Naruto could only chuckle at her reaction and leaned back down, pecking her lightly on the forehead as she smiled at the contact. "Okay, in the morning then. But we've got to go back, Hinata."

Hearing her light breathing, Naruto chuckled again before adopting a serious expression and stared up at the ceiling of their bedroom.

"We have to go back home…"

* * *

><p>"Have you got everything you need?" asked Hinata, shouldering her pack from on top of their made bed. Once he'd told her what he'd seen, she'd agreed with him that they needed to move on. She didn't agree with him on everything, but Naruto had a knack for sensing these kinds of things, despite how ambiguous his 'vision' had been.<p>

Naruto popped his head out from their bathroom, running a towel over his blonde hair, "We didn't have much stuff to begin with, so I think so. Is there anything you want me to pick up from the blacksmith?"

Hinata considered asking him to see if they had shuriken or kunai, but stopped herself when she remembered the attitude most of them had towards shinobi, which made a frightening amount of sense now. They had come to accept the two of them, but there were boundaries that shouldn't be crossed.

"I'm good. Hurry up, Naruto, we don't have much time."

Her husband popped back into the bathroom with a chuckle, "Yes, so very pressed for time. I think the others can handle themselves until we get back."

"We can't afford to wait, Naruto, you know that." She entered the bathroom, amused by the fact that she was ready and he was fiddling with his hair.

Looking through the mirror at her, Naruto smiled warmly before picking up a shaver near the sink. It was a pain, and learning without assistance had been interesting, but Hinata apparently preferred the clean-shaved look for now, so he had to do it.

"I'll be out in a few minutes," he said, turning around to kiss her on the cheek before unceremoniously pushing her out of the bathroom.

Hinata chuckled and shut down the door. "It's hard to tell who is the husband and who is the wife…"

"I heard that!"

oOoOoOo

The two of them had wanted to sneak out, since neither of them were particularly fond of long goodbyes.

Unfortunately for them, the townsfolk had another thing in mind.

As they emerged from their temporary house, packed up and ready to go, the townspeople had lined up from the entrance of their house to the town's exit. None of them said a word, but the looks on their faces said more than enough for the two shinobi.

Leaning her head slightly so that she could whisper to him, Hinata wasn't able to hide her confusion. "Naruto, what are we meant to do?"

He was just as surprised as she was, but he understood the meaning behind the townspeople's action. With a smile he nudged her slightly with his shoulder, "We should go. Don't say anything, it'll ruin the moment."

His young wife nodded with a warm smile and slipped her hand into his, gripping it tightly. They came here together, they would leave here together.

They recognised the townsfolk as they walked towards the exit, but besides a smile they didn't exchange any pleasantries. The two shinobi walked slowly and felt quite embarrassed by the display, neither of them thought they had done that much to deserve the kind of treatment they had been getting.

_I guess everyone needs someone to thank at one point or another._

Looking towards the open gate, Naruto's grin only grew wider when he saw the stoic-faced general standing at the end of the line of people, with what was left of the army under his command in full armour and uniform. The likelihood of the enemy army returning was slim from their estimates, but he'd assured Naruto during one of their conversations that he'd hold the castle till his dying breath.

As they passed the general, Naruto gave him the slightest of nods. The general didn't respond, staring straight through him without even acknowledging his presence. Naruto knew he was too proud to bid the two of them farewell, though he was a little disappointed that he didn't want to get one final scold in.

They walked through the town limits and looked at each other solemnly.

"What do we do now?" asked Hinata quietly.

"I guess we go south, to the docks."

"ATTENTION!"

The two of them jumped at the command and turned around, watching as the soldiers of the town stood as straight as they could, each facing the two of them with their faces in unbroken smiles.

The general took a slow breath, and with a slight grin he put his hand to his head.

"SALUTE!"

Every soldier saluted in perfect synchronisation, showing the newlywed couple the extent of their appreciation and acknowledgement of the fact they weren't like the shinobi from legend.

Both Naruto and Hinata's bodies swelled with pride, and in the same pose they saluted the soldier's with gusto. Shinobi weren't much for parading in Naruto's mind, but in this circumstance it felt wholly appropriate.

After a few moments they all put their hands down, and without saying another word the two shinobi turned around and left the town to their business.

The general allowed himself a chuckle as he watched their backs disappear into the distance. It was strange, but he was going to mess them. His father would've had a fit if he knew he'd become friends with a shinobi.

He turned back to his men, who had begun to break rank and chat among themselves about the absurdity of the situation. With a pleasurable hint of amusement, the general breathed in loudly.

"Don't just stand there! Get back to your posts!"

Remembering the last time they had been given 'extra duty' from their general, the soldiers quickly went back to their jobs, though they were more content to do them than a long time ago.

* * *

><p>It took them nearly two weeks to reach the docks of the continent they had been living on for the past two months. Considering how much the townsfolk talked about it, the two of them expected a sprawling hub of trade, with fishermen and sailors packed into a large area.<p>

They were surprised to see that the large docks were mostly abandoned, with only a small section near the ocean's edge still holding any indicators of people living there. The two of them looked at each for a few seconds, both thinking the same thing before they moved into the area.

As they walked through the only district with people in it, they made some interesting observations. People appeared to be suspicious of their entry onto their turf, despite the fact that outwards they didn't look like anything suspicious, though Naruto's orange outfit may have garnered some of that attention on its own merits.

However there was a look in all the people they passed, one that reeked of dejection and frustration. From where they could see, the docks were not lively by any definition of the word, and there were no ships in the ocean that were anything larger than small rowboats with oars attached.

"I don't think we are going to find a ship here…" said Naruto quietly.

Hinata nodded in agreement, "Probably not. Maybe we should ask someone."

After several failed attempts at initiating conversation, they eventually found an old man sorting out squids in front of a wreckage of a house. He seemed to be suspicious of them like everyone else, but was happy to answer their questions nevertheless.

"If ya lookin for sailors, ya should go to ta bar down the street. They ain't had much work lately since the army left, so don't 'pect a nice welcome."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at his mention of an army, "When did the army leave?"

The old man spat onto a squid and began to wash it in his hands, "Oh, some time ago. Had me a wife and son back 'den. Army took me son, never saw 'im again."

"I think he's talking about the Quiraji," whispered Naruto to his young wife.

Hinata nodded and thanked the old man for helping them with a slight bow, unsure what the local custom was.

He waved his hand with attached squid with a wide grin, "No trouble, young 'uns. Been long since pretty thing like you come along, ya be careful with 'dem sailors. They might wanna take ya for a go around."

The two shinobi thanked the man again and turned around, with Naruto unintentionally clenching his fists at the idea of someone even touching her. Sensing his annoyance, Hinata slipped a hand into his, relaxing him immediately.

"Don't worry. I can handle myself."

He looked at her for a few seconds before smiling and pecking her on the cheek, "I know. Doesn't mean I can't be protective of you. You're very precious to me, you know."

Hinata's heart leapt at his statement. Even after this long, those kinds of things still impacted her so much she struggled to contain herself. Unsure what to say in response, she merely blushed slightly and they started to walk to where the old man had directed them to.

oOoOoOo

Even before they went into the bar, the two shinobi could hear the laughter booming outwards from the rundown building and smell the stench of alcohol. Naruto took a slow breath, he wasn't sure what to expect within, but it probably wouldn't be a welcoming experience.

"Let's go."

They walked into the bar, both of them scanning the rowdy place immediately for someone who could help them. It looked like there were about twenty people inside the bar, not counting the man behind the counter washing a beer glass with a suspiciously dirty-looking rag.

Unlike the people from the castle, these men all looked like they were at their wits end and were drinking away their sorrows, laughing at crude and unfunny jokes with loud snorting laughter.

They all seemed to notice their entry, but beyond leering at Hinata's figure for a few seconds they barely gave them the time of day, going back to their drinks.

The two of them walked over to the bar, with Hinata squeezing her husband hand slightly before putting her hands on the bar as they sat down. It wasn't a scared motion; it was a warning for him to be cautious. Naruto's temper had gotten better over the years, but Hinata knew it wasn't too hard to set him off when she was involved, and they had enough enemies in the world.

Naruto understood the motion immediately, smiling at her before sitting down beside her. The bartender slowly made his way over to them and stood opposite Naruto, ignoring his blue haired wife completely.

"What do you want?" he said with a gruff voice.

Naruto leaned forward slightly on the bar, "We're looking for a ship."

"Well you're at the docks. Good job."

The blonde shinobi tensed slightly, but still kept his cool as he smiled at the disinterested bartender. "We're looking for passage off this continent. Do you know anyone that can help us?"

If they didn't cause a stir when they came in, that single question silenced the room.

Until they all burst laughing that is.

Even the bartender couldn't hold in his amusement, walking back to the other side of the bar with a loud chuckle. He picked up another glass and began cleaning it, while still chuckling to himself.

Three men came up to them from behind, each of them circling around to stand beside Hinata.

"You guys don't know anything, do you?" said one of them, leaning on the bar with a wide grin underneath his beard.

One of them put his hand on the back of Hinata's chair, while his other companion stood between her and Naruto's seat, blocking his view.

"Why don't you come play with us, little girl? Spend some time with a real man."

"Yeah, we'll show you a better time than this loser…"

Hinata smiled awkwardly at their attention and tried to look at her husband, but her view was blocked by one of the sailors. "You're very kind…but…"

Standing up from his seat quietly, Naruto rubbed at his neck sorely and leaned his head over to look at his new wife. "I'm going to the toilet. You got this?"

Hinata smiled warmly at his confidence in her and nodded, "Yeah."

The three sailors all glared at him angrily, expecting him to fight them for hitting on the girl he came in with, but to their surprise Naruto did exactly what he said he would.

Walking slowly with his hands in his pockets, Naruto went to the bathroom, closing the door behind himself.

The sailors all expressed surprise for only a second before turning their attention back to Hinata, who continued to smile at their lewd suggestions.

Within the bathroom, Naruto tensed up and planted a fist into a nearby wall, driving straight through its brick frame. He retracted his fist and breathed out slowly, looking at it with a grin. Since the Kyuubi had revealed that it was still alive within him, his tissue regeneration had spiked up and the bruises on his knuckles were already starting to heal.

_I can't start a fight here…we might need one of them. If Hinata can persuade them, then I can keep my cool. _

He walked over to the basin and washed the small amount of blood from his knuckle, staring at his image in the cracked mirror. After a few seconds he grinned and dried his hands on his jacket.

_I guess I had to grow up at some point. _

Making his way to the door, he grasped the handle as he reiterated something to himself.

_But if any of them touch her, I'm flipping this place upside down. No questions asked. _

He'd only been gone perhaps a minute, but when he walked back into the main bar area he could see that the situation had clearly changed dramatically.

Hinata was still sitting in her chair, in the proper pose for a lady of her upbringing, sipping on a small glass of water while waiting for him to return for the bathroom.

Scattered around her chair were the unconscious bodies of all the bar's occupants, each of them either groaning in the foetal position or sprawled out across the alcohol and glass covered floor. Behind the bar the bartender was leaning against the back wall with a horrified look on his face, clutching his rag like it was the only possession he had.

Naruto chuckled to himself before walking up to the bar and placing a comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder, "No luck?"

She looked up at him with her usual calm smile before shaking her head and putting her glass of water back on the bar. "Unfortunately no. None of them had any information we can use."

Her husband sighed and turned around to lean on the bar with his back. "I guess we just keep looking then. You ready to go?"

"Yes." Hinata turned her white-eyed gaze to the bartender, who was on the verge of wetting himself under her stare. As was proper for the situation, she bowed her thanks to the bartender before the two of them walked over the bodies and out of the bar.

As they closed the door behind them, the two of them immediately noticed a presence standing to the side, but neither acknowledged it as a threat so they tried to ignore it.

Fortunately for them, the presence had another idea.

"I heard you two are looking for a ship."

They both turned to see a young woman leaning on a rail near the bar, staring at them through a single dark eye. Her other eye appeared to be covered up by a set of white bandages. She wore a strangely coloured outfit for the people of the land, and Naruto almost lost count of how many daggers and blades he could see on her person.

"We are," he replied quickly. "Can you help us?"

The woman shifted her head curiously, staring at the two of them for a few seconds before seemingly coming to her own conclusions about them. "Not from here, are you? There are no ships; the army took them all when they left."

The two shinobi sighed, that stifled their plans considerably.

"Damn…we really need to get back home."

"To the shinobi continent?"

Both Naruto and Hinata were both immediately on edge; they hadn't mentioned their true destination for fear that nobody would help them as shinobi.

Naruto glared at her through his blue eyes, "You know who we are?"

The woman chuckled and leaned her hands on the back of her short hair, "It's hard to be in touch with goings on around here without hearing about the two shinobi who saved the only castle and settlement left in this land."

"Yet you would help us?" asked Hinata cautiously.

She shrugged, pushing herself off the rail. "I always thought the idea of shinobi as bogey men for a crock of shit. Something that hasn't been seen for centuries can't be that dangerous." She indicated to the two of them with a tanned hand, "Besides, neither of you look that tough."

As they were talking, an idea struck Naruto so hard that he mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it earlier. He turned to Hinata with the widest grin he could muster, "Why don't we build a ship?"

Her eyes widened at the idea, she hadn't thought of that either. With their abilities it was certainly possible, though a problem came to her as quickly as it did to Naruto.

"But, we don't know how to build a ship."

"Ah…that is a good point."

Watching their interaction, the one-eyed woman shook her head for a few seconds before throwing it back and bursting out laughing. The two shinobi stared at her, wondering what was so funny to cause such an outburst.

Once she'd calmed herself down, she wiped a tear from her eye and continued to chuckle, "You guys are hilarious. You really want to go back, don't you?"

"That should be obvious," said Naruto impatiently, struggling to work out why this woman was even talking to them.

Finally recovering from her outburst, the woman let out a long breath and smiled as she walked slowly towards them. "Alright. I've got a shipwright, though you won't be able to find the manpower in this land even if you had a year to do it. There aren't too many people around here that are worth a spit on a boat."

Naruto grinned when he heard that. He pointed to himself with a thumb, "Leave that bit to me."

"Um, not to sound rude…"

The woman turned to Hinata, anticipating her question, "Why am I helping you? It's simple, little girl. Nothing happens around here anymore. Something tells me you guys will be far more entertaining than the drinking and screwing I'm doing currently."

Hinata couldn't help but blush slightly at the woman's brash attitude, but she was grateful nonetheless for her assistance.

"Okay, so here's the deal. You build the ship, boy, and I'll sail it for you."

"You're a sailor?" asked Naruto, looking up and down her with a suspicious gaze.

The woman shook her head, pulling out one of her daggers and twirling it on a finger before slamming it into the ground so fast that it was difficult to keep up with her movements even for the two of them.

"I'm a pirate, though it's hard to be one without a ship. I've got a small crew, but we can run anything you guys come up with."

Naruto could only shake his head, while Hinata laughed softly into one of her hands before extending an arm.

"We're happy for your assistance, Miss…"

Their new companion pulled up one of her own hands and spat onto it before shaking Hinata's hand, laughing at the look the Hyuuga heiress gave her at the action. "Name's Grace and it ain't Miss."

"Well…Grace…we are happy for your help," said Naruto, resisting the urge to chuckle as Hinata frantically tried to wipe her hand on her jacket.

"No doubt. Now about payment…"

Both Naruto and Hinata stared at each other for a few seconds, trying to figure how they would bluff their way past this issue.

"That's a bit…mercenary of you," commented Naruto.

"All pirates are mercenaries. We aren't in it for sunshine and daisies. Do you guys have anything? Or am I wasting my time?"

Hinata almost went to apologise for them doing exactly that, but she felt Naruto tug at her hand to stop her. Her husband smiled as he thought of the perfect solution.

"How about this. We make you a ship, to your specifications, and you know that we can because we are shinobi. You take us to our homeland, and you get to keep the ship."

The pirate's eyes widened at the proposal, not concealing her surprise whatsoever. Her initial plan had been to kill them at sea and take it anyway, but this way she didn't have to risk herself or her crew against two shinobi.

Spitting on her hand again, Grace extended it towards Naruto with a wry grin, "You got yourself a deal, shinobi. If I can sail again, you won't hear me complaining."

Naruto shook her hand, hiding his reluctance better than Hinata did before they let go of the handshake and Grace took a step back to look over the two of them.

"Right, well. Let's get started, shall we? Ain't no time like the present as my mother used to say."

* * *

><p>A week later Hinata stared over the plans that Grace's shipwright had drawn up for them. She could easily tell that the pirate was exploiting their abilities to her own ends, but since none of them knew where the shinobi continent was they would need the sturdiest ship they could make.<p>

Such as it was, the army of Naruto clones were building a war galley for their trip.

She looked up as she saw their pirate captain walk into the rundown building, taking a long draught from her flask before wiping her mouth and looking at the young Hyuuga.

"I've seen some weird stuff in my time, but that boy…it's scary to think what he could do with such an ability."

Hinata smiled at her, "Naruto is always surprising people. I gather you didn't think we could actually do this?"

Sitting down opposite Hinata, Grace put her boots on top of the table just at the edge of the plans, "Didn't think you could? I dunno, it was all very spur of the moment. But now that he's starting pulling down buildings for the frame, I have to admit I am impressed."

Hinata stood up from her chair, leaving the plans on the table for Grace to look over. "We are grateful for your help. I don't know how we'd get home without you, neither of us know how to sail."

Grace barked out a laugh as she scratched at the bandages over her face, "You've got to stop thanking me. I ain't in this for charity, I'm getting a ship out of the deal, and a whole new land to enjoy. Don't underestimate my greed, girl."

_I definitely won't_, thought Hinata, maintaining her relatively innocent smile as she left the building to see how things outside were going.

The shipwright was nowhere to be found, but that wasn't terribly surprising to Hinata since he didn't have much to do after drawing up the plans for Grace's ship.

Scattered around the area were nearly fifty clones of Naruto, performing various tasks to prepare the large amount of lumber they had collected to be put into the ship's frame. From Hinata's estimation, it would probably take a few weeks to build the ship they were planning to, though it wasn't due to a lack of effort.

Since he was working to a very specific set of plans, Naruto needed as much concentration as possible for each of his clones, since even a single error could spell disaster for their ship. As such he was only able to maintain fifty clones to cut and shape the lumber he had taken from the nearby abandoned buildings and the few trees he had found. Under the beating sun it was hard work, but Naruto was happy to do it if it meant they would be able to get home.

Walking through the clones with a proud smile on her face, Hinata made her way to a Naruto that was working one of the few saws they had managed to procure. She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him lightly on the neck.

The Naruto smiled and stopped sawing momentarily, taking one of Hinata's hands into his own. "You know, you never did tell me how you can pick me out from my clones."

"And I never will," replied the girl with a grin.

"Everything okay?" he asked, wondering if something had gone wrong with Grace. The pirate was nothing if not unpredictable, though he had to admit her personality had highly amusing.

"I was just going to get some lunch. Do you want anything?"

One of the clones went to open his mouth, but remembered that ramen didn't exist in this part of the world and shut his mouth in disappointment.

"I'll take a break in a few minutes. It's taking longer than I thought to get the frame ready, since the measurements have to be so exact."

Hinata nodded, understanding how strenuous his work really was. She was offering what assistance she could, but her role came later on in the construction phase. "How long do you think it'll be?"

Her husband sighed and wiped his forehead as the clones continued to work around him, "I don't know. We've only got three saws, and we're having to make the nails and bolts from scrap metal. I won't lie; this is going to take a while."

Hinata reached out and kissed him lightly, letting the touch linger for a few seconds before pulling back and leaning her forehead on his. "As long as you are here with me, I don't mind. It'll take as long as it takes."

Naruto chuckled and stroked her hair for a few seconds before pulling them apart, "I should get back to work. I don't want another riot on my hands; the last one was difficult enough."

His wife had to nod in agreement; it hadn't been a pretty sight. She patted him on the arm affectionately before turning back to the place they were staying, "I'll bring back some rice balls, okay?"

The original Naruto nodded and turned back to his saw work. He didn't have to tell her he loved her, it was something both of them knew each other felt on a daily basis. Though he did take pride in surprising her at times with how he displayed his affection for her .

* * *

><p>***Four Months after Separation***<p>

Checking over the ship one last time from her high aerial position, Hinata slowly floated herself back down onto the deck and nodded to their captain.

"Everything looks good. I think we are ready to go."

Grace stared at her crew, still amazed that the two shinobi had been able to make such a ship in only a month and a half with the materials they had. Besides the two of them, she had her shipwright and two deckhands in addition to her cook. It was a tiny pirate crew compared to her last vessel that was taken by the army, but it was better than nothing.

"Not yet. We still have to name her."

The captain of the newly built vessel ran a hand over the sanded railing. It had been built better than she would have imagined, and with the right crew she knew that it was the kind of ship that was going to make the pirate she claimed to be.

The crew stared firing off names, as did her two shinobi passengers, but Grace had already decided on a name. She turned to her deckhands, "Hoist the sails and prepare to launch. We have a favourable wind, and we'd be remiss to not follow it."

Knowing what would happen to them if they didn't follow her orders, the crew went about their duties, while the pirate captain looked out over the open sea.

"The first voyage of the Dread Lady. Sounds almost poetic."

Walking up beside her, the shinobi couple smiled as the war galley slowly pulled out from the dock.

Grace turned to them with a knowing grin, "If your continent is out there, we'll find it. Hope neither of you get seasick by the way, particularly you, Naruto."

The blonde shinobi nodded with an amused smile, "I know. Just yell out when you want rowers, and I'll get it done."

Grace nodded and watched as Naruto walked off to do his own part, while Hinata lingered behind to speak to the captain.

Turning to the white-eyed girl, Grace could already predict what she was going to say. "Going to tell me to stay away from your man?"

To her surprise, Hinata shook her head and leaned on the rail to watch the ocean ebb by beneath their ship. "Naruto wouldn't do that. He may enjoy your company, but he isn't that type."

Grace chuckled and pulled out her flask, twisting off the lid. "That's true. He's a bit young too, but that hasn't stopped me in the past."

She turned to her blue haired crew member, "You know we might never find this place."

"Even if it takes years, we have to try. Our friends are waiting for us, and they need our help."

"Fair enough," said Grace with a swig from her flask. "But in the meantime, let's just focus on getting to the next piece of land. Go help your husband with the rigging."

"You're giving us orders?" asked Hinata, feeling amused by the idea of what her father would think of her doing such a task.

"I could yell at you to do it, if you'd like."

Hinata chuckled, "That won't be necessary, I'm happy to do it."

The pirate captain watched as the quiet girl went about her duty, shaking her head as she saw Naruto scrambling up the mast like a monkey, without even using the rope to hoist himself up.

_This ought to be interesting…_

* * *

><p><strong>AN**:

So.

Let's do a recap, because there was a lot to keep track of in this part of the story.

*****Recap of characters at end of their Separation chapters*****

Naruto = Sailing back to the shinobi continent on boat from Quiraji homeland.

Hinata = Travelling with Naruto back to shinobi continent.

Neji = Current head of Otogakure, working on building his forces.

Tenten = Neji's weaponsmith and armoursmith for Otogakure.

Shikamaru = Working in Suna as Gaara's personal advisor and tolerating Temari.

Ino = Residing in Suna with her adopted daughter Airi, after fleeing the hospital battle.

Chouji = Living under assumed retirement in a small village in the Land of Hot Water.

Lee = Conducting one-man attacks on Quiraji forces while collaborating with Suna.

Sakura = Working and helping run Suna's hospital after fleeing the hospital battle.

Sasuke = Helping Cascading Flow fight their rebellion in the Land of Earth with Fiore.

Kakashi = Retired with Konan to an unknown location after the Slaughter of Amegakure.

Itachi = Captured by Sensou for her experiments after defeating Shouri.

Kiba = Assisting Suna with Akamaru and Nagisa.

Shino = Deceased. Killed by Iceheart in a forest in the Land of Fire.

Shizune = Taken by her summon Byakko to his land for 'peaceful' retirement.

Asuma and Kurenai = Deceased. Killed by Iceheart in their homes.

Gai = Deceased. Killed by Kakuzu after Kyuubi was extracted from Naruto.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

First thing I'd like to say. After next week, I will be spending the next six months in Japan, studying, observing, and having fun and whatnot. Don't worry, I'll still be writing, though I doubt I'll be able to keep up with the 10,000 words a week that I have been doing so far, since there are other things I will be writing as well (non-fanfiction related). Essentially this means that I'll try to put out each chapter as soon as I can, but it'll likely be a fortnightly thing now.

I'm also taking a week off from writing so I can get prepared for the trip. So the next chapter will be either two to three weeks away.

Since there was virtually no information on the Endless War in the manga, I figured something like this might have actually happened. As you might ascertain, I like the idea of rebelling against an oppressor on such a scale.

Since I started writing this story, I haven't really done any reading of other Naruto fanfictions, and that's more to my detriment. I have the chance over the past few days and there was something I had noticed. The chapters that were over 5000 words were long to read. Not in a bad way, but in a noticeable way. Are my chapters too long? I know this story is ridiculously long, mainly because I bit off more than I can chew, but I'd still like your feedback on this area.

We move now into the final third of the story. Don't ask me how long it'll be, because honestly I have no idea. But let me put it into context, going past Chapter 60 is quite likely. It's a damn long story.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	49. Chapter 45 An Unexpected Reunion

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 45 – An Unexpected Reunion

**A/N**: I put summaries of previous sections at the start of every chapter, but I highly recommended reading any chapters that you may have missed. There are always small details and little character bits that make the story mould together in a more coherent way.

**A/N2**: Also, everything from now onwards is linear in relation to timeframe. No more jumping back and forth, or at least not planned at this time.

**A/N3**: 400 reviews...there are no words. Once again, I have to thank everyone who has read this story and particularly those who review it, since it helps me build my writing skills for future chapters and stories. Seriously, you guys are awesome.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, survivor's guilt would be far more prevalent.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On*** - An abridged version of the Separation period (meaning really long summary)<p>

**Shikamaru **-Having been dumped in the Land of Wind, Shikamaru was taken in by Suna on the verge of death. After recovering from his injuries, the Fourth Kazekage disappeared and he was put in jail, accused of the crime. Escaping with the help of the leader's three children, the four of them chased down the trail and found the Kazekage immortalised as a statue, held by a strange group. After recovering the Kazekage, they raced back to Suna after discovering that it was under attack. Sasori of the Red Sands led a single puppet master assault on his previous village. A particularly dangerous battle later and the village was saved but at the loss of the Kazekage, and Shikamaru was accepted as Gaara, the new Kazekage's, personal advisor.

**Chouji **- With his ability to use chakra vanished, Chouji resolved to assist the small village he had landed in. Having no knowledge of his friends' survival, he decided to stay and settle down with a local girl.

**Shino **- Fighting his own one man war within a dense forest in the Land of Fire, Shino knew he was fighting a losing battle. After gaining some valuable intelligence on the enemy force, he was tracked down and killed by a Quiraji commander, under the name of Iceheart.

**Ino **- Ino worked her way up to affording to travel to her old teacher's village, but to her horror she found that they had been killed inside their homes. Breaking into the burning building, Ino was able to rescue their daughter Airi, who she decided to adopt as her own, as she thought they would have wanted her to. After moving to a more peaceful land, Airi came down with a sickness and Ino flew to a nearby hospital, and was surprised to find Shizune there, though she had taken up drinking.

**Neji **- Having been spared death by the collapsing Hidden Sound, Neji found himself at the mercy of the remaining shinobi, but to his surprise they both surrendered and submitted to his will, thanking him for freeing them from Kabuto. Having no clue as to what happened to his companions, Neji resolved to adopt Naruto's idea of creating a new village, and after removing the Cursed Seals from everyone, established Otogakure in a new location. He came to a compromise with the Daimyo of the Rice Fields, and married his daughter in an arranged marriage. After some time he has had three children with her, and he loves them dearly. Using his experience, abilities and leadership skills, Neji has made Otogakure a village to be respected among the other four remaining Great Nations, and a force to be reckoned with for the inevitable incoming war.

**Lee **- Lee found himself captured by the enemy, and was tortured under the guise of turning him into a converted shinobi. However before he was broken, Lee escaped his prison and broke out another prisoner, Jito, who had been there for many years. Lee tracked down Asuma and Kurenai's village afterwards, but it was already too late. He followed the perpetrator and fought her, but was soundly defeated and he learned that Iceheart was actually Sakura, who had been converted by the Quiraji, the enemy who had destroyed Konoha. After training intensely after his recovery, Lee was able to break the helmet controlling Sakura and free her from Sensou's control.

**Sasuke **- Sasuke was dumped into a gladiator arena, and was saved by a strange girl who called herself Fiore. After helping her escape, he followed her back to her group, the Cascading Flow, where to his surprise he found his mother Mikoto alive and well. Deciding to stay with Cascading Flow, the group attacked the corrupt Daimyo of the Land of Earth, who was being manipulated by Kyoukou. Trying to save her son, Mikoto sacrificed herself and died, and Kyoukou fled the field. Sasuke decided to stay with Cascading Flow and help them however he could, knowing that his mother would have wanted him to continue her work.

**Kiba **- Fate had an odd twist for Kiba, who found himself near the top of a giant set of ice mountains that were the same Kakashi's old team had traversed. In another odd twist, Kiba and Akamaru found the frozen body of Nagisa, who had been frozen since the Third Shinobi War. He unthawed her, and they connected as distant cousins. They were captured by Yukigakure on their way down the mountain but quickly escaped, though they were forced to travel underground in a city that looked like it had been buried for centuries.

**Kakashi **- Under the impression that everyone he knew was dead, Kakashi wandered into Amegakure, and took up drinking, ending up spending the night with Konan. After discovering she was from Akatsuki, he came to an arrangement with Nagato and her, and after some convincing he agreed to assist them. However just as he was coming into his own, an unknown woman clouded in a dark robe slaughtered the entire village except him, displaying an apparent immortality to damage and an ability to kill with a single touch. Taking Konan's body to Nagato, the Rinnegan user sacrificed what little time he had left to revive her. Devastated that she was the last of Amegakure and everyone she knew was dead, Kakashi offered to take her to a safe place where they wouldn't be troubled by war anymore. She accepted reluctantly.

**Shizune **- Working as the head of the hospital, Shizune was troubled by all the war going on with Suna and the Quiraji. Sakura was also helping after her recovery, and to their surprise Kiba was brought in after being followed by an army of Quiraji. Evacuating the hospital patients and staff to Suna, Shizune held a one woman stand against the encroaching army, though her summons had a different idea. They saved her, and after some convincing her boss summon took her to his Palace, to peace.

**Itachi **– Observing the battle from above, Itachi watched as Kumogakure was attacked by a massive army of Quiraji soldiers, led by the same warrior who had separated them. After analysing his battle movements, Itachi came up with a strategy to defeat such an opponent, and singled him out in the army, assassinating him. However he was subsequently attacked by Sensou and had no defence against her attacks, having been captured for use in her experiments.

**Naruto & Hinata**–The two shinobi found themselves in a strange land, with no indication on where they were. Advancing their relationship to the next level, they also discovered an odd companion in Magnus, who helped them find a new way of fighting with physical and spiritual energy. After they went their separate ways, Naruto and Hinata began travelling on their own, however Hinata came down with a terrible illness, and Naruto brought her to a doctor in a castle town. With nothing he could do to help her, Naruto held off several attacks by an opposing army, and killed their general to try and save Hinata's life. Discovering that her illness was the strangely living Kyuubi, Naruto found that the Kyuubi had been trying to teach him a lesson in pain, but had a more humane side to it. He came to a tenuous peace with the Kyuubi, although they were still antagonistic to each other. The Kyuubi then showed him the war the Sage of the Six Paths waged against the Quiraji, and he and Hinata decided they needed to return to the shinobi continent. They were able to create a ship and with a bit of help from a pirate, they set off to find their home once again.

***End Absurdly Long Summary***

* * *

><p>***Two and a Half Years after Separation***<p>

The waters were nice and calm, considering the time of year. His boat rocked slightly back and forth with each slow wave, giving its occupant just enough motion to satisfy his interest in being on the water. At the edge of his boat, a fishing rod tugged from its line in the water, but the fisherman didn't pay it any heed as he continued to stare up to the forming clouds.

It was a good day, and the ex-shinobi Kakashi was enjoying the nice weather for a change.

Eventually he noticed his fishing rod was attempting to wrench itself out of his small boat. Reaching over to it, he gripped the rod and began to reel in his catch. The bucket sitting beside him was empty, despite having spent most of the day in the boat.

It wasn't due to a lack of skill, though.

Once he'd reeled in his catch, he examined the flailing fish in his hands. It wasn't particularly big, but he'd get a reasonable price for it nonetheless. It was coming close to time for him to go back to shore too, so unlike the others he didn't throw it back.

Filling the bucket nearly halfway with a low level water ninjutsu that he could do in his sleep, Kakashi eased the fish in and put his fishing rod down inside the boat.

He leaned over the side of the boat, placing a single finger into the ocean. Channelling a small amount of chakra, Kakashi hummed a nameless tune to himself as a low voltage electrical current ran through the ocean around him.

Slowly but surely, over a dozen fish similar to the one he had caught slowly rose to the surface of the water, knocked out by his electrical technique. The other fishermen would probably consider this cheating, but Kakashi understood what happened when you overfished an area, so he only took what he needed, leaving the other fish to recover and go about their lives.

Once he had eight fish swimming slowly within his bucket, Kakashi wiped his hands on his work shirt and pulled out the oars beside his fishing rod. It was the same routine he'd been doing for almost a year.

And Kakashi loved everything about it.

He continued to hum as his boat pulled into shore, tying it to a nearby post before throwing his fishing rod over his shoulder and picking up the bucket with his other hand. Nobody would touch his boat, he knew that for sure. It was a fisherman's life, and everyone respected each other too much to do something like that.

It was a short walk to his house from the shore, and Kakashi made a pass at the markets to sell the fish he wasn't taking home. The fishmonger was more than happy to take his stock, as he always did, giving him a fair price for his catch.

A large village at the edge of the ocean on its own particular island, Kakashi had grown to love the town and how simple it was. People travelled to their work and back without grumbling, while the children played in the streets when they weren't in school.

It was peaceful.

After walking through the dirt road through the village and greeting the villagers who called out to him, Kakashi came to the house he had been living in for the past two years. It was small and inconspicuous, which was perfect for the type of living Kakashi was currently performing. Occasionally when he looked at it from the outside it used to remind him of one of the houses back in Konoha, one that he used to sit on top of when looking over the rest of the village.

With two fish still in his bucket, Kakashi pushed open his door and closed it behind him.

"I'm home!" he called out, taking off his work boots and putting them to the side.

He got no response, but judging from the noise in the kitchen he wasn't surprised. With a wry grin, he made his way through the corridor and leaned on the doorway to his kitchen.

Standing with her hands working at the bench was a woman with short purple hair, quietly singing to herself as she made small origami swans with her quick hands. She could have used ninjutsu to make the swans, but that took the fun out of it.

She jumped as she felt a pinch near her leg, causing to grin as she felt Kakashi move beside her and place his bucket in the sink next to her.

"I didn't hear you come in," she said as she pushed her swans to the side.

Plugging the sink, Kakashi dumped the fish into the sink and wiped his hands on a nearby towel. "You were enjoying yourself. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Hn."

Kakashi rubbed at his shoulders sorely, he'd been sitting awkwardly in the boat the last few days and it had been playing havoc with his muscles. "I'm going to have a bath before we eat."

Konan nodded and stacked up her unused paper sheet to one side, "I'll join you. It's been one of those days."

"Trouble at the orphanage?" he asked with a raised eyebrow while they walked through their house to the bathroom.

Turning the hot water tap to quickly fill the water, Konan slowly removed her top and folded it to one side. "Nothing I can't handle. Some of the teachers disagreed about what to teach the kids about certain things, and I spent most of the day sorting that out."

"Sounds rough."

Konan sighed as she slid a leg into the hot water, "You have no idea."

oOoOoOo

After eating the two fish Kakashi had brought home, the two retired shinobi sat on the couch, with Konan resting her legs across his. He smiled as he watched her facial expressions change as she read the small book he had finally convinced her to read. It seemed to shift between horror and amazement, though Konan wasn't too expressive so Kakashi was guessing half the time.

Finishing the first chapter, Konan shut the book and placed it on her lap, staring at him through her amber eyes, not saying a word.

"So…what did you think?"

Sliding the book across her legs towards him, Konan could only shake her head. "I guess there is no accounting for taste…"

"Oh, now that is harsh," said Kakashi with a smile, taking the book and placing it on a nearby table.

They both turned their heads as they heard two raps on the door. Kakashi slowly peeled her legs off him and stood up, smiling at her before walking slowly to the door.

Figuring it to be another visit from the local law enforcement, asking for his opinion on a case, Kakashi opened the door without even checking to see who it might be.

Standing in the doorway in an old set of armour and white fur-covered pauldrons, was a man he hadn't seen in two decades, and had only truly known about for the past three years.

Forgetting all of his shinobi training momentarily, Kakashi could only stare in surprise as Jito looked him up and down with a satisfied look in his eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" asked the Senju survivor quietly.

Blinking several times as if to disperse the image, Kakashi had to accept that it was real. There was no other logical explanation.

"Jito…my god is that really you?"

The elder Senju grinned and placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, "My friend, it has been far too long. You look well."

Kakashi had no clue how to respond, he'd been working under the assumption that this man had been dead for years. "I…you do too. How…when…"

Normally a serious man, Jito chuckled at the Jounin's confusion. He stared at his face, "You seem to have been through some trouble since I last worked with you."

"That's the understatement of the century…" He looked back into the house, noticing that Konan was still sitting on the couch. "Please come in. Our house is yours."

Jito bowed and entered the house, taking off his shoes before walking into the living room with Kakashi behind him.

Konan quickly shoved the book she had started to read again underneath the couch pillow, looking up at their guest. She went to ask who he was, but upon seeing the leaf symbol on his forehead protector, she understood immediately. She got up quickly and bowed slightly as was proper for a host to act towards a houseguest, though she never took her eyes off him.

Coming up behind the Senju, Kakashi indicated to him with a hand, "Konan, this is Jito. He's a…very old friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you," she said cautiously. They had been out of touch from the shinobi world, and had had no contact with any shinobi at all, but judging from Kakashi's reaction she knew it was not something he had been expecting.

And unexpected things were rarely good things.

Jito smiled, he had noticed the eye contact between the two of them. "It is lovely to meet you, Konan."

Sensing that they probably wanted to speak alone, Konan moved towards the kitchen. "Would you like anything to drink? I can make you some tea, if you would like."

Jito groaned as he took a seat opposite the couch. He looked up to her with a smile, "Some tea would be good, thank you."

The Amegakure survivor nodded and disappeared into the kitchen as Kakashi sat down opposite his old companion, still unable to keep the surprise from his face.

"I guess you recovered your memories then," said Jito slowly.

Kakashi nodded, "About three years ago. I had some help, but I know what happened, for the most part."

Jito breathed out a sigh of relief, resting his hands on his seat. "That saves me some explaining then."

"I could have sworn you were dead though. Even despite you leaving when you did…there was no indications of you at all."

"I almost was," said Jito, wary of reliving his capture by the Quiraji. "But that doesn't explain why you are so surprised. And why you are here, at the absolute end of the world, acting like a civilian."

"I guess we both have long tales to tell." Kakashi went to ask, but stopped when he heard a soft sounding song coming from the kitchen, slowly flowing into the living room.

Jito perked up his ears as a smile came across his face. "That's a lovely voice."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "I didn't know she could sing like that until we came here. She only does it when she's happy, so any time I can, I stop and listen."

His companion nodded back, not wanting to say another word, resolving to simply listen to the quiet song Konan sang to herself from the kitchen.

_Oh the Easter snow_

_It is faded away_

_It was so rare and so beautiful _

_But it's melted back into the clay_

_Those days will be remembered_

_Beyond out in the north_

_Listening to the master's notes_

_As gently they do fall_

_Oh the music when shame is heeded play_

_But the thaw has melted the mantle white_

_And turned it back into the clay_

Her voice slowly faded away as she started to hum the rest of the song to herself. Kakashi smiled proudly and turned back to his Senju companion. "So, I guess we have a lot to talk about."

Konan came back into the living room and handed them their tea.

Thanking her, Kakashi sipped his tea and indicated to Jito, "Why don't you start with why you are here?"

oOoOoOo

Jito kept his observations to himself as Kakashi finished his side of the tale. "And then we came here. We've been living here for the past two years."

"What have you been doing?" asked Jito, having never figured Kakashi to be the retiring type.

Putting her empty tea cup back on its saucer, Konan watched the exchange with quiet interest. From what she had observed of the Senju man, he was quite observant and intelligent, but he was hiding things from them as well.

"You still haven't told us why you are here," she said, once they had finished discussing Kakashi's 'day job'.

Jito slowly turned his gaze to the woman. There wasn't any offence intended in her statement, but her bluntness told him volumes about what he had to say.

"I've been searching for Kakashi for a long time. He fought our enemy before, and we need his help."

Konan went to response, but Kakashi cut her off almost frantically.

"What do you mean, we? Who else survived? Anyone around the age of sixteen to twenty?"

Jito frowned, "You really thought everyone was dead, didn't you? There are more alive than you think, Kakashi."

The Konoha Jounin leaned back on the couch in both shock and relief. He hadn't thought about it for a while, and since they were so far removed from the shinobi world he hadn't had any word about potential survivors. He'd finally come to terms with his guilt, and now everything was different.

"So, we come to the heart of the matter." Jito hadn't come all this way for nothing, but he certainly wasn't going to press the issue either. After hearing about Kakashi's days fishing on the vast ocean, and Konan working at the local orphanage, he almost didn't want to pull them away from it.

But in times of war, those things were luxuries.

"You've come to take me back to the war?"

Jito nodded, "We need as many allies as we can. I understand your situation, believe me. But you have to realise this is bigger than the two of you."

He could see the cogs working in Kakashi's head, but he wasn't holding out hope. His chance at a happy retirement had been quashed decades ago, and he was reluctant to destroy theirs.

Standing slowly from the couch beside her roommate, Konan turned to look down at Kakashi. "Can I speak to you in the kitchen, Kakashi?"

After two years, Kakashi could already tell what Konan was going to say, but there were some things that had to be talked out. He stood up and indicated to Jito, "Excuse me for a moment."

"By all means."

Once they got into the kitchen, Konan turned to him and stared with her usual serious gaze.

Anticipating her argument, Kakashi put up his hands, "You don't want to go."

"No, I don't. And I don't want you to go either."

Kakashi sighed as he leaned back onto the sink, "I'll admit, it's a lot to take in. But if there is a chance my companions are alive, I have to take it."

"It's been two years, Kakashi. I thought we were past this. We have good lives here, why would you want to ruin that?"

Kakashi reached out and took one of her hands, holding it tenderly. Their relationship was strange compared to some of the ones Kakashi had had during his time in the ANBU, but after knowing her for so long there wasn't anyone he trusted more than Konan.

"You know why, Konan."

There were a thousand different things he could say to her, but as she looked into his eyes, she already knew what he was going to do. She sighed and took a step forward, leaning her forehead onto his.

"I guess you wouldn't be here with me if you weren't that type of person."

She sniffed slightly, holding back her emotions. "You're a bastard, you know that?"

"Konan, I…"

"Give me a few minutes, Kakashi…I need to think about this."

Understanding the underlying tone, Kakashi gave her a quick kiss and patted her affectionately on the arm before going back to the living room. He sat back down opposite Jito and looked over the Senju shinobi.

"Aren't you tired of fighting, Jito?"

His companion chuckled, "You'd be amazed how many times I ask myself that same question. But everything I do, I hear my father's voice coming back into my head, and I remember why we fight."

He indicated to the kitchen with his tea cup, "Is she going to be okay? I sensed some tension there."

"It's been hard for her. Hard for both of us. She's the only survivor of Amegakure; I thought I was the only survivor of Konoha. You know what it's like to carry something like that."

Jito nodded, refilling his tea cup and taking another sip. "Survivor's guilt is a terrible thing. You can't really understand it unless you've been through it yourself."

Kakashi nodded, and for a few minutes they sat in silence. He still had a lot of questions for the Senju shinobi, but he knew where his heart was, and where his true priorities were. If that didn't happen, then his questions became irrelevant.

The two Konoha shinobi watched as Konan re-entered the room and sat back down beside Kakashi, sliding her fingers into one of his hands and holding it tightly. "If you need to go…then you should go. I know how much they mean to you."

Jito's heart broke when he heard that, he remembered hearing that exact line from his wife before he had set out to fight during the Second Shinobi War.

It had been the last thing she had said to him.

Kakashi, however, was not him.

Squeezing her hand tightly, Kakashi looked straight into her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere without you. I know how much you love that orphanage and those kids. If you want to stay, then we will stay."

Konan tensed up, and for a moment Kakashi could have sworn she was going to jump him, from the look in her eyes. Given their company, he was glad they didn't, but nothing he had said was false. If it was a choice between Konan or just a chance, he chose her every time.

She was someone he could protect, and actually be with. Something he'd been deprived of in the past.

"Excuse me, but did I hear you were once from Amegakure?"

Konan turned to Jito, secretly wishing to stab him for interrupting their moment. "What of it?"

The genjutsu master clasped his hands together and leaned forward, "Do you know what the person you destroyed it looked like?"

Konan's face twitched, and sensed her discomfort Kakashi leaned forward in return.

"She wore a black robe and had pale skin…"

"…and never opened her eyes?" finished Jito.

The two of them nodded, causing Jito to immediately formulate a nice idea in his head.

"Let me tell you a little about what I know about our enemy. They are led by four generals of immense strength. One of whom, is that woman."

Konan's eyes widened, but Jito wasn't finished.

He stared at Kakashi intently, "I also believe she is the one responsible for destroying Konoha."

Given the abilities she displayed, Kakashi certainly couldn't put it past that woman, but that final gaze she had given him before leaving was still haunting him.

_She spared me, and she spared Nagato. It's likely he was spared because he was going to die anyway, but I had no such issues. It wasn't pity either. It was more like…I wasn't on her radar at all. _

But in the same vein, Kakashi wished Jito hadn't mentioned that fact. Konan hadn't spoken about avenging her village for over a year now, but the look in her amber eyes told him that it was still fresh in her mind.

"How sure are you of this information?" she asked, not bothering to hide the urgency in her voice.

"Very. They are currently killing shinobi all over the world, and I'm here to get your help to stop them."

Konan turned back to Kakashi, and without saying anything they understood each other's position. He wanted to go to save his friends, but was apprehensive about putting her in danger, while she wanted to avenge Nagato and the others from Amegakure but also didn't want to leave him alone either. They'd both been through that pain, and it was difficult enough as it was.

However, despite all that, their answer to Jito was clear.

* * *

><p>Jito stood at the edge of town, watching as the couple slowly walked towards him. Both Kakashi and Konan had small backpacks on their backs; they didn't have too many possessions to take with them.<p>

"Are you sure?" asked Kakashi as they reached the entrance to the village.

Konan nodded, holding the strap to her backpack tightly. "I don't think I could face them. It's better if I just disappear, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to go."

With a quiet smile, Jito noticed that they were both wearing their forehead protectors, looking almost completely different from the previous day. Kakashi had his flak jacket on with his regular Konoha shinobi outfit, and Konan had a strange black cloak with red and white clouds on it, though she seemed to be walking strangely.

"Is something wrong, Konan?" he asked, unaware of any injuries she might be carrying.

The blue haired woman tugged at the middle of her robe with a frown, "It's nothing…I didn't realise I'd put on so much weight."

Beside her, Kakashi chuckled, "I think you look beautiful."

She glared at him and bit back the line she was going to say, figuring it wouldn't be too appropriate with their ally standing in front of them.

"You know, it's strange seeing you without your mask, Kakashi. You really are the spitting image of Sakumo."

The silver haired Jounin grinned, "That's why I wore it, so that I wouldn't be. Where are we going, Jito?"

"Well, we've got to get back to the main continent first. Then we are going to the Land of Earth."

"What's in the Land of Earth?" asked Kakashi, as the three of them began walking to the edge of the land that was connected to the shinobi continent by a small ocean mass.

It would take them a few hours running across the water, but since they were all of Jounin level it wouldn't take too much out of them.

"I've been searching for you for nearly three years, Kakashi. You weren't an easy man to find. In that time, my ally was looking for a force that could fight against the Quiraji. I'm not sure whether she was successful or not, but I met with some of her contacts and they seemed reliable."

After listening to Jito's story the previous day, it didn't take Kakashi long to work out who his old companion was talking about, though it was even more difficult to believe than some of the other things Jito had told him.

"Mikoto…so she's alive then?"

Jito nodded as they moved quickly over the water. Despite his inability to use ninjutsu, Jito still had extremely precise chakra control, allowing him to some basic like water walking.

After a few minutes, Kakashi's curiosity got the better of him and he asked the question he'd been wondering since Jito had made himself known to him.

"You mentioned someone helping you escape their torture centre. Did they tell you their name?"

"Hmm…I think his name was…damnit I know this. Give me a second, he was pretty distinctive, I remember what he looks like perfectly."

A few seconds after hearing the description, Kakashi immediately knew who it was. "That's Lee…so he's alive. I can't believe it…"

"Who is he?" asked Konan, moving quickly beside him across the water.

The silver haired Jounin chuckled; there really wasn't an easy way to describe someone like him. "He was a student of mine. It's a good thing he made it, he's a strong kid."

High above them the clouds began to merge together as the sky threatened to rain down on the three shinobi. They were still an hour from the mainland at their current pace, but they hoped they weren't going to get rained on.

oOoOoOo

They got drenched.

Once they reached the mainland they took shelter underneath a large cliff face, wringing out their clothes as they waited for the storm to pass.

"I haven't seen anything like that in a while," said Jito, squeezing the water out of his fur pauldrons.

Kakashi smiled, not saying anything. He'd seen plenty like that before, but it wasn't his place to bring it up.

The two of them were facing the wall while Konan was drying her robe and her hair. Kakashi could understand her making Jito turn around, but he saw her like that every day.

"It rained like that every day in Amegakure," said the blue haired kunoichi, wrapping her Akatsuki robe around her body before telling them it was okay to turn around.

Kakashi grinned when he saw her start to put her makeup back on, as it had been ruined by the rain. When they'd lived in Amegakure she had special makeup to compensate for the rain, but since moving she'd had nothing like that. Kakashi had once asked her why she always wore makeup, and her response had been surprisingly simple. She took pride in her appearance, and disguise was also a part of being a shinobi.

Kakashi just thought it made her look prettier, but he didn't want to make a mistake in saying she was any less than she was. He'd dealt with vengeful women in the past, and it rarely ended well.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked, ignoring the looks the two men were giving her with her still damp hair.

"Well, we need to find Mikoto," said Jito, shaking his head to gather his senses again. He felt bad for looking at her like that, considering he was easily twice her age.

Having a pretty reasonable understanding of her partner's skills, Konan turned to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "Can you find her?"

Kakashi sighed, that was something he hadn't mentioned to her from that battle. "I'm not sure." He turned to Jito, "Do you have anything of hers that might have her scent?"

Thinking about it for a few seconds, Jito reached into the small pouch that hung off of one of his pauldrons. He rummaged around in it before producing a small black and red flower and showing it to his two companions. "She gave this to me when I saved her from the Uchiha massacre. It might be faint, but it'll have her scent on it for sure."

Konan took the flower from his hand, admiring how pretty such a small flower was, while beside her Kakashi bit at his thumb and stared at the blood running down his finger.

_I know you guys are probably still mad at me…but I'm trying to do the right thing now. _

He stepped back and ran through the handseals before placing his blood-tipped on the cold ground beneath him.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Kakashi wasn't expecting anything to happen, but to his surprise a small cloud of smoke appeared underneath his hand, and a small pug stepped out of it, offering up his paw in the usual greeting.

"Yo, Kakashi. It's been a while."

The Konoha Jounin withdrew his hand with a surprised look on his face, after failing to get a response the last time he tried to summon the ninja dog he hadn't been expecting to see him again.

"Pakkun! I…wasn't expecting to see you again."

The pug cocked his head with a confused look, "Why not? You don't summon me in two years, and that's the first thing you say?"

He turned his head, and hid his surprise when he saw Jito standing off to the side. At first he thought he was looking at the Second Hokage, but considering Jito's age that didn't make much sense. He turned back to Kakashi, waiting patiently for him to explain himself.

"The last time we spoke, you said you were disappointed that I wasn't still trying to find the others. You made it clear that you didn't want to see me again."

His ninja dog companion scoffed and sat down on his backside. "You're an idiot, Kakashi. I was disappointed, and I still am. That doesn't mean I would abandon you. We don't abandon our comrades, remember?"

Kakashi stared at his hand for a second before looking back down at Pakkun, "But…I tried to summon you and got no response."

"Hmm, we had no trouble on our end." The dog scratched at his head, "Perhaps you didn't truly want to summon us, and that's why it didn't work."

His summoner thought about that for a moment, trying to remember how chaotic it was during the destruction of Amegakure. There had been many things going through his mind at the time, but guilt was always at the forefront. He'd never heard of that preventing a summon, but if that's truly what happened, there were still many things about ninjutsu that even someone like him didn't understand.

It could also have been that he knew he'd be bringing the canine towards certain death, and unconsciously didn't want that. Regardless, he'd never know now.

Walking into the pug's view, Konan bent down and showed him the flower, "We need you to find this woman."

Pakkun looked up at her and stared at her for a few seconds before nodding and turning to Kakashi with his usual dull expression, "Shouldn't be a problem. Though you'll have to wait until the rain stops."

"You can't track their scent in the rain?" asked Jito in surprise. The Inuzuka's had been able to track scents during thunderstorms, so a ninja dog should be at a similar level.

The pug scoffed and glared at the elder Senju, "Of course I can. I just don't want to get wet."

Jito stared at him for a moment before chuckling and looking over at Kakashi, "Like master, like summon, huh?"

Looking out at the rain beyond their shelter, and ignoring the smirk on Konan's face behind him, Kakashi just shook his head. "I don't know what you are talking about."

* * *

><p>***Two Days Later***<p>

Their canine companion indicated to a town just on the horizon, "Her scent ends at that town."

"Are you sure?" asked Konan with a frown.

Pakkun turned around and glared at the blue haired kunoichi, "Do I tell you how to make origami? She's in there."

"It isn't that, it's just…" She pointed to the town he had led them to.

It was on fire.

Both Jito and Kakashi squinted their eyes to get a better look, neither of them could sense Mikoto's chakra coming from the town, but the Uchiha matriarch was skillful at hiding her strength so they weren't making any judgements from that.

"Was there anything else you needed?" asked Pakkun dryly, turning to Kakashi with a grunt.

His summoner shook his head, "No, thank you for your help."

The pug stared at him for a second before glancing over at Konan and turning back to him, "Good luck."

With that, he disappeared into a small puff of smoke, leaving the three odd companions to their duty.

"What do you think?" asked Konan once the smoke had cleared.

Kakashi shrugged and turned to Jito, "It doesn't look like Mikoto's fire, but that doesn't mean much."

Their Senju companion had to agree, "When I last saw her, she was with a very…interesting woman by the name of Elika. If I know Mikoto, she's already worked out who we need and is working with them now."

"Meaning that…" Kakashi indicated to the burning town, "…is likely part of her plan."

The two of them turned to get Konan's opinion, but to their surprise she was already a third of the way to the burning town.

Kakashi just rolled his eyes and went to run after her, while Jito chuckled and caught up with him.

"She's an interesting woman, Kakashi."

The Konoha Jounin glared at his old friend, "Stop telling me that, Jito."

oOoOoOo

When they got to the town they weren't sure what to expect, but what they saw certainly wasn't in their minds.

The town looked like it could have held hundreds, but there were no civilians living within its borders. While the town burned, dozens of bodies wearing the Iwa forehead protector littered the ground, while dozens more fought with kunai and ninjutsu against a strange pair of attackers. The two of them seemed completely at ease despite being surrounded by more than twenty Iwa Chuunin and Jounin.

One of them wore a simple leather outfit that hugged her figure and she held a long wooden staff on one of her shoulders while she chatted with her fighting companion.

The Iwa shinobi appeared extremely weary from the fight, and on the verge of exhaustion while the two of them didn't even appear puffed.

Jito felt a shiver through his skin as he observed the woman's demeanour, at her almost inappropriate casual approach to fighting.

To Kakashi's amazement, and complete surprise, standing by the woman's side with a single bloody katana in his hand, was Sasuke.

The Uchiha shinobi looked older than Kakashi's remembered, and seemed to have a few scars of his own, but it was the look in his eyes that said a thousand different things to him.

He had his Sharingan active and the red eyes seemed to be scanning the battlefield from left to right as he ignored the woman's attempts to chat to him. However he didn't have the angry, hateful look that Kakashi remembered, the one that showed his confusion and frustration.

Instead, Sasuke's eyes were determined and focused.

From their outside position, Jito cloaked them in a powerful genjutsu so that they wouldn't be hit by friendly fire, and the three of them approached the battlefield.

"Should we help them?" asked Konan, collecting several sheets of paper in her hands.

Jito shook his head, "We need to find Mikoto. This battle isn't our concern."

"This battle is most definitely our concern," said Kakashi as they passed the border of the town. He pointed to the Uchiha man who had sheathed his sword and was rapidly going through a set of handseals, pushing out a large amount of chakra. "That one there is her son."

"Her son? I thought he died with Konoha." Jito stared as the Uchiha streamed a long line of lightning-charged chakra, cutting several Jounin in half in a single motion. "That…would make a lot of sense actually, now that I think about it."

The woman who was working with Sasuke easily patted away several kunai thrusts and slammed her staff into her attacker's faces, knocking them out with ease before turning her gaze to the remaining Iwa shinobi who were trying to circle around Sasuke.

The two of them rapidly dispatched their enemies while the three companions watched in surprise.

"I guess they don't need our help at all," said Konan with a hint of disappointment. She'd never been particularly bloodthirsty, but she was out of practise and wanted to see how her skills still worked.

The last Iwa shinobi fell to a breath of fire from Sasuke and the Uchiha sighed as he rubbed at his neck sorely.

"Well that was interesting," he said, rubbing his hands on his black shirt. "Remember me to hit Kira for his horrible intel."

The brown haired girl barked out a laugh as her staff slowly shrank to a small stick that she stuck through her hair. "That's why it's called a trap, Sasuke. He'd be an amazing spymaster if he'd been able to work this mess out."

"That's his job, Fiore. I know you like him, but you and your mother's faith in the man is strangely placed."

Fiore's amusement shone through her violet eyes, "Well, it doesn't matter now. Let's just go home. I need to have a bath."

"Yes, you do. Let's…" Sasuke's eyes unfocused as he turned his head slightly, as if trying to listen to a very quiet sound.

"What is it?" asked Fiore, ignoring the remark Sasuke had made. In their two year partnership she had come to trust the Uchiha's instincts, though she'd never tell him that. They were close, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to torture him.

Sasuke turned with his Sharingan and stared straight at the space that the three observers were standing in, concealed by Jito's genjustu. "There's something…"

Jito smiled slightly, "Amazing. He can actually sense our presence, though he doesn't quite see through the illusion just yet."

"Sasuke always had a lot of promise," said Kakashi proudly. He was fond of his former student, and saddened that he had thought that someone like Sasuke would have died.

Konan rolled her eyes at the boy's conversation and motioned to Jito, "Enough of these games. Just drop the illusion so we can find your friend."

Jito turned to Kakashi, who nodded in agreement. While he had worked with Kakashi as a subordinate in the past, now it was more like a partnership of equals, though Jito had vastly more experience than Kakashi did.

The Senju elder dropped the genjutsu, and the two fighters jumped in surprise and drew their weapons instantly upon seeing the three of them.

"Do you recognise them?" asked Fiore with her wooden weapon immediately in hand.

Sasuke shook his head as he pointed to the two men with his sword, "Those two look like they are from Konoha, but I don't recognise them. They are probably imposters."

His sword tracked to Konan's position, "And she's part of a very bad organisation. They must be enemies."

Konan scowled at his labelling of her, and was tempted to fight him just for the sake of it, but she hesitated when she saw that the look in his eyes wasn't hateful, he simply recognised her robe. Since he was an Uchiha, she figured he must be related to Itachi.

It had been difficult for her to move past, but she had forgiven the Uchiha for what he had done to Nagato, understanding why he had done it.

That didn't mean she wasn't going to beat him within an inch of his life when she saw him though.

Kakashi frowned at being called an imposter, until he realised that without his mask on Sasuke probably didn't recognise him. He chuckled and ran a hand through his silver hair.

"That hurts my feelings, Sasuke."

Upon hearing his voice, Sasuke lowered his sword and nearly gaped in surprise, "Kakashi?!"

His eyes ran over his old teacher's face, and then his face sank in disappointment.

"What is it? Who are these guys?" asked Fiore, throughly confused by the situation.

Sasuke just shook his head and reached over to push down her wooden staff, "It's…it's nothing. They are allies."

Kakashi stepped forward with a smile, while Konan and Jito followed behind him. "Thank you, Sasuke. It's good to see you again. You've grown up quite well."

The Uchiha smirked before his eyes looked into Kakashi's with a serious expression. "You've changed too. You lost your Sharingan."

Kakashi nodded, feeling at his scar with one of his hands, "A lot has happened since we last met."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Sasuke.

His voice was neutral, but Kakashi didn't hide his surprise at what Sasuke said. It sounded sincere, not sarcastic or cold like it normally would.

This wasn't the Sasuke he knew. That Sasuke was long dead.

Jito stepped forward beside Kakashi, "We came here looking for your mother, Mikoto, is she around here?"

Immediately the two of their eyes darkened, and Fiore's head sank while Sasuke glared at Jito.

"My mother is dead, over two years ago."

At that, Jito's heart sank. "I'm…sorry to hear that. She…was a dear friend to me and…" his voice trailed off as he tried to think what that meant for their quest.

Sasuke turned to Kakashi, "Who is this guy?"

"His name is Senju Jito."

Sasuke's eyes betrayed his recognition of the name, but his companion's reaction was far more obvious.

Fiore's entire body seemed to freeze up as her violet eyes immediately snapped towards Jito and she glared at his face.

"Senju?" she muttered angrily.

Knowing what she was about to do, Sasuke turned to her and put his hands in front of her. "Now is not the time, Fiore. Take them back to Cascading Flow, and let your mother handle it."

Fiore continued to glare for a few seconds before relenting and turning to Sasuke, "Fine. I doubt you'll be able to hold her back though, Sasuke."

"I don't want to hear that coming from you." He turned back to the three companions, "We are returning back to our home. You are welcome to join us, to rest and recover from your journey."

It sounded formal and awkward coming from Sasuke, but there was the hint of amusement in his voice that they were more exhausted than he or his companion were because of their travel compared to their battle.

Kakashi nodded slightly and motioned for Sasuke to show them the way, while Jito pondered what he was going to do without Mikoto's assistance.

"You know some strange people, Kakashi," said Konan as the five of them started to walk out of the village that was slowly burning down to the ground.

Kakashi smiled in amusement before a question came to his mind. "Sasuke, we followed Mikoto's scent to your location. I thought you said she was dead."

The Uchiha shinobi tensed at the mention of his mother's demise, but pointed to his forehead regardless, "This is her forehead protector, since I lost mine. You were probably following that."

With his question answered, Kakashi followed the two of them out of the town, while Jito and Konan followed behind him. Sasuke said it was about half a day's journey to their home, and in that time Kakashi intended to find out what his student had been doing for the past two and a half years.

* * *

><p>Fighting a full-scale rebellion was difficult work, particularly when your entire organisation was labelled as terrorists and is being hunted by a powerful shinobi village.<p>

Despite that, Cascading Flow had a cheery environment as Sasuke and Fiore led the three companions through several of the checkpoints to the major staging point that they had been using for the past few months.

It was a complex comprised of several ruined buildings that had been structured for defence after their initial destruction, and from Kakashi's reckoning there were nearly a thousand people residing in the large area, all scattering in a makeshift military camp.

"What on earth are you part of, Sasuke?"

His Uchiha student turned to him and nodded to a group of civilians polishing their makeshift armour. "A full-scale rebellion against the government of the Land of Earth."

Kakashi's eyes widened at the sheer audacity of the statement, and when Sasuke offered nothing else to clarify he found himself examining his student with a whole new perspective. He reminded him of himself just after the end of the Third Shinobi War.

Having been hired once by Iwagakure during her work in the Akatsuki, Konan was unimpressed by the gathering of force here. "This lot wouldn't last a day in the field against Iwa," she muttered under her breath.

Sasuke's companion Fiore immediately turned around and stood nose to nose with the paper-using shinobi. "How about you keep that crap to yourself, pretty girl. We aren't fighting with nail polish and make-up. These are real soldiers, and they deserve a hell of a lot more respect than pitiful shinobi like you."

Taking a slight step forward so that they were practically touching forehead, Konan stared down the wood-user with her amber eyes. "I don't want to hear that from a green girl like you who barely looks like she could put on her panties straight. You wouldn't know what war was if it came up to you and bit your arm off."

Fiore began to shout back a retort, while their companions shuffled off to the side and watched with both horror and amusement.

"Was that meant to happen?" asked Jito quietly.

Sasuke frowned and watched as Fiore motioned to grab her wooden weapon from her hair, "Fiore is pretty temperamental but even this…"

His old teacher had to agree, though he understood Konan's position a lot better than he did Fiore's. She had lost far more than anyone should have, but even he was surprised by her interaction with the young warrior.

They almost went to try and break them up, but Konan was already sending dozens of paper shurikens at Fiore's head, while the Cascading Flow warrior easily batted them away with a short wooden staff and began stabbing at the last Akatsuki member.

"Should…should we stop them?"

Both Sasuke and Kakashi turned to Jito as if he were insane.

Kakashi indicated to the two fighting women with a hand, "You are welcome to try. Can I have your stuff when you die?"

He turned to Sasuke, "Shall we see your leader? I think we should introduce ourselves, since we are technically intruders here."

Sasuke agreed, and indicated to a large tent in the middle of the ruined buildings. "Any allies are welcome here." He stared at Jito for a moment, "Though I can't say you'll be particularly welcome."

"You are speaking about Elika, correct?" asked Jito; aware of whom Mikoto had been working with previously. "I can handle her."

Their guide scoffed and began walking towards the command tent, while their two female companions continued to try and destroy each other by any means necessary.

Not for the first time, Kakashi wondered whether he should have stayed in that fishing boat.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi had been expecting a chaotic mess of people running everywhere inside the command tent. He was pleasantly surprised to see that inside was just one tall woman leaning over a giant table in the middle of the tent, with several maps spread across its front and dozens of small indicators on top.

The woman was muttering to herself when Sasuke made himself known, to which she merely put up a hand and continued staring at the map for a few seconds.

Both Kakashi and Jito stood in front of the table awkwardly, while Sasuke simply crossed his arms and waited for her to finish her thought.

Eventually she looked up slowly, and betrayed no emotions as she looked over the three of them. She gave Kakashi barely a second glance, while Jito held her gaze for a moment before she rested her purple eyes on Sasuke's dark orbs.

"You are late," she stated frankly.

Sasuke shrugged and uncrossed his arms, "There were complications."

"There always are." She turned her gaze back to the two of them again before staring past them at the entrance, "I gather those sounds are my daughter?"

"Don't look at me, I'm not related to her," said Sasuke with a grin.

"Not yet," muttered Elika quietly. With a slightly louder voice she introduced herself to the person she hadn't met before. "I am Elika of Cascading Flow. If you are an ally, then good, we could use the help. If not, don't waste my time."

She turned to Jito and her expression darkened slightly, "You are several years too late, Jito."

The Senju elder bowed apologetically, "I heard. I'm sorry for your loss; I know she was your companion."

Elika scoffed and turned back to her map, "More than that. Regardless, she is gone, and we are the lesser because of it."

"If you don't mind, I'll go make sure your daughter doesn't kill our other guest." Sasuke gave the slightest nod before turning and leaving the tent quickly.

Neither Kakashi or Jito were sure what he was going to do to stop the two of them, but considering it was likely they were just blowing off steam, they weren't too concerned.

"You do that," said Elika to him before motioning for the two of them to come closer to the table. "So, why are you here Jito? Not for the same thing you were years ago I assume?"

"Partially, but I was really hoping to collaborate with Mikoto on that. Now that she is gone…"

Kakashi turned to Jito with a confused expression, "Why did we come here then? You didn't really explain it on the road."

Jito turned to Elika, who simply put up her hands and turned back to her map.

"By all means, talk as if I'm not here."

Not reading any apparent sarcasm in her tone, Jito nodded and turned back to Kakashi.

"Our enemy is the Quiraji, this you know. They are the ones responsible for destroying Konoha, Amegakure and many other places. We don't know why they are doing this, but we know that some of their best warriors can cancel out chakra and make shinobi worthless as fighters."

Kakashi nodded as he went along, this he already knew from what Jito had already told him.

"Mikoto took it upon herself to find people who could fight those types of people. She stumbled onto Cascading Flow…" Elika nodded at the mention. "…and she was helping them with their problems so that we could eventually have their assistance in an alliance."

_That makes sense_, thought Kakashi, glancing over at Elika with interest. He could sense the faintest trickle of chakra from her, but he couldn't immediately tell she had never moulded chakra in her life. He went to ask how such people could fight with shinobi, but reconsidered it when he saw the look in Elika's eyes. It was the same look the Fourth used to have, one of rigid determination tempered by experience.

And also one that knew death like a sibling.

"That's not an option at this stage," said Elika, looking up from her map. She indicated to a large area that had no markers on it in the middle of the table, "We are fighting a rebellion here, Jito, and I can't spare any men."

Looking over the map at where she was looking, Jito immediately understood what she meant. He breathed out slowly and turned to her with a grim expression, "You mean to take out Iwagakure, by yourselves?"

"I have no interest in disclosing battle plans to an outsider," she replied bluntly.

Kakashi wondered if that was the case why were they being shown the maps, but then he remembered how far into the camp they had come to get to the command tent. If these people were used to fighting shinobi, with the numbers they possessed it wouldn't be a good idea to try and fight his way out.

They all heard a loud crash outside, causing both Kakashi and Jito to jump, while Elika merely ignored it and pulled out a notepad from the side.

"I…think I should make sure Konan is okay," said Kakashi with an uncomfortable grin.

He looked at Jito as if to ask whether he had it or not, to which the Senju shinobi indicated for him to go. Kakashi left the tent and walked back out to the camp where Fiore and Konan were still fighting.

He was surprised that Konan was so eager to fight her for such a trivial reason, but when he saw the look on his partner's face as she flew through the sky on paper-wings and hurled paper shurikens at Fiore down at the ground he understood immediately.

Despite what he had said, Sasuke had made zero attempts to stop the fight. Instead, he had started a betting pool with some of the off-duty soldiers and had collected a large amount of money for his effort.

Rolling his eyes, Kakashi went to reach for money to make a bet of his own, but then remembered that he wasn't the one who had been carrying their money. He sighed again and looked back up in the sky, at the wide grin on Konan's face.

_Well, at least she looks happy. Though not as happy as back at the village. I don't think we can go back to that. Not now. _

oOoOoOo

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Jito eventually cracked and spoke up to Elika.

"I guess we have a lot to talk about…"

The Cascading Flow leader glared at him before sitting down at the table on the opposite side and discarded the notepad she had brought out.

"You are correct. If I had known who you were when we were first introduced, I would not have let you enter the premises. I'm still questioning Sasuke's judgement on bringing you here."

Jito sighed; it was worse than he had feared. "I know you have some resentment towards the clan…"

Letting out a scoff, Elika leaned back on her chair and leaned her boots on the table top.

"I don't care at all about the clan. The Senju die out with you, and good riddance. What I need to do, is make sure to stop my daughter from killing you, since I'm struggling with whether I want to do it myself."

"I'm not condoning what the clan did, it's just…"

"I told you, I don't care." Elika waved around the command tent with one of her arms, "This is a place without clans, without special status. Here, people make something out of themselves with their own skills, regardless of their blood and lineage."

Her eyes darkened as she looked over his white fur armour and forehead protector, "You remind me of him."

Jito nodded, he'd been told that many times throughout his long life. "My father was a strict man…but I do not agree with how you were treated."

"Yes well, you can take your pity and shove it. What I said earlier still applies; we can't help you fight your war when we are fighting our own. Regardless of whether you think the Quiraji are the real enemy or not, the people here have the right to overthrow their oppressors and that is what we are doing."

_Which means all the plans that involved these people are obsolete. It'll take decades to do what they want, and our cause is lessened at each Iwa shinobi they slay. _

Jito took a few moments to consider his options, as he had thought of many plans to attack the Quiraji war effort beyond Cascading Flow, but most of them involved Mikoto's help, since his genjutsu didn't work on the Quiraji soldiers at all.

He knew they were marshalling their forces, but there was a particular thing that had been bothering him since his escape two years ago, one that he had wanted to investigate but hadn't been able to get through the defence network.

Glancing over at Elika, he knew that with her help he could.

"I have a plan, but I need your help."

She glared at him, unwavering in her stern gaze which seemed out of place with her purple eyes, "Unless you tell me how Cascading Flow benefits, I honestly don't care."

Her antagonism towards him was understandable, but Jito was willing to be patient to achieve his goals. He'd been fighting this war for two decades, and hadn't had much to show for his efforts.

"What if I were to assist with your rebellion personally, once my task is done?"

Elika went to dismiss the idea out of hand, but then she remembered when Mikoto had told her of Jito's abilities when she'd told her that he was the son of the Second Hokage and a Senju. Someone like that had almost infinite possibilities in a war against shinobi. Jito would be able to walk up to the Tsuchikage and kill him without anyone even noticing his presence, so powerful was his genjutsu.

She took her boots off the table and leaned her arms on it instead, "Say I were to agree to that. What would you require?"

"A small team, no more than five people. I'd need two people from your organisation to fill out my group."

"What can five people accomplish? We aren't picking daises here, you know."

Jito nodded, he understood perfectly what they were doing. "For what I intend to do, the smaller the team the better. But we need someone who can specifically fight these people with our group, and that means one of you."

"And what is it that you intend to do?"

Jito stood up from his chair and pulled out a map of his own, placing it on an open section of the table. He indicated to it with a finger.

"We will break through the defences in the Land of Fire, find whatever is converting shinobi into Quiraji warriors, and destroy it."

Elika looked down at the map he had produced with interest. From what she knew about the shinobi's war, she knew that was an extremely risky plan, but the benefits to them would be great if they achieved them. And despite what she had said, a victory against the Quiraji was a victory for her as well, since it had been one of their leaders that had fuelled the fire in the Land of Earth with the old Daimyo.

She kept that to herself however as she looked back up at Jito, "That sounds like a very dangerous mission, but worthwhile nevertheless."

"So you'll help us then?"

Elika considered her position carefully. There had been a lull in the fighting in the past few days, which meant she would be able to spare a select few, but there weren't many that she thought would be able to come back from such a mission, or do the things Jito would need them to do.

"I will, but I have two conditions. The first person to join your group will be Mikoto's son. He is not only obligated to fulfil Mikoto's original mission, but I suspect he also has a personal stake in the mission since one of the Quiraji leaders was the one that killed her. The second person will be my daughter."

Jito's expression darkened when he heard that, "Are you sure? She seemed to have no problems voicing her issues with me."

"She'll go with you for several reasons. Fiore is the best fighter in Cascading Flow, bar none, and has fought one of your enemy's leaders before. She will also be there to make sure you keep your side of the bargain, and also to ensure that Sasuke returns. Despite being a shinobi, the Uchiha has made quite a name for himself as one of us."

Jito wasn't in a possible to bargain, "I understand. It'll be difficult to convince her though."

"Leave that to me. Was there anything else? I have things to finalise here."

Shaking his head, Jito rolled up his map and put it into one of his pockets.

"Fiore reminds me of her…" he said quietly, glancing to the entrance.

Elika's demeanour changed instantly, and she slowly walked around the table before standing in front of the Senju warrior and producing a dagger from her side, placing it at his neck. Jito knew that there was no point resisting, if she wanted to kill him she would do so in an instant.

Glaring straight into his eyes, Elika spoke through her teeth angrily, "You will not speak about her, particularly not around my daughter. Uncle or no, I will slit your throat and be done with the issue if I need to."

Sensing that nodding his head would end badly, Jito put up his hands instead, "I understand, I didn't mean any offence by it. She was a beautiful woman and very kind, that's all."

"Well, keep that to yourself. I don't want to hear about her, and neither would my daughter. You are being allowed to walk out of here because you are useful to us, Senju or no. The moment you stop becoming useful to us, you become our enemy, as your clan has always been. I may not care about the clan anymore since it's almost entirely dead, but don't think I won't enjoy ending it with my own hands."

She slowly removed the dagger to prove her point before sheathing it and opening up the nearby flap on the tent's entrance.

"Come. Let us see if my daughter has killed your companion yet or not."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

So yeah, these chapters will probably be a fortnight apart. I'm not sure on how much time I'll have to write, but I have a compulsion to write this story so believe me, it'll get done even if it kills me.

For anyone interested in a breakdown of the ages, here it is.

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji = 18 years old.

Lee, Neji, Tenten, Nagisa (technically she's 35) = 19 years old.

Fiore = 21 years old.

Itachi = 23 years old.

Kakashi = 32 years old.

Shizune = 33 years old.

Konan = 34 years old.

Jito = 58 years old.

I'm really trying not to portrait the Senju as bastards, but in this one instance in my story they really were. Don't forget that even the 'nice' clans still had dodgy practises and sketchy things going on. Like Konoha was before we knew about Danzo and Root.

A thousand props to anyone who recognises the song Konan sings. Granted, it's meant to be sung in bass, but I like it regardless. I reckon someone like Konan would have a talent like that, but had no way to use it since she was a shinobi. As a singer myself, I can tell you that you sing whenever you can, because of the personal happiness you get out of it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	50. Chapter 46 The Land of Fire

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 46 – The Land of Fire

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the ground would show battle damage.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

In their village community by the sea, Kakashi and Konan had peaceful lives together, having found a respite from the constant fighting of their lives. However such a thing was not meant to last, as Senju Jito appeared at their door and convinced them that he needed their help in the war. The two of them followed him to the Land of Earth, where Kakashi followed Mikoto's scent in an attempt to find the Uchiha matriarch. To their surprise, they found Sasuke and Fiore instead, and they were taken to Cascading Flow after discovering that Mikoto was dead. Jito spoke to Elika and formulated a plan of attack to cripple the Quiraji war effort.

Infiltrate the Land of Fire, find the converting facility and shut it down.

With Sasuke and Fiore in their team, the squad of five prepared to move out.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>They had been set up in the camp for the night before they left for the Land of Fire, but Kakashi found sleep difficult to find within their tent. Beside him Konan slept soundlessly, her chest rising up and down with each slow breath. She could always sleep easily.<p>

When they had finally finished their fight, both she and Fiore were battered and bruised, and laughing at each other while they lay on the ground. Kakashi hadn't been sure what to make of it, but Konan had assured him that she had no issues working with the staff-wielder, and Fiore made a similar sentiment. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but was glad that they had sorted out whatever potential antagonism they had towards each other.

Figuring that he probably wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon, Kakashi stealthy got out of the bed and covered up Konan affectionately. He scratched at his face and walked out of their tent into the cold air after throwing a shirt on.

Looking around the quiet campsite, he saw Sasuke standing near the armoury, running a cloth along the katana he had used in the previous battle. Kakashi walked over and nodded to his old student in greeting.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Sasuke grunted and looked down the line of the blade, blowing on it as he continued to oil the blade.

"I don't sleep much," he said, throwing the cloth to the side and running the blade into its sheath.

"Oh?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "Troubles with the missus?"

Sasuke shook his head as he put the sheathed sword onto his belt, "She's hardly my 'missus', but no. Fiore had a lot of steam to blow off, and that's her problem. I just don't sleep much these days."

"I know what you mean," said Kakashi with a sigh. Despite having just come back from semi-retirement, he already felt that terrible weight on his shoulders, the same he'd been carrying since the Third Shinobi War. It was something you never truly get rid of.

"What do you think of the Senju's mission?"

Kakashi shrugged, keeping his hands inside his pockets to protect them from the cold. "It seems reasonable. The main thing is working together and getting the job done."

"Hn." Sasuke turned and looked directly at Kakashi's face, "You still haven't said how you lost your Sharingan."

Kakashi hesitated; he wasn't sure how to explain it himself. "I almost died when we were fighting at the Hidden Sound…and then something happened and I didn't die. When I came to, my Sharingan was gone."

His old student frowned, he hadn't heard of anything like that happening before.

Itachi claimed to have told him all he needed to know about the Uchiha bloodline and its abilities, but his elder brother had lied to him in the past, so Sasuke only took his word at face value.

"You aren't sure whether it was taken from you or not?" Despite how he might feel about his clan, he knew how bad it would be if a Sharingan fell into the wrong hands.

"I don't think that happened," said Kakashi. "I've still got Obito's eye, just without the Sharingan able to be activated anymore."

"Hn." Sasuke indicated to a small tent to the side of the command tent. "I should get back."

Knowing his old student wasn't one for too many words, Kakashi let him go, watching the Uchiha adult walk across the camp to his tent. Being a rebel army, they had guards posted everywhere, and he was surprised at the level of respect they gave Sasuke as he walked past.

_Would the same have happened if we had been in Konoha? Coming back from those Exams, Sasuke had been teetering on the edge of his frustrations. It's strange to think, but this situation was perhaps the best thing to happen to him. He's found a place to call his own. _

Looking up at the dark sky, Kakashi watched as a few dark grey clouds slowly came together to form a larger cloud. It didn't look like it was going to rain, but Kakashi sort of wished it would.

_We shouldn't have left that village. We may have been living in ignorance, but we were happy. _

* * *

><p>Jito had been expecting a large amount of resistance from Fiore when they set out the next morning, but to his surprise the spiky haired girl simply nodded to him and walked beside Sasuke as they left Cascading Flow's base camp.<p>

No-one came to see them off, and besides a few higher level commanders in the rebellion, very few knew their true destination.

Besides Kakashi, Konan stretched out her arms before turning to Jito as they walked along a rock-covered road. "So, how are we going to travel there?"

Jito pointed down the road with a finger, "Since we are shinobi, it shouldn't take us more than a few days to get to the border from here. We'll need to move as quickly as possible, since we've already lost so much time in the past."

Sasuke motioned to the woman by his side, "Not all of us are shinobi, Senju."

Pulling out her wooden weapon from her hair, Fiore jumped into the air and landed on the newly transformed plank of wood, crossing her legs with a grunt.

"I won't have a problem keeping us with you guys."

Sasuke smirked while the others just nodded, understanding somewhat what her abilities were like. Jito couldn't keep the strange shiver from his back every time she transformed the wood as if it was nothing. Having been his nephew, Jito had experienced the First Hokage's wood ninjutsu first hand, and they were as similar as they were different.

"Any room for me on that?" asked Sasuke with a smirk.

Fiore glanced around at her floating wooden platform for a few seconds before turning to her partner with a completely straight face, "Nope, totally full up."

Sasuke glared at her for a second before turning back to the road, "Not my fault your ass takes up that much room."

The Cascading Flow warrior merely shrugged and floated beside him on her wooden platform, scratching at her arms with a sleepy look in her eyes.

"You never quite mentioned what happened to the Land of Fire, Jito," said Kakashi as he walked up to stand beside their guide. Jito had been particularly brief in telling them what had happened to him since they last worked together, but Kakashi had been able to tell the Senju warrior was holding back.

"I didn't think you'd want to hear it, since none of it is good news," he replied quietly.

"Jito, I am risking both myself and the person who means the most to me on your information here. Konoha is gone, and it isn't coming back. We all know that. You need to tell us what we need to know."

The old warrior sighed, Kakashi was right. He'd been fighting so long he had forgotten that part of being in a team was trusting others. His capture had given him a very linear perspective on the Quiraji situation.

He turned to the group and motioned for them to stop, calling them to gather around a small smooth rock nearby as he laid down the map he had showed Elika.

"This is our target," he said, pointing to the Land of Fire on the map. "Since destroying Konoha, the Quiraji have been using it as both a beachhead and a staging area."

Konan frowned and indicated to the borders with her painted nails, "But the border to the Land of Fire is massive, surely they can't protect the whole thing."

Jito shook his head while the others leaned in to look at where she was pointing, "They can, and they are. From what I've seen, the majority of their forces not engaged in battle with the other shinobi villages are protecting the border on every side. If we can punch through, we won't face that much resistance, but it's that initial issue that is our main concern."

Analysing the map, Sasuke indicated to the large area of ocean connected to the Land of Fire's south border, "Couldn't we approach from the sea? It would be far harder to patrol than the land masses."

"I had thought of that, but it appears as though that was how the bulk of their force arrived here in the first place. I'm not sure from where, or why the Land of Tea has been unaffected so far, but approaching on a boat is actually the most dangerous route."

"So we go through the Land of Grass and punch our way through their defences? That seems highly dependent on the enemy soldier's competence, Jito." Kakashi was sceptical of the plan; it seemed far riskier than he thought Jito was capable of creating. They had no real target, no intelligence on the enemy force, and were intentionally diving into enemy territory. If it wasn't for such a good reason, Kakashi wouldn't take the mission on general principle.

Jito nodded, he recognised how insane the mission was. However, the reason he had gone to Cascading Flow in the first place was for this reason. "I know that, but we have a trump card of our own."

He motioned to Fiore, who was still floating on her piece of wood with a blasé expression on her face. The others looked over at her, not understanding what he meant by her being their trump card.

Sensing their questions, Jito quickly explained. "The Quiraji don't have the ability to mould chakra. They have physical and spiritual energy like everyone does, but like Lady Fiore here…"

"Just call me Fiore, Senju," she interrupted

Jito coughed awkwardly and continued, "Like…Fiore here they can't mix the two together, and we can use that to our advantage."

Next to the floating girl, Sasuke nodded as he recognised the plan. It was similar to the one the two of them had used to infiltrate the Land of Earth's Daimyo's building, though their roles would have to be reversed.

Fiore understood the general idea quickly too, and her face grew into a wide smile when she knew what she would be doing. "Alright Senju, let's hear this plan of yours."

Jito knew he would never get her respect, but it still bothered him to hear someone a third his age speaking to him so rudely. Regardless to her tone, Jito outlined their plan of infiltration.

* * *

><p>Fiore stood in the middle of the tree line, looking over at the small collection of soldiers standing on the border to the Land of Fire. It hadn't taken them too long to reach the border, and despite her misgivings with their guide, she had to admit that his plan had substance.<p>

Though she wished she didn't have to wear such an outfit to do her part.

Having captured and taken out a small scouting party that had ventured beyond the border, Fiore had recoloured one of the Quiraji robes and now wore the blood coloured cloth over her regular leather armour. Her normal violet eyes had been replaced by a set of contacts to give her a steely icy look, that she was highly amused by and planned on keeping once they returned to Cascading Flow.

On the border to the Land of Fire stood fifteen Quiraji soldiers, who appeared like normal soldiers not unlike the men she had worked with at Cascading Flow, but there was an aura about them that unsettled the wood user.

They were standing guard and looking through the area carefully, their group was shielded by the tree line, but there a lack of communication between the Quiraji soldiers. They weren't joking around or acting like soldiers normally would when their bosses aren't around.

If Fiore hadn't been concentrating, she wouldn't have picked the second group of Quiraji soldiers camped a hundred metres away from the border into the Land of Fire, one that appeared to be easily able to reinforce their companions without much effort.

They were armed with a variety of swords and blades, and despite standing fairly rigidly she was able to tell they would be comparable opponents if they were to engage in battle.

However that wasn't part of the plan.

Cracking her neck before adjusting her leather armour underneath her robe, Fiore walked out into the open.

"Oi! Make some damn room!"

The Quiraji soldiers were immediately alerted to her presence, but upon seeing her blood red robe they relaxed slightly and kept their weapons at their side.

Walking behind Fiore with their hands shackled together by her wooden weapon were the other four of her group, with each of them looking beaten and dejected.

Fiore had pointed out to Jito that they wouldn't be terribly convincing if it didn't look like she had kicked the stuffing out of them before capturing them. He had been forced to agree with her on that point.

"How goes the border?" asked Fiore to the group of Quiraji soldiers, trying to put on a gruffer voice than she normally did.

Behind her, Sasuke snickered slightly but kept it to himself as he recognised how similar Fiore was acting like her mother during their charade.

One of the Quiraji soldiers stepped forward towards Fiore, sheathing his long sword and staring at her suspiciously, "Where are you taking these prisoners? We have no orders about shinobi moving towards the stronghold today."

Using the intelligence Jito had gathered on some of the organisation, Fiore reached out and grabbed the soldier's collar, hoisting him up to her face.

"You'd dare question one of Sensou's chosen?! I should shove your head on a spike!"

The soldier stared her down for a second before nodding and reaching up to push her hands away.

"I meant no offence, Lady. We have been instructed to…"

Fiore smacked away one of his hands and walked past him, "I don't care about your orders. My master wants these shinobi rats yesterday, so let's get this over with."

The soldier nodded with an angry glare and motioned to his soldiers to push the prisoners through to the other side.

Fiore tapped her foot impatiently as they checked them for weapons. When preparing for the caper they had hidden their obvious weaponry in scrolls that Fiore had on her person, while Konan had no need for weaponry.

Despite being shackled by Fiore's wood, Sasuke still chided to being patted down for weapons. Surely if they had been captured that would have already been done, but for the ruse he put up with it.

He could have done without Fiore's amused gaze however.

Konan did her best to ignore the shameless way the soldier was patting her down, though she was happy that Kakashi was getting angry at her treatment despite trying to keep his emotions under wraps.

The head of the border patrol nodded when the inspections turned up nothing of interest, turning to their captor with a serious gaze. "They are clean. Where are you taking them?"

Fiore rolled her eyes and wrenched her wooden prisoners forward, "To my master's laboratory, where else? Can we get this moving? She isn't the most patient of people."

Hiding his expression from sight, Jito struggled to stop himself from wincing at what she had just said. Fiore was improvising at this point, but she had just said something that went completely against his experiences with the Quiraji leader.

The border patrol leader seemed to notice, but ignored it and turned to the prisoners with a hand on the sword at his belt, "So, which one then?"

Fiore frowned; she had no idea what he was talking about. Regardless, she had to keep up appearances. "I don't care."

He nodded and looked over the lowered faces of the prisoners. "Well if you are looking for a reasonable head to sit on the border as a reminder…there are a few candidates…"

The wood user's eyes immediately flared up as she realised what he meant, and without missing a beat she moved to his side while the others kept their heads down, trusting the young girl to do her bit.

Fiore indicated to the Senju at the front of the group, "He was the most troublesome, so he'd be the most fitting sacrifice."

The elder Senju's body froze when he heard that, but before he could say anything the border captain scoffed and turned to Fiore.

"Don't joke around. You know our orders; we have to take this sort of thing seriously. Just because Shouri isn't around to enforce his own ruling doesn't mean we shouldn't follow it."

Behind the leader Fiore clenched her fists in frustration; this wasn't going well at all.

He looked over the prisoners, grunting as he moved past Sasuke and ran his eyes over Kakashi before shaking his head and finally ending on Konan. She had some makeup that made her look slightly beaten up, but anyone would be a fool not to notice that she was striking woman.

The Quiraji soldier looked over her with approval before turning to Fiore and indicating to the Akatsuki member. "She'll do fine. Take her head and one of my soldiers will take it to the fence with the others."

Fiore glared at him through her icy blue contacts, this wasn't going to plan at all. "Well…I'm hardly in a position to do that, am I?" She indicated to the wooden locks that held the prisoners together.

"Ah, fair point." He withdrew his sword from the sheath on his belt and took a step back while holding the blade with both hands. "Make sure she doesn't move."

A thousand plans ran through Fiore's mind as she watched the blade almost in slow motion. From the distance she was from him she could have struck the soldier down, but before she could manipulate her wooden weapon she saw that it was already over.

The soldier's sword fell to the ground as he looked down at his chest in complete shock. "What the hell…"

Sticking out the back of his body was Kakashi's lightning covered hand. It had gone straight through his chest as splinters of wood showered the two of them from him breaking out of Fiore's wooden bonds.

The other Quiraji soldiers seemed momentarily shocked by the action, and in that second Fiore took advantage of their hesitation and broke off all the bonds, freeing the other three shinobi so they could fight them off.

Sasuke immediately drove his foot into the face of a nearby Quiraji soldier before reaching out to catch a small scroll that Fiore through him, releasing his sword to cut down another soldier.

Being the least able to fight the Quiraji, Jito still fought off two of the enemy soldiers with his bare hands, using taijutsu to disable them while keeping an eye on the other group in the distance.

Kakashi pulled his hand out of the patrol leader and turned to Konan, who could only stand in shock at what she had seen. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"I…" It took Konan a second for her to remember that she was a shinobi, and this wasn't the time for her to be spacing out. She nodded slightly to her partner and using a short burst of chakra to leap into the air.

A pair of paper wings appeared on her back as she began to collect explosion note-covered sheets of paper in a large winged bird, turning her floating form towards the group that had become aware of the battle happening beneath her.

She immediately directed the bird towards the group, and the projectile sped towards them with as much speed as she could manage, but just before the technique stuck at the group she saw one of the soldiers disappear into a small crack in the air.

His comrades however were vaporised in an instant inside the explosion though.

A full minute later and the battle was over, with Fiore cracking one of the Quiraji over the head before resting on her wooden staff with a disgusted look on her face.

"What do we do now?" asked Kakashi, wiping his bloody hand on his jacket.

Jito bit at his lip, that hadn't gone to plan at all. He didn't know that the border patrol would have been so easy to overpower, but from what Konan had indicated, their presence was now known to the enemy.

But first, he had a bone to pick.

Walking over to Fiore, he reached down and grabbed her by the shoulder of her shirt, "What the hell was that before?!"

"I was trying to make up for a crap situation, Senju! It's not my fault if your intelligence sucked!"

Jito glared into her eyes angrily, but before he could say anything else he felt Kakashi's hand pulling him away from the young girl.

"Don't blame her, Jito. You know as well as I do she meant nothing by trying to choose you. If she had been forced to go through with it…you know why…"

The elder Senju glared at him for a moment, before he realised how short-sighted he had been. Out of their group, he was the weakest against the Quiraji, since he could only use genjutsu, which they were immune to. She had been thinking of the mission, not of her personal grudge against him.

He still hadn't quite figured out how he felt about her and her mother, regardless of their feelings towards him.

"Well…she didn't have to look so damn happy about it at the time."

Fiore glared back at him, but Sasuke came up beside her and pulled her away, motioning for her to take out her contacts.

Konan floated slowly back down to the ground as her paper wings dispersed, "Do we press on?"

Their leader nodded, wishing he hadn't just made a fool of himself. "The Quiraji may know of our intrusion, but we are in too deep now. Even if we were to turn back, they would hunt us for as long as they have the men. We have no choice but to continue."

Fiore turned around again as Sasuke held onto her wooden staff, one contact lens in her eye with the other on one of her fingers, giving her a particularly frightening look. "Well that's just great. Any other bright ideas?"

Behind her Sasuke sighed and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, "Fiore…"

"We need to move out, before they send troops to our location." Jito indicated towards the eastern horizon, "We won't have much time before they come for us, so we need to be ready."

Kakashi and Konan both nodded grimly, they understood what it was like to be hunted. Fiore shrugged off Sasuke's touch and took out her other contact lens, dropping them onto the ground before throwing off the uncomfortable robe and moving into their previously agreed upon formation.

Taking up his position behind her, Sasuke struggled to hide his concern for the young woman. She was temperamental at times, but it was clear to him that what she told him about the Senju hadn't been the whole story. If they got a chance, he would ask the Senju what happened, since despite being informed by both Fiore and Elika, he found it hard to believe the clan had done something like that.

They weren't the Uchiha after all; they didn't betray each other like that.

* * *

><p>***A Day Later***<p>

Konan slowly came down to the ground, dispersing her paper wings and breathing out slowly to recover from the chakra use.

"How many?" asked Jito quietly.

The Amegakure shinobi shook her head and pointed to an area hidden by a dark set of trees. "At least thirty…all armed to the teeth. They saw me."

Jito swore under his breath and pulled out a kunai, indicating to the rest of the group. They'd been moving as stealthy as they were able to under the cover of darkness, but the Quiraji soldiers were relentless in their pursuit.

This was the fourth group to find them in as many hours.

"Just how many soldiers do they have to throw at us?" asked Kakashi as he clasped his hands together into a handseal. While his stamina was greatly improved without an activate Sharingan, the constant battles were wearing them all down.

The Quiraji warriors came out into the dark clearing and sped towards them with unsheathed weapons, several of them holding their hands together in a similar manner to Kakashi.

Konan bit at her lip and collected a small group of paper in one of her hands, "More converted shinobi…"

Seeing those soldiers pitted against them hit one of the sensitive spots in Jito's stomach, since he'd been a part of that process during his capture. "How are we going to handle this lot?"

As the one with the largest chakra reserves, Sasuke walked to the front of the group and put up a hand to stop the others. "Let me try something."

"Nothing showy, Sasuke. Some of us need to rest like normal people," said Fiore behind him, leaning on a nearby tree.

Sasuke didn't say anything back, but merely smirked and clapped his hands together.

The back of his cloak nearly exploded off his back as he produced a massive amount of chakra, causing the three shinobi who hadn't worked with him for as long as Fiore had to stare in amazement. They could see the blue outline of the chakra surrounding him as he sped through the handseals of his technique faster than any of them could track with their eyes.

_If I had my Sharingan I'd know what he was doing, _thought Kakashi, though judging from the chakra output he doubted he'd be able to replicate it. _How you've grown, Sasuke._

Fiore sighed and took a step back from her Uchiha partner, "Well if you're going to do that…"

"What is he doing?" asked Konan, wondering why Fiore was slowly backing away from Sasuke.

"Something I told him specifically not to do. You guys might want to shield your eyes."

The Quiraji soldiers and converted shinobi came within a hundred metres as Sasuke's companions did as Fiore instructed, though they didn't quite know why.

Sasuke completed the set of handseals and spread out his fingers so that they were pointing at the oncoming enemies.

With their eyes covered the others couldn't see what he was doing, but judging from the chakra output they figured it must be something flashy.

To a point, they were right, just not in the way they thought.

Tiny strings of chakra that were barely visible to the naked eye ran from Sasuke's fingers and attached themselves instantly to each enemy coming towards them. The Quiraji didn't seem to notice, since Sasuke was forced to use his Sharingan with the technique in order to get the accuracy he required.

"Hijutsu: Naibu no Kokuhyou (Secret Technique: Internal Damnation)," he whispered.

A pulse of chakra ran from his hands to the enemy soldiers along the strings, and a second later he cut off the connection and turned around to cover his own eyes.

Seemingly unaffected by his technique, the Quiraji soldiers jumped at him with their weapons raised, but exactly two seconds after Sasuke said the technique's name, it activated.

Even though all their eyes were shielded, the flash of light that appeared when Sasuke's ninjutsu activated was practically blinding.

After another few seconds, Fiore rubbed at her eyes and opened them slowly, resisting the urge to go over and beat her partner over the head. She wasn't the type to do that, but this kind of situation warranted it.

"What part of not-showy did you not understand, Sasuke?"

Letting his own eyes recover, Sasuke motioned to the battlefield in front of him. "What? They are gone, aren't they? You've never complained about that in the past."

"I complain every time you do it! It's a stupid technique, and it hurts my eyes!"

Sasuke shrugged and walked over to the other three shinobi, "Well then I don't listen when you complain."

Fiore just shook her head, "Pain in my ass…"

"Can we open our eyes now?" asked Kakashi, wanting desperately to know what Sasuke had done and how many enemies were left.

"Hn," was his reply from the Uchiha shinobi.

The three shinobi opened their eyes slowly and nearly gaped in amazement at what they saw.

In front of Sasuke was a massive crater a few feet deep, still smouldering from the technique he had performed.

Of the Quiraji soldiers and converted shinobi, there was no trace.

More frightening than that, was that there hadn't been any sound at all. It appeared as though there had been a massive explosion, but besides the blinding light that had accompanied it there was no way for Kakashi to even begin to understand how he had done it.

"Sasuke…what did you do?" he muttered in amazement.

The Uchiha waved off his question and pointed to the ground, "Can you get us underground? That technique takes a lot out of me."

Kakashi frowned; he knew many Earth techniques that would allow him to do such a thing. It took him a moment before he realised that Sasuke was telling him that they could rest underneath the battlefield. If they covered their tracks well enough, they might be able to convince the Quiraji pursuers that they died in the 'explosion'.

Clapping his hands together before placing them on the ground, Kakashi began his work, while Konan came up besides Sasuke and asked him the same question her partner had.

Seeing that Kakashi was getting it done, Sasuke turned to her and stared at her amber eyes for a moment. If his old teacher trusted her, then that was good enough for him, but for an Uchiha there were degrees of trust that were difficult to surpass.

"When I was a Genin…I suppose I still am one to be honest…anyway, during the Chuunin Exams I fought a puppet-user from Suna. I copied his puppet-controlling technique with my Sharingan, and used it to transfer a special type of chakra into the enemy's bodies."

"That kind of technique shouldn't work on Quiraji, since they don't have chakra for you to exploit," commented Jito with a frown.

Sasuke shook his head, "That's not how it works. My chakra takes on a mix of fire and lightning elements within their blood stream, not their chakra circulatory system. It then explodes once the mixture is volatile enough."

"That still doesn't explain why there was no sound," said Konan.

Beside her partner, Fiore indicated to the massive crater in front of them, "There was sound. It was just contained within that radius."

Standing up from the ground, Kakashi stepped over the small opening he had created beneath him.

"You covered the area with your chakra, right? Otherwise the explosion would have been far larger and would have taken us with it, correct?"

Sasuke smirked, "You haven't lost your touch, Kakashi." He indicated to the hole, "Is it ready?"

His old teacher nodded, "Yeah. I'll cover it up when we get inside, and make some more air holes so that it is breathable."

Jito watched as the four of them worked in collaboration to lower themselves into the opening underground Kakashi had created. When he'd set out on this plan, he hadn't been sure what to expect. But the fact that they were worked well together was enough for him.

_Maybe this will finally pay my debt. Midori…I've kept you waiting for so long…_

oOoOoOo

Kakashi's underground burrow was fairly deep underground so that they could avoid detection, and as such there was no light whatsoever.

As they slid down, Jito reminded them that it would be too risky to say anything while underground, which meant that until they were sure it was safe to resurface.

It was a long wait.

* * *

><p>***Seven Days Later***<p>

Fiore was the first to pop her head out once Kakashi and Sasuke had made a hole back to the surface. She let out a long breath of relief when she saw that there was nobody in the nearby vicinity.

"We seem to be clear, for the moment," she said as she tested her feet on the ground.

"Oh thank god," said Konan with a sigh as she emerged behind Fiore. "Any longer in there and I think I was ready to explode."

Dusting himself off, Kakashi chuckled and reached out to pick off a piece of rubble from her Akatsuki robe, "I don't know what you are complaining about, you slept for most of it."

Konan glared at him but there was no malice as their other companions reached the surface behind them.

Upon reaching the surface Sasuke immediately began looking around the area with his Sharingan. "I can't see any enemies within range, though without the ability to use chakra the Quiraji soldiers are difficult to see with my Sharingan."

Jito nodded in agreement, the sun had just begun to rise over the horizon. "We seem to be in the clear for the moment. That was a good idea, Sasuke. You have the makings of a good shinobi."

Sasuke didn't say anything in response, and went about dusting himself own. After working with him for such a long time though, Fiore could tell he was flattered by what Jito said, he was just too proud to admit it.

"What do we do now? We don't have pursuers anymore." Kakashi stretched out his fingers; he had gotten far too stiff during the last week.

"I say we go in as far as we can, and take out as many of them as possible." Sasuke's blood was up from so much inactivity. He was spoiling for a fight.

There was some evidence of a large group of soldiers having been around the area, but they were long gone by their calculations. There didn't appear to be any tracks for them to follow, but they were determined to complete their goal.

Jito pulled out his map and looked over, tracing a finger over his assumption of their current position. They hadn't made it too far into the Land of Fire, since they had moved fairly slowly on their first attempt.

"I think our best chance would be to capture one of them and force them to talk."

The others of the group all stared at Fiore, admitting she had a point.

"They don't break easily," said Jito, remembering some of the missions he had run with Mikoto before they had separated. "It's like they are programmed or something similar."

He folded up the map as Kakashi shook his head and indicated to the way they were originally going towards. "If we find a holding and attack it, we may be able to find some information on where to find this place you are looking for."

"That's as good a plan as any, I suppose." Jito didn't really feel like the leader of the group, but that wasn't particularly a bad thing. "Let's get moving before a patrol finds us."

The three shinobi nodded in agreement and prepared themselves to move out, while Fiore hopped into the air and landing on top of a floating wooden platform. Having sat down the entire time underground, she decided to surf her way beside her companions.

* * *

><p>As they moved through the Land of Fire deeper into the enemy grips, the three Konoha shinobi remarked at how different and yet unchanged their old home had become. They were nowhere near the crater of Konoha, but even the forests that populated the Land seemed less lively than the last time they had been here.<p>

They moved quickly along the ground Sasuke moved further up the group to run beside Jito at the front.

"You have questions," said Jito as he eyed the Uchiha beside him.

Sasuke nodded, "I do."

Jito indicated for him to ask, curious as to why the young shinobi had been staring at him the whole time.

"I want to know what happened between you and Elika."

"By the sounds of it, you already know what happened," said Jito quietly as they moved past an abandoned partially destroyed temple.

Sasuke glared at the Senju warrior, "I want your side on things, since you were there. These people are very close to me, and…"

"I understand," finished Jito. He turned around to look at Fiore, who was picking at her teeth on top of her wooden platform beside Konan and Kakashi.

He let out a sigh and turned back to Sasuke, "I don't know if you know this, but my father was the Second Hokage."

Sasuke nodded; anyone that knew anything about the Hokages could see the resemblance.

"I had several siblings, but my older brother is the one related to this story. You have to understand, unlike many clans, the Senju didn't have a law against marrying civilians. We prized love above everything else."

"That makes sense," said Sasuke, though he didn't quite agree with him. The Uchiha were like the Hyuuga in that they almost always married within the clan, to keep their bloodline pure. Though without a specialised doujutsu or technique it made sense for the Senju to be less strict than the others. His mother and father had been such a marriage, one to keep the Sharingan safe.

"My brother's wife was a beautiful woman, but she was a civilian. When they had a child, everyone was ecstatic that she would inherent my brother's abilities. He was a very strong shinobi, and could have challenged Sarutobi for Third Hokage."

"That was Elika, wasn't it?"

Jito nodded grimly, "Yes, it was. When we discovered that she had no ability to use chakra, my father was very clear on how the laws of the clan worked. Once she reached a certain age, we gave her a choice."

"And she left." That was the extent of what Sasuke already knew. But he knew there was another part to the story, one that Fiore and Elika didn't know about.

Jito nodded with a grim expression, "Yes, but that isn't all. My brother was furious about my father's decision, and challenged him for leadership to the clan, so that he could bring his daughter back. He was willing to sacrifice himself for his daughter's safety."

Sasuke jumped onto a nearby branch as they moved into a large forest that was in the more northern part of the Land of Fire. "Really? I never heard of that happening. Did the Second Hokage kill his own son?"

Leaping beside the Uchiha shinobi, Jito shook his head grimly and turned slightly as he thought he saw a figure in the direction they were moving towards. "As with any clan challenge, it was to the death. We had just been brought into a time of war, and as the Hokage he couldn't be risked in such a challenge."

Jito stared down at his hands with a sad expression; he hated it when he remembered that time.

Beside him, Sasuke's eyes widened when he realised what he was telling him. "He made you fight him? That's…"

"Unbelievable? I don't know about that. Despite how much I loved my brother, I had a duty to the village. At that time…I thought that it was the right thing to do."

The two of them stopped running as they came to the edge of the forest, it was getting late and they needed to be at full strength the entire time they were in enemy territory.

"So you blame yourself," said Sasuke, standing up straight near the top of a large tree.

Jito nodded, pointing to several areas around them for the other three to take up position. "Justifiably. I've lived a long time, boy. I've made plenty of mistakes, though well-intentioned. I am the last of the Senju, just as you are the last of the Uchiha."

Sasuke's eyes twitched slightly and he turned to the older warrior with a shake of his head, "I'm not the last. My brother Itachi is still out there somewhere as well."

"Is he now?" Jito smiled as he remembered how Mikoto had described her two children, "That's good to hear."

A paper clone of Konan appeared behind the two of them as the original scouted the area for Quiraji hunters. "Are we camping here for the night?"

Jito turned to her with a nod, "We need to reserve our strength. There should be a staging point within a few hours, so this is a good place to rest."

She nodded and dispersed her clone, while Jito turned to Sasuke with a serious expression. "I would prefer it if you didn't mention that last bit to Fiore or her mother. They are aware that I was not against Elika's exile, but I would prefer they remain in ignorance."

The young Uchiha frowned, he didn't like the idea of deceiving the two of them, but he understood why Jito would ask such a thing. Not only was it a display of trust in him, but also that he trusted the last family he had to him.

Sasuke wasn't going to betray that trust. "As you wish."

Jito sighed in relief and jumped down to the ground level to set up a small camp for the night.

* * *

><p>***The Next Morning***<p>

The five companions skipped to a halt as they came upon a large building complex at the edge of a ravine. Kakashi recognised the area as a village that he had stayed in once, though it looked like it had been completed remodelled to fit a more military purpose.

"Something's wrong," said Fiore as she looked over the area.

Beside her, Konan nodded in agreement, "This isn't what I was expecting…"

"Sasuke, can you scan the area with your Sharingan?" asked Jito, trying not to think of the fact that the Quiraji likely killed all the civilians to make this place a staging area.

"Won't they be able to sense the chakra use?"

Their leader shook his head, "Only if they have converted shinobi that have sensory abilities. And considering what I'm looking at, I doubt that is the case."

Sasuke's eyes flicked over to their red state as he stared at the area in front of them.

Scattered along the ground within the complex were dozens of bodies, wearing the same regalia and weaponry as the Quiraji soldiers they had taken out before. There didn't seem to be any indication of what had killed them, though the dents in their armour would suggest that it had been recent, only in the last hour or so.

"How did we not hear the sounds of fighting?" said Kakashi with surprise. Something like this should have made quite a racket.

Sasuke couldn't see anything with his Sharingan, but considering they didn't have chakra it wasn't too surprising to him. For a moment he thought he saw a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye, but it vanished before he could focus on it.

Fiore crawled down beside Sasuke, "Can you see anything?"

He squinted his red eyes, trying to find that strange thing he had seen, but again it eluded him. "There's something…but I can't quite track it."

The others couldn't quite see it, although Jito felt something strange was coming towards them. He knew that there weren't any shinobi left in the Land of Fire, they had been hunted down completely.

After nearly a minute Sasuke merely shook his head and stood up, deactivating his Sharingan. "I can't see anything at all. This is a waste of time, we should keep moving."

"This is still a valuable source of intelligence. We should have a look through the bodies and the buildings," said Jito as the others stood up as well.

They nodded in agreement and went to move out, but Kakashi put up a hand to stop them. He wasn't one to do things on base suspicion, but there was something that didn't sit right with him.

He snapped his head across as he heard the sound of a shoe leap off grass, but it disappeared as soon as he tried to find it.

"KONOHA…"

Kakashi's eyes widened and he rapidly turned to the others, "Get down!"

They all did as he said, except for Fiore who simply brought up her wooden weapon to form a shell around herself. Virtually nothing was able to get through her wooden shield, and as such she fell into the habit of protecting herself with it.

"ZANSHU!" (Decapitation)

A green blur sped through the air and made a scythe motion across the area where their heads had been before they had ducked, slamming into Fiore's shield with such force that it almost knocked her down to the ground.

The blur skidded to the ground and went to make another pass, but Kakashi leapt to his feet and put up his hands, "Wait! Lee!"

Stopping himself from attacking again, the green-clad figure slowed to a halt and stood up with a surprised expression on his face.

"You guys…"

Picking himself up from the ground, Jito didn't hide his surprise as he moved towards the taijutsu master, "Lee! You're still alive!"

Taijutsu specialist Rock Lee turned to Jito and broke out into a wide smile, "Jito-san! It is good to see you again after so many years. How have your travels been?"

"Of all the people…" Sasuke groaned as he got up from the ground, before moving over to Fiore to check that she was okay.

Behind her wooden shield Fiore walked around and gaped at the massive dent Lee had put into it with his technique. "Maybe I should have ducked like the others…" she muttered to herself.

In the past two and a half years Lee hadn't changed too much from the last time Kakashi and Sasuke had seen him, though he had grown taller than Kakashi and seemed to look far more like Gai than he would have thought possible. Lee still had all the scars he had accumulated during his torture, and he could tell the other Konoha shinobi were surprised at his visage.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, crossing his hands across Gai's flak jacket.

There a serious tone to his voice that surprised Kakashi, though he kept that to himself. "The better question is why you are here. This is enemy territory, Lee. Have you been here the whole time?"

Looking over the area around them and the bodies on the ground, Lee shrugged and turned back to them, "Not the whole time, but a fair amount."

Sasuke looked over at the bodies in the complex behind them. Judging from the wounds, it looked like it was Lee's work. Despite himself, he clenched his fists with a slow grin.

Where once he had resented Lee's progress, now he had to admit he could appreciate his work. He clearly needed to work harder to catch up again.

"It seems we have a few things to speak about, don't we?" said Lee, looking over the surprised group with a serious gaze. "Even in our travels, you guys look very strange."

"Are there any enemies left?" asked Fiore, bringing her wooden weapon down to a small stick. She figured him to be an ally from their interactions, and that was good enough for her.

Lee shook his head with confidence, "Not in this sector. I've cleared out this whole area."

Kakashi's eyes widened, Lee sounded completely different from the last time he had spoken to him. He was colder, though he could tell that underneath the exterior he was still the same Lee from before.

Popping out from behind Sasuke again, Fiore looked up and down at the Konoha shinobi with suspicion. She hadn't met anyone that even looked like him, but judging from the damage he had done to her wooden shield she guessed that he was very strong. A part of her really wanted to see how strong he was, but that would have to wait for another time.

When Lee saw Konan and her robe he didn't display any obvious emotions, but she could tell due to the slight shift in his stance that he was not comfortable with her presence. She wasn't quite sure what his issue was, but it would have to wait for later.

"Was there anything of use in there, Lee?" Kakashi wanted to ask him a thousand different questions, but he had to focus on their current mission.

The taijutsu specialist shook his head, "I wouldn't know. I just took them out, I didn't ask them questions."

Judging from the speed he had demonstrated when he attacked them, Kakashi figured he must not be wearing his weights, which meant that he'd likely been fighting at his full strength the whole time.

"How fast are you these days, Lee?" asked Sasuke at the back of the group.

Lee cocked his head at the question and disappeared.

"Fast enough for the time being," said Lee from behind Sasuke, causing the Uchiha to jump in surprise and spin around with a scowl on his face.

On the other side of the group Fiore barked out a laugh with her hands at her hips, "Haha, that was brilliant! Do it again!"

Sasuke glared at his partner and attempted to will her to explode while Kakashi walked up to Lee with an impressed look on his face.

"You must be faster than last time, particularly without your weights on."

Lee frowned and indicated to the leg warmers on his green spandex. "What are you talking about? I still have my weights on."

"Bullshit. No way you are that fast without taking them off," said Sasuke stubbornly.

With an uncharacteristic smirk, Lee shrugged and put his hands on his side, "I can't take them off anymore. I can't react quick enough to keep up with my body. I keep falling onto my face."

For a few seconds Sasuke just stared at him, until he rolled his eyes with a scoff and turned back to the rest of the group. "What's next?" he asked to their Senju leader.

"Nice to see you haven't changed, Sasuke-kun," said Lee with a smile.

Jito considered the situation for a moment before turning to the others, "You four, look through the bodies to see if there is anything we can use. I want to speak to Lee for a moment."

Kakashi and Konan both nodded and leapt down towards the complex, while Sasuke and Fiore ambled down with little evidence of any motivation.

As they left Lee watched them with a calculating gaze before turning to Jito and offering him a hand, "It is good to see you, Jito-san, it truly is."

The old Senju shinobi took his hand gladly; he owed Lee his life from two years ago. "What are you really doing here, Lee? Still looking for your friends?"

Lee shook his head, "No, I found who I was looking for. I think you know why I am here, though. We discussed the idea before."

"Ah, that. You are taking the one man army idea to an extreme, don't you think?"

"As you said before, I alone have the ability to do this. Every Quiraji that I take out here, every soldier that doesn't make it to Suna or the other villages, is one more that my friends don't have to fight. I have a duty to keep them safe."

Jito smiled slowly, he had matured nicely from the boy who had wrenched himself out of the Quiraji stronghold. "Would you like to join us, Lee? We could certainly use your help."

"It would be my pleasure! I look forward to working with you!" Lee's serious expression almost immediately shifted to overexcitement, which was pretty jarring to see from Jito's position.

In response Jito simply grinned and indicated to the battlefield behind them, "Let's join them, shall we?"

Lee put out a hand to stop him however; there was something that bothered him and he turned serious at the thought. "I have a question that needs answering, Jito. Why are you working with a member of the Akatsuki? Why is Kakashi-sensei so trusting of someone from that organisation?"

"I do not know, you would have to ask him," replied Jito. "Do you have a problem with the Akatsuki?" The Senju shinobi didn't know too much about that organisation beyond what Kakashi had briefly told him, his focus had purely been on the Quiraji. Shinobi killing shinobi hadn't been his problem at the time.

"One of their number was the one that killed my teacher. While the perpetrator may be dead, I cannot forgive the Akatsuki." Lee's eyes focused slightly as he remembered that time.

"So you still hold that grudge, Lee." A clone of Kakashi appeared from behind a nearby tree, walking towards the two of them with his hands in his pockets.

"I have no interest in forgiving the Akatsuki, Kakashi-sensei," said Lee with an angry stare. "And neither should you. They killed Gai-sensei!"

"That wasn't Konan, and you know that. I know Gai was like a father to you, but he taught you better than that. If you have a grudge, so be it. But I warn you, do not attack her. I will intervene before you do so."

Lee stared at him for a moment, "I would not attack her like that! All I am expressing is disquiet to working with her. That is all."

The clone of Kakashi frowned, he understood Lee's position but he hadn't expected such maturity from him.

_They all must have grown up without us noticing. _

He sighed and ran a hand through his silver hair, "I wonder if the others grew up as much as you have…"

Lee's expression changed back to his usual smiling self, "Oh, most definitely. Once our business here is concluded I'm sure Sakura-san and the others would love to see you again."

"Sakura is alive?! What about the others?!" Kakashi's clone nearly stumbled as he tried to get Lee to tell him about the others. Having been primarily occupied fighting his rebellion; Sasuke hadn't had any information on the others from Konoha.

"Of course! Not just Sakura either. Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba are also alive and well."

Kakashi's clone sighed in relief, since finding Sasuke he had held onto hope that others had survived as well. "What about Naruto? Is he okay?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. I haven't heard anything about Naruto-kun or Hinata-san."

The three of them turned as they saw the others returning from the complex. Kakashi stared at his clone for a moment, and once it dispersed a wide smile grew across his face.

"What is it?" asked Konan, noticing the rapid shift in expression.

Kakashi shook himself out of it, looking over to her, "I'll tell you about it later."

"Did you find anything?" asked Jito, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

The four of them shook their heads, though they hadn't searched for long it had quickly become clear that they wouldn't find anything concrete to use. Sasuke and Fiore had rifled through the bodies trying to get an understanding of who they were fighting against, but beyond finding several converted Mist shinobi and some unusual weapons they were completely clean.

It was strange though that they didn't find any personal effects on them either, and that fact bothered Sasuke more than he thought it would. Even before the village was destroyed, he had worn his Uchiha regalia with pride, yet these Quiraji soldiers were more like drones, with no real personality driving them.

"No documents, maps or anything that can tell us where we need to go," said Kakashi with a sigh. "If they were receiving orders, they must have gotten them orally from a commander."

Beside Jito, Lee nodded with his arms crossed, "That's how the Quiraji do it. Their command structure is designed so that their leaders can manipulate the soldiers to the most basic level."

"So we are back to square one then?" asked Fiore, doing her best not to stare at Lee's ridiculous-looking eyebrows.

Jito stared out over the complex; he'd been hoping to find some kind of lead in such a place. He was extremely grateful that they had found Lee, he hadn't accounted for that, but having another fighter meant nothing if they couldn't find their target.

"I guess we have to keep looking. I want to spend as little time in here as possible."

"That's wise," said Lee. "Their hunter squads are particularly vicious, once they get on your trail."

"Speaking from experience?" asked Sasuke with a smirk.

"I am, Sasuke. It hasn't been easy living in here." He turned to Jito with a raised eyebrow, "What are you looking for, out of curiosity?"

"The place where the converted shinobi are processed. We want to take it out, and maybe even one of the Quiraji commanders in the process."

Lee's eyes unfocused for a few moments before he reached into his flak jacket and produced a small notepad. Flicking through the pages he let out a grunt of approval when he reached the page he was looking for. He snapped the notepad shut and put it back into his flak jacket.

"I know where that is. I'll take you there; it isn't too far from here."

Several of the group eyed him with suspicion, while Jito smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, "You are a lifesaver, Lee. With your help, I'm sure we can stop this threat."

"How do you know of this?" asked Kakashi.

"I've been working in here for two years, Kakashi-sensei. It's a major hub of their operations."

"Well that works out perfectly," said Jito. "If we can take that facility out, that will be a serious blow to the Quiraji army. We might even be able to turn the tide if we do this."

"I have one condition," said Lee seriously. "If there is a red haired woman with evil-looking eyes, she is mine alone to fight."

"Sensou…" Jito remembered exactly who Lee was talking about, but by the tone in his voice it wasn't just because of the torture she had done to him. There was a pain in his voice, and an unquenchable anger too. "Why do you want to fight her yourself? She's far too dangerous to face alone."

Lee's eyes betrayed some of his motivation, but he covered it up quickly as he stared at his Senju ally. "My reasons are my own, but that is my condition. Do you accept?"

Jito wasn't sure whether he'd be in a position to argue with the taijutsu specialist, so he simply nodded and indicated for Lee to show them the way.

Tapping his shoulders before cracking his neck, Lee pointed to a small section of forest far off into the horizon, "The facility is a ways through that way, and there shouldn't be too many patrols just yet. If we move quickly then we might be able to get there before nightfall."

He turned to make sure everyone understood, before turning back and vanishing in a single movement. Both Fiore and Konan groaned while Kakashi merely chuckled at Lee's enthusiasm.

"Doesn't he realise we aren't that fast?" grumbled Sasuke as they jumped off the ravine to follow him. "I swear he's only gotten more eccentric…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I don't really have much to say about this chapter, except that it should be clear what the next chapter will be about. If there is still some confusion as to the Senju situation, please let me know, since I wanted to try to convey that clearly, while still letting you guys form your own opinions about the matter.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	51. Chapter 47 Diving into the Maw

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 47 – Diving into the Maw

**A/N**: Having just watched The Legend of Korra (feel free to judge me), I didn't realise how similar the main plot of my story and it actually are. The Quiraji and the Equalists are similar in their drive, though with different backgrounds and base motivations. Just thought I'd say that.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, people who died…WOULD STAY DEAD!

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With Sasuke and Fiore having joined their group, Jito, Kakashi and Konan moved to the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire to try and punch through. Using Fiore to work undercover, they tried to bluff their way through a group of soldiers at the border, but that failed and despite their best efforts they were discovered after taking out the group. They fled deeper into the Land of Fire under the constant threat of being hunted by the Quiraji soldiers, and after a dramatic move by Sasuke they stayed underground for a week to put off the enemy from their trail. Once they emerged they moved to the nearest stronghold to try and find some information on their target. When they arrived they discovered that all the Quiraji soldiers in the complex had been defeated, and they found that it had been done by Rock Lee, who opted to join their group. After a short conversation he indicated they he knew where the shinobi converting facility was, and agreed to take them there.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The six of them sat at the top of a tree within a dense forest as Lee indicated to the large building a hundred metres away from their position. With his speed they had been able to push through the scouting forces with little problems, making up for their lost time. In the past day Lee had clearly demonstrated why he had survived in the Land of Fire for so long, and the group's leader held out hope that they would be able to succeed in destroying the facility.<p>

"That's the place, huh?" Fiore eyed the plain building with a suspicious gaze.

It was only a two story building made of concrete and bricks, but they could tell it went deep underground as well. The area around it appeared almost lifeless with dark grass surrounded by otherwise lush green around the forest they were observing it from.

Standing in front of the only obvious entrance were fifteen Quiraji soldiers wearing bright red armour, each stood in perfect formation with their ice-blue eyes scanning the area for anything remotely suspicious. The only reason they hadn't found the group was because of the angle of the sun descending slowly behind them, but that would only last for another hour or so before they would be forced to attack or retreat.

Sasuke felt almost compelled to suggest they destroy it from their current position, he knew that Kakashi's partner had the ability to perform such destruction fairly easily. But that felt too much like something his old blonde teammate would do, and it would only draw every enemy for miles.

Lee frowned as he saw the guards, "Damnit…it had to be Red Guards…"

"How strong as they?" asked Jito, acknowledging Lee's extensive knowledge of the Quiraji.

The taijutsu master thought about it for a moment before letting out a slow breath and staring his dark eyes down at the intimidating guards. "Extremely. The last time I fought them I was forced to retreat after a prolonged battle. I could only fight maybe five of them at once before I'd probably be overwhelmed."

Sasuke smirked as thought about Lee being beaten back by the Quiraji soldiers, then felt himself being mentally slapped when he realised how petty that actually was. He had still never beaten the green-clad shinobi in a sparring match.

"Well, there are six of us here, so I'm sure we can punch through their defences," said Konan with a confident look on her face.

She went to create a set of paper sheets around her arms, but Lee put up an arm across her to stop her. "Wait. Their armour is able to negate chakra and if they are given the opportunity they will harden their bodies with physical energy and it's extremely difficult to get through."

Konan gave him a suspicious glare but cancelled her technique nonetheless, letting her hands fall back into her Akatsuki sleeves. "What do you suggest?"

Turning to Fiore, Lee indicated to the wooden pick sitting in her mouth. When it wasn't in her hair, she liked to chew on it like a toothpick.

Though she could do without the wood chips in her gums.

"Fiore and I have the advantage here, since we can fight them without using chakra to take them down. Beyond that, we need to knock them out before they harden themselves, otherwise it'll become a prolonged battle, one that we might not win."

"Fight without using chakra?" Sasuke looked down at his right arm, still feeling the slight stiffness despite it having been years since he fought Lee in the last round of the Chuunin Exams. It had been at that time that he had learnt what it was like to face someone who had to work hard to become strong. "We could do that too, though probably not to your level."

"Ah, I see what you mean," said Jito. He wasn't a particularly skilled taijutsu fighter, but he would be able to hold his own for a time. "So the four of us will act as the anvils and set up the Red Guards to be taken down and Fiore and Lee will be the hammers to take them out.

On the other side of the large branch, Kakashi put up his hands into a handseal he was very familiar with, "I can help in that regard." He turned to Lee as he moulded his chakra, "Is it just the armour that negates chakra, or the whole body?"

"Just the armour. It's made by Sensou, and has the same effect as having no chakra at all. You need to avoid it at all costs." Lee subconsciously clenched and then opened his fists slowly.

Looking at the Red Guard standing at the entrance, Kakashi quickly corrected his personal method of attack and dropped down to the ground beneath the tree.

"I guess we are going then," said Fiore with a smile of anticipation. She dropped the wooden pick out of her mouth and expanded it into a short stick, wielding it in a single hand with deft skill. She turned to Sasuke, "Are we doing a count?"

The Uchiha heir shook his head with his usual serious expression, "Not a chance. I'm just calling this one in your favour without prejudice."

"Well fine, spoil my fun," she said with a pout.

The two of them dropped out of the tree, with Lee nodding to Jito before dropping down to follow them.

Konan watched them fall before turning to Jito with a tired look in her eyes, "Is it sad that I feel like I'm getting too old for this?"

Jito gave her his best are-you-kidding-me look and motioned to himself, "Come to me when you're over fifty, then I might agree with you."

The blue haired woman smiled with a low chuckle before letting herself float down to the ground to follow her new companions.

Hesitating for a moment to consider what they were about to do, Jito couldn't help shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap. Doing something like this had been the reason he had been captured by Sensou in the first place, though this time he wasn't going in alone. And his allies had proven to be far more reliable than he had anticipated.

* * *

><p>With the sun setting behind her, Fiore slowly walked towards the Red Guards standing rigid in front of the entrance.<p>

She slowly tapped her staff on her shoulder with a cocky grin. "Evening boys"

One of the Red Guards frowned and walked towards her, slowly drawing a katana from his belt and keeping it held low. She had her ice-blue contacts in, so he wasn't sure whether she was a converted shinobi or not.

"State your number and position," he said with a slow methodical voice.

Fiore cocked her head and shrugged with a drawn-out sigh, "Well, this just isn't fun at all. I had a whole speech prepared, you know."

Her staff wavered slightly behind her head, and expanded oddly at the tip before she turned it in her hands and held it up towards the sky.

The Red Guard seemed unsure what to do, converted shinobi fresh out of the facility tended to be unstable even at the best of times. "State your number and position," he insisted.

The tip of Fiore's wooden staff bloomed outwards to reveal a small paper ball with the symbol for light written on it. With a smirk Fiore shut her eyes.

"I guess that'll be…wait, damnit I messed up my one-liner…"

The flash bomb sitting at the tip of her wooden staff exploded in a brilliant flash of light, immediately blinding all fifteen Red Guard. Even with her eyes closed, Fiore felt a spike of pain shoot through her eyes, wondering if Sasuke had intentionally made the flash bomb more powerful than it normally is.

Having seen the signal to attack, the shinobi of her group jumped in to take advantage of the Red Guard's momentary blindness.

One of the Red Guard's at the front grimaced as he felt a hand clutching at his ankle, grasping the single exposed piece of clothing that wasn't attached to his blood red armour. Around him, another four Red Guard reacted the same way, though it was too late for them to do anything about it.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

Each of the five Red Guard were immediately pulled into the ground so that only their heads were visible as the four clones and the original Kakashi popped up from the ground behind them.

In perfect synchronisation with him, Konan leapt into the fray and hurled five highly concentrated exploding tags that attached themselves onto the Red Guard's exposed faces. Since their faces were not connected to the armour, they had no chance to survive the chakra-based explosions, which she concentrated with an area of chakra similar to Sasuke's earlier technique so that she didn't hit Kakashi behind the Red Guard.

With the five of them thoroughly destroyed by their combination attack, Kakashi dispersed his clones and the two of them turned to their companions and their own battles.

Jito had gotten the drop on two of the Red Guard and had driven kunai into their faces, dropping them to the ground with little trouble. However the other one he had been committed to defeating had regained his sight enough to dodge Jito's surprise attack, and had his sword out to drive the genjutsu master back.

"Come on," said Kakashi, knowing how difficult that battle would be without Jito able to use any ninjutsu to defend himself.

Coming from an acute angle on the far left, Lee drove as much physical strength as he could without snapping his limbs into one leg, flying through the air and slamming it into a Red Guard's armoured chest after his initial target instinctively ducked under the blow.

His sandalled foot left a large dent in the blood red armour, and clearly caused massive internal damage as the Red Guard buckled and vomited blood onto the ground before Lee instinctively ducked under a sword strike poorly aimed at his back.

He kicked upwards with his feet and disarmed the blinded Red Guard behind him, using the momentum to push his hands off the ground and over the Red Guard's head. He drove several rapid-fire blows into the Red Guard's back, using physical energy to harden his fists so that he didn't take any damage when he hit the hard armour.

The Red Guard was forced to bend backwards to try and avoid the Genin's attacks, but Lee had already anticipated that.

He snaked his arms around its head and yanked backwards, while driving both his knees into his back, snapping his opponent's spine within his body.

Lee looked up and nearly lost his head as a Red Guard tried to slash at his neck, just nicking the top of his flak jacket as Lee fell backwards and rolled to pick himself. The Red Guard jumped at him with his sword slashing faster than his eyes could follow.

Biting his lip nervously, Lee felt the veins on his forehead bulging as he activated through the first two Gates. Ramping up his speed, Lee disappeared in a flash and tried to block the Red Guard's sword with his feet on the dull side so that he didn't lose any of his limbs.

At such a high speed he was able to keep up with the Red Guard's movements, each blow was deftly avoided as he rained down kicks on his opponent's armour. With only using physical energy he had a better chance of breaking through the armour than any of the others, but in Lee's experience he wasn't going to get through such armour so easily. When they were paying attention, doing internal damage was almost impossible.

The Red Guard tried to spear through him, seemingly able to keep up with his speed. Lee spun to avoid it and slammed a clenched fist into the flat side of the sword, sending it straight into the ground while he ran up the length of the blade and tried to drive his knee into the Red Guard's face, but his opponent dropped to the ground to avoid it and kicked up at Lee's body, clipping him in the side.

Lee jumped back several metres and grimaced, holding his side sorely. "Every damn time..." he muttered, straightening himself up and staring at the Red Guard as it charged at him silently.

He brought back a fist and felt the power in his arm amplify as he summoned up his physical energy. It was a strange sensation compared to chakra, and Lee wasn't quite sure how he was doing it since Sensou's messing with his body, but considering the power it gave him he wasn't complaining. Though it did tire him more easily than chakra used to, and he did retain the ability to use chakra, unlike most of her other victims.

Before the Red Guard could reach him, Lee punched towards the approaching enemy as fast as he could, sending a massive wave of air pressure into the Quiraji soldier's chest.

The Red Guard was forced backwards and coughed painfully; even if his armour absorbed most of the damage he still took internal damage from Lee's miniature Hirudora attack.

In that moment of injury, Lee jumped forward and grabbed at the edge of the Red Guard's armour, bringing back his other hand and performing the same taijutsu ability straight into the Quiraji's face.

The effect was not pleasant, and Lee was grateful that none of the gore struck at him since he had essentially attacked with air pressure. There was a part of him that was numb to such a thing, it was war after all, but he hated that he had to kill to keep others safe. It felt very unyouthful.

On another part of the battlefield, with his katana in hand, Sasuke stabbed down into one of the Red Guard's necks, piercing through bone and skin to sever his head from his body and pushing the body backwards to join the other two he had already killed. With their vision taken from them momentarily, it had been child's play for a swordsman of Sasuke's calibre to kill them before they could defend themselves.

From the corner of his eye he saw the last unoccupied target, whose skin flashed momentarily as he steadied himself on his feet and levelled his sword expertly.

Sasuke grinned; he'd intentionally left him alone to see if the Red Guard was the kind of opponent he could test his skills on. He hadn't had a good kenjutsu partner for months, and he wanted to see why Lee was so concerned about this kind of soldier. He still had his pride after all.

The Red Guard didn't say anything as he charged at Sasuke, who felt disappointed at the lack of a decent challenge. He brought up his sword to block the strike, not even bothering to activate his Sharingan.

Their swords clashed loudly at the contact, but only for a moment. Faster than Sasuke could follow with his normal eyes the Red Guard swung around and slashed at his legs, driving deep into his skin.

Sasuke let out a gasp of pain and jumped back, gripping at his leg. "Damn bastard…" he muttered, gripping his sword with both hands. He decided on a different tactic, one that didn't involve him getting impaled.

With the sword in his grip, he ran through a short set of handseals as the Red Guard dove at him again, a confident look on his face. It appeared to be making the same motion, but Sasuke wasn't going to let it have its own way.

He jumped backwards with a wave of his sword, sending a wave of lightning chakra at the Red Guard, using the attack to disappear into the nearby forest. He left a copy of himself to fight the Quiraji soldier, giving him time to activate his Sharingan and study his opponent's movements. Fiore had been on his case for years about underestimating opponents, and though it pained him to admit it, she had a fair point.

Not that he planned on ever telling her that.

The Red Guard dived straight through the attack, letting his armour absorb the chakra attack while his sword clashed with Sasuke's clone. Their movements were lightning fast as they parried and stabbed at each other in perfect synchronisation, as Sasuke having activated his clone's Sharingan as well.

Despite not having movements to copy, they still enhanced his eyesight beyond their normal abilities, and that allowed him to keep up with the Red Guard's movements.

From his further out position, Sasuke watched the battle with fascination, slowly figuring out that the Red Guard was inherently a better swordsman than he was. It was painful to admit, but if the Quiraji soldier wasn't so hell-bent on killing him, he would make a great sparring partner.

But as he looked at the others battling their own opponents, he remembered that this was a battlefield, and he had a job to do.

The Red Guard cleaved straight through his clone's body after making a surprisingly deft dodge that Sasuke would have to try later on, forcing the clone to turn back into the mud he had created it with and collapse into the ground.

It only looked around for a brief moment before fixating on his relatively well-hidden position, moving quickly to attack him again.

"Damn, he's tenacious," said Sasuke, though he was satisfied that his newly-formed plan would work.

Reaching into his pockets he produced an item he hadn't used in a long while, weaving it around his hands before creating five regular Bunshin and sending them at the Red Guard to distract him.

As they were only a basic ninjutsu the Red Guard cut his way through them easily, but in that time Sasuke had accumulated his chakra and activated his technique.

Waving his hands around towards the Red Guard charging at him, Sasuke hurled a dozen long wires at his opponents, hooking them onto the edges of the top and bottom of the armour.

The Red Guard paused momentarily, and that ended the battle for him.

Emerging from the ground beneath him was an Earth Clone of Sasuke, and with four quick slashes of his katana he cut at the bonds holding the Red Guard's armour together.

The original Sasuke pulled on the razor-sharp wire and wrenched off the Red Guard's armour, leaving him exposed to chakra-based attacks.

He tossed aside the wire and let the armour fall to the ground, drawing his sword again and bursting towards the Red Guard with chakra through his legs, cutting straight through him with a lightning-charged blade. He felt a significant amount of resistance since the Red Guard had hardened his body with physical energy, but with enough chakra Sasuke was able to pierce through it and cleaved him from his groin to his face, showering the area with blood.

He looked over at his other companions, grimacing as he felt his cloak being covered in blood. Jito, Kakashi and Konan finished off their opponent with a combination attack, while Lee had just knocked out the first Red Guard he had attacked.

"Looks like you guys did a good job," came a female voice behind him.

He turned to see Fiore standing in front of him, rubbing at her eyes sorely.

"No thanks to you," he said, sheathing his sword after flicking off the blood from its metal frame.

The young girl scoffed and tapped her staff against her shoulder, "You guys were fine, and I couldn't see anything at all. Remind me never to listen to you when you make plans, one day you'll actually get me killed."

"That might be a nice reprieve...think of all the work I could get done." Sasuke spoke with a small smirk on his face, it was the same banter they always had between each other.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Lee, jogging up to the couple, ignoring the pain in his side. "Are we ready to keep going?"

Sasuke and Fiore both nodded in agreement, with Sasuke signalling to their Senju leader that they were without significant injury.

Jito motioned for them to approach the door with them, and they came back together as a group before pushing open the wide doors and entered the large base.

Their real mission had just begun.

* * *

><p>The inside of the building looked nothing like the group had been expecting, with the exception of Jito and Lee, who had been held in a similar-looking facility in the past. The walls were covered in cables and wires running through the ceiling and odd characters were painted on the walls that none of them recognised or could read.<p>

From the entrance expanded a long corridor that looked to just keep going off into an eerie darkness, since there were no visible lights within the building or on the ceiling they weren't sure how the corridor was being lit as it was at all.

"This place is really creepy," commented Fiore, nudging Sasuke on the shoulder to show him a character on the wall beside her. "I've never seen writing like that before."

The Uchiha shinobi shrugged and continued down the empty corridor with the others, he didn't recognise it either.

"Where is everyone?" asked Kakashi with a low voice, holding a kunai tightly in his hand.

Even though he didn't have a weapon in his hands, Lee was still walking in a stance that would allow him to pounce on an opponent at a moment's notice, but to the shinobi he seemed quite relaxed. "These places don't have too much staff, they don't really need them. The fact that there were fifteen Red Guard out the front means we likely won't find much resistance inside from normal enemies."

"Which means it's just the really dangerous ones that we need to worry about," said Jito with a grim expression on his face. He was weary of meeting one of the four leaders, though with Lee in their group he felt somewhat better about fighting them.

They spent several minutes moving from the front door to the end of the corridor, examining the area for traps and making sure that the Quiraji couldn't ambush them. In that time the surroundings didn't change at all, and more and more they were beginning to think they had been led into a trapped facility that had no-one inside.

"Am I the only one that feels like this was a waste of time?" asked Sasuke finally, tapping his knuckles on one of the symbols on the wall. "There's nothing here."

"There has to be something here," said Konan, with several paper birds floating around her head to scout out the ceiling. "The Red Guards were guarding the door for a reason."

"She has a point," said Kakashi, though he felt the way Sasuke did. If this is what they were brought out of retirement for, he was very disappointed.

The group finally came to the darkest bit of the corridor, finding that there was a pair of staircases in front of them. The leftmost staircase led upwards towards a more-lit area of the facility, while the rightmost staircase seemed almost pitch black and led downwards in a long spiral.

"Well isn't this just fantastic. You'd think they were inviting us to split up," said Fiore sarcastically.

"We should split up."

"Okay, I was kidding," she said to Jito with a frown. "That's a seriously dumb idea."

Sasuke walked up and stood beside Fiore, facing her with his normal disinterested expression, "He's right, Fiore. We can both cover more ground, and fight more cohesively in such an enclosed space if we split up."

"That's..." She stared at her partner's expression, taking a moment before understanding what he meant. She turned to Jito with a glare, "You should have just said that, instead of making me look like a moron."

"How do you want the groups split up?" asked Kakashi, trying to change the flow of the conversation.

Jito also ignored Fiore's comment, taking a step back to look at the whole group, calculating how they should proceed. He never considered himself a genius of strategy, but decades of war went a long way to surviving such situations.

"Kakashi, Konan and Lee will take the upwards path. Since you are faster, you can cover more ground quicker and with Lee you should be able to at least hold off any opponent you come across, though I want you guys to run if you find someone you can't handle."

The three shinobi nodded in acknowledgement, and turned to move towards the upper staircase.

In front of Fiore, Sasuke was concerned that she might have an issue working directly with Jito when they took their own path, but she wore the same expression she always did before going into battle. He knew she wasn't going to let anything stop her from completing the mission, personal issues aside. She was a profession, even if she didn't look it.

Jito stepped towards them and flexed his sore hands, "We will be taking the lower staircase. We don't know how far deep the facility goes, but I want you to be ready to attack anything that moves, Fiore."

The Cascading Flow warrior nodded without comment, which in itself caused Jito to wonder if her opinion of him was slowly changing. He wasn't holding his breath on anything, but if she would work well with him in their mission it was good enough for him.

Besides, Sasuke seemed adept at keeping her choler down, which was why he was grateful he had tagged along.

"Shall we go?" asked Sasuke, snapping Jito out of his mental analysis. "The others have already left."

"Yes...let's go." Jito stared at the staircase with tired eyes, he had no idea what to expect down there.

Fiore scoffed and walked in front of him, since she knew she would need to be at the front of their little group. "Don't sound too enthusiastic, Senju."

Maybe she wasn't going to change that quickly after all.

* * *

><p>Jito, Sasuke and Fiore made their way down the staircase, straining their eyes as the darkness was almost strangling. With a hand on Sasuke's shoulder to steady herself, Fiore led them down until they came to flat ground, where they couldn't see anything at all, not even each other.<p>

"This is ridiculous," she said, not wanting to take her hand off for fear that he might just disappear within the darkness.

Jito coughed awkwardly, he was used to this kind of environment; it was a vital aspect of his fighting style. He begun feeling around in his pockets, "I might have a torch scroll here somewhere…"

"Don't bother," came Sasuke's voice.

Barely a second later there was a bright light that illuminated the whole floor. Both Jito and Fiore turned to see Sasuke holding his sword in a single hand, covered in a bright blue flame.

"That's really cool, Sasuke, I didn't know you could set your sword on fire like that."

The Uchiha smirked, holding the sword away from himself because of the extreme heat. "Well I do it with lightning all the time, so it would make sense that I could with fire."

Jito ignored the two of them and looked around the area, his eyes widening in both surprise and disgust.

Scattered on the floor beyond them were piles of corpses, each body looking like it had had the life simply sucked out of them to the bones. There were easily over a hundred skeletons along the ground, however there was no smell coming from them whatsoever.

"What the hell is this?" asked Fiore, finally noticing the bodies.

Beside her Sasuke ignored the bodies and used his Sharingan to look further down the newly-lit area. He barely made out a light blue image at the edge of his vision, but it was snuffed out almost immediately upon him noticing it.

"What do you see?" asked Jito, seeing the Uchiha doing the job he'd brought him along for.

"There was a chakra signal, but it disappeared. I think something is happening on the other side of the level."

Flipping her staff in her hands, Fiore grinned and began running over the bodies, with Sasuke and Jito quickly following her. Each body seemed to have been killed in the same manner, and both Sasuke and Fiore were on edge as they moved through the area.

They had both seen such a thing before.

The group reached the other side of the floor quickly, but as they saw they were already too late. An old man cloaked in black was holding up a woman with a single wrinkled hand, one who looked like she was a shinobi of Suna.

The three of them watched in horror as her body was rapidly aged to the point of her turning into a skeleton, with the old man flashing a moment of youth in his withered face before turning back to his normal withered look.

Very slowly he turned around to face the intruders, dropping the woman's skeleton to the ground, letting out a soft crack as the bones shattered on contact.

"**Escapees? No, you are too youthful to be such. So you are the intruders then?"**

With his blazing sword in hand, Sasuke saw red and charged at him with a loud roar, but was held back two massive wooden hands on his shoulders, as Fiore ran up beside him.

"No, Sasuke! He's not the kind of opponent you can charge wildly at!"

"HE KILLED MY MOTHER!"

Fiore tried to calm him down while Jito moved up beside them to assist.

_That's Kyoukou, one of the Quiraji leaders. So is this the one who killed you, Mikoto?_

He felt his fists clench unconsciously, he understood Sasuke's position and wanted to charge at their opponent as well. However, he knew that out of the three of them, he was the most useless in this fight, since his genjutsu couldn't work without his opponent's having chakra.

Despite this, he knew they needed to take Kyoukou down or make him retreat, since he could see a door behind the Quiraji leader.

"**The last of the Uchiha? Interesting."** The old man's gaze turned slowly until his sunken eyes rested on Jito, causing a dark smile to emerge across his face. **"And the last of the Senju. I can finish what our leader began."**

Seeing that she wasn't going to be able to completely stop Sasuke from attacking Kyoukou, Fiore turned to Jito, temporarily ignoring their opponent. "Hold him back, Senju…"

She cracked her neck loudly before slamming one hand into the other, "…I'll take him down."

Their leader frowned, but upon seeing the determined look in her eyes he nodded and jumped up to grab at Sasuke, holding him tightly in a hold while she retracted her wooden arms and manipulated them to a long staff.

She caught her weapon and twirled it in her hands before pointed it at Kyoukou, "We couldn't take you out back in the Land of Earth, but I promise you that you will die here."

"**Just because you are a civilian does not mean that you are immune to our wrath. You presume too much."**

"So do you," she said with a grin, charging at him while aiming her staff at him.

"Let me go, Jito!" yelled Sasuke, not wanting to see the same thing that happened to his mother happen to his partner. "I have to help her!"

Jito's grip was unbreakable though, and he had no intention of releasing him. "Let her do this, Sasuke. This is what she is here for. Have faith in her."

Sasuke tried to struggle again, but as he saw Fiore clash with Kyoukou he felt his urge to resist lessen.

But only slightly.

Fiore's staff extended instantly towards Kyoukou, but to her surprise he was able to dodge it by the smallest measure. The Quiraji leader reached out and gripped her wooden staff with a wrinkled hand.

He grinned slowly and turned to his opponent, **"You people are so arrogant…"**

Nothing happened.

Letting go of her staff to avoid any unnecessary damage, Fiore ran at Kyoukou with a similar grin on her face, "And you don't?"

She didn't even wave her hands to command her wooden weapon, letting it spread out over the Quiraji soldier like a liquid as she balled a fist and went to slam it into the side of his head.

He seemed surprised that he wasn't able to affect her wood, but nevertheless kept his arrogant look and turned to take the blow.

She seemed to ignore the change in his position and threw a heavy punch at his head, but at the last second before she made contact her wood intervened and she hurled herself back, letting the wooden weapon harden before slam straight into Kyoukou with a loud thump.

As the old man fell to the ground with a grunt her wood flew back to her and landed back into her hand, letting her rest it on her shoulder.

"So that's how your ability works…"

Her opponent slowly picked himself up and turned to face her with a scowl, **"Do not presume to understand my power, girl." **

"I'm not presuming anything," she said confidently. "If you aren't touching flesh, you can't use that absorbing power of yours."

The old man sneered and reached up to remove his hood, revealing a head of thin white hair that was clearly balding. He was horrific to look at, but seemingly only for a moment.

In front of their eyes he began to age backwards, appearing to get younger in mere moments. His skin began to heal and turn to a dark tan, while his hair quickly grew out into a long mane of white that ran down to his shoulders. Kyoukou's sunken eyes retracted and once the odd transformation was finished he looked almost thirty years old.

He still looked horrifying though, because his eyes hadn't changed at all during the transformation process.

Fiore balked at his visage visibly, "You guys just get stranger and stranger,"

He grinned and flicked his hair dramatically, **"This is true power. You would not understand." **

The Cascading Flow warrior sighed and put her staff between her hands. It slowly grew to a pair of large wooden gauntlets that covered up to her shoulders and connected along her chest, keeping to a single shape.

Kyoukou's eyes narrowed when he saw this, he didn't know what kind of trickery she was using to use her technique, but it certainly wasn't chakra. The only other possibility was that she was tapping into her spiritual energy like they did, and that would be impossible.

Fiore charged at him at a high speed, intent on beating him to death with her gauntlets.

Unfortunately she could see a small rip forming behind her opponent, one that she immediately understood meant the end of the fight.

"**I will give it to you girl; you appear to be a threat to us. Be grateful that I am not in a fighting mood today, little girl." **

Just as her large gauntlets were about to slam into his face he disappeared into the rip, causing her to stumble as she struck at thin air.

"Damnit!" She retracted her wooden weapon to the point of its normal staff which she took again angrily. "They always run away when we push them into a corner."

Far behind her Jito let Sasuke go, seeing that he had calmed down considerably. Kyoukou's odd transformation seemed very strange since it appeared that he was planning to flee anyway.

_Was he just showing us that he could do that? How do these Quiraji think?_

"What do we do now?" asked Sasuke when Fiore came back towards them, angry that their opponent had gotten away when he was on the ropes.

"We have to keep going," replied Jito, shaking himself out of his confusion. "I believe he was killing the prisoners in anticipation for our arrival, which means he hadn't reached whatever is beyond that door."

Fiore nodded, holding her wooden staff at her side, barely showing any signs of exhaustion despite her frustration.

With nothing else to do in the large floor, the three of them moved to the large double door and slowly pushed it open, letting another source of light shine into the large room.

* * *

><p>Going down the staircase, Kakashi's group made their way quickly through the complex while staying in a defensible formation. As the quickest in the group, Lee ran at the front of the three of them, forcing himself to run much slower than he is used to so that Kakashi and Konan could keep up with him.<p>

The walls around them were labelled like hospital rooms, but as they started to look into them they realised that the rooms were apparently empty. All three of them were on edge as they expected enemies at every turn, but when they ran up another staircase they found a wide corridor that looked like an expanded variation of the previous corridor, except this one had over a dozen people standing around in it.

"Who the hell are you guys?" exclaimed one of the men in a long white robe, eyeing the intruders suspiciously. "Does the master know you are here?"

Without breaking stride, Lee disappeared as he moved at his normal speed, instantly appearing in front of the speaker and grabbing him by the cuff of his robe, holding him high up into the air.

"Where is Sensou?! Where is she?!"

The other people braced themselves and prepared to protect their companion, but both of Lee's companions moved up to either side as his prisoner squirmed in his grip.

"She's…not…" The robed man struggled under Lee's iron grip, before looking down at the furious Konoha Genin and passing out due to sheer terror.

Lee tossed the man's unconscious body to the ground and glared at the others with a serious look that reminded Kakashi of when Gai used to get serious in a fight. "Where is Sensou?!"

His companions could only watch as Lee systematically interrogate and defeat each of the fourteen scientists in the corridor, with the only bit of information he'd been able to glean was that Sensou was not in the building.

The whole process had taken less than a minute, and showed Kakashi how much Lee had changed since they had separated. He reached out and grabbed Lee by the shoulder, "You aren't going to find her just by beating up her men. We need to find concrete evidence."

"Why are you so determined to find this Sensou?" asked Konan, unaware of Lee's background.

Lee looked down at one of the unconscious bodies with a passive gaze, "It doesn't matter. I can't see her being here right now, so we need to find a way to destroy this place."

"If this place is where she converts shinobi, which we haven't even confirmed yet," said Kakashi, dropping the issue with Lee's actions for the moment. He could tell the Konoha shinobi meant well, and he knew Lee wasn't one to dwell on personal problems when something needed to be done.

"This is where it is done," said Lee confidently. "I've seen them emerge from here too often in the past few months for it to be a coincidence."

Looking over the corridor, Konan turned back to the two Konoha shinobi through her amber eyes, "We should search these rooms there may be some texts or something to tell us more about how they convert their men, or why they are attacking us."

"That's a good idea, Konan," said Kakashi, proud of his partner's initiative. He'd been concerned that she wouldn't be willing to participate fully, but he could feel her acting like her old self once again.

They collectively searched each of the ten rooms in the large corridor with no results besides some scary statistics that Kakashi found on how many shinobi had been converted so far. As far as they could tell, over five thousand shinobi had been taken, defeated, and converted within the past three years. They couldn't tell from which villages they had been taken, but from what they could tell the Quiraji were building an army for some unknown purpose.

They came to yet another staircase, though this one appeared to snake upwards and outwards into separate paths.

Kakashi frowned, this presented a problem. They didn't want to back-track at all in case they were followed by more Red Guards, but they needed to explore as much as possible in as short time as possible.

"There look to be five pathways," observed Lee.

"So we split up then? That doesn't sound particularly smart," said Konan with a frown.

"No, Lee is right. With Sensou not here, we should be handle of their forces on our own. If we find someone we can't handle, we break out and retreat." Kakashi reached into one of his pockets and withdrew two small scrolls, tossing them to his two companions. "If you find one of the commanders and you don't think you can handle them, push some chakra through that. It should summon some of my dogs to find the others and bring them to you."

"This is a bad idea," said Konan with a shake of her head, taking the scroll nonetheless.

Lee took the scroll and placed it into one of his flak jacket pockets, taking a moment to nod to his companions before taking off to the nearest pathway up the stairs.

Kakashi grinned for a moment as he admired Lee's enthusiasm, before turning to Konan. "You okay with this?"

"Did you think I would be?" Konan put a hand on Kakashi's face, smiling in her usual way. "We shouldn't have come back, I think you know that."

He smiled back and took her hand, "Stay in touch. I worry about you sometimes."

She didn't say anything in return, but nodded to him slightly before leaving to take her own path.

Kakashi watched her leave for a moment before slowly walking up the stairs for his own separate route. He didn't want to let them go, but he had to think of the mission. Besides, if there was only a one in three chance of her getting into mortal danger by meeting that woman, it was worth trying. Even if it meant he might have to face her.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi flicked through an old-looking book quickly, registering as much information as he could in the limited time he had. Most of it was scientific data that meant nothing to him, but there were a few bits of information that he scribbled down on a scroll with a small bit of chakra.

From what he could glean, Sensou had spent years working on a way to subvert chakra entirely, but instead it appeared that she had instead found a way to suppress it within a person. Kakashi couldn't decipher half of what was written, but he knew it might be useful someday regardless.

Once he had gotten what he thought was necessary, Kakashi put the book back into place.

_Ravings of a mad woman, clearly. A genius obviously, but this kind of stuff…_

He scanned the rest of the room, seeing nothing else of value remaining. Moving back into the corridor, Kakashi wondered whether he should use Kage Bunshin to make the effort go much quicker. He reconsidered fairly quickly though, when he realised that if he found a powerful enemy he would need as much chakra as possible.

The next five doors had nothing of value, but Kakashi found himself hesitating before entering the last door in the hallway. It appeared no different from the others, but there was something about it as he put his hand on the doorknob.

His suspicions were confirmed when he opened the door.

Kakashi didn't bother taking a step into the room, rather he found himself surrounded by white light, with the door nowhere to be found. It reminded him of a genjutsu, but he knew that couldn't be the case from the only other 'being' in the area with him.

Standing without a single motion, was a pale-looking woman with a long black robe, staring straight at him with the same black soulless eyes he'd been knocked out by back in Amegakure.

Kakashi wanted to move to attack her, but his body refused to do anything under her soul-piercing stare. He tried to say something, but his voice failed him as well. Nothing seemed to work.

_**You have adequate timing. **_

_Did she just speak to me? I didn't hear anything, but I knew what she said. _

Unable to do anything but stand there, Kakashi tried to figure out why someone like her was speaking to him at all. Last time he had encountered her, she had slaughtered an entire village of shinobi, and killed Konan in the process. He wasn't going to forgive her for that, though he wasn't really in a state to argue.

_**Fifth floor, third door on the right. Six, Nine, Four, Eight, Eight, Zero. **_

_Is…is she helping me? I don't know if I should trust her or not. I don't even know what she is telling me._

Kakashi's body continued to refuse to listen to him, so he could only watch as the Quiraji leader walked slowly towards him, not blinking as she kept staring straight into his eyes.

_**Everything happens in a preordained order. One era moves into another. Civilizations rise and fall as the sun and moon. The cycle persists. **_

The Konoha Jounin watched as she slowly closed her eyes, and the white background slowly faded away back to what Kakashi was expecting, with the pale woman nowhere to be found. He tested his feet and found his body responsive again, flexing his hands slowly. All over his body there was an unnatural chill running through his skin, but beyond that he seemed to be unmolested.

"That was…odd," said Kakashi quietly, wondering what the hell he had just been through. That was the second time he had encountered the woman, and the second time she had spared him, this time clearly giving him some kind of assistance.

He couldn't see her as an ally though, regardless of what she did. What she did to Amegakure, and Konan, was unforgivable.

_The question is, should I follow her instructions or not? If she was truly trying to help, why would she kill all those shinobi in the first place? Is she not a Quiraji leader? _

However Kakashi was not one to pass off an offer of assistance, even if it came from a questionable source. He moved out into the corridor and looked up at the staircase in front of him. By his reckoning, he was on the third floor, which meant that the others were likely on the same level too.

_I'll have to risk it. _

Placing his hands together, Kakashi created two Kage Bunshin, and they moved back down the corridor to find the others in his group. If it was indeed a trap, he would prefer to have both Lee and Konan at his side. If it wasn't a trap, and it was what they were looking for, then it would save them a lot of time within such a dangerous place.

_I should check it out first though, at least for traps. _

oOoOoOo

Following the directions the Quiraji leader had given him, Kakashi found himself standing in front of the door on the fifth level. He couldn't sense anything nefarious within, but that didn't stop him from being apprehensive about it.

"Is this the place, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi turned to see Lee standing at his side where there had been only space a moment ago. He resisted the urge to jump in surprise, considering his clone had only informed the Genin a moment ago.

"Any problems?" asked Kakashi with an acknowledging nod.

The green spandex wearer shook his head, "Nothing, just low-level enemies and a few early-level converted shinobi. Are you sure of this information?"

"Not particularly, but it's all we have going for us at this time."

He turned on instinct, watching with a growing smile as Konan slowly jogged up to him from the staircase. His clone had only just dispersed, but even so she gave him an affectionate look before nodded to Lee and turning to the door.

"I'm not sure about this, Kakashi. Any information you found in a notebook could be a trap, you know that." Her tone was short, but her face told him she was more concerned than she let on.

He reached out and gripped the doorknob, "We have to try, Konan."

Beside him, she shrugged and watched as he tried to push the door open. It refused to budge, and for a moment Kakashi thought that he had been betrayed.

With a roll of her amber eyes, Konan moved up to him and removed Kakashi's hand. She took the doorknob and twisted it, pulling it open towards herself.

"Well I could have done that," said the silver haired Jounin with an embarrassed expression.

"And yet you didn't," she replied with a grin.

"What is this?" asked Lee, pointing to what was revealed behind the door.

The two of them looked over where he was pointing, and to their surprise it hadn't been what they had expected. Behind the doorframe was a solid wall that appeared to be nothing special besides being exactly in line with the doorframe.

"Well that's…disappointing," said Kakashi with a sigh. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but this just seemed out of place compared to the other rooms.

"Stand back." The two Jounin took a step back as Lee stood in front of the wall, placing a hand on its surface with his fingers spread out. His eyes focused as he concentrated on the wall, seemingly making a motion to push his hand through it.

Instead, a small keypad appeared underneath his hand, with no display and only ten numbers visible.

Lee withdrew his hand quickly and frowned, he hadn't been expecting that.

"What did you do?" asked Konan, not sensing any chakra output from the taijutsu specialist.

"The Quiraji sometimes use walls that only respond to physical energy, to protect their secrets. But I've never seen anything like this before."

Kakashi frowned as he tried to remember the numbers he had been told. A lot of traps like this would backfire, sometimes explosively, if the wrong sequence was put in. Thankfully Kakashi remembered it correctly as he punched in the final number, since the wall containing the keypad rumbled slightly before coming apart and revealing the true contents inside.

Lee's eyes widened in shock as the three of them stepped into the room, while Konan wasn't sure what to make of what they saw within.

Kakashi, on the other hand, tensed up immediately, and he could feel the blood pumping through his knuckles as they slowly turned white through his gloves.

"This…can't be…"

* * *

><p>"What is this?!"<p>

Neither Fiore nor Jito could hold him back as Sasuke shot forward and stared at the glass at the front of the machine that sat at the back of the room. It easily covered half the back wall with long pipes threaded around the roof and side walls, with eight screens displaying information that Jito couldn't understand at all.

And suspended within the pod-like machine, was Uchiha Itachi.

His Akatsuki robe was in tattered and barely hung off his body as he seemed to be floating by some unknown force. His eyes where closed shut, and they couldn't even tell if he was alive in there, though that didn't stop Sasuke from trying to stab the glass open with the sword from his back.

The blade merely bounced off the glass, and in his frustration Sasuke began to activate his hand with lightning before Fiore dived forward and struggled to hold him back.

"Let me go! I have to free him!"

She kept him in a tight grip, though she knew he could break out at any moment, "You can't! You don't know what attacking that machine will do! You could kill him."

At that, Sasuke deactivated his Chidori and relaxed slightly in her arms, but she could see the fury in his eyes.

While Fiore tried to calm down the Uchiha heir, Jito tried to examine the machine for any way to free the Uchiha shinobi. He knew that the Quiraji had found someone to replace him when Lee had broken him out, but his captor had been anchoring for a replacement near the end of his captivity anyway.

But he'd never seen anything like this. He didn't even know where to begin.

After assuring Fiore that he wasn't going to obliterate the pod, Sasuke turned to Jito with an impatient gaze, his Sharingan boring holes in the Senju's eyes. "Get my brother out of there. You know more about these people than anyone."

Jito reached forward and placed a cautious hand on the smooth surface of the pod, feeling a chill run up his arm as he did so. "This is…I've never seen anything like this before."

"Maybe one of these screens can tell us," said Fiore, trying to read the information on one of the monitors. It had lines of code and numbers streaming across it at such a speed that she was barely able to make out what it was saying, let alone what it meant.

Walking around the side of the machine, Jito noticed there was another portion to the machine he hadn't seen before, one with some kind of interface and entrance to a separate pod-like section.

"Itachi is the one being used to convert shinobi, isn't he?" asked Sasuke, staring at his brother's seemingly lifeless form floating in the tank.

"How strong was your brother's genjutsu?" replied Jito, analysing the part of the machine in front of him. He was starting to get an idea as to how it was being used, but he wasn't quite sure yet.

"Extremely. The only one better was my cousin Shisui, but Itachi had genjutsus without his Sharingan as well. He could also use the Tsukuyomi."

Jito grimaced when he heard that, that meant that Itachi was definitely being used for the same purpose he had once done. "Damnit. That would explain why their converted shinobi have been lasting longer." When he had been forced to convert shinobi they would only last a few weeks before needing another 'session' with him.

"What has genjutsu got to do with the converted shinobi?" asked Fiore, having given up trying to understand the information on the monitors.

Jito walked back to face his two companions, "Sensou is a scientist, she's determined to make us shinobi kill each other. She found a way to take a shinobi's chakra away and brainwash them to fight for her, using their abilities to fuel ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques."

Sasuke snarled and drove a fist into the shell of the pod angrily, "So my brother is being used to enslave others?! We need to free him right now!"

Beside Sasuke, Fiore wasn't surprised at the young Uchiha's reaction to his brother's state. In their downtime at Cascading Flow, Sasuke regularly would speak about his brother, far more than any other topic. She knew their background, and a large part of her wanted to free the Uchiha as well, if nothing else but for her partner's sake.

"I think I might know a way," said Jito, indicating for the two of them to come to his side of the machine. He pointed to the open section and at the console to the side of it. The wording was written in code, and he didn't have the time to try and decode the Quiraji writing, but he felt he knew what its purpose was.

Anticipating his observation, Fiore shadowed her fingers over the keyboard, "You think this is the key to freeing him?"

Jito nodded, indicating to a strange headset hanging within the smaller pod, "If Sensou is using Itachi to brainwash her soldiers she would need to link them together. I think she puts them here, and the machine forces him to cast the genjutsu onto them."

"So, one of us goes in and breaks him out of it, and the machine shuts down? That's pretty thin Senju, even for you."

"I'll do it," said Sasuke confidently, placing a foot into the pod.

Jito reached out and pulled him back, holding him by the shoulder firmly, "You cannot."

"Don't you tell me what I can and cannot do to save MY BROTHER!" Sasuke spat each word at their leader, uncaring about any ideas of keeping the peace with the aging warrior.

"It isn't like that," said Jito carefully, wary of how volatile the young shinobi was at the moment. "If it works the way I think it does, you would need to interface directly with Itachi's mind, and break his genjutsu's hold over you. Do you really think you could do that?"

"It's better than not trying! I have to save him!"

"Think about this rationally," replied Jito quickly, trying to superimpose himself between Sasuke and the machine.

Observing their exchange quietly, it suddenly clicked in Fiore's mind what was going on. Her eyes widened as she looked at the aging shinobi's determined expression, "You mean to go in yourself."

Jito looked past Sasuke to her and nodded gravely, "I'm the only who can. If anyone has a chance of breaking the genjutsu and getting through, it's a genjutsu specialist like myself."

Fiore cocked her head slightly with a frown and put a hand on her hip, "It seems I've misjudged you, Senju. You may not be the spineless coward I figured you for after all."

Shrugging off Jito's hold, Sasuke took a slight step backwards and stood beside his partner, glaring at their leader with his red eyes, "What is Itachi to you? Why would you be willing to make such a sacrifice for him?"

The old Senju warrior sighed and looked away to the side, "I'm old, kid. I've been fighting this threat for nearly twenty years." He glanced at the machine with a weary smile on his face, "Maybe I can do some good, here and now."

Fiore frowned, "You make it sound like you are going to die in there. If it's just an illusion, you should be fine, right?"

Jito shook his head again and reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. To her credit, she didn't baulk at the touch, understanding the meaning behind the physical contact. "I can never make up for what happened between your mother and the clan, nor do I expect any forgiveness for my part in it. The Senju clan dies with me, and regardless of what we did wrong, you should know that I regret that we cast out such wonderful people."

Fiore chuckled and reached up to pat his hand before he let it fall back to his side, "Shame you are full of crap, but thanks for the sentiment."

Jito grinned at her through tired eyes before turning to Sasuke with a serious expression, "Sasuke. You might not understand why I need to do this, but if it saves your brother, then you need to let me try."

"I…understand," said Sasuke through gritted teeth. "Don't die if you don't have to, old man."

Jito stepped into the pod and picked up the headset, "I make no promises."

_Here I go, Father…Brother…_

He put the headset onto his white hair and felt two prongs attached themselves to his temples. A shot of pain was driven into his skull as he watched the world collapse in front of him. Sasuke and Fiore slowly vanished into shattered pieces of scenery while the room slowly turned into a pitch black void.

_Now comes the real battle_, he thought to himself as he felt the machine drill itself into his mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Have you missed the cliffhangers? Muhahaha, okay yeah that was bad. Everything does get revealed in the next chapter, and I'll tell you it's going to be crazy.

I've been struggling to write this for the past two weeks, since I've been working on another piece of work. Not only that, but there is a ton of work to do here in Japan too. So I do apologise if this seems like a weird chapter in terms of writing, since I've been preoccupied.

Something I'm going to try and do in the next chapter is really explore what it would be like to have a true genjutsu battle. Not like the Sasuke vs. Itachi one, but more like a battle between minds. Get ready for some very strange settings and environments.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	52. Chapter 48 In the Grips of Madness

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 48 – In the Grips of Madness

**A/N**: I do apologise for the lateness of this chapter. I've been so business here in Japan it's been difficult to find time to write. I'm still getting it done, but yeah.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, you wouldn't need a Sharingan to use genjutsu.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With Lee having joined their group, Jito was able to lead the infiltration group to a facility that they were fairly certain was being used to convert shinobi to the Quiraji cause. They discovered a type of enemy called Red Guard who Lee had experienced fighting before, and were able to take them by surprise and defeat them before entering the building. It initially appeared empty, and they were forced to split into two groups to cover more area. Kakashi, Konan and Lee took the upper levels and found a small number of staff members, though Lee was thoroughly ruthless in interrogating them for Sensou's location. They also split up to find any information they can, and Kakashi found himself confronted by Shikyo, the leader of the Quiraji who had destroyed Amegakure by herself. To his surprise she offered him a place and a code, though her motivations were a mystery to him as she disappeared as quickly as she appeared. He regrouped with his other two members and they found a secret door with Shikyo's code, but were shocked at what they discovered. The other group, consisting of Jito, Sasuke and Fiore descended down into the depths of the facility. They found piles of skeletons that looked like they had had the life sucked out of them, and to their disgust they discovered that they were prisoners of the facility that had been slaughtered by Kyoukou, who had just finished up when they arrived. Sasuke tried to charge him in rage, but Jito held him back while Fiore fought Kyoukou quite easily, forcing him to flee though not before revealing his ability to de-age himself. They pushed through a double door at the end of the floor and found Uchiha Itachi suspended within a strange pod machine. Seeing it as his duty, Jito took it upon himself to delve into the machine to try and break Sasuke's brother out of the trance, taking the battle to the subconscious level to defeat the Uchiha in a genjutsu battle.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Pain.<p>

Such terrifying pain.

Unbelievably persistent pain shot through Jito's mind to the point that, despite the fact he knew it was only an illusion, it was so agonising he could barely stand it.

_Time flows like a river, endlessly moving from one direction to the next..._

Within his mind he let out a cry of agony, feeling as though swords were being pushed repeatedly into his brain.

_Life becomes death. Death becomes nothingness…_

He couldn't see anything but pitch black darkness, yet he could feel his body like it was right in front of him. Every nerve felt like it was on fire; Jito figured this was the phase of breaking down the patient's psyche before they were brainwashed.

He wasn't going to let that happen without a fight.

_Everything is energy. What is will always be, and what is not will never be. _

Within the machine he knew he had no physical body to form seals with, but for his technique there was no need. Some of the most advanced chakra techniques, particularly related to genjutsus went beyond such trivial matters.

_Senju Hijutsu…Henkanomoi (Senju Hidden Technique, Mind Return)_

Immediately upon activating his family's technique the pain disappeared and he felt his mind being brought out of the genjutsu. It was not a pleasant experience, and he found himself reminded of one of the last interactions he had with his father.

Just as he began to remember the incident he felt a surge of alien chakra run through his mind. Without him realising it, he was being drawn into another genjutsu.

oOoOoOo

Tobirama Senju deepened his frown, looking down at the young man kneeling before him.

_Father? Why am I seeing this? Is this part of the genjutsu?_

"Take off your mask, and report," said the Second Hokage in a controlled tone. There were dark rings under his eyes; the War had been taking a serious toll on him. And now this had happened. The past few years had not been easy for their village.

The ANBU shinobi in front of the Hokage slowly removed his mask, revealing a stern and experienced face with an x-shaped scar on his chin. "It isn't good news, Hokage-sama."

_Is this…_

Tobirama glared down at the ANBU shinobi angrily, "Tell me what has happened with my son."

_Itachi must be a greater genjutsu user than I expected. To take me to this memory…_

The ANBU's eyes twitched slightly in frustration at the Hokage's tone, but he relayed the story nonetheless. His mouth moved and despite not being there physically Jito knew what was being said before he heard it.

"We arrived at your son's complex just before dawn. There were several screams from within, so my unit entered the premises."

"Cut to the chase, Danzo."

_I don't need to here this again…don't make me listen to this…_

"We lost five men immediately when we got to the plaza. He was standing in the middle of the plaza, like he was waiting for us. There was a…I cannot even begin to describe what we saw…but it was clearly an illusion, one that we were only barely able to break out of because he let us."

Tobirama nodded without comment. For some reason there was a strange mark on the side of his face, one that Jito didn't recognise. The more he concentrated on it, the more it stood out, while the edges of the scene appeared to shake like a bad movie reel.

Still kneeling on the ground, Danzo continued his report. "When we moved to restrain him he didn't resist. However it was clear that it was already too late."

Normally a stoic man, Tobirama gave no clear indication of his distress at the news. But Jito knew his father very well, and the look in the Hokage's eyes was more painful than anything the previous experience had given him by a large margin.

"What about his wife and my grandson?" he asked quietly.

Danzo shook his head slowly, and the Hokage's muscles tightened up immediately. With a long drawn out breath he slowly turned around and glared at the window looking out over the village without saying a word.

"Sir? What are your orders?"

_He should have killed me. I wouldn't have deserved such a reward, but he should have nonetheless. _

Danzo couldn't see from where he was kneeling, but Jito could see the tightened fists in his father's arms. They almost tore through the skin on his arms even though he didn't have particularly sharp nails.

"Bring my son here."

The ANBU shinobi nodded with a quick salute and clicked loudly. Behind him the door opened and two shinobi wearing their customary masks shoved a youthful-looking Jito into the room.

It was strange seeing himself from so long ago, but it wasn't the most troubling thing as they shoved him down to the ground between Danzo and the Hokage's back.

"Leave us," said the Hokage sternly.

The two ANBU shinobi who brought him in nodded to his back and left the room, while Danzo slowly picked himself up from the ground and glared down at the young Senju shinobi in front of him.

The young Jito didn't say a word, and he still had the same lifeless look in his eyes that he'd had when they had 'captured' him.

Danzo nodded slightly to the Hokage's back and left the two Senju in the room.

Tobirama turned around and stared down at his last remaining heir. Jito didn't even seem conscious, judging by the dead look in his eyes he wasn't even aware of what was going on around him.

"You have truly fallen, Jito…"

_Father…_

The Second Hokage took two steps towards him and uncrossed his hands, though his expression wasn't what Jito remembered.

"…I do not blame you, son."

_Now, I know that didn't happen. This is when I attacked my father. Perhaps Itachi isn't as good as he initially seemed. _

Tobirama reached out and placed a hand on his son's white hair, closing his eyes slowly. "I know you want an end to this all, but we don't always get what we want. I'm sorry son, but this is not the end of your journey just yet."

_I've seen more than enough. If this truly is a genjutsu, then it is a poor attempt. This isn't anything I haven't already told myself. _

The moment he thought that, the memory playing in front of him froze. In an unnatural motion the Second Hokage's head snapped to stare off into a blank space in his office, exactly where Jito felt he was standing in.

Instead of his father's normal red eyes, he found himself being stared at by a pair of pure ice-blue eyes that were eerily familiar.

_You won't be able to defeat me so easily, Uchiha. Now it's my turn. _

He visualised his hands clapping together as he began to weave his own genjutsu. As a master of his craft, Jito watched as the scene slowly blurred to blackness before he began to push his way into his opposition's mindscape.

_I've only just begun. _

* * *

><p>The newly opened room in front of Kakashi's group was horrifying to say the least. Even with his experiences at Sensou's torture, Lee had to look away while Kakashi and Konan moved in to make sure what they were seeing was actually real.<p>

The room was tiny compared to other rooms in the complex. Kakashi estimated that you couldn't fit more than ten people in the room at once, and the reason why was clearly obvious.

The only object in the room was a single figure on the back wall, held up by hundreds of metal spikes. Konan and Lee didn't recognise the woman, though it was clear she had been there for some time judging by the muscle degeneration and the dried blood all over her pale skin.

Her mesh clothes were barely rags that didn't cover anything at all, and seemed to be purely for show.

Two large spikes had been shoved through her hands and she was held up by her feet as well. It was beyond anything any of them had seen, and that in itself made it even more horrifying.

Unlike his two companions however, Kakashi recognised the woman almost immediately. He moved instantly towards her and kneeled slightly so that he could confirm that it was who he thought it was.

She was unconscious, but seeing her face was enough evidence for Kakashi's blood to run cold.

"Do you recognise her?" asked Konan, noticing how unsettled her partner had suddenly become.

He nodded and reached out to slowly bring the woman's head up so that they could look at her face properly. Once her face was at their level her eyes shot open and she gave them the harshest glare of hatred they had ever felt, until she recognised the shinobi that had woke her up.

The woman was able to barely manage a slight smile as she looked at Kakashi through pupil-less eyes.

"Hn…so that's what you look like…under…that mask…"

Kakashi smirked sadly, "Looking good there, Anko."

Anko struggled to move her head slightly to look at Konan and Lee standing behind Kakashi, unsure what to make of the situation. "I guess…you guys…weren't…expecting to…see me?"

Kakashi shook his head grimly, "We thought you were dead with everyone else. How…how are you here? Didn't you die with Konoha?"

"Konoha? So…that wasn't just…a dream…" She seemed barely able to keep her eyes open, and with a quick check Kakashi could tell that she was barely hanging on to the slightest thread of life. Her breathing was unbelievably hoarse, and she struggled to bring out every word.

Despite that, she still had the same rough tone that Kakashi remembered.

"How...do I look?" asked Anko through pained breaths.

Kakashi grimaced, and she immediately noticed. She couldn't quite turn her head enough to look at her body, but judging from the fact that she could barely move she knew how bad it was.

"Who else..."

He thought about it for a moment, "Seventeen, not including you. We were still coming back from Suna when..."

Anko grinned, "Sounds about...right. At least...some survived..."

Lee walked out of the small room to keep watch over the corridor, while Konan stood by Kakashi's side. They didn't have much time, but from her estimation the Konoha shinobi wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"How many...weeks have...I been here?"

"Weeks?" Kakashi's eyes squinted when he realised that her sense of time must be way off. "Anko, it's been nearly four years."

"Four...years? That's...I guess she still...needed me."

Kakashi cocked his head slightly as he tried to look for a way to cut her down without killing her. From what he could see her muscles had atrophied so much that any form of exercise would be far too much for her.

"Needed? Anko...why are you here? What happened?"

The prisoner coughed violently, groaning loudly as her chest struggled with each breath. "I...was there...Kakashi. I...saw..."

"Save your strength, Anko. You can tell us later."

"The hell...I can. Before I...sleep again...you have to...listen..."

* * *

><p>***Flashback*** Pre-Destruction Konoha<p>

"Hmm…I think I need to get more dango."

Anko dropped her last empty dango stick into the open drawer at her desk, letting it bounce on the hundreds of others within before she shut it with a satisfying thump.

The young Tokubetsu-Jounin hopped off her desk and wandered over to her wardrobe, throwing her mesh shirt over her bra before looking at her small collection of clothes. She had no missions today, though that wasn't uncommon for her. She generally had other things to do beyond her duties in missions.

Anko pulled on her overcoat as she completed her regular shinobi outfit, figuring she would be able to pester the dango salesman for a few hours before going to the bar. As she fastened her forehead protector on her head she flinched slightly before a grin grew over her face.

"Not bad. I didn't hear a thing," she said, turning around slowly.

Standing in the middle of her small apartment was a woman dressed in a dark red robe, with red hair and a strange pair of ice-blue eyes. She wasn't anyone that Anko recognised, and judging by how she had gotten past all of Anko's chakra traps she would have to be an enemy of significant ability.

Anko found herself licking her lips in amusement; she could feel her blood pumping in anticipation.

The red woman didn't move an inch as Anko slowly walked to a position to stand against her.

"Are you an agent of Orochimaru?" asked the Konoha shinobi, always weary that her old teacher was still out there for her to take down.

The red woman smiled slowly, setting the hair on Anko's neck straight up. It was scarier than the last time she had seen Orochimaru, and that was something she still had nightmares about.

She seemed to be looking Anko up and down, examining her for something she couldn't quite pick; until she saw the woman's eyes rest on the patch of her neck that had caused her so much trouble in her life.

Disliking where this might be moving towards, Anko brought up a covered arm and pointed it to the intruder.

"Sen'eijashu!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)

Four snakes shot out from her coat sleeve towards the red woman, but barely after covering a few metres they disappeared into puffs of smoke, the technique having been negated completely.

The red woman barely noticed the attack and took a step towards her, slowly rising one of her arms.

Anko bit at her lip and reached into one of her pockets, "Well if that doesn't work…"

She withdrew a cluster of kunai and tossed them up into the air before clapping her hands together. The kunai floated for a second before aiming themselves at the intruder. With a push of chakra behind them, Anko sent the kunai flying towards her opponents, each aiming at vital spots and openings.

Initially the red woman appeared disinterested in the attack, but when she realised how close the kunai were to her, her demeanour changed instantly.

She pulled her hands across her front as a long blade of metal appeared out of thin air, spinning rapidly in front of her to parry each of the kunai before they could strike at her. The projectiles fell to the ground and dug into Anko's apartment's floor, with small puddles of purple liquid slowly seeping out of the ends.

Twitching her eyes slightly, the red woman looked down at the weapons for a moment before turning her scary gaze back to Anko. **"You are indeed the specimen I have been seeking."**

"Screw you," said the Tokubetsu-Jounin, already running through a sequence of handseals.

The intruder rolled her eyes and took several steps towards Anko, her boots barely making a sound on the wooden floor.

Anko finished the sequence and went to activate her technique, but she found her chakra unresponsive as the red woman was so close to her. As usual when she tried to use a technique without any normal chakra, her Cursed Seal flared up on her neck and tried to spread over her body.

She dropped to her knees with a cry of pain and clutched at her neck, while the intruder seemed content to watch as the black marks threatened to spread from the tomoe marks over her neck and down her front.

"What did you do to me?" spat Anko, trying to hold back the Cursed Seal with all of her willpower.

"**Fascinating. It appears to be resisting. This warrants further examination." **

The red woman bore down on top of Anko and put her hands to either side of her body.

Using what strength she could muster without letting the Cursed Seal take her over, Anko looked up to the woman who had so easily defeated her and grinned wildly.

"Go to hell." With that, she spat in the woman's face.

The red woman's face twitched as the spit slowly trickled down her face. Her hands fluctuated slightly before an angry frown grew on her face. She took a step back and spread out her fingers so that they were indicating to different parts of Anko's kneeling form.

oOoOoOo

"You're late."

Sensou rolled her eyes as she made her way up the hill. Thrown over her shoulder was the barely conscious body of Anko, with hundreds of puncture wounds all over her body, leaving a long trail of blood from where she had been taken.

Her apartment was a short distance from the main part of the village, and the Quiraji leader had met with no resistance as she had simply walked out of Konoha with Anko on her shoulder.

Standing at the top of the hill was a strange group of three figures, each feeling as dreadful as Sensou did to Anko's barely conscious perception.

The one who had spoken indicated to Sensou's prisoner with a wrinkled finger, "What is that, little sister? We were given strict orders."

Sensou dumped Anko unceremoniously onto the slightly damp grass before slamming a metal spike into her legs to keep her from crawling away. "I found something interesting. Even he would be remise in ignoring it."

"Then why is she nearly dead? I can barely sense any life in her at all. She'd barely make a decent meal at this rate."

"She spat on me. I had to exert my fury somehow."

"Enough squabbling," said a figure wearing white armour. He indicated to the village in front of them with a large gauntlet, "We have a job to do."

"We, don't have to do anything," said Sensou, glancing over at their fourth member with a suspicious gaze. "Isn't that right…'sister'?"

The woman in the black robe made no remark back; in fact Anko couldn't feel anything from her whatsoever. Her sight was blurred and sketchy, but she saw the woman walk away from the group slowly down the hill towards Konoha a short distance away.

For some reason, Anko couldn't shake the feeling that she would never see the village again, so she wanted to get as good a look as possible.

"I don't like this," said Shouri, his gauntleted hands on his hips. "This isn't any form of conquest I would do."

Beside him the other leaders of the Quiraji watched as their fourth walked into the same entrance that Anko had been taken out of.

Sensou sighed and kicked a small rock down the hill, "As much as it pains me, I have to agree with him. Why does Shikyo have to do this? We could take this village easily."

"No, we couldn't," replied Shouri. He indicated to the walls around Konoha, "They are the biggest power in the shinobi world. If we were to attack traditionally they would turn it into a war of attrition, and while we would eventually win we would be weakened for the other shinobi forces. Not only that, but their walls are high and they have many escape tunnels."

Sensou eyed him suspiciously, but conceded that his military expertise exceeded hers. "Still feels like a waste. The amount of opportunity that exists here is immense."

"Even so, orders are orders," said Kyoukou. "We are only soldiers after all."

Both Sensou and Shouri scoffed at the notion.

"Speak for yourself," said the white-armoured warrior.

Unable to move, Anko watched as the three of them stopped talking and looked over at Konoha. She couldn't see anything besides a large blur, but something in her bones told her something was wrong.

"Watch this carefully," said the old man in the group. "This is where our revenge begins."

Anko stared at her village, feeling a terrible sense of foreboding at what was about to happen.

One moment Konoha stood perfectly still, its occupants going about their businesses like normal.

The outsides of the village shuddered for a second before they began to collapse in on themselves. Buildings folded in on themselves and were hurled through the air, as the people were drawn to a single point in the middle of the village. The great gates at the front of the village shuddered for a moment before splintering into thousands of pieces, with some scattering away from the central point but the majority flying towards the centre like the rest of the village. At the back of the village the Hokage monuments began to collapse downwards, though they seemed to resist the pull that was destroying the rest of the shinobi village.

As the buildings and people of Konoha flew towards the central point of the village they collapsed inwards and disappeared into thin air.

In barely a minute, all of Konoha had been drawn into a single point, and disappeared in a flash.

All that remained was the woman in the black robe that Anko had seen earlier standing in the centre of the now devastated village, slowly closing her eyes and lowering her hands.

_No…it has to be an illusion…that couldn't…_

"Well, I don't like her methods, but I can't argue with her results." Shouri sighed and flexed one of his arms slowly. "Why did we even come here, if she was going to take all the fun?"

Sensou nodded before reaching down and picking up Anko like a ragdoll, throwing her over her shoulder. "You'd have to ask him about that. I've always felt uncomfortable around her anyway."

Kyoukou watched as their older sister slowly walked back from the crater of Konoha back to their position. "She has her purpose, as do we all. She's been with him the longest, you both know that."

"I still find it hard to see her as a relative though. Nobody should be that powerful. It's just creepy."

Anko could feel her consciousness slipping away, but she still refused to believe what she saw was real.

After all, there had been no resistance.

Nor any screams.

There was only…silence.

***End Flashback***

* * *

><p>Jito blinked and found himself in a very different scene than the one before. The Hokage's office was nowhere to be seen; instead Jito found himself staring at a complex he was quite familiar with. He knew that he was currently intangible as a young boy ran through his body, laughing carelessly with a large group of similarly dressed children.<p>

Despite knowing it was an illusion, Jito found himself smiling at their innocence, particularly in a place like this. The buildings around him wore the fan symbol proudly as they used to, with Jito judging that he had succeeded in penetrating through to Itachi's mind.

_Now where are you, Uchiha? Where have you taken me?_

"Is Onii-san here yet?"

Jito frowned as he recognised the voice, turning within his spiritual form to see his most recent companion come running out of a nearby building, looking several years younger than he currently. Uchiha Sasuke appeared quite different by Jito's observation, he still wore similar Uchiha attire that he did now, but his face was completely different.

He was smiling.

"Patience is a virtue, Sasuke. Perhaps you will learn that one day," came an older voice, one that Jito was also quite familiar with.

From the house Sasuke had come from stepped out the old clan leader, still looking the same as he had all those years ago. Unlike Sasuke's slight change, Uchiha Fugaku still held the same angry stoic stare that he always had, though it seemed slightly softened when he looked at his youngest son.

"But it's an important day, Father," said Sasuke as he turned to face his father. "He should be here by now."

Fugaku shook his head and turned to face a figure standing just out of Jito's view. "You talk to the boy, Mikoto. You've more experience in this area than I."

_Did Fugaku just admit to not knowing something? This is really different from how I knew him. _

As Jito suspected when he had seen Fugaku, the figure emerged from the house wearing the same housewife outfit she had been killed in, wiping her hands on a handtowel.

"Let the boy have his fun, Fugaku. He's right; it is an important day for our family."

"Hn," was all the Uchiha clan leader said, turning on his heels to walk back into their house.

Mikoto and Sasuke watched him disappear before turning and smiling at each other like only a mother and son could.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Mikoto appeared to not have eyes in her head. It only lasted for a second before they returned to normal, but that image was going to be burned into Jito's mind for a while.

_This illusion must be unstable. He probably knows I'm here. _

Mikoto smiled down at her son, who didn't seem to have noticed the split-second oddity. "Why don't you go and find your brother, Sasuke? I'll help your father heat up some water."

The fifteen year-old Sasuke nodded and turned to look down the road, "I'll drag him here by his ears if I need to."

Mikoto chuckled lightly, sending spikes of pain into Jito's heart as he remembered how infrequently she used to do that. "That'll be a spectacle. A Genin dragging the head of the ANBU back home."

Even with his back turned to his mother, Sasuke still grimaced at being reminded of his position. "I told you, I'm only a Genin because I offered to help Sakura and Naruto get to Chuunin."

Mikoto laughed again as Sasuke stormed off to find his brother, before turning to return back inside the house. As he watched her back, Jito frowned when he saw small pools of blood forming underneath her feet, with a long line appearing on the back of her neck.

Instinctively he turned away from her, not wanting to see where the irregularity was going to end up.

_I think my memories are clouding the illusion. I should follow the boy. _

oOoOoOo

In his corporeal form it was easy enough to follow the slightly younger Sasuke through the Uchiha compound. It was strange to see how little it had changed from the last time Jito had seen it, though it was nice to the area not covered in bodies.

_This must be how Sensou is keeping Itachi in line. She forces him to create his ideal world and he would have no intention to leave it. I'm surprised she didn't try that with me, it probably would have worked. Perhaps she hadn't developed a machine like this yet._

He watched as Sasuke tapped on a wooden door, seemingly dancing impatiently on the edges of his feet. "Come on…come on…"

After a few seconds the door opened slowly and a surprised looking Itachi stood in the doorway, giving his younger brother a curious look.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

The younger Uchiha paid his brother no heed as he rushed past him, "Never mind that, nii-san!"

Jito chuckled at the scene of Sasuke rushing to the bathroom, but stopped himself when he saw Itachi staring straight at where he was floating. Judging from his dark gaze Jito knew that he couldn't quite see him yet; though he couldn't be sure whether it was the real Itachi or just a representation of him.

After a few seconds Itachi appeared to have figured that it was just his imagination and turned back to go back inside his house.

Jito figured he had brought here for a reason after activating his own genjutsu to invade Itachi's chakra, so he floated through one of the walls and into the house.

Itachi's house was surprisingly well kept from Jito's perspective. It was a reasonably sized household with proper furnishings and tatami mats, and he could feel how nice a home it was.

_If I had something like this…I don't know if I could wrench myself from it either. The Uchiha and I have more in common than I thought. _

"Who was that?" said a female voice from another room, one that sounded rather soft compared to the other Uchiha voices he'd heard so far.

Jito drifted to where he heard the voice, keeping his wits about him as he tried to ignore the black spots that had begun appearing on the walls around him.

"It was just my little brother," said Itachi who had just walked into the room. "Knowing him he's probably just being impatient."

The woman Itachi was talking to was very pretty by Jito's standards. She had long wavy blonde hair and a pair of light brown eyes that seemed to simply exude innocence. It was also obvious to him that she was heavily pregnant judging from her expanded stomach and loose-fitting clothing.

"You should be kinder to your brother, Chi. He means well."

Itachi smiled at the woman affectionately, walking over to her and offering her his hand, "And you should be taking it easy, Kanako. You are still walking for two for at least a little bit longer."

_Kanako? Isn't that what Ishi was going to name his daughter? _

The pregnant girl sighed and patted at Itachi's hand with a tired smile, "The sooner the better. My feet are killing me. Your son is a cruel child."

With a chuckle, Itachi helped her onto a nearby seat. "Well the Uchiha are known for being harsh."

"I thought we were past the whole clan business, Chi." Kanako sighed and patted her stomach, "I think it's almost time for me to not be pregnant for a while."

From a nearby doorway Sasuke walked into the room with his hands in his pockets, breathing out a long sigh of relief. "Ah, so much better."

"Aren't you normally the serious brooding one of the family?" asked Itachi with a smirk.

Sasuke shrugged and leant on the doorframe, "When you've got to go, you've got to go."

_I should find a way to break this illusion down. If I can bring him out of this, perhaps that will disconnect him from the machine. _

He set about examining his surroundings, trying to see if there were any inconsistencies he could exploit. When building a world within a genjutsu the foundations are vital. If the target discovers that they are in an illusion then the genjutsu begins to break down.

"Are you guys ready to go yet or what?"

"Be patient, Sasuke. Having a baby isn't like activating a jutsu." Kanako looked out over at a nearby window, where Jito was observing from. Her brown eyes seemed oddly familiar to him, until it occurred to him to check her chakra.

Jito's eyes widened as he recognised a similarity in her chakra signals, though it was fairly weak from her even in the illusion.

_She's is a Senju? Mikoto never mentioned that her son was together with a Senju girl. Is this only part of the illusion, or was he truly with a girl from our clan?_

He watched as Itachi berated his younger brother for acting like that in front of his wife, while Kanako laughed softly at the two brothers arguing. It was still an illusion but it felt realer than anything he had experienced in a long time.

_If she was killed…that would explain Itachi's actions that night. Attacking his father…and the rest of the clan…Damnit, I'm getting sucked into the illusion. _

Deciding to no longer stay a mere observer, Jito put his corporeal hands together and began working his chakra through the illusion Itachi had created for himself.

The walls of the room were ripped out from the ground in a single motion, leaving the occupants in a house exposed to the elements outside. None of them seemed to have noticed how he'd changed the illusion, and despite the wind now blowing on their bodies they continued having their conversation like nothing had happened.

Itachi gave his wife a light kiss on her forehead and stood where there had just been a wall, "I'm going to get Shio, and then we'll get going, okay?"

"Thanks, Chi," said Kanako with a smile.

"Yes, go about doing that, 'Chi'," said Sasuke with a wide smirk on his face.

_Okay, so that clearly wasn't enough._ _What will I have to do to break this illusion?_

He looked around the environment, noticing that the house was trying to reconstruct itself from the ground upwards. The old Senju warrior frowned and motioned to the front door of the house. With a small amount of chakra he summoned a manifestation of Fugaku at the door, one of the few things that had survived him ripping the walls off of the house.

"Itachi! We must have words!" Fugaku's voice cut through the wind and caused each of the occupants to turn and look at his angry face.

From the main living room Sasuke frowned and made his way to the front, while Itachi approached from the other side with a small girl in his arms. They both appeared surprised at their father's presence, though not enough that it didn't appear happen every so often.

"What is it, Father?" asked Itachi, softly bouncing the baby in his arms like a caring father. "Is Mother here as well?"

"Never mind her," said Fugaku, his arms crossed over his chest. "I must speak to you about that matter I've just been informed about."

"Is something wrong?" asked Sasuke, wary of how heated the debates between his father and his older brother could get.

Itachi and his father glared at each other for a moment before Itachi turned to his brother and slowly handed him the baby girl who Jito figured must be Itachi's daughter. "Take Shio to Kanako, brother."

Sasuke took his niece with a confused look on his face, "Nii-san?"

"Just go, Sasuke. This is between me and our father."

Even with the house walls thrown away, Sasuke walked through the house and joined Kanako in another room, while Itachi stared at his father angrily.

"You refused the Hokage's request again?" It wasn't a question, that much Jito could tell from Fugaku's tone. He may have created the manifestation of the Uchiha clan head, but Itachi was filling the illusion with his own memories and experiences. If it worked the way he wanted it to, Itachi would realise that it was an illusion eventually.

Itachi clenched his fists as he glared at his father in the doorway, "Now is not the time, Father. Kanako is about to go into labour. I would think you would be happy to be getting a grandson."

The head of the clan pushed his way through his elder son to go into Itachi's work room, "While you may be able to push your feelings to the forefront for your wife and your brother, you have a duty to the Uchiha clan, Itachi. You cannot ignore us."

"I told the Hokage that I wasn't interested. I have more important things to do here, at home."

Fugaku snarled and slammed a fist into a non-existent wall. To amplify the effect Jito caused a shockwave to run through the house, forcing Itachi to waver on his feet momentarily.

"Nothing is more important than the Third Hokage's offer! Now is the time for an Uchiha to take up the mantle of Hokage!"

Itachi steadied himself and activated his Sharingan, "You do not dictate what I can and cannot do with my existence, Father. I will not become the Fifth Hokage just to settle your petty dispute with my wife's clan. I am satisfied with my life as it is now."

"Petty?!" Fugaku moved over to stand in front of his older son and picked him up by the scruff of his shirt, "Your ancestors died fighting the Senju, and you will show some damn respect!"

_I knew Fugaku was a bastard, but how little did Itachi think of his Father to portray him like this? I can definitely use this. _

Jito manipulated the illusion manually and forced the manifestation of Fugaku to drive a fist into Itachi's stomach, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud cough as the wind left his chest.

"My two sons, such a disappointment. You were to be Hokage, and your younger brother was to be the clan head. Clearly I expected too much for boys like you."

He kicked at Itachi fiercely, breaking a chair as the Uchiha shinobi was sent flying across the room. "Marrying the Senju whore, and now this. You are nothing but…"

"**Enough of this charade." **

Jito frowned and turned in an attempt to find the distorted voice. The illusion in front of him had frozen as Itachi had been picking himself up from the ground and wiping blood from his mouth, while Fugaku seemed ready to launch into another tirade of abuse.

_So he's become aware of my presence. Good. Maybe now we can fight like real genjutsu users._

Slowly a stream of black flames emerged underneath Jito's corporeal legs. He took no notice as the black flames crept up his legs and spread to his body, threatening to burn him to nothingness.

"That won't work, Itachi. This is now my illusion, not yours," said Jito, not feeling anything from the flames over his body.

A crow flew into the house through the opening Jito had created, sitting on top of the manifestation of Itachi's shoulder. The red eye on the crow stared at Jito ominously.

Jito frowned and waved one of his arms, forcing the black flames to disappear from his body. "You should give up, Itachi. You won't beat with genjutsu. I've been doing this since before you were born."

"**What is your purpose here?" **came the same voice as before. Jito could have sworn it was coming from the crow, but he was hearing it from every direction like a strange echo.

Jito looked around the ruined house at the frozen illusion. In the main living room Sasuke was cradling the little baby girl in his arms affectionately, while Itachi's Senju wife seemed to be in the middle of a nap.

"I'm here to take you out of this place. You are killing shinobi by staying here."

The moment Jito said that the illusion of the Uchiha complex disappeared into a dark black background. The Senju shinobi frowned as he felt his senses spiking with false information. His body was fighting off an attempt to place him in an illusion, while simultaneously breaking down Jito's own illusions that he had used on Itachi.

The pain shooting through his nerves ceased once he flushed out the invading chakra and centred himself again.

"You'll have to try much harder than that, Itachi. I'm not going away that easily."

He blinked and felt a shiver run up his spine as he saw a gigantic red eye staring at him from the darkness. He tried to move around it but it followed him and continued to stare straight into his red eyes.

The Sharingan began to spin before quickly turning into a strange pinwheel shape, one that looked quite similar to the one Mikoto had.

_Tsukuyomi again? He is quite the single trick pony._

The Mangekyou Sharingan stopped spinning and Jito in turn activated his own technique to counter the powerful genjutsu.

"It won't be that easy…" said Jito through gritted teeth. It was harder than he had thought to defeat Tsukuyomi so many times, but he knew Itachi had to be getting drained by the experience too.

"**Don't be so cocky. This is far from over." **

* * *

><p>Jito blinked again and found himself floating in a pure white environment, with an image of Itachi floating several feet away from him.<p>

The Itachi in front of him looked far less debilitated than he was inside the machine, though Jito figured this was Itachi's personal perception of himself. He still wore his Akatsuki robe and slashed Konoha forehead protector as he stared at Jito through his Mangekyou Sharingan.

Jito cracked his neck slightly, fluctuating his chakra within his system so that it was almost impossible to attack him directly with genjutsu.

Itachi's eyes wavered for a moment, and Jito looked down to find a long sword sticking out of his chest.

There was no pain; Jito hadn't even noticed the attack. It was impressive, though it wasn't nearly powerful enough to injure him.

He reached up and touched the hilt of the sword, causing it to turn into a cloud of butterflies that flew away from the two of them harmlessly. Jito looked back over at Itachi with a frown, as if baiting him to try again.

Itachi cocked his head slightly, as if trying to understand why his attack hadn't worked. In that moment, two massive slabs of rock appeared on either side of him and slammed together, crushing him in between.

"I know that wasn't enough to take you down, Itachi. Why don't you drop the charade and fight me properly?"

The slabs of rock disappeared into the white background, and as Jito suspected there was no trace of Itachi within.

He spun around and put up a hand, catching a thrown fist by Itachi from behind him. He held the Uchiha's fist tightly, staring straight into his opponent's Sharingan.

"Why are you here?" asked Itachi again, his voice sounding almost desperate.

"I'm here to take you home."

Itachi's eyes twitched and he pulled back his other fist, "This is my home. You have no right to try and destroy it."

Jito put up his other hand and created a chain to hold back Itachi's fist, "This isn't real, Itachi. You know that. These people...these environments, they aren't real."

Shrugging off his grip on his other hand, Itachi clutched at the chain holding him back, "How do you know what is real, and what is not? I am happy here, why can't you leave it at that?"

Jito pulled back a hand and created a large spear that he buried into Itachi's chest with a satisfying thump, "Because you can't stay here forever. I know how hard it is to tear yourself away from your memories, but you've got to try."

Pulling the spear out from his chest, Itachi tossed it aside and clapped his hands together. His hair flared up slightly as he moulded massive amounts of chakra.

"You know nothing of my sorrows! Get out of my head!"

Itachi began to grow in size as the scene around the two of them shifted to one of his own making. In response to the Uchiha's illusion, Jito activated his own technique and matched Itachi's size.

Beneath the two of them emerged a small city that they both easily dwarfed, and while they were continuing to expand upwards Jito marvelled at the level of detail in the city underneath their feet. He wasn't sure why it had occurred, but it felt oddly appropriate.

When two genjutsu users fight against each other there is usually some backlash within the illusions, but he hadn't seen anything like this for decades. Beyond the 'skyscrapers' that came up to their knees and expansive docks that connected to the seas, there appeared to be tiny people going about their lives in a strange manner he hadn't seen in his many years as a shinobi.

He turned to Itachi as the two of them stopped growing, with each of them towering over the city below them. Jito had his hands clutched together in a handseal, a large collection of ancient swords floating around his head, while his opponent appeared completely relaxed, his hands hidden within his robe.

For a few moments nothing happened, both of them waiting for the other to make the first move.

_I can't kill him, that would defeat the purpose of my coming here. He needs to realise why he needs to come back, and break himself out of the illusions placed on him._

Jito reached up and grasped one of the swords, holding it in front of him idly. He wasn't a particularly good kenjutsu fighter in reality, but in genjutsu he was akin to a God. It was one of the perks of his inherent abilities.

In a fluid motion he flipped in the air and kicked one of the swords around his head at Itachi before charged at him, each footstep crushing dozens of buildings beneath him.

The first sword bounced harmlessly off Itachi's front and buried itself into the ground nearby, skewering a carriage with the people inside. The Uchiha shinobi watched as Jito charged towards him, barely even noticing as Jito leapt up to slice through his head.

The Senju's sword bounced off as easily as the first one, though Jito was quick to jump back when he saw what was blocking his attacks. His feet skidded along the cityscape, destroying everything in their path as he got rid of the swords around him.

Surrounding Itachi was a glowing red ribcage, one that appeared to grow around Itachi to cover him completely. The barrier grew into a humanoid figure that towered over Itachi, forming a large shield in one hand with something resembling a sake bottle on the other side.

Despite the illusion, a shiver ran up Jito's spine for what felt like the third time since entering the machine.

_This is what Father once spoke of...Susanoo...the ultimate defence…_

The humanoid figure protecting Itachi reached over the sake bottle and appeared to pull out a sword covered in flames, one that felt it like it was burning up the very air it occupied.

Jito frowned when he saw Itachi's Susanoo hold the flaming sword down towards the ground. Its edge barely touched one of the small buildings, yet it set the entire complex on fire in an instant.

_That isn't part of the illusion. That's part of his power...to manifest it here…amazing._

"Come, Senju. Fall upon my blade, so that I can return to my family."

Itachi swung his Susanoo's sword at Jito in a single motion of his hand, forcing the Senju to leap back to avoid the long-ranged strike. From within the illusion it was difficult to see, but Jito could have sworn the flaming sword had extended beyond its original range to try and hit him.

_He's finally fighting seriously. To use Susanoo to this extent...if that hits me I'm gone...even here in the illusion. _

Jito could feel Itachi's power washing over him, threatening to overtake him in strength and throw him into an endless illusion that he wouldn't be able to escape.

Seeing no other option, Jito sped through a long set of handseals while simultaneously doing his best to avoid the deadly sword of Itachi's Susanoo.

_I have no other option. He's stronger in here than I anticipated. _

He clapped his hands together before facing them towards Itachi's position, "Magen: Narakujitsuzai."

The moment he activated the technique the entire environment disappeared, leaving Itachi on his own within the white background they had occupied before.

The Uchiha shinobi frowned and cancelled his Susanoo, wondering what had been able to break through his Mangekyou Sharingan's constant Tsukuyomi so easily.

As he was running through the possibilities, a young woman appeared in front of him, holding her hands on her hips in a rather uncharacteristic manner. Beside her appeared Itachi's younger brother, with the same expression he had last given Itachi before he had been knocked out by Kidomaru.

"What are you doing, Nii-san?" asked the manifestation of Sasuke.

Itachi frowned and tried to wave away the image of Sasuke, but it stubbornly persisted. He turned to look at Kanako with a desperate expression, "I had to stay, Kanako. You know I how hard it was since you died…"

"I'm gone, Chi. You know that. You accepted that fact years ago." Kanako's voice was still the same quiet tone it had been earlier, but her words cut through Itachi better than any weapon could. "Let me go, Chi."

The elder Uchiha wanted to reach out and touch her face again, but before he could she disappeared into thin air, leaving a light breeze that moved past his face before disappearing completely.

Itachi clutched at his chest painfully and dropped to his knees, feeling the crushing weight of losing here again. He heard a strange scoff from above him, and before he knew it the manifestation of Sasuke had kicked him square in the face, sending him flying backwards.

"I'm disappointed in you, Itachi," he said angrily. "To have fallen so far..."

"You have no idea what you are talking about, Sasuke," said Itachi, picking himself up. "What would you know about love?"

"I know enough not to kill my own kind." Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at his brother.

Itachi flicked the edges of his Akatsuki robe and clenched his fists, "You, who never had someone so dear to you, would never understand my pain!"

"I HAD YOU!" Sasuke leapt forward and drove a fist into Itachi's chest, driving the wind out of his lungs. "I'm still out there, and you dare speak to me of not understanding? I'm the family you have left!"

Itachi slowly brought up his head to look at his brother's angry Sharingan. He clutched at his chest again, though this time there was a different pain.

"I…failed again…didn't I?"

"You still have time to save him, Itachi."

The Uchiha shinobi looked up again to find his brother gone, and a familiar looking Senju shinobi was standing over him.

"Your brother is alive and well, Itachi. He's here, trying to save you."

"Sasuke…he came for me…?"

Jito nodded and offered a hand to his opponent. As they grasped hands he transferred a massive burst of chakra through to him, finally breaking down the last illusion that had been keeping Itachi prisoner.

"It's time for you to return home, Itachi. Your time isn't over yet."

Itachi took a moment to collect himself before taking a long breath and standing up with his help. He straightened out his robe and deactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan. "You are…Jito, correct? The one that used to work with Kakashi?"

"Kakashi was right, you did retain his memories. Yes, and I'm here to take you out of the machine."

Itachi took a glance at their surroundings, noticing that the white background appeared to be falling apart. "I don't know if I have the strength to survive the transition back to reality. When I was brought into here, it nearly killed me. I won't have the chakra."

Jito considering it for a moment before clapping his hands together and placing a hand over Itachi's face. "I refuse to let that happen."

"What are you doing?" asked Itachi, surprised by the older shinobi's action. Just moments ago he had come very close to sealing the old shinobi within his Susanoo, yet here he was willing to risk his life to bring him back.

Jito grinned slowly, something he had taken from his grandniece. "You have Kakashi's memories, so you know my story. Moreover you saw it in here. I may not have done much good in my life, but taking you out of here might make up for some of my past mistakes."

Itachi felt Jito's chakra transferring to him, even within their illusionary world he felt like he was becoming more like himself again. "You'll die…you know that."

"The time of the Senju has passed. The time of our clans, really. When you meet a woman called Fiore and her mother Elika, please tell them…" He hesitated for a moment, unsure what he would actually want to say.

"Jito? What do you want me to say to them?"

The old Senju shinobi thought about it before letting out a tired chuckle, "I can't think of anything. I guess someone like me doesn't have any last words."

He completed the transfer and stood back from Itachi. "But as a last act…this isn't bad."

"Thank you, Jito. I don't know how I'll ever repay what you've done in here."

The two of them both put up their hands to form their own handseals.

"Kai!"

"Kai!"

* * *

><p>The machine sizzled for a few moments before the glass in front of Itachi slowly opened upwards, much to the surprise of Sasuke and Fiore. They had been waiting patiently since Jito had entered the machine, and their faces lit up when they saw that he had been successful.<p>

Sasuke immediately dashed forward to grab Itachi as he fell out of the machine, catching him lightly on his shoulder.

"Is he okay?" asked Fiore, making her way around to see if Jito was also coming out.

Sasuke carefully laid Itachi down onto the ground and put his head to his chest. "He's still breathing, so I think he is okay. He's very low on chakra though, we'll need to get him out of here quickly."

He popped up his head, "How is our fearless leader?"

His happy expression dropped when he saw Fiore slowly making her way back around, shaking her head. "No good?" he asked, not particularly wanting to be correct.

"I…" Fiore frowned, unsure of how she felt. "He's dead. I can't explain it, but he's gone."

Sasuke nodded slowly, "I understand. He did his duty, far more than either of us expected. We can't fault him for that."

"Yes…but the Senju…"

Her partner carefully slung his brother over his shoulder before placing a hand on her arm, "Fiore, we have to get out of here. Jito wouldn't want his sacrifice to be in vain."

She nodded grimly, she didn't like it but they had no choice. The likelihood of them being discovered was quite high since they had shut down the machine, though she hated leaving Jito inside it. She didn't like the Senju, but that didn't mean she wanted him to die.

_You broke your promise, Jito. Don't think I'll forgive you any time soon. _

The two of them came back into the main floor where she had fought Kyoukou, with the room illuminating a path through the bodies.

"Where are we going to go?" asked Fiore quietly.

Heaving Itachi on his shoulder and noting that his brother was lighter than he thought he would be, her partner squinted before making an executive decision. "We'll need help getting out of here. Let's go."

* * *

><p>"Hard to believe, isn't it?" said Anko, barely able to keep her eyes open.<p>

Kakashi shook his head slowly, "No, I can believe it." He didn't mean to sound so cynical, but it had been a possibility on his mind since he'd discovered their destroyed village.

"We've met the woman who destroyed your village before," said Konan behind him. "She did a similar thing to Amegakure, though I now think she took it easy on us. How powerful are these people that they can do things like that on a whim?"

"These bastards are…" Anko struggled for a moment before coughing blood down her front again. The group didn't know why she was reacting so badly to being conscious, though a quick glance at her restraints showed that she was probably rarely conscious throughout her imprisonment.

"Anko…"

"Shut it…Kakashi. I haven't got…much time…" She tried to pull herself up on her restraints, as if the tiny resistance was enough to sustain her. "Hehe…there isn't a way to…get me down…from here…is there?"

All Kakashi could do was shake his head. As much as he didn't want to see another comrade from Konoha die, he knew that he was not going to let her stay a prisoner in this kind of a place.

Anko swore under her breath and tried to wrench herself out of her restraints, to no effect. "I…can't die…here. There…is still…Orochi…maru…"

Kakashi leaned over and placed his hands on Anko's withered shoulders, "You don't need to…"

"Oi! Kakashi!"

Their group turned around to see Sasuke and Fiore running towards them, with Itachi slung over Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sasuke? What is it? Why are you here?" Kakashi's eyes frowned when he saw how the two of them looked. "Is that Itachi?!"

"We shut down the machine converting shinobi," said Fiore quickly. "We should get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Who is that?" asked Sasuke, having noticed Anko hanging off of the wall.

From his position in the corridor, Lee came up to Sasuke and Fiore with a wide frown on his face, "Where is Jito? Is he right behind you?"

Both Sasuke and Fiore's eyes sank at the mention of their previous leader. The other members of the group noticed this immediately, while Lee clutched his fists angrily.

"What happened to him?" he asked.

Sasuke indicated to his older brother sitting on his shoulder, still unconscious with no indication of what was wrong with him. "In order to destroy the machine, and get Itachi out of there, Jito…he…didn't make it…"

Lee stared at Sasuke for a few moments, as if not wanting to believe that the Uchiha was telling the truth. The Uchiha gave little information away to him, but a quick glance at Fiore told him all he needed to know. He gave Sasuke a glare again for a moment before disappearing.

Only Fiore seemed surprised at Lee's disappearance, "Where did he go?"

Sasuke shook his head at her, "Leave him be, Fiore. He has his own things to do here."

He turned to Kakashi again, who hadn't made a comment about Itachi's presence, "We need to leave, Kakashi. The enemy knew we were coming. There is nothing else here for us."

Anko chuckled painfully from the wall, staring at Sasuke through pained eyes, "You've got…a good…attitude kid."

The new leader of the group nodded with resignation, if Jito's group had succeeded, then this was the only thing left for them to be concerned about. "What are we going to do about Anko? I don't want to just leave her here."

"Don't…talk about me…like I'm…not here." Anko coughed violently and breathed out heavily through her teeth. "I can't…die here. Orochimaru…my duty…"

"Orochimaru is dead, Anko," said Kakashi quickly, having wanted to tell her before Sasuke had arrived. "He was killed nearly a week after Konoha was destroyed by his teammate Jiraiya."

The purple haired shinobi stared at him as if unable to believe him, but the look in his dark eyes was enough for her to understand what had happened. "I…see…"

For almost a minute no one said anything, before Anko finally took a long breath and stared back up at Kakashi.

"Go…Kakashi. I'll…take this…place out."

Besides their leader, Konan crossed her arms with a suspicious look, "You can't even mould chakra. We aren't going to leave you here to rot."

"That's a…nice sentiment…cheerleader…" said Anko with a bloody grin. She turned back to Kakashi, "Go…I've…got one more…thing I need…to do…"

He considered it for a moment before nodding grimly. He turned to rest of the group and indicated that they were going to leave, instructing Konan to take the others out the front. The three of them seemed hesitant, but moved out regardless, leaving Kakashi with Anko in the small room.

"Is there anything you need me to do before I go?" asked Kakashi, unsure as to how she was going to destroy such a facility in her state.

Anko struggled to indicate to her restrained hands with her head. "Take those spikes…out, and I'll…take care of…it."

The Konoha Jounin quickly went about pulling out the spikes from her hands, trying his best not to hurt her anymore than she already had been. Barely a minute later her arms hung uselessly at her sides, while the spikes in her body and legs kept her restrained on the wall.

Even without his Sharingan, Kakashi could tell she didn't have much life left in her. "Anko…"

"Five…minutes…Kakashi. Get as…far away…as possible…"

Unable to do anything else, Kakashi gave her a quick salute and took a step back, "We won't forget you, Anko. We'll get the bastards for this."

"Shove the…sentiment, Kakashi. Just…go…"

He nodded and gave her a final smile before going back into the corridor and running back to the staircase to go back downstairs. He wasn't sure where Lee was, but the taijutsu user was able to handle himself so he figured he would meet them outside quickly enough.

oOoOoOo

***Five Minutes Later***

Anko slowly dragged her hands together, grimacing as she formed the handseal on herself. The technique was originally designed to take out an enemy while sacrificing the user in turn, but that wasn't an option for her. Instead she would use it on herself, though even she wasn't sure how extensive the damage would get by doing such.

_I can do this much…_

The Cursed Seal responded to her attempts at summoning chakra, quickly spreading across her pale flesh to the point of covering the majority of her body. She could feel the power surging through her, even as she felt her life rapidly draining away.

_Come on Anko…one last push…use the power that bastard gave you…_

Finally the technique activated, and Anko let out a long breath of relief as the power accumulated within her withered body.

_For Konoha…you sons of bitches…_

"Souja…sousai…no…Jutsu" (Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique)

oOoOoOo

The group was miles away from the complex when Anko's technique activated, but they were still blown away by the magnitude of the forbidden technique.

Dozens of gigantic snakes appeared around the building and wrapped it into a tight cocoon with their bodies before the two lead purple snakes clasped together with their powerful jaws near the top of the complex.

By design, the technique was meant to only destroy the user and target within a certain area.

When Anko's used it in conjunction with her Cursed Seal on herself, the black explosion that began from inside the snakes and expanded outwards covered over two miles, evaporating everything in range.

Sasuke clutched Itachi tightly on his shoulder and braced himself while Lee dropped Jito's body to the ground and covered it with his own. The group watched as a shockwave screamed through the air and slammed into them, knocking most of the group to the ground with loud groans of pain.

"Hot damn…" said Fiore, one of the few who hadn't been knocked down. "That woman certainly knows how to make a scene."

"One of her better traits," smirked Kakashi, offering a hand to Konan to help her back up.

Sasuke adjusted his hold on his brother's unconscious body and turned to the others in the group. He hadn't asked Lee why he had brought Jito's body with them, but given what the Senju had sacrificed to bring his brother back Sasuke wasn't going to complain.

"We should get moving," said Kakashi, having assumed leadership of the group. "That explosion will bring every Quiraji soldier in the area down on our heads."

"Where are we going to go?" asked Fiore, flicking a small piece of debris from her shoulder. "Back to Cascading Flow?"

"Itachi probably needs medical attention," said Konan, aware that they were days away from any kind of shelter that didn't involve digging underground again. While he was unconscious she had no intention of confronting him over his role in Nagato's death.

Although when he did wake up, they would certainly have a chat. That, she made no promises on.

Picking up their fallen leader's body from where he had put him down, Lee drew in a long breath before turning to Kakashi with a serious expression.

"I know where we need to go."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And that is how Konoha was destroyed.

Shikyo's abilities haven't been fully revealed for obvious reasons, but she has quite a large role to play. I know she's stupidly overpowered, and that's part of the point. I don't want to fully explain it now, since I think it would ruin her part in the story.

I love Anko as a character, and I felt like bringing her in just for a moment in my story. If there was ever a character to go out with a 'bang', then I figured she should be the one to do it. Once a badass, always a badass.

I find the timing of this chapter, and what is happening in Naruto currently to be amusingly coincidental. They have Senju versus Uchiha; I have Senju versus Uchiha, though in a different manner. Particularly considering there is no more Senju clan now in this story, excluding Elika and Fiore, slightly.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	53. Chapter 49 Healing the Damage

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 49 – Healing the Damage

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan wouldn't turn into the Rinnegan. That's just dumb in my opinion.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Having infiltrated the Land of Fire, Jito's group broke into the Quiraji facility. Jito competed with Itachi within the machine, their minds battled to the point of madness and back. After going through each other's memories, Jito was able to break through Itachi's barriers and free him from Sensou's control, but he sacrificed himself to keep Itachi alive as he fell out of the machine. Behind the door in the facility, Kakashi's group discovered another prisoner of the facility, Anko. She described to them what happened to Konoha when it was destroyed by Shikyo, but she was far too injured to escape with them. She resolved to destroy the facility with herself inside, taking one final blast to make her mark on the world. With Jito dead, and Itachi unconscious, the group decides to retreat.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Lee reached out and tapped the side of the wooden barrier that surrounded their group. "Are you sure this is going to fool them? The Quiraji are not that stupid."<p>

Fiore waved off the shinobi's concern and sat down besides Sasuke and his brother, "The best way to hide a tree is in a forest, kid. As long as you lot don't mould any chakra, they won't even suspect we are in here."

"She's right, Lee. We used this to escape the Iwa shinobi a couple of times," said Sasuke beside her. He'd put Itachi down carefully by his side when they had been surrounded by the disguise, and yet he still had no idea why his brother hadn't woken up yet. Every hour he grew more nervous about his brother's condition.

Placing his hand on the wood around them, Kakashi had to admit it was an impressive feat. He didn't know what the wood looked like from the outside, but if it gave them a reprieve he wasn't going to complain. It had felt like a constant battle since they'd come to the Land of Fire.

"We can't just stay here though. It's already been two days." said Konan, having sat down on one of the edges within the tree. She looked down at Jito's body between them, wondering how much longer Lee was going to carry the Senju's corpse. "If we are going to get through to Suna, we've got to make some kind of a break for it."

"I wouldn't mind getting some rest, if that's okay," said Fiore, barely able to keep her eyes open.

Kakashi looked over at the group with an analysing gaze. Both Lee and Sasuke were putting up impressive fronts, but over three days without rest had taken its toll on them. The group's leader let out a long drawn-out sigh and slowly sat down next to Konan.

"I guess we don't have a choice. Why didn't you offer to do this before?"

He got no response from Fiore, and after a quick look Kakashi could see Fiore was already fast asleep on Sasuke's shoulder. The Konoha Jounin couldn't help but smile at the irony of what he saw.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and moved his shoulder so he could support his partner comfortably, "Every damn time. You'd think I was some kind of pillow or something."

Lee turned and gave Sasuke a flash of a grin before looking back at Kakashi, "I know of a way to get to Suna without breaking through the defence line the Quiraji set up on the border."

"Is that so?" asked Kakashi suspiciously. "I gather that's how you've been able to move back and forth between the shinobi village and the Land of Fire so easily?"

Lee nodded, "There is a passageway that goes underneath the Land of Rivers, one that exists near the South Western Fire Shrine."

"I know that place," said Kakashi. "It isn't too far from here. We can go there after we've recovered our strength."

Lee was quiet for a few minutes before he knelt down besides Jito's body and placed a bandaged hand on his arm. The body had gotten cold fairly quickly, and Lee knew it was only a matter of time before it began to rot.

"Why have you been carrying him around, Lee? The man is dead, let him rest." As grateful as Sasuke was to the deceased Senju shinobi, he didn't think he needed to be brought with them.

Lee pulled out a small map from Gai's flak jacket and handed it to Kakashi, "Here are the directions to get to the Shrine, just in case something happens."

Sasuke frowned angrily at being ignored, watching as Kakashi accepted the map. It only took a moment for him to realise what he'd been seeing in Lee's eyes. "You want to give him a proper burial, don't you?"

Lee turned and stared at him for a moment before nodding grimly, "He deserves at least that much."

"We don't have the time to do that, Lee," said Kakashi, though he agreed that if anyone deserved a good burial it would be his old companion. "We need to put him in the ground and get back to Suna as fast as possible."

The taijutsu master frowned at Kakashi and shook his head, "Not a chance. Out of everyone here, you owe him more than that, Kakashi."

The silver haired shinobi was forced to look away from Lee sadly, he had a good point. He didn't know the extent of the taijutsu master's relationship with Jito, but he clearly meant a lot to him. It reminded him of when they buried Gai.

"You should be able to get to the Shrine without my help," said Lee quietly. "Besides the patrols we've already encountered, the Quiraji are likely holding their forces back from directly engaging us."

"They probably want us to tell of the horrors we've experienced," commented Konan from her seated position. "The fact that we didn't encounter Sensou in that place is probably enough evidence."

Kakashi nodded, though he looked away from Konan when he did so. He hadn't told her of his encounter with Shikyo, and after hearing Anko's story about how Konoha was destroyed he still wasn't sure what to make of it.

_Every fibre of my being wants to say that she is my enemy and that I should try to destroy her, but she led me to Anko, which meant she wanted me to know what she did. I still don't know her motivations, or who she really is. _

"Let's worry about this in the morning," said Kakashi, feeling like his eyes were as heavy as a house.

Beside him Konan nodded before leaning back her head and closing her eyes, feeling herself drift off to sleep. The others quickly followed suit, with Lee volunteering to pay attention to sounds from the outside in case they were discovered.

With Fiore's reassurance that they wouldn't be found, the group took the moment to catch their breath. There were still more battles to fight, and they needed every inch of chakra they could muster.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke wiped the blood off of his sword and looked down at the Quiraji body he had just taken down. "Are we clear?"

His partner nodded as she leaned on her wooden staff, "Seems to be. That was some ambush they set for us. So much for hiding."

Kakashi and Konan stood above the group on a nearby hill, watching as Lee sped away from the group with Jito's body slung over his shoulder.

"Are you sure it's okay for him to just leave like that?" asked Konan, noticing how silent Kakashi had been since they had emerged from Fiore's tree.

Kakashi stared at the departing figure for a few moments before looking over at another section of the land he once called home. It was the same as he remembered it, but felt so alien to him now. It was no longer the home it once was.

"We couldn't stop him if we tried. Besides, Lee can handle himself."

Konan looked over at where he was staring, noticing a large group of Quiraji soldiers moving towards their location. She turned to the other two in their group, "We need to get moving!"

Sheathing his sword on his back, Sasuke nodded and walked over to the wooden box that Fiore had secured his brother in. Even without her wood she was still a formidable fighter, and Itachi still appeared to be in a fragile condition. He was determined to carry him himself, and wouldn't burden the others with his family responsibility.

"How far is this shrine of Lee's?" he asked as he carefully picked up his brother and hefted him over his shoulder.

"About a day," said Kakashi, jumping down to join the other two. He looked over at Itachi's unconscious body, "Is he right to move?"

"Yeah, should be."

Following Kakashi down the hill, Konan planted dozens of paper bombs on the hill she was just on. It probably wasn't enough to stop them completely, but it might give them the time they need to escape.

"Will the boy be able to catch up with before we go into the tunnel?" she asked as the group began to move towards the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.

"If I know Lee, he'll get there before us," said Sasuke, sounding thoroughly unpleased that he had to admit that. "We should worry about ourselves in the meantime."

Running beside him Fiore grinned and twirled her staff between her fingers, "Speak for yourself, Sasuke. I've got your ass covered."

"You made a promise you wouldn't talk about that, Fiore."

"I'll talk about it as much as I want. I own it."

Sasuke groaned and wished he had a hand free to plant it in his face. "Another time, Fiore. Another damn time."

Behind the two of them, Kakashi and Konan both smiled at each other at the situation.

_Oh to be younger_, they both thought at the same time.

* * *

><p>Lee breathed out slowly before looking up at the Senju sign and clapping his hands together.<p>

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do."

With his prayer done, Lee picked up a shovel he had acquired from a Quiraji scout team and began digging. He only had a few minutes before the soldiers he had sped past found him, but that should be enough time.

_I know I didn't know you for too long, Jito. I know I probably wasn't that important on your radar, but everyone needs someone to say a final prayer for them. It's the least I could do._

He carefully lowered Jito's body into the hole he dug; making sure that it was deep enough for there to be no chance for the Quiraji to consider digging him up again.

_We helped each other out, and now I guess we are doing it again. You've done enough Jito._

Using the shovel he covered his friend's body and said a silent final prayer. He didn't know what to really say, but he figured that it was the thought that counted.

_The world is lessened by your absence. You are a victim of Sensou, same as Sakura and I. _

He opened his eyes and clenched his bandaged hands angrily as he thought about his enemy.

_I'll make her pay for what she did to us. I'll rip it from her bones if I have to._

Lee slowly turned around, his black eyes looking at the Quiraji warriors that had just surrounded him. A grim smile slowly grew on Lee's face; he could barely contain his anticipation. His knuckles cracked as he began manifesting physical energy into his hands.

_But first, there are some minions to whet my appetite on. _

* * *

><p>Fiore scrapped her staff along the ground idly, whistling a tune to herself. After two hours there was still no sign of them being followed, and Fiore was bored out of her mind. Picking the short stick when you created the sticks was quite the achievement it turned out.<p>

They had reached the Shrine that morning, and besides large amounts of donation money that appeared to have been left behind by the monks when they were slaughtered by the Quiraji. There was no trace of them besides the dried blood stains on the ground and walls.

"I have an odd question," said Konan as she emerged by the living quarters of the Shrine. "I thought the Quiraji didn't kill civilians, yet we haven't come across anyone in this land at all."

Coming up from the basement, Kakashi shook his head to her to indicate that he hadn't found anything either. "The monks in the Land of Fire were powerful fighters, on par with any Jounin of the shinobi world. They likely saw them as a threat and removed them like they did Konoha."

"That's not what I mean though." Konan patted her Akatsuki robe down to get rid of the dust it had gathered, the Shrine looked to have been abandoned for a good two years. "We haven't encountered anyone. Not even the average farmer or child."

Kakashi shrugged, he had no clue. The two of them watched as Sasuke emerged from the nearby forest with a large deer thrown over his shoulder. Kakashi stared at his old student with a raised eyebrow.

"There is still game here," said Sasuke as he dumped the deer onto the ground in the courtyard. It had been days since they'd had fresh meat, and he was quite pleased that he'd gotten such a good catch.

"You know if Shikamaru saw you do that, he'd flip out."

Sasuke shrugged, "He isn't here. Besides, without Lee we won't find this entrance any time soon. Why he didn't tell us where it was, is beyond me."

The two of them couldn't argue with that, so they began setting up a small campsite within the Shrine. They had propped up Itachi on a nearby bench and he appeared to be sleeping quietly, as he had since they had taken him out of the Quiraji facility.

Leaving the deer to the older couple, Sasuke leapt up to his partner and looked over at the field away from the Shrine. "Anything?"

She tapped her staff on her shoulder, "Nope. Did I hear that you found food?"

"Yeah. We should be able to…" Sasuke's voice cut off as he focused his eyes at a particular area of grassland in the distance. It was only for a moment, but he could have sworn he had seen something that didn't belong in the area in front of them.

Fiore understood immediately what it meant when Sasuke stopped talking, turning around to warn the other two. "We've got incoming!"

"How many?" asked Kakashi quickly, moving to jump up next to the two of them, Konan quickly following behind him, leaving the deer sitting on the ground besides Itachi's unconscious body.

Fiore pointed at the mass of enemies rapidly approaching them, "Does a metric shit-ton apply?"

The others of the group could only agree with her assessment, even as they prepared themselves for a fight. Approaching them at a quick pace was a massive army of Quiraji soldiers, one that covered the land almost completely.

"How did we not hear them coming?" asked Sasuke, having drawn his sword and levelled it at his legs. "There's got to be at least two thousand of them."

"I guess they aren't letting us go after all," said Konan dryly.

Staring at the front of the approaching Quiraji, Kakashi could have sworn he could see a familiar looking soldier leading the rest of the enemies. From his estimation they would be in range to attack them in less than five minutes.

Fiore stared at the army for a moment before sighing loudly, "There's at least a hundred Red Guards down there. Isn't this a bit overkill for a group like us?"

"We did just blow up their conversion facility," commented Sasuke dryly. "If that doesn't require some kind of retribution, they wouldn't be worth our time."

"Oh cut the tough guy act, Sasuke. It's unseemly."

From the edge of their group, Kakashi turned as he felt an odd presence coming up to them ahead of the Quiraji army. From the tree line near the Shrine he watched as a green blur shot out of the forest and landed in front of them with a large gust of wind.

"Nice of you to join us again," said Sasuke with a smirk.

Rock Lee stood up from his kneeling position and turned to face the rapidly approaching army, putting up his hand in his usual taijutsu pose, "Sorry I am late. I ran into a few problems on the way back."

"Something like that?" asked Konan, motioning to the army mustering in front of them.

Lee nodded, never taking his eyes off of the enemy force, "They followed me here. Their leader is a far better tracker than I thought."

The army seemed to be right in front of them, but they hadn't moved to attack them yet. The leader at the front barked orders at the Red Guard around them, while the other Quiraji soldiers moved into flanking positions around the Shrine. They were getting surrounded very quickly.

"Where is the entrance to the tunnel, Lee?"

"Beneath the golden statue, Kakashi-sensei," replied the taijutsu master quickly.

Their leader turned to the group with his usual serious look when he was working. "Fiore, Konan, get Itachi and find the tunnel."

Fiore stared at him for a moment before nodding to Sasuke and jumped back down to grab Itachi, while Konan lingered to give Kakashi her usual stare.

He put a hand on her shoulder assuredly, looking strange into her amber eyes. "Trust me on this Konan. Get clear and back to Suna."

She gave him another glare, but understood why he was telling her to go. She moved back down to join Fiore, while the others stayed up at the top of the hill.

"You two should go with them," said Lee, reaching into his flak jacket to pull out the scroll that contained his staff. "I'll hold them off."

Sasuke grinned and took a single step forward, "Don't be stupid. You wouldn't last five minutes against that horde."

"Bet I take out more than you, Uchiha."

"How much do you want to bet?" said Sasuke with a cocky grin.

Kakashi put his hands together and began to mould large amounts of chakra, "Can it, boys. We have to hold them off and destroy the tunnel entrance, so get your game faces on."

Beside him, Sasuke thought about it for a moment before sheathing his sword and placing his own hands together. "I have a better plan. One that doesn't involve us getting killed."

"Speak quickly then, they are almost on us," said Kakashi, preparing his body for a large scale technique that should disable a large amount of the normal Quiraji soldiers. They had no more flash bombs, so they had no way of getting rid of the Red Guard without a very good plan.

He was also concerned about the young woman in bright white armour wielding a large bow that appeared to be made out of blue energy. She bore such a resemblance to the warrior called Shouri that had separated them that it was scary.

Sasuke pointed to the area just in front of the army of Quiraji soldiers, "Put a wall about six feet tall between us and them, Kakashi."

He turned to Lee as their teacher quickly ran through the necessary handseals, "You said they can ignore chakra-attacks, right? How about the elements?"

He didn't need to hear Lee's answer to understand what he needed to do, as Kakashi put his hands to the ground and summoned a long wall from one side of the land to the other, right in front of the Quiraji army.

It appeared to slow them down slightly as if anticipating their counter-attack, with the woman at the front yelling at them to find a way around.

"Stand back, you two," instructed Sasuke, clapping his hands together as he activated his Sharingan.

He moulded massive amounts of chakra straight into his eyes and they shot open to glare at the area just on top of the wall Kakashi had just erected.

His two companions' eyes widened as they watched his red Sharingan change into a pinwheel shape that Kakashi immediately recognised, but he never got a chance to say anything as Sasuke activated his doujutsu.

Sasuke grimaced as he felt a large spike of pain shoot through his face.

"Amaterasu."

A wall of black flames shot up from Kakashi's earthen barrier, covering over two dozen feet into the air all around the Shrine. The Quiraji forces fell back immediately upon seeing the black flames, with the group figuring they knew how deadly the flames truly were.

Sasuke grimaced again and deactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan, placing a hand to his face as the others stared at him with surprised expressions.

"How long have you been able to do that?" asked Kakashi, feeling a strange sense of inadequacy at the young Uchiha's new power.

Rock Lee shook himself out of his stupor and spun around to face the Shrine behind them, "That won't hold them back for long. Shouri can ignore it completely, so she'll get rid of it quickly. We should catch up to the girls, and close off the entrance."

"Spandex here is right, we should go," said Sasuke, taking a long breath to centre himself before jumping down to join the others. "I've had enough of this place for a long time anyway."

* * *

><p>Two days later the group emerged from the tunnel into the bright desert air of the Land of Wind, a large gust of wind immediately slamming into them as they climbed out of the hole underneath an inconspicuous rock formation.<p>

"Right out of the frying pan…" muttered Sasuke, reaching down to grasp a handful of sand with his free hand. He let it fall to the ground as he hefted his brother carefully, "Why did we come here again?"

"Because Suna has the best medical facility in any of the shinobi countries," said Lee, coming up behind the young Uchiha.

The two of them turned to watch the other three of their group emerge from the tunnel. Konan and Kakashi both had no immediately reaction to their new surroundings, but the look on Fiore's face brought a wide smile onto her partner's face.

Fiore took one look at the desert and let out a long sigh before leaning on a nearby rock with her shoulder. "Lovely. Instead of being stabbed to death, we can burn in our skins." She turned to Sasuke with a frown, "You take me to the loveliest places, Sasuke."

Wary of her teasing, Sasuke ignored her and turned to Lee with his brother still sitting on his shoulder, "How far away are we from the village? I don't want Itachi to be in the desert in this condition for too long."

Lee looked around the area for a moment before turning back to the group with a thumbs up, "It's no problem. We are already here."

The others of the group stared at him confused, but none of them could say anything quick enough as a dozen holes appeared in the sand around them. They suddenly found themselves surrounded by mask-wearing Suna ANBU, each of them pointing swords at their throats.

Sasuke and Fiore immediately reached for their weapons, but Lee indicated that they should put their hands up like he, Kakashi and Konan all had done. The ANBU stood stoically as another ANBU appeared in front of the group and walked up to Lee.

"Password," said the Suna ANBU with a deep tone. The scorpion mark on his mask was quite intimidating to the others, but Lee seemed to recognise the shinobi as his muscles relaxed slightly.

"Quartz sand with glauconite," said Lee carefully, making sure that he said each word precisely correctly.

The head ANBU cocked his head slightly as he crossed his arms across his chest, "Is that the brown or the green?"

Lee stared at him for a moment before groaning loudly and dropping his hands down to his sides, "Bah, I can never remember that." He winced as he stared at the ANBU warrior, "Green?"

For a moment it seemed like he had gotten it wrong as the ANBU didn't respond, but after a few seconds the ANBU leader relaxed and nodded to the shinobi around them, who all sheathed their swords at the order.

The group that had just emerged from the tunnel all breathed out a sigh of relief, though that was mostly out of sheer exhaustion than actual fear from the Suna shinobi.

"Where are you taking them, Rock Lee?" asked the head ANBU in a gruff voice.

Rock Lee indicated to Itachi hanging on Sasuke's shoulder, "We are taking him to the hospital. Sakura needs to examine the Uchiha and I could use a hot meal."

"And the others?"

Kakashi stepped up beside Lee so that he could say his part, "I have a few things I need to discuss with the Kazekage. There is intelligence he needs to know about, for the war."

The ANBU glared at Kakashi through his mask for a moment before turning to Lee, who seemed to understand his concern.

"I vouch for them. They won't bring any harm to Suna."

That seemed to satisfy the Suna shinobi, as they all turned on their heels and moved to stand near their leader. The ANBU leader nodded to Lee before the Suna shinobi all disappeared back into the sand beneath them.

"That was…weird…" said Fiore, not sure whether she should care, since all she wanted to do was sleep.

"They are patrolling the area," informed Lee, taking a seat on one of the rocks that looked the most comfortable. "We'll have to wait for them to come back to escort us. Normally I can just go through on my own, but you guys will need an escort."

"How long will we have to wait?" asked Sasuke, putting his brother down carefully onto the sand beneath him. He thought he could see the makings of a sandstorm in the distance, but he was more concerned about his brother's breathing becoming more ragged in the past few hours.

Lee considered the question for a moment before staring off into distance, "Shouldn't be too long. The village is only an hour away."

* * *

><p>The sun was low in the sky by the time they got to the village, and yet Suna still shone like a jewel in the horizon. Konan and Fiore were both surprised at the scale of the village considering they had heard it was the smallest village with the lowest strength military force, though they kept that to themselves.<p>

On the canyons that surrounded the village were lines of stakes covered in explosion notes, with dozens of shinobi patrolling the edges of the village.

Despite the clear militarisation of the village, even from the entrance they could see the villagers going about their usual business. Children played in the streets while civilians went through the markets getting their products for the week.

Kakashi and Sasuke on the other hand, couldn't help but notice how much better the village had become since their last visit. Sasuke was impressed at how difficult it would be to lay siege to the new style of village, while Kakashi had to admire the clearly supportive relationship between the shinobi and the civilians as he watched a Jounin help an old woman with her groceries.

The group walked through the valley at the entrance to the village with their ANBU escort, able to see a single figure standing in waiting for their arrival.

"About time you guys showed up. I've been waiting here for a good ten minutes now," said the figure, blowing smoke up into the air as he held a cigarette out of the corner of his mouth.

Both Sasuke and Kakashi grinned when they saw who had come to greet them, while Lee merely nodded in acknowledgement and began conversing with their ANBU escort again about the dynamics of the wonders of youth.

He'd changed a fair bit since the two of them had last seen him, and they were both surprised at the fact that he was smoking in a manner quite similar to his old teacher, but it was impossible to mistake the lazy look in the figure's eyes as he stared at them with a tired look.

"So the reports were accurate," said Shikamaru, extending a hand out to Sasuke first. "And you found your brother. That makes things easier for us."

Sasuke took the hand tentatively, still staring at the forehead protector across the Nara heir's forehead, "You working for Suna these days, Shikamaru?"

They shook hands for a moment before Shikamaru let go and ran a hand through his ponytail, the ring on his finger glinting slightly in the low sun. "It pays the bills, even if it is a pain in the ass."

He nodded to Kakashi, not as a student might have, but as an equal would, signifying how far they had all come in the years since being separated. "I'm sorry you had to come back to this, Kakashi. If it were up to me, I would have stayed retired."

"You seem very informed," said Kakashi with a smirk, it was nice to see Shikamaru hadn't changed too much since he'd last seen him. "I'm sure Asuma would be proud."

Shikamaru chuckled and picked the cigarette out of his mouth, "What, this? Let's just say the lady likes it, and leave it at that. Besides, it's nice and relaxing."

He put the cigarette back into his mouth before turning and nodding grimly to Konan, "You have my condolences, although unfortunately you'll find that your organisation is not particularly welcome here. We had some trouble with one of your members a few years ago."

"I understand that," said Konan, unsure as to how to take in the odd familiarity he had shown her.

Shikamaru finally came to Fiore, and looked her over for a moment with a curious gaze, "You however, I do not know." He extended a hand to her, "Nara Shikamaru, advisor to the Kazekage."

Fiore stared at his hand for a moment before taking it, squeezing it just a little bit tighter than necessary. "I'm Fiore. Can you show us to the hospital? Itachi is in a bad way and could use some help."

"Yes, of course." Shikamaru turned to Lee with a serious expression on his face, "Are you going to give your report to the Kazekage first, and then go to the hospital?"

The taijutsu master nodded, "I don't have much to add beyond what the ANBU already told him." He turned to the others of the group, "I'll meet you guys there."

With that, he disappeared in a slight gust of wind, once again moving at his normal speed.

Shikamaru seemed to just shake off his movements and turned to Sasuke and Fiore, "Go down the main street, take a right, a left and straight down to the end of that road. When you get there, talk to Sakura. She's running the joint, and should be able to help you guys out."

Sasuke and Fiore looked at each other for a moment before nodding and proceeding down the street as fast as they could, with ANBU assistance running behind them.

The Nara heir turned back to Kakashi and Konan, taking in a large drag of his cigarette, "You guys should come with me to the Kazekage. Despite what Lee said, I'm sure there is more you can add."

He went to turn and leave, but Kakashi put up a hand to stop him, "Wait, before that, I have a question, Shikamaru." He indicated to the spikes around the edges of the village, "What are you guys preparing for?"

Shikamaru looked at his old teacher for a moment before breathing out a large cloud of smoke and crushing his cigarette in his hand.

"What else would we be preparing for?"

oOoOoOo

With his ceremonial hat sitting on top of his desk, the Kazekage looked over the odd group of shinobi standing in front of him. He remembered Sharingan Kakashi from the Chuunin Exams four years ago, though it appeared that he had lost his doujutsu since that time for reasons unexplained.

The blue haired woman he did not recognise, though the robe she wore was enough for him to be at least a little bit cautious in her presence. Sasori had worn the same black, red and white robe, though Gaara had heard that the organisation had been destroyed quite a while ago.

"You understand that is a difficult story to follow," he said slowly, his hands sitting on top of his desk. "It is hard to believe that a group of six did more damage than our forces have been able to in the past two years."

"Nevertheless, you have to believe us," said Kakashi, looking down at the young leader. He wasn't sure what to make of Gaara's promotion, though it was fairly low on his surprises list today. "They'll probably bring a big force here if they know this is where we ended up."

"I highly doubt that," said Shikamaru from the window, his cigarette hanging in his fingers. "The Quiraji aren't stupid, they know they don't have the strength to take out Suna in a single hammer blow."

"Regardless, we should put more troops in the Land of Rivers," said Gaara, handing a sheet of paper to his advisor. "Take these to Baki and tell him to send another messenger hawk to the Fifth."

Shikamaru took the sheet with his usual lack of enthusiasm and walked out of the room, leaving Gaara with the two newcomers.

"Now, what am I to do with the two of you?" he asked, looking over the two of them intently.

Konan looked over to Kakashi with a tired smile before turning back to the Kazekage, "I don't think we know what to do with ourselves either."

"You must understand that your presence here is an awkward one for us, Hatake Kakashi. Many people here in Suna do not wish our village to become another Konoha."

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the seated Kage. Gaara seemed to have no physical motion at all; he was completely composed and serious about his duties. If nothing else, he reminded Kakashi of when the Fourth was in office before he died protecting Naruto.

"Your village is impressive to say the least. Suna has come a long way since the last time I visited it."

"Cut the theatrics, Hatake Kakashi. Rock Lee has informed me about your situation, and while I am sympathetic, you must understand that I place the survival of Suna above your search for your companions."

Kakashi felt a smile creep onto his face; the comparison was more accurate than he thought. "Nevertheless, we would make useful allies. We have a common enemy, and we have experience."

He indicated to Konan with a tilt of his head, "Leaving myself aside, Konan is an extremely powerful kunoichi. You'd be remiss not to utilise our abilities, even on a provincial basis."

Ever the stoic woman, Konan did her best to hide the swelling of pride she felt at her partner's words. She didn't have anything personally to contribute as she had no feelings about their current circumstances. A part of her felt like she was being dragged along by Kakashi, but that was immediately squashed by all the memories of the promises they had made to each other and her determination to seek out justice for Amegakure. If that required her to work with Suna, then she was willing to go that far.

The war with the Quiraji was only just starting, and as shinobi they had to get over their previous grievances.

Gaara stared down at his hands for a few moments, running the scenarios through his head quickly. He couldn't argue with Kakashi's points, and the only reason he was apprehensive allying with them was to get the more traditional Suna advisors off his back.

He slowly looked back up at the two of them before standing up from his chair and letting his sleeves fall past his wrists. "There is much to think about on this topic. For now, the two of you should get some rest. We will have time to discuss this issue when I return."

"Return?" Kakashi frowned as he realised that the office of the Kazekage was surprisingly well packed together, as if preparing to not be used for an extended period of time. "Where are you going?"

Gaara stared at him for a moment before turning around to look out of his window at his village, "One of my assistants will show you a place where you can gather your strength again. You will be free to move through the village, but remember that our ANBU will be watching for any suspicious activity."

Kakashi and Konan shared a look with each before turning and bowing slightly to the Kazekage.

"We will be respectful," said Kakashi, marvelling at how composed the young leader was.

Without turning from the window, Gaara opened the door of his office with a small trail of sand, "Please inform your Uchiha companions that this applies to them too. If you have any inquiries, you should run them through Yamanaka Ino at the hospital. She is the liaison for the Konoha survivors staying in my village, and has the trust of the Suna council."

The two shinobi nodded and left the room, leaving the Kazekage to his thoughts. He shut the door soundlessly with his sand and breathed out slowly. There were times he wondered at the choices he made in the position, but when he looked out over the village that he loved he remembered why he had been chosen to make the hard choices.

_It's like Uzumaki Naruto said. Once you prove yourself to the villagers they have to accept you, but that is never enough. You have to keep fighting; otherwise you don't deserve their respect. _

He looked down at a pair of young children chasing a ball down the sand covered streets, laughing as they enjoyed the relatively cool sunshine.

_This village is worth everything I've given it, and more. I'm sure you would say the same thing about your own village if it still existed, Uzumaki Naruto. _

* * *

><p>Seeing Sakura again was not as Sasuke had expected it to be after two and a half years. The fiery pink haired girl was gone, and had been replaced by a composed young woman who appeared to have the respect of the doctors around her as they entered the large hospital in Suna.<p>

When she saw Sasuke her face lit up and she immediately ran over to give him a hug, and for once he let her proceed with the action, though he could tell it was only a friendly hug by how long she held onto him.

He'd put Itachi onto a nearby stretcher and Sakura had immediately understood why he was here, telling a doctor to take Itachi to a single room so that she could examine him personally. Sasuke introduced Fiore to Sakura, and despite what he thought may have happened the two women appeared to be quite cordial with each other, shaking hands like the professions that they were.

"Come on, let's go have a look at your brother," said Sakura, taking them to the staircase. "It didn't look like anything physical."

Sasuke shook his head as they climbed the stairs, "It was some kind of mental attack. He's been a prisoner for a long time."

It was only slight, but Sasuke's trained eyes were able to sense tenseness in Sakura's movements, though they were well veiled as she spoke to Fiore beside him. She'd been able to gather that they were fairly close by how close he and Fiore walked with each other, and to his amusement that seemed to bring a slight redness to his partner's cheeks, though she fiercely denied it when he pointed it out to her.

When they got to Itachi's room, Sakura told them to wait outside so that she could do a proper examination. Sasuke relented and insisted on being present in the room, but a quick stare from Sakura's green eyes spoke volumes to him on how much she had grown in the past two and a half years.

Fiore made no comment as they sat outside the room, waiting for her to tell them what was wrong with his brother. She knew that there was a chance that his brother wouldn't make it, considering how long he had been out of it, and regardless of the outcome she was determined to stay by Sasuke's side.

After ten minutes Sakura emerged from the room, shaking her head as she pulled out the hairpin that was keeping her pink hair up.

Sasuke's shoulders slouched immediately upon seeing her, "It's no good?"

"It's beyond my skill to heal," said Sakura, disappointed that she wasn't able to help as much as she wanted to.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Fiore, having placed a reassuring hand on Sasuke's back. Normally he didn't like physical affection that much, but he didn't seem to protest.

Sakura looked down the corridor as if it answered her question, seeing a young woman with a long blonde ponytail walking up towards them.

"You called?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the two of them sitting on the seat opposite the door.

Sasuke looked up and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw himself looking at the other girl who used to be obsessed with him. "Ino?"

Ino stared at him for a moment, not seeming to recognise him. A smile immediately grew on her face and she jumped forward to embrace him in a tight hug, "Sasuke! How wonderful to see you again!"

"Do all women greet you this way?" asked an amused Fiore.

Sasuke shrugged as Ino let him go and went to stand besides an equally amused Sakura, "Don't ask me, I have no idea."

"So what have you been doing? What have you been up to?"

"Another time, Ino," interrupted Sakura, knowing that she'd never be able to stop the conversation once it started. "We need your help."

"Whatever you need," replied Ino, mimicking rolling up her sleeves on her doctor's outfit.

"I need you to call Shizune-sensei to come and have a look at Itachi for us."

Ino frowned for a moment and moved her head slightly to look into the room. She stared at his body for several seconds before turning back to the corridor and shrugging, "Okay then."

She bit at her thumb and ran through a set of five handseals before placing her hand on the nearby wall.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

A column of smoke arose from the ground beneath the wall, forming into a human shape before revealing a woman standing before them.

Shizune hadn't changed physically since leaving shinobi lands, but she did now wear a long beautiful white and gold robe, with several golden necklaces hanging from her neck. Her dark hair had become longer in the time she had been gone, but the smile she gave the girls upon seeing them was the same it had been when she had been teaching them.

"Ino, Sakura. What have I missed?"

Sakura went to inform her old teacher of the situation, but he was distracted by a green shape standing at the end of the corridor with a smile on its face. The pink haired head doctor turned to Ino and smiled slowly, "I have another appointment. Can I leave this to you guys?"

They nodded and watched as she jogged down the corridor, attempting to keep a profession demeanour until she was out of sight and leapt onto Lee, hugging him tightly.

"Where have you been, you stupid lug?"

oOoOoOo

Pushing through the hospital door, Sasuke showed Shizune to where they had put his brother. Sakura had given them full access to the hospital's facilities with the condition that they didn't interrupt any of her doctors.

"So what is the problem?" asked Shizune as she walked into the room, rolling up her robe sleeves and looking over Itachi's unconscious body.

Ino followed the two of them and flipped through a chart Sakura had written her initial diagnosis on. "From what I can tell here, there is nothing physical wrong with him. He's been through some hellish torture, but I cannot work out why he won't wake up."

Shizune turned and stared at her student for a few moments, before looking down at the blonde girl's stomach with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Ino saw immediately what her old teacher was about to say and cut her off, moving around Itachi's bed and pulled out a small bottle from the nearby drawer, "Sakura tried smelling salts but nothing seemed to work."

"That's because the problem isn't physical," said Shizune, making a note to speak to Ino at a later date about her issue. "There is more to this than physical torture."

She placed her hand onto Itachi's forehead, frowning as her hand glowed with light blue chakra. For a few minutes she was silent, her eyes closed as she conducted her own diagnosis.

"Is she going to be able to help Itachi?" asked Sasuke, still unsure what to make of Shizune's strange new situation at being summonable.

"Shizune-sensei is the best healer I know," said Ino respectfully. "If she can't help him, then there is no helping him."

Sasuke went to ask something else, but he stopped himself when he saw Ino's eyes dull over as if she was listening to someone talk to her in her head.

Eventually Ino rolled her eyes and put down the bottle from her hands. She turned to Sasuke and nodded apologetically, "Sorry, I've got to check on my daughter. She's having issues with her sitter again. That girl is far too picky for a three year old."

She walked past Sasuke, who turned to stare at her with a thoroughly confused look on his face.

"You…you have a daughter?"

Ino turned around and pulled her ponytail out of her face with a wide smile, "Yep. She's growing up to be a good little girl, too. I'll bring her around when your brother is better."

With that she left the room, with Shizune still conducting her analysis and Sasuke to try and work out how that could have happened in the two and a half years they were apart.

"Your brother has severe mental trauma, Sasuke, the worst I've ever seen." Shizune retracted her hand and turned to her current client, "It'll take hours for me to revive him."

Sasuke stared at her hopefully, "But you can revive him, right? He'll be back to normal?!"

She nodded with a smile, placing her robed hand onto his shoulder, "It's good you got Ino to call me here. I haven't seen you guys in ages. It's nice to not be surrounded by tigers for a change."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that, so Sasuke just nodded and motioned for her to proceed.

"There is something else, Sasuke." Shizune motioned for him to take a seat. "I said that there was no physical damage, and that's true, but there is something else."

Sasuke nodded, he was ready for anything.

"I checked as carefully as possible, but there's no mistaking it. Your brother is completely blind."

oOoOoOo

Shizune slowly closed the door behind her, leaving the two brothers to reconnect after Itachi had finally woken up. It hadn't been as difficult as she had thought it would have been to bring Itachi back from his mental trauma, and with the walls she had constructed within his mind she felt confident that he wouldn't relapse any time soon.

She rubbed at the back of her neck sorely; she had gotten soft in her tenure in the other world.

"Shizune-sensei?"

The medical shinobi turned to see Ino walked towards her with a slight flustered look on her face. "Is something wrong, Ino?"

She shook her head with a tired smile, "Same old, same old. Airi being her usual difficult self. She's far too independent for a three year old."

Shizune smiled and patted her old student on the back as they walked together down the corridor, "You are a great mother, Ino. I know Asuma and Kurenai would be proud."

Ino smiled sadly at her before placing a hand on her stomach, rubbing lightly at her shirt, "Yeah, I guess you are right…"

After a few moments they came to an empty room, one where Ino recognised as unused before the ventilation wasn't good for patient care. Shizune indicated for her to go inside, with Ino already knowing what she wanted to talk to her about.

Once she shut the door, Shizune spun a chair around and sat down, leaning on the back as she looked at Ino with a serious expression.

"How long have you been trying?" she asked quietly.

Ino squirmed slightly on her chair, embarrassed that she had to talk about such a thing with her old teacher. "We haven't really been…trying…per se. I just noticed that…afterwards, nothing was happening. And with Airi I just thought..."

"Does Kiba know?" asked Shizune softly.

The blonde shinobi shook her head, "He's oblivious. He's been so caught up in the war efforts that…well we haven't really talked about it."

She looked up at Shizune with a sad look in her eyes, "It's true, isn't it? I had Sakura check a few weeks ago, but I want to be absolutely sure."

"I'm sorry, Ino. But I can tell it from here. It's true."

Ino's head sunk, it was exactly as she feared. "I guess I'll…go tell Kiba then."

As she got up from her chair, Shizune reached over and lightly grasped her arm, staring at her despairing eyes, "He won't care, Ino. You girls were like daughters to me, and none of us were related by blood. Kiba will understand."

Ino nodded in acknowledgement but was unable to drop the sad look from her face. "I want to believe you, Shizune-sensei. I really do. I'm just not that optimistic."

Her old teacher stood up and straightened out her robe before giving her student a reassuring smile, "It'll work out. You guys are young, you have plenty of time. Keep in touch, okay? I've got to get back before Byakko flips out at my sudden disappearance. We were in the middle of a dance."

With that, she disappeared in a large puff of white smoke. Ino took in a deep breath before nodding to the empty room and walking back out into the corridor.

* * *

><p>Sasuke opened the door slowly, wondering why his brother had asked to speak to him so late at night. Despite Shizune telling him what had happened to Itachi's eyes, he still couldn't quite believe that his brother was blind.<p>

Itachi sat on his bed within the hospital room, a vacant look in his eyes as he turned his head towards the door. "Thank you for coming, Sasuke."

"Nii-san, you do realise what time it is, right?" Sasuke yawned and sat down on a chair besides the bed, "I was looking forward to getting some sleep."

"I'm sorry about that, but there is something I've wanted to talk with you about." Itachi knew where he was by sensing his brother's chakra, but he couldn't see a single thing through his faded black eyes.

"Itachi, we've talked almost all day. Can't it wait until morning?"

"I'm afraid not, Sasuke." Itachi turned his head as if to look out the nearby window to the night sky.

Sasuke sighed and put up his feet onto his brother's bed.

"I want you to look at me with your Sharingan active, Sasuke," instructed Itachi. He had no physical wounds to speak of, and didn't really need to be in the hospital anymore, but there was something that had been on his mind since hearing out his brother's story of the past two and a half years.

The younger Uchiha frowned, but did as Itachi asked. His eyes turned red as he moulded a small amount of chakra, his three-tomoe Sharingan immediately analysing his brother's chakra.

Despite having been a captive of Sensou for so long, Itachi still retained his shinobi abilities, including his extensive chakra pool and sensory abilities.

Itachi noticed that his brother had done what he had said, turning his head back around so that they were locking eyes. It was a strange sensation to not have sight, but he'd built up his senses so that he didn't rely on it.

However he wasn't going to let his little brother share the same fate.

"I did what you asked. What is the point of this?"

Itachi pulled back his blanket and moved so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, forcing Sasuke to take his feet off the bed. "Sasuke. You can activate the Mangekyou Sharingan, can't you?"

His younger brother frowned and shifted his chair so that he had more space between him and his brother. From what he could tell his brother hadn't changed since the last time they had been together.

"I don't recall telling you anything like that earlier," said Sasuke cautiously.

Even while blind, Itachi was still able to give his brother a disapproving glare, "Don't give me that, Otouto. I'm your brother; I can tell when you are hiding something."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, "You're a pain in the ass, do you know that? You haven't changed a single bit in nearly three years."

Ignoring his brother's attitude, Itachi leaned forward slightly and clutched his hands together. "This is a serious matter, Sasuke. Tell me how it happened."

"Fine, if you insist. I was on a mission with Cascading Flow; we were trying to take out a supply cavern that was being guarded by Iwa shinobi."

"With Fiore?" interrupted Itachi, knowing how attached his brother had become to the girl.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah. Anyway, the whole thing was an ambush, and we were quickly fighting for our lives. Fiore is a good fighter, and I'm an Uchiha, but we were surrounded by Iwa's ANBU."

"What happened next?"

"I think you know, Itachi. That night years ago you told me how the Mangekyou Sharingan truly activates. I thought she was gone. What does it matter, anyway?"

"Show it to me," said Itachi, determined to see this through to the end.

Sasuke frowned and stood up from his chair, moving to the other side of the room. "I haven't been using it, if that is your concern. Mother warned me that it had side-effects, and besides the one time when I thought Fiore was dead and one other time recently I haven't used any of its techniques."

Itachi noticed him changing position, but chose not to move to face him. "That is surprisingly cautious of you, Sasuke. Weren't you the one who said you needed as much power as possible?"

"My priorities changed," replied Sasuke softly. He stared out into the cold night of Suna, his red eyes following the light grains of sand blowing past the window.

Still facing the door, a slow smile grew on Itachi's face. He didn't say it, but a strong feeling grew in his chest.

_You grew up without needing my help at all, Sasuke. _

He thought about the last battle they had fought together, against Kidomaru from the Hidden Sound. While he'd been impressed by Sasuke's abilities, he wouldn't have said he had been particularly proud of him at that time.

_You've become a proper man now. Now you are saving me, not the other way around. _

"What are your goals now?"

Sasuke thought about it for a moment. His goals had changed several times over the course of his life, and now that he'd found Itachi again they had changed once more.

"I still want to rebuild the clan. But…" He turned around and leaned on the windowsill, crossing his arms across his chest. "I want to do it as a family, not as someone like Father."

"So why do you seek power then?" asked Itachi, trying to get to the heart of the matter.

Sasuke looked down at his hands, at all the scratches and scars he had accumulated in the past two and a half years. He thought he would have to think about his answer, but it came rather easily to him.

"I need to protect those I care about. If I can't…I don't deserve to be a clan leader."

Itachi's smile grew and he nodded slowly, standing up from his bed.

_That's what I was waiting for._

"Sasuke, I have a proposition for you. And I want you to hear me out."

His brother frowned and turned around to stare at his brother's back, "What could you possibly ask, at this hour?"

"I want you to take my eyes."

Not one to be easily surprised, Sasuke had no clue how he was meant to respond to that. With an uncharacteristic stutter he quickly came around to the other side of Itachi and tried to see if his brother was messing with him or not.

Unfortunately Itachi still wore his usual stoic expression. It had become even harder to read his face with the dull black of his eyes, yet he knew that Itachi could tell where he was.

"You'll need to run that by me again. You want me to what?"

Itachi motioned to the seat Sasuke had recently vacated with his arm, "How much do you know about the Mangekyou Sharingan?"

Sasuke frowned in annoyance at his brother's tone, but took the seat nonetheless. "Only what you've told me. Is there something I need to know?"

"There is something that Mother wouldn't have told you, but it's something you need to know now. It is the reason I'm blind."

"It isn't because of the torture?" It was true; Shizune didn't know why Itachi was blind. Physically he had no marks on him, but for reasons unknown he couldn't see. Sasuke knew how much Itachi relied on his eyes, even if he constantly lectured Sasuke on doing the same. He couldn't think of a worse fate for an Uchiha.

Itachi shook his head and indicated to his eyes with a finger, "Whenever you use the Mangekyou Sharingan, your eyes begin to dull and lose their light."

"How does that affect you though? You said you weren't able to use any techniques."

His brother put his hand down and shuffled backwards on his bed to get more comfortable. The doctors weren't going to let him out for at least a few more days. "I was forced to use Tsukuyomi constantly, which dulled my left eye. When a shinobi didn't convert completely she forced me to destroy them utterly with Amaterasu, dulling my right."

"Then why would you use them at all? If you go blind from using the Mangekyou Sharingan, then it isn't worth using." Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and considered the implication. "Although I suppose given the right cause, even I would risk something like that."

Itachi nodded slowly with a smile, he was proud that his brother had picked up on that on his own.

"But I fail to see the connection, Itachi. If I were to have your eyes, I would be as blind as you. Are you asking me to give you my eyes?"

"Not at all, Sasuke, let me finish. If one Uchiha, possessing the Mangekyou Sharingan were to give his eyes to another, also possessing the Mangekyou Sharingan, then the person's eyes would be repaired and their eyes would evolve."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Itachi. My eyes are fine, and I don't see a need for you to give up yours."

His older brother reached out and poked his brother on the forehead. It had been years since he'd done that, and there was a certain degree of satisfaction in knowing that his little brother was probably giving him the same death glare he always did.

"Sasuke, you don't seem to understand what I'm telling you. If you accept my eyes, your Sharingan will evolve past the Mangekyou Sharingan, to the point that your eyes won't dull when you use your techniques."

Sasuke smirked and leaned back on his chair, "Well, why didn't you say that before?"

Despite the serious situation, Itachi motioned with one of his fingers, sending his brother crashing backwards from his chair onto the floor beyond. He chuckled as he heard his brother cursing loudly as he picked himself up.

"You still have much to learn, Sasuke."

* * *

><p>The Kazekage looked up from his desk the next morning to see Shikamaru walking in with a loud yawn, scratching at his head. He nodded respectfully to his leader for a moment before walking over to his desk and sighing at the mountain of paperwork.<p>

"You are up early," observed Gaara quietly. There was a notable difference in the cleanliness of his desk versus his subordinates, but he didn't point that out to Shikamaru. There was never any point.

Shikamaru sighed again and lit up a cigarette, blowing smoke up towards the vent, "Your sister is an evil woman, Kazekage-sama. An evil, evil woman."

Not one for displaying emotion, Gaara simply nodded in agreement and looked over at the schedule on the wall. There were a number of times and dates that he noted of importance, but it was the one that was absent that concerned him most.

Shikamaru left his cigarette hanging from his mouth and stared out the window at the village, "The schedule is pretty light today."

"I want the patrols doubled while we are away," said Gaara, stamping his approval of an S-rank mission before moving on to the stack of A-rank missions. Their village was prospering despite the pressure from the east, and their low numbers were counteracted by their shinobi's willingness to put the village before their own goals. It made Gaara very proud to be the Kazekage.

"The ANBU won't like that," commented Shikamaru idly. "They say they are stretched as it is."

"They don't have to like it. They have to do it." Gaara shifted his paperwork to one side and placed his hands together to stare at his advisor, "What should be done with your old friends from Konoha?"

Shikamaru inhaled the remainder of his cigarette and put it out on his ashtray before slowly blowing out the white smoke around the room. "The Uchihas and the civilian look to be leaving. They have business with Iwa, and I don't think it would be wise to stop them."

"I agree. If they are keeping their troubles out of Suna, then all the better."

"The others, I'm not sure about. I could ask them before we leave if you like."

Gaara thought about it for a second before turning back to desk, "They will be offered the same deal that the Inuzuka's got. They could be useful for Suna against the Quiraji."

"I'm not so sure they will go for that deal, Kazekage-sama. From my observations, they seem to be only focused on finding the others that survived the attack on Konoha." Shikamaru looked over at the sheet he had sitting on his desk, thankful that he hadn't had to cross more names off the list. "There are still too many missing."

"They had no intelligence on Uzumaki Naruto?" asked Gaara, curious as to where his Konoha compatriot had been for the past four years. He knew that Shikamaru had spoken to Hatake Kakashi after he'd dismissed them from his office.

Shikamaru shook his head and stared at the Uzumaki's name on his sheet. He was confident the blonde shinobi wasn't dead, which in turn guaranteed Hinata's survival. Naruto would be deep into the ground before he let anything happen to her. But there were others he wasn't so sure about, including Chouji, Neji and even Tenten. He'd tried to find their locations, but it was like they had disappeared completely.

The crossed out names on his list continued to stare at him from the sheet of paper, as if judging him for existing in the first place. The line through Gai, Kurenai and Shino's names were clinical and to the point, while the one through Asuma was shaky and unsure. He'd hated having to do that when Lee had told him what happened to their teachers.

_You guys better be okay. Enough people have died already. _

A knock on the door snapped him out of it and he turned to see Kankuro walk into the room with a large backpack slung over his shoulder.  
>"You guys ready to go?" he asked, holding his backpack by one of the straps over his shoulder. Unlike years ago he didn't need to carry around his puppets anyway, he simply had them stored in scrolls to either side of his black outfit.<p>

Gaara stood up from his desk and tapped the sheets in his hands to straighten them before stacking them in a holder. "We are."

"Are you sure about going with just the two of us?" asked Shikamaru, putting his packet of cigarettes into his flak jacket. "If there was ever a situation that was a trap…"

"It doesn't matter," said Kankuro, watching as Gaara slung his sand gourd over his shoulder and buckled it together. "We are not easy opponents."

"Nevertheless, this is still a risk."

"And one we must take," said Gaara, walking around to the middle of his office. "If the meeting is real, then it is an opportunity that will not occur again."

Shikamaru sighed, he couldn't argue with that. "It'll be nice to get away from the wife for a few weeks though."

"That's our sister you are talking about, you know that, right?" said Kankuro with the same frown he usually wore.

"Which should make you sympathetic to my plight," said Shikamaru with a tired look. "You don't have to live with her right now; you don't understand the wrath I'm experiencing on a daily basis."

Gaara walked past the two of them and opened the door, "We lived with her for sixteen years. We understand perfectly well."

"Besides, you're the stupid one that got her pregnant," said Kankuro with an amused grin.

Shikamaru couldn't argue with that one, so he just sighed again and went to leave the office with the others. "You are going to leave those letters on your desk again, Kazekage-sama?"

"I have an obligation to read and reply to each of them in time," came Gaara's voice from the corridor. "That is my duty."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and walked out of the office, while Kankuro stared at the stack of love letters sitting on Gaara's desk.

_I never get any love letters. How does he do it? He doesn't even talk to them._

He sighed and shut the door to the Kazekage's office. They had a long journey ahead, and they would need all the energy they had. Particularly if Shikamaru's concerns were true.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And bam, transition. The time in the Land of Fire is now over for the moment, and we move onto bigger scale things. It should be fairly obvious what the next bit is going to be about, since it also happens in the real story. Mine will be very different though, I can promise you that.

Yep, Shikamaru is smoking now. And a bunch of other stuff, but mainly the smoking thing. In the novel that I'm working on, the main character is a heavy smoker, and I always wanted him to keep smoking after that one bit when he was killing Hidan. It's basically practise for my other character.

If anyone is confused over why I'm doing that to Ino, there is a purpose to it. That does happen, and I wanted to explore that eventuality. It does feel a bit cruel, but she does already have Airi.

Also don't forget that each of them are at least 18 or older. So they will inevitably have more adult relationships, particularly with each other. Don't worry though, not everyone is banging everyone.

After the next chapter I'll be doing the next Bonus Chapter, which will be all about Naruto and Hinata. I know they haven't been in the story for a while, and that is intentional, but I still want to show what they've been doing for the past little while.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	54. Chapter 50 Departures and Arrivals

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 50 – Departures and Arrivals

**A/N**: 450 reviews, my god. All I can say is that I love every review you guys give me; it inspires me to write harder and better.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more perverts in the story.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

In their attempts to escape the Land of Fire with their prize, Kakashi's group were able to avoid the Quiraji patrols for the most part. Lee split off from the group for a time to bury Jito in his ancestor's grounds, using his immense speed to catch back up to the group. Just when they were cornered by a Quiraji horde, Sasuke held them off by demonstrating his Mangekyou Sharingan, allowing the group to escape. Lee helped the group get through the initial patrol of Suna guards. They were taken to the village and greeted by an older, smoking Shikamaru. He took Kakashi and Konan to meet the Kazekage, and they were unsure what they wanted to do with the knowledge that most of their group had survived. Sasuke and Fiore took Itachi to the hospital, and while Sakura offered to help them only by getting Ino to summon Shizune. The old medical teacher was able to heal Itachi's mental exhaustion, but unfortunately his constant use of Mangekyou Sharingan within Sensou's prison had rendered him blind. Having left the decision about the new entrants into Suna to another day, Kankuro, Shikamaru and the Kazekage depart the village for an unknown destination.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Shikamaru groaned loudly and dropped his pack to the ground, taking a moment to roll his eyes before nodding to his companions and turning around. Both Gaara and Kankuro looked at each other and waited as their companion walked a few feet back to the entrance to the village.<p>

"Thought you'd get away that easily?"

The ex-Konoha shinobi smirked at the blonde woman standing between the two cliffs at the entrance to Suna. Her tone sounded angry, but Temari could only look at her husband with a strange grin.

"I didn't want to worry you," said Shikamaru, stepping towards his wife. They'd only discovered her pregnancy a few weeks ago so she didn't look like she was with child, though it made a fantastic excuse for her to act however she pleased.

She cocked her head slightly and put her hands on her hips, "You were going to leave your heavily pregnant wife behind, to go have an adventure with her brothers…without saying goodbye? What kind of husband does that?"

Shikamaru took a glance at her skinny stomach for a moment before looking back into his wife's green eyes, "Temari, you are barely pregnant at all, and we are hardly going on an adventure. We are going to a meeting with the other leaders of the shinobi world, and it'll probably be very troublesome and dull."

She reached out and lightly tapped him on the face with her hand, "You're a bad husband, you know that? The girls talk about it all the time."

"Since when do you care about what other people say?"

Temari shrugged in response, "Since I've been taken off duty, and have nothing better to do with my time."

"You could always scar the children by teaching at the Academy. Didn't they want you to do the ninjutsu classes for a little while?"

His wife seemed to consider it for a moment before she took a step forward and embraced her husband in a light hug. He grinned and tapped her head affectionately before they broke apart and he turned around to go back to his companions.

Shikamaru put a hand and waved at her casually as he walked back to Gaara and Kankuro, ignoring the fact that he knew his wife was probably sticking her tongue out to him behind him.

"You know she's going to punish you when we get back," said Kankuro, watching as the lazy shinobi reached down to pick up his pack.

Shikamaru shrugged, it wasn't like he wasn't used to it. He turned to Gaara, "Sorry for the distraction, Kazekage-sama. Shall we depart?"

Gaara looked at his advisor for a moment without emotion before turning to face the endless desert in front of them. "It is a long journey to the Land of Plains. Once we leave the Land of Wind, we'll be travelling by sand."

His two companions both nodded their acknowledgement and the group finally left their village, off to a place where they were unsure what to expect. Anything could happen with that level of shinobi gathering in one place, particularly without as much information as they wanted available.

* * *

><p>The three delegates from Suna turned around as the wall of sand fell to the ground, causing the thrown weapons to fall harmlessly near the sand.<p>

"It would appear we have company," said Kankuro, pulling a scroll from his pack and flexed one of his hands. It was more for show than anything else; he enjoyed the dramatisation of his performance.

Shikamaru groaned and shoved his hands into his pockets, "Why is there such a large group here? This place is past the border patrols. What are the ANBU doing?"

Gaara crossed his hands across his chest and let the sand that defended them filter back into his gourd. "These things happen. The group does not look too dangerous and we have the time to spare."

The soldiers that had attacked them seemed undeterred by his defence of their attacks, surrounding the three of them quickly. They prepared their blades and the five Red Guard that had accompanied stepped towards the Suna shinobi threateningly.

Gaara eyed the dangerous Quiraji soldier's cautiously, "Kankuro…"

The puppet master nodded and pushed a finger under the opening of his scroll, "Yeah, I know. I've got them." He had a plan in mind, and he knew his brother had confidence in him.

The other Quiraji soldiers didn't appear unnerved by their confidence; though Shikamaru noticed a few converted shinobi standing at the back of the thirty Quiraji soldiers around them.

"Shikamaru, take the converted shinobi," asked Gaara slowly, wary that if he didn't tell the Nara shinobi to participate he would just stand there and let them do the fighting.

Shikamaru groaned and took his hands out of his pockets; he didn't want to fight against Quiraji soldiers today. They were far too troublesome to fight against, since they required different tactics than fighting against normal shinobi.

He placed his hands together in a handseal, "And you, Kazekage-sama?"

A wall of sand shot up behind them, blocking several sword strikes that were trying at Shikamaru and Kankuro's backs. Gaara moved his eyes slightly to his advisor.

Shikamaru shook his head and activated his technique, "Fair point." The shadow at his feet fluctuated for a few seconds before forming into a ball and floating up to his chest. He reached out and picked it up like a football.

The Kazekage's brother turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "You're going to use that?"

"I don't see why not?" Shikamaru let the shadow ball go, leaving it hovering in front of him while he reached into his pocket and lit a cigarette. "It isn't like this takes a lot of chakra."

The puppet master shrugged in response, he had a fair point. In front of them Gaara barely took any notice, even as he began summoning large amounts of sand from the ground and bringing it around the three of them.

Shikamaru blew out a large amount of smoke before reaching out and flicking the shadow ball, sending it flying into the group of Quiraji soldiers nearest to the converted shinobi, who were still running through handseals as if to activate a large scale technique.

The sand around the three of them condensed as a small eye appeared them, as Shikamaru activated the technique properly.

"Kage no Shi no Tama." (Shadow Ball of Death)

Within the concentrated ball of sand they were protected from Shikamaru's attack, though Kankuro was forced to cough in protest as the small space they were standing in was filling with the Nara shinobi's cigarette smoke.

"Seriously, Shikamaru, you've got to stop smoking."

"The day you stop wearing makeup, is the day I put away my pack."

Kankuro glared at him for a moment before rolling out his scroll over his arm, "For the last time, it's war paint. How is it that no-one sees that?"

"Maybe if it didn't take you an hour to get ready in the morning, people wouldn't think so badly of you."

"How did you find out about that?" demanded the puppet master with a deep frown.

With his cigarette in hand, Shikamaru flashed him the gold ring on his hand, "Who do you think I'm married to…oh never mind, this is far too troublesome." He turned to Gaara with a sigh, "Are we clear yet?"

"The damage has been done. Only the Red Guard remain, they were immune to your attack."

"Of course. That would be too easy," said his advisor, placing his cigarette back into his mouth. "I've done my part."

Gaara took his hand away from his eye and placed it back across his chest, "Kankuro."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The sand shell crumbled around them while Kankuro flexed a hand over his open scroll. The puppet he was planning to use wasn't so useful for large crowds, but five opponents was nothing to a first-rate puppet master.

When the sand had finished falling to the ground, the three of them surveyed the damage from Shikamaru's attack. The normal Quiraji soldiers lay on the ground with hundreds of shadow spikes sticking out of their bodies. The converted shinobi had been practically decapitated by the Nara shinobi's attack, and while the five Red Guard didn't appear concerned at their allies' deaths, they did seem to be approached the three of them more cautiously with their blades drawn and their bodies already hardened. The only reason Shikamaru rarely used the attack was because he had no control over where the explosive spikes went.

A small cloud of smoke appeared from his scroll, and while the Red Guard moved towards him his attack had already begun. The Kazekage saw no need to protect his brother against the chakra-cancelling fighters; they weren't on a level to threaten him. The puppet-master was the best in their village at taking out the Quiraji, so a few Red Guard was nothing.

From within the scroll emerged a red haired puppet with deadly twirling blades for arms. It spun around to glare at one of the lone Red Guard to the left of the group. It aimed a spinning blade at the Red Guard's head, with grey smoke coming from its limbs.

The Quiraji specialist prepared to defend itself against the attack, but the puppet of Sasori fired its arm with a loud crash, sending a spinning pinwheel of blades at the Red Guard's head. For a moment it appeared that the skin hardening had protected him, but Kankuro was a wilier opponent than that.

Using force from a chakra-fuelled ejection system, the blade cut clean through the Red Guard's throat, above its chakra-absorbing armour.

The other four Red Guard jumped at him with their blades ready to slice him into pieces, but Kankuro was ready for them. With one hand attached to his Sasori puppet, Kankuro pushed out a third arm and aimed it at the four of them. The only reason he hadn't done this earlier is because he wanted to test whether he could actually break through their physical defence. Information is power at the end of the day.

The hand section of the arm flipped down to reveal an open socket, which spat out a large cloud of purple gas directly into the Red Guard's faces. They tried to jump away from the cloud of poison, but the moment it touched their bodies they knew it was too late for them.

Their screams as their skin melted within their red armour was haunting, though it wasn't anything the three Suna shinobi hadn't heard in the past.

Behind his puppet Kankuro huffed in disapproval at how easy that was and put the Sasori puppet back into its scroll, placing it back into his pocket before turning to his brother and Shikamaru.

"That was far too easy."

Shikamaru nodded, he had been bothered by their presence when they had first seen them. "I don't see how this group got past our patrols. They weren't on an infiltration mission, that's for sure."

Beside his advisor, Gaara summoned a collection of sand to form the stopper to his gourd, sealing it up tightly before turning to face his hands towards the ground. "Do not get too cocky. If one group can get through, that means that saboteurs can as well."

"I'll send a message back to Suna," said Shikamaru, creating a small bird from the shadow at his feet. There was enough daylight left for the creature to make it back to the village, and after scribbling a small coded message he sent it on its way. "Things are getting more dangerous these days."

"That is why this meeting is important," said Gaara coolly, a large collection of sand appearing underneath his feet as Shikamaru and Kankuro both stepped towards the Kazekage so that they could ride the sand as he did. "We must be convincing."

The floating sand rose slowly up in the air, even though they were still several hours away from the border to the Land of Rivers, which had been claimed by the Quiraji.

Shikamaru flicked his cigarette down the ground, the height made it impossible to smoke. "If the intelligence is correct, this'll be quite the meeting. Sounds like a giant pain in the ass. That many Kages can't be a good thing."

* * *

><p>The three of them flew quietly over the countryside, far too fast for the Quiraji forces beneath them to launch an attack against them. Because they were using Gaara's sand to travel they were able to cut across enemy territory, it also was a good opportunity to get surveillance on their enemy's positions.<p>

"It's hard to believe that they have amassed so many people so quickly," said Kankuro, leaning over the edge of the sand slightly to look down at the troop movements.

Shikamaru tore off a chunk of bread and handed it to the Kazekage before turning to the puppet master, "It's probably been decades in the making. By the sounds of it they don't have the capacity to create more converted shinobi, but Itachi said that he recalls some thousands having been created."

"To use your phrase, that sounds really troublesome."

The Suna advisor nodded, it was frightening to think of how a few years had so completely changed their lives. When he had departed for the Chuunin Exams he couldn't have foreseen that he would become a Suna shinobi, let alone the Kazekage's advisor.

He looked down at the ring on his hand with a small grin; there were many things he would not have foreseen. Not that he was complaining.

"So what are we meant to expect when we get there?" asked Kankuro.

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment, his spy network had been working tirelessly over the past six months on information about the other villages. It was amusing to his wife that it was one of the few things he was truly passionate about.

"We have a spy meeting us at the location; she'll be able to tell us more when we get there."

Gaara shifted on the sand towards the two of them, having finished his bread without either of them seeing. They weren't actually sure whether Gaara ate or not, in their years together they hadn't seen him eat anything at all.

"We have just moved past the border."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow to his younger brother, glancing down at the ground beneath the floating sand. They had transitioned from the forest-covered ground of the Land of Fire to the wide open ground of the Land of Plains.

"It shouldn't be long now," said Shikamaru, leaning on his hands lazily. "I'm not particularly comfortable with the meeting being so close to the border."

"Yeah, but surely they'll have fail safes to prevent the Quiraji from finding out about the meeting."

"We'll have to wait and see," said Gaara, calculating how long it would take to get back to the village at his top speed if necessary. They had left the village in its most secure state, but he was still worried that the Quiraji may take advantage of his absence; they had an annoying habit of attacking at the most inopportune moments.

oOoOoOo

Hours later Gaara's sand slowly dropped them to the ground, the three of them hopping off onto the short grass field, the sand filing back into his gourd.

The Land of Plains had no shinobi village, and as such was an appropriate place for the meeting, though Gaara was more focused on the building in front of the three of them. It was twice the size of his office building and looked like it had been constructed no more than a few months ago, without any evidence of overgrowth or stripped paint whatsoever.

It was a perfectly round building with two levels and no signage to indicate as to the allegiance of the organiser. Gaara and Shikamaru had suspected that it wasn't any of the remaining Four Great Shinobi Villages that had organised the meeting, that much was clear from the manner of the invitation.

A month ago a letter had appeared on Gaara's desk, one that hadn't been processed through the normal channels within Sunagakure. Once he'd made sure there was nothing suspicious about it, Gaara had read it, and been surprised at the brevity of the letter. It had stated a time and place for a meeting to discuss the Quiraji threat, and that each Kage would be wise to attend.

While Shikamaru had been apprehensive, when the second letter had arrived with more specific details about Gaara's campaign against the Quiraji he had become convinced that it was legitimate.

"What do you think?" asked Gaara, knowing that his advisor's brain was running through all the possible scenarios at once. While he'd intended the Nara shinobi's position to be more secondary to the other advisors of the village, he found himself consistently turning to him for advice. He still made his own decisions, but anyone who looked at the advances to the village would be able to see Shikamaru's hand at work.

The Kazekage's advisor reached into his pocket to light another cigarette, his eyes analysing the building in front of them. He'd already sent out the signal for their spy to meet them, but he wanted to get a look with his own eyes as well.

"I think this will bear some interesting fruit." The building was surrounded on all sides by plains that stretched out for kilometres, completely flat and out of place compared to the other parts of the Land of Plains they had passed over. It felt too perfect a picture. "This is too much effort to be a simple trap though."

A figure leapt towards them from the building, landing in front of them as a wavering image that looked like a mirage. The three Suna shinobi were not concerned however and made no move to defend themselves as the wavering image placed her hands together and dismissed the technique that was concealing her image.

The young woman greeted the three of them with a wide smile, her short brown hair wavering slightly in the small breeze. She wasn't wearing her Suna forehead protector, as it would be detrimental to her job, though she was quick to give them the password to demonstrate that she hadn't been compromised.

She nodded respectfully to Shikamaru for a moment before turning to the Kazekage with a wide smile and a glint in her dark eyes.

"It is good to see you again, Gaara-sama. It has been too long."

It was difficult to tell, but the Kazekage seemed more relaxed in her presence, which was the cause of endless amusement to his brother. "Matsuri, it has been a while."

"Give us your report," said Shikamaru, wary that time wasn't necessarily on their side despite them arriving earlier than expected.

Matsuri stared at her boss for a few seconds, "How is Temari-sensei?"

The Sunagakure advisor rolled his eyes; she was always such a pain in his ass. He remembered the young shy girl that the three siblings had taken under their belt, and had turned into a mini-Temari.

"She's fine. Now give us your report."

Matsuri reached into her flak jacket and handed the Nara shinobi a scroll before turning to Kankuro idly, "Your presence has already been discovered."

"What do you mean?" asked the puppet-master quickly.

She turned to Gaara with a more serious expression, "You are the first group to arrive, but there are several people here already, including the other infiltrators from the other villages."

"Any indications as to who we are dealing with?" Gaara reached to his back and placed his hat onto his head, completing the image of a proper Kazekage.

The spy shook her head, "No, but they are definitely shinobi. Besides the infiltrators from Iwa, Kumo and Kiri, there are several shinobi that have masked themselves and appear to be organising the place."

Matsuri indicated to the building with a gloved hand, "I can't sense anything malicious, but I would still be cautious, Gaara-sama."

"We should get going," commented Shikamaru, closing the scroll she had given him and placing it into his flak jacket. "Matsuri, I want you to remain in range, if this turns into a fight we could use your abilities."

The young girl smiled at his compliments, turning to get confirmation from the Kazekage. When he nodded in approval her smile grew and she moved a hand over her face. An ANBU mask appeared on her face, one that had the image of a sand typhoon on it as the spy began to disappear into the wind.

Kankuro breathed in slowly before turning to his brother with a grin, "One of these days, she's just going to jump you, you know that right?"

"I'm still here, Kankuro-san."

The puppet-master chuckled as he heard the young woman's voice to his side. "I'm well aware of that fact, Matsuri."

"Let's go," said the Kazekage, ignoring the interaction between his brother and the ANBU spy.

The three of them heard a girly noise that defied description, before they moved towards the building.

* * *

><p>"Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure!"<p>

A masked announcer, one that Matsuri had warned them about, motioned for the three of them to enter the meeting hall, where they saw an impressive set up for a meeting of such a scale. A long curved table sat around the edges, with a large hole in the middle and an opening for someone to speak to the rest of the room from the middle.

There were five places set out for the Kage's to sit, with the four Great Shinobi Villages' symbols hanging from an above viewing platform. There was no symbol above the fifth seat, though Shikamaru felt a pang as he remembered that it was probably where the Hokage would sit, if the village still existed.

_Whoever organised this understands the current fluctuation of power in our world. The ambiguity surrounding this meeting is troubling, but just from this set up I can tell that this will be an interesting meeting. _

"Who was he announcing you to?" asked Kankuro, staring up at the symbol on their village's position.

"It's just a formality. While we are the first ones here, they seem to be taking this very seriously." Shikamaru stared at the masked announcer at the door, troubled by the fact that unlike most ANBU masks there was no symbol on his completely white mask. He couldn't sense anything from the announcer besides the fact that he was a shinobi. Since the Quiraji have no chakra, Gaara had required it of everyone in their village to be able to sense chakra; even an amateur level was enough to notice the difference.

He turned to Kankuro slowly and pointed to the viewing platform above the Suna symbol, "We should take our positions up there before the other Kages arrive."

The puppet master nodded in agreement, with the both of them turning to watch Gaara take his seat in front of the Suna symbol as the Kazekage, placing his green and white hat in front of him.

"Is there anything you want us to do?" asked Kankuro, as Shikamaru leapt up to the viewing platform. He went to light a cigarette, but hesitated when he realised that it probably it wouldn't be a good idea to give the other Kages a reason to be annoyed by his smoking.

Gaara shook his head slightly, placing a cautious hand on his gourd he had placed on the ground beside his seat. "We shall wait and see how this goes."

He took a glance at the other symbols of the Great Shinobi Villages before resting his eyes on the oddly placed empty seat.

_If there was ever a time we needed Konoha, it would be now. The fact that we don't know who set this up is concerning, and this close to the border…something doesn't feel right. _

"Mei Terumi, the Mizukage of Kirigakure!"

Gaara turned his head slightly to see his equal walk into the meeting room. The Mizukage was like his advisor had said, though seeing her in person was quite the spectacle.

The Mizukage was a beautiful woman, that much was obvious from the outset. Her auburn hair ran down to her ankles, and her blue dress moved gracefully with every step. She smiled down at him cheerfully, her green eyes seeming to analyse his body before she moved into the centre of the room.

"Hello, young Kazekage. It is a pleasure to meet you." She bowed at the waist, while the Kazekage nodded his head respectfully. "This is an unexpected place to be meeting for the first time."

"That it is." Gaara saw her two subordinates standing at the entrance in front of the masked announcer, standing stiffly with their eyes tracking over the room. One was a young man with short blue hair and a double-handed sword wrapped on his back, looking around with a shy look in his eyes. The other bodyguard was a middle-aged man who had a stern expression on his face, an odd-looking eye patch and long talismans hanging from his ears.

They both nodded to the Mizukage's back respectfully without a word, leaving the meeting area to take the stairs up to the viewing platform. The two of them didn't say a word to Shikamaru and Kankuro, taking their place above the Kirigakure symbol opposite the Kazekage's guards.

"The invitation to this meeting was surprisingly short, for something of this scale. Were you the one who set this up?"

Gaara shook his head slowly, watching as the Mizukage collected her dress underneath herself before sitting down and placing her Kage hat in front of her. "I did not. My advisor has a suspicion, but I don't have any more information than you do."

Mei's smile widened, he wasn't intimidated at all by her presence. She looked over at the empty section for a moment before breathing out slowly and crossing her legs. "It seems strange that the two villages the farthest away arrived first."

"I am unsure why that is the case, or whether the others will be joining us."

The Mizukage stared at him for a few seconds before the two of them both turned to the doorway.

"A, the Raikage of Kumogakure!"

"Well, well, these are two faces I've never seen before," said the large man in the doorway. He had dark skin and short blonde hair, and exuded violence like nothing the two of them had seen before.

"It is lovely to meet you, Raikage," said the Mizukage, still keeping the smile on her face.

A looked down at her with an angry look on his face, though the two of them could sense that was how he always looked. "So they finally got a new Mizukage. That's good; the other guy was a pain in the ass."

The Mizukage's face twitched, though her smile never dropped for an instant. She didn't say anything back, even as the Raikage leapt over to his seat and sat down with a loud thud. He put down his hat in front of him, while his two bodyguards appeared on the viewing platform.

"This meeting is such a waste of time."

"Boss doesn't think so. Whoever organised this knows what they are doing."

"Still seems stupid to me."

The two Kumogakure shinobi appeared an odd couple compared to the other two sets of guards. The man who had called the Raikage boss had such a dull look on his face that Shikamaru felt humbled. His shaggy hair covered his left eye and he had his hands in his pockets as he leaned on the back wall.

The woman that came with him and the Raikage glared at the other bodyguards with a frustrated look on her face. She wore the standard Kumogakure outfit, and appeared like a plain-looking woman, but from the tone of her voice there was something about her that the observers couldn't quite place.

Gaara on the other hand, recognised her for what she was, even without quite understanding why he knew. He turned to the Raikage with a dark look; that was something he hadn't quite expected the Raikage to do, considering how he thought about people like them.

"A bit young to be a leader, don't you think?"

Gaara clasped his hands slowly, staring at the Raikage intently, "Youth means little in times of war."

The Raikage scoffed and leaned back on his chair, staring at the empty seat with no symbol, "There is no point in having a spot left for Konoha I suppose. If anyone had it coming…"

"Do not disrespect Konoha," said Gaara seriously, staring down the Raikage. "They were the first casualty in this war, and their sacrifice is the reason we know about the threat in the first place."

His eyes darkened slowly, "I had friends in Konoha."

The Raikage gritted his teeth and clenched one of his large hands on the table angrily, "Don't you patronise me, boy. I was fighting wars before you were born."

"And do not disrespect me, Raikage. We are equals here, and you would do well to remember that."

"Onoki, the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure!"

Gaara and Mei turned to greet the new arrival, while the Raikage glared at the Kazekage angrily. Above them Shikamaru grinned while Kankuro chuckled to himself, he was proud that his younger brother was standing up to what they had suspected would happen at the meeting.

Despite the information he had received about the Tsuchikage, Gaara still wasn't sure how he was meant to react to the Tsuchikage's appearance. For a leader of his stature, the old man was surprisingly tiny, barely coming up to the waists of his two bodyguards behind him. He sighed loudly and rubbed at his back, while handing his wooden pack to his companions. He looked like he was ready to collapse.

"Oh, there are some interesting people here," said the young girl behind the Tsuchikage. She had a cocky grin on her face, even as she could see the furious look on the Raikage's face and the rest of the Kage's. "You sure you aren't too old for this, Gramps?"

The Tsuchikage turned around with a snarl, "You idiot! I'm the Tsuchikage, this is nothing."

"So the fact that we were last because of your back is irrelevant?" said the red haired man beside the two of them. "You had to fly for most of the way here."

"Shut up, Roshi! At least I'm not a bloody monkey!"

The two Iwagakure shinobi continued to argue while Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes and walked back to the staircase. After a few minutes the tall Iwagakure shinobi huffed and leapt onto the viewing platform besides his female companion.

"Quite lively, aren't they?" commented the Mizukage with a smile, glancing over at the Kazekage. She sensed that he could be an ally to her, and she had to admit he had a charm about him despite his youth.

Gaara gave her no response, but that was because he had the same sense of recognition from Roshi that he had gotten from the female Kumogakure shinobi. For three Tailed Beast containers to be in one place at once, he could only think it would lead to trouble.

_Kumogakure and Iwagakure must have realised that this meeting was an opportunity to remind the other villages that they still have their Tailed Beasts. With the Kyuubi gone…_

The Tsuchikage went to step towards his seat, but froze as the other Kages could see the agony on his face. "Argh! My back!"

He tried to take another step, but his body refused to respond to him. He breathed out slowly and began to float upwards like he was being picked up by an invisible person. He flew over to his seat and sat back down, rubbing at his back painfully and turning to the other Kages.

"Let's get this over with. I'm too old for these kinds of things."

Gaara nodded respectfully to the Tsuchikage, "So we are working on the assumption that none of us here convened this meeting then?"

"That's a bit bold, for such a youngster," said the Tsuchikage, eying the Kazekage in a similar way to the Raikage's stare. "This had better not be a waste of time; I'm a very busy man."

The Mizukage leaned forward and clasped her hands together, "It is a bit worrying that none of us began this, but the last Kage meeting was too long ago, and much has changed since then."

"It has indeed," said the Raikage, glaring at Gaara for a few seconds before looking over at the Mizukage. "There are new faces, and a lack of a Hokage. How times have changed."

"**It is because times have changed that this meeting is necessary." **

The four Kages all turned at the sound of the strange voice, looking to see the masked announcer walking towards the centre of the room. Above the leaders all the bodyguards prepared themselves for a fight, though while Kankuro was pulling out a puppet scroll Shikamaru watched the figure with fascination. There was something about him he couldn't quite place.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded the Raikage, standing up quickly from his seat.

"Are you the one who convened this meeting?" added Gaara. He had figured the announcer to be working for the organiser, but that had changed in that single moment.

The announcer's mask was a completely white surface and now that they were looking harder at him they could tell that the plain clothes appeared to be concealing a robe underneath.

He reached up and clicked his hand, with two puffs of smoke appearing behind him as he removed his mask and stared at the Kages. The announcer's white eyes were immediately recognised by everyone at the meeting, but the Suna representatives recognised him from their previous encounters with him.

His plain clothes disappeared to reveal a white and black long robe, and while he didn't have a forehead protector on, it was clear from his two companions where his allegiance was.

One of the shinobi that emerged from the smoke to reveal six arms and a wide grinning face on his dark face. His eyes darted around constantly, yet his presence was essentially looked over.

The other shinobi had a heavy hunch and was covered in bandages, though it was clear that he was a dangerous individual judging by the two oddly shaped gauntlets on his hands.

Above the Kages, Shikamaru's hands were white as he was gripping the bar in front of him tightly. It took everything in his body to not jump down and greet the new arrival, and his mind was already working overtime to try and figure out how it could have happened. He wasn't predicting that at all. The figure was aware of his presence, judging by the half-glance he was given by the white eyed leader before they turned back to the Kages.

Each of the Kages stood up and their bodyguards were all ready to jump down and defend their leaders if they needed to.

The Byakugan user took a step forward as his bodyguards stayed at the doorway.

"My name is Hyuuga Neji. I am the leader of Otogakure."

The Tsuchikage stood on his chair so that he could see the Hyuuga properly, and appeared fairly unimpressed, "This is bold, for a minor village like that. What happened to that pup Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru has been dead for years." Neji stepped into the complete centre of the room, his hands crossed over his chest. "I brought you here to discuss the survival of the shinobi world."

"And why should we listen to you? What do you know of our struggles?" The Raikage was on the verge of storming out; angered that he had been duped by such a person.

Neji reached into his robe, causing the other shinobi to flinch instinctively before he produced four folders, each holding a different symbol correlating to one of the villages. He flicked the folders to their appropriate village leaders, each Kage reading them immediately.

The Mizukage had a small grin on her face as she read the file he had on Kirigakure, her face showing none of the concern she felt in her gut.

The Tsuchikage's hands whitened as he gripped the folder tightly, his village's folder was larger than the others for a good reason. The information contained inside was enough for him to declare war on Otogakure on the outset, let alone convene a meeting with him.

The Kazekage could appreciate the level of information the Hyuuga leader had on him, it was more impressive than the spy network Shikamaru had set up. It appeared like he knew everything about the village and their struggle against the Quiraji, causing Gaara to wonder what the ex-Konoha shinobi's actual intentions were.

The Raikage had the most obvious reaction, his hands practically crushing the folder. He slammed a hand into the table in front of him, causing dozens of cracks to appear in the wood. "What the hell is this? Did you bring us here to blackmail us?"

Neji turned slightly to stare at the Raikage directly, unafraid of the terrifying visage of the large man. "Those are to level the playing field. They also detail where Otogakure is at compared to your villages, within reason, and what we have achieved in the past two years."

The Tsuchikage huffed and closed the folder in front of him, "How times are changed indeed. This would never have happened back in the day."

"It is strange to see the Hyuuga still around," said the Mizukage, still keeping a cheerful expression despite the tense surroundings. "I thought you all died when Konoha was destroyed."

The Otogakure leader looked at her for a moment, his white eyes glancing up at her bodyguards for a moment before turning back to her green eyes. "The Hyuuga are difficult to kill. We are now a part of Otogakure, which should be evidence of how serious the threat is. I was once part of Konoha, and even though my old village does not exist, its spirit still persists."

He turned back to speak to all of them at once, "I have prepared quarters for each of you. Take the time to rest from your travels, and I will speak to each of you individually. There is much we should establish before we begin discussing the Quiraji and how they should be dealt with."

As the Kages filed out of the meeting room, each of them showing their reactions to his presence clearly, Neji took a moment to glance up to the Sunagakure bodyguards. His eyes locked onto Shikamaru's face, and his normally serious expression softened slightly as he was glad that his old companion had come to the meeting.

He wanted to speak to Shikamaru and tell him about what had been going on, but that had to be put to one side at the moment. While he'd made sure that his presence and the strength of his village was mostly unknown until this moment, he knew that his reveal was only the beginning. For them to respect him as a leader, he had to take a few risks.

* * *

><p>Gaara watched as the Hyuuga leader shut the door slowly before turning to the young Kage with a serious gaze. When he had observed the Hyuuga during the first parts of the Chuunin Exams years ago he had calculated that he possessed a driven motivation, and watching him earlier had only cemented that idea in his mind.<p>

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," said Neji respectfully, wary that while Gaara was younger than him, he held a higher position of power. "I wanted to speak to you first, out of all the Kages."

The Kazekage said nothing, he merely observed as the Sound leader poured the two of them cups of tea before indicating for him to sit opposite him.

"Firstly, I want to thank you for looking after my old friends. I can see that they have settled in well at Sunagakure. After the destruction of our own village, we struggled to find a place we could fit in."

"You seem to have made much progress in that regard," stated Gaara slowly, watching his counterpart for any kind of reaction. "If those papers were to be believed, you have done much with the remnants of the old Otogakure. Almost enough to not be believed."

Neji nodded slowly, he knew enough about Gaara to recognise that he was a patient leader, not prone to rash accusations. His manoeuvre earlier had been a calculated risk, and he could tell that Gaara had been impressed that he had shown him such information.

"We are not here for formalities though," said Neji, taking a sip from his tea cup. "Out of all the leaders here, you understand the threat best."

The Kazekage didn't touch his tea, it wasn't the kind that he preferred, and he still hadn't accepted the Hyuuga as an equal yet. "That I do. Suna has borne the brunt of the Quiraji's wrath since Konoha's destruction, though my advisor tells me that your village has been making progress in that area as well." From the information they had known before coming to the meeting there had been another force pressing against the Quiraji lines, now the connection was easy to make.

"Shikamaru is right. I have much I wish to share with the other Kages, but first there is an issue that must be addressed."

Gaara placed his hands together in front of his face, staring his dark eyes into the Hyuuga's white orbs. It was impossible to read the Hyuuga's expression, but though young, Gaara was no fool. He knew why the Hyuuga was speaking to him individually, as he would the other Kages, and a part of him admired the strength it took to make such a bold move.

They would need that kind of conviction if they were to survive, and Gaara knew that as the Kazekage he had to make the right call for his village.

With very deliberate movements, Gaara reached down and grasped the cup of tea in front of him, taking a short sip before staring back at his counterpart.

"There are many things in the world that go beyond the sphere of understanding. Whether we face our destruction or not, that falls into this category. The world that we live in was not meant to last infinitely, but there are things that we can do in the here and now in order to survive. As Kage, we are expected to wield that power with both temperance and wisdom."

He stood up slowly from his seat; Neji did the same, understanding where the conversation was leading.

"Without Konoha the balance of the shinobi world has indeed shifted. The war that has inevitably come will require our strongest forces, and it is with strength and tenacity that we will be able to survive."

With that, Gaara turned around to retrieve his gourd, having said his due. When he turned back the Otogakure leader bowed deeply with a serious expression on his face.

"I thank you for your support. It will not be squandered."

Gaara clasped his gourd in place before crossing his arms across his chest, "The other Kage will not be so understanding. They have existed in a world where such a threat has not occurred. That is where your true battle lies."

Neji watched the Kazekage leave his quarters, joining his puppet-using brother and Shikamaru in the hallway. He wanted to speak to Shikamaru about their current situations, but his plan required for him to put that aside for the moment.

The next one would be far more difficult.

* * *

><p>The Raikage slammed the door shut and spun around with a furious look on his face, throwing down the folder Neji had given him earlier in disgust.<p>

"How the hell did you get that information? A pathetic village like Otogakure shouldn't have that capacity, let alone that access!"

Neji clenched his fists with his arms crossed over his chest; he could feel the violence flowing from the large man like a waterfall. "A shinobi village lives and dies by its intelligence. If that had come from Konoha would you be so surprised?"

"Is that how you see yourself?" said A with a snort. "Fancy yourself the new Hokage, even with your old village lying in the dust?"

The leader of Otogakure resisted the urge to spit back at the Raikage; it was because of this man that his father had been killed in the first place. "It is because of the absence of a Hokage that I convened this meeting, Raikage-san. There are only five major powers left in the shinobi world, and Otogakure is one of them."

A let out a bark of a laugh and moved around in his quarters to stand closer to the Hyuuga leader, obviously trying to intimidate him. "You haven't proven anything to me yet, boy. Having a bit of information doesn't make you a power in this world."

He put up his fists and his entire body activated at once, sending shocks of lightning around a small sphere around his body. "Strength is power. I won't have a white-eyed pup telling me about my responsibilities as a Kage, not when he hasn't proven himself once."

Neji glared at the Raikage and activated his Byakugan, immediately recognising how much pure strength the Kage had, but he ignored it for the moment.

"And what would you know of the battles I've had to fight? My youth has nothing to do with my combat prowess, and as the folder showed you, we have beaten back your shinobi at every turn."

He took a short breath before running large amounts of chakra through his system, covering himself in a form of lightning armour similar to the Raikage's, though far more precise and efficient.

"The seats of power only belong to the strong? Perhaps I should remove your head and take yours for my own. Then we could fight our real enemy without any problems."

It was a bold move, and one that could easily backfire, but Neji was a master at reading his opponent's emotions. The Raikage was a reckless and brash man, but as they had their standoff he could see that he was no fool.

"You think you could take my head, boy?" The Raikage activated his lightning armour further, causing the walls around the two of them to crack under the immense pressure. "Arrogance is not a useful trait for a leader."

Neji uncrossed his arms and took a step towards the Raikage so that they were barely inches from each other, their lightning chakras clashing against each other with a loud cracking.

"What makes you think it is arrogance?" For a split second he activated his Kuroi Byakugan, though the Raikage barely caught it before they returned back to the regular white of his Byakugan. "Right shoulder, two centimetres from the shoulder blade on the back."

For several seconds the Raikage stared down at the Hyuuga leader, trying to see if it was a bluff or not. The strange Byakugan he had flashed in front of him had been nothing he had seen before, but for him to see the single weak spot in his lightning armour that quickly, that was quite the skill.

His fists were clenched in frustration, and he wanted to reach out and strangle the boy for even thinking of fighting him on equal terms with his own technique.

However he dissipated his lightning armour and watched him do the same. There were times when battles were necessary, and the Raikage could tell this wasn't the time.

"You have stones, boy, I'll give you that." He indicated to the door with his head, "Get out."

Neji stared at him for a second before turning and walking towards the door.

"If you ever threaten my village, I'll reach down your throat and rip your lungs out," said A, just as the Otogakure leader reached for the door handle.

Neji grasped the handle before moving his head slightly, "You can try."

With that he left the Raikage's quarters, satisfied that he had gotten what he had come for.

* * *

><p>The female Iwagakure shinobi stared at him with a curious expression as Neji asked to be let into her grandfather's quarters.<p>

"I must speak to the Tsuchikage."

"My grandfather isn't seeing anyone at this point," said the girl with a cocky expression. "He is going over the information that he was given earlier."

Neji stared at her for a few moments before turning his gaze to the door. Even without activating his Byakugan, he could tell what was going on inside. "The Tsuchikage is currently sleeping, is he not? I need you to wake him up so that I can speak to him, we do not have all day to sort out this matter."

She looked up at him with surprise, though considering what she knew about his eyes it made sense that he could tell that. "What makes you think that I'll just do what you say, willy-nilly?"

The Hyuuga shinobi sighed and reached into his robe's pocket to retrieve one of the copies of the Iwagakure file. He casually flicked through the pages with her eyes widened as she recognised the file, finally landing on the page he wanted.

"The affair you had with the girl from Cascading Flow makes for an interesting read, don't you think, Kurotsuchi? I'm sure your grandfather found that part particularly interesting."

The kunoichi's hands clenched immediately and she was forced to resist the urge to panic as she realised that he wasn't joking around. The look on her grandfather's face when he had flicked through the file had been haunting, and if he read that part there was a very high chance that she would be executed for treason.

The fact that she hadn't yet, meant that her grandfather hadn't reached that part yet. He was not known for his understanding nature.

"If…if I let you in to speak to him…will you allow me to remove that part from the file he has, and from any others you might have?" she tried not to sound like she was pleading and failed.

Neji didn't have to respond; he merely looked at the door and waited for her to open it for him. She rushed in for a few minutes before walking back with a slight blush on her face.

"He will see you now."

The Otogakure leader nodded to her and entered the room, seeing that the Tsuchikage had indeed been roused from his nap and was standing in the centre of his sparse room with a deep frown on his face.

"This had better be important, boy. You should respect an elder's need for rest." The Tsuchikage looked up the Hyuuga, unimpressed. "You spun an impressive thread, bringing the four of us here, but don't believe that wield any power over us just yet."

"I don't claim to have power over you, Tsuchikage." Neji indicated to the file that Kurotsuchi had carefully placed back on the table within the room. "Did you find the information insightful?"

Onoki glared at his counterpart for several seconds before slowly tapping his hands together and rising from the ground to float at Neji's head height.

"Your spy network is impressive, boy. If we were not in a state of rebellion, you would not have been able to discover so many things about our village."

"Is it your arrogance that is allowing Cascading Flow to push you back towards your village? I hear even now that your son has expressed doubts in your ability to defeat the rebels." Neji could see the stubbornness in the old man's eyes, even as he rubbed at his back sorely.

"Hn, you have some gumption, but don't think you have me impressed. Why should I give you any help at all? If nothing else, you have already proven yourself a threat to my village." The Tsuchikage made a triangle with his hands and aimed it towards Neji's face. "Such a threat…it would be wise to remove you now, before you move against us."

Neji had to resist the urge to groan, getting through to the old man was going to be more difficult than he thought. He stared at the Iwagakure leader, "And what makes you think that that is the only file I have on your village, or that removing me will prevent the knowledge from being exploited?"

"You are giving me more incentive to kill you, boy."

Neji could feel the chakra building in the old man, yet he knew that he wasn't going to fire. The Tsuchikage was many things, but brash was not one of them.

"On the other hand, if you were that stupid you wouldn't be here now." Onoki put down his hands, though he continued to float just at Neji's face level. "Until the other Kage, I have heard titbits about your village. The way you dealt with the Village of Water was impressive, if blunt."

"If anything threatens my village, I destroy it." Neji brought up a hand and pointed at the Tsuchikage, wary of how rude the gesture probably seemed as someone his age. "That would include you, if the need arises."

Onoki huffed and floated down to the ground, as his feet struck the ground he grimaced in pain as a spike of pain shot through his back. He was determined not to show his pain to the Otogakure leader though, so he gritted his teeth and sat on a nearby cushioned chair.

"Konoha gone, a baby Kazekage, and now this. Times certainly have changed."

"Do I have you support then?" asked Neji, unsure whether the Tsuchikage was just trying to get rid of him, or wanted to continue the discussion when his back wasn't playing up.

The Tsuchikage glared at him for a few seconds before shutting his eyes and waving the Hyuuga leader away, "Do what you please."

Neji frowned for a moment before bowing and turning to the door.

_He'll wait for the others to make a decision, and then weigh up his options. I still need the Mizukage's support; otherwise this venture will have been pointless. _

* * *

><p>"Thank you for seeing me," said the Otogakure leader, watching the Mizukage nod to him before shifting a leg on top of the other. To him, she appeared very beautiful for a leader of a shinobi village, but one look at her green eyes and he knew that she was just as dangerous as A was.<p>

"It was my pleasure," she said slowly, a cheerful smile on her face. "I'm always happy to host a handsome man such as yourself."

Neji couldn't sense any sarcasm in her voice, but he knew he had to watch what he said. The intelligence he had on her was sketchy, but he knew enough that he was confident he could get her support. Though he was flattered by her comment.

"First, I believe we must address the elephant in the room."

Mei sighed; she had sensed the conflict coming when she saw his white eyes when he entered the meeting area. She'd thought that they had all been killed with Konoha, yet a Hyuuga stood in front of her.

"This is about Ao, then?" She sighed and perked her lips, she didn't want to kill a handsome man like him, but judging from the ring on his hand he was already a lost cause. "We acquired it during a time of war."

Neji stared intently at her; he could sense the power growing inside her in anticipation. Besides Gaara, all the other Kage had made motions to attack him during their discussions, and while Neji was confident in his abilities, he needed them as allies.

For that sake, he would have to compromise.

"While the old Hyuuga clan would have killed him on the spot for wielding a stolen Byakugan, that clan no longer exists."

"How many of you are left?" asked the Mizukage, curious as to what information she could get out of the young leader. "Does it even matter anymore?"

"The Byakugan belongs to Otogakure, and nowhere else." Neji had known of Ao's possession since before coming to the summit, and while he had been given opportunities to retrieve his family's doujutsu through his spy network, he had ultimately decided against it. "I have no real concern over your subordinate's possession of the Byakugan. He does not have the ability to pass it on genetically, and any attempt to replace it will end in failure."

"You seem very confident over that fact," said the Mizukage, pulling up the file he had given her and casually flipping through it. "Unlike the other Kage, I am not impressed by the information presented here. The parts surrounding the defences of Kirigakure are wildly inaccurate, and your details on the members of the Seven Swordsmen are woeful at best."

Neji grinned slowly; she was an accomplished liar if nothing else. They both knew his information was accurate, but she was testing his reaction under pressure. He wasn't going to crack.

Mei's smile widened after a few seconds, "Well, you got my measurements right at least. Nice to see where your priorities lie."

"Your subordinate may keep his Byakugan; I have no need of it. He may turn out to be a vital piece in our fight against our true enemy."

"That's surprisingly level-headed of you. I had no intention of giving him to you, but it is good that we do not have to be in conflict over something as trivial as that." Mei moved her top leg slowly up and down, she had an itch on her thigh but it wouldn't be feminine to scratch it in his presence.

"You know why I asked to speak with you then?"

She nodded, it was fairly obvious. "It is bold, I will give you that. However I see no reason for Kirigakure to advocate such a promotion, you have nothing that we desire to garner my vote."

"That is where you are wrong." Neji pulled at the collar of his robe uncomfortably, it was a humid day and despite the formality of the situation he wished he had taken his lighter robe to the meeting. "I have something that I left out of the file that would be of particular interest to you and your village."

"And what might that be?" asked the Mizukage with a curious look in her green eyes.

Neji leaned forward; her reaction would tell him how he would have to interact with her for the rest of the summit.

"I know what happened to the Fourth Mizukage."

She wasn't impressed by his statement, "He was a tyrant, and was killed. This is widely known."

The Otogakure leader shook his head, that wasn't what he meant.

"I know where he is right now."

She stared at him for a few seconds, unsure whether she was meant to believe him or not. However in his white eyes, she reached an understanding of what the Hyuuga leader was implying. Her eyes widened slightly before she stood up and ran her hands through her auburn hair so that it wasn't tangled completely.

"It would appear you have me at a disadvantage then. Am I correct in my assertion that you wish my vote for your ascension then?"

"We have to work together, and to do that we must be equals." Neji stood up as well. "It saddens me that this is how progress is made in our world."

The Mizukage smiled again, but Neji could tell there was no warmth in her expression at all. "That is the burden of power, young man. To your credit, you have handled yourself with surprising dignity."

She took a step forward and leaned in towards his ear, "But do not misinterpret the meaning of my decision. You need to prove yourself more than this in order to get my full support. If you try and screw me, I will kill you without hesitation."

Neji turned to her slowly before motioning that he was going to leave her quarters, "I will keep that in mind."

* * *

><p>Neji pushed the door to the main meeting area, looking at the four faces he had become acquainted with. While he was confident in the outcome of his discussions, to their credit the Kages gave nothing away as they watched him walk into the middle of the room.<p>

"Have you come to a decision?"

Underneath his village's symbol, the Mizukage leaned forward with her hands clasped together. "We have, though it is clear that you have successfully manipulated each of us for your own purposes."

"I've only done what I've had to, for the good of my village."

"Hn, indeed," said the Tsuchikage with a snort. "We recognise your status, Hyuuga. With this threat you speak of, and the numbers you claim, it means less of our shinobi have to die in the fight."

"That is a cynical way of observing things, but the Tsuchikage is correct," said Gaara methodically. He had observed the Hyuuga's body language since he had arrived in the room, and while he demonstrated a level of confidence required of a Kage, there was something else that he couldn't quite place in the Otogakure leader's eyes.

The Raikage nodded to Kidomaru up in the stands, who grinned and unfurled the symbol they had prepared before organising the meeting, letting the grey music note fall into place.

A turned to Neji in the middle of the room, knowing that ultimately they had made the right decision considering the situation they found themselves in.

"Take your seat, Otokage, and let's get this meeting underway."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so the Otokage is born. Even before the thing in the canon story happened, I wanted Neji to have a more central role to the story. And now he has the power to do it, and the influence.

The place the meeting is taking place in is between the Land of Rice Fields and the place where the Waterfall Village was. It's where the Akatsuki base was, but it doesn't have a name, so I gave it one. Just to be clear, it isn't in the Land of Iron, nor are the samurai anywhere near it. This is a very different summit compared to the canon story.

I do apologise for the lateness of this chapter, it has been a busy fortnight. Study, relationships, writing, all the normal stuff.

I know you guys are probably wondering where Naruto and Hinata are in all this, the new chapter (which is a Bonus Chapter), will be on them. I can't promise when it'll come out, since I'm so absurdly busy at the moment, but it'll be a fun chapter, nothing terribly dark.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	55. Bonus Chapter 5 A Long, Long Long Voyage

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – A Long, Long, Long Voyage

**A/N**: I know they've been out of the story for a while, but this should explain why. And yes, some of this chapter is ridiculous. It's a Bonus Chapter, so that comes with the territory. So don't take much of this chapter seriously, just enjoy it. And yes, there is some shameless stuff in here.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, people would DANCE!

* * *

><p>Naruto's arms burned as he swam through the ocean, he could be feel the salt water slam into his eyes painfully. His lungs stung at the lack of oxygen, though he would hardly considered himself to be at his limit. It was the same thing every day, but Naruto never felt like it was enough.<p>

After a few minutes his lungs screamed out for air and he emerged from the ocean with a powerful kick of his feet. His throat stung painfully as air rushed down to his lungs and he performed a flip in the air to land on the ocean surface, using chakra to steady himself on the ebbing waves.

Naruto took one breath after the other, feeling his strength rejuvenate as the sea breeze blew through his blonde hair. It was moments like this that he enjoyed the most.

Well, for the most part.

It was difficult to tell with the raging waters around him, but Naruto turned around as he heard an out of place splash. He saw a large dark figure moving rapidly towards him under the water surface, one that would reach him in moments.

Naruto couldn't see land anywhere, but that wasn't unusual considering how long he had been swimming so he wasn't so concerned.

The shadow leapt out of the water at him, revealing itself as a giant over-sized shark bearing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. It aimed to bite the blonde shinobi's head off, though Naruto could see that it would just swallow him whole.

He wasn't going to let that happen, of course.

Naruto kicked at the air in front of the shark's face, sending a crescent of wind spiritual energy to drive the shark high into the air. He teleported just underneath the flying shark and threw an uppercut into the shark's stomach.

The shark flew up even higher as Naruto continued to throw uppercuts, ignoring the tired muscles in his arms as the spiritual energy flowed out of him far easier than chakra could.

By the time he had landed the fifth strike, he couldn't see the ocean beneath him anymore, and the shark was practically in the clouds.

"Okay, maybe that was a bit excessive…"

With his momentum spent, Naruto began to fall back to the ocean, his arms crossed over his chest as he was trying to work out what he should do in this situation.

_I guess I haven't tested that in a while…_

Dismissing his spiritual energy, Naruto pushed out his hands and legs and hardened himself as much as possible with physical energy. He was falling at a frightening rate, but Naruto felt confident that his technique would prevent any harm that the fall would deal.

About a hundred metres from the ocean's surface, Naruto regretted thinking with such hubris.

oOoOoOo

Naruto dragged himself up the wooden side of the war galley, trying his best not to use chakra to stick to the surface and failing. With one final gasp he hurled himself onto the deck, panting heavily as his muscles ached from the running across the water he had done to get to the ship.

He glanced up to see a pair of black boots in front of his face. He didn't have to see the rest of her to guess the look that the captain of the ship was giving him.

"Permission...to come aboard...captain?"

The Dread Lady's captain scowled and tapped one of her boots on the side of his head, "Even for you kid, this is just sad."

She took a step back and stared up at the crow's nest, placing a hand to her mouth. "Oi! Shinobi girl! Your idiot of a husband is back!"

From the wooden floor, Naruto smiled with a sigh before losing consciousness.

"What a pain in the ass," said Grace, running a hand through her hair before scratching at her eye patch. She watched as a figure jumped out of the crow's nest and slowly floated down to the deck of the ship, looking like she had a pair of invisible wings.

"How's the fleet?" she asked, as Hinata's feet touched the deck and she smiled down at her husband's passed out form.

Ignoring Naruto for the moment, the white-eyed shinobi nodded to the captain of the ship, "The captain of the Flux has recovered from his bout of scurvy, and the Righteous Fury has counted that the last take was four thousand and ninety seven."

Upon hearing those numbers, an evil grin came over Grace's face. She reached out and patted Hinata on the shoulder, "Good work. Ulysior should be presenting his report in half an hour, so I want you to read that and get back to me." She indicated to the body beneath the two of them with a thumb, "Might want to take care of that first though."

Hinata chuckled and reached down to pick up her smiling husband, hefting him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing before smiling back at her captain.

"The crew is talking again by the way."

Grace groaned, placing a hand on the sword hilt at her belt, "I told them I'm not interested. A title like that is meaningless."

Her Hyuuga subordinate grinned and looked over at the five ships that were sailing beside the Dread Lady, "Even pirates want someone to look up to. You shouldn't have been such a good commander."

"Go away now, little girl. Give me the report when you see it."

* * *

><p>The next day, sitting under the cover of the cabins, Naruto took a slurp of the stew in his hands, wincing before placing it down next to him.<p>

_Still tastes like crap. How she thinks that man can cook is beyond me. _

He looked over at the deck, noting that the heavy rainfall wasn't relenting at all. It wasn't the first storm they had sailed through, though it did make navigation difficult.

"Watching the rain?" came Hinata's voice behind him, rubbing a hand on his neck before sitting down beside him.

Naruto nodded, leaning over to peck her on the cheek before threading his fingers into her hand. "It's nice today. Almost feels like we have no cares in the world."

His wife chuckled, kissing his hand for a moment before taking a step forward, running her hand down her front to undo the zip. "Can you hold my jacket?"

"Gonna do more practise?"

She nodded, stepping out into the pouring rain. "The final form is tricky, and this storm is perfect conditions."

Wearing her mesh shirt and purple pants with no shoes on, Hinata walked into the middle of the empty deck and placed her hands up to her sides.

"Hakke: Arashitai no Odori." (Eight Trigrams: Dance of the Storm)

Her hands began to move in circles around her body, as she dragged her bare feet along the drenched war galley deck, her hair flying around in slow motion. The large globes of water started to follow her hands, forming into a long stream of water that she moved with acute amounts of chakra.

As her movements quickened the rain that fell around her appeared to move much slower than the rain that was slamming into the deck around her, kicking up with her feet in deliberate motions that didn't appear to be doing anything.

She flicked her hands sporadically, moving with a grace that only a dancer could hope to achieve. The stream of water under her control grew in size with each drop of water, but with each flick of her hand she shot a part of it out into the distance with immense speed.

Hinata continued to push her feet out and around, concentrating harder as small pockets of air started to be pushed away in deliberate movements.

For fifteen minutes she practised her technique, moving water around with expert precision and chakra, while using her spiritual energy to send out sharp waves of condensed air.

From his seated position, Naruto swelled with pride at his wife's demonstration. He knew he would never have that level of control, and he wasn't ashamed of that at all. Hinata had her strengths, and he had his.

Theirs was a marriage of equals.

Once her practise was done, Hinata walked back up to Naruto, her hair and clothes drenched in water and a wide smile on her face.

"It looks like you've got the hang on it," commented Naruto, his eyes unable to take themselves from her drenched face. Even after dating her for two years and being married to her for another two, he was still head over heels attracted to the blue haired shinobi. Her smile always set him off.

"Thank you, honey." She reached forward and kissed him lightly, smiling with her eyes before stepping back and stretching her arms out. "Can you dry me off?"

Naruto nodded and put up an open hand in her direction. With concentration that he wouldn't have been able to perform years ago, he sent a small burst of air at her drenched body. Hinata used chakra to attach herself to the deck of the ship as her hair flew backwards with the edges of her shirt and pants, drying her in an instant.

Hinata sighed happily; it was a nice breeze, if a bit strong. She cracked her neck softly before running her hands through her long blue hair, it was better than any hair dryer, though she was grateful that he had left some dampness in her hair.

"You're on duty now?"

Her husband nodded, standing up slowly with a depressed look on his face, "Everyone else is inside, and I want to get some more training in."

Hinata placed a hand on his chest and lightly kissed him on the lips, leaning her forehead onto his. "That seems like all you have been doing. You can relax at times, you know."

With a soft chuckle, Naruto rubbed at her hand for a few moments before kissing her and walking into the rain.

Hinata picked up her jacket and threw it over her shoulders, watching as her husband looked up at the rain for a few moments before turning his head slightly to look at her.

"We have to be ready when we get back, Hinata. The others are going to need our help, and I don't want to let them down."

Hinata smiled proudly, though she felt the same way.

_We'll get home one day, Naruto. One day. _

* * *

><p>The tension was clear in the air as the grinning toothless pirate pushed his chips into the middle of the dirty table. "All in."<p>

A shirtless pirate beside him glanced at his cards for a moment before throwing them down in disgust, turning to the only other player still in the round.

Looking at the cards on the table, the other player knew what her hand was, so she stared at the toothless pirate without a word. Her white eyes were something you had to get used to, but in a game like this he couldn't afford to give anything away.

"Just throw them in, missy. You can't beat my hand."

She placed her hands together slowly, rubbing her fingers together.

_He's probably bluffing, but it's not worth the risk, even with my chip lead. I can take this much. _

With grace that seemed out of place on the pirate ship, Hinata pushed her cards into the middle, folding the pot to the toothless pirate.

He looked at her for a moment before dropping his cards into the middle, flashing a pair of Aces before they fell into the pile of cards. "Damnit, you don't crack easy, do you little girl?"

"Not if I don't need to, Guji." Hinata watched another player pick up the cards and begin shuffling while she mentally counted how many chips she still had left. With that pot she had fallen beneath another threshold, which only meant one thing.

"I'm below 800. Which do you want?"

The pirate called Guji stared at her with his ugly grin for a few moments before pointing to her shoulders, "The jacket."

She smiled sweetly at him for a moment before reaching forward to undo the zip of her jacket. With deliberate dramatisation she shouldered it off and turned in her chair slightly to hang it off the edge. Sitting in her chair with her usual smile on her face, Hinata still wore a white shirt and mesh undershirt, but judging from the reactions from the men at the table she could tell they were already beginning to enjoy themselves more.

"Let's keep playing," said the dealer, handing them their cards quickly.

Hinata glanced down at the two cards she'd been dealt, a King of Hearts and a Three of Clubs. A rubbish hand most of the day, but as the big blind she saw no reason to not enter the pot with the other five players, she was feeling like playing today.

The first three cards were dealt onto the table, with the small blind checking in the dark. A Three, a Four and a Nine, all Hearts. Ever the student of hiding her emotions, Hinata kept her happiness to herself, this would be a fruitful hand.

Known as an aggressive player that likes to play a lot of pots, Hinata made a medium-sized bet, one that was called by two of the five remaining players, including Guji. The next card was dealt, a Three of Spades.

Now Hinata knew she must have the best hand, and made a small value bet on the pot. The pirate beside her called her bet, while Guji raised her four times more than her bet.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked, fishing for information. He was a more aggressive player than she was, but was also known to be quite wily at times.

He said nothing back to her, but considering she already had a set and was close to a King-high flush, it was worth the risk. She pushed in the chips to call the bet, with the other pirate folding his hand.

The last card was dealt, a Jack of Hearts.

Hinata checked, confident that she could trap him when he bet. Surprisingly he checked as well, indicating that she should be the first to show her hand. The Hyuuga heiress flipped her hand with a smile, surely that was enough to beat him.

Guji grinned when he saw her cards and slowly flipped over his, revealing an Ace of Hearts with an irrelevant secondary card, winning the pot.

Hinata sighed loudly, she hadn't been expecting that. With that hand lost, she was down to less than half her starting stack, making her the biggest loser at the table so far.

"Why didn't you bet there?" demanded one of the other pirates, "You could have taken more of her stack!"

"If I had bet heavily there, she would have sensed the strength of my hand and folded."

"It was the same result anyway!"

"Don't you tell me how to play!"

Staring down at her dwindled chip stack, Hinata let out a short sigh, hoping that Naruto didn't come in at this moment.

Guji collected his chips and turned to her with a lustful look in his eyes. "You ready?"

She looked down at her shirt; this was going to be troublesome.

The door to the cabin shot open and the captain of the ship stomped inside, slamming her boots onto the table and scattering some of the poker chips. "What's all this then? Playing poker without me? This is mutiny!"

"You weren't around, captain," said Guji quickly, as Hinata was mid-way through taking her white shirt off. "We were bored."

Grace slammed a hand onto the table beside her boots, "Just because it's raining doesn't mean you get to slack off. Now deal me in before I put you below deck for insubordination."

The other pirates nodded quickly and scrambled to add their captain to the game, while she turned to Hinata with a raised eyebrow. "You've been losing?"

The Hyuuga shinobi smiled awkwardly, placing her shirt to the side and flipping her long hair so that it fell straight down her back. "It hasn't been a good start."

"Well, if we are playing that way..." Grace took her boots off the table and threw off her shirt and jacket in a single motion, tossing them to the wooden floor and letting the other pirates glare at her intently.

The captain winked at Hinata with a smirk, "Let's teach these boys a lesson."

Hinata grinned back; she enjoyed the captain's company. Though she did sometimes wish she wore a bra though, since the other pirates seemed to have little interest in actually playing cards now.

oOoOoOo

An hour later the door to the cabin opened again and Naruto walked in with his body shivering, his clothes drenched in rain. He looked up at the table with a dull expression on his face. The five male pirates that had been playing where all reduced to one item of clothing, with three of them being socks. The captain of the ship was draining a mug of beer and slamming her boots into the wooden floor to some unknown beat in her head, uncaring about the chilly temperature in the room as she sat with just her underwear on.

Naruto's gaze was immediately drawn to his wife, and he wasn't sure how he was meant to react. She held her cards in one hand, with the other across her chest to salvage some form of dignity at her lost clothing, though he was pleased that she was at least still wearing underwear even with her legs crossed.

Hinata looked up him with an apologetic look on her face, having hoped that she could have turned her luck around before he came back from his duties.

Her husband made no comment, pulling up a chair beside her and waiting for Guji to deal him in. He picked up his cards and looked at them before gazing at the table.

"So, what are we playing?"

* * *

><p>The next morning, Naruto stretched out his arms in the sunlight as his wife folded up his shirt and placed it on her legs as she rocked back and forth on her chair.<p>

"You sure you are ready for today, boy? I ain't gonna take it easy on you just because you haven't been sleeping lately."

Naruto grinned and slapped at his bare chest dramatically before putting out his arms towards the approaching captain of the ship. "This is nothing, cap. We had a deal, right?"

Grace rolled her eyes and drew her sword from her belt, flicking it a few times before aiming it at the ground. "You are dumber than spit, you know that?"

Clapping his hands together, Naruto readied himself for their fight. While Grace planned to use her sword to fight him, Naruto was determined to complete his technique for barehanded fighting.

Summoning his spiritual energy, Naruto activated his Kattoken style and took up a stance.

Grace grinned and leapt at him, swinging her sword at his neck. Naruto put up an arm to block the blade, the steel sparking against the swirling wind energy surrounding his arm. He tried to strike at her exposed stomach, but the captain of the Dread Lady pushed down with the hilt of her sword to push away his fist and stabbed at his face rapidly.

Naruto dodged away from the sharp steel, wary of the fact that despite this being a sparring match she would happily skewer him and leave him for dead. He jumped back to avoid a sweeping strike at his stomach and punched at the air towards Grace, sending two spiralling blasts at her.

Not one to dodge that much, Grace simply slashed at the blasts with her blade, causing the steel to shake for a moment while the spiritual energy spun harmlessly away from her.

"You don't have a good imagination, do you?" she said with a smirk.

Naruto sighed and stood back in a defensive position, "It's hardly my fault you know my techniques so well. That would work against most opponents."

"I'm not most opponents." Grace placed her hand behind her belt, watching Naruto patiently for a few moments before jumping towards him with her sword held in a classic fencing position.

As Naruto prepared to defend himself against her thrust, he flinched as he saw her flick five small daggers at his chest. Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to block them all with his Kattoken, he decided that he needed to change his battle plan.

He cancelled his spiritual energy technique, manipulating his body so that he took the initial thrust of her sword in his shoulder, while only two of the daggers struck him in the stomach. The moment her blow struck home, Naruto reactivated his Kattoken to cover his whole body in a single flash. The wind power blew the sword out of her hands and sent her flying, with Naruto teleporting behind her and driving her into the deck of the ship.

Ignoring his deep wounds, Naruto placed a fist in front of her face, with large wind blasts flying around his hand. "I got you."

Grace grinned under his fist, even while pressing a dagger at the blonde shinobi's throat. "Not bad kid, not bad. Still a ways to go yet though."

Her opponent smirked, cancelling his Kattoken and standing up with a grimace, wrenching her sword out of his shoulder and handing it back to her.

"It's still not perfect…"

Grace picked herself up and sheathed her sword before waving over the young man's wife to come and heal him. "That was pretty dull, for a first fight."

Naruto chuckled and smiled at his wife as she removed the daggers from his chest and healed his wounds quickly. "I'm not done yet…"

The captain of the ship sighed at his stamina and yelled at a nearby crewman to bring her another sword. While she admitted that he was a better overall fighter than she was, but his sword techniques were abysmal.

If he was going to be a good pirate, he would need to be able to at least fight against swords better, and she was determined to continue beating techniques into his thick skull.

Besides, beating him up was all there was to do when they weren't busy on the large oceans around them. They were still nowhere closer to getting the two of them home.

* * *

><p>Naruto collapsed onto his double-bed, his shirt discarded in a nearby basket. He sighed loudly and spread out on his stomach, their bed was surprisingly comfortable considering the ship they were on.<p>

"Long day?" came Hinata's voice behind him, closing the door to their personal cabin.

Her husband grunted into a pillow, making a motion to his wife before continuing to do nothing at all.

For a few seconds he didn't hear a response back from her, until he felt a nice sensation down the middle of his back. He breathed out slowly and relaxed completely, feeling Hinata sit down beside him and place both her hands on his back.

"How much longer do you think we'll be doing this?" Hinata kissed the back of his neck before slowly tracing her fingers over his shoulder blades.

Naruto sighed at her light touch; she knew exactly how to work out his muscle strains, one of her more exceptional skills. "It's been over two years..."

"Do you think we'll ever get home?" Her fingers found the tense muscles in his back, working them out with the affection that only a wife could produce.

Her husband gave her no response; he was too caught up in enjoying the massage. She smiled above him and moved her hands to his lower back, the touch causing Naruto to shiver and made a noise he had never made before.

Hinata stopped massaging him and leaned her head down closer to her husband's, "Naruto...did you just..."

"You heard nothing," said Naruto stubbornly, his head buried into the pillow to hide his embarrassment. He tried to struggle on the bed, but Hinata swung her legs over him and trapped him under her weight.

"Now this is interesting…" she said with a low purr. Since their small wedding ceremony they had become very comfortable with each other, and Hinata had developed a full confidence in their relationship, so this kind of physical connection came easily to her now.

She carefully pushed her fingers up the centre of his back, feeling all the little knots and rips in her husband's muscles. "Naruto, how come these bruises haven't healed yet?"

Naruto moved his head slightly so that he could talk properly, "The Kyuubi…oh that feels nice…said that I…he isn't going to…" He moved his head back to cover the sound that came out of his mouth, but Hinata heard it perfectly.

The young woman smiled and leaned down to kiss his bare back, "That's pretty cute, Naruto."

"No it's not…it's not manly at all…"

She began kissing across his back, taking as much care as she pleased. "They aren't girly moans, darling. I think they are quite manly."

His voice was mumbled by the pillow, but as Hinata continued to massage and kiss his back Naruto couldn't help but relax completely and enjoy the experience. "It still feels weird though…"

The tips of Hinata's hair fell onto his back as she leaned forward and kissed at the side of his neck, working her way methodically until she reached his ear. Naruto gripped his fingers on the sides of the bed, still trying to resist letting himself go completely.

In a slow motion his wife reached up and lightly bit his ear, sending a massive shiver up Naruto's back. Unable to restrain himself, Naruto moaned louder than before, clutching at the sides of the bed tightly while biting his lips.

Hinata wasn't going to relent though, taking another light bite of the tip of his ear while pressing her hands down the middle of his back. She didn't have to use chakra to stimulate the nerves in his back; she knew where each of his sensitive spots were and how to make him feel as nice as he did.

After nearly a minute of teasing, Naruto decided he had had enough.

In a single motion he spun around and flipped his wife onto her back, holding her wrists with one hand and staring at her smiling face with a hungry look in his eyes.

Hinata wasn't scared at all by his actions; it was strangely exciting that after two years they were still physically crazy for each other. His grip on her wrists was tight, but not painful, and Hinata sighed in pleasure as he ran his hands over her stomach under her shirt.

"I love you," she whispered, but Naruto was too preoccupied to hear her. She tried to say it again, but gasped as he started to get his revenge on her.

She didn't even care anymore that the door to their cabin was still open.

* * *

><p>Staring through her spyglass, an evil smile grew on the captain's face. "Well isn't that a lovely sight?"<p>

Naruto and Hinata emerged from their cabin, curious looks on their faces as they saw the majority of the crew gathered on the main deck of the ship.

Grace closed her spyglass and turned to her first mate, "Pull the crew from the oars and take up the rigging. I want everyone ready five minutes ago, or I'm cutting rations."

Her toothless first mate nodded and started barking orders at the pirates around, while Naruto and Hinata came up to Grace through the chaos of moving bodies.

"What's going on?" asked Hinata softly, the two of them had just woken up so they were still fairly tired.

Grace pointed with a long sleeved arm to a section of ocean to starboard, "What do you think, missy? What have we been doing for the past two years?"

Naruto's eyes lit up at the prospect, but a single glance from his wife reminded him of the vow they had made before embarking on the ship. He let out a short sigh and placed his hands together, "Shall I take the oars then?"

"Do it, but keep it at an easy pace." Grace turned to Hinata, "You've got the defence of the ship. If I catch you cleaning my cabin again…"

Hinata smiled slightly, watching as dozens of Naruto clones ran towards the staircase leading below deck. "I wouldn't dream of it. Are you capturing or destroying?"

Grace stared at the ship she had spotted, wary of the fact that it ran up a pirate flag similar to her own. They were still in unknown territory, so she didn't want to take any chances. Her fleet had grown in size since departing the Quiraji homeland enough to sate her greed for the time being.

"No quarter men!" she called out, causing a roar of approval to run through the pirate crew that had gathered on the deck.

Hinata watched as the pirates of their crew pulled out their weapons and began hyping themselves up for battle, while her husband looked at them longingly before moving back to her side and nodding to their captain.

"Everything is ready, Grace."

The one-eyed pirate glared at him angrily before slowly pulling out her gold hilted sword, "Call me captain while we are working, you maggot. Turn us to point, and signal the fleet to surround the enemy ship."

Naruto and Hinata both nodded and went about their duties, while the pirates prepared themselves for the reason they had embarked on the Dread Lady in the first place.

oOoOoOo

Naruto sighed loudly as the young married couple watched the fires and explosions on the enemy ship from the Dread Lady.

Hinata turned to him with a sad look, "Naruto, I know it's frustrating, but you know why we can't help them."

"It's not that," said Naruto, though that wasn't a debate they hadn't had before.

"Is it because you haven't been sleeping well lately?"

Her husband nodded, pressing his fingers lightly on his temples. "It's getting worse. I think the Kyuubi is bored."

"Naruto, what is going on? Why were you keeping this to yourself?"

Naruto groaned, rubbing his fingers on his head sorely, "It wasn't so bad at first. Mostly just messing with my vision and hearing. But now, it's singing Bink's Sake."

"Oh, I love that song, it's really catchy."

Naruto groaned and indicated to the bow of the ship with a thumb, "Not when it's the ninety third time."

Hinata could sympathise with his pain, but a part of her found that quite funny. Despite herself, she stifled her giggle and patted him on the shoulder supportively. "It's okay, Naruto. Why don't you offer to give back its paintings, or give it fresh water again?"

"Never!" said Naruto with a horrified expression on his face. "After what it did, I refuse to give it that level of freedom."

His wife rolled her eyes; there were times when the blonde shinobi could be so stubborn. She didn't have to use her Byakugan to see that the battle on the other ship was going well; the pirates would be back soon.

"Naruto, you should bring the ship around, they'll be done soon."

Her husband nodded and stood up from his seat, stretching before reaching out and punching at thin air. He stepped back with a satisfied look on his face before turning around and kissing his wife lightly and going down below deck to yell orders at his clones.

oOoOoOo

Grace barely acknowledged the two shinobi as they entered her captain, shutting the wooden door behind them. When building the ship, they had made her cabin the largest and most extravagant, and even though Grace didn't like the idea of having a lot of her possessions in one area, she had settled right in.

Maps of the areas they had sailed across were struck to the walls, surrounded by a variety of weapons that made Naruto extremely jealous. It wasn't there first time in her cabin, Grace was quite an open pirate despite her personality, but every time they did there was always an aura of power within.

"Did you get good stuff from the enemy ship?" asked Naruto, always curious about the raids that the crew conducted.

Grace nodded her head to a chest sitting in corner next to her bed, "Enough for the losses we took. We'll have to do some repairs on the deck of the Dread Lady, and the sails could use replacing, so we should be afloat for a while longer."

"That's good to hear," said Hinata, thankful that they were able to keep going.

For a few moments they didn't say anything, while Grace drained the remainder of the rum bottle in her hand. She slammed the bottle onto the table and wiped her mouth before taking her feet off the table and crossed her legs so that they couldn't see up her short skirt.

"The captain of the other ship had something that I think the two of you might be interested in."

Both Naruto and Hinata frowned, that could be any number of things. While they didn't have the pirates love for treasure, they had developed their own hobbies on their long voyage.

It was something he had only started developing since embarking on the Dread Lady, but Naruto had started carving little wooden figurines. There cabin was full of them. He'd even made little battle scenes and chess board pieces.

Hinata, on the other hand, had developed a penchant for fine wine and rum, which caused endless amusement for her husband, since he still occasionally called her an heiress. As shinobi they could drink with the best of them on the ship, though Naruto was yet to see his wife anywhere near tipsy.

However it wasn't either of those things as Grace pushed a closed scroll towards them with a serious expression on her scarred face.

"It's sketchy, but considering how much he spat out before we skewered him, I'd say it is legitimate."

Naruto and Hinata shared a look for a moment before Naruto reached down and opened the scroll so they could both look at it.

Wide smiles grew on their faces as they realised what they had just found. Hinata looked over the details while Naruto nodded to Grace, who already knew what they wanted to do.

"What are your orders then, captain?" asked Naruto, clenching his fists in anticipation.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Despite being ridiculous, this is what Naruto and Hinata have been up to for the past two years. They'll be back, of course, but not quite yet. They have their parts to play, but the focus is currently on Neji and the Kages.

I don't doubt I've bitten off more than I can chew with this story, but it's too fun for me to change the direction I've taken it in. I don't know how many more chapters there will be, but it's likely that it'll go past 60. I know the ending and how it will play out, that is pretty much set in stone.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	56. Chapter 51 A Meeting of Grave Importance

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 51 – A Meeting of Grave Importance

**A/N**: Okay, something I want to clarify. In the last chapter there was a fight between Naruto and Grace on the ship, during the Bonus Chapter. This wasn't meant to be a nerfing Naruto thing, he is improving, I just wanted him to fight a pirate. He has been improving, as has Hinata and everyone else.

**A/N2**: This chapter is a lot of dialogue, as you would expect.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be a few openly homosexual characters.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The Kazekage, Kankuro and Shikamaru left Suna for the mysterious meeting with the rest of the Kages in the Land of Plains. They encountered some small resistance on the way, but were the first ones to arrive. They consulted with their spy before entering the meeting place. The Mizukage arrived with Ao and Chojuro, taking her seat with a cautious attitude. The next arrival was the Raikage with his subordinate Darui and the Two-Tails container Yugito. The final one to arrive was Tsuchikage, who was angry that he was being brought away from the rebellion, having brought his granddaughter and the Four-Tails container, Roshi. They greeted each other tentatively before the meeting was interrupted by the organiser of the meeting, Neji and his bodyguards Kidomaru and Dosu. He passed each Kage a respective folder that contained sensitive information that he could use as leverage. Neji met with each Kage individually and gained their respect, and they agreed to designate him as the Otokage, a replacement for the destroyed Konoha. With his equal status established, the Kages began their meeting.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Each of the Kages stared at the Otokage, figuring that as the convener of the meeting he had the most to say. For the first time since initiating his plans to convene the meeting of Kage, Neji felt humbled by the stares they were giving him. There was a mixture of frustration and suspicion, but they were all layered with respect, giving him hope that his plans might bear some fruit.<p>

"I know this is a touch late, but thank you all for coming. I know some of you are sceptical of the threats that face us, but I am grateful that you have the foresight to discuss the issue formally."

"We have much to speak about in that regard," said Gaara, having established himself already as an ally to the Hyuuga, though he was wary of the shinobi's quick rise to power.

The Tsuchikage huffed and leaned back slightly in his chair, "I don't know about the rest of you, but my village doesn't have the time to deal with this threat of shadowy men killing your people. You have your enemies to fight, and we have ours."

"We are all aware of your failure to squash the rebellion in your country," said the Mizukage, not missing the chance to get a dig at the old Kage. "That kind of thing would never fly in Kirigakure."

"Ah, of course. Tell me, how is the tyrant doing?"

"Enough of this squabbling," yelled the Raikage, threatening to slam his fist into the table again. "Get to the point, boy."

Neji slowly stood up from his chair, glaring down the Raikage. "Don't call me boy, A. I have an equal right to be here." He breathed out slowly and looked around at the other Kage, "I do not expect the old grievances and arguments to disappear with this meeting, but I do expect you to listen to what I have to say."

With a flick of his wrist he produced four scrolls, tossing them to each of the Kages before walking into the middle of the room so that he could speak properly.

"This is all the information we currently have on the Quiraji, the enemy that is trying to destroy the shinobi world."

Each of the Kage opened the scrolls and examined the contents, surprised at the level of detail he had put into what he was giving them for free.

"This is quite impressive," said the Tsuchikage, holding the scroll between his hands. "But I fail to see how this involves Iwagakure."

"If you give me a moment, I will explain," said Neji with frustration. He took a long breath to calm himself, it was a careful balance of the truth and what he thought they would believe.

"As you all know, it has been four years since Konoha disappeared off the map. It was my home, and it is because of the Quiraji that that place is gone."

"You honestly expect us to believe that Konoha was destroyed by some shadowy organisation?" said the Tsuchikage suspiciously. "The amount of military might that would be required to take out Konoha without the rest of us noticing is astronomical."

"And yet, Konoha disappeared without our villages knowing how or why," said the Mizukage, wary of the spies that had been placed in the Hidden Leaf village when it had been destroyed.

"That's what I'm saying. He seems to be suggesting that they have that kind of power at their fingertips."

"They do," said Gaara. "Many of the survivors of Konoha reside currently in Sunagakure, and we have experienced the brunt of their forces."

Neji turned to the Raikage slowly, "Suna isn't the only one who has been attacked on masse by the Quiraji. Isn't that right, A?"

The Raikage glared at him angrily, but it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to keep it a secret anymore. He'd hidden it so that the other villages didn't sense an opportunity to attack Kumogakure while they were weak; however they had recovered enough of their forces for that not to be a problem.

That didn't mean he wasn't angry about being forced into revealing it.

"Fine, if you insist. Two years ago, an unknown force attacked my village. They were not from any village I recognised, and demonstrated abilities that were not of our world."

"That was the Quiraji," said Neji. "They have abilities specifically designed to take out shinobi, and they have numbers beyond what we can count."

Running his eyes over the scroll he was given, the Kazekage tapped at a specific number that had been bothering him. "Your estimation on their numbers is off, Otokage."

Neji turned to the younger Kage with a raised eyebrow, "How so?"

"Sunagakure has destroyed this many Quiraji soldiers on its own in the past year alone, so you can see how your estimation might be a bit off. Not only that, but you haven't taken into account the converted shinobi at all."

The Otokage tsked, he hadn't accounted for Gaara knowing so much about the enemy forces. "So it would seem."

"Converted shinobi? What are you talking about?" The Mizukage placed her hands together slowly, looking for a lie in the new Kage's eyes.

Seeing that it wasn't going to go as easily as he wanted it to, Neji made his way back to his chair and sat back down. "The Quiraji have a method that removes chakra from a shinobi's body and leaves them an empty shell that they can then control and use against us. We've seen it employed several times, though only on small scales. They are able to perform the same techniques as the shinobi could, but without chakra. I do not know how they do it, or why."

"The why is simple," pointed out the Tsuchikage, having seen a similar thing in his many years. "If we are forced to fight against our comrades, then we would be hesitant to attack them, while the enemy has free reign to strike."

The Kages all acknowledged the Tsuchikage's knowledge, though the Mizukage appeared slightly shaken at the prospect. Before Neji could speak again, Gaara leaned forward to take charge.

"There was a facility within the Land of Fire, where they are staging their campaign. The converted shinobi were being processed through this facility, which has been recently destroyed. While I cannot guarantee that they don't have similar ones elsewhere, the production of such shinobi should be lessened slightly."

"You found the converter? I'm impressed you were able to punch through the Quiraji's borders, we haven't had much success in that regard," said Neji with a satisfied smile. That put a major dampener on the Quiraji war effort, though they were still the threat he had come to warn them about.

Gaara nodded slowly, "I won't go into details, but there was a group that was determined enough to do it. They said that the Quiraji numbers were in the thousands, far more than the estimate you show here."

"Fair point, something to discuss at another point of the meeting. The main thing to take from this is that they are a threat that none of us should ignore."

"While that would be frightening, it sounds like this is more of a problem for those on the Quiraji's radar," said the Mizukage. "If they have that kind of power, why haven't other villages suffered the same fate?"

Neji turned to the red haired woman, "How naïve are you? Would you honestly disregard a threat merely because of your own ignorance?"

Mei slowly clenched her fingers together, her chakra spiking with her rising anger. "Just because you are a Kage, that doesn't mean you cannot be replaced, boy. You would do well to remember that."

"The point he is trying to make…" interjected the Kazekage, trying to calm her down, "…is that there is a reason why we are the only villages represented here." He turned to Neji, "Isn't that right?"

The Otokage nodded grimly, ignoring the angry glare he was being given by the Mizukage, "I extended invitations to each village that remained, and we are all that have survived to this point. Only one other village was able to reply, and it was made abundantly clear that they have no interest in doing anything but hiding."

"Which village is still around?" asked the Tsuchikage.

"Yukigakure," said Neji with a look of disgust. "They refused to even acknowledge the threat; they appear to be content at hiding in their mountains and keeping their heads under the dirt."

A huffed dramatically, "They were always cowards, even before their country went to hell."

"The shinobi of the snow are not our concern," pointed out the Tsuchikage. "If they don't wish to fight, then that is their prerogative."

Neji turned back to the Mizukage, "The point that I was trying to make, is that there are no other villages because of the Quiraji. They have no performed the same method as with Konoha, because I believe they cannot. Despite this, they have demonstrated a clear threat to our villages."

"Yes, you've made your point, Otokage. You must understand our concern with your information, particularly when two of our villages haven't had direct contact with these Quiraji you speak of."

"Exactly," indicated the Tsuchikage, glaring at the other Kage. "Iwagakure hasn't been attacked at all. These Quiraji don't seem interested in the Land of Earth."

The other Kage didn't appear to buy his declaration, and both Neji and Gaara were visibly angered by his ignorance.

"Is that so, Tsuchikage?" asked the Raikage. "And how did your Daimyo die again?"

The old man clenched his fists slowly, though it was clear he was trying to restrain himself. "The Daimyo was assassinated by rebels that were swiftly crushed. What has that got to do with what we are discussing?"

The Raikage looked over at the other Kage, with each of them acknowledging that the Raikage clearly knew something that the Tsuchikage would never admit to.

"This argument is pointless," said Gaara, hoping to bring them back on point. "Regardless of our own personal experience, we need to share as much information as possible, in case the Quiraji do come to your villages."

Both the Tsuchikage and Raikage stared at the Kazekage for a few moments before nodding reluctantly and sitting back down, recognising that any new information wouldn't be a bad thing.

"Thank you, Gaara." Neji indicated that they should look back at the scrolls he had given them. "My information sources have sacrificed much to get this, and I stand by its authenticity."

"The Quiraji have four leaders that command their forces, though we believe there is a shadow figure behind them that is pulling the strings. Each of the four leaders are beings of immense power, they can destroy entire armies on their own."

"What kind of names are these?" exclaimed the Tsuchikage, looking at the list in front of him. "Are they mocking us?"

The Kazekage shook his head, "They are likely meant to be symbols, aspects of destruction to inspire fear in their enemies. Shouri…Sensou…Kyoukou…Shikyo…"

"Sounds like actors in a bad play. Are we meant to be afraid of these people?"

Neji turned to the Tsuchikage, "Having fought with two of them personally, I can tell you they are terrifying opponents. They can dispel chakra attacks like they are nothing, and the other Kage can tell you how much damage these four have done. I have it on good information that the woman Shikyo destroyed Amegakure singlehandedly, without leaving any survivors."

Gaara stared at Neji for a few moments, recognising that the Otokage was likely protecting Konan and Kakashi, since it was clear that he knew far more than he would have expected him to know. He chose not to say anything; he still didn't know what Neji's final plan was.

However there was something he didn't have any intention on concealing.

"There are only three of the leaders remaining."

The four Kage all turned to him curiously.

"Shouri was killed two years ago, having been taken out by a survivor of Konoha." Gaara wasn't going to go into how he knew about that, but judging from the Raikage's reaction he knew that Itachi hadn't lied to him. Having the Uchiha as an ally to his village was one of the smarter moves he had done in the past few years.

Neji appeared surprised by the news, but hid it well as he regarded the others of the group, "While this is good news, the Quiraji are getting bolder. They have taken over the entirety of the Land of Fire, and have been pushing the borders of the other lands."

"What do we know of their true intentions? Are they here for land? Resources?"

"Our complete destruction," said the Otokage bluntly. "From our interrogations, they appear to have a personal grudge against us, one that is driving them to wage war on us."

He let that notion sink in with the Kages, waiting patiently to see what their responses would be.

After a minute of consideration, the Tsuchikage looked over to the meeting convener, "Have there been indications of the Quiraji attacking civilians?"

Neji shook his head, though it was the Kazekage that answered. "They do not specifically target civilian populations, and appear to have forced out civilians that have no relation to shinobi when they need the land, but make no mistake, they will destroy anyone they can connect to us."

"That isn't what I meant, but thank you nonetheless."

Neji stared at the old man with suspicion, but let the questions in his mind go for the time being.

"This is a lot to take in," said the Mizukage, slowly rubbing the sides of her forehead. It had been a long trip to the meeting place, and there were many things she needed to clarify before continuing.

The Tsuchikage nodded, "My back doesn't deal well with these kinds of settings, and we are clearly getting nowhere."

From behind his desk, Gaara sighed slowly, taking a glance at his subordinates above. "It would be in our best interests to convene for the night. An issue of this scale cannot be resolved with one day of discussion."

"Fine," said the Raikage with frustration. "I've had enough for the day anyway."

Seeing that it was the best thing for his meeting, Neji nodded in agreement and indicated to main door, "We will reconvene in the morning. If you have any needs, ask the attendants."

Without another word, he placed his hands in his sleeves and departed the room.

Outside the main meeting hall, Neji turned a corner to find his two subordinates standing in front of him. Kidomaru had the same grin he always had, while Dosu merely stared neutrally.

"That didn't go as expected."

"Actually, it was about how I figured," said Neji, indicating for them to continue down the corridor. "If it was that easy to persuade them, they wouldn't be the leaders of such powerful shinobi villages."

"It doesn't sound like you'll be able to convince them of the threat," observed Dosu quietly. He supported his leader, but he was a pragmatic shinobi at his core.

Neji nodded, turning another corner and placing a hand on a doorknob, "Having the Kazekage in the state of awareness he is currently in was unexpected, but it has been useful. An alliance with Sunagakure wouldn't be off the table, at least on a short term basis."

He turned slowly and stared at his six-armed subordinate, "Are the preparations complete?"

Kidomaru flexed two of his hands for a moment before nodding slowly, "We'll be ready, though not for some time. This is a risky plan, even for you, boss."

"I'll do whatever is necessary. Just tell Jin to be ready." He nodded to the two of them to go about their business, entering his room to consolidate his plans. He hadn't realised how much responsibility his position required until he had been the leader of the Sound for a few months, and now he was taking such monumental decisions like they were nothing.

_This plan cannot fail; otherwise none of us will survive the coming war. _

* * *

><p>Shikamaru put out a cigarette on an ashtray in front of him before grinning as Neji took his seat opposite him. "I've seen some stunts in my time, but you certainly know how to make an entrance."<p>

"Thanks. The planning took months."

"How long has it been? Two, three years?"

Neji nodded slowly, "About that. Feels like weeks though."

His old friend looked down at the Sunagakure folder on the table, "It seems like you've had your eye on us for some time. I thought our spy network was impressive, but yours seems to be off the charts."

"We worked hard on that." Neji grinned as his white eyes tracked along Shikamaru's hand to his golden ring. "Congratulations, by the way. She seems like a fine woman."

"You clearly don't know her well enough then," said Shikamaru with a tired grin, staring at his ring. Despite himself, he still couldn't keep an oddly placed smile from his face.

"Have you heard about the others?" he asked, figuring that Neji would have more information on their friends than he did.

Neji nodded grimly, "I heard about Asuma and Kurenai. I'm glad that their daughter is safe in your village. Konoha's legacy needs to live on."

"You haven't heard anything about Chouji then? We haven't been able to find him, and I fear the worst."

"I'm sorry, Shikamaru, I don't know where he is," said Neji sadly. "Tenten is in my village and is safe by the way."

Shikamaru took out a new cigarette and lit it, breathing in the smoke with a sigh, "That's good to hear; she dropped off my radar when her father was killed. I feared the worst."

Neji indicated to the cigarette in his friend's mouth with a frown, "Is that because of Asuma?"

Glancing at his own cigarette for a second, Shikamaru smiled slowly and leaned back on his chair, "No, though I'd be lying if I didn't say that I understand why he used to smoke so much. It was just the simple fact that it makes me feel very mellow, and you know me..."

"Anything to feel more relaxed," said Neji with a grin, it was comforting that his old friend hadn't changed that much. Neji hadn't been particularly close with that many people in their group besides his team and his cousin, but he had made sure to keep tabs on all the friends he knew about during his building of his spy network.

_If they knew how we know all this, there would be blood, even from Shikamaru. Damn the things I've had to do to lead my village. _

"Shino is dead," said Shikamaru bluntly, the look on Neji's face telling him that he wasn't aware of the quiet insect user's demise. "About two years ago."

Neji wasn't sure how to react to the news, there had been so much death that he had become quite jaded of late. "That's a shame. Any word on how he died, and who killed him?"

"The Quiraji, and it has already been taken care of. He died like a hero, apparently."

"There are no heroes in this war, Shikamaru, you know that. Only corpses."

The ex-Konoha shinobi nodded grimly, he knew that. As the spymaster and advisor to the Kazekage he had sent plenty of Suna shinobi to their deaths, and he hated every time he had to do it.

For nearly a minute they didn't say anything to each other, both remembering the companions that they had lost over the years. Neither of them were particularly emotional people, but they could respect what the other had lost.

"So..."

"I haven't heard anything about them," said Shikamaru, anticipating the Sound leader's question.

"I see..." Neji sighed and leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands together. "I'm beginning to be really concerned about their whereabouts. I would have thought they would have made contact by now."

"Working on the assumption that they are still together, of course."

Despite having pure white eyes, Neji was still able to give his old companion an are-you-shitting-me look. Shikamaru put up his hands with a grin; he knew that was a stupid thing to say.

"I wonder if they are married yet..."

"I don't want to think about it," said Neji, even as the two of them glanced at the rings on their hands.

Shikamaru grinned, thinking of his own large scale wedding. The whole time he had been thinking that his father was laughing at him from his unmarked grave back at Konoha's crater.

"I guess a lot of stuff has changed, hasn't it?"

Neji nodded, standing up from his chair. He'd been watching Shikamaru's progress through his spy network, and was glad that the normally lazy shinobi had been working so hard lately.

"What are your goals here, Neji?" asked Shikamaru quickly, knowing that his old friend was a busy person these days. "You know that they won't work together in the way you want them to."

Neji stared at the Sunagakure shinobi for a moment before sighing and closing his eyes. "It's that attitude that we need to change. The old grudges are meaningless, and if the other villages don't understand the threat, we are all going to die."

He thought about his family back in Otogakure, and the plans he had set in motion in case he were to not return. "Even if I have to beat reality into them, I'm not going to watch my family die because of their stubbornness."

"You got kids?"

Neji nodded, reaching into his robe to produce a small picture, handing it to Shikamaru with a proud smile. "This is my wife, and my three children. Thankfully, they got their looks from her."

Shikamaru grinned as he looked at the happy-looking picture, with a strange smile on the Neji within the picture. It felt strangely natural, even in these crazy times.

"They are beautiful. Tell me about them."

* * *

><p>"Out of everyone here, you were the last person I would expect to come see me."<p>

The Raikage glared up at the large Sound symbol that hung in the main meeting hall, "The last Kage meeting I attended was the one after the end of the Third Shinobi War. Things were very different back then."

The Tsuchikage stared up at the large man, wondering what he was planning. "Of course they are. Every village had suffered terribly back then, and the meeting was required so that we could reach an amicable agreement." He watched as the Raikage turned around to look at him, "If I recall, you were the least trusting out of all of the Kage, and the most reluctant."

"We are shinobi!" yelled the Raikage, uncaring that it was the middle of the night. "If I wanted to discuss politics, I would have sent the Daimyo or some pencil pusher. This meeting is a complete waste of time."

The old Kage thought about it for a time before nodding slowly, "The standard of Kage has clearly fallen in the past decades. The Hokage brought all of us to the table by virtue of strength, not by deception. This 'Otokage' has not gained any favour from Iwagakure for his actions."

"So you also believe that the Otokage has ulterior motivations?"

"Ulterior? I doubt it. However his actions are suspicious if nothing else." The Raikage leaned his back on one of the tables and crossed his arms with a deep frown. "Kumogakure has encountered the Quiraji before, and they are nothing like the monsters that he makes them out to be."

"So when your land was invaded and your shinobi forced to fight at your village, by weaklings?" The Tsuchikage was unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice, and it had the desired effect.

"The battle was less than favourable, but Kumogakure had no issue repelling their soldiers. I don't know about the Kazekage's story, but we can defeat these people easily."

The Tsuchikage rubbed at the back of his neck as the Raikage finished his rant. He didn't quite believe him, but someone as volatile as the Raikage had to be treated carefully. "I don't doubt that. So why did you ask to meet me here then? To me, all of you are not my concern."

"The two of us are the only ones who have experience leading in a war, yet all the information appears to be in the hands of the children, ones barely out of their diapers." The Raikage clenched his fists at the memory of the new Otokage challenging him, he couldn't deny that he would be a dangerous opponent to fight, which in turn made him even angrier.

Looking around at the dark room, the Tsuchikage found his head shaking without a particular reason for it. "This meeting was a waste of time from the start. Each shinobi village has the strength to repel these kinds of people, and yet he brings us in like he expects us to join our forces. Would he even know what to do with that kind of military strength?"

"It doesn't matter; I wouldn't let my shinobi work for someone like that. If they are fighting the enemy, let them. Kumogakure never needed help in the past, and we've already proven we can defeat them once."

_Though without the Uchiha's interference, it could have been much worse. If the Kazekage knows about Shouri's death, then it's likely that the Uchiha survived his capture and is residing in his village. With a Hyuuga in charge of Otogakure, we won't be getting a Byakugan, but a Sharingan would be mighty useful._

Onoki slowly floated up so that he wasn't putting any weight on his back, it had been playing up more and more lately. "Iwagakure doesn't have the time to fight the Kazekage and Otokage's enemies. When we created the shinobi villages we said we would protect the people, but the people of our land are ungrateful bastards, tenacious and all."

"Your rebellion is your own problem," said the Raikage quickly. "That's not why I wanted to speak with you. I don't trust anyone here, but you know what it is like to be in a war. Information is power, and I don't like the fact that that Hyuuga brat holds all the cards."

"What are you suggesting, A? As with you, I have no interest in alliances. The Kazekage is too young to know anything about fighting a war, yet he seems to be speaking like a proper general. Come a few years, he sounds like someone who would become quite a problem."

"And the Mizukage is shrouded in mystery," said the Raikage. "She says nothing about her own village, and keeps her distance from every conflict. Out of everyone here, she is the most suspicious."

"Are you going to get to the point, or am I going to die of old age beforehand?"

The large man glared at him angrily, but let it go. "Even if the Quiraji are as terrible as the Hyuuga seems to indicate, our would-be allies could be far more dangerous to us than they ever could."

"In this, I have to agree. I do not weep for Konoha's demise as some of the others seem to; they were the shiftiest village while remaining magnanimous. However you would be mistaken if you believe that I would trust someone like you."

The Raikage had to nod in agreement. The old man still had an aura of power about him; he wasn't intimidated by his presence at all. "And Kumogakure still hasn't forgiven you for what happened with my father. I'm not here to propose an alliance, Tsuchikage."

He indicated to the Sound symbol behind him with a clenched fist, "If this child wants to play like a Kage, he needs to know what it is like to be at our level."

Ever the careful shinobi, the Tsuchikage understood what the usually blunt man was getting at. "Considering what the Otokage has on us and our villages, his spy network must be immense."

The Raikage nodded, indicating to the room around them, "I have allies he doesn't know about, so I am not considered of him finding us out. What I don't have, is the specialty items that they have been requesting."

"I'm not going to confirm anything A, but I know that I cannot give you any funds. Iwagakure is a rich country, but we are not bottomless, particularly considering the absurd rebellion we are fighting."

The Raikage sighed with a loud grunt, "Then you are useless to me. I knew that coming to you with this was a bad idea."

He turned to leave, but the Tsuchikage floated around to confront the Raikage directly. "Now, don't be hasty. There may be an arrangement that we can come to."

His compatriot was suspicious; the old man was a hard nut to crack at the best of times. "State your case then."

"One of the leaders of the rebellion against my village is from the Hyuuga's old village. And I know that he has something that you would definitely want to get your hands on."

The Raikage visibly hesitated; it was as if the Tsuchikage had read his mind. "An Uchiha? And you haven't made efforts to take him for yourself?"

"The boy is slippery, I'll give him that." The Tsuchikage resisted the urge to spit at the ground in disgust. "He's one of the reasons we haven't been able to complete destroy them yet."

"You sound like you have no interest in the Sharingan then."

"If you can help us take out the Uchiha, you are welcome to the red eyes." The Tsuchikage considered it for a moment before nodding to himself. "You do that, I'll assist in whatever endeavour you engage in, though this is not an alliance."

The Raikage wasted no time in indicating his approval, "There are too many ears here for us to make any plans, but once the deal is done I will send a representative. There is too much for me to gain by staying here to risk it all now."

"I wonder about that. You brought one of your best weapons here, I'm curious at what you intend to do here."

"And bringing the Four-Tails wasn't a similar move by you? The Otokage knew that we would all be flexing our muscle, and there is something he isn't telling us about this meeting."

The Tsuchikage agreed, it felt strange agreeing with someone he had been trying to take out for a number of years, but they had common enemies. "If he wanted to take us out, he would have done so long ago. Children like him enjoy pretending to play leader, but when it comes down to it he will crack and won't know what to do."

"Hmm, I wonder." The Raikage moved past the floating Tsuchikage and wrenched the main doors open and left the main meeting hall, leaving the Iwagakure leader to his thoughts.

The old man hovered for a few moments before looking around at the symbols on the walls.

_Things used to be simpler, even in war times. Even when I fought the old Uchiha clan, I never had this feeling in my gut. Perhaps the boy is right, and we are facing our destruction._

Staring at the rocks that symbolised his village, Onoki wasn't sure what to believe. His granddaughter had been pestering him for years to give up his post to either her father or herself, and it wasn't the first time that he had started to consider it.

_I won't rest until Cascading Flow is destroyed though. Once they are done, perhaps I will retire. _

* * *

><p>"Thank you for seeing me." Gaara closed the door behind himself and bowed respectfully to the woman whose room he was intruding in.<p>

The Mizukage smiled warmly at her guest and indicated for him to take a seat. The temperature in her room was set just slightly above normal, but as a resident of a desert country it didn't bother Gaara one bit. He could do without the humidity though.

"Is there something you want to discuss that couldn't be said among the others?"

Gaara nodded, placing his gourd on the ground and taking his seat. "I wanted to speak to you one to one, since you were expressing doubts about the Quiraji threat."

"It is hard to believe that bogeymen are coming to get us, without any direct evidence on our part."

"Didn't you encounter a man who called himself Rock Lee, and a woman called Haruno Sakura about two years ago?"

The Mizukage didn't have to think about it, she knew what Gaara was talking about immediately. She had been part of the force that had discovered the taijutsu master in the middle of the corpse covered battlefield.

"Yes, he left quite the impression." She still remembered the breakout the two of them had staged when they had captured them. The only reason she hadn't sent a search party after them was the determined look in his eyes when he had fled. "What has that got to do with this?"

"I have worked with Rock Lee for some time now, and he gave me a detailed report on your encounter." Gaara pulled out a scroll and placed it on the table between them, giving no indication as to what was contained within. "Is it true that you have been training shinobi in secret to combat the Quiraji? That you have dozens of shinobi specifically working towards fighting their leaders?"

The Mizukage watched his expression carefully, not being able to read anything in the stoic Tailed Beast container. She sighed and reached down to grasp a glass of wine that she had put on the table. She knew that Gaara did not drink that particular vintage, though it was part of the power play between the two of them as leaders.

"So he did see the training facility during their escape. We were afraid of as much."

Gaara didn't change his facial expression, but a part of him was curious as to her motivation for acknowledging the intelligence. He kept that to himself however.

"For the misgivings you proclaimed earlier, that seems like an odd precaution to take, though I cannot fault it."

"As a Kage, I swore to keep my village safe and secure, against any possible threats." She took a sip from her wine, licking her lips before placing it back on the table, with her lipstick mark just barely visible. "Why didn't you mention this during the meeting?"

Gaara leaned forward in his chair, wary of how careful he had to be with his wording.

"The Otokage had information on all of us, information that could not have been gleaned from normal means. If he did not bring it up before, then he does not know. However I hold the same level of protectiveness of my village that you do."

"I think I see what you are talking about, Kazekage-sama."

The Mizukage tapped twice on the table, causing the door to open behind Gaara. The Kazekage didn't move an inch as her Byakugan-using bodyguard stepped inside with a nod of respect.

"Is there something you need, madam?"

Mei gave him a single-eyed glare at his called her that, but had to remind herself that there was a time and a place for admonishment. "Bring the fifth scroll from my bag. Tell Mazu that he is to return to Kirigakure and enact the third law."

Ao nodded and glared at the back of the Kazekage's head for a second before leaving the two leaders to their discussion.

"What are you proposing, Sabaku no Gaara?"

"Sunagakure is on the front line of the war between our kind and the Quiraji. If you have a special kind of training that can keep us safe, that is more important than anything this meeting will achieve."

"So, you don't believe an alliance can be formed then?" The Mizukage was keeping her tone neutral, but Gaara could tell that she wasn't judging him for coming to such a conclusion.

He shook his head slightly, "I believe this meeting to be a formality. A pretext for sharing information and informing us about the threat. While the Otokage may have a master plan, he doesn't have all the solutions. We have to take matters into our own hands."

Mei smiled slowly, "You continue to impressive me with your foresight. I happen to agree with you."

After a minute Ao returned to the room, delicately carrying a light blue scroll in his hands. He walked around and placed it in front of the Mizukage, nodding to her again before whispering a few things in her ear before departing the room.

Taking a moment to finish her drink, the Mizukage picked up the scroll. "What do you offer in exchange? This is quite a risk I would be taking, giving this information to you. While it couldn't be used to harm Kirigakure, the sharing of training information could be considered the most sensitive of topics."

Gaara nodded, he agreed that he was asking for a lot. However he didn't come to the meeting without a plan of his own. "I understand that the Land of Water has been struggling under the food shortages. Were you aware that the Land of Stone is currently going through the same problem?"

"I am," said the Mizukage, her single eye focusing on his face at the mention of the suffering her country had been through in the past few years. "If it weren't for our large fishing trade, we would be starving."

"This has been done all over the world by the Quiraji. Specifically by the leader, Kyoukou. He has been killing our production and starving out the smaller villages." Gaara reached forward and slowly opened the scroll he had placed on the table, revealing its contents to his compatriot.

"What is that?" asked the Mizukage, leaning forward to look at what he was showing her.

"Sunagakure exists in a desert, so we don't have it easy when it comes to feeding our people. There are methods that we have developed to create our own food, one that has rendered us immune from the economy tampering of the Quiraji."

Gaara stared at her directly, remembering the information he had on Mei Terumi and how she responded to directness.

"I will make these advances available to you, and the facilities required, in exchange for your training methods."

The Mizukage didn't make a motion, considering the proposal put in front of her. She could recognise the value in the exchange, yet she was hesitant to relinquish the techniques they had developed.

"Would it not make sense for me to share the knowledge with each village represented here? Surely the information would be beneficial to all." She hadn't opened her own scroll, but she noted with interest that he hadn't closed his, allowing her to absorb the little bit of information he was offering to her for free.

"Unlike some of the other villages, Sunagakure has no interest in personal power. We are facing the Quiraji threat head on, and even if we defeat them completely, I believe that shinobi villages should be able to work together, rather than apart."

For a moment, Mei believed that he was speaking naively, but once she saw the look in his eyes she realised that the Kazekage was doing something else entirely.

"Do not think this means an alliance between our villages. Kirigakure has little interest in such things at this time."

Gaara nodded, he was disappointed but he hid that fact well. "We will also provide the technology to create these foodstuffs, in ways that don't give any indications to the other villages. There may be a time when we aren't fighting each other for domination of the land; I would like to think that this threat would have brought us together."

The Mizukage breathed out slowly, she understood his concerns. "The old grudges of the world are hard to forget, as you saw earlier. Our hatred of each other is almost the same as the hatred the Quiraji hold for us. While I am a more progressive Kage than my predecessor, if you do anything to threaten my village I won't hesitate to melt you into the ground."

"I could say the same, but I'd be wasting my words." Gaara pushed the scroll towards his compatriot, standing up and placing a hand on his gourd. "An old friend of mine once said that he believed there would be a time when there would be no hatred in the world, where we don't have to be afraid of each other."

The Mizukage stood up as well, picking up the scroll she was given before handing her own to the Kazekage. "On any other day, I would say that your friend was a naïve fool, but this whole situation is unprecedented."

Gaara accepted her scroll with a nod, "That it is. If there is nothing else you wish to speak on, then I will retire to my quarters for the evening."

As he reached for the door, the Mizukage let out a long breath, "Whoever survives this war will be the ruler of the shinobi world, you know this don't you, Kazekage?"

The Sunagakure leader turned his head slightly to look just past his sand gourd, "I have no ambition for that, Mizukage. Even if this war takes away my life, I will protect my people from the Quiraji. And from you."

While he left the room, the Mizukage smiled slowly and licked her lips.

_Not bad kid. You'll go far as a leader._

* * *

><p>Neji slowly sat in his chair, watching as the other Kage filed into the meeting hall. Each of the four Kage had a particular face on as they took their seats, while their bodyguards stood above them and kept an eye on the meeting.<p>

He didn't need to use his Byakugan to be able to read their faces, though to their credit they were harder to read then most people.

The Mizukage didn't say a word as she sat down, but she did send him a seemingly warm smile, looking at him directly with her green eye.

_Her disposition is less rigid than before. Judging by the looks on her subordinates' faces, she is likely more open to the possibility of the threat. I'm still not comfortable with her man holding a Byakugan, but Ukon says he can render it useless so I can't complain too much. _

To the right of the Mizukage sat the Kazekage, his youthful appearance showing none of the battle experience and scars he had accumulated.

_Gaara appears to be on our side, and I trust Shikamaru's judgement, but his village's rapid increase in military strength is rather concerning. If he were to target our village, I couldn't guarantee that we could defeat him, particularly with his One-Tails. Though knowing him, he has little interest in personal power so far. _

Beside Neji was the Tsuchikage, sitting with the same frustrated look he had been wearing for the past day. He continued to appear self-satisfied, while his two bodyguards appeared almost comically uninterested in the rest of the meeting, though Neji could hardly make that claim considering his own bodyguards.

_He is an unknown factor in this meeting. He's made his disinterest in the cause clear, and it seems that Cascading Flow's rebellion is costing us. Perhaps Tayuya is right; they may be a threat to us. I should see if I can speak to Sasuke personally. _

Looking to the Raikage, Neji could feel a greater sense of violence from the large man, though his instincts told him that it was more likely the Raikage was putting on a show rather than actually being angry.

_I feel like he is the most malleable, judging by the information we have on him. His actions earlier seem in character, though I don't like the lack of reasonability coming from him. He may be volatile, but the Raikage is as determined as anyone to protect his people, even if the threats aren't really there. _

He looked over at Dosu and Kidomaru, making sure that they were in position in case things got out of hand. There were only a few bodyguards that he thought were beyond their level, but Neji hoped it didn't come to that.

"So, who would like to go first?" asked the Kazekage slowly, recognising that everyone was there.

"I have a question for the room," said Neji, looking over at the Kages' faces. "I expect cooperation in this area. What is the current status of the Tailed Beasts? As the only leader of a shinobi village without such a being, I would like to know how your villages plan on using them against our enemies."

The moment he brought up the Tailed Beasts, each of the Kages had an obvious reaction, though some weren't as he had expected. Both the Raikage and Tsuchikage took a cautionary glance at their respective bodyguards before scowling and turning back to the Otokage. The Kazekage's hands clenched tightly, but only when he had mentioned the Tailed Beasts being used as weapons. However the Mizukage had the most obvious reaction, as her eyes focused inwards and bit her lip angrily.

Before the other Kage could say anything, Gaara slowly rose from his seat. "Despite my own misgivings, I can understand why the Otokage would be interested in such a subject. I do not believe that the Quiraji are aware of their presence, but they are not weapons like kunai or shuriken to be hurled at our enemies without thought."

"The Tailed Beasts are weapons, Kazekage, you should know that. They have been used in previous wars, and if you believe these people are such a threat, you know what you have to do." The Raikage didn't waste any time in raising his voice to the young leader, though Gaara had no interest in hearing it.

"You would sacrifice your own brother? All of us are aware of Killer Bee's status as the Eight-Tails, and you even brought the Two-Tails here as a show of strength." Gaara could feel himself getting angry at the large man, though Shukaku's voice egging him on wasn't helping. "As the container of the One-Tails, I can tell you that they cannot be controlled. If the Quiraji get their hands on us, it will be the end of our world."

Neji watched the argument with interest, he knew that Gaara would never agree to use the Tailed Beasts as weapons unless absolutely necessary. He looked up at one of the Tsuchikage's bodyguards, noticing that despite being a subject of discussion the red haired man seemed quite disinterested.

"The Tailed Beasts cannot be controlled, everyone knows this." The Tsuchikage glared over at the Mizukage, "Isn't that right, Mizukage?"

"What the hell is that meant to mean?" snapped the red haired woman. "I don't want to hear that coming from you! Iwagakure and Kumogakure have a stranglehold on the power of the Tailed Beasts for years."

"Because they have two Tailed Beasts as opposed to your one?" inquired Neji.

The Mizukage's body was tense in frustration as she indicated to the Tsuchikage's bodyguard, "The Four and Five-Tails were exploited heavily in the previous war, and the Tsuchikage has shown a complete disregard for the lives he is responsible for."

"Arguing about this won't solve anything," said Gaara, having calmed himself down. "There are three Tailed Beasts that are unaccounted for, and this should be a concern for all of us."

"The Kazekage has a point," said the Raikage, sitting himself back down.

"Which ones are missing?" asked the Mizukage, appearing more controlled than before.

"The Six and Seven-Tails are missing; we should assume they are dead since the Village of Water and the Village of Waterfalls were both destroyed by the Quiraji,"

Neji frowned upon hearing the Kazekage's statement. They clearly didn't know that it was his village that had destroyed the Village of Water, but he didn't recall there being any Tailed Beast container involved during the attack.

_It must have abandoned the village when it realised how corrupt and pathetic they had become. Regardless, if they knew of what we did, my plans would be ruined. _

"Just because the villages are gone, doesn't mean the Tailed Beasts are gone," said Onoki. "If a container dies, the Tailed Beast resurrects in another part of the world. If nothing else, they could be useful for our villages."

"What of the Nine-Tails? You did not mention him earlier," observed the Mizukage.

Both Gaara and Neji tensed at that, though the Kazekage didn't waste any time in standing up and regarding the room. "I am friends with the Nine-Tails; he will come when he is needed. Though we do not know where he is, I trust in his ability to come to our aid if necessary."

"Naruto was always a stubborn bastard," said Neji, unable to keep a small grin from his usually stoic face. "The Nine-Tails is not our concern at this time. If the Quiraji are to be fought, we need to pool our resources to secure the other Tailed Beasts so that they can't be used against us."

From his seat, the Raikage glared at him sharply, "Just because you are a Kage, doesn't mean you can order us around. You speak out of turn, boy."

Neji slowly stood up from his seat and clenched his fists, "That is the last time you call me boy, A. I have the same rank as you, and I didn't have to be born into my position, I earned it."

"Arguing will get us nowhere," said Gaara, though he could see that his words were wasted on the two of them. "The Quiraji are the real threat."

"So you keep saying, but mere words won't convince us that we need to concentrate on these 'anti-shinobi' phantoms." The Tsuchikage sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, "If you want to fight these Quiraji, then you can do it on your own. Iwagakure will take no part in it."

"Neither will Kumogakure," said the Raikage, sitting back down. "If Otogakure and Sunagakure want to throw their lives away, then that is their prerogative."

Watching their reactions, the Mizukage sighed and leaned forward towards her hat on the desk, "I don't see how we can ignore this kind of threat, but the Tsuchikage and the Raikage have fair points. Unless we are attacked directly, I cannot willingly dedicate resources to combating the threat while we have other things to concern ourselves with."

"How naïve are you people?" yelled Gaara, glaring at the three Kage uncharacteristically. "This is our homes we are talking about, our people! If we don't cooperate, we will all die!"

While the other Kages argued, Neji watched calmly, the meeting had gotten completely out of hand. Their personalities were too different; there was only so much he could do.

The bodyguards above kept a close eye on the meeting and their compatriots, knowing that they had to keep their opinions about the matters to themselves.

Above the Otokage, Kidomaru's hands twitched oddly as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensation. Beside him, Dosu noticed his companion's action and tried to listen for what was causing the disturbance.

It didn't take him long to find it, and at the same time Kidomaru became aware of it as well.

The two of them immediately jumped down to behind the Otokage, causing the rest of the Kages to flinch in surprise.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded the Raikage; they had established strict rules on their bodyguards interfering with the meeting.

Neji ignored him and turned his head slightly. "Are they here?" he asked at a whisper.

His subordinates both nodded grimly.

"Within a few minutes, sir," said Kidomaru. "They've broken through the first level of webs."

Neji nodded grimly, "Dosu?"

"Several hundred, I can't keep track. But..."

"I understand," interrupted Neji, giving them a signal to take their original positions. He stood up from his seat and gave the other Kage a serious look.

"What is going on?" asked Gaara, wary that the Otokage had been concealing many things since the start of the meeting.

"The second reason for my convening this meeting is rapidly approaching. It seems that we are still at an impasse however."

"I'm more concerned over this second reason you speak of," said the Mizukage, already giving her two bodyguards a wilful stare to prepare themselves. She could see Ao activating his Byakugan, and barely a moment later he turned to Chojuro and began whispering what he had seen.

Neji looked up at the tall ceiling, revealing his hands from within his robe and placing them upwards. "Unfortunately I will have to cut this meeting short."

Each of the Kage stood up slowly, as the ground began to shake violently beneath them. The bodyguards above immediately jumped down to protect their leaders, though the Otogakure shinobi took places on either side of the room.

Neji gathered a large amount of chakra in his hands and activated his regular Byakugan, adjusting his hand positions.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded the Raikage, slamming his hand into the table and causing it to splinter and crack.

The Otokage ignored him, concentrating on getting the positioning correct.

"Hakke: Kuuhekishou!" (Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Wall Palm)

Two bursts of air exploded out of his hands, as the ceiling cracked and collapsed, causing the large chunks of rocks to fall away harmlessly from the people within the room.

Everyone in the room jumped, but they had no time to react as a massive metal spike came crashing through the opening in the high ceiling and slammed into the centre of the room, as if it had been hurled a great distance at them.

Neji put down his hands and breathed out slightly, he'd been able to redirect it enough to prevent anyone being struck by it, but the first strike had begun.

"You knew that was coming, didn't you?" asked the Mizukage, accusingly. "That's why you set up the meeting place here."

"We can discuss this another time," said Neji, already moving towards the door with his robe moving with his legs in a fluttering motion.

"**Come out, come out, wherever you are! Come on you shinobi dogs!"**

"Looks like she came herself," said Kidomaru dryly, flexing his six hands in anticipation as the other Kages organised themselves to join Neji as he walked to the front.

Still concentrating on gathering information on the enemy with his acute hearing, Dosu followed the two of them to the front lobby area. "The breathing of the enemy soldiers is sporadic, sir. Something is wrong with them."

Neji took a step outside with his hands within his sleeves, his two bodyguards standing beside him. After a few moments the other Kage and their bodyguards joined him, having released the gravity of the situation.

Gaara had removed the cap off of his gourd and stood stoically while Kankuro stood with his Sasori puppet prepared for battle and Shikamaru stood with his arms crossed, his cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a deep frown on his face.

Having ignored the door and bashed his way through the wall to get to the outside, the Raikage threw off his robe and activated his lightning armour with a furious look on his face. Quickly following her leader, Yugito Nii stood on the ground on all fours, her hands stretched out into long claws. Behind the two of them strode Darui with his oddly shaped sword on his shoulder.

Moving with a subtle grace, the Mizukage looked over the enemy force with a suspicious gaze, her red hair shifting slightly in the soft wind. Her two bodyguards stood on either side of her, with Ao clasping his hands together in a handseal while Chojuro had his bandaged sword in hand.

Even as the most apprehensive person in the meeting, the Tsuchikage floated out to the front with a huff, acknowledging that this was an enemy of significant threat. Behind him his granddaughter grinned in anticipation, her hands already having activated a ninjutsu. Standing next to the hovering Tsuchikage was Roshi, cracking his neck and glaring at the other Kage and their bodyguards.

"That's quite a few soldiers," observed the Mizukage quietly.

Wearing a full set of red scaled armour, the scientist of the Quiraji stood at the head of an army of hundreds of converted shinobi, each having come from one of the four original Shinobi Countries.

She had no weapon on hand, but Neji could tell even as he deactivated his Byakugan to avoid the effect of looking at her with the doujutsu active, she was the most dangerous one in the army.

Sensou looked over the five Kages with an arrogant smile, her hands sitting on her hips at a strut.

"**It would appear that the information was correct. All the leaders of the shinobi world, in one location."**

She licked her lips slowly, as the converted shinobi around her began forming handseals.

"**How convenient…"**

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'm sorry this chapter is coming so late, I've been swamped with assignments and sightseeing in Japan lately. If this chapter feels rushed, I'm sorry about that too, it's been difficult to find time to write lately. With that in mind, I'm not going to be able to publish the next chapter for a few weeks, meaning I'm taking a short break. Chapter 52 should be out first or second week next month. It'll be worth the wait, trust me. Much actions and fun times to be had.

I know that Utakata was technically from Kirigakure in the anime, but I don't like that idea just because he uses bubbles. That's why I put him in the Village of Water.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	57. Chapter 52 War is Here

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 52 – War is Here

**A/N**: Thank you for your patience with this chapter. I'm back now in the land of kangaroos, so I can now give my writing the time and dedication it deserves. My aim is to get chapters out every week again, and I might be able to finish the story by the end of the year. Maybe. Probably not. I dunno.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be long term injuries.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With Neji's status as an equal, the meeting of the Five Kages truly began. Each Kage displayed a personal perspective on the Quiraji issue, with old grudges and issues emerging to the forefront of the discussion, even as both Neji and Gaara gave the group the information they had on the shinobi's enemy. During a break in the meeting, Neji and Shikamaru took the time to discuss their current situations and families, both recognising that they can't go back to how it was before the destruction of Konoha and how much everything had changed. The Raikage and Tsuchikage met in the meeting room and discussed their problems with the meeting, with both of them agreeing that the Otokage was hiding things and required investigation. Gaara, on the other hand, met with the Mizukage, and made a deal for some extra intelligence she wasn't willing to share with the others, and testing Mei Terumi's temperament with the Quiraji issue. When the Kages reconvened, no consensus was able to be reached, though each displayed a concern about the Tailed Beasts and their place in the war. Before they could continue though, the meeting was attacked. When they emerged outside, the five Kages and their bodyguards found Sensou standing out the front of the building at the head of an army of hundreds of converted shinobi.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Sensou looked over at the shinobi facing off against her with a smirk. Behind her stood her army of converted shinobi, still wearing the clothing and forehead protectors of their previous villages.<p>

"So the intelligence was correct. The Four Kages all assembled in one nice little bunch. How stupid are you shinobi?"

"Not as dumb as you think, Sensou," said Neji boldly, flicking a wrist to produce a personally made Kage hat with a black colouring and the Sound symbol in the middle. He placed it on his head to match the other four Kage around him. "You won't find us easy prey."

To the Otokage's left, the Raikage cracked his neck loudly and clenching his fists. "You're telling me this little girl is the cause of our problems? She looks like she would snap in two at a stiff breeze."

"Don't underestimate her, A. See all those warriors around her? They came from our villages. She converted them herself." Neji indicated to the converted shinobi army behind Sensou with a robed hand.

There appeared to be an equal number of converted shinobi from each of the other four villages, nearly one hundred shinobi each with the same dead icy-blue look that chilled the blood of the Otokage.

However he was more affected by the fifty Otogakure converted shinobi that were directly behind the Quiraji leader. He recognised each man and woman's face, some he had recruited personally, and some had joined with their respective clans. He knew they had all gone missing on missions against the Quiraji, but as much as he had steeled himself against such an image it still clenched at his chest.

Neji could see the other Kages having their own reactions to their shinobi facing off against them. The Raikage was clearly furious, though that was difficult to discern from his usual demeanour. Gaara was the calmest out of the whole group, though judging from his rapidly rising chakra he was just as concerned as the others.

Particularly since the contingent of Suna converted shinobi was made up of mostly Jounin level combatants. It was also the largest out of the five groups.

"This is no type of warfare I've ever seen before," observed a floating Onoki, even as his two bodyguards moved to stand in front of him. "Even the Uchiha wouldn't do this kind of thing."

"Aren't those the Biwa twins?" asked his granddaughter with a curious expression, staring at two dead-eyed long haired women with butterfly knives in their hands. "I thought they were on retreat."

While her village's contingent was the smallest of the five, the Mizukage was under Neji's watchful eye and he observed that she was acting rather strangely considering she was being confronted by her own people.

"What are we going to do, Mizukage-sama?" asked her blue-haired bodyguard, his bandaged sword in hand. "I don't want to fight our people. I worked with some of them."

"Grow a spine, Chojuro," snapped Ao, his Byakugan paining him as he tried to turn his gaze to the Quiraji leader. "We have to do our duties."

He leaned forward to whisper to his leader, "We are outnumbered and outmatched, Mizukage-sama. I would advise that we retreat."

"It is our responsibility to look after our people who have been taken," said the Mizukage quickly, though unlike the other Kage she was not moulding her chakra to the same levels as them. "I want you to concentrate just on the shinobi from Kirigakure."

"The Mizukage is correct," stated Gaara from the other side of their line. "We will only concentrate on our people for the time being. We owe them that much."

"Enough talk," said the Raikage, activating his lightning armour and charging straight at the red armoured woman at the head of the converted shinobi army. "This bitch is mine!"

Sensou had no trouble following the large man's movements, even managing a sigh as she placed a hand up in his path. "You'd think you would have learnt your lesson from your bout with my younger brother."

The Raikage aimed to strike through her chest with his clenched fist, but as he came within close range his lightning armour disappeared and she easily caught his large fist in her red gauntlet.

His two bodyguards sped to catch up with him, but their surprised expressions couldn't be matched by A's, who could barely believe that there was another being that could stop his attack so easily.

Sensou grasped her hand around his wrist, causing the Raikage to grimace in pain and glare at his opponent angrily, trying as hard as he could to reactivate his lightning armour and failing due to her negation field.

"This is why you are simply lambs to the slaughter. You know nothing except brutal flailing."

Sensou brought back her other fist, dozens of long blades appearing out of thin air to form a drill that began spinning rapidly. "It's time for the shinobi to realise the truth of the sins they have committed."

A's eyes didn't change as she went to drive the loud drill into his bare chest, though his Kage hat blew off his head during the exchange.

The blow never fell.

Just as the metal drill on her hand threatened to pierce his chest, a wide metal blade came in between the Kumogakure leader and the weapon, while a gloved hand clutched at her wrist and pointed a kunai at Sensou's throat.

"Don't think you can get the boss so easily," said Darui, struggling to hold the blade as Sensou slowed her drill back to its blades and rested her hate-filled gaze on the woman pointing a blade at her throat.

"I could slit your throat now," said Yugito with a cocky grin.

Sensou scoffed loudly and let her blades disappear. "You know that your chakra-tricks won't work on me. How prudent of you. But what makes you think that blades will work?"

As Darui moved the Raikage back against his will, Yugito decided she had had enough of the conversation and attempted to slit Sensou's throat with her kunai.

The metal blade dragged along the red haired Quiraji's throat, but instead of piercing her flesh it simply appeared on the other side without a mark on it.

Yugito's eyes widened as she saw how her attack had had no effect, but she was still able to put her hands up to defend herself as Sensou spun around and kicked her straight in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the Raikage and Darui.

Sensou put down her foot with a deliberate motion, "You shinobi never could understand what true power is. Always flailing in your own powerlessness."

"And you are overconfident, Sensou."

The Quiraji leader spun around and flinched as she saw a flash of metal move past her face, forcing Sensou to leap backwards. As she skidded to a halt, she snarled and reached up to feel at the long cut across her cheek.

Pulling back his weapon, Neji stood up straight and stared down the red haired warrior. At the end of his hands extended a pair of bladed gauntlets with a slight trickle of blood down their shiny blades.

"What are you doing, Otokage?" yelled the Raikage, having shoved off Darui's grip. "She's my opponent, fight your own enemy!"

"Can it, Raikage. You have your own people to fight. I'm better suited to fighting her out of all of us, I have the tools to do so."

A glared at the Otokage angrily, but as he saw the other Kages and their bodyguards charging into the converted shinobi army he was forced to agree. If he and his bodyguards didn't remove the Kumogakure contingent, there was a lot of damage they could do.

"Fine, take her then. But if you fall, she's mine."

He and his bodyguards jumped past the Otokage, causing his robes to flutter for a moment before they settled down, Dosu and Kidomaru appearing behind him.

"Orders?" asked Dosu quickly, wary that the battles had begun.

Neji turned his head slightly, "Delay as much as possible. I will take her for as long as I can. Remove the Otogakure converted shinobi from the battlefield. Standard orders."

They both nodded and disappeared in a flash towards the Otogakure contingent.

Sensou stared at the gauntlets on Neji's hands, "You have some interesting weapons there, kid. It's not the most common metal that could cut through my physical energy armour."

Neji grinned and brought up one of his gauntlets, looking at the symbol that had been printed on its base, "I have one hell of an armourer. But don't act like I've impressed you. If you hadn't been wearing that physical energy armour, that attack would have taken your head off."

"You prepared to fight me?"

Neji shrugged, "Who knows? I'm taking you down here and now, Sensou."

A pair of swords slowly began to form in her hands, taking on long curved shapes with a black gleam, the Quiraji leader testing the weights of her weapons before pointing them at the Otokage. "Don't think you can defeat me just because you scratched me. Boys like you crumble under the smallest pressures."

Neji grinned slowly, "Enough trash talk. Come at me."

Sensou made no sound as she ran towards him, her blades like a blur in front of her.

* * *

><p>Looking at their village's converted shinobi in front of them, it was hard to believe that they were having to fight them on such a battlefield. Besides the fact that they didn't say anything, none of them could sense chakra from them at all.<p>

"Are we going to attack them or what?" asked the Tsuchikage's red haired bodyguard, cracking his knuckles loudly. "It looks like they are about to move."

The Tsuchikage sighed, rubbing at his back sorely. "It looks like we have no choice. They appear to be lost to us."

"How can you two say that?" demanded Kurotsuchi, even though she had her hands ready to activate her ninjutsu techniques. "They are our people. Maybe they are just being controlled…"

"No, they are too far gone," came Gaara's voice to the young Iwagakure shinobi. "All we can do is put them down."

The converted shinobi seemed unwilling to wait for the shinobi to make up their minds, several clasping their hands together to activate ninjutsu techniques despite their lack of chakra.

"Prepare yourself," said the Raikage, having recovered from his failed assault on Sensou. He turned to his two bodyguards, "I'm going in."

The two of them didn't get a chance to respond as their leader activated his lightning armour and dove straight into a large pack of Kumogakure converted shinobi, sweeping away dozens in a single strike.

Following in her leader's footsteps, Yugito dropped to all fours and growled loudly, her nails extending into long claws. "You coming, Darui?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm going," said the tall man, holding his large blade limply. It still shook slightly from taking the attack from Sensou, but he didn't have a chance to repair it as two Kumogakure converted shinobi jumped towards him with swords raised above their heads.

"Or not…" he said dryly, blocking the strikes with his blade. He ran lightning through his blade to send them flying while watching Yugito protect the Raikage from thrown kunai as he punched his way through the converted shinobi lines.

Shikamaru moved his head slightly to avoid a kunai, turning to Kankuro with a tired look, "Can you take care of the five Jounin at the front?"

The puppet user nodded and turned his red haired puppet towards the Sunagakure Jounin, opening up its arm joints to fire two poison gas bombs into the converted shinobi army.

While Shikamaru held the Jounin in place with his shadow binding technique, the Sunagakure shinobi choked and died with Kankuro's poison attacks, though they were quickly replaced with more converted shinobi.

_It's strange that this technique still works on them. I guess there are only some in the Quiraji army that are immune to chakra attacks. This is good, we can still fight back against them. _

A dozen Sunagakure shinobi clapped their hands together and sent a large blast of scything wind at their old leader and his two bodyguards, though neither Shikamaru nor Kankuro seemed particularly concerned about the attack.

As the blast came near to strike them, a wall of sand emerged in front of them from Gaara's gourd, protecting them while sending out tendrils of sand to block attacks aimed at the Tsuchikage's position.

"I don't need your help, boy!" yelled the old man, even as he destroyed the three attackers with his dust technique.

Gaara ignored the Tsuchikage's remark, concentrating on defending all their allies while they attacked the Quiraji army. His sand moved with a mind of its own, the Kazekage having extended his sand to attack those he had once called his people. They attempted to fire off several fireballs to take him out of the picture; however Shikamaru brought up his shadow to defend his leader.

"That was unnecessary, Shikamaru," said Gaara slowly, firing off several sand bullets into the Quiraji army.

"You don't want your sand turned to glass, sir." Shikamaru looked over at the Kirigakure leader, noticing that while her two bodyguards were fighting to protect her valiantly she wasn't doing much besides dodging attacks.

_Is she preparing some kind of attack? The Kirigakure contingent is small but fast, though her Byakugan-user seems to be holding his own. _

Deciding to sort out his own battle, Shikamaru placed his hands together and considered their position. While he planned, Gaara protected him with a sand bubble and Kankuro pulled out two scrolls from his side.

"We've got to delay until he comes up with a plan," said the puppet master, activating his scrolls to send four puppets to fight against his old friends. The puppet of Sasori's old body sat limply on the ground while Kankuro brought with the strength of a Jounin in each puppet, easily out matching the slower converted shinobi facing off against them.

Leaving Shikamaru's defence to his sand bubble, Gaara took a step forward and put up his hands as massive quantities of sand came pouring out of his gourd to form the hands of his occupant, though on a slightly smaller scale.

The arms of Shukaku slammed into the converted shinobi army, sending dozens flying from every contingent, not just from the Sunagakure side. Several attempted to get away but his ability to direct the giant raccoon arms was unparalleled, easily able to grab and slam any converted shinobi that he could get his hands on.

Having fired two arrows consecutively into the chest of an Otogakure shinobi he had once played cards with, Kidomaru chuckled in amusement at the Kazekage's display of power.

"He isn't even using the beast inside him, how scary. We ought to get one of those just to level the playing field."

Dosu used one of his sound gauntlets to block a fireball from an Otogakure Chuunin before turning to look up at his six-armed companion, "The leader won't like you talking like that. You know how he feels about that kind of stuff."

Kidomaru rolled his eyes as he pulled the string of the two bows in his hands, "He'll do what he has to." He released two powerful arrow shots into the faces of two Otogakure Jounin that had once been part of the Chiza clan. "I wasn't suggesting we steal one or anything…"

He didn't need to use his third eye to keep track of his leader's battle with the Quiraji leader, it appeared that all Neji was currently doing was defending himself.

"Where the hell is Jin? The bastard is always damn late."

As if having read his mind, after dodging a side swipe from one of Sensou's blades, Neji took a split second to throw him a quick hand signal before being forced backwards by a secondary strike from Sensou, followed by a kick to his stomach that forced him to leap back and parry a metal spike aiming to slit his throat.

Despite the speed of the motion, Kidomaru understand the signal even if it was cut off half-way through. He dispersed his bows into worthless golden metal on the ground and turned to his companion, "Can you handle things here? He wants me to go find the others."

"That's not what I saw, but fine. Do as you will." Dosu sent a large blast of sound into a Kirigakure shinobi that was looking at him funny before tapping both of his sound gauntlets together. "I've been meaning to test this for a while, anyway."

"Oi, don't bring that out here! You'll take out everyone here, not just the enemies."

Dosu chuckled grimly underneath his bandages, shouldering off his poncho to reveal a pair of cannons sitting flat on his back. "I can control it. Besides, she said 'battlefield conditions'. Now is a better chance than ever, Kidomaru."

The spider-like shinobi sighed loudly and placed a hand on the ground in front of him. "Well I'm getting out of here."

A large cloud of smoke appeared underneath his hand, causing a long spider to walk out and stand in front of him. It had long spiked legs and a bright red skull on its back.

"Kuchiyose: Ookamikumo." (Summoning Technique: Spider Wolf)

With a single bound he leapt on top of the long spider and commanded it to take him out of battlefield. The spider made a clicking sound with its pincers for a second before leaping across the battlefield.

_I've got to punch through to the other side, without wasting any extra time or chakra. _

Keeping himself stable with his legs, Kidomaru grabbed at his mouth for a moment with all six of his hands, stretching out six globes of white liquid and forming them into balls in each hand.

As his mount leapt through the battlefield, several Otogakure converted shinobi moved to block his path, with a dozen Iwagakure shinobi following behind them.

Kidomaru took two of the balls and crushed them before hurling them towards the Otogakure shinobi blocking his way. Just before striking them, the balls expanded outwards into large webs that instantly bound the Quiraji-enslaved shinobi to the ground, allowing his spider mount to leap straight over them.

"Sorry I can't play with you guys, but I'll be right back."

He used his other four balls of web to clear a path through the other shinobi to get through, and within moments he was outside the field of battle, riding his spider towards a clearing to the east.

Dosu groaned at Kidomaru's line even as the cannons on his back moved up to his shoulders and attached themselves to his sound gauntlets.

Judging from the thirty Otogakure converted shinobi converging on his position, Dosu estimated that he would require half of his overall chakra to control the technique. If it weren't for his leader's nearby presence he wouldn't need nearly that much, but orders were orders after all.

He tapped his sound gauntlets together loudly before aiming them at the pack of converted shinobi approaching him.

"Otogakure Ninjutsu Ougi: Otokeiji!" (Hidden Sound Special Technique: Sound Apocalypse)

The two cannons on his shoulders flashed momentarily before smoking and fizzing out. He struggled to keep his gauntlets steady as his chakra dropped massively, but judging from the silent cries of pure agony and blood pouring from every orifice that his attack had been successful.

The Otogakure shinobi in front of him collapsed immediately, though to his surprise a dozen Iwagakure converted shinobi and several Kumogakure shinobi behind them were also caught in his attack. It appeared that his attack was only contained to a 45 degree angle in front of him.

"Well, I suppose that should be considered a success. She'll be pleased, if not intolerable."

He glanced around to see that nearly half of the Otogakure contingent had already been taken out, though the rest were already preparing to avenge their companions' deaths, though he couldn't quite tell their motivations from the dead looks in their ice-blue eyes.

_Their heartbeats are regular and they appear normal physically. How horrible to not feel anything even as your comrades fall around you._ _Even in our darkest days, we still tried to look out for each other, in our own way._

A large blast of sound came from his right, forcing him to put up his sound gauntlet to absorb the attack. "That isn't going to work, you guys must realise that."

He got no verbal response from his opponents, though he noticed that the Otogakure contingent was being reinforced by over a dozen Kirigakure converted shinobi attempting to send a large cascade of water into his position.

Dosu pushed up his shoulders to drop the cannons to the ground, as his technique was only a one shot at the moment. "I guess it's time to go all out."

He didn't waste a moment in funnelling his chakra into his sound gauntlets before leaping into the pack and driving a thundering sound into his opponent's ears.

oOoOoOo

Kurotsuchi filled her mouth with quicklime as two Iwagakure Chuunin charged at her with large fists raised to punch through her to the Tsuchikage.

"Yoton: Sekkaigyou no Jutsu!" (Lava Element: Quicklime Congealing Technique)

She spat the grey quicklime at the two converted shinobi, forcing them to hesitate as they were covered in the sticky substance from head to toe. In a quick follow up, Kurotsuchi send a large globe of water at them, causing the two of them to harden into cement rapidly.

The young Iwagakure Jounin scattered her two opponents with a quick kick, then ducked on instinct as a fist made of lava flew over her head and slammed into a group of converted shinobi, melting their bodies even as they screamed out in silent pain.

Kurotsuchi stood up with a deep frown on her face, turning around to yell at her companion, "Damnit, Roshi! You nearly took my head off there!"

Standing a short distance away from her, the tall red haired shinobi simply cocked his head in curiosity before lighting one of his fists with lava again and slamming it into the face of a Kumogakure converted shinobi that had gotten behind him.

After a few seconds it became clear that she wasn't going to get an appropriate response from him, so Kurotsuchi simply gritted her teeth in anger and turned back to the battle.

"Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!" (Dust Element: Atomic Dismantling Technique)

The cube of the Tsuchikage's technique compressed instantly, pulverising eight of his former subordinates into dust. He floated closer to the ground momentarily as he the old man panted softly.

"They don't seem to be putting up much of a fight," he said dryly, disappointed in his soldier's poor performance even if it was against him.

Roshi spat out a wide spread of lava onto a stone wall that their enemy had set up, watching it melt quickly with a low grunt, "What do you expect? If these Quiraji people kidnapped our people to make these soldiers, they can't have been that strong."

He indicated to the two melted bodies being trampled on by the Iwagakure shinobi as they tried to get near the Iwagakure leaders. "Those two were pathetically weak, hardly worthy being called Jounin."

"They were your people!" came Kankuro's angry voice as his second puppet was destroyed by a blast of wind from a Sunagakure converted shinobi. "Don't you have any respect?"

The Iwagakure shinobi ignored him, turning their attentions back to their contingent that had been cut in half by their continued attacks.

Despite her confidence in their abilities, Kurotsuchi was still suspicious of the fact that none of them had been attacked as heavily as the Sunagakure and Kumogakure leaders had been.

Her dark eyes squinted as she defended herself from a Genin attacking her with a kunai, there was a large group of a dozen converted shinobi that were running through large sets of handseals. It took her a moment before her eyes widened when she recognised the technique they were about to perform.

She jumped back in front of her grandfather and slammed her hands into the ground, summoning up a wide wall of earth to cover the two of them while Roshi did his own battling.

"What are you doing?" demanded the Tsuchikage, hovering at her head level.

"Saving your butt, old man," snapped his granddaughter, placing her hands on the wall to keep it as solid as possible. "They were about to do a pretty dangerous technique, and I'm not ready to replace you just yet."

"Hmph, how impudent. I can defend myself perfectly well without…"

His sentence ran off as parts of Kurotsuchi's wall were pierced by several blasts of concentrated mud, with one scrapping along Kurotsuchi's face, causing her to cry out in pain and drop to her knees, clutching at her face tenderly.

The Tsuchikage frowned as he saw his granddaughter fall, knowing that her barrier was one of the strongest in the village, and yet it had been so easily pierced. He clapped his hands together and began to create a large earthen golem out of his mouth.

Before the golem was half way through though, the wall Kurotsuchi set up collapsed into tiny bits of rubble as hundreds of mud blasts came shooting at him all at once.

_Shi…_

From the middle of the converted shinobi army, Roshi slammed his forehead into the face of a converted shinobi before looking over at his leader. For several seconds it appeared like the stubborn old man had been pulverised into a thousand pieces, but Roshi knew that it took more than that to take out the Tsuchikage.

It was clear that he was right as a wide rectangle appeared around the Iwagakure shinobi that had attacked both Kurotsuchi and Onoki, with the user wasting no time in activating his Dust Technique to destroy those that dared to attack him so.

As the smoke cleared from the technique, Onoki slowly floated out with half his face covered in blood pouring from a wide cut on his forehead. He held onto his left shoulder carefully as he floated down to the kneeling Kurotsuchi, who had been spared the worst of the damage.

"Get on your feet, girl. It's barely a flesh wound."

For a few seconds Kurotsuchi didn't respond, though she did slowly get to her feet. His attack had gained them a slight reprieve, though Roshi wasted no time in taking out as many as possible while using his unique abilities.

She turned slightly to look at her grandfather, glaring at him through a single eye. The side of her face that had been struck was fractured and disfigured, with one eye practically destroyed with a long scar tracing along from her eye to her ear.

"Screw…you…old man."

Onoki swallowed slowly as he saw the damage his granddaughter had taken, he hadn't been expecting that.

_The strength of that technique was on the Kage level, yet the shinobi using it had been the Chuunin level when they were taken. They seemed to fall very easily after using that attack though, meaning that without chakra they are likely too drained to be useful again. _

"Do you need to retreat to heal yourself?" he asked quietly, wary of the amount of blood the both of them had lost. Roshi appeared to be having little trouble bashing his way through the enemy ranks, and while the Iwagakure contingent was getting smaller Onoki could feel the battle swaying either way at the moment.

_I can't do any more Dust Techniques, and I think my shoulder is dislocated. _

He floated upwards to look at an overall look at the battlefield, manoeuvring out of the way of several lightning strikes coming from the Kumogakure contingent.

He only afforded himself a few moments to see how the battle was going, though he found himself intrigued by what the group of Suna was trying to do against the remaining converted shinobi from Sunagakure.

After emerging from the bubble Gaara had surrounded him in, Shikamaru hurled two dozen shurikens into the remaining Sunagakure converted shinobi, who numbered less than twenty after Gaara moved on to attack the Kirigakure converted shinobi who were seeming to have trouble attacking the Mizukage.

"Kankuro! Throw me the scroll with Sanshouo in it!"

Without hesitating the puppet master hurled him a black-lined scroll while he reattached his chakra strings to his Sasori puppet and began spraying poison darts into the converted shinobi army.

Using the shadow attached to his feet, Shikamaru manipulated the shurikens to hit in the ground in front of the remaining Sunagakure converted shinobi. He opened the scroll with the puppet inside and drove a foot into the frill to open up the mouth of the long puppet.

He used the tendrils of his shadow to activate the buttons on the sides of the puppet, while jumping behind the frill and clapping his hands together to activate the technique.

"Kurohigi: Sanshouo Koukitaihou!" (Black Secret Technique: Salamander Final Cannon)

A bright light shone out of the long puppet's mouth, sending a large ball of metal in the centre of the Sunagakure converted shinobi army, one that was completely resistant to their attempts to destroy it with fire and wind blasts.

Shikamaru changed his handseal and pumped his chakra into the shadow around the puppet, building up his shadow to grab at the shurikens he had thrown earlier, sending them straight into the black ball that Kankuro's puppet had fired, embedding them in the rubbery substance it was made out of.

He didn't have a name for the technique, but that would have to be worked out later as the ball exploded violently, sending most of the combatants on the battlefield off their feet.

None of the Sunagakure shinobi had more than two limbs attached to their bodies, and Shikamaru looked up from behind the frill to see the severe damage it had caused to the defensive puppet itself.

"That worked…I guess."

The sand shield protecting Kankuro and his Sasori puppet fell to the ground as the puppet master walked out with a tired look on his face, "You could give us a little bit more warning, next time you decide to blow up half the battlefield?"

Shikamaru only shrugged, he could tell that his action had moved the battle into their side's favour.

Withdrawing the shield around himself, Gaara nodded his approval before turning his attention to the rest of the converted shinobi army. He could tell that Neji was still holding his own against the Quiraji leader, and he recognised that out of all the Kages he was the only one that could compete with her.

_We really need those techniques from Kirigakure. Although it's clear that she hasn't used those techniques herself, her bodyguards have been doing most of the damage to her contingent. _

Seeing little value in hesitating, he calculated how much chakra he had left before directing his sand towards the Kirigakure converted shinobi.

oOoOoOo

"Yugito! How many of these things are left?"

The fast moving Tailed Beast container removed her claw from the chest of an Otogakure shinobi and turned to yell at her leader. "From us? About forty, sir!"

The Raikage snarled as a converted shinobi failed to pierce his lightning armour with a long sword, reaching out to crush his head before turning to his other bodyguard.

"Darui! Summon Kiki and tell her to get the Lightning Corp, as fast as possible."

"I don't think that'll be necessary, boss," said the white haired Jounin, indicating with his cleaver to the Sound bodyguard who was watching the Otogakure battle with the Quiraji leader passively, not even showing an interest in assisting. "I think the Otokage has an army on the way."

"What?!" The Raikage glared at the Hyuuga leader dodging a hail of metal spikes aimed at impaling his feet to the ground. "How could…that bastard…he knew all along!"

Seeing no other way to vent his anger, the Raikage slammed his foot into the ground and sent a blast of lightning into a small cluster of converted shinobi, burning them to a crisp.

Appearing at the Raikage's side, Yugito stood back up on her two legs and cracked her knuckles loudly, "He must have leaked information about the meeting to the enemy, that's why he is armed to take her on. A clever plan, for such a young man."

"I don't want to hear you praising him in my presence, Yugito. There is too much suspicion surrounding the Otokage for me to trust him yet."

Yugito rolled her eyes before running a clawed hand through her straight blonde hair. "I get it, I get it. Should I transform and end the battle now?"

The Raikage shook his head slightly, "No, I don't want the enemy to have any more knowledge about our Tailed Beasts than necessary."

"Do you mean the Quiraji? Or the Otokage?"

He turned to her with his usual serious gaze, "Both. Now assist Darui in removing those pitiful Kirigakure weaklings from the battle."

He looked back at the remainder of the Kumogakure contingent, activating his lightning armour to its fullest extent. His technique wasn't particularly linked to his anger, but the mere presence of his old subordinates daring to fight against him was enough for him to want to go all out.

_This is nothing like the invasion. They must have taken our people captive during that battle, since we had lost a significant portion of our force in that battle. _

A pair of lightning strikes came screaming towards him from two Kumogakure converted Jounin, but they dispersed easily over his lightning armour, causing the frown on his face to deepen. If they had been still under his command, they would never make such novice mistake.

He aimed to correct that, by the method that he specialised in.

With a nearly inexhaustible chakra tank, the Raikage exploded towards his old subordinates, decapitating a young woman with a single strike from his lightning-covered arm. He didn't know her name, or how long she had been a shinobi in his service.

But A didn't care; she had simply become an enemy for him to remove.

The Raikage flipped around and caught a pair of swords that were trying to attack him from behind. A quick snap of his wrists and the blades shattered in his hands, before he sent his leg crashing into the face of one of his assailants, slamming the converted shinobi into the other and turning back to confront the rest of them, ignoring the loud crashing as the two Kumogakure converted shinobi slammed into several Iwagakure shinobi being beaten to death by a large earthen golem.

"Sorry about that…" said Darui across the battlefield, recognising that his boss had unintentionally taken away one of the Tsuchikage's targets.

"Don't apologise, Darui!" yelled the Raikage, though he knew it was pointless. His subordinate was fighting side by side with one of the Seven Swordsmen from Kirigakure, as he saw the Mizukage clutching at her leg with a pained look on her make-up covered face.

He would have to give his subordinate grief for fighting side by side with another village without his permission; it was different than Yugito who was like a tornado through the Kirigakure converted shinobi ranks.

"You don't need to be here, Darui-sama. I…I think I can handle this…" said the timid voice of Chojuro, causing his chakra-based sword to shrink slightly in size.

Darui sighed and blocked a kunai strike with his cleaver, "I know you can, kid. I'm just here to help the cause, I'm sorry if I'm in the way."

"You are more than welcome," said the Mizukage behind the two of them, trying to stand up on her injured leg and failing. "I appear to be incapacitated at the moment."

"You let your guard down, madam," came her Byakugan-user's voice as he jumped down to land beside the Mizukage. "You haven't been acting like yourself lately anyway. Why, back in my day…"

They got no chance to continue the conversation as a large group of Kirigakure converted shinobi converged on their position.

"The two of you can use Suiton, correct?" asked Darui, driving his cleaver into the chest of a nearby Chuunin.

"Of course we can," said Ao, walking forward to stand on the other side of Darui. "What did you have in mind?"

Darui ran through a quick set of handseals and put one of his hands up to his mouth. "Fire as much water as you can directly in front of us."

Chojuro slammed his sword into the ground beside him and timidly placed his hands together in a handseal, while Ao merely put up a hand in front of himself.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Element: Water Wall)

"Suiton…Bakusui...Shouha." (Water Element: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)

"Suiton: Taihoudan." (Water Element: Great Cannon Ball Technique)

A large wave came spraying out of Darui's mouth, augmented by the massive amount of water being produced by Chojuro, it's force being multiplied by the continuous blasts from Ao's hand.

As the cascading water slammed into their opponents, Darui shifted his handseal.

"Raiton: Kangekiha!" (Lightning Element: Emotion Wave)

His hands crackled with lightning and caught the water being poured out of his mouth, slamming straight into the converted shinobi, though it didn't appear to have any more affect than sending them off balance.

"I hope that isn't all you've got," said Ao, continuing to fire water blasts from his hand while maintaining a vigil on the battlefield with his Byakugan.

Darui bit at his lip to cut off his water technique and grabbed his cleaver, leaping forward to run along the water the two Kirigakure were streaming out. His weapon sparkled with white lightning before slowly changing to a black colour that neither of them had seen before.

Once he determined he was in range, Darui skidded to a halt and clapped his hands together before yelling at his two fighting companions to duck their heads.

They barely got down in time as he swung his cleaver in a wide circle motion, drawing up a large amount of water before activating his technique.

"Raiton: Kuroenjin!" (Lightning Element: Black Ring)

Nearly two dozen converted shinobi were caught in the black lightning ring that emanated from Darui's cleaver, cutting most of them in half with the extended strike while barely missing the heads of the two Kirigakure shinobi he had been fighting with.

As the water slowly disappeared, Darui rubbed at his head sheepishly with his cleaver attached to his back as he regarded his fighting companions, "Sorry about that. I didn't realise it would be so strong with that much water."

Ao picked himself up first, patting himself down before checking with his Byakugan that the Mizukage was still okay. "It's fine. You Kumogakure shinobi are violent, but useful in a pinch."

"That was amazing…" said Chojuro, gingerly picking up his double-hilted blade. "I couldn't do anything like that."

"You should have more confidence in yourself, Chojuro," said the Mizukage behind them, smiling sweetly. "I picked you as my bodyguard because you are strong."

It was only for a split second, but Darui could have sworn that the Swordsman threw the middle-aged woman a furious look that appeared completely out of character, though he quickly returned to his normal unsure expression.

He hefted his chakra-based sword with a groan, "That's right. I have to protect Mizukage-sama."

His expression slowly changed as he concentrated on the converted shinobi climbing over the corpses of their brethren, while he funnelled his chakra into his blade.

The blue sword began to grow in size, resembling a large bladed fish as Chojuro jumped forward and swung the blade in a wide arc in front of him.

It caught two converted shinobi in his first swing, sending them flying away with a blast of chakra as Ao jumped to his side to block a retaliation strike with a kunai.

"You ready to fight now?" he asked sarcastically, slamming a fist into his attacker before slitting his throat and kicking away the body. "We still have a long battle ahead of us, and we can't expect any help from her." He kept his voice low so that Darui couldn't hear him, as the Kumogakure Jounin moved to attack several Iwagakure converted shinobi that were trying to build a large earthen golem.

"I know, Ao," said Chojuro, hefting his blade heavily onto his shoulder. "I'm okay, really."

"Good." The Byakugan user placed his hands together and concentrated his senses on the battle around them. "Something is coming…"  
>"Friends, or foes?" asked Chojuro, blocking a strike with his blade before driving them back with a single swing.<p>

His companion frowned and he could tell that Ao was concentrating on using his Byakugan to determine which it was. "I can't tell, we should be prepared in case they are enemies."

Chojuro nodded and jumped back with Ao to stand in front of the fallen Mizukage, holding his blade up in a defensive stance. "Yes sir. We should hold here."

Ao nodded and sent two quick blasts of concentrated water into a small clump of converted shinobi before drawing another kunai and holding it up in front of him.

oOoOoOo

Holding two Kumogakure converted shinobi in his arms, A slammed them down into the ground in front of him. "Liger Bomb!"

After a second the Raikage stepped over the dead bodies and clenched his fists together in anticipation. "Is that it? You people are an embarrassment to the Hidden Cloud!"

He watched as five converted shinobi ran around to form a circle around him, their hands in a common handseal to activate a ninjutsu.

"Good. Come!" yelled the Raikage, bracing himself and his lightning armour.

Each of the five converted shinobi activated their technique at the same time, sending five fire blasts at the Raikage from every direction.

Having faith in his lightning armour, the Raikage takes the blasts without a word, feeling a slight heat as the power was dispersed across his crackled second skin, though it did cover the area in a thick smoke so he couldn't see anything.

The Raikage used his large arms to try and disperse the smoke, but as he moved around he heard a skidded sound behind him. He turned to watch the smoke dissipate in a thick line as a single Otogakure converted shinobi drove a blade of wind straight into his chest, piercing through his lightning armour.

Dropping to one knee for a moment the Raikage clutched at his chest painfully, the wind blast hadn't drawn blood but it had winded him and cancelled out his lightning armour momentarily.

_Clever bastards..._

Taking a long breath he stood up and turned around again as the remainder of the smoke disappeared, strategising that he had been underestimating them enough and it was time to end the battle. Before he could activate his lightning armour again however, he noticed a young Kumogakure shinobi skidding to a halt in front of him.

For a moment he recognised the shinobi, though he could have sworn he hadn't disappeared from Kumogakure.

"Atsui?"

The blond haired converted shinobi said nothing even as he drew his sword from his belt and slashed at his old leader's chest.

A easily took a step backwards to avoid the attack, saddened that his old subordinate honestly thought that was going to take him down.

Before he even knew what had happened, a large slash appeared across his chest, lighting on fire and sending him flying backwards.

_Shit…Atsui's Kumo-Ryuu Kaengiri (Cloud-Style Flame Slice). But I sensed no chakra…and this is far more powerful than he ever could normally do it. _

The Raikage wasn't given a chance to recover from his wound as the converted Atsui leap forward and prepared to decapitate the Kumogakure leader.

With a loud swear the Raikage launched himself into the air, barely avoiding a second flame slash from the converted Kumogakure shinobi. He snarled and ran a lightning-covered hand across his chest, putting out the flames and momentarily burning the skin to cover over the surprisingly deep slash to his stomach.

_If I hadn't taken a step back, he would have cut straight through me. These converted shinobi don't have much coordination or timing, but when they do their power is remarkable. _

While falling slowly to the ground, the Raikage grimaced and reactivated his lightning armour, aiming himself to fall towards the converted shinobi that had used the wind technique that had made him vulnerable in the first place.

The moment he hit the ground he used his maximum speed to slam into the Otogakure shinobi, driving his lightning-covered fist into his chest before turning around and launching himself into the midst of the Kumogakure converted shinobi.

With his lightning armour activated as much as it was, the Raikage's movements were barely visible to his opponents, and they stood no chance as he struck out with every step, taking out converted shinobi left and right.

_This is a terrible thing, even if they aren't salvageable. _

The Raikage spun around and slammed a foot into a young woman, sending her crashing into a group of other Kumogakure converted shinobi that he rapidly followed and drove his fist straight into the middle of them. With a quick surge of chakra he expanded his lightning armour and electrocuted the whole group, feeling several blasts of fire and water slamming into his back to no effect.

In a single motion he kicked up his back leg towards the attackers, sending an arc of lightning straight into them, though they were able to scramble out of the way of the attack.

For a split second the Raikage stopped and frowned at their ability to dodge his extremely fast attack. By his calculations the converted shinobi army was at about a quarter its original size, but it appeared like the converted shinobi were actually fighting harder and better with every casualty they suffered on their side.

He took a moment to glance at the red armoured woman who was clashing with the Otokage. As someone who was almost always a melee fighter he could see that she was fighting with less than half her actual fighting ability.

_Does she control them herself? The woman looks distracted, though it's hardly depreciating her fighting ability. The less converted shinobi there are, the more she can concentrate on the rest, like a puppet-user. That is an odd technique…_

During his analysis he found himself surrounded by half a dozen Kumogakure converted shinobi, but with a loud roar and slammed his arms outwards, sending them all flying away.

_Enough time wasting. Time to end this battle. _

Summoning more of his chakra, the Raikage charged back into the midst of his enemies, punching and kicking his way through to the other side.

* * *

><p>Neji ducked under a kick aimed at his head, moving to strike back but was forced to jump back to avoid the group of spikes that extended from Sensou's leg towards his body.<p>

Sensou grinned as she lowered her leg and created a metal circle with a razor-sharp edge in her right hand, "You are pretty quick for a shinobi that isn't using chakra."

The Hyuuga leader took several long breaths, trying to ignore the bloody wounds in his sides. His white and black robes were stained red, and his Otokage hat was little more than rags on top of his black hair.

_How is it we missed these abilities? She was supposed to be a scientist, not a fighter like her brother. _

He glanced down at the gauntlets that Tenten had made for him, wary of the fact that they were cracked and ready to fall apart. He had known that he wouldn't be able to pierce through her red-scaled armour without chakra, but he hadn't even been able to attack her with them after his initial ambush.

"This isn't my full strength, Sensou. Surely you must know this?"

The Quiraji leader shrugged and pointed her metal ring at his face, "You shinobi require time to complete your seals for your larger scale attacks, which wouldn't work against me anyway. While you may be quick, I have centuries of experience on you, boy."

Neji took a slow breath to calm himself, steadying his hands as he watched Sensou's movements carefully.

_Her ability to create metal from anywhere seems to be associated with her body. The spikes and weaponry come out instantly…who knew she had that ability? _

He stole a glance at the fighters around him, realising that it had been longer than he had expected, yet everyone was still fighting normally.

_They aren't here yet. Something's happened. _

"This isn't a time to get distracted," yelled Sensou as she leapt towards him, her metal ring aiming to take his head off in a single motion.

Neji barely brought up a gauntlet in time to intercept her strike, his blades sticking in the open space between the metal and her own gauntlet.

Sensing an opportunity, Neji twisted his wrist to lock her blade in place and slam his other blade into her wrist, hoping that he would be able to pierce through the gap between her gauntlet and her arm.

With the same speed she had been using against him the entire fight, Sensou grabbed his attacking hand before his blow could fall, gripping it tightly as she dispersed her metal ring to let his blade hang uselessly at his side.

"Too slow…"

In a single motion she used her free hand to form a long curved blade across the side of her other hand, and cut straight through his hand at the wrist.

Neji screamed out in pain and dropped to his knees as Sensou unceremoniously removed his bloody hand from within Tenten's weapon and tossed it to the ground before examined the blade with fascination.

"Ah, clever craftsmanship using carbon steel rather than normal steel."

Attempting to ignore the blinding pain in his left hand, Neji reached out to try and grab at his bloody hand, but Sensou intervened and drove a summoned sword straight into it, destroying any potential for him to retrieve it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want that?" She lifted up the sword with the hand at the end like a skewer of meat, "It's mine now, though I'm not going to hang onto it for too long."

With a simple flick of her hand she shredded the hand to pieces with a burst of metal from the tip of her sword, causing Neji's face to fall even as he stumbled backwards to get out of her chakra-cancelling field.

He clutched at his stump tightly, trying to cut off the flow of blood even as it poured onto the ground. By his calculations if he didn't cauterise the wound soon he would faint from blood loss, and she would simply slaughter him and move on to the others.

Neji wouldn't let that happen, it was by his machinations that she had been brought here in the first place.

_I don't have the physical abilities to keep up with her, not without chakra. This miscalculation could cost all of us; I didn't think she would be so fast and have the ability to create metal. _

From his position he could Sensou ignoring him momentarily, taking a glance at the battle that was slowly turning into the shinobi's favour, despite her easy defeat of the Otokage. She knew she could kill the other leaders, but a part of her was frustrated that her converted shinobi army wasn't as effective psychologically as she would have expected.

"I guess only brutes wouldn't care about killing their own kind."

Having ripped a part of his robe off and tied it quickly around his stump, Neji grimaced as he felt the blood flow lessen. He figured he had less than a couple of minutes, but he knew that if Sensou wanted to kill him she could in less time than his injury would.

"Hmm, who should I go for after the boy? I can't touch the woman, and the old man would hardly be a challenge. The red haired one seems interesting, at least more than the thuggish one…"

For several moments it seemed like Sensou was making ready to turn around and finish him off, but a large explosion in the middle of the converted shinobi from Kirigakure drew her attention.

Grateful for the diversion, Neji reached into his robe and produced a scroll, laying it on the ground in front of him. He placed his remaining hand on the centre of the seal matrix and funnelled a small amount of chakra into it.

"Drive straight through to me. I want a fire-user at my position immediately, along with a medic."

"Calling for help?" asked Sensou with a grin, though she appeared less than amused.

Neji left the scroll on the ground as he slowly stood up, waiting as dozens of explosions and cries of pain thundered around him among her army. "In a manner of speaking. You weren't the only one to come here with an army."

Sensou had to give it to the wounded shinobi, her converted shinobi were being slaughtered left and right by the combined forces of the other Kages and their bodyguards with the rather sizable Otogakure army that had just arrived, with barely a tenth of her converted shinobi putting up a pathetic attempt to retaliate.

"Well-played, though you must recognise it is meaningless." She flicked her hands and summoned a pair of long swords, having discarded his gauntlet after her analysis. "I could kill everyone here with my own two hands without breaking a sweat."

Six Jounin from Otogakure jumped in beside Neji as he stared down the red-armoured leader.

"Perhaps, but if that was so you would have come yourself. Even someone of your strength would be worn down by our numbers, since you aren't a crowd-type of fighter."

A Jounin at his side whispered something to him, but Neji waved her off, he had no time to heal his wound at the moment.

"I brought you here to take you down, Sensou, and that's what I am going to do. If you have your brother's tactical sense, you would have known this is a trap. But unfortunately for you he is dead."

Sensou gripped her swords tightly, particularly at the mention of Shouri's pathetic demise during his invasion of Kumogakure. "A temporary setback, if that. Unlike my brother, I can recognise lost battles. Besides, it hurts my head running this many by myself. I should have come with my commanders."

Her swords disappeared as she crossed her arms across her armoured chest, "The project was effective regardless, and I now know the strengths of your people. We should have little trouble reclaiming what was ours."

"What was yours? This has always been our land, and you're a fool if you think we will give it to you without a fight."

Sensou shrugged and put down her arms, "Think what you like, I care not."

The air behind her began to shiver, and while the shinobi around Neji went to throw their weapons at her he put his hands up to stop them, there was no point. The other Kage were all occupied with disposing of the last of the converted shinobi of their respective villages. As their flanking attack crushed the Quiraji army, more and more Otogakure shinobi joined Neji near the centre, with Neji grateful to see that sending Kidomaru off to get them was worth the effort.

Taking a risk, he activated his Byakugan, making sure not to look at Sensou's direction. After a second a smile slowly came across his face, even though he knew that Sensou was making her retreat.

"Sir? We aren't just going to let her get away, are we?" demanded Jin, having just arrived after slicing through two converted Suna shinobi.

Neji deactivated his eyes and shook his head, "Stand back everyone."

As she stepped into her portal, Sensou frowned at the fact that she was being let go without a fight. It had been clear that the boy's mission had been to take her out, yet he seemed content to watch her leave.

_Cowards are always…_

She found her thought cut off as she noticed a strange blur moving at an impossible speed towards her.

_No way…he couldn't have…_

Her thought was once again cut off as a sandaled foot came crashing into her chin, sending her flying upwards out of her portal. While she flew through the air, the blur jumped up over her in a green flash. With a quick spin it followed up with a blow to her forehead, sending her back down to the ground with a loud thump.

Sensou groaned as she picked herself up from the ground, "Damnit…he's meant to be dead…"

Landing back on the ground, the green blur stood up and took up a simple defensive stance.

"I've come for you, Sensou! The day for you to pay for your crimes is now!"

The Quiraji leader gritted her teeth angrily as she glared at the new arrival on the battlefield. He stood with a large frown on his face, which seemed at odds with the large afro attached to his head. His face still bore the brunt of her torture from nearly three years ago, though it was clear he had accumulated even more scars from his years of hunting her.

Straightening up his stance, her opponent began jumping in place while swiping at his nose in a strange manner.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

It should be clear by now that I have no trouble doing terrible terrible things to my characters, though I didn't think of taking Neji's hand until I actually wrote it. I feel like in times of actual war, there would be things like that happening all the time, along with people dying unexpectedly.

I initially wanted to write this chapter in each individual segment with each Kage and their bodyguards against their converted shinobi, but I've done that in the past and wanted to try writing it as one battle. Please tell me if it was incoherent or confusing, or if you liked how one part flowed into the other.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	58. Chapter 53 The Promise to Avenge

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 53 – The Promise to Avenge

**A/N**: There is no word to describe the smile that came over my face when I saw that 500th review. I said to myself near the beginning that I would love to get just 100, but when that passed I looked at 500 and thought that could be the new threshold, but that has also been passed. I love every single time I get an email telling me there is another review for my story. I'm happy that you guys follow my story, and it makes me proud that I am able to improve my writing skills from your feedback. The more you guys tell me, the better I can make this story.

**A/N2**: Another point of interest. This is now Chapter 53, but there is still a long ways to go. I aim to have the story finished by the end of the year, but I won't end it until it's actually done, since I am someone who prefers to have things done. So there is still plenty more to come, and my dedication to finishing the story is real, don't worry about that.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, revenge wouldn't be an excuse to do idiotic stuff.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Sensou arrived on the battlefield at the head of a converted shinobi army numbering in the hundreds. As she easily throws off an attack from the Raikage, Neji leaps forward and occupies her throughout the battle with a pair of gauntlets made for him by Tenten back in the village. The individual Kage and bodyguards fought off the converted shinobi the best they could, with few hesitating to kill their previous friends, knowing that they were too far gone for redemption. The Tsuchikage suffered several wounds to his shoulder and arm, while Roshi didn't get a scratch. However Kurotsuchi had her eye destroyed by an earth attack, with a long cut from her dead eye to her ear. The Raikage suffered a deep cut to his chest, but neither of his bodyguards suffered anything significant. Gaara used his sand to great effect, with Shikamaru taking no damage while orchestrating his own role in the battle, and Kankuro lost several of his puppets in the process. While the Otokage occupied the Quiraji leader, Kidomaru departed the battlefield to bring the Otogakure army and Dosu personally disposed of the Otogakure converted shinobi. While her bodyguards fought the good fight, the Mizukage was seemingly unable to render much assistance to the battle. As the battle turned in their favour, Sensou decided to quit playing around with Neji and severed one of his hands before recognising that the battle was lost. Before she could properly retreat however, she was attacked by a green blur that she recognised and despised. Unable to leave, Sensou confronted her new foe, who clearly presented a more obvious threat than anyone else on the battlefield.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Sensou spat on the ground angrily as she regarded her hopping opponent, "You think that was clever, huh? I've been killing scum like you since before you were born."<p>

"You don't seem to be very good at it, considering I'm still around."

The Quiraji leader snarled and put up a hand towards the green-clad shinobi, "Not for long."

Quicker than any normal person could follow, Sensou created a metal spike and shot it out of her palm, sending it straight at her opponents face while still attached to her hand.

Lee merely cocked his head so that the attack missed him by an inch. "You'll need to do better than that, Sensou."

He reached up and grasped the metal spike with a bandaged hand, crushing the metal into tiny bits. It was clear by her expression that Sensou hadn't been expecting him to be able to do that.

"Don't think you will be able to defeat me with such a weak attack, Sensou," said Lee confidently.

From his position outside the fight, Neji could hardly believe this was the same Rock Lee that had disappeared with the rest of the others over two years ago.

"Lee, what the hell are you doing here? I didn't even know you were alive you beautiful bastard," he demanded loudly, as the battle between the converted shinobi and his army reached its conclusion.

The afro-wearing shinobi didn't move, but a slight smile came across his angry visage. "Nice to see you too, Neji. Moved up in the world I see."

Neji grinned slowly and held the front of his tattered Kage hat proudly as the Kazekage and his two bodyguards jumped in to stand beside him. Shikamaru groaned loudly when he saw who was confronting their enemy. "Is he seriously wearing an afro?"

Lee's teammate nodded grimly, taking a moment to think about it before groaning louder than Shikamaru did, planting his remaining hand into his face. "He couldn't be…for the love of…"

"What is it?"

Rock Lee stamped his back foot onto the ground before pointing a clenched fist up to the sky.

"I have come to end the injustices done to us, the wrongs that you have brought forth into this world…"

Neji groaned and started shaking his head in despair, "He's doing the speech and everything…"

Lee continued his monologue while Sensou simply watched with a confused look on her face.

"I have gathered my strength and trained many years for this moment…"

"What the hell is he doing now?" asked Shikamaru, noticing that the other Kage were making their way towards the centre battlefield.

"He's doing a speech that Gai once did after seeing a TV special on heroes. I can't believe he actually found an afro, this is just sad."

It appeared that Sensou had the same feeling as Neji did, as she slowly created a circle of metal in her hand before flicking it at the monologing shinobi.

Just before the metal projectile could strike Lee in the face, he brought up a hand to catch the disk, dropping it to the ground and pointing to his opponent with his clenched fist.

"…by the afro on my head, the blood in my veins and the strength in my fists, I will defeat you!"

"Are you done?" she asked sarcastically.

Lee nodded in response, "Yes, thank you for waiting."

The shinobi that had just arrived made a circle around the two opponents, each of them recognising that the strange shinobi in the afro was on their side, and it wouldn't be wise to attack the red-clad Quiraji leader considering her one-sided fight with the Otokage.

"Should we attack?" asked a confused Chojuro, as Ao stood with the Mizukage away from the battle.

While a pair of medical shinobi healed his stump, Neji turned his head to regard Kidomaru who had just arrived, "Tell everyone to give them as much room as possible. Sensou could attack any of us at any point, but Lee should be able to occupy her."

The spider-like shinobi nodded and began yelling orders to the shinobi around them, with the other Kage understanding that this was not a battle they should get in the way of.

"You think we'll just stand by?" demanded the Raikage, wiping blood from his hands. "That bitch has a lot to pay for."

"With respect, sir, she is my opponent and mine alone," said Rock Lee as he began to stretch his legs, watching as Sensou was clearly unable to process that someone as ridiculous as him was able to prevent her from leaving.

"Why you little…"

"Raikage-sama, leave this to Lee," said Neji, standing back several feet to give Lee as much room as possible. "He's the only one here who can defeat her."

"Defeat me?" Sensou laughed manically, creating two double-bladed axes that she twirled dangerously in her hands. "He couldn't even make me fight seriously."

Having finished his stretching, Lee popped back up and put up his left hand in an offensive stance.

"This is for Asuma and Kurenai. For Shino and all the people you've killed."

His eyes darkened as he focused completely on his opponent.

"But most of all, this is for Sakura."

Sensou laughed again and lent one of her axes on her plated shoulder, "Oh, how is my dear Iceheart? I was always curious as to how you broke the control without killing her. Has she gotten over the fact that she killed some of her closest friends?"

Lee crossed the distance between the two of them in an instant, driving his fist straight into her face and sending her flying backwards, though he sped behind her and kicked her back into the ring.

The audience around the fight didn't understand most of what she was talking about, but both Neji and the Sunagakure shinobi all froze.

_Sakura used to be Iceheart? _Shikamaru could hardly believe it, though it made a scary amount of sense when he thought about it. _She went through so much therapy and can't use chakra anymore…she always said that was because of the torture…but Lee said Iceheart was the one who killed Asuma…_

Gaara didn't give away anything from his facial expression, but he found himself highly concerned that the head doctor of his village had once been the head commander of the Quiraji during the time when shinobi villages were falling left and right.

Lee cracked his knuckles loudly as Sensou slowly picked herself up off the ground and picked up her axes again.

"Don't speak about Sakura with that filthy mouth of yours. She has suffered enough at your hands."

Sensou groaned and rubbed at her neck, "You want to fight that way? Fine."

She tapped her foot on the ground, causing dozens of thin metal spikes to rise out of the ground. With a quick tap of the nearby spike a flower of metal appeared at the top, blossoming out to reveal hundreds of tiny needles inside.

"I will fight seriously."

Lee grinned, indicating for her to come at him with a flick of his hand.

* * *

><p>While she was patient by nature, everything about Lee's presence on the battlefield ate at Sensou's patience. No longer willing to wait to observe her opponent, she wrenched out one of the spikes she had created and twirled it in her hands expertly, having abandoned her axes.<p>

"You think you can outmatch me?"

Lee frowned for a moment before cracking his neck on both sides and reaching behind his back, "I'll only say this once, Sensou. You shouldn't underestimate my abilities."

He pulled out a red short stick from his back pocket, shaking it slightly to extend it out into a long pole taller than he was. He spun it in his hands and tapped it on the ground before placing it on his shoulder.

"If you do, I'll crush you."

Sensou scoffed and charged towards him, aiming her spike to spear him through the chest.

Lee simply sidestepped the blow and moved his staff across the line to slam into her face. Changing her grip, Sensou pulled up her spike to block his strike. This, however, left her vulnerable as Lee drove his foot into her chest.

The Quiraji leader dropped to her knees in pain, but Lee refused to let her recover as he spun his staff to collect her metal spike and send it flying into the air.

"Don't think your metal trickery will work on me," he said, watching as the shinobi standing around them took several further steps backwards.

_Neji'll look after them. I have to concentrate on her._

"What…makes you think….it's trickery?" panted Sensou, clutching at her ribs tenderly. His blow hadn't pierced through her enhanced red armour, but it had knocked her around, wounding her pride more than anything.

Lee walked over to one of the spikes she had created, clutching his fist for a moment before slamming the back of it into the metal spike, shattering it into thousands of little pieces.

"This is hardly your best metal, is it? You need to be touching the metal, even on the slightest level, to create and control it, don't you?"

He grinned and tapped his nose with his thumb, which only caused his opponent's face to tighten up in fury.

She put up her hands facing towards him, angling her fingers as if to jab him despite the wide distance between the two of them. "Enough talk, pathetic shinobi. I've had enough crap standing in my way for one day."

Lee focused his eyes, watching as she slowly created dark metal needles from the tips of her fingers.

_It's almost as if…_

Only his instincts bred from years of harsh training allowed Lee to dodge Sensou's attack as she shot the needles from her fingertips straight at his face, though he found it strange that she thought that would take him out.

As he ducked and weaved under the attacks, Lee pretended that he failed to notice her rapid approach towards him with a short sword in her hand. He loosened his grip on his staff, letting it hang on the palm of his bandaged hand.

_She's still underestimating me. _

Her short sword came up to his face, aiming to cleave through his head at his nose. With the speed he had become known for, Lee merely reached up and caught the blade before it could strike him, holding the sword tightly between his fingers.

As he had expected, her face broke out into a sadistic smile. Before he could react, the end of her short sword past his fingers burst out into half a dozen spikes, shaving the sides of Lee's face.

"Your arrogance got you killed, boy," she said confidently, standing up to look at her victim.

"Who'd get killed by a weak attack like that?"

Lee looked down on his red haired opponent, letting the metal spikes that had barely grazed his cheeks sit against his skin. With his other hand he dropped his staff to the ground and reached up to grab into her armour through the gap underneath her neck, pulling her up from the ground.

"You…how are you alive? That should have pierced through your head in an instant."

Lee didn't respond to her confusion, merely staring into her bright red eyes with pure hatred.

Sensou's frown deepened even as she twisted in his grip and kicked herself away from him, landing between two metal spikes. She watched as he slowly removed the sword from his hand, letting the metal drop to the ground as he swiped at his face to remove the slight mark her attack had left.

"You can utilise physical energy? You shinobi seem content to trample all over our pride."

Lee cocked his head slightly as he kicked his staff up to his hand, watching his opponent take a long breath before readjusting her armour at her neck in an oddly ladylike fashion.

"It would appear I cannot end this quickly…"

She sighed loudly and stared up at the slowly setting sun in the cloudy sky, "I'm no good at these prolonged fights. That's how the last Sensou died, and she was a cranky old bitch."

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Lee.

Sensou slowly brought her gaze back to her opponent, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

She slowly twisted her hands, creating a pair of multi-bladed shurikens with wicked edges as wide as she was. Even from the distance between the two of them, Lee could tell the difference in the quality of the metal in her blades compared to the ones she had been using previously.

_So she's finally taking me seriously? I guess I can actually fight her properly now. _

For a several moments they simply stared at each other, the two of them assessing their surroundings as if for the first time. It had been difficult at first, but Neji had cleared a more than reasonable sized battlefield for the two of them, though while the injured were being treated he had his whole army surrounding the battlefield, ready to jump in just in case Lee were to fall.

His severed wrist hung limply within his shredded robe, it had been healed as much it could without a proper medical facility, but he still wore his Kage hat proudly on his head, even if it was just the symbol and the rim remaining.

"Will he be able to win?" asked Kidomaru, his six arms crossed over his chest.

Neji grinned, he'd spent most of his Genin days underestimating his old teammate, but he still bore the scars of such hubris. Lee practised more than what would be considered sane by shinobi standards, and it was clear by how ineffective Sensou's previous attack had been that he had learnt how to counter some of her techniques.

However it was clear that the biggest change was the one in his eyes. Lee had a look in his black eyes that went in the complete opposite direction to his absurd-looking hairdo.

It was the same look he had given Neji before he nearly killed him in the Second Exam in Suna.

"I guess there really is no limit to hard-work, eh Lee?" he muttered quietly to himself.

"What was that?" asked his bodyguard curiously.

The Otokage shook his head slightly, his white eyes keeping a keen eye on the battlefield in front of him. "It was nothing, Kidomaru."

Behind the spider-like shinobi, Dosu chuckled quietly to himself; he knew his leader knew he'd heard him. He had replaced his poncho and had another shinobi recover his cannons, though it felt strange not carrying them around.

"Are you done staring at me?" asked Lee, wondering what she was waiting for.

Sensou snarled and the large shurikens in her hands begun to spin rapidly like buzz saws. "I'm a scientist, Green Beast. That's what they call you, yes?"

Lee nodded; he'd heard the name several times from Quiraji as they had been fleeing from his guerrilla style attacks on their positions. He was proud that he'd been given the name, since his teacher was once called the same.

"I am Sensou of the Quiraji Empire. While I prefer fighting a different style of battle, you will not find me an easy foe."

With that she shot straight forward, surprising most of the crowd with the speed she hadn't been utilising earlier. "And you will stop looking down on me!"

The afro-wearing shinobi leaned forward slightly and moved his staff to both of his hands. "I am Rock Lee of Konoha, also known as the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha. There is no more room for talk. We fight until one of us is dead."

Sensou appeared to agree with him, even as she attempted to cleave his head off with her blades. Lee blocked the strike and grinned, he could already see her counterattack, and it was clear she was no longer underestimating him.

* * *

><p>Lee jumped back from a sweeping strike at his legs and slammed his staff towards his opponent's weapon, sending sparks flying as they chipped away at his weapon.<p>

"Your speed is decreasing," said Sensou, straightening herself up and staring at him with a cocky grin.

Her green-clad opponent rolled his eyes and stared at the partially destroyed end of his staff, "No, you've slowly been getting faster. I'm beginning to think you are a better fighter than your younger brother was."

Sensou frowned and pulled back her left shuriken, hurling it at him with great speed. Lee was able to parry the strike with his staff, though it cleaved through the hard material it was made out of without too much resistance.

"Shouri was a general, nothing more. He fought from a distance because he was no good at fighting in close quarters. That's why the stupid man keeps dying, he forgets his place."

Sensou pulled back her other shuriken, spinning it so fast that it sounded like it was cutting the air itself. "I am War. Why wouldn't I be one of our best fighters?"

Lee found himself agreeing with her, as he discarded his damaged staff and reached behind his back. A woman who called herself War would be expected to be a good fighter, though it is surprising that she considered herself a scientist before a fighter.

Despite this fact, he couldn't help but grin like the first time he had mastered the Omote Renge.

His opponent reached out to grab one of her earlier long spikes, holding it tightly for a few moments to change the colour from bright silver to a dark grey. "What are you grinning about?"

Lee pulled out a small bag and untied the knot at the top slowly, "If you are the strongest, then when I defeat you the Quiraji threat will be significantly decreased."

For several moments the red armoured warrior just stared at him with a blank look on her face, before breaking out into twisted laughter. She found herself wavering on her feet as she held her sides during her fit of laughter, having to lean on the spike buried in the ground.

"You have no idea what fear is, Green Beast. I never said I was the strongest. Compared to the two that came before me I might be, but that is how I was made. You don't even know what strength is."

After recovering from her uncharacteristic bout of laughter, Sensou wrenched the spike out of the ground and twirled it in her hands, "There are scarier things in the world than battlefields like this. You won't survive to see them, but you should know they are out there."

"Duly noted," said Lee with a nod, pulling out two short sticks attached together with a chain.

_Gai-Sensei, please watch over me._

Flipping the nunchaku in his hands rapidly, Lee felt the heavy weight of the weapon in hands with a satisfying nod. He hadn't brought out his old teacher's weapon in a long time, but as he practised with them in front of the Quiraji leader they felt right in his hands.

"Nunchaku? This isn't a game, Green Beast. I'm striking to kill."

_She's very chatty today_, noted Lee cautiously. _She must be stalling for time, trying to suck me into her pace. Remember Lee, she's a crafty opponent. There are no second chances here._

Lee decided not to respond, spinning his nunchaku in front of himself defensively. He knew that she had changed the composition of the metal spike in her hand to be a denser metal, but that didn't change the fact that her speed was something he had to look out for.

There were still a few more things he needed to confirm before he fought at his full strength.

Pushing from his legs with a burst of physical energy, Lee shot towards her quicker than he had fought before, collecting her in the side of the head with Gai's nunchaku.

Sensou snarled as the attack sent her towards the ground, but she used the momentum to spin her metal spike and collect him through his legs, though Lee was able to jump over the strike with a backflip.

Picking herself up from the ground, Sensou felt at her face for a moment before smiling wickedly and turning to face her opponent as he twirled his nunchaku. "Your attack has no power, Green Beast."

Lee watched her carefully, increasing the rate of which he spun his old teacher's weapon. It was true; his attack had failed to penetrate her physical energy armour, but that wasn't what Lee was testing.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get a response to her taunt, Sensou aimed her spike to spear him through the chest. Lee was able to deflect the blow with his nunchaku, but Sensou didn't let up, unleashing a rapid-fire barrage of attacks.

Lee stood his ground, however, parrying over a dozen blows before taking a step to the side and twisting his weapon around her spear, locking it in place with the chain of his nunchaku.

His opponent tried to pull her weapon out of his grip, but Lee held both parts of his nunchaku tightly. Seeing that she wasn't going to be able to retrieve her weapon, Sensou instead decided to take a quick step forward and create a quick metal ring in her hand and aimed to slice through one of his hands in the same manner that she removed the Otokage's.

Unfortunately for her, Lee had anticipated the move, hardening his wrist so that her attack was unable to pierce through his skin. Still holding onto the nunchaku with the hand she attacked, Lee pulled back his other hand and clenched it into a fist.

"Your metal is weak when you make it quickly, Sensou."

The Quiraji leader's eyes widened as Lee punched at her face with incredible speed, though his fist barely stopped in front of her face by a few centimetres.

For a split second she thought he had misjudged the distance and began to move to counterattack him, but the air that had been between the two of them compressed in an instant and slammed into her face, sending her flying backwards.

"And I know the secret to the physical armour that you Quiraji use," said Lee, as Sensou skidded to a halt and snarled again, spitting blood onto the ground beneath her.

Lee threw away the metal spike he had trapped and held his nunchaku on his off hand, holding the hand he had punched with up near his face, "It protects you against both slashing and blunt attacks, but it doesn't stop the elements or someone who has the strength to push through the barrier."

"For example…"

Lee pulled back his fist and punched straight towards her, his strike so fast that it sent a shockwave of air that slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"…someone like me."

His opponent grimaced for a moment before taking a long breath and standing up straight, "This armour is more than able to handle such weak punches. Don't think you can defeat me with strength alone."

Lee cracked his neck and begun swinging his nunchaku again, "We shall see."

With a flick of the hand she had been hiding behind her back, Sensou sent a group of hardened needles straight at Lee's face. With his speed he was able to dodge most of the needles, but one managed to graze the side of his face, tracing a path along one of the scars he had been given by her torturer.

Sensou stood with a cocky smile at seeing her drawing blood from her opponent, "You can also pierce physical energy armour with spiritual energy."

Lee flicked the blood off his face, taking a moment before disappearing in a flash.

His opponent wasn't expecting that, turning around instinctively to see Lee slam his nunchaku stick straight into her forehead. As she fell to the ground he brought up his knee to combo his attack, but Sensou was able to block his knee with a gauntlet, flipping in the air to drive her boot into Lee's face.

The scythed boot skimmed the side of Lee's face, forcing him to move backwards as he saw her creating blades from her legs. He knew he could defend himself against those, but it drained him to maintain the physical energy armour for long periods of time.

"Well I can't use spiritual energy."

Lee noted that his nunchaku didn't appear to be doing much damage, though as she steadied herself there was a slight change in her breathing patterns. It was strange to see her now calm as opposed to her furious demeanour earlier.

_Her instincts are dead on, and she is very adaptive. But she doesn't look like she is used to long battles. I can use that. _

He collected the two sticks of his nunchaku and checked his target for a moment before tossing his old teacher's weapon towards the crowd.

Neji frowned in confusion as he caught the pair of nunchaku skilfully, his white eyes concentrating on his old companion carefully. "What is he planning?" he asked quietly.

Sensou was just as confused, but she wasn't going to let him pull out a new trick in time. She ran forward while creating a short sword and moving to drive the sword into his unprotected chest. Lee put up a hand to stop her attack, allowing it to move past his wrist before twisted it around so that her blow barely missed him.

Having drawn her in, Lee pulled back an arm and opened up his palm. "Konoha Taijutsu Ougi…"

Sensou tried to move out of the way, but Lee held onto her arm tightly before slamming his palm into the centre of her chest.

"…Shinkuu Hira!" (Konoha Secret Taijutsu Technique: Empty Palm)

After hitting her he let her go and jumped back several steps.

Sensou had braced herself for a devastating blow, but nothing appeared to have happened. She looked down at her chest suspiciously, wondering if it had just been a bluff.

"Did you…miss?" she asked, looking back up to question her opponent.

Lee redid the strap on his bag and placed it back on his hip, handling the large bottle he had removed from it with care. It had an odd set of symbols on the front of it, but Sensou couldn't work out what he could possibly do with such a thing.

Neji, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was, and the fear of what Lee was about to do made his blood run cold in his body. He turned to his commanders around him with sweat dripping down his face.

"What's wrong?" asked Jin, he'd never seen the normally calm and composed Neji in such a panicked state. "You look like someone just told you that your son has been learning swearing from Tayuya."

"Don't even joke about that, Jin. I told Tayuya to keep her mouth clean around the twins, and she has kept that for the most part. If I hear anything about the twins swearing I told her I would pull out her tongue."

Jin nodded quickly; it was clear from his leader's stare that he would absolutely follow through with his threat if he caught her swearing around his children.

Neji kept his stare going for a few moments before shaking his head and coming back to reality. He began motioning with his arms quickly, "We need to get everyone out of here, right now!"

He began yelling orders at his Sound shinobi, who scrambled as they fell back as far back as they could while still maintaining a vigil on the battle.

"What the hell are you doing, Otokage?" demanded the Raikage, watching the green-clad down the contents of the bottle with a pained look on his face.

As he fell back with the other Kages and his army, Neji tried to frantically wave the Raikage over to them. "Something that you don't want to be anywhere near! Hurry up or you'll get caught in the crossfire!"

The Raikage was suspicious, but by now he recognised that this was a battle that he didn't want to get in the middle of, which wasn't the easiest thing for him to admit.

_That boy's physical skills are remarkable, particularly since he isn't using chakra. This battle is getting stranger and stranger. _

Nevertheless he fell back with the rest of the shinobi surrounding the two combatants, giving them a battlefield of nearly one hundred metres around to fight in.

"What has gotten them so fearful?" asked Sensou quietly, looking around with a confused look. She knew that if Lee wasn't there she could do some serious damage to the shinobi leadership, which was the original reason for her attacking the summit, but with him there she couldn't even retreat from the battlefield.

Lee finished draining the bottle and dropped it on the ground, causing it to break into several pieces beside his feet. He looked down at his hands, finding his feet strangely unsteady and heavy through his outfit and sandals.

It became difficult for him to focus on his bandaged fingers, even when he tried to pull them back and forward to bring them back into focus.

Wondering what was going on, Lee pulled his hands down and nearly collapsed as a rush of strange feelings struck him in the head, forcing him to wobble slightly.

"What the hell is wrong with him now?"

The female voice cut straight through Lee's haze, causing him to leer forward to find the speaker, barely able to see a red blur in front of him.

_What the…who…that isn't Sakura…but…that means…unfriendly…ENEMY!_

He didn't have to think about it any further, bringing up his hands in what felt right to him, even though everything felt heavy around him and he couldn't quite stay steady on his feet, but he felt absolutely determined to punish this person for not being his pink-haired lover.

"Hey…you! I don't…hic…shut up!"

Sensou shook her head slowly as she realised what had happened. Pulling out one of the remaining metal spikes near her position, she slowly changed it into a massive battleaxe, placing it on her shoulder as if it weighed nothing despite its composition.

"What kind of tactic is this? Does he really expect to fight like that?"

Lee stumbled for a few steps before setting his gaze on his opponent, his face now flush red as he surrendered completely to his new state of being.

"Stay…there. I'm…gonna…thump…hic…GAI-SENSEI!"

He dropped to his knees and threw up his arms dramatically, imagining an aircraft flying overhead as years of warfare weighed down on his soul.

"Enough of this stalling," said Sensou, running towards her opponent with her battleaxe ready to cleave him in two like the primitive scum she thought he was.

Lee looked down at her, his arms suddenly feeling heavier than anything he had carried in his life. Dragging himself up from the ground, Lee wavered on his feet as he saw the Quiraji leader charging towards him. He wasn't sure what her problem was, but he found himself strangely intrigued by her oversized weapon.

Lee waited until the blade was moving towards his face before twisted his body so that the blade barely missed him by a hair. He hit the ground hard, but pushed off with his hands and drove both his feet into his attacker's chest, using his momentum to twirl his hands around her weapon to hold onto it as she was sent flying backwards.

As Sensou swore and created another weapon to use a short distance away, he went to pick up her battleaxe, anticipating that it would be extremely heavy and that caused him to collapse backwards and the battleaxe was sent flying as it was too light for his grip.

Staring through the gap in his legs, Lee couldn't understand how she was standing on the ceiling of the world. He could see her walking on the ceiling, and that brought up a terrible anger within him.

He flipped onto his feet, struggling to understand how everything had suddenly turned on its head, but he didn't care anymore as he was already moving towards his opponent.

"Youth…POWER!"

oOoOoOo

"Drunken Boxing? I didn't know Lee had such an ability," said Gaara, having moved to stand beside the Otokage to get the best perspective on the battle.

"It's innate," said Neji in response. "That's why I got everyone to stand back. He doesn't discern between friend and foe when he's drunk."

He turned to Gaara with a serious look on his face, "You've been working with Lee, haven't you?"

"Many of your old companions are working for me now." Gaara crossed his arms over his chest, watching as Lee dominated his opponent with the strangest movements and break-neck speed.

Neji nodded, he already knew that. "Well you've been protecting them, so I have no issue. But you should have known he'd do this."

On the battlefield, Lee moved his head to dodge away from a sword strike, taking a moment to watch it fall with a dumb expression on his face before lashing out with the back of his hand.

Sensou reeled backwards from the strike, but kept a firm grip on her weapons even as Lee spun a leg around her arm and collected her in the side of the head, sending her skidding down into the grass.

Lee put up his hands and roared like a lion at her, "Youth! Rragh!"

He slammed his feet into the ground and waved his arms up in the air, making it seem like he was destroying a city of people underneath his feet.

"This is absurd…" panted Sensou, watching Lee stamp around like he was just ignoring her. "Maybe if he's in a state like this, I can get away…"

With a wave of one of her hands, she created a tear in the air behind her. It ate at her pride to flee from such a battle, but she wasn't prepared to fight Lee on a battlefield that wasn't her choosing, and if nothing else she tended towards caution.

With Lee parading around it appeared like he wasn't paying attention to his opponent whatsoever, which caused Gaara and many of the observers thought that she would get away from him.

Before the Kazekage could move onto the battlefield however, Neji put up an arm to stop him.

"What are you doing? She's going to get away." Having seen his subordinates used as cannon fodder by the Quiraji leader, Gaara was struggling to keep his stoic visage maintained, particularly with Shukaku's voice thundering in his head to attack her with all his might before she slipped away from him.

"Lee might be stupid, but he knew she might do this before he consumed the alcohol. Have faith in him. We would only be walking into a slaughter."

Gaara was suspicious, but as Sensou stepped into the tear and worked on closing it, Lee disappeared from his spot.

As if anticipating what was about to happen, Sensou braced her body and shut her eyes.

Right on cue, Lee appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Pushing from his legs strongly, the green-clad shinobi broke through the tear and flew high up into the air, with Sensou held tightly against his chest.

Before she was able to counterattack, Lee began to spin rapidly in the air as the two of them started to fall towards the ground.

"Corkscrew!"

The pair of them spun so quickly that it appeared to be just a blur of red and green to the observers of the battle, until they slammed into the ground with a loud thud, causing a large cloud of dust to appear around them.

For a few moments none of the observers could see the damage of the attack because of the cloud of dust, but the shockwave just reached them despite the large distance between the fighters and the circle of shinobi around them.

Neji wanted to use his Byakugan to see the aftermath, but he knew that if Sensou was there then it would only cause damage to his eyes.

Luckily for them, the dust cloud cleared quickly, though judging by the fact that both Sensou and Lee were both lying on the ground holding their heads painfully, they had both suffered the damage of the over-the-top attack.

Neji just groaned. It was just like Lee to take just as much damage as his opponent, though he was grateful to see the afro-wearing shinobi pick himself up from the ground. Judging by the unsteadiness of Lee's movements though, it was clear he was still drunk.

Sensou groaned loudly as she struggled to stand up from the ground, holding her head as she could hear a loud buzzing in her ears. If she hadn't hardened her body completely, the blow would have crushed her skull.

Seeing his opponent stand up after his attack, Lee started to make loud chapping sounds with his mouth. "The air…hic…tastes…awful!" He dry-heaved slightly into his hands, before looking back at his opponent and finding his rage rising to extreme levels.

Sensou was barely able to bring up a gauntlet to block his attack as Lee vanished on the spot and slammed his foot towards her shoulder. Using his rapid speed, the drunken Lee unleashed a barrage of uneven hand and foot attacks, driving blow after blow into his opponent's armour, with Sensou only able to block every third or fourth strike.

His speed was overwhelming to the Quiraji leader, but it was his unpredictable attacks that was throwing off Sensou's defence. Eventually she had had enough and exploded outwards with as many metal spikes off her body as she could muster, though Lee was able to dodge most of the spikes and jumped back a short distance, banging his head on the ground and rolling around with loud groans.

"So even like this, I can't leave, huh?" said Sensou, going to hold her side until she realised that his blows hadn't been doing as much damage as before.

Lee struggled to pick himself up from the ground, holding his head as he stared at his opponent in a blurry haze. "That's…weird…everything…is so…wooooow…"

"Enough fun and games. Are you going to fight with your proper strength or what?"

Her opponent looked like he was concentrating deeply for a moment before he stood in a particularly strange pose, one leg in front of the other with his hands up in a morris dancing pose. He began to move his hips from one side to the other in circular motions, while moving his hands as if picking fruit off a tree.

"Drunken maid…flirting with the master…"

Having lost what little patience she had left, Sensou put out her hands and drew all of the remaining metal spikes she had created earlier to her hands, swirling them around into a fluid metal ball around her hands.

In a single motion she flung a part of the metallic liquid at her opponent, but Lee moved with the strange grace of an exotic dancer, though he didn't appear to have any intention of attacking her. With the metal attached to her hands she moved it like a liquid whip, flying a part of it at the afro-wearing shinobi's head, causing him to drop to the ground and roll away.

"Young child…can't handle…his father's beer…"

Lee continued to roll around on the ground, Sensou's attacks just barely missing him. Eventually Lee picked himself up from the ground, though he found himself moving closer and closer to the edges of the battlefield.

He stood and stared at one of the Otogakure shinobi near him, cocking his head in curiosity as if it was the first time he had seen the Sound symbol on a forehead protector. He took a moment before sensing the metallic fluid moving closer towards him, disappearing in a flash once again.

Everyone looked around quickly to see where the drunken fighter had reappeared, but no-one could see him anywhere on the battlefield.

His opponent drew her metallic liquid close to her, taking the time to add more to it and darken its colour. "Where has he gone now?"

Unlike the rest of the crowd, Neji and Gaara knew exactly where to look, though neither wanted to give anything away to Lee's opponent.

High up in the air, Lee kept himself steady with hundreds of kicks in mid-air, something that only someone who'd had his level of physical ability and training could maintain.

Unfortunately his cognition in his drunken state where not the greatest, and as such he could already feel himself falling back down to the ground. Using that momentum, he began to spin downwards like a ball rolling down a hill, his feet out in front of him and aiming above his red-clad opponent.

"Waterfall!"

Sensou was barely able to notice his rapid descent in time, and there was nothing she was able to do to stop his legs coming crashing down onto her shoulders. She fell to her knees and released her grip onto her fluid metal, while Lee laughed manically for a few seconds before staring up at the sky with drool running down his face.

His opponent took a moment before groaning and picking herself up from the ground, seemingly surprised that she was able to get back up so quickly. With a shrug, she pulled up her metallic liquid and slammed it into Lee's chest, sending him flying backwards while she gripped his body and held onto it tight, hurling him high up in the air before slamming him back down onto the hard ground.

"How could she just get back up like that?" asked an amazed Jin. "That was a heavy blow."

"Back when we were travelling together, I heard Lee speak about a problem he had with his only taijutsu approach to fighting." Neji watched the battle carefully as the still-drunken Lee suffered blow after blow like a ragdoll. "When he is fighting as fast as he is now, his strength is far lower than it normally would be, since his muscles are focused on keeping his body intact."

"So he's fast enough, but he can't break through her defences?"

Neji nodded grimly, "Against most opponents that would be enough." He glared at the red-armoured Quiraji leader, noting that while she was faster than most shinobi were normally anyway, her strength didn't depreciate one bit. "But she is something else."

Sensou pulled Lee towards her, having held him within her metallic liquid attack tightly. He attempted to struggle, but her grip was far too tight for him to break.

"I'll commend you for making me fight so hard. But now that you are in my grasp, you won't escape."

She held him a short distance away, while putting up her other hand to create a large shuriken that darkened to black and begun to spin rapidly in her hand.

"This is the end."

The drunken Lee stared at her for a moment before looking down at one of his bandaged hands, flexing it as much as he could within her metallic liquid. It felt strange to him, and it took a moment for him to realise why it felt that way.

He turned his drunken gaze to his opponent as she brought back her arm to throw the black shuriken to decapitate him.

"Um…hic…First…something…uh…KAI!"

A large burst of chakra exploded out from Lee's body, forcing the metallic liquid that was holding him to dissipate. As the shuriken she had thrown at him came close to his face he flipped around by kicking at the air and caught the shuriken by its handle.

In a single movement he dropped to the ground and hurled the weapon at his opponent, before losing his footing and hitting his head on the ground.

"Ow…"

The shuriken slammed into the unsuspecting Sensou's chest, causing her to go flying backwards as the black metal bit into her armour by several centimetres. She gritted her teeth as she frantically tried to get rid of the metal of the shuriken attacking her, though it was difficult because of how dense she'd made the attack in the first place.

Holding his head painfully, Lee looked up to find his vision had returned to normal, though it felt like he had been hit in the head by something akin to a giant boulder. It took him a few moments to find his feet, and while his headache refused to go away he was able to stand up straight again.

_I guess I'm not drunk anymore. Each time seems to go quicker and quicker. I'll need to get Sakura to give me a stronger bottle to carry around next time. _

He looked over at his opponent, who had finally gotten rid of his shuriken attack; though it was clear it had surprised her. It was her mistake to hold him just out of her chakra-cancelling circle, though he could already feel the effects of opening the first Gate disappearing from his body. Every muscle in his body ached, but that wasn't anything he wasn't used to.

_That long without opening a Gate must have shortened the effect. It doesn't matter, chakra is useless against her anyway, and I can only use Hirudora once, which I doubt she'll let me power up for it. _

"Clever trick, shinobi…" said Sensou, holding her side as she brought in her metallic liquid towards herself. "But it won't save you again."

Lee rubbed at the back of his neck sorely, looking around at the battlefield, "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't need it though."

"Sobered up, have we?"

Her opponent shrugged, "It tends to only last for a while, and I wasn't doing much damage."

Sensou didn't say a word as the metallic liquid collected around her arm, forming into a dense black metal spear that was attached to her hand. She didn't need to test its weight as she planted it into the ground next to her.

Lee looked at her weapon carefully, realising that he wasn't going to be able to disarm her as easily as he had before. As his sight focused he could see the crack in her armour that had been created when he'd thrown her own shuriken back at her.

_Speed doesn't work, since the attacks aren't strong enough. Technique doesn't work, since her metal creation is perfect for this type of combat. _

He let out a long sigh and looked down at his bandaged hands; there was only one avenue of attack left to him.

_I'm sorry, Sakura. But I have no other option._

He stamped his legs and placed one of his fists onto the ground, as Sensou began her charge towards him.

* * *

><p>***Flashback*** - 2 Months Ago<p>

"You know, if you keep going like this, I'm not going to be able to keep bandaging you."

Lee smiled for a moment before grimacing as she tapped at the hand she had finished bandaging.

"I know you'll always heal me up, Sakura. That's why I can train so hard."

Rolling her eyes at his affectionate statement, Sakura reached into her doctor's coat and produced a small bottle of pills. She pulled out a pill and indicated for him to open his mouth, which he did willingly.

"Do you really have to go back out there Lee? You know I don't want you to do this."

The green-clad shinobi shook his head as he swallowed the pill she gave him, "I'm the only one that can take her down. That's my mission. I made a promise, remember?"

"You men and your promises…" Sakura leaned down and kissed him lightly on the forehead. "You know I want her punished as much as anyone, but not if it means losing you."

Lee grinned as he stood up from the table he'd been sitting on and pecked the pink-haired doctor on the cheek, "I'm not going anywhere just yet. I can spend a few more days here before I have to go."

"Only a few days?" pouted Sakura, unwilling to see him disappear again so soon.

"Yep. So…"

In a single motion he swept her up onto his shoulder with his arm, causing her to giggle like a teenager and he spun around and laid her onto the bench.

"Right here? This place isn't really sanitary."

"All the better then," said Lee with a cocky smirk. "You know Sakura…"

She put up her hand to cover his mouth quickly, "I know what you are going to say. I thought we agreed that we'd talk about it after this thing is over."

Lee slowly reached up and pulled her hand away, holding it down without much pressure. He took a moment to stare into her eyes before leaning down to kiss her.

_I might not get an opportunity to do this again…_

***End Flashback***

* * *

><p>"What the hell is he doing now?"<p>

On the sidelines, Neji was just as confounded as his subordinates, though he hid his surprise better than they did.

Sensou didn't break her stride, even as she saw Lee's skin turn red and small bits of smoke came from his body. She pulled back her spear and thrust it into his face, but Lee pulled up one of his hands and grabbed at the metal spear, his pupils having dilated with red lines covering his retina.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked, unable to wrench the spear from his single-handed grip.

Lee didn't waste a moment, pulling back his other hand and formed a spear, driving it straight into her shoulder. His fingers pierced straight through her armour as if it wasn't there, and he quickly removed them and let go of her spear, jumping backwards to see the damage he had done.

Sensou dropped to the ground and clutched her shoulder with her free hand, pulling it back to see blood on her red gauntlet. "What the hell did you do?!"

Her opponent took several laboured breaths, it was clear to everyone watching that being in such a state was wearing him out physically.

"When I rescued Sakura, I knew that there had to be other ways to combat people with those kinds of abilities. When I worked out how to use physical energy, I had to figure out how to break through that tough armour of yours."

Sensou snarled as she stood up and retook her stance, "So she remembers? How fascinating. Perhaps there is value in reclaiming Iceheart after all."

In a flash Lee appeared before her, driving his foot straight into her armoured chest. Sensou coughed blood into the air as she was sent flying, but Lee grabbed onto her spear and wrenched her back towards him, slamming his fist into the centre of her chest.

The Quiraji leader screamed out in pain as large cracks appeared in her red chestplate. She found herself looking up to a furious-looking Lee, his face a dark red from his strange technique as plumes of smoke rose out of the corners of his mouth.

"You won't touch her ever again. I swore that I would hunt you down and kill you." He brought up a red fist, the bandages having been burnt off when his body had begun to smoke. "This is why I achieved this power."

Sensou spat a globe of blood into the shinobi's face, feeling that many of her ribs were broken within her chest, "I guess you also worked out how to block our communication, right? So I can't call for back up?"

Lee cocked his head for a few moments before pulling back a leg and kicking her hard in the side, sending her skidding across the battlefield with a loud cry of pain.

"I did no such thing. I don't fight using tricks."

His opponent's eyes widened when she heard that, and even though it clearly pained her she picked herself up and placed a finger to her temple. Before Lee could move against her she created a metal shell around herself, encasing her body in a similar manner to how Shikamaru had earlier in the battle.

Lee straightened himself up, he felt his chest tighten but he knew he still had time.

"Well it's about time; I've been trying to reach you for ages!"

Her voice was being distorted by the metal shell, but everyone could tell how much panic was in the normally calm and arrogant Quiraji leader's voice.

"I need reinforces immediately! Send Kyoukou, send Shikyo, send someone! I'm in serious trouble here!"

Lee twitched his eyebrows for a moment; if she was getting through to their leader then they could easily bring such dangerous people to the battlefield in an instant. It was surprising to him that they hadn't come earlier; they'd been fighting for a significant period of time.

"What are you talking about? Of course I set those protocols in motion; I'm not an amateur…wait, why are you asking that…"

Outside her shell, Lee pulled back his arm and readied himself to attack her shell.

"…damnit I'm your daughter! You can't do this to me…"

Lee slammed his red fist into the metal shell, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces as Sensou took her fingers off her temple and looked at her opponent for the first time with fear in her eyes.

"I'm all alone…"

Her opponent pulled back both his hands with a furious look on his face, "Not for long."

In a burst of strength that nearly knocked the crowd around the two of them down, Lee shot forward and slammed both of his hands into her chest, causing the red plated armour to shatter just as easily as her metal shell had.

Surprisingly Sensou didn't move from her spot, the shock of his attack appeared to have paralysed her in place. Underneath her red armour all she had on was a red t-shirt, while was drenched in blood from the many blows she had suffered throughout the battle.

Lee took a step towards her and pulled back his fist again, "This is it."

Sensou's eyes stared at him lifelessly for a moment before she opened her mouth and unleashed an inhumane screech. In an instant her body exploded outwards into hundreds of long metal spikes, with many piercing through Lee's chest and shoulders.

The red-skinned shinobi gritted his teeth as he jumped back and felt the spikes slide out of his body, clutching at his stomach in a vain attempt to plug one of the bleeding holes.

Within the spikes it appeared that Sensou had sacrificed herself for the last ditch attack as all that remained was a metal image of herself being pierced by the same metal spikes.

_Damn…I can't harden my body in this state…I didn't come this far just to fall now…_

Ignoring the pain in his body and the damage that his own technique was doing to him, Lee took a jump back and kicked at the air to propel himself forward, using the momentum to spin forward.

Extending a foot outwards he slammed through the metal spikes and straight into Sensou's body, shattering it in a similar manner to her armour previously, though Lee could feel his strength already leaving him from the spike he had been forced to attack through to get to her.

As metal shards showered down around him, Lee could see a stumbling figure attempting to run away from the battlefield, towards a waiting party of Otogakure Jounin and the already moving into position Kages.

Lee bit at his lip and powered himself forward, kicking at the air to disappear and reappear in front of her to block her escape. Sensou jumped in surprise and tried to run to a different part of the circle, but he moved again to block her.

She tried to thrust her spear into his face, but Lee barely moved his head to dodge the attack and lashed out with a stamp of his foot, sending her sprawling onto her back.

The ex-Konoha shinobi stepped over her defeated body and pulled back his fist for the final strike.

Through bleeding gums, Sensou managed to smile one last time, "You shinobi have no idea what you are in for. This has only just begun…"

Lee didn't allow her another word as he slammed his fist with all his strength into her chest, piercing through her skin and ribs and obliterating her internal organs.

He took a moment before slowly removing his fist, his skin slowly changing back to its original colour, even as his breathing became more and more laboured. He clutched at his chest, but he didn't care about the pain anymore.

The weight on his heart had finally been lifted.

With his task done, Lee collapsed onto the ground beside the dead Quiraji leader.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

So this was an experiment to see if I could do a whole chapter on a single fight. At the beginning it was tough to write, but the more I wrote the easier it felt. Do you guys think it worked? I'm curious to see how it fit together as a whole. I know the ending was a bit gruesome, but a battle like that should end fairly brutally, I feel. I hope it wasn't excessive though.

I know I said I wouldn't do more flashbacks, but I wanted to do just a short one here.

Anyone who gets the reference at the start of Lee's drunken rampage is awesome. I wanted to make that section as ridiculous as possible, and that felt appropriate. Also if you've seen the movie where some of his move names while drunk came from, you are doubly awesome.

I might have drawn some inspiration from One Piece near the end there. Let's just say that some of the moves in that series make more sense for Lee than the Naruto ones do, particularly the CP9 moves. There will be an explanation of the move in the next chapter.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	59. Chapter 54 Licking the Wounds

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 54 – Licking the Wounds

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, death scenes wouldn't take a dozen chapters.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With the Otogakure army mopping up the remainder of the Quiraji army, their leader's retreat was prevented by Neji's old companion Rock Lee, who had finally found the woman he'd been hunting for nearly two years. Having spent nearly all his time training for this one battle, Lee proved he was more than a match for the red armoured leader, his ability to use physical energy exceeding that of his Quiraji opponent. Figuring out how strong her physical energy shield was, Lee initially fought her with his staff before resorting to using Gai's old nunchaku, though he quickly abandoned those when he realised that he wasn't going to be able to defeat her with technique alone. To that end, Lee took a risk and consumed an entire bottle of alcohol and fought her using his natural ability at Drunken Boxing. Even with his immense speed and unpredictable techniques, Lee was only able to drive her back; he wasn't able to defeat her. After hitting his head on the ground, Lee sobered up and decided that he had only one option left to him. Activating a strange new technique that caused him to turn flush red and his skin to smoke, he broke through her red armour and shattered her confidence. She tried to communicate with her leader, but it became clear that she had been abandoned by her organisation. In a final strike, Lee destroyed her body and killed her with his own hands.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The moment Lee's unconscious body hit the ground, Neji was yelling at medics to go to his old companion's aid even as he rushed forward to make sure that their enemy was really dead.<p>

Judging from the massive hole in her chest and the fact that he didn't feel the draining feeling he had felt earlier when he had been fighting her, Neji determined that meant she was really dead.

He looked over at Lee's face as two of his best medics worked on healing the taijutsu master.

_You did what I could not. Am I ever going to catch up to you, Lee? _

Despite the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle strangely to himself. It was the complete opposite of how they used to be back when they were Genin at Konoha, but Neji had no problem with that.

He was thankful Lee had come. Otherwise he wouldn't have only just a hand.

"Is he dead?" asked Gaara, having just arrived at the scene with Shikamaru and Kankuro in tow.

"He looks pretty dead," observed the Tsuchikage, keeping an eye on the Otogakure medics that were healing his granddaughter's injury. It would scar horribly and he doubted she would be able to use that eye again, but he couldn't concentrate on that at the moment.

One of the Otogakure medics looked up at the group gathering around them. "Every bone in his body is broken, and dozens of his blood vessels had ruptured."

The other medic smirked as she looked at her leader, "He'll be fine."

Neji stood up slowly with a breath of relief, turning around to see the Raikage pulling back a fist to slam into his face. He saw the blow coming a mile away, but he figured that it was justified and he took the blow straight on.

Both Dosu and Kidomaru immediately had their weapons at the Raikage's throat, while Yugito and Darui moved to attack them in response.

Before they could get into place however, a massive wall of sand held them back, also pushing away the two Otogakure shinobi from the Raikage.

"There has been enough fighting for one day," said Gaara, his sand slowly pouring back into his gourd. He was the only shinobi on the battlefield that didn't have a scratch on him, though that was due to his fighting style than anything else.

"Stand down, Kidomaru, Dosu," came Neji's voice as he picked himself up from the ground. The blow hurt like hell, but Neji wasn't going to let that risk all they had suffered to achieve here.

He took several steps forward and confronted the furious-looking Raikage face on, "Is speaking with your fists all that you can do, A?"

"Why don't you explain why you brought an army to a summit of leaders, or how the leader of the enemy force seemed to know that we were here?!"

"I leaked information about the summit to her, that's how," said Neji brazenly. "It was meant to be a trap for her, one that worked rather well as you can see."

He turned to Jin, who could tell what was coming next by the frown on his face. "And if the army had arrived when they were meant to, it would have gone much better."

At the side of the group of Kages, the Mizukage let out a slow laugh, turning her green-eyed gaze onto the Raikage, "He's got you, A. That's a risky ploy you were playing Hyuuga, you are lucky it paid off. You should have warned us that the enemy was coming."

"Luck had little to do with it. If you know your enemies' disposition you can make any battle turn to your favour."

The Tsuchikage let out a huff, he would never admit it but the boy sounded more like a proper leader than he had expected. "So what now? It would seem you have achieved your goals."

Neji moved his gaze across the faces of the four shinobi leaders, "You've all seen the face of the enemy now. I hope now you understand the gravity of the situation. We need to work together if we are to survive. It'll only get worse from here on."

It was only brief, but Neji caught a quick glance that was shared between the Raikage and the Tsuchikage before they both turned back to look at the one-handed Otogakure leader.

"There is much we need to look into," said Onoki, watching his granddaughter slowly stand up with a terrified look on her face, she knew how she now looked. "While we are still at war with the rebels in the Land of Stone, Iwagakure has no interest in fighting on another front. You'll see no help from us."

It was only for a split second, but the Kazekage found himself unable to hear anything that was being said. There was a loud ringing in his ears, one that caused him to frown and try and find the source, though it was clear that the others couldn't hear it whatsoever.

It was brief, but Gaara could have sworn that the red-haired Tailed Beast container and the blonde woman from Kumogakure had reacted the same way.

Eventually the ringing stopped, though there was a dull tone that stuck in his head, one that he suspected wouldn't go away easily. He turned his attention back to the discussion at hand, knowing that he had to focus on what came next.

Neji sighed on hearing the Tsuchikage's proclamation, though he knew that was coming. He could see on the Raikage's face that he was thinking the same thing, so when the large man turned around and stormed off he gave the signals for no-one to stop him.

Darui followed after his leader without a word, while Yugito seemed to be unsettled by the sound she had heard, she followed them as well, staring at her bruised hands with a sigh.

The Kazekage watched the Raikage and his contingent leave the summit, turning back the Otogakure with his same neutral expression, "I will take Rock Lee back to Sunagakure once your team is done healing him. Our facilities are the best in the world, and his companions will want to look after him."

Neji wanted to argue, but he knew that Lee would be safer there than he would be in Otogakure, at least for the next little while. "As you say, that would be best. It would appear that we will not have unity until more villages have been destroyed by the Quiraji."

The Tsuchikage frowned at the Hyuuga's statement, "You've made your point, Otokage. Be careful not to press the issue. You are still new to leading, and you still have much to learn."

He turned to the red haired shinobi at his side, "We are returning to the village."

Roshi shrugged and reached down to help Kurotsuchi to her feet before they left the summit without another word. He didn't seem as bothered by the sound as Gaara and Yugito had been, though he was hiding the fact that it appeared he was arguing with himself silently.

The three Kages remaining looked at each other for a few moments before Neji turned to Jin and gave him a stern look.

Jin got the message quickly and began barking orders to the Otogakure shinobi around them, the army quickly dispersing from the area.

"I will take my force back to the village now; today's events have changed a lot." Neji nodded his respect to the smiling Mizukage before turning his gaze to the Kazekage.

"Look after him, Gaara. If we are to defeat the Quiraji, we'll need Lee's strength again."

The Otogakure medics stepped back from Lee's unconscious body, while a pair of Jounin picked up the disembodied corpse of the Quiraji leader and carried it between the two of them.

"I will be in touch," said Neji to Gaara, knowing the Kazekage would be his best ally in the war to come. The sand-user was too wary to put anything on paper, but they both knew what they had to do.

Gaara nodded slowly, watching as Neji and his army slowly made their way away from the area.

"Well, I guess that is that," said the Mizukage, rubbing her hands together as if she had just finished a meal and was cleaning her hands. "This has been an interesting day, hasn't it?"

The Kazekage stared at her suspiciously, though he could both see the looks her bodyguards were even worse. The Mizukage maintained her amused look, even as she turned and indicated for her two bodyguards to follow her back.

oOoOoOo

The Sunagakure contingent watched as the Mizukage and her two bodyguards finally departed the battlefield. Gaara had their taijutsu companion suspended in a small cocoon of sand slightly above the ground, he'd been healed as much as possible but Gaara still wanted to take him back to Suna to see his head doctor.

He wasn't sure what to do about Sakura, with the knowledge that she had been the most effective assassin the enemy had used. Shikamaru assured him that she wasn't a threat now, but Gaara was cautious by nature and wasn't going to rule anything out until he had made his own judgement.

"We going to go back now?" asked Shikamaru, rubbing at the back of his neck sorely. "I could use a bath."

Gaara turned his head slightly, "Matsuri…"

The female ANBU appeared kneeling behind the Kazekage, "Yes?"

Kankuro jumped when he saw her appear, he had forgotten she was around. "Matsuri! Why didn't you help us in the battle?"

"I received no such orders. I made sure Gaara-sama was safe without revealing my presence."

"Leave her be, Kankuro," said Shikamaru, flicking his finished cigarette onto the grass nearby. "She was under strict instructions to only come out if Gaara or I said so."

Gaara turned around and regarded his subordinate with his usual stoic gaze, "Matsuri, good work in maintaining your position. It is good that my sister's recommendation for your ascension to the ANBU was not in vain."

Matsuri didn't say a word, but any keen observer could see a slight reddening of her cheeks at the compliment.

"Were you able to get any additional information from the summit?" asked Shikamaru.

Matsuri reached into her kunai pocket and produced a small scroll, "I thought Gaara-sama would be interested in the other Tailed Beasts at the summit, so I spied on them as much as I could throughout the fight."

"Good work," said Shikamaru, taking the scroll and placing it in his pocket. "Are we done here?"

Gaara motioned with his hand for Matsuri to get up off her feet, which the young girl complied with quickly. "I have a new mission for you, Matsuri. Are you capable?"

"Of course!" said the girl quickly. "What would you like me to do?"

Gaara indicated to the area that the final group had disappeared into. "I want you to follow the Mizukage and her bodyguards, all the way back to Kirigakure."

Matsuri grinned slowly, causing the three of them to be suddenly reminded of someone in particular. She punched one gloved hand into the other, "Sounds like fun. Do you want me to stay within Kirigakure and spy on them there too?"

"Are you able to do that? Their spy detection is top notch," said Kankuro, wondering why Gaara would send someone like her to Kirigakure in the first place.

Matsuri puffed her chest out and grinned, "Of course. I've never been detected."

"Concentrate on the Mizukage herself. Anything that goes against our current intelligence on her will be the highest priority." Gaara reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

To her credit she didn't jump or faint, but Matsuri practically froze in place at the touch.

"If you feel you are in danger, I want you to pull out and return home. Do not take any unnecessary risks, Matsuri. We need your strength for the battles to come."

The ANBU shinobi nodded with a warm smile, "Yes sir, Gaara-sama!"

Gaara let go of her shoulder and nodded, indicating she should get going. Matsuri took a step back and gave the Kazekage an outrageous wink before waving her hand across her body, disappearing into the wind.

For a few moments nothing happened, though Gaara jumped slightly and turned around with a frown, before turning back to his bodyguards and calming himself down. "We should return to Suna. There is much to do."

Shikamaru turned around and lit another cigarette, keeping the smile from his face. Just like him and his wife, he had no doubt that something would eventually happen between the two of them, Matsuri was getting more brazen by the moment.

_I'll bet Temari has been giving her tips as well. Damn that woman, let things happen in their own time._

Gaara weaved his hands and began to create a sand platform to carry them home. It was still a long journey, and Gaara had much he needed to consider before he made changes to his plans. He hadn't mentioned the sound to anyone else, but he'd judged that the Tailed Beast containers from Iwagakure and Kumogakure had both heard it as well.

The summit had changed everything.

* * *

><p>Neji kicked open the door to his office and turned to Kidomaru who was standing at the open door with a curious look on his face.<p>

"I like to make dramatic entrances," he said, anticipating his question. "Help Jin get the army fed before they are redeployed. I want the scouting lines to be back in place as soon as possible."

Kidomaru smirked and leaned on the doorframe, "Not one to let them to take a break, are you?"

The Otokage thought about it as he placed his tattered Kage hat on his desk with his right hand. "One night, then back to work. We're at war, we can't afford niceties."

His six-armed subordinate shrugged before scratching the back of his head with one of his hands, "I guess I'll go see the missus then. Might not get the chance to do so again for a while."

"Oh, tell Tenten I want to see her at her earliest convenience."

Kidomaru gave his leader a sarcastic salute and left the doorframe, leaving the Hyuuga leader to his thoughts.

Neji took a long breath and used his hand to pull back the sleeve on his other arm, staring at the red stump that had been his prize for the risks he had taken.

_I suppose that's the burden of being a leader. I should suffer the consequences so that my men don't. I should feel lucky all she took was a hand; she had the opportunity to take my head._

He found himself staring out of his window at the village he had created from the ground up. It made him swell with pride at seeing how many people lived in his village, he could understand why Naruto always went on and on about being Hokage.

_It's ironic. I would go on and on about fate and how I had no chance to escape my cage, and yet I've now created a village like he would have wanted to do. _

A knock on his door brought him out of his nostalgic stupor, turning to see Sakon standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Something I can help you with?"

Sakon glared at the Sound leader for a moment before uncrossing his arms, "Since you guys just came back, I figured you'd probably want Ukon and I back to work."

Neji grinned with a tired expression, "There are times I forget how efficient all of you get."

His subordinate shrugged and entered the office, "You certainly don't make the mistake that Orochimaru did."

"And what was that?"

Sakon walked forward and placed his hand out in a fist that sat an inch away from Neji's chest.

"He only treated us like pieces on a chess board. Not like you."

Neji looked down at the gloved fist; he knew he had nothing to fear from the Otogakure shinobi in front of him. He'd garnered him and his brother's trust over the years, as he had with every shinobi under his command.

"And how do I treat you?"

Sakon withdrew his fist and stared out at the village through his window, "Like people."

The Otogakure moved around his desk and sat down in his comfortable chair, nearly falling as he forgot he normally used his left hand to steady himself.

Looking over his desk, it was clear his wife had been busy during his absence.

_I wonder if that magazine is still in my desk…_

Deciding to check at a later time, Neji turned back to his subordinate, "Unfortunately, I have work for your brother and you. I assume your pieces are still in place?"

The twin shinobi nodded with a grin, "They'll never disappear unless we die. It's whether we pay attention to them or not that makes the difference."

Pulling across a piece of paper and a pen, Neji quickly wrote a list of names with numbers beside them before turning it around and passing it across the desk. He wanted to fold it, but doing so with one hand would have proven fairly difficult.

"I want you to prioritise the top numbers, but all of them are very important, particularly in the next few days. Record everything you hear and I want reports every three hours."

Sakon took the list; hiding his surprise at the prioritised names he had been given. He looked down the names quickly before turning it back to Neji and pointing to the top name.

"This one's difficult to maintain, he has the same eyes as you. He tends not to reveal much in speech either, very cautious."

"Ah, that one. I wanted to ask you something about him actually. How much influence do you have on your pieces from this distance?"

Sakon thought about it with his eyes unfocused. Neji knew this meant he was speaking to his brother; they shared a strange connection that was on such a deep level that Neji would never quite know about.

After a moment his subordinate turned back to him with a malicious smile, "If one of us concentrates on our piece, we can exhibit some measure of control beyond eavesdropping. Why?"

Neji leaned forward on his desk with his remaining arm, "I want one of you to slowly destroy his Byakugan. Do it over a span of weeks, make it seem like his body is rejecting it."

"It'll probably kill him," said Sakon, trying to convey that that wasn't really a problem for him or his brother.

Neji could almost his father turning in the small grave he had placed him in, though he knew that it was something that had to be done. "I am well aware."

The Otogakure ANBU shinobi took the list back and left the room without another word.

Neji figured it wouldn't be long until another person would come into his office demanding something, and while he knew he had a million things to do all he wanted to do was lie down with his wife and sleep.

After a minute of frantic searching and ultimately soul-crushing disappointment, Neji got up from his desk and walked towards the door.

As if walking out of a picture frame, his wife slowly came into view. His face lit up upon seeing her, and he didn't even get a chance to see her expression in return as she ran straight into him and gripped him in the tightest hug they'd ever shared.

For nearly two minutes neither of them said a word, they both waited until they broke the hug to actually enjoy each other's faces.

"Hey…"

Yuko cut him off by pressing a finger on his lips as she threaded a hand through his right hand. "Don't say anything. I heard about what happened from Tayuya. You are taking the rest of the day off, and I'm going to look after you."

Neji was so tired he had no interest in protesting whatsoever.

oOoOoOo

Letting out a long sigh as he stepped into the bath, Neji could feel all the muscles in his body call out like they had never healed properly. He was careful not to place his stump in the water; it had to be treated carefully so that it didn't get infected.

He sighed again when he looked at where his left hand used to be.

_I guess I can't fight like I used to. Sensou said that she wasn't the strongest Quiraji soldier…I was completely outclassed by her as well. She had no reason to lie besides to scare us, and I can't even fight normally anymore. _

He kept feeling like his hand was still there, and even though he knew it was only a phantom memory it was still playing with his head.

_I have far too much work to do…and not enough time to do it in. _

The bathroom in his apartment didn't have a window for him to look out, but Neji could easily imagine the village around his apartment and the shinobi that were connecting with their families in the same way he was.

_The attack on the summit was only the first step. Sensou's death probably slowed them down a fair bit, but they have other big guns that they are yet to reveal, I'm sure of it. _

_The hammer blow will come soon…and we can't rely on unity with the other villages. We have to focus on defence._

"Feeling any better?"

Neji turned to see his wife standing in the bathroom with a towel around her middle. Her silver hair had gotten longer after giving birth, but Neji could have sworn she was actually glowing.

"A little bit. There is a lot to do…"

Yuko dropped her towel to the ground and slipped into the bath behind her husband, threading her hands up his back as she began to massage his shoulders.

"Well, for tonight, you are mine to look after."

Neji smiled slowly and sighed in pleasure as she hit all the sensitive spots on his back. "Thanks, Yuko. It's nice to come home to a loving family."

Yuko kissed the back of his neck and leaned her head onto his back, "Of course. We know you work hard, and the children will understand when they are older."

The Otokage sighed again, he knew he was missing out on the first few years of his children's lives by virtue of how much work it took to be the leader of the village.

_I should set up leaders of certain sections so that I can concentrate my efforts. _

"It'll be over in about a year…give or take."

"What will be?" asked Yuko.

"This conflict. Either their side or ours will make a move soon and only one will survive."

"Well, for the time being…"

Neji jumped at the contact, but relaxed immediately at the sound of her breathing into his ear.

oOoOoOo

"Please close the door behind you, and activate the wards," said Neji, looking at the Otogakure shinobi standing in front of him. He hadn't been able to sleep much the previous night, but he was grateful that he was able to put his plans in place so quickly.

"I've gathered you all here today to discuss the plans I have for the village. This doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of the council, and I am looking to change the way this village is run."

"Did the summit battle really change that much?" asked Jin, he could see how serious Neji had become just from his eyes.

"You didn't see what we saw," said Dosu. "They have some serious firepower on their side."

Neji tapped his hand on the table to get their attention. "The village has prospered since its inception, and while we have been doing well, we are not prepared for the war that is about to come."

"So it will be war then?" Jiroubou crossed his arms over his chest, "We aren't ready."

"He's right. We have strong people, but nothing to fight a proper war with," said Jin grimly.

"That's why I brought you all here. The eight of you are the leading shinobi of our village, and as such I am going to have you make our people as prepared as possible."

He turned to Sakon quickly, "I'm counting you and your brother as one, just so you know."

The twin shinobi shrugged, "He's busy at the moment, but I know Ukon would agree that is fine. We only really work together anyway."

"For the next little while I will be spending my time in the village, building us as a power base and making sure we are prepared." He indicated to the largest shinobi in the room. "Jiroubou, you built a large portion of this village with your bare hands. With that in mind, I've decided that you are the best person to head up our defence. You are to shore up the defences of the village, including traps and ensuring that the village is capable of withstanding a siege."

"I'll need people to help with traps, but that should be no problem," said the large Sound Four member. "We could make a wall underneath the village, so that we could quickly raise it in case of attack."

Neji nodded, it was a good plan. He knew from speaking to them that Orochimaru only used the Sound Four as his personal assassins and bodyguards, without paying any attention to their other skills and their actual interests.

He turned his gaze to the next shinobi, "Which brings me to our next point. There are a number of things we have to prepare for, combat-wise. Jin, you are well respected among everyone in the village, and your knowledge of techniques is more expansive than any other Jounin."

"So you want me to do training?" asked Jin. "I can't say I'm the best teacher in the world."

Neji shook his head quickly, "It isn't just that. There are certain types of techniques that work on the Quiraji forces and those that do not. I want you to investigate the techniques to be used against the normal soldiers, including their Red Guard. I will tell you some of the details about their leaders, but we need to be as prepared as possible."

Jin sighed, but nodded in acknowledgement. "The missus will love this. She's been on my case about getting out of the field for months now."

"In the same field, I want someone to work on developing weapons against the enemy." Neji turned to Dosu, who seemed to already know that it was his field. "Dosu, your cannons were effective against them during the battle, and I want to expand that field. If chakra doesn't work, then we have other options available to us."

The large shinobi nodded without a word, he had figured that was coming.

"You should work with Tenten on this; she seems to enjoy making weapons of more and more absurd proportions."

At the end of the line of Otogakure shinobi, Kidomaru let out a short laugh, "Yeah, she's been ranting about it since I got back."

The others in the group laughed, the relationship between him and the armourer was notorious for making no logical sense to any of them, yet they somehow worked.

"Next up is the problem we face with the prisoners we collected from the battle. I know I'm focusing a lot on our immediate enemy, but if we don't I believe we won't survive."

He turned to the music-using shinobi beside Kidomaru, "Tayuya, I'm making you the head of interrogation. I don't care how you do it, but I want you to get any information you can out of those prisoners, and any we capture from here on."

"I guess I knew that was going to bloody happen. You know how frigging shitty those prisoners get?" Tayuya went to spit onto the ground, but remembered the earful she had gotten from Neji's wife the last time she'd done that and stopped herself. "Still, it isn't like I have anything better to do."

"Good." Neji reached into one of the drawers on his desk and pulled out a piece of paper, indicating to one of his subordinates to come forward to his desk. "I've made a deal with the Kazekage to support his efforts in attacking the Quiraji front lines, and I want you and this team of people to be a part of that."

Zaku took a look at the sheet before groaning loudly, "I have no issue with the desert, but this team is going to be a pain in the ass to work with."

"Nevertheless, this needs to be done. There is too much to be gained from doing this." A smirk came across his face, "Besides, we need to show up the Sunagakure shinobi. We still have a lot to prove to the other villages."

The air-user nodded and stepped back into line, placing the list in his pocket. "We'll make you proud."

Neji took a moment to stare at the Jounin's face, trying to work out how he had garnered such loyalty from him. It had been bothering him for a while, but there was nothing he could do except press forward.

_I guess some people are content to serve. Granted I never thought I would be a good leader until I started doing it. _

"Kin, I would like to use your infiltration expertise to spy on the other villages."

The young girl nodded without changing her expression. Since she was getting better at using genjutsu based on sound, she had been able to infiltrate many of the villages without being seen, and her team had given Neji much of the information he'd used to blackmail his way to becoming the Otokage.

"Similar to what you were doing before, but I want you to concentrate on Kirigakure for the moment."

"Any particular reason?" asked Kin, keeping her tone neutral.

On the other side of the Otogakure shinobi, Dosu leaned forward to look at his former teammate, "I overheard a conversation between the Mizukage and the Kazekage discussing some anti-Quiraji training methods they have created."

"Getting these training methods is the utmost priority, so I'm making you the head of the infiltration division. This way I know it will get done."

She gave him a wink that was entirely inappropriate for the occasion, and even without seeing he could feel his wife staring at him from the side, as if waiting for a response.

Instead Neji turned to his best source of information of the shinobi in front of him. "Ignoring the task we spoke about earlier, I'm looking to create an offensive force to take the fight to the enemy. I know you've been missing from the front lines, and that is exactly where I am putting the two of you."

Sakon grinned widely, "It's been too long. Do I have the freedom to form my own teams?"

"Within reason, yes. Your job will be simple. Do as much damage as possible, with the least loss of life. Understand?"

The grey-haired shinobi cracked his hands loudly, "Sounds fun. Alright, I'm in."

"Good. Remember all of you are leaders of Otogakure, our people will be looking up to you."

He picked up a set of files with his right hand and tapped them on his desk in an attempt to straighten them. "So don't mess up. You are all dismissed, except for Kidomaru."

The Otogakure shinobi all nodded and departed from the room, they all knew that it only got harder from here. Eventually there was only Kidomaru, Neji and his wife remaining.

"Is there anything I can get you?" asked Yuko, knowing that the two of them were likely wanting to talk privately.

Neji looked up at his wife with a warm smile, "If you could bring the kids in in five minutes that would be good. It's been too long since I've seen them."

The silver-haired woman nodded with a smile and made her way out of the room. Despite their arranged marriage, Neji found himself watching her leave intently.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something…" said Kidomaru with a sly look on his face.

Neji shook himself out of it quickly, "It's nothing. Just remembering what I'm fighting for, that's all."

"I gather you have some kind of secretive pain-in-the-ass task you need me to do that requires the others not knowing about it."

"In a manner of speaking." Neji flicked a scroll at the spider-like shinobi, who caught it without effort.

Kidomaru frowned as he opened it up, seeing a list of names and details beside them. "What is this?"

"I've been thinking about doing this for a long time. That's a list of everyone that'll be working for you, and their current position. Besides the people who were previously in this room, you'll have free reign to reorganise to something that you feel would be more efficient. Anything dramatic will need my approval, of course."

His subordinate frowned as he looked through the scroll, though it slowly turned into a smirk as he realised how much power he was being given.

"You know I might just screw around and treat it like a game, right?"

"Somehow I doubt that, Kidomaru. We've worked together a long time; I've figured you out pretty well. Do you accept?"

Kidomaru grinned and rolled up the scroll, noting that would need to destroy it at some point. That kind of information would be too damaging outside of the village.

He reached out his top right hand towards the Otokage. "Anyone ever tell you that you are scary as hell sometimes?"

"I'll take that as a compliment. As the head of the ANBU, the only person you will answer to is myself. If any of the others give you any crap, sort it out yourself."

The new ANBU leader nodded quietly, recognising that he had a lot of work to do.

"You are dismissed."

* * *

><p>"This whole situation is absurd," ranted the Tsuchikage, walking around the round desk in his office and placing his hat on its hook. "Brats like the two of them thinking they can call the shots."<p>

Standing at the doorway, Roshi scoffed and scratched at his red beard, "They are young, it is to be expected that they would be that arrogant."

The Tsuchikage shook his head as he took his seat in his comfortable chair, "But as much as I hate to admit it, that Hyuuga boy made several good points. Those people seemed to be trouble, at the worst time too."

He indicated to the map on his desk, where much of it was covered in red flags. "That damn woman and her army are on our doorstep, and we have no way of stopping her either. How could it have come to this?"

Roshi paid no attention to the ramblings of the old man; his focus was somewhere else entirely.

"Are you listening to me?" demanded the Tsuchikage.

"Not particularly. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Roshi shook his head slowly and turned around, "It's…nothing. The damn monkey won't shut up it would seem."

"Well get yourself under control. Kurotsuchi won't be field ready for weeks, and we are hard-pressed as it is."

The red-haired shinobi frowned as he stared up at the ceiling. The sound had been getting louder and louder since they had returned, and his occupant had made several good points about their situation.

"I have to see him," he said bluntly, cutting off the Tsuchikage mid-sentence.

The Tsuchikage rose from his seat with a furious look on his face, "Absolutely not! I don't know what you are planning, but I give you too much freedom to let you waste it on a psychopath like him."

The red-haired Tailed Beast container huffed and stepped forward to face the Tsuchikage head on.

"I wasn't asking. There is something going on here beyond normal shinobi, and your petty arguments with Cascading Flow."

"Petty?! She's brought the country into open revolt against us, and you call that petty?!"

Roshi pointed a finger at the Tsuchikage accusingly, "Because of how you mistreated the people!"

He could see Onoki moving to argue back, but the sound in Roshi's head tripled in volume and he could no longer even hear the old man talking.

"I'm going down to the Pit. There is nothing you can do to stop me."

Onoki watched the Tailed Beast container walk out of his office with a strange look on his face. He could only shake his head and sit back down in his seat.

_If he wasn't so necessary to the war effort, I wouldn't have to put up with his crap. He'll probably leave the village again, and come back just in the nick of time. _

Though he couldn't figure out what Roshi could possibly want with that man.

oOoOoOo

"Open the cell."

The guard of the prison block stared up at the intimidating red haired shinobi, "I can't do that, sir. We have strict orders to not let the traitor out."

Roshi looked down at him for a moment before pulling back a hand and slamming him into the wall. He reached down and took the keys off the shinobi's belt and opened the main gate, closing it behind him before walking through the dark halls.

Since the war with Cascading Flow, the Tsuchikage had cleared out most of the prison and reinstated many of the shinobi locked within, though most of them had been killed in some of the offenses the village had conducted against the rebels.

However there was still one prisoner remaining with the Iwagakure prison, one that Roshi had put in there himself.

Within the nearly pitch-black cell block, there was one cell that was separated from the rest behind bars that blocked chakra.

Roshi stopped just in front of the dark cell, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"I can hear you breathing…"

The Four-Tailed container shuddered at the ominous-sounding voice coming from the cell. He'd known the prisoner for some time, but the man had always been a bit wrong.

"You know why I'm here?"

Even in the dark, Roshi could see the shape of the prisoner within, slowly standing up from the single seat within the cell and walking forward several steps.

"I heard the call, though I find it amusing that you would respond as well. The stubborn old man has become desperate indeed."

A light suddenly came on within the cell, illuminating the prisoner in a column of light. He had been allowed to keep his red plated armour and furnace on his back, in addition to his large frame and massive height he cut an imposing figure even within his cell.

"I do not represent the Tsuchikage. That old man is too preoccupied with his own problems; this is something between the two of us."

The prisoner's brown eyes looked down on the red-haired Tailed Beast container, "Do we now? And what would inspire you to do such a thing? This place has been abandoned for weeks, yet the first visitor I receive is the one who put me here. Odd timing you have."

"If it was up to me, I would let you rot in here for what you did, Han. However my occupant informs me that you are necessary, and there is no other way about it."

"Amusing that you have come so far. If I were a lesser man, I would make you beg." The armoured prisoner cocked his head slightly, "Am I to be your prisoner during this little journey? Shall I walk with hands cuffed and request permission to eat, sleep and urinate?"

Roshi breathed out slowly, he hadn't changed since he'd been imprisoned. "The village has gone to hell, and I have no interest in pandering to your sick desires. We get out of here and you can do as you please so long as you swear to never return to the Land of Stone."

Han let out a slow laugh, one that echoed throughout the empty prison block, made twice as creepy by the fact that his captor couldn't see his mouth covered by his armour.

He reached out with both of his hands, grasping the bars softly as steam slowly surrounded his body. Within seconds the bars melted under his grip and Han took a step out of his cell to stand two heads taller than Roshi.

"And who would stop me? You?"

Roshi refused to take a step back, even though every part of him was screaming to create more distance between him and the twisted container of the Five-Tails.

"You could have broken out at any point. What had been stopping you?"

Han slowly placed his right hand into his shirt as steam slowly emerged from the furnace on his back.

"I had no interest to."

Roshi watched as the ex-prisoner slowly walked through the empty cell block towards the entrance, without a trace of emotion in his movements whatsoever.

_Those were chakra-blocking bars, and he destroyed them like they were nothing. I always knew he was wrong in the head, but his power seems to have grown since I brought him here._

The Tailed Beast container knew he was going to regret releasing Han back into the world, but the Four-Tails refused to shut up about all of them needing to go together.

_You better be right about this, stupid monkey. He's too dangerous to be left alone for too long._

As he came to the entrance he could see Han staring at the unconscious body of the prison guard. He had to hold back from running forward and stopping Han from attacking the man, but he quickly saw Han turning his gaze back towards the entrance and slowly walk towards the sunlight.

_The old man is going to kill me for this._

* * *

><p>Yugito kneeled down on the ground and took a short sniff. She didn't want to do what the Raikage had demanded of her, but Yugito was a loyal shinobi, even though some of the Raikage's decisions were becoming more and more questionable.<p>

"_You are wasting time, Yugito…"_

The blonde shinobi sighed, "I know, I know. I'll find him first, and then figure out what we should do from there."

Her prey wasn't the most subtle of shinobi, but judging from the way he had left the village and the distance he had covered in that short amount of time, something was clearly on his mind.

She shook her head to bring herself back to reality and stood back up, rubbing her hands free of the dirt she had picked up. It was clear where the trail led to, though it was a little bit too easy.

"_Are you really going to bring him back to the village?"_

"Give me a good reason not to, Matatabi. I have my orders."

"_Orders aren't everything, Yugito. There are things more important than your loyalty to A."_

Yugito ignored the Tailed Beast's voice in her head and began to move through the forest once more. She made a good point, but the blonde shinobi was still conflicted.

First of all, she had to catch him.

oOoOoOo

Two days later Yugito nearly ran straight into her target on the outskirts of a quarry. She found the dark skinned man sitting on a large rock with his arms crossed over his chest, fast asleep.

Yugito sighed and jumped forward to stand in front of the rapping shinobi, taking a large breath and pulling her head back.

In a burst of chakra she let out a screech that was deafening to everything around her, though it only served to cause her target to sniff slightly as he groaned and slowly woke up.

Behind his pair of oval sunglasses, Killer Bee stared at the woman who woke him up with a tired look, "Oh, Yugito? Finally caught up, did you?"

"You were expecting me?"

The Eight-Tails container sighed and stretched his arms as he hopped off his rock, "You heard the call too, didn't you? While you and brother were off playing diplomat, something happened."

The blonde shinobi could hear him talking, but she was struggling to understand what he was saying. For once in his life, Killer Bee wasn't speaking in rap.

That could only mean he was serious about what was happening.

"It's just a ringing, Bee. Nothing to flee the village and pursue on your own like you did. I'm under strict orders to bring you back."

Bee laughed and put his hands on the back of his head, "My brother cares that much? Or does he just want his precious Eight-Tails back?"

"You know that isn't true, Killer Bee. A only worries about your safety, that's all." Even as she was saying it, Yugito was finding her own words rather hollow. "Look, will you come back to the village or not?"

The tall shinobi shook his head and placed a hand towards the swords on his back, "I made my choice, Yugito. You would be wise not to stop me."

She stared at his serious expression for a moment before letting out a long sigh and walking past him to sit on the rock he'd been sleeping on.

"How did I know you were going to say that…"

Bee relaxed his hand slightly, he hadn't been expecting her to resist more than that. Clearly something had happened at the Kage summit to change Yugito's demeanour.

"What are you going to do then?" he asked quietly.

Yugito sighed again, "I was told to bring you back to the village; however he was not specific on timing. If we have to take a detour…then so be it."

Killer Bee grinned and watched as Yugito stood up from his rock and slapped him on the shoulder, "Let's get going, you pain in the ass."

The tall Tailed Beast container watched as she started to walk in the direction the sound was telling them to go. He went to look at her backside, until he remembered the last time she had caught him staring at her.

His back still hadn't fully healed from that time.

"You coming or what?" demanded Yugito, waving for him to hurry up.

Killer Bee nodded quickly, he didn't want to upset her any further.

* * *

><p>It wasn't really a proper place of seclusion, but the green-haired girl sat under the fierce waterfall with a small grin on her face.<p>

"Something on your mind?" asked the elderly man sitting beside her. He wore nothing but a towel around his waist, and by the red marks on his shoulders he could tell that the water was doing him good.

The young woman shook her head slightly, "Nothing I'd be willing to share, master."

"So it's to do with that boy again, is it? Honestly Fu, you'll never be able to complete your training if you don't learn to keep it in your pants."

Fu looked over at her folded up clothing on a nearby rock for a few moments before turning to her companion, "I wear a skirt, I find it hard to contain myself at times. A girl has needs."

The old man huffed and shut his eyes, clasping his weathered hands together. "Whatever you say."

Taking a moment before standing up and letting the water slam into her body, Fu let out a long satisfied sigh before stretching her arms above her head.

Her master eyed her through a barely open eye for a moment before shaking his head and shutting his eyes again. "I've told you a number of times that you shouldn't walk around like that. The townsfolk talk about you, you know."

"Oh?" purred Fu, letting the water run down one of her dark arms onto her master's head. "You didn't complain when I sat down. Do you not like looking at my body?"

"Hmph…harlot…" he muttered under his breath.

Fu barked out a laugh and ran her hands through her wet hair, "Love you too, master."

She slowly made her way to her clothes and flicked her hands, drying herself in an instant with a quick wind technique that didn't require a seal. Looking up at the sky she could tell it wouldn't be long now.

"Storm's coming…" she muttered as she slipped into her clothes.

"The world is coming to a head. A great conflict is upon us." Her master slowly stood up within the waterfall, his dark eyes firmly on the town that sat at the end of the valley the two of them were in. "It won't be long before we are sucked into it as well."

Fu fastened a button on her white skirt before shrugging and stretching her legs on the riverbank. "That's hardly our problem. I have no interest in fighting a war."

She went to turn to ask her master something, but a sound caused her to turn her head as if seeking it out in the middle of nowhere.

"Still hearing the sound?" asked her master as he stepped out of the waterfall and began to dry himself off.

Fu nodded slowly with a solemn look on her face, "It's getting louder. I don't know what it is, but I think it's important."

Throwing his towel over his shoulder, the old man nodded grimly in acknowledgement and moved past her towards the path back to the village. "Put on your shirt before you come back, Fu."

Fu stared at his scarred back for a few moments before looking down at herself, realising that she had put everything from her waist down on, but nothing else. With a childish cry of amusement that would have been more appropriate for someone half her age, Fu picked up her stack of remaining clothes and ran after her master grinning.

oOoOoOo

The next morning Fu opened her eyes with a long sigh, she hated waking up from deep sleeps at these kinds of times. She turned her orange eyes to the cause of her having to wake up so early.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" asked the naked back she found herself staring at, its muscles bunching back and forth with each movement of his arms.

Fu simply chuckled and reached out to pinch his backside before slipping back under the covers and pretending she was fast asleep.

The young man jumped slightly and turned around with a wide smile on his face, looking down at her 'sleeping' visage carefully. "I guess I did. Sorry about that."

"Perhaps you should make up for it," said Fu, still acting like she was meant to be asleep.

He chuckled for a moment before reaching down and lightly pressing his lips onto hers. "Perhaps I will. Another time though, I need to be at the mill in ten minutes."

Fu gave him a slight pout before turning on her side, "That's not nearly enough time. You're no fun."

He went to kiss her again in apology, but Fu shot up in the bed and unfocused her eyes, staring straight into one of the walls of his house.

"Is…is something wrong?" he stuttered, he'd never seen her look so serious before.

For a long time Fu didn't say anything in response, but eventually she regained her composure and turned back to the concerned young man.

"It's…I'm fine. Just a headache, that's all."

The young man frowned slightly in confusion, but pecked her on the forehead and disappeared into the next room to retrieve his clothes, leaving Fu to her thoughts.

She collected her knees around her chest and sighed, letting the blanket fall off her chest.

_We can't ignore it anymore, can we?_

"_I guess not," _came the response in her head. _"We knew from the first time we heard it."_

Fu bit at her lip as she thought about it. _I wanted to lead a normal life, one that didn't involve any fighting._

"_We can't always choose our battles, Fu. But we can choose who we can and can't save." _

The dark-skinned Tailed Beast container rolled her eyes at her occupant's statement and rolled out of the bed, she couldn't mope about forever. She'd have to talk to her master about it before she came to any proper decision.

Half an hour later Fu stood on the roof of the young man's apartment, looking out at the slowly rising sun on the horizon. "We never had this view in the village…"

"_We certainly have been lucky."_

Fu nodded slowly, though her cheery disposition darkened as she saw a few figures walking towards the village in front of the rising sun. "Maybe not so lucky after all…"

In a leap that was only possible with chakra, Fu powered her way through the air towards the front of town. She wasn't at all surprised to see her master standing at the entrance in his full blacksmithing getup.

"A bit overdressed for receiving villagers, aren't you?" she asked cheerfully, landing at his side.

The old man didn't respond to her, staring out across the grassland as the three figures came into view. It was difficult to tell at first, but Fu could see that the middle figure was a young man wearing bright white armour that looked more appropriate to the stage than on the battlefield, with enough regalia to shame a king.

However she was far more fascinated by the pair of lions at the warrior's sides, remarking at how large the beasts were compared to how large they are normally.

"Get out of here, Fu."

The Tailed Beast container turned to her master with a suspicious look, "I know you've been trying to get rid of me for a while, but I'm not leaving just because we have some visitors."

Her master reached over and grabbed at the red cloth around her neck, "Fu, that's the same one that destroyed the village. He might look different, but I'll never forget that feeling."

Fu turned to the white armoured warrior with wide eyes; now that he mentioned it he did appear familiar. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of her face, "We…we should flee…right?"

"Fu, you need to go. I will hold him back, and try and take him down. But you have to live."

"No! I won't just leave you to die!" Fu grabbed at his hands on her red cloth, "You are the only one I have left! You can't just leave me!"

The old man smiled sadly at her panicked features, letting go of her and turning to face the front before taking a step forward, "I'm an old man, Fu. My time has come, I'm done running."

He turned his head slightly to look at her fearful face, "And you will never be alone."

Fu shook her head constantly, even as six large insect wings sprouted from her back. "I don't want to keep running…"

"_We know where we need to go, Fu."_

Her master gave her a shove before clapping his hands together and the earth beneath them began to shake and split apart. "No more talk, Fu. You were a pain in the ass, but you have to live."

Fu's occupant took control and she flew up into the sky, making it so that her occupant couldn't look at the battle about to take place.

_I'm never doing this again, Choumei. Why do I have to keep fleeing from the people taking my friends?_

"_You never liked the people of the village to begin with Fu…but I understand what you mean."_

Her insect wings flapped thousands of times as she flew through the air faster than the birds she passed by.

_Where are you taking me?_

* * *

><p>Sitting alone in the middle of the lake, Utakata gave the brush one final tap before setting it on his tile and leaning back on his chair. "I think that's about it."<p>

"_The blue of the sky on the right corner is off."_

Utakata frowned and leaned forward to examine where his Tailed Beast was indicating. "I can't quite see what you are talking about."

"_You should be able to see it, Utakata. It isn't too hard."_

"Sure, says the slug…"

He placed an arm into his robe as he stood up from his seat, leaving his painting for the moment as he looked onto the landscape he'd been painting. It was a bit dry for his taste, but it was secluded and that's what he liked about it.

He clutched at his temple painfully, he'd had a headache for over a week now and it was driving him insane. It sat just out of his ability to heal, and there was a strange ringing as well.

Utakata let out a sigh; it had been over two years since he had left the village and the lack of human contact was starting to get to him.

"_You shouldn't think like that. You have me."_

The Tailed Beast container rolled his eyes as he sat on the edge of the cliff he'd been painting on.

"And who do you think is the cause of these problems?"

"_That isn't fair, and you know it. I didn't have a choice either you know." _

Even though he was talking to the beast within him, Utakata raised his hands up in defeat. "I know, I know."

Seeing as his head wasn't getting any better, Utakata decided to leave the painting to another time. It wasn't as if he was lacking in time. He reached into his open robe and pulled out a long flute. It was one of the things he had taught himself over the years, and one of the few things that had kept him sane.

The soft music slowly drifted through the valley, allowing Utakata to immerse himself completely in a world beyond the one he had been forced to live in.

"_You can't hide forever, Utakata. You can't ignore the call." _

_I'll do as I please. I have no love for the shinobi world, and if it falls I won't shed any tears. _

He finished his flute song and placed it on his knees, noticing that the sound in his head had gotten a little bit louder. Looking around the area, he noticed that steam had begun to emerge from underneath his body.

The Tailed Beast container merely groaned and waited it out; he knew what was going to happen.

oOoOoOo

His inner mindscape hadn't changed since the last time he had entered it, though it was strange for the Six-Tails to draw him in without his permission. Their relationship was fairly decent, though Utakata knew that he it had been getting more and more impatient lately.

The world around him was a steamy wasteland, one that looked to be completely unfit for human life to exist within.

However, Utakata had no reason to fear the background setting within his mindscape. He'd used it to perfect techniques before, and yet there was something about the landscape that felt a bit strange.

Pulling out his bubble blower, Utakata created a small bubble and collected his robe under his feet before hoping onto the bubble and letting it carry him up into the steam covered air.

After a few dozen feet he came to second level of the mindscape, the steam barely affecting him at all. "Thank you for coming," came a quiet male voice from the distance.

Utakata stared at the large white figure that took up much of the background, "You make it sound like I had a choice in the matter. It isn't like you to do this…Saiken."

The white background shifted slightly as slime slowly ran down its skin. Eventually a slug's head came to the same eye level as Utakata, while six stubby tails emerged behind it.

"So you do remember my name…"

"It isn't something I would forget easily," said Utakata dryly, twirling his bubble blower in his fingers.

For several moments neither of them said anything, though the air was anything but tense.

It took him a while to realise, but Utakata felt like something had been different since coming to the mindscape. He could see the slug-beast's eyes staring at him without emotion, something that had always gotten on Utakata's nerves.

Utakata frowned, it had finally dawned on him what was different.

"The buzzing has disappeared…"

Saiken bobbed its head slightly, "There is a good reason for that. Do you know what it is?"

"I have no idea, except that it's been bugging me for weeks."

"Let me show you." The outer tails of his companion fluctuated momentarily, and in that second the buzzing returned at an almost ear-piercing level.

Utakata gasped and clutched at his ears painfully, "What the hell is that? Make it stop!"

"I can't, Utakata. That's the point. What you are hearing now, is how I've been hearing it."

On top of his bubble, Utakata struggled to stand up, focusing his gaze on his companion. "So, you've been blocking it? That's nice of you."

"The signal isn't for you, Utakata. The fact that you've heard anything is a testament to how important the sender considers it."

"Sender?" Saiken wasn't known for cryptic speech, but having known him for so long he was able to tell the difference in the monster-slug's demeanour.

And he sounded particularly concerned, which was something that in turn worried Utakata.

Saiken indicated with its head to a lower part of the mindscape, to where there was a strange figure clouded in shadow. All Utakata could see was a mouth moving, but again all he could hear was the loud buzzing.

"Is there any way to get the message properly?"

The slug reared its head back to face its companion in a pose that could only be described as sarcastic.

Once again Utakata was forced to put his hands up in submission, while Saiken concentrated its efforts back on the message. After a few minutes it nodded to itself and spat a large globe of acid onto the shadowy figure. As it cleared the figure didn't look it had changed, but the buzzing had disappeared immediately.

"…**and it is because of this we need…"**

The strange voice cut back to the buzzing, causing Utakata to turn to Saiken with a deep frown.

"I'm waiting for it to finish before it starts again. It seems to be a looping message."

Utakata understood and bore with the sound until it cut out and he paid careful attention as the message played again.

"**It is clear that we face destruction at the hands of our old enemy, one that has come back to kill us and everything he left us…"**

"Who is he?" asked Utakata quietly, though he was quickly silenced by a sound from the slug that had the same effect as if he had tsked.

"…**and it is because of this, we need a time of unity. We Tailed Beasts were once one, and while we do not possess the power to be so again, we have the strength to influence the war. Not only for the survival of shinobi, but also for our own survival, as they would no doubt seek revenge for our part in the war."**

_Who are they speaking about? What enemy?_

"**I am calling for all of us to gather at a single point, so that we discuss the issue. If your container is against this, you must convince them. We do not have time for petty argument. Follow this sound and you will find me. Together, brothers and sisters, we shall survive."**

_This makes no sense…_

"**It is clear that we face…"**

"And on, and on, and on it goes," said Saiken, slamming a slimy tail into the figure and causing it to dissipate. "Do you understand?"

Utakata frowned; there were too many things he didn't understand. "This is a message for all the Tailed Beasts, not just you, right?"

Saiken nodded slowly, "While there are some that are more stubborn than others, they will all come."

The bubble-user sighed and sat down on top of his bubble, placing his bubble blower back into his robe and looking up at the slug, "Give me one good reason."

"You aren't doing anything with your life, Utakata. You cannot live a life without other people, and the people who are still alive are strong enough that your presence won't hurt them."

"That isn't a good reason, Saiken." Utakata's expression was neutral, but his hand gripped at his robe tightly upon remembering when he had left the Village of Water.

"Then how about the fact that if you don't I will tear myself out of your body and go there myself."

Utakata thought about it for a moment, Saiken had the strength to do that, though doing so would eventually kill them both, and the slug would have to wait a number of years to regenerate.

He sighed loudly, it didn't sound like anything he wanted to be a part of, but it had become clear he had no choice.

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"From where you currently are? A week, perhaps more."

Utakata nodded slowly before jumping off his bubble and wrenching himself out of the mindscape, opening his eyes to find that the landscape he'd been painting had turned black with the night.

_That'll be enough time for you to tell me all about this enemy, and why this thing believes we are on the verge of extinction. _

* * *

><p>"Is there any reason we are walking into the village?" complained Kankuro, as the front of the village slowly came into view. "I thought the point of flying was so we didn't take as long as we would walking."<p>

"You don't understand symbols, do you Kankuro?" said Shikamaru.

The puppet user stared at the smoking shinobi with a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

Shikamaru didn't respond, but instead he indicated to the cliffs that protected the village's entrance.

Quickly enough, the roars of the shinobi that had come to greet them echoed throughout the desert, so loud that it was practically deafening.

Gaara made no comment as they walked closer to the entrance, though he felt proud that he was wearing his Kazekage robe and hat as he was.

The crowd of shinobi cheered even louder as they came to the threshold of the village, the three of them walking quietly while the sand cocoon containing Lee floated behind them. The Suna shinobi appeared confused as to why it appeared he was carrying a body in the sand, but since he hadn't been part of the group that had left they were just happy that their leader hadn't been hurt.

As he saw the crowd part at the entrance, Shikamaru swore under his breath and put out his cigarette into the sand. He removed his backpack and passed it to Gaara, who took it without a word.

"What are you doing?" asked a still confused Kankuro.

"Just preparing myself…"

Gaara took several steps back, and Kankuro saw that it would probably be wise for him to do the same.

Silhouetted at the opening leading to the entrance of the village was a single figure with its arms crossed over its chest. The wind that constantly blew around the village made its hair flare up, and it laid its eyes on its target quickly.

Even in a braced stance designed to mitigate charging damage, Shikamaru was still completely destroyed as the figure slammed into him at an ungodly pace and sent his body skidded back into the sand in front of the village.

Kankuro grinned at the scene, and even Gaara struggled to keep a slight smirk from his face as Shikamaru groaned under the weight of his pregnant wife. They hadn't been gone more than a few weeks, but a small stomach had begun to emerge on the usually well-built Jounin, though it didn't seem to stop her as she held his wrists and sat on top of him like he was a rundown gazelle.

Temari's bright eyes stared down at her defeated husband, "Hi."

"I can see you are doing well," said Shikamaru at a dull tone.

"Is that how you greet your wife?" asked Temari with a shocked expression.

Shikamaru struggled to wave his hands under her tight grip, "You have me at a disadvantage here."

His blonde wife looked up at the Suna shinobi looking at them. "What the hell are you staring at?"

The shinobi all shuffled away uncomfortably, leaving the two of them in front of the Suna village. Gaara and Kankuro had entered the village already, with the Kazekage aiming to drop off Lee to the hospital and have a few words with Sakura before going back to his office.

Temari nodded to herself upon seeing them leave and turned back to her husband. Almost immediately her expression changed and she buried her face into his chest.

Her grip lessened as he could feel her sobbing into his shirt. Without changing his normal expression, Shikamaru pulled his hands up and around her back.

"I was so worried…"

"It's alright, I'm here now. I'm sorry for being gone so long."

oOoOoOo

A week later, Gaara sat at his desk rubbing his temples lightly. It had been years since he'd been unable to sleep; he'd forgotten how debilitating it was.

Within his head he could hear Shukaku raging about, ranting unintelligibly in deafeningly loud tones.

A knock on the door caused him to stare up at his door and attempt to filter out the raging of his Tailed Beast. "Come in."

His top advisor walked into the office with a large stack of papers in his hands. Shikamaru nodded his acknowledgement of his leader and placed the papers on his desk. He wasn't sure why Gaara had been giving him more work than usual, but it kept him in the office and for the moment that was fine by him.

"Still not sleeping?"

Gaara sighed and shook his head, immediately regretting that he had done so. "He just won't shut up. It's getting worse."

"Well I just came back from talking with Sakura. I'm glad you've allowed her to stay. It means a lot for her and the rest of us too."

"She doesn't represent a threat to the village anymore. While she will be watched, her inability to use chakra anymore allows me to grant her such an amnesty."

Shikamaru looked over at the Kazekage hat and robes that had been sitting on the wall since they had come back from the summit. "Are you sure about this? You only just came back."

Gaara slowly stood up from his seat, "It would appear I have no choice. I'm in no condition to lead like this."

"It's probably a trap, you know. Even though none of you transformed, they probably know of your strengths."

His leader didn't say anything in response; he knew Shikamaru was probably right.

"There will be questions," said Shikamaru grimly, feeling the urge to light up another cigarette.

The Kazekage looked over at his hat and robes for a moment before sighing and picking up his gourd with one hand. "When they ask, you will tell them I am training for the next fight. The villagers trust you as one of their own; they know your judgement is the same as if it were coming from me."

"It's still a lot of power to be giving me." Shikamaru sighed and stared out into the night, "You know I had no ambition for leadership whatsoever. I just wanted to settle down with a nice quiet girl…"

"Marrying my sister sort of goes against those plans…"

Shikamaru chuckled and pulled out a cigarette, "Don't remind me. I'm not allowed to smoke in the house anymore because it's bad for the baby."

"Yes…well…good luck with that." Gaara put out his hand and Shikamaru took it reluctantly. "I am grateful for your assistance, Shikamaru. I hope that I'll be able to bring back some good news."

"Knowing him, he'll show up."

Shikamaru watched the Kazekage leave his office without another word, closing the door behind him.

_I hope you find what you are looking for. The Quiraji won't retaliate for a while, but I know you aren't taking a break either. _

oOoOoOo

Gaara didn't waste any time flying out of the village under the cover of night. He wasn't too sure where he was going, and the possibility that it was a trap wasn't negligible, but something within him told him that it was important that he went.

_Will you be there too, Naruto? It's clear something is calling us Tailed Beast containers together, and while they said the Nine-Tails was killed, I find that hard to believe. _

Leaving the village behind him, Gaara couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen to it while he was gone. With one of their most important leaders dead, it was unlikely that they would be able to muster a counterattack so quickly, and Sunagakure wouldn't be there first target.

_Otogakure huh? Will you be able to weather the next few months? This war isn't going to be easy on any of us. _

While he watched the landscape beneath him move quickly by, Gaara let out a long breath and concentrated on the strange sound. Considering how much Shukaku was complaining, he judged it to be very important, though he knew Shikamaru had a good point.

It probably is a trap.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

If anyone couldn't guess, I've taken some liberties with Han's character. Since he's one of the Tailed Beasts that had been given basically zero character development, I thought it might be interesting to have him be like…I don't know…Hannibal Lector. It'll be more developed in the next chapter, as with all the Tailed Beasts.

Just a warning, next weekend I'm going to be in a different state and won't be able to do any writing. So the next chapter will most likely be delayed by a few days. Sorry about that.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	60. Chapter 55 Nine Parts of a Whole

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 55 – Nine Parts of a Whole

**A/N**: Apologies about the lateness of this chapter, the last weekend was a bit hectic. I ought to be back on schedule now, at least for the foreseeable future.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would still be some 'bad' good guys.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The battle of the Kage Summit is over, but the aftermath was a lot to deal with. Lee's injuries were severe, but he was going to live due to Neji's medics. The Raikage stormed off after he confronted the Otokage about the choices he made during the summit, just after Gaara, Yugito and Roshi all heard a strange ringing in their heads. The Tsuchikage informed the others that he had no interest in helping them with their war against the Quiraji while he fought Cascading Flow in his own land. Neji took his army back to Otogakure and left Lee in Gaara's care. Once the Mizukage left, Gaara summoned his spy Matsuri and sent her to follow her while he took his bodyguards back to Suna. Back at Otogakure, Neji began a restructuring of the village, with many of his best shinobi taking leadership positions. In Iwagakure, Roshi decides to follow the strange sound in his head and went into the prison in his village to release Han from within so the two of them could go together. In Kumogakure, under orders of the Raikage, Yugito hunted down Killer Bee, but decided to follow him to where the sound was leading him. In an unknown village, the Tailed Beast container Fu is confronted by an old enemy and is forced to flee towards the sound. In another part of the world, the container of the Six-Tails was convinced by his occupant that he needed to go as well, though he wasn't happy about it. In Sunagakure, the Kazekage and his bodyguards returned, but Gaara was unable to put the sound out of his mind. Leaving the duty of leading to his advisors, Gaara left the village to pursue the origin of the sound, knowing that there was a possibility that he might meet an old friend there.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Killer Bee clutched at his head as the two of them moved over the plains at a quick pace.<p>

"Are you still moaning about that? It was barely a love tap, Bee," said Yugito in front of him with a wide smirk on her face.

The rapping shinobi turned away his face with a pout, "What you be callin' a love tap could fell a thousand dragons!"

Yugito huffed and pushed herself off the ground faster with a small burst of chakra, ignoring her companion for the time being. He'd started rapping again as they'd moved along the edges of the Land of Fire towards their current location, and while she was grateful she could understand him once again, he had a habit of getting on her nerves.

_How close are we? I don't know how much longer I we can avoid detection, Matatabi. _

The fiery Tailed Beast contained within Yugito snarled loudly. _"Just over that ridge, Yugito."_

The blonde shinobi turned to tell Killer Bee, only to see the tall dark-skinned shinobi writing feverishly in his notepad.

Yugito sighed and ignored him, keeping her eyes on the ridge ahead. She hadn't spent much time in the Land of Tea, but it appeared that her occupant knew the land well enough to navigate on her own.

The two Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers made one final jump over the ridge in front of them and skidded to a halt, as they saw a single figure leaning against a large tree just beside a cliff leading into the vast ocean.

The figure nodded slowly as he recognised their approach, his arms folded across his chest. Yugito breathed out slowly as she heard a grunt of recognition from her occupant, while Killer Bee knew enough of the situation to put away his notepad, though he still muttered a beat to himself quietly.

The figure receiving them appeared as a young boy, messy grey hair on his head and a long stitched scar running from his left eye to his green poncho. He had pink pupil-less eyes that watched the two of them like a hawk, while his hook-like pole sitting beside him on the tree.

"Do you recognise him?" asked Yugito quietly as they began to walk towards him.

Killer Bee shook his head slightly, "The Eight Tails says he's one of us."

They could both see the forehead protector attached to his front, though it took a moment for them to realise who he was.

"I'm glad you could come," said the figure, uncrossing his arms and extending a hand. "I was worried the message might not have reached everyone."

"So you did call us here then," said Yugito, taking his hand cautiously. "It wasn't clear who sent the message, or how."

The Kirigakure shinobi nodded as he realised her hand and extended his own towards Killer Bee, though the Kumogakure shinobi just looked at his hand with suspicion.

"Bee, what are you doing?" whispered Yugito quickly.

The Eight-Tails container looked down at the small shinobi, a frown sitting on his usually cheerful face, "You are meant to be dead. It is a well-known fact in the world."

The short shinobi withdrew his hand unoffended and took a step back. "I got better."

"So what is this all about then?" asked Yugito, ignoring Bee's strange claim for the time being.

"Wait until the others arrive, then we shall discuss why we are here."

The two Kumogakure containers looked at each other for a moment before sighing and turning to look at the ocean that spread out before them.

"Who else is coming?"

oOoOoOo

The sun slowly rose across the sky as the three of them waited without saying a word to each other. It was a strange circumstance that had brought them together, but they knew it wasn't over yet as a single figure appeared in the air.

"Who's that?" asked Yugito, shielding her eyes from the blaring eyes.

The figure flew closer to the tree with three pairs of insect wings on her back, waving her hands like a four year old child. The girl's green hair slowly parted back to its normal place on her head as she landed on the ground softly.

Her insect wings folded up and disappeared into her back as she grinned widely at meeting them. "So this is where the party is, huh?"

Killer Bee grinned at her entrance, "You got a good attitude, kiddo."

Fu chuckled and put her hands behind her head, tapping her foot on the ground. "Thanks, old man. Is this all of us?" she asked, looking at the three of them cheerfully.

The Kumogakure shinobi ignored her old man comment, he would have expected as much.

"I doubt it," said Yugito, watching as the tanned girl walked up to their other companion with a wide grin on her face.

"Bit young to be a Tailed Beast container, aren't you?" she asked.

The Kirigakure shinobi coughed awkwardly, "I'm older than I look."

She looked him up and down for a moment before chuckling and taking a step back, "I'll bet you are."

The Tailed Beast container turned to the Kumogakure shinobi, "I'm Fu. Nice to meet you all."

"Yugito," said the Two-Tails jailer, nodding to the younger girl respectively.

Killer Bee looked down at her with a wide grin, "I'm Killer Bee, you better remember the name, cause if you ever forget I'm gonna bring ya pain!"

Fu stared at him for a moment before bursting out into laughter, grasping her sides. "Oh my god, that is hilarious. Do you know how bad your rapping is? Do it again! Do it again!"

The Eight-Tails container frowned and took a step back, "That ain't cool, yo. Don't be ragging on my raps little thing…"

Beside him, Yugito planted a hand into her own face, "Oh Bee, for the love of…"

oOoOoOo

As the day fell into night the four of them were still waiting for the others to arrive, and the more impatient ones in the group had left to get some food before returning to see that no-one else had arrived yet.

"I hope we aren't expecting everyone," said Fu. "I've heard the Nine-Tails has been dead for years."

"He isn't dead," came a voice at the side of the group. "He's far too stubborn to die."

The four of them turned to watch a small whirlwind of sand slowly emerge from the ground. It swirled for a few moments before dissipating into the form of a Sunagakure shinobi.

"So you've come as well," said Yugito, greeting the Kazekage with a slight nod.

Gaara turned to the group slowly, "I heard the call, same as you."

He acknowledged the presence of Killer Bee and Fu, who appeared to be arguing over Bee's choice in clothing considering the colder climate in the Land of Tea.

His gaze fell upon their other companion, and for a few moments he didn't recognise him. Gaara wasn't wearing his Kage outfit; he wore a basic Sunagakure shinobi outfit with his gourd sitting on his back.

"Information about your death appears to have been incorrect," he said, walking up to the Kirigakure shinobi and extending a hand towards him. "Are you still a Tailed Beast container? Or did that change with your reappearance?"

"You seem to know a lot about me, yet I know nothing about you," he said, taking Gaara's hand tightly. The two of them stared at each other intently.

"Sabaku no Gaara. The Kazekage of Sunagakure."

The Kirigakure shinobi cocked his head slightly, "A Tailed Beast container is a Kage in this age? Perhaps things haven't changed as much as I thought."

Gaara released his hand and crossed his arms over his chest, "They have. Just in ways you mightn't expect. Some progress has been made, though whether it sticks is yet to be decided."

His compatriot nodded in agreement, while Gaara turned to the others and introduced himself properly.

_That's five…where are the other four?_

oOoOoOo

The five of them waited patiently throughout the night until the next morning, with none of them feeling the effects of fatigue due to their patiently waiting occupants. They hadn't questioned why they needed to wait, and while the one who appeared to have summoned them there didn't say anything about it they knew it was important that they all be there.

Gaara already knew the dispositions of the two Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers, but the cheery girl who seemed to come from the since-destroyed Village of Waterfalls was not what he had expected. He could see the pain in her eyes like all the others, but she hid it in a manner that reminded him of an old friend. It was rather refreshing.

"Here comes another one," indicated Yugito, pointing to the horizon.

The whole group turned to look at the single figure walking towards them.

Fu leaned forward slightly with a hand shielding her eyes from the sunlight, "Oh, he's a handsome one too. Think he's one of us?"

"Judging by the chakra coming from him, I'd say yes," said Gaara, leaning his back on the tree at their meeting place.

The figure slowly came properly into view, wearing a blue open robe with no indication that he was a shinobi at all.

"So this is the meeting place after all," he said quietly, looking over the strange group of shinobi past his long black hair. "As good a place as any I suppose."

Most of the group simply watched him stoically, while Fu waved in excitement. The newcomer had a gloomy look in his eyes, but he greeted the group nonetheless.

"What is your name?" asked Yugito, standing at the front of the group.

Utakata looked at the blonde woman with a dull look, "Courtesy demands that you give me your name first."

The Two-Tails container glared at him for a moment, but Utakata smiled charmingly at her and bowed at his waist.

"I am Utakata, the bubble-user."

Yugito wasn't going to forgive him for that, but she forced a smile onto her face and greeted him, while Killer Bee was frantically trying not to laugh behind her. Turning her side slightly, Yugito elbowed him in the stomach, causing Killer Bee to double over in pain while Utakata continued to smile as he introduced himself to the next person in the group.

The others greeted him normally, though Fu wasn't able to hide a slight blush when she shook his hand. When he saw the Kirigakure shinobi that had arrived first his eyes darkened slightly and he refused to extend his hand in greeting.

"Saiken tells me you are the jailor of the Three-Tails and that you are the one who sent the message to him."

"I am, and I did. What of it?"

Utakata said nothing in return; he wasn't able to read anything in the pink eyes of the short shinobi, but the way that he kept to himself physically bothered him.

"Who are we still missing?" asked Killer Bee, having recovered from his companion's blow. "One, two…there are still two missing I think."

"Three," corrected Gaara, before indicating to outside of the group. "There are more coming."

oOoOoOo

"So you lot really came," said Roshi, looking over the group with a disapproving grunt. "This is a waste of time if there ever was one."

The tall armoured man standing high above everyone else didn't say a word, though his brown eyes stared at each Tailed Beast container in a way that put them all on edge.

"Your name is Roshi, am I right?" asked Gaara respectfully, he recognised him from the summit.

The red haired shinobi turned to him with his usual frown, "It's good to know that your shinobi village can afford to have their leader strutting about with a bunch of renegade shinobi. I guess your war mustn't be so important to you."

Gaara didn't change his expression, even as he took a step forward and stared the Four-Tails container in the eyes, "I have my priorities in a time of war, same as you. Perhaps if your village wasn't fighting a meaningless war against its own people you would understand that."

He took a step back, "And I have no reason to justify my actions to someone like you."

Roshi gritted his teeth at the Kazekage's barb, but kept his comments to himself as he saw the whole group had seen the exchange between the two of them.

Fu walked forward to extend a hand towards the tall Tailed Beast container, "You look like an interesting guy. My name is Fu. What is yours?"

Han looked down at her intensely, "A strange specimen you are. You hold great power within you, yet there is a scarred interior you try to hide from the outside world."

She looked at him with a confused expression, lowering her hand, "I…I don't understand…"

"That is quite clear…" said Han, taking his right hand out of his vest and placing it in front of Fu's face. "I wonder how you would look without your face…"

Roshi immediately moved in between the two of them, placing a fist on his chest, "Han!"

Even without being able to see his mouth, it was clear to the red haired shinobi that his companion was smirking horribly at him.

"So you are prepared to stop me? Do you really believe you could kill me, Roshi?"

"I would try, Han. We need everyone here, and you will not destroy our efforts for your sick interests."

Han didn't respond back, putting his hand back into his vest and stepped back.

Roshi turned back to the group, who all put down their respective weapons and stared at the Iwagakure shinobi intensely.

"I brought us here for unity, Roshi," said the Kirigakure shinobi, placing his hooked staff back against the tree. "If either of you have a problem, you need to keep it to yourselves."

The Four-Tails container glared at the young-looking shinobi for a moment before sending a glare at Han behind him. "As you say…Yagura. I would be interested to know how you are still alive after all these years."

"I will speak on such matters when our last member arrives," said the ex-Mizukage.

"Last member?" asked Roshi curiously, looking around the group. "The Nine-Tails isn't coming, he died years ago. We eight are the only Tailed Beasts remaining."

Gaara went to correct him, but to his surprise Yagura merely shook his head and indicated to the sea behind him with a thumb.

"Just ask your Tailed Beast, he'll tell you that the Nine-Tails is still alive."

Each of the group unfocused their eyes to do just that, though Gaara had to close his eyes completely to communicate with Shukaku.

_Can you feel him? Is he close?_

"_You mean your little boyfriend? Yeah, you could say that."_

Gaara resisted the urge to groan, he hated it when Shukaku disrespected him like that. He thought that the blonde shinobi beating the madness out of the Tailed Beast would have given him some measure of understanding, but Shukaku wasn't exactly the most consistent of Tailed Beasts.

"Well, he'd better get here soon," said Roshi, having confirmed with the Four-Tails quietly. "I'm not one for just waiting around."

The other Tailed Beasts shared a look before moving to their own locations, keeping mostly to themselves. None of them trusted each other yet, and unless something drastic changed, none of them would.

* * *

><p>"You aren't still complaining about that, are you?"<p>

"Well, she could have dropped us a little bit closer. It wasn't that dangerous."

"It was an armada of battleships, honey. The captain has to look after her crew above all else."

Naruto and Hinata ran over the water of the ocean with chakra in their feet, moving at a rapid pace as the sky slowly became lighter. They'd left their ship an hour earlier, and yet they still couldn't see any land in front of them.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" asked Hinata, as the two of them jumped high up into the air to avoid a massive wave.

Naruto shrugged, "I'm not the one giving the directions. They are getting closer to us though."

His wife activated her Byakugan and nodded slowly, "The cannonballs are getting closer. They'll catch up to us before we get anywhere close to land."

The blonde shinobi stopped running and Hinata stopped just in front of him. "Naruto?"

"Just one battleship is it?"

Hinata nodded again, she could already tell what he wanted to do. "Please don't do anything too dramatic, Naruto. We are so close to getting home."

Her blonde husband gave her a quick wink before turning around and running along the ocean back where they had come from, while Hinata stood and waited patiently. With her Byakugan active she was easily able to track his quick movements, though she frowned slightly when she saw a large cannonball flying towards her from the battleship that had been following for the past hour. It was surprising that it had been able to keep up with them, but that was as far as it was going to go.

Smiling to herself as she watched Naruto grinning as he moved towards the attacking battleship, she put up a hand towards the air. The cannonball made a screeching sound as it flew straight at her, threatening to blow up in her face.

While moulding a small amount of chakra, Hinata waited patiently until the cannonball was right in front of her before activating her technique. With her precise chakra control Hinata was able to surround the cannonball with wind chakra and stopped it in the middle of the air in front of her face.

"I guess I should get rid of this…" she said to herself, knowing that her husband was too far away to hear her.

Her Byakugan had a massive range of sight, but she still couldn't see any land within her range. Shrugging to herself, she began to swirl her hand in place, moving the cannonball around in the air like it was in a slingshot. After a few seconds of gaining momentum, Hinata flung the cannonball as far away as she could, in the opposite direction to where her husband was currently running.

It only took a few moments for the cannonball to disappear out of her sight, Hinata smiling to herself as she turned her gaze back to where Naruto was.

Naruto ducked and weaved as he saw the battleship moving its cannons to shoot him, though they appeared to know that he was too small a target to hit at his rapid speed and irregular movements.

Once he got in range, Naruto leapt high into the air and landed on the deck of the battleship, grinning mischievously at the crew. Just before leaving Grace's ship, Naruto had started to wear a long black jumpsuit with orange linings along his arms; he looked completely out of place with the sailors that were surrounding him. He'd taken it from a ship they had stormed a year ago, but he hadn't wanted to wear it until they were sure they were close to home. He'd wanted to get a cloak as well like his father used to wear, but there had been none that fit his tastes, much to his disappointment.

The battleship he had just landed on was a war galley, similar to the one they had left, with three sets of sails and two groups of rowers, with two dozen of cannons lining the sides and front. There were around fifty sailors by Naruto's count, and judging by the hateful looks they gave him he gathered they were Quiraji soldiers.

_So Grace was right, they were blockading the mainland. That must mean we are close to home and they were either trying to stop people leaving, or stopping us from returning._

Almost immediately there were swords at his throat, but Naruto didn't even flinch, merely keeping his face at a constant smirk. A sailor barked orders at the others before stepping off the wheel and towards Naruto's position, wearing a heavy set of leather armour and red stripes across his forehead, pulling a jewelled sword from his belt.

"What is your game, shinobi? Did you really think you could break our blockade? We've hunted your kind for years."

Naruto watched from the crow's nest of the ship as the captain tried to threaten his shadow clone. He'd taken out the sailor within the nest without a sound, and he was happy that he was able to do so, unlike previous years.

"_How long are you going to wait here?"_

The blonde shinobi rolled his eyes; the Kyuubi had been chattier recently since it had been getting stronger within him. Naruto hadn't had to reinforce the seal holding the Kyuubi within since discovering the Tailed Beast was still inside him; it seemed like the Tailed Beast preferred to assist Naruto against the Quiraji, though how long that would last remained to be seen.

He glanced down at the deck to see the captain yell out for a moment before pulling up his sword and slicing his clone's throat. The blonde shinobi disappeared in a small puff of smoke, causing all the soldiers to jump in surprise.

"Well, guess I should get going," he said quietly, cracking his knuckles and moulding a large amount of chakra. "Let's see if this trick works…"

Pushing off from the crow's nest, Naruto leapt high up into the air and used his wind chakra to spin rapidly in the air above the battleship. He could feel himself getting sick from the spinning, and it wasn't helping that the chakra he was producing was getting out of control.

_Kyuubi, you aren't helping…_

"_It's more fun this way. Besides, you said you wanted to be more destructive. Have some fun in life."_

Naruto wanted to shrug in response, but his body was already spinning too fast for the motion. He struggled to put his hands in front of him to activate his new technique.

His wind chakra flew out of him like a shuriken with his body as the centre, though the scale was far larger than he had expected. As the sailors stared up at him with awe, he fuelled the technique completely with chakra.

"Futon: Daigai!" (Wind Element: Great Scythe)

His chakra appeared as a white and red shuriken around his body, expanding out so far that it hit the ocean dozens of feet below him.

The battleship didn't stand a chance.

Naruto's chakra sliced through the wood of the ship like it wasn't even there, sending giant splinters flying into the ocean below. The sailors that were in its path were sliced into tiny pieces, while many others were sent flying into the ocean.

It took him a few moments to slow down his momentum, though he couldn't see any good place to land. He pushed out a small amount of wind chakra from his feet to move away from the ship so he could see the devastation, though he lacked the accuracy that his wife did.

The battleship had been cut into two and large chunks of it were falling into the ocean as the Quiraji sailors struggled to keep themselves on the remaining pieces that were still afloat.

"Well that worked," said Naruto, surprised that it had worked so well.

"_You are about to fall into the ocean you blonde moron."_

Naruto looked down for a moment before being consumed by the ocean's water, gasping as his lungs were filled with seawater. He tried to swim up to the top frantically; he hated swimming in circumstances like this. It took him a moment before he calmed down and stopped thrashing about in the water, remembering the training he had done with his wife to get him over his dislike of swimming from a few years ago.

Concentrating on the seal he had etched into his chest, Naruto disappeared from inside the ocean with a loud crack of lightning. In an instant he was standing beside Hinata on the ocean floor, though he sank quickly as he hadn't steadied his chakra in his feet just yet.

Luckily Hinata had seen him disappear and reappear in front of her, reaching out and grabbing him by the shoulder to pull him up into her arms. She held onto him tight until he nodded to her that he was okay, giving her a quick kiss on the lips for helping him as he stood back onto the ocean.

"Thanks, beautiful."

"Still not good with swimming, huh?" asked Hinata with a warm smile.

Naruto could only shake his head reluctantly, "I don't know what it is, after all this time I thought I would be okay, but my body still shakes whenever I'm that far underwater."

"It's okay," she said with her hands in his. "That's why I'm here, remember?"

Her young husband smiling back and kissed her again, "I love you very much."

Inside Naruto's head, he could hear the Kyuubi dry retching violently. The blonde shinobi chuckled and put his arm around Hinata's waist.

"Do you want to keep going?" he asked with a warm smile.

She nodded, though he could tell she had a distant look in her eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

Hinata concentrated for a moment before turning her white eyes back to her husband, "Just worried about Grace, that's all. We've led her to a dangerous place, Naruto."

Naruto chuckled and looked back at the open ocean, "You are kidding, right? You saw her face when we came into range of that blockade. I don't think I've ever seen her that excited, except when we found that chest in the sand during the third raid."

His wife smiled as she remembered that time, the first time they had fought at the pirates' side since boarding her ship. "Ah, and then you drank too much ale and sang your lamentation about how much you wished Sasuke was by your side."

"I was…that wasn't…" Naruto shook his head violently, he'd tried to beat the memory out of his head, but it kept coming roaring back. "I thought we said we wouldn't mention that again."

"You said you wouldn't mention it again," Hinata chuckled as she pinched his side, "I did nothing of the sort."

Her husband sighed, "Evil woman…"

Hinata took his hand into hers, kissing him on the side of the neck before taking him several steps forward. "Come on, we've still got a lot of ground to cover."

Naruto mumbled to himself quietly as they moved quickly over the ocean surface, hoping that they were going in the right direction.

* * *

><p>An hour later the two of them both grinned at the same time as they began to see land coming up on the horizon. Naruto had asked his wife why she hadn't used her Byakugan to scout ahead, but she had simply smiled sweetly and told him that she wanted the two of them to see their homeland at the same time.<p>

The two of them looked at each other with affection in their eyes before taking a leap up the tall cliff face back into what they assumed was their homeland.

What they saw wasn't what they had been expecting at all.

Standing in a scattered group was a strange collection of shinobi from villages all around the shinobi world, confirming what they had suspected when they had left the pirate ship.

They were finally back in the land of shinobi, after over two years.

As they landed on the grass, both of them had very different reactions to the group in front of them.

Naruto noticed Gaara standing in the group with a rare small smile on his otherwise neutral face, thankful that the blonde shinobi had come as he had suspected. He immediately felt joy running through his body.

Hinata, on the other hand, noticed an oddly placed cannonball sitting in the grass in front of the two Iwagakure shinobi, who appeared rather put out by its existence. She swallowed loudly, she hadn't realised the cannonball she had flung had made it so far.

"Gaara! It's been far too long!" Naruto embraced the Suna shinobi with a joyful laugh, patting him on the back before standing back and regarding his old friend. "You look so different from back then."

"Naruto. You have been missing for a number of years. It is good to see you once again."

"You know this guy?" asked Fu, looking up and down at Naruto with her bright eyes.

Gaara nodded and indicated to Naruto with a hand, "We fought many years ago at the Chuunin Exams. He is the Nine-Tails container."

The Konoha shinobi initially frowned at Gaara revealing that to a group of strange shinobi, but from the non-judgemental looks they were giving it gave him a fair impression of the group. They were just like him.

"What is this group, Gaara? Why are we all here?"

Gaara looked over at the youngest-looking in the group with piercing eyes, "We were called here, by him. I thought you would have known that, Naruto, you are the last to arrive."

The blonde shinobi shrugged with a dumb expression on his face, "The Kyuubi doesn't tell me crap. We were following a map we found on a ship a few months ago. I was just kind of going on instinct."

Yagura frowned and stared at him suspiciously, "You…weren't following the call of your Tailed Beast? I find it oddly coincidental that you came to the exact location that the rest of us did."

Naruto could only shrug in response, "Well we had the map, and I was kind of…I dunno…"

The ex-Mizukage just shook his head in amazement, "Well…you are here, and that's what matters."

In front of Naruto, Gaara turned his gaze to his companion, "You are…Hinata, correct? The others have told me that the two of you are something of an item and that you would likely be travelling together."

Hinata chuckled at the accusation and brought up her hand, letting the sunlight glimmer on the red stone sitting in her ring, "A little bit more than that, Kazekage-sama."

Despite his stoic expression, she could see the surprise in his eyes. "How did you know?"

Pointing to Gaara's hand, Hinata smiled as she always did, "You are wearing the same ring your father did during the Chuunin Exams. The signet ring of the Kazekage."

Gaara looked down at his hand, he'd forgotten about the ring completely when he had left his village, it hadn't occurred to him that people outside the village would know about it.

"Kazekage? Get out of here!" exclaimed Naruto, reaching out and clapping the sand-user on the back in a manner that everyone could see Gaara wasn't comfortable with whatsoever. "How'd you manage that? I thought your father hated your guts."

"My father is dead, Naruto," replied Gaara without any emotion in his voice.

The blonde shinobi immediately apologised, but the Kazekage waved him off, it wasn't the time for such small talk. There would be time for that later.

"So this is all of us then?" asked Yugito, not sure what to make of the couple that had just arrived.

Yagura nodded grimly, "I couldn't imagine that all of us would be able to come, but this makes it easier for what I want to do."

"And what is that?" said Roshi with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face; "You had best have a good explanation for why you brought the strongest shinobi in the world to a single location. If one were a cautious person, he would think this is a trap."

"It is nothing of the sort, I assure you," said Yagura quickly. "We all share the same fate and the same burden. My…companion hasn't revealed to me the full extent of the relationship the Tailed Beasts once had with the enemy that has taken over our lands, but I know that it is serious enough because it sounds scared every time it speaks about them."

"They burnt the Quiraji's country to the ground."

The whole group turned to Naruto with confused looks.

"The Kyuubi told me a while ago about a war between the shinobi of the old days and the Quiraji," continued Naruto. "There are details you don't need to know about, but the Tailed Beasts know the enemy better than any of us. That's why they are so scared. They weren't able to defeat them completely."

Yagura breathed out slowly, it was as he had suspected. "That makes sense. This is why we need to work together, as companions of old. I don't have anyone else that I can trust; no-one understands the plight of a Tailed Beast container except us."

Several of the group turned their noses at the idea of working together, though each of them held their own misgivings about the situation in general.

While the conversation was going on, Hinata had found herself staring at the ex-Mizukage with a strange look in her white eyes. She wasn't sure what it was until she activated her Byakugan, and then it became abundantly clear to her in an instant.

Each of the Tailed Beasts containers was put on edge at her using her doujutsu, as an outsider to the group she was suspicious enough despite being a Tailed Beast container's wife.

"Something is wrong," she said, unable to contain her surprise. "Something is very wrong, Naruto…"

"What is it?" he asked, already trying to run through scenarios on what she could mean.

Before she could respond however, Yagura stepped forward and got the group's attention with a loud cough. "I believe she is speaking about me. There is something I need to tell all of you before I tell you why we are all here."

He reached up to his green poncho and pulled it down slightly, revealing a set of ugly scars across his neck that made even the most hard-bitten shinobi recoil.

"Until recently, I used to be dead."

* * *

><p>***Flashback***<p>

Yagura opened his eyes and yet all he could see was complete darkness. His breath caught in his throat like there was something stuck in his throat, yet he could feel that he wasn't choking.

Always a calm individual regardless of the situations he found himself in, Yagura felt around his surroundings with his hands, feeling a something that felt very much like stone on his fingers.

He tried to mould a small amount of chakra, and found it surprisingly easy to perform, far more than the last time he had. Normally there was a trick to it, but Yagura felt himself drifting back into memories of his childhood.

_It's almost as if…_

Even without his sight, he could feel around his body with his hands, and he almost jumped when he felt a strange mark on his stomach. It wasn't the seal he had once held, but something else.

It was then he realised that he wasn't wearing the clothes he used to wear in the past. At that moment his body froze as his nerves all flared up at once and the memory came slamming back into his skull.

He remembered a knife, one that had been plunged into his throat dozens of times by the same person. It was vague at first, but he recalled being drenched in lava and screaming out in pain, but he didn't recall being scared at all, or fighting back.

It was relief. A release from a misery he couldn't quite recall.

Always a calm individual, Yagura didn't panic when he realised what had happened to him. He was more drawn by curiosity of how he was still breathing, if that was what he was doing.

The ex-Mizukage felt around himself with his hands again, feeling the familiar touch of stone on the tips of his fingers. After a few moments he felt at a section of stone, his suspicions confirmed as he read the writing through his fingertips.

**In death, all sins are forgiven no matter how heinous. Proceed to the next life with a clean slate. **

**Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure. **

_So it's true then. I am dead. Or at least I was. _

One other thing occurred to him as well, something that was just as troubling.

_The Three-Tails is gone. _

Despite having been the container of the turtle monster for a number of years, Yagura found he didn't miss his previous occupant. He'd made the sacrifice once already, it was clear to him that he shouldn't have to do so again.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere at his current location, Yagura moulded a small amount of chakra again and placed both his hands on the stone above his body. It was strange performing a technique without his Tailed Beast fuelling his abilities, but Yagura had been a talented shinobi long before the turtle had been sealed within him.

The stones exploded outwards and he was showered with pebbles, but it was the light that hurt him the most, virtually blinding him before he could get his hand to his eyes. It wasn't the sun that struck his face, but a bright flame, one that sat upon a torch on a wall of stone.

Yagura groaned in pain as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light, though he found it far more difficult to move his legs than he would have thought. It was as if it had been years since he had done so before.

_How many years have I been sitting here?_

After considerable effort he was able to remove himself from his tomb, though when his feet touched the ground his whole body shook in pain.

"I'm never going to get used to this," he said quietly, rubbing at his stiff neck. He'd been buried in the Kage robes he'd almost never worn, and as he looked on the sleeves with his slowly adjusting eyes it was clear that he'd been buried for some years.

While his body was stiff and unresponsive, his skin appeared the same as it had been before. Either it hadn't as long as he thought or whatever brought him back restored his body as well.

Looking up at the torch on the wall, Yagura could feel a horrible sense of foreboding just outside the tomb. His memories were slowly returning to him, and he considered himself lucky that he had been buried in the Kage tomb at all.

Having visited the tomb once before when the Third Mizukage had died, Yagura knew the way out rather well, though placing one foot in front of the other proved rather stressful on his body.

It was almost half an hour before he found his way to the surface, and he came to the realisation that he wasn't too far from the village, though whether that presented a danger to him or not was yet to be seen.

When he came out of the tomb it was dark, the night sky covered the village's shadow in a rather nostalgic manner, though Yagura could only stare at the figure before him.

It was clearly a woman by the shape of her, but that's where the comparison ended. She kept her face and body hidden under a pale cloak that seemed to such in all the light of the fires around it within.

"Who are you?" asked Yagura cautiously, though he knew he was in no condition to fight her.

The woman didn't move, but Yagura could feel the pressure oozing from her to the point that it forced him to his knees.

"Why…did you bring me back?"

_**Do you remember me?**_

Yagura wasn't able to see her features, and her voice didn't ring through his ears like a normal one would. It seemed to ring in his mind like a thundering bell, and each sound caused a spike of pain through his head.

But he had heard the voice before, though it felt like it was more from a dream than reality.

It took him a few moments to realise, but when he did, he understood the gravity of the situation and how he had been brought back.

"Yes…I remember you. But how can you be here?"

_**This is my realm as much as the next one is.**_

The ex-Mizukage took one breath after the other; it was slowly becoming easier to breathe through his course throat. "Why did you bring me back?"

_**You have an inflated sense of your importance. You are merely a single piece in a grander puzzle.**_

Yagura stared at her dark hood, feeling the strength in his arms slowly returning. "You didn't answer my question." He tried to keep his tone respectful, but he knew it didn't come off that way.

The hooded woman took a single step forward, and Yagura could see the grass beneath her black boots withering and dying.

_**Your former occupant is two hundred miles to the east. If you are quick, you can seal it before it realises your presence and alerts the village. **_

"You mean to make me a Tailed-Beast container again? To what purpose?"

As soon as he asked, he cried out in pain and dropped his head to the ground, biting back a loud scream. Everything in his mind was in agony, but he knew it wasn't a punishment.

It was a reminder.

"Sorry…I just…how long have I been dead?"

The pain in his head dulled slightly and he was able to pick himself up from the ground, to see that the cloaked woman had disappeared. It was clear that he hadn't imagined it since the grass was dead only in the sections she had been standing in.

_What is her purpose? If she wants to reunite me with the Three-Tails, so be it. _

Looking over at his old village, Yagura swallowed slowly. He knew he couldn't go back; they would just kill him again. He couldn't remember why he had done the things he had done in the past, but they were not things he deserved to be forgiven for.

Yet he still loved his village, and wanted to do whatever he could to protect it.

Even if it meant keeping as far away from it as possible.

***End Flashback***

* * *

><p>Yagura waited for his story to sink in as he watched their reactions carefully. Han, Utakata and Yugito didn't react at all, though he figured that was because they were that type of shinobi. He knew it was a big ask to believe his story, but there was too much at stake for him to fail now.<p>

Killer Bee and Fu stared at him with grins on their faces; he wasn't sure whether that was by personal amusement at the story, or just their general disposition.

Roshi had his usual disapproving expression on, though surprisingly he could see that the red haired Tailed Beast container believed his story. Yagura was glad to see this; he had heard of the Iwagakure shinobi's stubbornness, it apparently rivalled the Tsuchikage.

"That woman is our enemy," said Gaara, a heavy frown on his face. "She is one of the leaders of the Quiraji army."

Yagura nodded, he'd since figured that out after his apparent resurrection.

"To control life and death that way…what kind of power do these people have?" asked Hinata to no-one in particular, with her Byakugan it was easy to tell how much degeneration the man's body had gone through.

The Kazekage turned his gaze to Naruto, trying to find the words to describe what he knew he had to tell his old friend. "Naruto, there is something you need to know about her."

The blonde shinobi's gaze darkened, judging by the tone of Gaara's voice he knew it wasn't going to be good news. He wanted to speak to Gaara on a number of subjects, but that had to wait until they had figured out what the gathering was for.

Gaara didn't mince words. "That woman is the one who destroyed Konoha."

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at each sadly, it was clear that had suspected as such from their faces.

"If that's true…"

"Then why did she…"

Naruto put a hand up to stop Hinata from saying something she wouldn't want to. "I don't know. But let's leave this for another time, honey."

The others looked at them strangely, before Naruto turned back to Gaara.

"So what does this mean?" he asked quietly.

"It means…" interrupted Yagura, standing in the middle of the group. "…that there is more going on than we originally thought."

"So this woman revived you for what purpose?" asked Yugito.

"I don't know," replied the ex-Mizukage. "But when the Three-Tails was sealed back into me, I was told of a fierce battle the Tailed Beasts once fought against the Quiraji."

"She intends for you to fight against them."

The group turned to the tall Tailed Beast container, who had barely spoken more than two sentences the entire time. He didn't offer an explanation for his statement, but Han's stoic expression was enough to let the group understand his meaning.

Yagura nodded, "And that's why I brought all of us here. The reason doesn't matter, this is our world. Ours to protect and to save."

Several of the group scoffed at the notion, while Gaara took a step forward into the centre of the group.

"It isn't the first time she has done something like this. Rock Lee from Konoha once told me of a similar experience, though she never spoke a word to him. Whoever this Quiraji woman is, she clearly isn't working entirely for the Quiraji cause. Hatake Kakashi also spoke of her strange behaviour during the destruction of Amegakure."

Naruto and Hinata shared another look, one that was seen by most of the group. Not wanting to keep it from their new allies, Naruto coughed awkwardly and drew the group's attention.

"I…uh…also had an experience like that."

"Did you now?" asked Roshi suspiciously.

Naruto nodded with a slight frown, he was getting annoyed at the red haired old man and his interruptions.

"When I was training, I suffered a bit of a backlash and was heavily wounded. When I didn't think I would make it, I felt a strange horror in my bones, like I wasn't going to make it. There was this strange pressure on my shoulders, and I could feel myself being pulled into the ground."

"Get to the point, boy," said Roshi impatiently.

Naruto glared at him for a moment before breathing out slowly, "The point is, I saw her as well, though she never spoke to me. The injuries my techniques had inflicted…and the…limbs they had removed…were healed and I recovered, though all she did was stand there."

"So, the question is: is this woman an ally or an enemy?"

The Nine-Tails container turned to Utakata and frowned, "It doesn't matter what she has done, I won't forgive her for what she did to our home. My friends, my teachers, everyone in Konoha is dead because of her. Bringing me back does not make her innocent."

"Regardless, we are getting nowhere," said Yagura, hoping to bring the discussion back on topic. "I wanted you to know how I came to this point, but that isn't why I brought everyone here."

"Then get to the point," said Killer Bee at the back of the group. "Some of us have better things to do."

Yugito looked up at the dark-skinned Tailed Beast container suspiciously, "Like what, scratching your balls? Face it Bee, you are here like the rest of us because you have to be."

The Kumogakure shinobi scoffed and put up his hands in his usual pose, "You can't be hating me…"

His companion wasted no time in spinning around and slamming a fist into his face, though Bee barely moved in response, leaving her fist to hang on his face.

Yagura ignored them and turned to the rest of the group, "At the moment, there are five main shinobi villages remaining, correct?"

Gaara nodded, "Yes, though another one of them is hiding like the cowards they are."

The ex-Mizukage pointed to the forehead protector on his chest, "My home village is in trouble, and I cannot solve it on my own. Since we all share a common enemy, I brought you here to request your help. There is no-one else I can ask."

For several moments none of them said anything, until Fu broke the silence with a high-spirited laugh.

"Is something funny to you?" asked Yagura, his stoic face hiding how insulted he felt.

The young girl shook her head as she felt the laughter running down her sides, "I'm sorry, but I think I heard you wrong. You brought the Tailed Beast containers from every village, to help you solve a single village's problem? Kid, you are the worst at telling bad jokes."

"I have to agree with the lady," said Utakata, smiling at Fu warmly. "Kirigakure's problems are not ours, regardless of how we are connected."

"Yeah…"

"He's right, this isn't our fight…"

"Enough of this garbage!" yelled Naruto, his voice failing to contain the anger flowing through him.

Beside him his wife looked at him with concern on her face, "Naruto…"

Naruto stood at Yagura's side stubbornly, "He's asking for our help, don't just dismiss him out of hand! What kind of people are you?! At least listen to what he has to say!"

The Tailed Beast containers all stared at the blonde shinobi suspiciously, but Naruto didn't relent.

"We might be from different villages, with different backgrounds and experiences, but when the whole world is falling apart around us we have to help each other out."

Naruto clenched his fists tightly, "Otherwise, we don't survive."

Facing his old friend with a stoic expression, Gaara couldn't help but be impressed with his old friend. It wasn't hard to see the determination that had changed him and so many others; though he felt proud that Naruto had grown in the years he hadn't seen him.

"Nice words from a boy who knows nothing of war," said Roshi, rolling his eyes dramatically.

That line was the final straw for Naruto, with the blonde shinobi stepping forward and grabbing the Iwagakure shinobi by his shirt tightly.

"I've fought on battlefields you can't imagine, you old fool. I've charged an army of thousands by myself just to take out their general, so don't speak to me about war. I know about this world, and how it works just fine."

He glared down at the older man's angry face, "And don't call me boy, or I'll knock you on your ass."

"This fighting is getting us nowhere," pointed out Yugito from the edge of the group, while Naruto and Roshi glared at each with gritted teeth. "What is this problem you speak of, and why should we care?"

Yagura took a deep breath, he had to be careful how to frame what he was about to say, it would determine whether his effort here was wasted or not.

"The woman who is claiming to be the current Mizukage is an imposter. The real Mizukage is a prisoner within her own village. This is why I was brought back, to bring Kirigakure back from the brink of annihilation."

The three Tailed Beast containers that had been at the battle of the Kage Summit all looked at each with frowns on their faces, they'd all remembered the Mizukage during the battle, and how she hadn't fought in a manner that a Kage would be expected to.

Both Roshi and Yugito kept their remarks to themselves however, while Gaara looked the most disturbed of the whole group.

_I knew something was suspicious, but what does that mean for our discussions and the training she gave me? Was she an imposter then, or was it afterwards?_

"How do we know you are speaking the truth?" asked Utakata suspiciously.

"You don't, but I am," said Yagura in response. "I do not know why the false Mizukage is doing this, or when after my death it happened, but I do know something that causes my blood to run cold in my veins. The Fifth Mizukage is a good woman, and whoever is doing this is using her image to put the whole shinobi world at risk."

He reached into a pocket in his pants and produced a small sheet of paper, flipping it around so that the whole group could see.

On the paper was a picture, clearly taken at bad quality and produced hastily, but clearly displayed what was a very disturbing image.

Inside the picture was the red haired Mizukage, wearing the same image she had displayed at the Kage Summit, though she wasn't wearing her Kage robes. She stood in a field of trees and held a scroll in her hands, as she was receiving a scroll from an old man in pitch black robes."

"I don't get it, what does this mean?"

"So what, it's just a photo…"

Even Naruto and Hinata weren't sure why it was such a big deal, but Gaara could feel his blood run cold just as the ex-Mizukage had described.

"This…can't be right," he said in a rare display of emotion. "Why would she do that? This would change the whole war…"

Naruto turned to him with a confused look on his face, "What are you talking about, Gaara?"

"That's Kyoukou, one of the Quiraji leaders. If the Mizukage is treating with him…that means the whole village is either going to be converted…or destroyed."

The Kazekage turned to the group, having recovered his expression though it was clear he was still very disturbed. "We are already being pushed back too far…if we lose Kirigakure, we'll lose the war. That is a guarantee."

The Tailed Beasts all clenched at hearing that, they all knew about the Quiraji and the threat they posed. However they weren't sure about what they were being asked to do, as they all turned to their host with a variety of looks.

"He's right. I love my village and would do anything to save it, but this is bigger than me and my village. If Kirigakure turns to the enemy, they will destroy our whole country and everyone we care about."

"So what?"

Everyone turned to Utakata, but the blue robed shinobi didn't relent from his statement.

"We are the outcasts of the shinobi world. They hated us. Despised us. Why should we risk our lives for such people? We are all going to die at some point, now is as good a time as any."

Beside him, Fu let out a long sigh. "He's right; there is no point in saving people who would kill us in our sleep at the first opportunity."

Even with his normal cheery attitude, Naruto could feel each word the two of them spoke slam straight into his heart. It was nothing he hadn't said to himself in his darker times, and the fact that he never got the chance to prove the villagers wrong always ate at him.

"You can't look at it like that though," said the quiet voice of Hinata, feeling the same pain that the Tailed Beast containers were experiencing. "You aren't doing this for them; you are doing it for yourselves and your companions. If you are the only ones that can do this, then you have a responsibility to do so, even if it means taking a risk on your lives."

She slipped her hand into her husband's, causing the Nine-Tails container to smile sheepishly.  
>"If you don't fight, you are just as bad as the ones who caused you pain. And looking at your faces, I can tell you aren't those kinds of people."<p>

Though she kept to herself the overwhelmingly negative feeling she got when she looked at the tall Iwagakure shinobi, something about him made her feel like running as far as possible in the other direction.

The current Kazekage took a bold step forward and stared at Yagura directly, "If it means your help in the war against the Quiraji, then I will help you, as will Sunagakure. You have my word on this."

Behind Gaara, both Naruto and Hinata nodded in turn. "We'll help too," said Naruto, holding his wife's hand firmly. "We have a lot of time to make up for."

Yagura nodded his thanks, turning to the rest of the group with the question written on his expression.

The others were not so easily convinced, though each of them could understand the stakes of their current situation.

The quietest of the group glared at the four of them for a few moments before taking a long step forward and placing his hand into his vest. "I will assist your efforts as well."

His companion from Iwagakure stared up at him suspiciously; it wasn't like Han to be so accommodating to other people without expressing his agenda.

_He's probably waiting for an opportunity to do one of his sick experiments on their village. I swore that I wouldn't let him leave my sight, he's my responsibility. _

Han wasn't going to offer an explanation as to his intentions, though Yagura wasn't going to complain. There was something about him that felt wrong, but the ex-Mizukage couldn't afford to not accept any help that was offered to him.

"Tell me something, Yagura," asked Roshi, turning his attention away from his fellow Iwagakure shinobi. "If we succeed, will you retake the position of Mizukage?"

"I can't say, but I doubt it. However I should have a large amount of influence on the efforts of our village, if that is what you are asking."

Roshi took a deep breath, it was a lot to take in but he represented his village's interests and there was something to be gained here that wouldn't be available in the future.

"If I help you in this fight, I would need a guarantee that your village won't ever go to war with mine in the future. In writing, from the proper Mizukage. If you can guarantee me that, then I have no choice but to assist you. I may be stubborn, but I'm not a fool either."

Yagura nodded quickly, "That I can do. We have no interest in attacking other shinobi, the Quiraji are all that matter now. We have to work together."

With that, the Iwagakure shinobi had dedicated themselves to the mission that hadn't been fully revealed yet, while the others were still making up their minds.

While she was one of the shinobi that was not associated with a shinobi village anymore, Fu could feel his muscles tensing at every mention of the Quiraji. She could still remember when the man in white armour destroyed her hated village with his army, and then later a figure bearing a striking resemblance had come after her and her master.

She couldn't forgive that, even if she didn't care about the rest of the shinobi world. Her master's ghost demanded her take action, and this was the closest she could get.

"I'm coming as well," said Fu, her cheerful smile hiding her real intentions. "It isn't like I have anything else to do."

While the ex-Mizukage was thanking the Seven-Tails container, Yugito and Killer Bee were talking quietly to each other, trying to work out what they were going to do in the situation.

"For all we know, this could be a trap," whispered Yugito, wary of how tricky the Kirigakure shinobi had a tendency to be. "Can we afford to trust this man?"

Killer Bee shook his head, acting serious for a change. "These fools aren't something we can get hung up on. If they are still anything like they are during the invasion, we are gonna need all the help we can get. The war will return to home at some point."

The dark skinned shinobi looked over at the group that had agreed to help the young looking Tailed Beast container, feeling a strange sensation when he saw the hopeful look on the Konoha shinobi's face.

"The Eight-Tails says we should trust them, and I agree with it. There is something here…we shouldn't let go." Killer Bee stared at his companion carefully, "Besides, if the red haired one can get a guarantee, why can't we?"

Yugito frowned; she hated the fact that he was right. He might look and act a fool most of the time, but he had been fighting far longer than she had, and he knew how the world worked in his own strange manner.

"But what would we ask for?" asked Yugito at a whisper.

Yagura, having heard most of the conversation, stepped towards the Kumogakure shinobi with an accommodating smile. "In the past years, Kirigakure has taken a number of your companions prisoner. If you help me take back my village, I swear I will release them."

Yugito and Killer Bee looked at each for a moment before nodding their agreement.

"I can't speak for the Raikage, but we will help you," said Yugito, reaching out a hand to shake on the agreement. "But we will need to know more before we go attacking another village on just your word."

Their host nodded his understanding, he wanted to get all their consents before he spoke of his plan, that way there was a lower chance for betrayal. Even now, he couldn't completely trust any of them.

After a few moments everyone turned to the one Tailed Beast container who hadn't committed to the cause, each of them seeing the disquiet written on his face.

_How can they all just agree like that? Are they fools?_

"_They understand each other, Utakata. As they understand you."_

The blue robed man gritted his teeth; he didn't want to get swept up into someone else's war. He'd been enjoying the calm and quiet, but it seemed that he wasn't allowed to have a peaceful life.

"_You were called here the same as them, because you alone have the power to help. We brought this war upon you because we could not finish it, and I'm sorry for that. But you don't have a choice."_

_You are putting too much on me, Saiken. What if I can't?_

"_Then the world burns, and your struggle will have meant nothing."_

Utakata sighed quietly, it was clear that he had no choice. "Fine. It would seem we Tailed Beast containers have to stick together, even in this ragtag group."

"You have my thanks, everyone. We have much ground to cover, and I fear that we don't have much time to spare. We'll have to make haste across the countryside before moving to the Land of Water and I can tell you about my plan."

"Gaara, what is the state of the Land of Fire?" asked Naruto, though he felt like he already knew the answer. He wanted to know before they left.

The Kazekage's eyes darkened slightly, "I won't lie to you, Naruto. The Land of Fire is no longer in shinobi hands. The Quiraji are using it as their base of operations while they invade the other countries. It is lost."

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at each other grimly. After Konoha had been destroyed they had entertained the possibility that they could rebuild their village, but that dream was slowly moving out of their reach.

As the group whispered to each other quietly, Naruto coughed awkwardly and took a step forward to look at the group as a whole. "Um, you guys should go on ahead. I have something I want to check up on."

By his side, his wife frowned slightly, "You've got that look on your face again, Naruto. What are you thinking?"

Naruto couldn't help but grin; he could appreciate how well his wife knew him. "It's been years since we saw home, and by the sound of it, home has changed immensely. I just want to pay my respects."

"What are you saying?" asked Yagura.

The blonde shinobi kissed his wife on the top of her head before turning to the ex-Mizukage. "I'm going to scout out the Land of Fire for a little bit. I'll catch up with you on your way to the village."

Several of the group scoffed at the thought and then jumped when Naruto disappeared without a sound, leaving no trace of his movements. They all looked around for him, except Gaara and his wife, who shared a look of common understanding.

They both knew him to be the type to run off without a plan.

"Who is that boy?" asked Yugito, having never seen that kind of movement before. He hadn't let off any chakra when he disappeared, if anything he'd demonstrated a technique like their enemy had.

Gaara let out a long breath, "He'll be back. He always comes back. We should get going."

The others appeared suspicious, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. They began to question Yagura about his plan as they moved along the grasslands in the slowly approaching night.

Even without her Byakugan, Hinata could see Naruto hidden on a tree a short distance away; she could feel the smile on his face.

_I guess I knew what I was signing up for. _

She felt at the mark on her chest that would allow him to return in an instant. They shared more than one bond, but she knew that she couldn't go with him.

Only Naruto would be able to do what he had in mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

The next chapter will be all on Naruto's adventure in the Land of Fire, something I've been waiting to do for a while. It should be rather…illuminating.

I haven't had the chance to explore Han as much as I intended, but that's how the writing goes sometimes. In later chapters I'm hoping to convey him the way I was thinking of, but I'll have to ask for your patience.

(To Hunter Sim: The song Konan was singing is called 'Easter Snow' by Christy Moore.)

There are parts of these chapters that I sometimes feel like they've been rushed, and as much as I've tried to compensate for that, I occasionally wonder whether I'm getting ahead of myself with this amount of writing. Please tell me whether you are noticing anything like that, it's something that's been on my mind.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	61. Chapter 56 The Horror of Home

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 56 – The Horror of Home

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would have some kind of irrational fear.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Having sent a message out to all the Tailed Beasts, the ex-Mizukage Yagura waited patiently as one Tailed Beast container after the other arrived at the meeting point at the edge of the Land of Tea. Each of the shinobi didn't trust the other by nature, though some of them recognised their host for what he used to be. After leaving their pirate ship, Naruto and Hinata finally made landfall in their homeland, though they were surprised to see all the other eight Tailed Beast containers. As they were greeting each other, Hinata noticed something strange about Yagura, and he told them the story about how he was revived by one of the leaders of the Quiraji. It was difficult at first, but he was able to persuade the group to help him with the problem Kirigakure has with their imposter Mizukage. After asking Gaara about the state of the land, Naruto decided to go on his own to investigate the Land of Fire.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>After nearly three years, it still hadn't quite sunk in that he was back in his homeland, even as he recognised landmarks in the Land of Tea from the last time he had been there with his old friends from Konoha. It felt like he was reliving a long lost dream, though he knew reality was far harsher than he wanted to imagine.<p>

_I guess even those times are gone now, aren't they?_

As he moved with a speed he hadn't had the last time he was in his homeland, Naruto couldn't help but be struck by how much the country had changed. The landscape was virtually the same and the sky hadn't changed at all, but it felt almost completely different.

He knew what it was, but he didn't want to admit it to himself.

"_Well well, aren't you a cocky little boy?"_

Naruto rolled his eyes; the Kyuubi had a tendency to get snarky when it was anticipating a fight. He just ignored the Tailed Beast's taunt; there was no point in fighting the Kyuubi on its own battlefield.

However it had caused Naruto to realise how much he had missed this place, even if it wasn't truly home anymore.

_Ah, I should have gotten Gaara to tell me about the others. I could still send a clone back…_

Naruto shook his head to dismiss the idea, something told him that he would need as much of his strength as possible. Besides, he knew that Hinata would ask the appropriate questions, and he'd be back with the group in a few days.

_This is something only I can do. _

Moving quickly, Naruto made short time between their arrival position in the Land of Tea and his old homeland. He wasn't sure what he was going to expect, but judging from the seriousness of Gaara's tone when he had spoken about the Land of Fire, almost anything could happen.

Despite his cautious movements, Naruto couldn't help but feel the anticipation pumping through his body. Something was going to happen here, but he didn't know what.

However a few hours later as he came to what he remembered as the territory line, Naruto had his game face on. If the opponents were anything like the white armoured warrior he and Hinata had fought, he had to be prepared for anything.

There was no obvious indication of where the Land of Tea and Land of Fire intersected unless you knew the specific signs. Having only been a Genin at the time of Konoha's destruction, Naruto had no clue where the signs were, but after arriving it became clear where the border was.

Rows and rows of spikes pointing away from the Land of Fire were lined up in perfect formation, with dozens of wooden guard towers manned by what appeared to be hundreds of Quiraji troops at a time. Naruto kept his distance so that he was out of sight of the troops guarding the point, but he could see fairly clearly the type of soldiers in front of him.

They wore well maintained armour and polished weapons, watching the land in front of them like hawks. They couldn't see Naruto because he was too far away and was using the sun to his advantage, but at his current distance he was able to tell what kind of soldiers they were.

_They are just recently-trained troops. 'Greenhorns' as the general would put it. I could probably blow through them without a problem, but…_

He shook his head again; he knew he couldn't take it easy on the enemy soldiers.

_These are the people who destroyed Konoha and killed everyone we cared about. They deserve much worse than I would ever give them in a war. _

A spike of pain ran through his head as he could feel the Kyuubi biting at his mindscape.

"_Grow a spine you pathetic wimp! If your enemy is in front of you, you destroy it without hesitation! Honestly, how something as wimpy as you could have descended from the old man, I'll never know."_

A frown came over Naruto's face as he processed the Kyuubi's words. He recognised the beast's wartime experience, but he didn't like agreeing with it just on general principle.

_Wait…the Sage of Six Paths was my ancestor?_

"_Who knows? You shinobi breed like rats. Anything is possible."_

Naruto took that as a confirmation, but paid little attention to the information. The Kyuubi liked to mess with his head at the worst of times, though he had noticed that the advice it gave was rarely useless. It just tended to be convoluted and confusing.

He peeked out at the defensive line in front of him, noticing a building in the distance that looked like a ruined temple. It didn't take him long to work out his strategy, as he put his hands together and created two shadow clones.

"I want you to take turns guarding this point, any changes and I want you to inform me immediately."

The two clones nodded their understanding as Naruto placed a hand on the ground and carved a seal into the ground.

He nodded to himself as he stood back up, "This way I can get back here in an instant. If my mission succeeds, I will send a clone to give you orders to take down this border by any means necessary."

"_You know you are technically talking to yourself, right?"_

Naruto ignored the Kyuubi, talking out loud helped him formulate his plans. He looked up at the sky, taking an account of where the sun was and how long before night fell. He didn't know how fast the group with Hinata and Gaara would be, but if the Land of Fire was how he suspected, he didn't have time to wait for the cover of darkness.

The blonde shinobi was grateful that he wasn't wearing all orange anymore as he would really stand out, though his old uniform had been torn to shreds during his training and he missed it something fierce.

"You have your orders," he said to his clones, turning back to his target.

Taking a long breath and calming his nerves, Naruto grabbed at the air around him with physical energy and wrapped it around himself, focusing on his target and bursting spiritual energy out of his body in an instant.

Naruto was able to let out his breath on top of the ruined temple roof, letting go of the air and immediately taking an account of his surroundings. He'd gotten past the barricade without them even noticing his technique, though Naruto knew he had to be on his guard. If he were to be spotted, he'd have an army after him in an instant.

He looked down at the temple he was standing on top of, a sinking feeling in his gut. He'd never been particularly religious, but the destruction of this place ate at his soul.

"_So you got in, what's your plan now, boy?"_

Ignoring the Kyuubi again, Naruto looked out towards the land that had once been his home. It wasn't a burning or a barren wasteland as he might have suspected, but he knew that it would never be the same either.

He'd come to a very dangerous place.

For the first couple of hours, Naruto stealthily moved through the tree-heavy landscape, feeling satisfied in his abilities as he avoided over a dozen small patrols of Quiraji soldiers. His time in the Quiraji homeland had trained him well, far better than his time with his old friends, which was sad to think of.

They seemed to bear a striking resemblance to the soldiers he had fought when Hinata was sick, which only served to confirm more of Naruto's suspicions.

He wasn't the best at orienteering, but while he knew instinctively how to get to where Konoha had once stood, he also knew that would be the most dangerous place to go at the moment. The village had been made in the most strategically sound location, and if the enemy had a major base of operations it would be on the ashes of their enemy's home.

The idea angered Naruto greatly, but there was nothing he could do about it.

His original plan had been to scout out as much information as he could, but it was quickly becoming apparent that there was only so much he would be able to find out without being discovered. Even with his rapid movement and teleportation, the pure militarisation of the Land of Fire was frightening. He'd only been travelling for a small amount of time, and Naruto had already lost count of the number of Quiraji soldiers he had encountered.

_If I'm going to get anything concrete, I need to create a distraction. _

* * *

><p>He hadn't wanted to come back towards the ocean so soon after coming back, but out of all the places he knew the Quiraji were likely to have large bases, the old fishing villages near the ocean were a guarantee.<p>

Luckily for him, the Quiraji had done exactly as he had expected.

However the port they had created was far larger than Naruto could have imagined.

Spreading out further than he could see from his hiding position at the top of a tree, the port of the Quiraji was a hub of activity from soldiers practising firing arrows at targets wearing forehead protectors to builders working on the dozens of battleships being assembled in the water.

If he knew Grace like he did, the crazy pirate would have beaten back the five ships that had come after her when they had approached the blockade. He also knew that once she obtained the weapons and supplies, she'd push forward more and more and threaten the coast, that's the kind of person she is.

Since he wasn't on her ship anymore, Naruto wouldn't be able to help her fight that way, but taking out their main port was advantageous on more than one front.

It would also make a perfect distraction.

_Any ideas for me to ignore, Kyuubi? _

The Tailed Beast within him didn't respond to his sarcastic question as Naruto had expected, though he'd already worked out a few plans. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could just charge in and destroy the place in one blast like he had with the battleship earlier; a situation like this required a more fine-tuned touch.

"Hmm…I could teleport the whole place…but that would leave me without any chakra for later fights," he whispered to himself. "I could do the blood clone army thing, but that won't be able to destroy…hang on…"

Reaching into one of the small packs on his side, Naruto counted the number of ships sitting in the port.

_Nineteen. I've got more than enough chakra for that. _

Placing his hands together, Naruto created exactly twenty three clones, letting them stand beneath him on the ground. He dropped out of the tree to stand in the group, using the convenient darkness to hide their position.

Being clones of Naruto, the blonde group groaned as they already knew the details of his plan.

"This isn't gonna work…" said one clone, cracking his neck loudly.

"We won't know until we try," said Naruto, passing out a kunai to four of his clones. "Even if that doesn't work, we know this one will."

The four clones nodded and held onto the kunai as they clasped their hands together and transformed into copies of the Quiraji soldiers. The other clones began taking up hiding positions in the tree above them, while the original Naruto took a long breath and tapped at the tags on his sides.

With a tiny bit of chakra, two swords appeared at his belt. He drew them out of their sheaths and held them loosely in his hands. They were long katanas with yellow and red tags along their hilts, though Naruto regretted that he had to resort to something like this. Unlike previous years, he couldn't rely on the Kyuubi to provide chakra like it used to. Without the main seal allowing for the leaking of chakra, he was well aware that the only thing holding the Nine-Tails back was his own will, and the Kyuubi's fear that it wasn't strong enough to survive outside of his body.

There would come a day when he would have to fight the Tailed Beast for control, but that was years into the future. At least he hoped it was.

He had to reserve his strength as much as possible, particularly for what he had in mind. He still had massive amounts of stamina, but he couldn't charge in like a wild animal anymore.

With that in mind, Naruto nodded to the transformed Quiraji soldiers, indicating for them to get moving. If they were caught he would have to move to a more drastic plan. He watched the group run quickly towards the port, until they were in view of the enemy force, slowing down and mimicking the movements of one of the patrols he had moved past earlier.

The clones disappeared through the gate as the Quiraji appeared to let them in, Naruto was grateful that there appeared to be no sensors able to detect ninjutsu within the port.

He waited another ten minutes just to be sure, before holding his katanas tightly. When they had separated from the others he'd been an indifferent swordsman; Sasuke had run rings around him every time they had practised, but he had trained himself nearly to death every day he had been on Grace's ship.

He was still an indifferent swordsman, but he had learnt early on that using weapons like swords allowed him to utilise his almost limitless stamina without tiring himself with chakra techniques or spiritual energy, the latter being rather strenuous on his body.

Nodding to the complaining clones above him in the tree, Naruto aimed himself at the front gate of the port and powered forward in a burst of energy.

_I wonder if my body still remembers how to do the technique…_

All he could do was trust in his training as he saw the Quiraji soldiers at the front gate yelling orders to each other as they spotted him. Steeling himself for the fight, Naruto leapt up high into the air, landing on the gate with a grim expression on his face.

The soldiers recoiled on his sudden entrance and reached for their weapons, but Naruto didn't give them a chance to attack him. With two quick slashes of his swords he cut them down before turning to the port on the other side of the gate. He didn't like the idea of killing the enemy soldiers, but he recognised that this was warfare and certain things had to be done.

To their credit he was impressed that the alarm had already been sounded and the Quiraji army was made aware of his presence. It worked to his advantage, though they obviously didn't know that.

"_Do you honestly believe you can take them down on your own?"_

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the Kyuubi's voice in his head, "You don't know what my plan is, do you? How amusing."

"_Don't make me bring you into the mindscape and beat the shit out of you."_

On instinct Naruto struck out with one of his swords, taking off the arm of a Quiraji soldier that was threatening to attack him from the flank. The young soldier screamed out in pain and fell back, while Naruto jumped forward into the port.

His initial attack didn't seem to deter the Quiraji soldiers as Naruto's feet hit the ground and he began charging straight into the port without a shred of fear on his face.

The port was well-lit with large lampposts and searchlights that moved rapidly to illuminate Naruto's form, though he was able to stay ahead of the blinding lights with his speed. He ducked and weaved as several of the soldiers who were practising shooting arrows turned and fired at him, teleporting forward and cutting the archers down without hesitation.

Naruto was grateful Hinata wasn't here with him; she wouldn't like what he had to do. He didn't like slicing through their bodies like they were sacks of meat, but Naruto knew they were all going to die when he activated his technique so it ultimately didn't matter.

Having disposed of the ranged attackers for the moment, Naruto stole a moment to have a look at his surroundings. There weren't many buildings in the port larger than two floors, and he was still a few hundred feet from the ocean and the battleships.

Sailors began pouring out of the buildings, arming themselves with a strange mix of pikes, harpoons and swords as they looked around for the intruder. The sirens were getting louder and louder, Naruto was sure that someone had left the port already to inform the Quiraji main forces that they were under attack and needed reinforcements.

A smirk came across Naruto's face; he could see why Shikamaru enjoyed the formation of a plan. It felt great when the enemy played to his tune.

His enjoyment was cut short as he ducked down to the ground, barely dodging an axe that threatened to decapitate him, taking off several strands of his blonde hair painfully.

Lashing out with his left katana, Naruto took off his arm at the elbow and then rolled away quickly so that he wouldn't be sprayed with blood. He was surprised that his katanas were able to cut through bone so easily without using physical energy or chakra, but he wasn't complaining as dozens of soldiers converged on his location.

_Damnit, I'm not in position. I can't waste my time on fodder here. _

As he ran towards the centre of the open area in the port, Naruto sheathed his swords on his sides and placed his hands together. A shadow clone appeared at his side, running as quickly as he was.

"Tell the others to go," said the original Naruto, moving faster as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. He leapt up onto the top of a two story building and took a slow breath.

_I am so out of shape. Sitting on that ship hasn't helped my stamina at all…_

The soldiers beneath him scrambled around the building in an attempt to get to Naruto while the blonde shinobi kept his eyes on the battleships sitting in the harbour. A part of him was impressed that his plan was going so well, though he could see the two ships in front of him were trying to move away from the harbour to come about and aim their cannons at him.

A frown came over his face, they were late.

As if listening to his thoughts, a clone of Naruto appeared on each battleship, though a few appeared on the same battleship before jumping over to their respective targets.

Once he saw that there was a clone on every battleship and felt the judgemental looks they were giving him, Naruto put up a hand into a handseal. Because he had already spread his chakra to the clones, the technique itself required almost no chakra to perform, though it did sting a little.

With a tiny burst of chakra, every clone on the battleships exploded in a large fireball of destruction, blowing apart the ships in a deafening crash.

Naruto smiled, it hurt as he regained the memories of his disgruntled clones but it was worth it to remove the Quiraji's ocean warfare capabilities. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that he hadn't destroyed all of their ships, but it enough of a dent to serve as a reasonable distraction.

However that wasn't Naruto's entire plan, he couldn't have the soldiers of the port chasing after him when he went back into the main part of the Land of Fire. He could see his destruction of their battleships had sent the Quiraji forces into disarray, but Naruto wasn't done yet.

Jumping off the building in a single motion, Naruto moved as quickly as he could towards the centre of the port, where there was a large opening that looked like it was the place for an army to gather together in one place.

Naruto nodded to himself, this was the perfect place for his plan.

With his swords sheathed at his side, Naruto figured he had less than a minute before he was under attack again, but that was plenty of time as he reached into his pack and pulled out a tag.

_I'm glad I prepared this when I had the materials. _

Fuelling a tiny amount of chakra into the seal, a metal pole appeared in his hands. With a dramatic roar he drove the pole into the ground before taking a step back and letting the metal pole extend upwards high up into the sky. Halfway up its length it split off into four section, each of which were driven into ground.

Naruto grabbed a special kunai from his pack and tossed it high into the air, causing a bright flash high up into the air.

All around him he could see the Quiraji soldiers converging on his position, clearly out for his blood. With a regretful look on his face, Naruto rapidly through a long set of handseals before placing both of his hands up towards the sky as he sat underneath the metal pole so that he wasn't struck by his own technique.

_They better be in position. Otherwise this'll be the least impressive technique of all time. _

Chakra poured out of his body as he converted it into elemental energy and shot it out of his hands into the metal pole above his head.

The Quiraji soldiers were barely a dozen feet away, evidently not concerned by Naruto's machinations as they charged forward. The soldiers that weren't attacking the blonde shinobi were trying to survey the damage to the battleships, but every single Quiraji soldier was within the boundaries of the port.

And in range of Naruto's attack.

"Raiton: Raikou Kamikansei!" (Lightning Element: Lightning God Trap)

For a few seconds it appeared like nothing had happened, and the Quiraji soldiers continued to charge towards him. Initially Naruto was concerned that his clones hadn't been in place, until he felt a rumble within his body and he knew it was coming.

Clutching at his head and crouching down just to be sure, Naruto couldn't watch as giant coils of lightning came from every direction and slammed into the metal pole above him. The whole port was drenched into lightning as everyone who wasn't protected underneath the metal pole.

Within seconds, every Quiraji soldier fell to the ground, their bodies destroyed by thousands of bolts of lightning at once. Even the buildings were not immune from the damage, his single attack turning the port into a ruin in an instant.

Naruto waited a few more seconds before feeling the rush of his four clones' memories driving into his brain. Letting out his breath slowly, Naruto looked up at the port with surprise written all over his face.

"Wow…I thought it might take them all out…but this is nuts…"

"_What do you expect, brat? You cover a place in lightning; you are going to cause some damage!" _

Naruto smacked himself in the head to try and shut up the Kyuubi, but it only caused him to get a bad headache.

He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the headache, but that only caused it to get worse. Naruto clutched at his head and remembered what his plan had been. He tried to tap the metal pole to make it retract back into its original form, but the metal was unresponsive.

"I guess the lightning damaged it or something…"

With a shrug, Naruto looked around at the port. The lightning had struck high into the air, so Naruto knew that the Quiraji main force would be drawn to the ruined port to investigate the attack.

"That should give me a proper distraction for a few days at least. I'll have to be careful from now on…"

"**You are in more trouble than you think, shinobi boy."**

Naruto immediately spun around with a katana in hand, watching as the air tore apart a short distance away and a figure stepped out in front of him.

His eyes widened as he recognised the figure's armour, but it wasn't being worn by the figure he remembered. Instead of the white armoured man he and Hinata had fought years ago, Naruto was faced with an attractive woman with pure white hair and a wicked evil expression on her face. She wore the same kind of regalia that the old Quiraji general had, and it was clear to him that it was the same person though in a different form.

"I didn't calculate that you would be here so quickly," said Naruto, trying to sound confident.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and spat on the ground, "Arrogant swine aren't you? Do you think just because you fought my predecessor that you can compete with the likes of me?"

"Try me, lady. I'll cut you to pieces."

With a chuckle, the Quiraji leader placed her hands out in front of her. The ground beneath her began to rumble as two giant lions appeared to dig themselves out of the ground and stand in front of her with their heads underneath her hands. A large flock of black crows began to circle around her head as if appearing from thin air, while more animals dug themselves out of the ground behind her.

"Don't think I'll underestimate you like he did."

Naruto took a cautionary step backwards, it was clear that she was a different fighter than the other Quiraji soldiers he had faced.

"Do you have a name?" he asked, figuring it was a good time to get some information.

The woman huffed, "You know my name, boy. You fought the last one."

Naruto's eyes widened, he knew who she was, though it seemed impossible. He knew what he had to do as he sheathed his katana on his side and deactivated the seals, making them vanish from his sides.

"Giving up? I won't hesitate to kill you."

The blonde shinobi placed his hands together as the lions in front of him roared loudly.

"You'll have to catch me first."

With that, Naruto disappeared in a large puff of smoke.

The Quiraji leader began looking around frantically while the pack of animals around her snarled loudly. At the top of the tree he had begun his attack on, Naruto let out a long sigh. He was lucky that she had been standing just outside of chakra-nullifying range; otherwise his retreat would have been far harder to do, even with his stealthy use of a smoke bomb.

_That's Shouri, I'd bet my life on it. But how is he suddenly a woman…and those animals are completely different than his previous abilities. _

Naruto let out a slight groan, things had gotten complex already and he hadn't even been in his homeland for a day.

"**You won't escape from me, boy."**

The Konoha shinobi jumped ten feet into the air at the voice and teleported on instinct, just as a massive rhino charged into the tree he had been sitting on and demolished it.

Hovering in the air, Naruto spun around to see the woman glared at him with a hateful look in her eyes.

_Okay, this just got a lot harder. I might have bitten off more than I can chew here. _

He tried to think of where to go next to avoid her, but found himself fighting for his life as a giant eagle came flying towards him with its claws outstretched.

_Damn that tenacious woman…_

* * *

><p>Naruto clutched at his chest tightly, breathing heavier than he had since his wedding night. He was blending with a stone wall with a ninjutsu technique he had learnt from Hinata, as Quiraji soldiers ran past him in dark red armour and razor sharp blades in hand. It was extremely difficult to keep his hard breathing quiet, but Naruto didn't have the strength to fight off his pursuers.<p>

_How did it come to this? The old Shouri was never this persistent. _

Within his head he could hear the Kyuubi laughing loudly, but Naruto did his best to ignore him. If it hadn't been for the Tailed Beast's dodgy directions he would have gotten away from his pursuers hours ago, but it was clear that it was still annoyed at him for some reason or another.

The village he had fled to was surprisingly intact, but there were no normal villagers like there had been years ago. It had been heavily fortified and served as a base of operations, and while Naruto had been proud to have infiltrated it without being detected, it had all gone to hell when the female Shouri had shown up with those red armoured soldiers and started to scour the village for him.

Naruto had tried to take on one of the Red Guard that had separated from the others, but for some reason his chakra techniques hadn't been effective. If he hadn't used his Kattoken to tear the armour off its body, Naruto knew he would have been discovered and either taken prisoner or killed.

_My stamina is really low…and I clearly can't fight back without risking myself. Should I pull out, or risk a few more days?_

It was a difficult decision, but Naruto felt he hadn't found enough to justify the risks he had taken.

_I have to find out what those soldiers were talking about. _

Holding himself within his shroud, Naruto waited almost an hour for nightfall before the Red Guard were mostly gone from his nearby vicinity. It went against all of Naruto's instincts to be patient, but when death was on the line he discovered he could wait for hours on end.

It also helped to have the ability to mess with the Nine Tails within his mind.

"No, seriously! I took his head clean off!"

"Haha! What happened next?"

"And then he crapped himself! It was so pathetic! Haha!"

A pair of Quiraji soldiers turned a nearby corner laughing hysterically. Unlike the Red Guard, they looked like normal people, wearing basic leather armour and Quiraji weaponry on their backs. It was obvious by their red faces that they were drunk, and as they stumbled closer to his position a plan slowly came into Naruto's head.

He couldn't use a Henge to disguise himself within the village; he figured they likely had a way of detecting shinobi techniques. That was how he figured Shouri was tracking him.

When the two drunken soldiers walked in front of his position Naruto dropped his shroud and knocked them out with a quick one-two. He reached out and grabbed their bodies, holding them over his shoulders as he leapt into a dark alley and made sure that no-one saw his movements.

Naruto looked down at the bodies, noticing that a trickle of blood fell from each of their heads.

_I must have hit them harder than I thought. I guess I was frustrated. _

Within a few minutes Naruto looked exactly like one of the basic Quiraji soldiers. He had stuffed his normal clothes into his pack and wasn't wearing his normal weapons as he donned the weaponry of the enemy, though strangely he felt his chakra being drained just by holding the hilt of one of their swords.

_So their weapons can destroy chakra? How many different ways are they going to create to kill us?_

Looking down at their bodies, Naruto knew he couldn't leave the two of them to be discovered. After taking their clothes, he knew they were both dead, and in a time of war there were certain things that had to be done.

Taking a match from one of his pockets, Naruto threw the bodies into a garbage can and sat it in the middle of the alley so it wouldn't spread to the other building. He lit the match and threw it in.

He didn't look back as the bodies burned, walking out of the alley with an angry look on his face. If he had to play the part, he may as well play it well.

Walking through the village, it was clear from the lack of suspicious looks from the other Quiraji soldiers that his disguise was working. At first he thought the best place to get information would be in a place that appeared to be a barracks, but Naruto wasn't sure he would be able to resist the urge to cause some sabotage so he kept away from the larger buildings.

After a few minutes Naruto thought he was completely lost in the village, until he came across the familiar sound of drunks failing to sing a song and the unfortunately familiar scent of vomit and personal dissatisfaction.

_It's so sad that I can recognise a bar of drunken people by instinct. I'd like to say the wife would be ashamed, but I'm still haunted by the image of Hinata standing on the unconscious bodies of all those sailors, a mug of ale in each hand and singing the Drunken Leaf. _

Before entering the bar, Naruto couldn't resist a chuckle. He was proud of his wife for many different things, but that was the first time he'd felt like she was the one who wore the pants in their marriage.

_Damnit, I really want to go back to her now. _

Shaking his head to regain his senses, Naruto walked into the bar with his expression the same as a Quiraji soldier.

The bar was like the one he had snuck into in Suna during the Chuunin Exams, though instead of shinobi sitting and chatting there were Quiraji soldiers getting drunk and bragging about how they had killed shinobi.

Naruto tried to stay in the mindset of a Quiraji soldier as he sat down at the bar and tapped his hand on the wood to get the bartender's attention.

"What's your poison?" asked the bartender, staring at Naruto with ice blue eyes.

The blonde shinobi looked at the other occupants for a moment before turning back to the bartender.

"Whiskey, two fingers. Two cubes of ice, and make it quick."

The Quiraji bartender looked at him for a moment before nodding and busying himself with making his drink. Naruto sipped at the whiskey once it was placed in front of him, it was a crap whiskey but the atmosphere was enough for him to blend in properly.

After a few minutes a female Quiraji soldier sat down besides Naruto and twirled a coloured drink in a glass. "Where you from, friend?" she asked with a deep slur.

_If Hinata was here, she'd flip out. I wonder if I should exploit this for personal amusement. _

He looked over at the female Quiraji soldier, noting that while she was reasonably attractive, the lifeless look in her eyes was entirely off-putting.

_Okay fine. Stupid conscience. _

"I just arrived. Bad business at the port."

"Oh yeah, we heard about that." The soldier smiled drunkenly, baring her white teeth at him. "But Lady Shouri will get the culprits, she always does. Those shinobi bastards will pay for what they did, the men they killed."

Naruto nodded and raised his glass slightly, "To the dead."

"To the dead," said the Quiraji soldier, solemnly closing her eyes in respect.

The blonde shinobi drained his whiskey and called for a mug of ale, as the female soldier edged closer towards him.

"You know…I'm shipping out tomorrow morning…"

_Hinata, forgive me…or just never find out, either way works. _

Naruto grasped at the ale the bartender gave him and turned to the soldier with a sly smile, "Really? Where are you off to?"

The woman looked at him for a moment before her smile widened and she clumsily draped an arm over his shoulder. "We are going to some shinobi village shrouded by water. Apparently Lord Kyoukou will be leading the attack himself."

_An attack on Kirigakure! Do they know of the plan? Keep calm; there might be more to it. _

"That's rare, it must be important," said Naruto, having no clue who this Kyoukou she was speaking about was.

Placing her empty glass on the bar, the female Quiraji soldier stood up from her seat and leaned her head towards Naruto's. Her lips barely brushed the edges of his ear, sending a uneasy shiver through his body.

"Why don't you come over to my place? I'll show you a good time before I have to go tomorrow…"

_Is this how the teme experiences things? I'm going to have to sock him a few times…just for the sake of it. _

Naruto put on his best attempt at a happy smile, "Definitely. Show me the way."

The woman seemed genuinely joyful at his acceptance and placed a hand on top of his, pulling him away from his ale and off his seat.

He could hear a few wolf-whistles as she led him out of the bar and into the darkened village.

_I am still innocent…I am still innocent…_

She led him through the village for less than a minute before arriving at a small apartment near the edge of the village. She struggled to find her keys in her pocket, and nearly slipped off her feet as her balance was practically zero in her drunken state. Despite his vows, Naruto couldn't help but reach out and grab her in his arms. The woman giggled and began stroking his arms up and down with her fingers.

_I am still innocent…I am still innocent…_

When her face was looking away, Naruto clasped the doorknob and used physical energy to turn it far enough to break the lock. He walked into the apartment, smiling to himself as he saw the tiny house the woman apparently lived in. It kind of reminded him of his old apartment, before it was destroyed with the rest of Konoha.

"Mhm…be…gentle…gentle flower…first time…"

_I am still innocent…I am still innocent…_

Naruto laid her onto her bed and stepped back, watching as the girl curled up in a ball and began drooling into her sheets. Looking at the apartment, Naruto figured there might be something he could find before he left back to the others.

After a few minutes of searching he came to the woman's closet. A part of him felt guilty for going through her things, but he figured the greater good justified his actions.

And Hinata had no issue with him going through her clothing. Or at least he was sure she'd be fine with it, if she ever found out.

While going through her jackets, Naruto frowned as he came across a military jacket that seemed rather impressive compared to her other jackets.

He figured she must be some kind of commander, and as he searched the pockets of the jacket he grinned as he felt a stack of papers with his hand.

"Ah, perfect."

From the bed in the other room he could hear the woman groaning loudly. "No, no…left…up…harder!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and pulled the papers out of the jacket pocket.

_I am still innocent…I am still innocent…_

The blonde shinobi knew he shouldn't stay too long in the woman's apartment, if not for his mission, for his own sanctity. He quickly glanced through the papers, unable to crack the language it was written in.

But after a minute the same name kept appearing.

"The Home of the Four…what does that mean…"

"If you lick there…I'll...I'll…"

Naruto rolled his eyes, now it was getting creepy.

_I need to get back to my wife…and have a bath. But this Home of the Four…I feel like it should be investigated. I'll bet the Four is related to those four warriors that the Kyuubi showed me. _

"Mhm, if you use your tongue like that…"

Shoving the papers into his pocket, Naruto slowly crept out of the apartment. He did his best to not look at the woman who had found some way to kick off her dress and was now lying in her underwear, though he failed miserably just as left the apartment and closed the door behind him. The lock wouldn't let it shut completely, but that didn't matter now.

_I need to find this place…maybe I can interrogate someone from here, or attack a patrol. _

He took a long breath before looking out over the village. It was strange to think that a village that had started out so innocently had been turned into something so terrible, and yet being in that bar had taught Naruto something he hadn't considered.

The Quiraji had soldiers just like the shinobi did; they weren't so different from each other.

That feeling was pushed down as he saw the bright white armour of Shouri walked through the village surrounded by Red Guards. He was still in enemy territory; he couldn't afford to lose his perspective.

_First things first, Naruto. Escape this village, then we can find this Home of the Four. And we won't have to mention how we came about this information to anyone. _

"_I'm telling Hinata."_

_DAMNIT KYUUBI!_

* * *

><p>The next day Naruto clutched at his side as he climbed to the top of the cliff and looked down at the valley below. Within the mostly barren valley sat a single building that appeared completely out of place with everything around it, even with the Red Guards standing in front of the entrance.<p>

Naruto grunted in pain and let go of his side, it wasn't bleeding anymore so he figured the cut was healed for the most part. Reaching up to his face however, he couldn't say the same thing for the long cut across the bridge of his nose.

_You could heal that for me, Kyuubi, you know. _

"_And miss out on the chance of seeing your wife's reaction to your disfigured face? Captor, you wound me!"_

Naruto sighed and ran a finger over the wound, shuddering unintentionally when he remembered how close he had been to losing his head. He considered himself lucky that he had been able to finally get away from Shouri's tracking abilities, but he knew that he couldn't chakra at all; otherwise she'd be right back on his trail.

He didn't feel at his other wound, but that was primarily because he wasn't sure he really wanted to know how much of his right ear had been bitten off by one of the Quiraji leader's bats. He could still hear through it, so it couldn't be that bad, but that was as far as he was willing to investigate, since the Kyuubi was once again finding a way to mess with him.

_My Uzumaki heritage might mean I have greater stamina, but I still need the bloody fox for healing. _

Judging by the look of the building in the valley he had arrived at was the place he had been looking for; it matched the description the soldier had told him when he'd snuck into a pack of Quiraji soldiers.

_The Home of the Four huh? Judging by the Red Guards, the single entrance…the overwhelming negative vibe coming from it…I won't be able to sneak in. _

He looked back at the path he had taken to get to his present location, making sure that he hadn't been followed for the tenth time. When he'd left the group and his wife for the Land of Fire he hadn't expected it would be so difficult, but he knew that the trip would overall be worth it at the end.

Taking several long breaths, Naruto turned around and stood up tenderly. He'd been thinking about it a lot since his last encounter with Shouri, if it hadn't been for the old man Magnus teaching him and Hinata how to use physical and spiritual energy, both of them would be dead a long time ago.

_Even though we apparently were pre-disposed to that kind of combat…it was strangely convenient timing. If he wasn't so nice, I would have been suspicious of his intentions. _

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the idea, now wasn't the time to be questioning old friends. He hoped he would have the opportunity to meet the old man again, but he had his own concerns at the moment.

_Well, if I'm going for broke, I may as well cover my bases. I doubt Shouri is close enough to attack me for at least an hour or so. _

He punched one hand into the other, he had to take a few risks if he wanted to get the information he suspected was inside that base.

_In one hour, I'll tear that whole building down. _

Taking the risk, Naruto created a single clone and handed it a seal. "Get as close as possible to Konoha and plant the seal. Their defences will probably be really tight, use whatever means you can."

The clone stared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes and shoving the seal into its pocket. "I know, you idiot. I'm you, remember?"

"Oh…right." Naruto nodded for the clone to leave and turned his gaze to the building in front of him.

As he had suspected, the Red Guard had sensed his use of chakra and were steeling themselves for battle. A part of him considered the fact that if he couldn't get past the guards the whole mission was a failure, but another part of him enjoyed the prospect of a straight up fight.

Summoning up his spiritual energy, Naruto began to swirl wind energy around his arms, feeling the familiar sting of the thousands of cuts his arms were suffering.

_If I had the energy I'd harden my arms with physical energy too, but I don't have time. _

It still felt strange that using spiritual and physical energy for battle felt more natural than chakra, but they only achieved certain things, whereas chakra had far more diversity and ultimately more power, despite the Quiraji's strange immunity to its effects.

The five Red Guard readied their blades and took up defensive stances around the door. It was clear they were wary of his approach; he figured they had fought countless shinobi in the past.

But they hadn't fought someone like him before.

Naruto's arms swirled with wind energy as he charged at the Red Guard, but as one of them stepped forward to cut him down he disappeared and reappeared behind the Quiraji soldier. Before it could turn around Naruto reached out and grabbed the back of the Red Guard's head.

With the intense speed of the rotation of his wind energy, his target's body began to spin rapidly while Naruto struggled to keep his grip on the armour that had no effect on his spiritual energy.

The Red Guard's allies charged at him with blades raised to try and save their companion, but after a few sections the Red Guard's armour snapped with the rotation and with a sickening crunch his bones snapped and his body spun out of control, blasting out of Naruto's grip a long distance away.

Naruto didn't get a chance to marvel at how effective the move had been as he put up his arms to defend himself from two Red Guard that brought down swords at his shoulders.

The sharp blades stopped just above his skin as the constant rotation of energy kept him safe, but since his energy was focused on maintaining his Kattoken he wasn't able to react when a third Red Guard leapt over its companions and drove the hilt of its halberd into his face, sending him flying backwards.

Naruto groaned as he picked himself up, he could tell his nose had broken again. The pain was excruciating, though more because he knew he probably looked even worse than before. The four remaining Red Guard all turned to watch him take up a new stance as blood slowly trickled down his face, seemingly unimpressed that he had taken out one of their number with relative ease.

_Damnit, the Kattoken takes up so much stamina. Chakra attacks don't work on these guys either. _

"You will not enter the Home of the Four!" yelled one of the Red Guard, sheathing its sword onto its belt.

For a moment Naruto couldn't understand why it had sheathed its sword, until he saw the Red Guard crouch down slightly with its hands prepared to draw its blade.

_Iai?_

He was barely able to dodge away as the Red Guard rapidly drew its sword and slashed at the air between the two of them, sending a shot of spiritual energy that skimmed across the edge of his cheeks.

As Naruto landed on the ground he saw the other two swordsmen charging towards him, weaving between each other so that he couldn't attack one target without being countered by the other. He could appreciate their method of attack; it meant he had to change how he was going to approach the battle.

As the swords came towards him he cut off his spiritual energy to his technique and rolled away from the strikes, rummaging through his side pocket frantically. He could only roll his eyes as he felt through all the stuff he had put into his pocket.

_Why the hell am I carrying around a rubber duck?_

He continued to dodge the Red Guard's attacks for almost a minute before he finally found what he was looking for.

_If Hinata knew I was carrying around this stuff she'd flip out. _

As one of the Red Guard slipped through his defences and made a motion to cut off his head with a single swing. With a flick of his wrist he torn the lid off of the jar he had taken out of his pocket and spun around in a circle, hurling the contents into the faces of the two Red Guard attacking him.

Bright red crystals scattered through the air while Naruto teleported away to avoid being struck the two Red Guard copped the full blast in their faces.

It didn't take long for the crystals to activate, bursting out in small explosions of dark orange flames. While the Red Guard's armour disrupted chakra attacks, they had no defence against the special powder that Naruto had found on an island between their two continents.

They were clearly the elites of the Quiraji army, and yet they still screamed like banshees as their faces were burned to a cinder, dropping to their knees as they died in an extremely painful way.

Naruto didn't want to look at them as they fell, he knew how the crystals worked and he'd seen them burn straight through an elephant's stomach in seconds.

Why an elephant was on the island, he had never worked out.

With three of the Red Guard down, Naruto sensed victory and charged towards the Red Guard who had slashed at him earlier, teleporting in front of it and slamming his fist into the centre of its armour, having taken the opportunity to reactivate his Kattoken.

The Red Guard slashed at his sides just before the wind energy broke through its plated armour and sent it flying, Naruto grimacing as he felt the blade pierce through his waist.

"Shit…that really stings…"

He was barely able to recover in time as the final Red Guard sliced through the air with its halberd, bringing up his arms to parry the strike. He could see the Quiraji soldier bringing back its other hand to slam into his face, but Naruto anticipated the strike and intercepted it with his foot, bouncing back a short distance away.

_I can't waste any more time. I have to take this one out now, and get in there before Shouri catches up._

Biting back his fatigue, Naruto jumped forward with his fists raised as the Red Guard struggled to recover from the exchange.

The elite Quiraji soldier was able to dodge two of his blows before the third one slammed into its face, the spiritual energy devastating his enemy in a few seconds.

Naruto looked down at the bodies with a frown; he was beginning to wonder if he was turning into some kind of monster.

"_Don't flatter yourself boy. You'll never truly know what it's like to bathe in the blood of your children and tear your enemy's flesh from their bones."_

Naruto groaned loudly and deactivated his Kattoken.

_Fine, I'll make you a sandwich in your mindscape. _

The Kyuubi laughed in victory as Naruto walked over to the pair of burned up bodies and picked up the empty glass.

_All the trouble I went through to get that powder…I'm lucky I thought to leave a seal on that island. _

Naruto had to shudder as he remembered the trials they had gone through trying to find treasure before all they found was that strange volcanic powder. It had taken Hinata hours to convince their captain not to take the powder onto the ship, but Naruto couldn't help but take some for his own.

His clones had yet to forgive him for that.

oOoOoOo

The first floor within the building was strangely empty, a long dark grey corridor with no writing or indications on what was contained inside.

_Maybe this is a trap,_ thought Naruto as he walked down the corridor. Running made the wound in his side reopen, whereas walking appeared to help his healing immensely.

The Kyuubi was still being a stubborn bastard, as usual.

After a minute of walking, Naruto came to a spiral staircase leading down to a lower level. He was confused for a moment as he could have sworn the building was two stories high, but that didn't stop him from descending downwards without any further hesitation. After several spirals he came to the first door, with the staircase continuing to lead downwards beyond.

"What the hell is going on here?" exclaimed Naruto as he placed his hand on the half-destroyed door. There were several holes that looked like someone had punched their way through to the other side. He took a cautionary glance to see that inside the door was completely covered in rubble, it looked like the floor had collapsed in on itself.

_And the staircase was unaffected. This place is super creepy. _

Seeing that there was nothing to be gained from standing around, Naruto began descending the staircase again, his side having healed as much as it was going to without his wife's help.

He shortly came to a second door, one that appeared to be actually intact. There was no handle, but with a slight push it slowly creaked open. For a few moments Naruto wasn't sure what he was looking at, until he worked out that it was a science lab.

Taking a step inside, Naruto felt like a fly on the side of a wall as he looked around at the dozens of large glass capsules in front of him. There were rows and rows of them, all empty except one Naruto saw near the end.

As if walking into the room had triggered some kind of effect, the single occupied capsule began to hiss and produce large amounts of smoke. Naruto immediately hid behind a capsule and watched events unfold.

Within the capsule floated a single figure that the blonde shinobi couldn't quite make out, though he knew that it was a human judging by its shape, and something told him that it was about to emerge from the capsule.

His suspicion was quickly confirmed as he heard a large crunch and a few seconds later the glass of the capsule shattered into tiny pieces and the figure stepped out into the dark lab.

Naruto could tell the figure was male judging by its face and figure, but other than that Naruto didn't know who he was. He wore dark red plated armour and some kind of gelatine material hung off him, Naruto figured it was what was inside the capsule, and there was something about his face that set his blood cold in his body.

That was until the red armoured figure opened his eyes, and Naruto felt every nerve in his body scream out in protest, even at his distance. He had a pair of bright red eyes with light blue rings around them, but it was the strange pulsing that set Naruto on edge.

The figure didn't appear disorientated by its apparent birth, and before Naruto could find out anything else, he disappeared into thin air in a manner that Naruto had seen once before.

_Who was that man? What the hell is going on here?!_

"_You know who he is, boy. You've fought his brother, and recently his sister."_

Naruto sighed, that made sense considering the name of the complex. He wasn't sure whether it was a healing pod or a birthing pod, but something told him that things were only going to more chaotic from here on.

_Well, let's see if I can get any information from this place. _

Looking around the room he saw that, besides the glass capsules, there was nothing else for him to discover or utilise. Naruto knew he needed to improve his infiltration abilities and learn some information gathering skills, but for now he could only rely on what he saw in front of him.

Going back to the staircase, Naruto found himself wondering how long he had until he was going to be attacked again. The next level had a door that appeared to be made of some kind of aged stone and impossible to open, until Naruto bashed it down with a burst of physical energy.

To his disappointment however, all that was contained in the room was a single torch sitting in the middle of an otherwise empty room.

"Oookkaaayyy then…"

Taking several back steps out of the room, Naruto decided he didn't even want to know what was going on in that room. He went back to the staircase and descended it for one final time.

To his surprise there wasn't even a door for the last room, only an archway leading into a room that appeared similar to the one where the red armoured warrior had come from.

However there was one difference and that was a single computer screen sitting in the middle of the glass capsules, who were also empty.

"Ah! Now we are talking."

"_It doesn't bother you that there haven't been any guards within the complex?" _

"Of course that bothers me," said Naruto, strolling into the room. For some reason he suddenly felt more tired than he had the entire time he had been in the Land of Fire, it was as if his body knew his journey was coming to an end.

Sitting in front of the computer screen was a keyboard, which caused Naruto to frown slightly; he hadn't seen something like this before. There were strange symbols on it that he didn't recognise, and no actual computer connected to the screen.

Before Naruto had the chance to access any information on the computer however, the screen turned to static with a loud buzzing sound that nearly caused him to drop to his knees in pain.

A few seconds later the static cut out and changed to a dark background with a single figure that he couldn't quite make out.

"**You are tenacious, shinobi."**

The blonde shinobi grinned with a tired expression, despite the fact that the deep sounding voice turned his blood cold. "I get told that a lot."

"**What is your purpose here, boy?"**

Naruto looked around at the lab beyond the screen. "Well I was going to destroy this place…maybe eat a sandwich…"

He couldn't see the figure properly, but he could have sworn it shuddered slightly.

"**Do you really believe what you are achieving here will matter in the war?"**

"Who are you?" asked Naruto. "Are you one of the Four?"

The deep voice chuckled strangely, **"I have no interest in telling you anything, shinobi. Don't think you are an equal to me."**

Naruto resisted the urge to groan, it was so stereotypical it made his head hurt. "Well, if you aren't going to tell me anything, then I have no reason to stay here and talk. I'm sure there is plenty of stuff here that is interesting to my people."

The moment he said that a loud klaxon sounded throughout the complex, with bright red warning lights flashing around Naruto's location.

"I guess I should've expected that."

"**Not very bright, are you shinobi?"**

_This is a waste of time. _

Naruto balanced himself carefully as the ground began to shake violently. He could hear explosions thundering in the distance; he figured the building was self-destructing rapidly.

_It makes sense for them to booby-trap the building, but why did he contact me on the screen? Maybe I can find something out from him before I go back to Hinata. _

"Bright enough to infiltrate your facility and force you to destroy it," he said with a grin. "Were you expecting that?"

"**Presumptuous boy, aren't you?"**

_This isn't getting anywhere, he's stalling. _

"How is it that the Shouri my wife and I fought years ago suddenly became a woman? Did you get sick of him or something?"

To his surprise, he could almost hear the hesitation in the figure's voice. He was merely curious about how that could've happened, though something about what he had seen earlier told him he already knew the answer.

"**You will not be able to extract information from me, shinobi. Do not even try."**

"Well, if that is so, I guess I'll get going." Naruto put his hands together into a handseal.

It sounded like the figure hesitated again, but it didn't last long before it spoke up again.

"…**tell me your name, shinobi."**

_Interesting, it sounds like he is giving me some modicum of respect. _

"Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of the Village of the Hidden Leaves."

The voice scoffed, **"A shinobi without a home. Our pasts are similar, boy."**

It didn't take Naruto long to realise who he was talking to, though the Kyuubi screeching obscenities in his head didn't help. It hadn't been an image he had thought about too much, but Naruto knew it had to be true.

"You are the real leader of the Quiraji, I gather. I know of your past. Do you have a name at least? Or should I keep calling you my 'primary target'?"

"**When I fought against the shinobi of old, I had a name. When we were betrayed, I discarded it and adopted a new name."**

_Betrayed? What is he talking about? Kyuubi, do you know anything about this?_

To his surprise, the Kyuubi responded immediately, without any shred of its normal sarcasm.

"_This is the man who defeated each of my brothers and sisters and drove us back across the sea. You can't trust anything he says, the man is made of lies and deception. Do not underestimate his power."_

_Wouldn't that make him about a thousand years old?_

The Kyuubi made a sound that Naruto could only imagine was it either shuddering in fear or making it sound like it was biting his head and savouring his flesh.

"_He may be hidden by this contraption, and his children are slightly different, but his voice has not changed one bit. I do not feel fear, Naruto, but that man will be the death of this country, of that I have no doubt."_

A metal girder came crashing down from the ceiling, barely missing Naruto's head. He knew he should leave now, but something was holding him back. There was one final thing he needed to know.

"Tell me your new name, and I will tell my people who we face."

"**Hmm, you have stones to challenge me, boy. I will see you on the battlefield before the final death of your people, and I will carve my name into your bones."**

_Oh dear god, it's like Sasuke went full emo and started writing war poetry. Bad war poetry. _

"**I am called Benkei."**

With that the screen cut to black and the explosions multiplied as the glass containers around Naruto's position began to shatter and the walls started to crumble.

Seeing that there was nothing else of value to be found in the building as it came down around him, Naruto considered his mission finally complete and fuelled a small amount of chakra into the seal on his chest.

He vanished in a small crack of lightning without a trace as the building collapsed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I want to talk about Naruto for a moment. I have no interest in making him overpowered, and if he seems that way then that is my error. Naruto is strong, one of the strongest shinobi in the story, but he is not the strongest, and in my opinion shouldn't be the strongest. If your main character is the strongest fighter, then that removes some of the tension from the story. It's one of the problems I have with the current story actually; Naruto and Sasuke are far too powerful compared to the rest of the cast. He's meant to be powerful, but there are barriers that the main character shouldn't necessarily be able to cross. In this story Naruto still has weaknesses and can be beaten, despite being able to do so much destruction in one go.

Also, the resurrection stuff isn't like Edo Tensei shenanigans. It'll be more explained later down the track, I just don't want you thinking that I'm recycling bad guys out of a lack of originality. Consider how different Shouri is to her previous iteration.

I was umming and ahhing for ages on whether I should reveal the name of the Quiraji leader now or later, but considering how far into the story we are I thought this might be a good spot. A problem that I have with the current manga is that the bad guy isn't terribly well defined, and I definitely wanted to avoid that. Props to anyone who recognises the homage I'm paying with his name without having to look it up.

If anyone is interesting, Iai is the technique of rapidly unsheathing and sheathing a sword in one single motion for a powerful strike. See One Piece for that kind of thing, that's where I got the idea.

Another point of interest, I'll be taking a week off to work on a short story for a competition, so there won't be a chapter until a fortnight from now or so. I'm sorry for the delay, but as I'm only able to concentrate my energies on one story at a time I need to get this short story done. Thank you for your patience.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	62. Chapter 57 Moving towards Kirigakure

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 57 – Moving towards Kirigakure

**A/N**: Apologies for the delay, turns out it was a waste of time anyway. Back on the horse. I think I'll make the schedule of releases between 7-9 days from now on, I'm going to be busier and I don't want to rush and produce bad writing. Thanks for your patience.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, zombies would have no intelligence or talking ability.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

While he was happy to be back in the shinobi continent, Naruto could not contain himself until he saw what had happened to his original home. Leaving a pair of clones at the border, Naruto uses his teleportation ability to break through the Quiraji border at the Land of Fire without being detected. After a day of travelling and avoiding patrols, it occurs to Naruto that he wouldn't be able to move further while the Quiraji forces are so condensed, so he works out an idea for a major distraction. With clever use of clones and a prepared lightning technique, Naruto was able to destroy the Quiraji's major port in the coastal line, though it drew the attention of a strange female Shouri that he hadn't encountered before. Fleeing the scene, Naruto spends a while avoiding her trackers, finding himself in a small town that had been turned into a military base. Using some…questionable methods, Naruto was able to discover a point of significant interest, though he found Shouri's pursuit difficult to shrug off, suffering several blows and scars in the process. Driving through the bodyguards at the entrance, Naruto broke into the Home of the Four. He saw a strange situation of a man in red breaking out of a glass tube and disappears before coming to a computer screen and was confronted with the voice of the Quiraji leader. Naruto baited him and was able to find out his name, Benkei, before the communication was cut and the building came down on top of him. Having gotten what he came for, Naruto used his Hiraishin technique to leave the country.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Hinata sighed loudly and placed her hands behind her head, letting the hot water settle on top of her body to help heal her sore muscles. It had been days since Naruto had left for their old home, and while it was hardly something she wasn't used to, she did sometimes tire of her husband going off on his own adventures.<p>

_Husband? Even after so long, it still feels weird to say. I wonder what Neji would say? _

Taking a long breath she undid the tie at the top of her head and let her head fall into the bath, it felt like a strange privilege to have a normal bath again she wasn't sure what to do first. She'd spent so much time in the makeshift 'ladies shower room' on the Dread Lady that she'd almost forgotten how to take a bath like a proper lady.

Though Naruto constantly finding ways to sneak into the shower room had made the efforts far more difficult than they should have been.

_I wouldn't mind if he tried that now. Could be interesting…_

As if summoning divine providence, Hinata watched as a bolt of lightning struck in the room and her husband appeared in the room in an instant. Naruto opened his eyes and immediately put a hand over them and turned to the door.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" Naruto frowned and pulled down his hand, "Wait, what am I doing? I'm allowed to see you naked."

Hinata chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest, allowing herself some modicum of dignity as the blonde shinobi turned around and smiled warmly as his bathing wife. She had to stop herself from launching out of the bathtub in concern as she saw the damage on his face, though her expression said everything she needed to.

Naruto could see the concern on her face and smiled, "It's okay, I'm okay. It's just a few scratches."

He watched as she gracefully got out of the tub and wrapped herself with a towel, reaching up with a hand to feel at his face gently. "My love, what did they do to you…"

Naruto's smile widened as he enjoyed her touch, "It's okay, I just got a bit careless, that's all."

"The Kyuubi didn't heal you?" she asked with a slight frown, running her hands over his face to see the top of his ear missing as well. The scar on his face she could live with, but that one was a bit much. She didn't say it, but if he didn't let her heal it now she would do it in his sleep.

Naruto could only shrug in response, "I dunno, I kind of like the nose one. It makes me look like Iruka-sensei."

His wife shook her head and dropped her hand to slip it into his, "I missed you…don't scare me like that again."

Naruto turned her around and hugged her from behind, leaning his head beside her face, "I won't, I promise."

"Are you going to join me in the bath?"

Her husband chuckled slightly, "I seem to recall a shy timid girl who would faint at the mere thought of doing anything like this."

"I can still be shy if I want to," said Hinata with a sly look, though she knew he didn't believe her. Their relationship was so difficult than how she had thought it could have been when they were Genin, and nothing like how she had fantasised about.

It was better.

"I will always have the memory of you standing on the front of the ship, topless, shouting at the rain and lightning to shut up so that we could have sex in peace and quiet."

Hinata could only shake her head; there would never be a way for her to get past that, particularly since her husband took great delight in reminding her. "I still say that was Grace's fault for spiking the rum. The captain took a particular pleasure in messing with the two of us."

"Keep telling yourself that honey, eventually it will be true. Let's get in the bath, my muscles are killing me."

* * *

><p>After an hour of perfectly wholesome married couple time, the two of them emerged from the bathroom, and Naruto kissed his wife goodnight as she left for their shared room and he got his bearings in the town the group was staying at. They'd hadn't had the chance to talk too much about where they were, as Naruto knew how tired she was.<p>

Besides, he liked walking around at night. It was soothing.

They were staying at a small village in the old Land of Fire near the very east, where the Quiraji had no presence, and after a few minutes it was clear they were living in an upper class part of the village. Naruto was impressed, he hadn't seen places like this in a long time, they had bathrooms for every bedroom.

He turned a corner and nearly jumped fifty feet in the air as he found himself confronted with the massive image of the giant Iwagakure Tailed Beast container. His brown eyes seemed to bear holes into Naruto's soul as he was staring at his red armour plates, and while he counted himself a big personality he felt like a tiny speck on the ground under his stare.

"You have returned," said Han with a deliberately slow tone.

Naruto stood his ground, it had been a long time since he'd been intimidated by someone and he wasn't about to let this man run over him. "Yes, I have. How have things been going with the group?"

"Adequate, for the time being. Perhaps with your return we shall move towards our main objective at a reasonable pace?"

The blonde shinobi had to resist showing Han the shiver running up his spine, "It looks likely."

Han slowly nodded and walked past the Nine-Tails container towards the rooms in the nearby corridor. Naruto watched him walk away before realising that he was holding his breath. He let it go with a gasp and spun around.

_Something about him just creeps me out. How did he become a Tailed Beast container?_

"_The same way anyone does. Either they are forced into it, or they chose to be so for personal power."_

_Do you know something about this Kyuubi?_

He heard a deep chuckle in his head as the Kyuubi failed to respond, telling Naruto everything he was ever going to get from the Tailed Beast. Sometimes the Kyuubi just drove him up the wall.

Naruto rubbed at his shoulders sorely, he was more tired than he realised. The bath had helped a bit, but he wasn't the kind of stamina machine he had been. He knew he should lie down in a bed and sleep for a good twelve hours or so, but Hinata had told him to speak to Gaara and he didn't make it a habit of ignoring his wife.

She tended to find out when he did, and he hated the expression on her face when she did.

After a few minutes of arguing with the reception lady, who kept calling him 'crazy blonde man', Naruto found his old companion's room number. He also discovered that their visit was being paid for by the ex-Mizukage, who appeared to have both deep pockets and a clever mind, they had all been given fake names and identities, and despite his previous absence Naruto had been included as well.

_This is a nice setup, though I'm surprised they didn't get further along while I was away. I was out for nearly three days, but they barely made it out of the Land of Tea. _

Naruto knocked at the Kazekage's door several times, but without a response he figured there was little chance he was actually inside. Remembering that Gaara rarely slept because of his Tailed Beast, he figured he would find him outside and he wasn't disappointed.

"It would appear that even after four years, you haven't changed," said Naruto with a grin, looking up to see Gaara sitting on the roof of the hotel, his gourd sitting at his side. "You were sitting in the same way back then too."

The Kazekage turned his gaze slowly down to his blonde friend, "Some things change, and some things stay the same. It is good to see you again, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto smiled as he leapt up to the roof and stood in front of the Sunagakure leader. "As with you, Gaara. We didn't get the chance to talk before I left, did we?"

The Kazekage's expression didn't change, but Naruto knew him well enough to see when the quiet shinobi was amused. "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Naruto. You always did your own thing, even when conventional wisdom dictated otherwise."

"I still say that was one of my better plans. It won me the fight and everything."

Despite himself, Gaara was unable to hide his frustration upon remembering their previous encounter. "Jumping into a sand cocoon covered in explosion tags is not what I would call a good plan, Naruto. You took far more damage than I did, and only caused me to transform further."

The blonde shrugged, nearly of them had been in a particularly good state during that battle, particularly at that stage. "Yes well, that was my plan and it worked didn't it? That's the main point."

"I gather you came here to discuss something other than the distant past though, am I right?"

Naruto nodded and took a seat beside him, "We have a lot to talk about."

Gaara motioned to him with an empty hand, "That we do. Anything in particular you want to start with?"

His old friend reached into his jacket and produced a metal flask, screwing it open and letting the powerful smell of the rum fill his nostrils. In stereotypical fashion both he and Hinata had developed a taste for the alcohol, though finding that particular vintage was difficult outside of the naval scene.

He handed the flask to Gaara with a characteristic grin, "So, you seeing anyone?"

Staring at the flask suspiciously, Gaara eventually grasped it and took a cautious sip, screwing up his face at the strength of the drink. "There is…gods, what was in that?" He coughed violently and handed back the flask to Naruto, who couldn't contain his laughter.

After recovering, Gaara shook his head and reassessed his friend's question. "As the Kazekage, I haven't had time to…indulge in such matters. We are fighting a war after all."

He never considered himself a student of psychology, but Naruto could tell more about his friend than anyone else, despite having really only known him for about a month. They shared a connection that he couldn't explain, even to his wife.

Naruto knew exactly what Gaara meant.

"What's her name?"

Gaara glared at him with dark eyes, it still annoyed him how the blonde shinobi could do that, even after all these years. He'd done the same thing in the hospital after their fight, and it had driven him up the wall then too.

"It's of no concern. She is a subordinate and it would be inappropriate."

Naruto scoffed and took a swig from his flask. His plan was to finish it off before the night was over, that way he wouldn't have to share it with his wife. Some things were meant for sharing, and others were not.

"Take advice from me, Gaara. Go for anything you can. People like us probably won't have the luxury of long lives."

The Kazekage stared at his companion again, his previous statement was truer than he had expected. Even now, Naruto surprised him. "That's true, I guess. Is that how you ended up with the heir to the Hyuuga clan? By 'going for it'?"

The Nine-Tails container chuckled, that was probably closer to the truth than he would have liked. "Something like that. I don't regret anything though, and I doubt you would either." He didn't need to say it, but they both knew what he really meant.

They were probably going to be dead at some point in the next few years.

"What happened in the Land of Fire?" asked Gaara, trying to change the subject.

"Before that, do you know anything about our friends? If you are the Kazekage surely you would have heard something about them?"

Naruto had to stop himself from wincing as Gaara thought about his question, considering what he and Hinata had to do to survive the separation of the group; he knew it was likely that some of them might not have made it.

Gaara took a long breath, there was a lot to tell and he didn't know where to even begin. "Anyone in particular you want to start with? I know a fair amount, Naruto."

That caused his companion to relax slightly; the look on Gaara's face didn't necessitate bad news. "Well everyone, but start with my old team. Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi?"

"They are all well. Uchiha Sasuke is currently fighting a rebellion in the Land of Earth, he's part of a rather strange group by normal standards. I believe Hatake Kakashi is with him, though I could not say for certain. They have both been through many trials."

Naruto felt relieved, he was glad the teme had found a place for himself. Kakashi he wasn't concerned about, his teacher always seemed to have a plan. "What about Sakura?"

"She works in Suna, as the head doctor of our hospital." Gaara breathed out slowly, "She has been through a lot…but she has a stubborn streak that reminds me of you sometimes. I know what it is like to not have a home, so I didn't have an issue providing one for her and the others."

"That she does," said Naruto, happy that Sakura was okay. "What about everyone else?"

"The Uchiha's brother is with him in the Land of Earth and the medical shinobi Shizune…I wouldn't even know how to explain her situation. Let's just keep it to saying she is safe and well."

Naruto drained the last of the rum in his flask and felt a great emptiness. He knew better than to ask why it was gone, the captain used to threaten him with lashes if he made that joke.

"Yamanaka Ino also works in the hospital with Sakura, I'll leave it to your wife to explain the details to you, we spoke rather extensively on the subject. Her teammate, the large one…we don't know where he is. I believe he is safe, but there is nothing else I can tell you about him."

Naruto was worried that he didn't know where Chouji was, but considering where Hinata and he had been sent, the Akimichi heir could be anywhere. "What about Shikamaru? How's he going?"

"He's doing well for himself, in a manner of speaking." Gaara indicated to the forehead protector that sat on his satchel, a relic of his younger days that he felt was appropriate given his lack of official uniform. "He is my top advisor in Sunagakure. He's now as much a Suna shinobi as he was a Konoha shinobi."

Naruto stared at him for a moment before bursting out into laughter. "Oh, that's just precious. I'll bet he hates it too. That's just like him to get into that kind of position."

Gaara had to agree, "He's also married to my sister."

"The crazy one?"

Despite agreeing with him, Gaara still gave him the look his comment deserved. "I only have one sister, Naruto."

The blonde shinobi put up his hands defensively, "And she was quite a beauty so I can see…" His sentence trailed off as the Kazekage's expression darkened further. "…I just mean that she was clearly a looker and Shikamaru isn't stupid…okay, let's just forget that I said anything, okay?"

Gaara nodded slowly, his friend was beginning to get it. "Rock Lee…is also doing his own thing. He liaisons with Suna occasionally, but he has his own reasons for attacking the Quiraji as furiously as he does."

Naruto grinned upon hearing that Lee was doing well, it sounded exactly like the kind of thing Lee would do. He made a habit of obsessing over things; it was something he rather liked about the taijutsu specialist's personality. He could have done without the sunset hugging and crying though.

"What about Hinata's cousin, Neji? He was the one that got injured in the Second Exam. If he's…dead…then I would have you tell me."

Gaara's face betrayed a slight hesitation, though Naruto didn't see it as a bad thing, he knew Gaara wouldn't lead him on.

"I couldn't even begin to explain how he managed it, as I don't know myself. But Neji is, for the time being, the First Otokage of the Hidden Village of the Sound, which has replaced Konoha as one of the Great Shinobi Villages."

"What?!" Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, it almost sounded like a joke. "Is he being controlled? I know our attack wasn't completely effective, but how could he have been captured? Surely he was right behind us…this doesn't make any sense…"

Gaara put up a hand to stop him from guessing, "It isn't like that at all. Hyuuga Neji…has become a powerful figure in the world in his own right. His village has thrived, and no-one knows how he did it. His supporters are loyal to him and he plays the game as well as any of us."

Naruto gave his companion a suspicious look, but he knew Gaara wasn't the kind of person to make jokes. "I guess things really have changed around here. What the hell did we miss?"

Gaara leaned forward slightly and clasped his hands together, "It isn't all good news, Naruto. Two of your teachers, Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai are both dead."

That brought a sad look onto Naruto's face; it now made sense why Hinata had been quiet earlier. He knew she had seen Kurenai as a second mother after her own died and her father had practically disowned her, but for them to have retired and then be killed made it even worse.

"Who…who killed them?"

Gaara stared at him intently, he wasn't sure Naruto would be able to understand the complexities of that issue without actually talking to the culprit herself. "The matter has been dealt with, that's all I can say. Before you ask, their daughter is safe and well with your old companion Ino."

"I guess it was too much to hope that we all would have been okay." Naruto sighed sadly, "It has been years since we've been together…" Naruto brought up a leg and leaned on his knee, staring into the night sky. "Why do we live in such a world? It would be so much better if no-one had to die."

"It's the fate of all shinobi," said Gaara quietly. "We don't have the luxury of quiet lives, even if we remove ourselves from the world. You know this, Naruto, even if you don't want to admit it."

"Yeah…" Naruto looked down at his hands, staring at the ring on his finger. He refused to entertain the idea of such a fate falling on his wife, even if it meant sacrificing himself in the meantime. "What are we meant to do? How can we protect the people we care about?"

Gaara thought back to his people, remembering the proud faces he had seen when he had returned home. He would sacrifice anything for them, which was partially why he was with this group in the first place; the benefit for his people was greater than what he could do from the village itself.

"We fight until our last breath, and then we fight some more. Your wife spoke on some of the battles you fought over the past few years; it sounds like you have already fought your share of the war."

Naruto felt at the scar on his nose, it was still tender from not having healed properly, "It wasn't enough though. People still died."

"People will always die, that can't be avoided. We can only delay it as much as possible. Save who we can."

The blonde shinobi let out a long sigh and stared up at the sky, "Sometimes I feel like I've aged a hundred years, and all I want to do is watch my kids grow old or something."

Gaara nodded grimly, "I know what you mean. Sometimes I lament the fact that these times are ours, but it couldn't have gone any other way."

"I guess you are right." Naruto looked at his friend with a sad expression, "I gather you didn't mention Shino because…"

"…he is, I'm sorry. He held out for as long as he could…"

"I understand," said Naruto. "He was a good guy. I feel awful that I never got to know him that well." He wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that three of the people he had been with were gone; it both saddened and angered him at the same time.

"You should speak to Hinata about it; she was quite disturbed by the news."

Naruto knew that she was hurting; he had seen it in her eyes before, but he had also sensed she wasn't ready to talk just yet. Hinata didn't share her grief unless she wanted to; they had only ever discussed her father and sister on a few occasions. He would wait for her and discuss it when she felt comfortable.

"I will, when I go back to our room. Is there anything else you can tell me about my friends?"

Gaara shook his head slowly, "Nothing in this kind of environment. There are too many ears for me to go into any specific details."

Naruto sighed again; he understood the need for secrecy. "I guess you want to know what happened in the Land of Fire, huh?"

"Judging from your appearance, you seemed to have a hard time."

His blonde friend let out a small chuckle, "That isn't the half of it."

oOoOoOo

Gaara waited for Naruto to finish his story and took in everything the Konoha shinobi had told him without suspecting him of making anything up. The blonde shinobi was occasionally prone to exaggeration, but Gaara could tell what he truly meant throughout his story.

"This talk of the Quiraji leaders is troubling indeed. When Shouri reappeared I was afraid that was the case, but she was so different from when the original was killed I thought he had just been replaced."

"Someone killed the original Shouri? Who?" Naruto and Hinata had fought the Quiraji leader years ago and it had nearly killed them, so anyone who could take him out deserved his respect and a few questions on how they did it.

"Uchiha Itachi did, about two years ago. He tracked him down in a massive battle and used his weaknesses against him. Itachi claimed that he was only able to do so because the leader was already damaged."

"Itachi, huh? That makes sense," smiled Naruto proudly, he was glad that Itachi had been able to exploit what he and Hinata had begun. It still wasn't clear how the female Shouri had come into being, but he was at least happy that the one that separated them was no longer a factor.

"Does that mean that red man had also been killed?"

"No more than a month ago," said Gaara with a drawn out sigh. "It wasn't easy, and it took some extreme measures by Rock Lee to take her down. If she has already been replaced…I hate to think what he is capable of."

Naruto slammed a fist into his open hand, "We'll take them all down."

"Never lacking in enthusiasm, are you?"

His blonde companion grinned widely in response, "Never."

Gaara thought back over Naruto's story, there were a few things that still bothered him. "Do you think this person calling himself Benkei is the real leader of the Quiraji?"

Naruto dropped his grin and remembered the conversation he had had with the computer screen. "I don't know, though I doubt that is his real name. But I think that it's something we should keep to ourselves. He hasn't waited to reveal himself until now for any good reason. It was probably to rattle our cages and cause disruption."

"Or cause us to unite so he could crush us in a single blow. It would probably be good to inform your old Hyuuga companion about it though, besides my own village his village is on the forefront of the war and the most intelligence on the Quiraji themselves."

"I'll talk to Hinata about it, but we'll want to go see him after this regardless. He's the only family she has left, whatever their previous history she still loves him like a sibling."

Reaching out with a hand, Gaara indicated to the small ring on Naruto's hand, "He isn't the only family she has, Naruto. You should remember that."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Naruto sheepishly. It still didn't feel real.

"What bothers me is this talk of an invasion force heading towards Kirigakure. What did you say the name of the commander was?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, he had tried to block that memory so that his wife didn't find out how he came about the information. "I think it was Kyou…something. I didn't recognise the name, but judging by the serious nature of the note I would say he is someone dangerous."

"Was it Kyoukou? That's one of the main Quiraji leaders, Naruto. I told you about him, remember? He's the one making the deal with the fake Mizukage and the reason for this whole mission."

Naruto frowned for a moment before failing to remember the conversation they'd had completely. "I guess that must have slipped my mind. Regardless, I know this is a serious concern for us specifically. The others have to be told."

The Kazekage hesitated in responding, that one piece of information changed everything about their current objective. If one of the Four was on the move, they had to avoid them at all costs. The only reason he had survived the Kage summit was because of Lee's timely intervention. He had no doubt Sensou would have been able to take out everything there without being so much as threatened, and she was the scientist of their organisation.

He didn't dare hope that the Quiraji negotiator was a weaker opponent. They didn't have that kind of luck.

"Do we tell the others?"

Gaara thought about it for a moment before shaking his head and standing up and picking his gourd up with one hand. "Not yet. It's possible they allowed you to acquire this information to put us off, though I find that unlikely. It doesn't hurt to be cautious, particularly with so much at stake."

Naruto looked at him for a moment before letting out a long breath and standing up beside his friend. He wasn't a complete fool; he could tell what Gaara was really saying. "I guess you're right. If we say something now, the others might give up without hearing us out."

Not one to smile much, Gaara afforded himself a slight smirk, "It's no wonder people underestimate you, Naruto. You are never given the credit you deserve."

His friend could only chuckle in response, "Hinata's been telling me that for years."

He stole a glance back at his ring again before turning back to Gaara with a knowing smile, "You should really try and find someone, Gaara. Maybe that girl you were talking about earlier."

"Maybe," said Gaara, with no confidence whatsoever. "My focus is otherwise occupied at the moment."

"Don't let that stop you," said Naruto as the two of them jumped down to the ground. "For us, life is too short."

"That it is."

* * *

><p>The group seemed to accept Naruto's return without much frivolity, though he found himself demonstrating his ability to use the Hiraishin as to explain his sudden reappearance. Both the Kumogakure shinobi and Roshi from Iwagakure recognised the technique immediately, and after some quick probing he unintentionally revealed who his father had been.<p>

Gaara was initially surprised at the revelation, but he was more surprised to see Roshi walk forward and grab at the Nine-Tails container's jacket dramatically.

"What is your problem?" asked Naruto, though he could see that the Four-Tails container wasn't exactly angry with him, more annoyed than anything else.

"Your father killed a lot of my friends in the last war, boy. Perhaps I should avenge them here and now."

Naruto slowly reached up and grasped at the older man's hand, using his physical energy to peel away his grip with little effort. "That was a time of war."

"And that excuses his actions?!"

Both Gaara and Hinata stood by Naruto's side, while the others of the group took a cautious step back.

At the back of the confrontation, Yagura bit at his lip in annoyance, he was worried that bringing shinobi from different villages together would cause these kinds of conflicts, but his occupant had been adamant that the Tailed Beasts participate in saving his home.

"We can't afford to fight here, you guys," said Fu, who hated any kind of conflict on general principle.

Naruto and Roshi stared at each other intently, but both recognised that now was not the time. The group had only just come into the east side of the Land of Fire that beside the ocean, and they didn't have as much time as they would have liked.

Eventually the blonde shinobi relaxed his composure and reached out with a hand in a peaceful manner, "After this mission, you can come at me and we will fight it out like true shinobi. Until then, we will have to work together."

The red haired shinobi glared down at his hand for a few seconds before snorting and walking past him, shoving him with his shoulder and forcing him to stumble backwards slightly.

"Sleep with one eye open, Konoha boy."

Naruto frowned and turned around to watch him walk in the direction they were going, not sure what he was meant to make of him.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Gaara beside him.

Hinata placed a concerned hand on her husband's shoulder, but Naruto gave both of them a reassuring nod. With the situation temporarily resolved, the group moved out again, though things were no less tense between them.

After a few minutes Naruto decided he should speak to the organiser of their group, walking up to the front to walk beside the young-looking ex-Mizukage.

"Something on your mind?" asked Yagura, still not sure what he was meant to make of the container of the Nine-Tails. He had encountered the previous container of the Kyuubi on several occasions, and he could tell the similarities between the two of them.

"I don't know if you've already told the others, but I'd like to know where we are going."

"They haven't asked," admitted Yagura, though he knew that was no excuse. He'd been deliberately keeping the group from reaching the place he was aiming for before Naruto returned, as he didn't want to cross the ocean without full group and he wasn't sure whether the blonde shinobi would even return in time.

As they walked along the road, Yagura pulled out a small map and handed it to Naruto. "The borders of the Land of Fire have obviously changed, but the best place to cross the ocean and move on to the Land of Water is at this small island to the east of the Land of Fire."

Naruto stared at the map for a few seconds before his eyes widened and a smile crept onto his face. "The Wave Country…man, it's been way too long…"

The ex-Mizukage frowned at his companion, "You've been there before?"

His smile widened as he handed the map back to their de facto leader. "It was one of my first missions as a Genin. The others might not be here, but I'm sure the friends I made would be happy to welcome us in."

Yagura hesitated, and Naruto noticed it immediately. "What? What is it?"

"I guess there is no easy way to say this. Naruto, the Wave Country was one of the first places hit once Konoha disappeared. They fought back…but they didn't stand a chance."

Naruto stopped in his tracks and stared down at the dirt in front of him with a horrified look on his face. "That…that can't be true. We…we were nearby, we could have helped them…"

Yagura turned around as the group started to catch up with them, "They aren't the only ones, Naruto. The civilians of all the land have suffered as much as the shinobi have."

Naruto nodded slowly, he understood that much but that didn't help. "They weren't fighters; they had nothing to do with this whole thing. Why were they killed and we weren't? Where is the justice in that?"

The short Tailed Beast container looked at Naruto with a serious gaze, "How long have you been a shinobi, Naruto?"

"A number of years, why?"

"As someone who has a significant number of years on you, both as a shinobi and as a leader, I can tell you what you should already know. The only justice that exists is one that you create for yourself. There are some things we cannot control, and people we can't protect."

Naruto let out a long sigh, he already knew that. The destruction of Konoha had taught him that, but nearly losing the one he loved had given him perspective.

After a few moments, Naruto started to walk again, his fists clenched by his side. "Do we have time to stop off at a certain fishing village before we move on? I'd like to pay my respects."

"Of course," said Yagura, feeling bad for his new friend. "But not for long, every day that man is in charge of my village is another day they fall into chaos."

oOoOoOo

They eventually came to the bridge that was named after the Kyuubi container, but there was almost nothing about it that he recognised. The place where they had written the name of the bridge had been taken down and it had clearly fallen into disrepair, despite being only four years old. Naruto found himself shaking with anger, and he only calmed down when Hinata slipped a hand into his and held onto him tightly, providing the comforting environment he needed.

He couldn't see the village from the Land of Fire side of the bridge, but judging from the exterior of the bridge and the areas around it, Naruto already knew what had happened.

They had burnt the whole place down, and left it for ashes.

"What have they done…"

"We should keep moving," said Yugito, looking around the area quickly. "I can't smell anything, but we can't be sure of anything here."

The others didn't seem so sure, but they recognised that she was probably better at detection than the rest of them. Looking around at the group, Yagura figured most of them were hard hitters in combat, though over the past few days of travel and discussion he had been able to work their skills into his plan. At first they had been resistant to him not revealing his complete plan, but the older members of their group had understood that he had his reasons.

Walking over the bridge, the group of Tailed Beast containers made their out of the old Land of Fire into the ruins of the old Wave Country. The village that Naruto had come to know before he had departed to Suna for the Chuunin Exams was nowhere to be seen, but after nearly an hour of travel Naruto began to recognise specific landmarks like the forest he had learned how to climb trees in, and the rivers he had swum in to recover his strength.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Hinata, worried about her husband's grief over his lost friends.

Naruto took in a long breath and pointed to a cliff facing overlooking the larger destroyed area. "I…I want to check something out."

She squeezed his hand tightly, "I'll come with you, okay?"

Her husband smiled in response and they both turned to the group leader, who nodded slowly.

"We should check out the area anyway," said Utakata, feeling a bit left out of the group. He had kept to himself for the most part, though the younger girl of the group had taken an unnatural interest in him and it was getting more and more difficult to keep her at bay.

"There is something up ahead," said Fu, not needing to make a handseal for three pairs of insect wings to appear on her back. "I'm gonna go have a look."

Pulling out his weapon, Utakata blew out a bubble and stood on top of it to float beside her, "You shouldn't go alone."

The two of them flew ahead of the group, while Naruto and Hinata moved towards the cliff he had indicated to earlier.

"Not the most cohesive group, is it?" said Roshi dryly, watching the two groups go their own way.

"They'll work well together when it comes down to the wire," said Yagura, though he wasn't sure how true that would actually be. "We'll cross tomorrow."

"So we have to find somewhere to stay then?" said Gaara, taking a slow breath as he looked around at the devastation around them. "That may not be easy."

Killer Bee indicated to the sky with his pen, "The two birds are coming back; they must have found some place to nest."

"Good, I could use a bath," said Yugito, running a hand through her hair. "This weather is making my hair all greasy…"

"You never cared about your looks in the past, Yugito," observed Killer Bee with a measure of surprise. "Perhaps you are more feminine than I thought."

The feline Tailed Beast container ignored Killer Bee's baiting; she knew he was just looking for attention. "Let's get moving."

As they began moving closer to the ocean, they were joined again by Fu and Utakata, though their news was not good.

"The only place around is a settlement that looks only a few months old," said Fu, letting her wings fold into her back. "There isn't anything resembling a hotel, just some broken down buildings and makeshift houses."

"And the people are not residents of the area," added Utakata. "They bear a resemblance to people who used to live in the Land of Fire."

The Kazekage frowned upon hearing that, "How can you tell?"

"My Tailed Beast has that ability," lied Utakata. He didn't want them to know that he recognised some of the people from his exile.

Gaara wasn't able to argue with that, though he wondered what that meant. "They must be refugees. We should make ourselves known so they don't think we are here to hurt them."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, though Han kept any comments he had to himself as usual.

oOoOoOo

Naruto stared at the two graves with a frown on his face, "This doesn't make sense."

Looking at the crosses on the edge in front of them, Hinata wasn't sure what he meant. She didn't recognise the names on the crosses, though Naruto didn't speak much about the C-rank mission he had done before leaving for the Chuunin Exams.

"Did you know these two?"

Her husband took a long breath and stepped back to stand by her side, "I helped kill them, in a manner of speaking."

Hinata didn't say anything in response; she knew she didn't need to.

"This is where I decided to follow my own path, to make my own 'way of the ninja'. They seem like such empty words now…"

"Don't say that Naruto, you've done amazing things because of your way of the ninja. If it weren't for you, I would be dead several times over, and so would a good number of others."

Naruto turned to her with a sad look on his face, "But I couldn't save them all. What good am I if I can't do that?"

His wife reached up and slowly touched his face before tracing her hands over his healed ear and onto the back of his neck. "You are my husband, and the strongest person I know. We need you Naruto, just like you need us. I'll always be here for you, and that is that."

Naruto smiled slowly, "You always know how to cheer me up."

"That's one of a wife's jobs, remember?"

After a few moments Naruto shook his head in confusion as he realised what had been wrong earlier. "Someone has been here."

His wife slowly moved a hand to his shoulder and stared at the graves, "You know they have, Naruto. That's how all this happened here."

"No, that's not what I meant," said Naruto, indicating to a hole in the ground in front of the rightmost grave. "When we buried Zabuza and Haku here, I put the large Executioner Blade in front just here. But it isn't here anymore."

"The Quiraji wouldn't be interested in a shinobi weapon…" observed Hinata. "They seem to despise everything about us."

"It doesn't matter, I guess," said Naruto. "It isn't as if Inari or old man Tazuna were given proper burials either…"

"Would you like to do that now? We have time."

Naruto shut his eyes and smiled sadly, "Yeah. That sounds good."

* * *

><p>Deep into the night, huddling in the side of the broken alley, the young woman stared up at him with a confused look on her face, as her younger brother clutched at her legs.<p>

"Such an odd specimen…" muttered Han, reaching down with a gloved hand towards her face. "If I still had my lab I would've loved to spend time getting to know you, but unfortunately such is not the case."

"Uh…what do you want?" stammered the terrified woman, recoiling from the thought of his touching her face. "We didn't do anything wrong did we? If it's about Niki stealing that loaf of bread he didn't mean it! We were just so hungry…"

Han withdrew his hand and crossed his hands over his chest. "Your theft, whether true or not, bares no consequence with me. Your presence here, however, does. It is curious that you were allowed to survive where others were not. Most curious…"

"Don't you touch my sister!" yelled the little boy, removing himself from her leg and standing up as tall as he could, up to Han's waist.

The Tailed Beast container furrowed his brow and uncrossed his arms, placing a hand towards the boy's head as if to push him away. To his credit the boy stood his ground, though it didn't matter as the gloved hand touched the top of his head.

The boy burst into a column of steam and disappeared in a manner of seconds.

He didn't make a peep.

The young woman opened her mouth to scream but Han reached out and grabbed at her throat, causing her to choke and sputter before he released his grip and placed her firmly on the ground. She tried to scream again, but found her voice lost in her throat.

Han's eyes showed his amusement, "I cut your vocal cord with a chakra knife. Interesting that even without chakra that still works. Most curious…"

The woman seemed to shake in fear, and if Han was a normal shinobi the look she gave him would have broken his heart.

Luckily for him, that wasn't a problem.

"Now, I already have all the male specimens I need, but I'd rather fit my correlation with a female group. As you are in relatively short supply, I have to take what I can get."

He placed his hands together into a handseal and a large scroll appeared at his side. Changing his handseal, the scroll began to unravel and cover the young woman. With the loss of her voice she seemed to be unable to resist him, which suited him just fine.

"There is much work to be done…"

oOoOoOo

Han threw his bloody scalpel into the metal pan besides the slab and began writing on his notepad with a frown on his face. He did the math, and then did it again just to be sure before closing it and shoving it into his back pocket.

"No point in conducting any more experiments."

He looked down at the body, unable to see her as the woman he had taken from the makeshift village.

_You tried to hide them, but I found out all your secrets. _

Clapping his hands together he watched as the body dissolved in acidic steam, Han found himself wondering if it was too late to get something decent to eat. He couldn't expect reasonable cuisine in such a pathetic excuse for a settlement, but by the time he sorted things out here getting even the sludge of the masses would be a task.

_It'll be an interesting conversation if the other Tailed Beast containers discovered my work. It's a crude setup, but effective. _

Once he confirmed her body was completely gone, Han pulled out a tag and threw it into the middle of the small room. One of the advantages of his armour and mask is that he couldn't smell the horrible stench within the room he had temporarily 'acquired'.

The Tailed Beast container placed his hand inside his vest as was his habit and walked out to the main part of the settlement. He took in a deep breath; there was a nice taste of moisture in the night air that filtered through his mask.

With a small burst of chakra, he set the tag alight within the room. Any evidence of his experiments was going up in flames, a speciality of his to be able to destroy the insides without burning down the actual building itself. He knew people wouldn't understand why he did the things he did, but Han didn't answer to them.

He didn't answer to anyone.

The only thing that matters was his curiosity.

* * *

><p>It was barely an hour's walk to the coast from the settlement, so when they came to the end of the ocean Yagura decided it was time.<p>

"This is the border between the Wave Country and the Land of Water. If anyone isn't committed to this mission, speak your peace now. After this, we will be completely in enemy territory."

"Don't oversell it, ex-Mizukage," said Yugito. "Let's just do this thing. We've wasted enough time already."

The others in the group echoed her sentiment, which Yagura had to confess he agreed with. Now that his goal was in sight it almost felt unreal.

"Am I the only one that thought those people were a bit odd?" asked Fu, wringing her hands together slowly. "They were strangely quiet and nervous."

"Yeah, I noticed those people were pretty weird too," said Killer Bee. "They didn't crunch on my rhymes like normal people should."

Some of the group already groaned, over the past few days they had been exposed to the large man's 'music', and like any reasonable person they had yearned for earplugs the moment he started.

"Did you notice anything?" asked Naruto of his young wife.

Hinata thought about it for a moment, "They were scared of us, that much was clear. They were forced out of the Land of Fire, out of their homes. What else do you expect?"

"No, I think there was something actually wrong with them," said Fu. "They weren't like the people in the Land of Tea. Something was different."

From the outside of the group, Han took a small step closer inwards, "That's because they are different. They cannot use chakra. That is why they were spared. They might as well be Quiraji civilians by comparison to normal civilians."

"How do you know that?" asked Roshi, staring at his Iwagakure companion suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter; the point is it is true. The Quiraji are repurposing the land and its people for their own benefits. They intend to stay."

The others weren't entirely convinced of his statement, but the two leaders knew he was right. Everything their enemy had done so far seemed to be towards that goal.

"This is worse than we thought," said Gaara, taking a glance at a young couple whispering to themselves near the middle of the settlement. "It may come to a point where the civilians turn against us."

He was reminded of Naruto's Uchiha friend and Cascading Flow's rebellion against Iwagakure. Having heard why they were fighting from the daughter of the leader herself, he found himself agreeing with their actions. If he didn't think he needed Iwagakure for the war, he would support their efforts. No-one deserved that kind of treatment.

At the side of the group, Naruto's eyes unfocused, it was clear his occupant wanted to speak to him, and it wasn't going to wait for a pause in the group's conversation to do so.

"_You have to be wary of that one, boy. He is not what he seems."_

_What the hell does that mean, Kyuubi? Sure he's creepy, but he hasn't done anything wrong. _

He could almost hear the Kyuubi roll its eyes at him within his head.

"_Like always, you know nothing. When we were split apart each of us was a specific aspect of the greater beast." _

The Kyuubi flashed an image in front of Naruto's eyes, showing him the same array of creatures he had seen in the previous battle he had shown him. As if demonstrating its point, the Kyuubi appeared in a female human form and motioned to the Tailed Beasts one at a time.

"_Shukaku, the sand raccoon, was its madness. Matatabi, the fiery cat, was its agility. Isobu, the great turtle, was its ferocity. Son Goku, the lava ape, was its strength. Saiken, the slimy slug, was its endurance. Choumei, the armoured insect, was its deceptiveness. Gyuki, the ugly ox, was its brutality. I was its rage, in case that wasn't obvious."_

Naruto nodded to himself, most of the information was completely meaningless to him, but the Kyuubi seemed to be talking and that was enough for him. It was interesting to hear the names of the Tailed Beasts, though he found it was intriguing that the Kyuubi didn't say its own name. Naruto wasn't sure whether the Kyuubi was his ally or enemy, though he knew that at the end of things he would probably have to fight the Tailed Beast.

_You missed one. That horse…thing._

The human Kyuubi nodded with a snarl, _"I was getting to that. That is Kokuou. It was the beast's ambition."_

_And this matter to me how exactly?_

The image disappeared from in front of his eyes and the Kyuubi made a sound that Naruto wouldn't dream of repeating to anyone outside of his mind.

"_This is a creature that nearly destroyed the world, boy. What do you think a creature with that kind of ambition would do?"_

Naruto's eyes refocused on the group in front of him, but he found himself looking at Han with a deeper level of suspicion than before. He took everything the Kyuubi said with a massive grain of salt, but he couldn't help but wonder what it meant if the Kyuubi was telling the truth.

"The people won't turn on us unless they are given no other option," said Yagura, though the news disturbed him greatly. "It would take years for that to happen, and I doubt this will last that long."

"You seriously think we'll be able to beat them in such a short period of time?" asked Utakata with a suspicious look on his face.

"Or we'll all be dead," said Roshi dryly. "Doubt it'll be any kind of middle ground."

"I wouldn't put it that way, but it isn't inaccurate either," said Yagura, giving the Four-Tails container a glare before turning back to the group. "Either way, we have to cross the ocean here to get to Kirigakure. Now here is my plan…"

"Ah, you guys should know something first," said Naruto.

oOoOoOo

"I don't understand, what are you guys trying to say?"

Naruto held back a frown and turned his gaze to the young girl, "There is a force of Quiraji soldiers moving towards our target, led by one of their leaders. That's what we mean."

Fu rolled her eyes, "You don't have to sound so happy about it…"

"Something about that has been bothering me," interjected Hinata, causing the group to turn. "If the Quiraji are going to attack Kirigakure, won't that require them to cross the ocean?"

"Ah, that's a good point," said Yagura, placing a hand to his chin. "Perhaps there is an opportunity for us to…hmm…"

"They aren't like us, they can't walk on water," commented Gaara, seeing where the ex-Mizukage's line of thought was going. He was concerned that Yagura wasn't showing any worry over his village being attacked, though he reckoned that was because he had already anticipated that move.

"They'll need ships to fly on," said Killer Bee at the back, scratching at the side of his face. "So they'll probably have a port set up on the coast."

Several of the group began discussing the idea of destroying the port before they could get their main force to it, but Yagura dismissed the idea out of hand.

"What? Why not?" protested Fu, resisting the urge to stand a foot at the absurdity of being told what to do by the young-looking Tailed Beast container. "They wouldn't be able to attack without ships."

Thinking about it, Naruto already knew what they were planning to do. He turned to Gaara with a frown, "That's pretty risky, Gaara, even for us."

The Kazekage didn't smile, but his eyes betrayed his amusement. "You sound almost scared, Naruto."

Naruto's face broke out into a grin that would have been more appropriate to his occupant's. "Excited, Gaara. Excited. Sounds interesting. I volunteer."

At the side of their little group, the Four-Tails container spat on the ground in frustration, "If you brats are done whispering, maybe you can tell the rest of us what you are planning?"

"He's right, we are meant to be working together," said Yugito.

The others echoed her statement, caused the ex-Mizukage to put up his hands to stop them. "Okay, okay. Killer Bee is right; the Quiraji will have to cross the sea using ships from the nearby port. We could take out the port, but then there would be a very angry Quiraji force that would take out their frustrations on the people in the area."

"We can't allow that," said Naruto. "These people are under our protection, regardless of country."

"A nice sentiment," said Han slowly. "But one that will get you killed. These people are a burden, nothing more."

Many of the group gave him a suspicious gaze, but some of them found themselves agreeing with him.

"Regardless of what we think, there is an opportunity here," said Gaara. He indicated in front of the group to the ocean, "The Quiraji army will have to spend at least a day travelling on the sea, and during this time…"

"We can attack them without discretion!" interrupted Fu with a jump. The group all stared at her with concern, causing the young woman to blush in embarrassment and withdraw her enthusiasm.

As opposed to the others, Naruto smiled, she reminded him of himself. "She's right though, it's the best chance we have to do some serious damage. I'll lead the attack."

"No, Naruto, you are no good in the ocean, remember?" said Hinata, trying to sound as soothing as possible.

Her husband bit at his lip in frustration, she was right as usual. "Then who?"

Yagura frowned, "I'm the best in the water, but I'm needed at the village, otherwise we won't get in at all. We need a few of us to hold off the Quiraji while we sort out the trouble in Kirigakure."

"Why not attack with all of us then move onto the village?" asked Utakata, wary of splitting up their group. 'Splitting up is how people get killed."

The ex-Mizukage took a deep breath, he hadn't wanted to reveal this, but it was clear that they would find out anyway and he needed their help. There wasn't anyone else.

"When I was the Mizukage, I was under the influence of a man who I did not know. He was immensely powerful and persuasive, and he is the one who has taken direct control of the village."

"I'm failing to see what this has to do with splitting up the group," said Yugito.

"He's trying to hand control of the village over to the Quiraji. If they get control of the village, they can use shinobi in battle against us, without worrying about their own casualties. There was also something I couldn't make out, but this move is part of their endgame, and we can't let that happen."

That caused the group to quiet down as they tried to process what that meant. If Kirigakure was removed from the war, it would turn from a hard fight to an impossible fight overnight.

Gaara kept the fact that he highly doubted the Quiraji had the ability to convert shinobi again with both Sensou dead and the facility destroyed to himself, he could see that this only compounded the group's motivation to help the beguiled village.

"We have to take him out then," said Naruto after a few moments. "So how do we do this? Anyone have any ideas?"

There were only a few.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I don't want to say this was a filler chapter, because it really wasn't, but I know there wasn't too much going on in this chapter. Unfortunately I'd forgotten how difficult it is to write with a cast of ten or more characters in a scene at once and give justice to them all.

I wasn't sure whether I went too far with the scene with Han, there are levels of description that I won't go to, but I think I conveyed what I needed to without breaking the rating. What do you guys think?

I want to get this out there. I thought Tobi was a good villain, until his identity was revealed, then it was dumb. I don't intend on doing that. I know I said he wouldn't be in this story quite early on, but I changed my mind as I was writing it. However he won't be how he is in the manga. All I can say is that I want to do the character some justice that I feel the main story didn't provide.

I just came up with the best idea for a Bonus Chapter ever. I can't wait to write it, though I'll keep with my schedule and put it up after the 60th. Gods, I can't believe there have been so many chapters. I clearly have a problem.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	63. Chapter 58 Offense and Defence

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 58 – Offense and Defence

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Team 7 dynamics would make sense.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Naruto returned from his side mission to the Land of Fire and found the group had been slowly moving towards their target, waiting for his return before they moved properly onwards. After an unsettling meeting with Han, he spoke at length to Gaara about the current circumstances of his old Konoha companions. He also discussed his mission, and they decided there were some things they would share with the others and some they would keep to themselves for the time being. The group then moved on to their initial destination in the Wave Country, and Naruto was saddened to see that it was one of the first victims of the Quiraji invasion, with nothing remaining of the village and friends he had made on his first C-rank mission. While the group of Tailed Beast containers took a momentary break for the night, Han went on a personal mission to discover the reason behind the odd behaviours of the civilians of the new settlement. He used some questionable research methods, but got the results he was after nonetheless. As the group moved to the ocean limit, they discussed the fact that a large Quiraji force is moving towards Kirigakure, and how it impacted their mission.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>"It's strange working with other people again," said Utakata, bobbing up and down on his floating bubble. "I'm not sure I'll be very good at it."<p>

"You've been on your own for a long time?"

Utakata turned to his companion, "You could say that, yes. I'm afraid that's why I'm not the most sociable person of our little band."

Floating beside the Six Tails container, Gaara slowly shook his head. "By our nature, we are removed from other people. You have more in common with us than anyone else in this world."

"I guess you're right. This, on the other hand, this is something else entirely. Whose idea was this again?"

Gaara had to agree, but even while he sat on his floating sand he admitted that he was interested to see how this would play out. "You did volunteer for this mission. Regretting your decision?"

"It isn't like there was anyone else who could do this kind of thing. Even you being here is a bit of a stretch. I mean this is hardly your kind of battlefield."

Looking around at their chosen field of battle, Gaara admitted it wouldn't have been exactly where he wanted to make a stand like they were planning, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. He wasn't going to let the Village of Water Tailed Beast container fight an army on his own.

Extending the sand he was sitting on to a larger mass, Gaara reached onto his belt and produced a small scroll. He opened it and pushed in a small amount of chakra, letting four puffs of smoke appear on the sand around him.

Utakata nodded his approval of the move as the puffs of smoke revealed four gourds identical to the one sitting on the Kazekage's back. "Good thing you came prepared."

"I offered to accompany you because of my aerial fighting capabilities," said Gaara, placing the now-empty scroll back on his belt. "I wasn't going to let you battle these foes on your own."

The bubble-user stared at the confident young man, wondering how someone like them had gotten to such a high position in their world. "You've really got things under wraps, don't you? How do you deal with the distrust of your people because of the thing inside you?"

Gaara stared out over the vast ocean in front of them, his third eye had shown him that the Quiraji force had reached the port and were beginning to board. It was only a matter of time before they sailed straight into the two of them, and that was when the real battle would happen.

"It hasn't all been easy," said Gaara, recognising the kind of pain he was really talking about. "It took a rather violent wake-up call by a good friend, and several years of struggling to gain their trust before I was even accepted in my village, let alone made the Kazekage."

"You should consider yourself lucky. I was exiled from my village long before any of that could happen." Utakata reached into his shirt and pulled out his weapon, "How long?"

"Few hours, little more."

The Six Tails container closed his eyes and concentrated on moulding as much chakra as he thought would be necessary. "Anything else I need to know about?"

Gaara crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the impatience of his occupant.

"They have a lot more soldiers than we had estimated."

"Fantastic."

* * *

><p>Sitting on a smooth rock with her knees up near her chin, Hinata observed the group she had joined with interest. Rather than feeling like the odd one out due to her lack of a monster within her belly, her personality and demeanour allowed her to be accepted without any obvious problems, particularly with the two female Tailed Beast containers of the group.<p>

Fu was almost insufferably cute and energetic, but Hinata saw the look she occasionally wore when she thought no-one was looking. The same look Naruto used to get, one that he had tried to hide from her.

A yearning for a place to exist without wearing a mask. Something Hinata was not entirely unsympathetic to. Both her and her husband had had similar experiences.

Yugito, on the other hand, simply oozed confidence. She walked with her back straight as if she had something to prove, but the hard look in her eyes said that she had already proved it to the person who mattered most to her, and everything else was simply white noise. Hinata admired her, particularly with how she dealt with her louder Kumogakure companion. She had grown more and more confident over the years, but she always felt like there were greater thresholds to overcome.

Of course Yugito was naturally suspicious of her, but Hinata was a well-versed judge of character and she knew what she really felt when she looked at her and her husband. It was only natural considering how close they were to each other.

The last of their little side group was almost a complete mystery to her, even after trying to get to know the man who had organised their get-together and orchestrated the plan. Despite looking the youngest of the entire group by a good measure of years, Yagura spoke with the strength of someone who had truly been the leader of a village of shinobi, and even death couldn't stop him from trying to protect his people. In his eyes, Hinata could see how many wars he had fought.

But his real agenda was unknown to her, and while Naruto was quick to trust the ex-Mizukage, Hinata was not so sure. Anyone willing to allow outsiders to invade and attack their own village and people was someone to be wary of.

"How long do we have to wait?" asked Fu, waving her legs absentmindedly.

Yagura looked up at the young girl, trying to keep his eyes at the rock she was sitting on rather than at her legs where she once again didn't seem aware that she was wearing a skirt.

"When the village perceives a threat, they activate a number of their defences and pull their forces back inside the village to repel the invaders. The civilians are escorted out of the village by an ANBU contingent while the Mizukage commands the army.

"A good plan of defence," said Hinata, recognising the similarities to Konoha's defence plans. "How does this relate to us?"

Yagura indicated with a thumb to a large rock formation behind them, "Underneath these rocks is the escape tunnel, one that leads to the underground complex where the civilians are being held. In case the village is completely taken over, the civilians are taken through the tunnel to another complex far away for safety."

Just by hearing that, the women of the group could see where his plan was leading.

"So we sneak in, take out the ANBU, use their disguises to infiltrate the village, and take out the Mizukage?" Hinata admitted it wasn't a bad plan, though there was one thing that bothered her. "How dangerous are these ANBU shinobi going to be?"

"Extremely," said Yagura. "They tend to be taken from the elite of the elite. Even when I was being controlled, he placed a priority on the safety of our civilians."

"Tell us about this female Mizukage," asked Yugito, the only one standing guard in the group. "What is she like? Is she worth saving?"

Yagura let out a deep sigh. That took some explaining, though they did have time to spare until the other team began their part of the mission.

"Mei Terumi was a promising ANBU warrior during my time as the Mizukage. Even though my actions were being dictated by another, I was still aware of the things that were going on around me. She was virtuous and strong, if a bit too ambitious. It was one of her subordinates who discovered the man manipulating me, and Terumi herself who turned the shinobi against me in a single masterful stroke."

"You don't sound bitter at all," observed Hinata, able to read the ex-Mizukage's emotions easily enough. He wasn't hiding them at all.

Yagura shook his head, "For some of the things I did, I deserved what I got. She is a true leader of people, someone deserving of the position of the Mizukage."

"Sounds like a woman after my own heart," said Yugito with a sly grin. "And now she is being controlled like you were?"

"No, nothing like I was, otherwise the other shinobi of the village would suspect it immediately. I'm working on second-hand information for the most part, but I believe she was imprisoned and replaced with what amounts to a clone without the village noticing."

"Gaara said she was fairly regal at the Kage Summit," said Hinata. "Though in the battle that followed she was less than impressive."

"I don't know how he is doing it, but the man is manipulating the village again for his own purposes. I want to remove him from power more than anything, but what happens afterwards will be up to the shinobi of Kirigakure."

Yugito stared at the young-looking Tailed Beast container, "So we take out this person, reinstate the woman as Mizukage, and everything is sorted out?"

"It won't be that easy, but in a manner of speaking, yes."

"This is so boring!" said Fu, lying down on her back with a thump. "Why did you pick me for this group? I could have helped Utakata and that dull-looking one on the ocean. I can fly too, you know."

Yagura looked up at her with a frown; he disliked being questioned so carelessly. "There are four ANBU guards that escort the civilians, so I needed four people. You are a particularly skilled individual, and I believe your skills are more suited to infiltration than large scale combat."

Fu let out a loud sigh, "You could have just said that. Think you might be chasing skirts with this group though, young boy."

Hinata chuckled at the thought, while Yugito didn't seem to care at all. To his credit, Yagura didn't fluster or show any embarrassment, instead turning to the other two women in his group.

"Yugito, you are well known as the hunter of your village, and I believe your tracking skills will be very helpful here. If the man flees, we will need to track him down."

The Kumogakure shinobi shrugged, she was reserving judgement about the plan for the time being.

Their leader turned to Hinata, "I hadn't calculated on your appearance initially, but your Byakugan will likely be the most useful asset to our mission. With some luck, you might be able to find Mei and we can enlist her help to overthrow the man who has caused over a decade of suffering for my village."

The ex-Mizukage frowned for a moment, as if something was talking to him within his own head. Both Hinata and Yugito responded immediately, while Fu remained oblivious as she whistled to the empty sky above her head.

"Yugito, are there any other shinobi in this immediate area?" asked Yagura quickly.

The Kumogakure shinobi reached down and placed a single finger on the ground, closing her eyes. "The five hundred metre perimeter is still intact. We are clear, for the time being."

"Are we going?" asked Fu, flipping up onto her feet before jumping down to the group. "How do you know?"

Yagura tapped at the forehead protector on his waist, "When the village is under attack, a signal is sent to every Kirigakure shinobi through their forehead protector. I just got that signal, which means the others have been spotted. And that the defences haven't changed since I was killed."

"I hope they are okay," said Hinata, wary of the kind of madness her husband would get up to without her there. She trusted him explicitly, but he had a tendency to go overboard when it really wasn't necessary.

"They are there to keep a lid on the army, that's all." Yagura began leading them to the rock formation he had indicated to earlier, running through a long set of handseals. "Remember what I said, I'd prefer it if you didn't kill the people of my village."

Yugito flexed her hands in a habitual manner, "I'm not making any promises. If push comes to shove, I tend to shove fairly hard."

Despite herself, Hinata found herself echoing the Tailed Beast container's sentiment. "I'm not comfortable with it either, but even if they are misguided we can't promise anything in a combat situation."

Fu turned to her white-eyed companion with a surprised look on her face, "Wow. Wasn't expecting that from someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

The young girl cocked her head slightly, "Well you come off as the princess-caring type, someone who is intolerably kind and hesitant to take that final step."

Hinata smiled warmly at the young girl, "All true. But we all have dark sides and mine tends to be well-fed."

Fu barked out a laugh as Yagura pressed two hands on a large smooth rock and watched as it disappeared without a trace. "You are a scary woman, Hyuuga. We should go for a drink afterwards."

"It's a date."

Behind the rock that Yagura got rid of was a long tunnel with a set of stairs that looked like it went for nearly fifty metres underground. He turned to the women of his group with a frown, "I'm not expecting there not to be blood, but a measure of restrain would be preferred. Remember we need my people alive to fight the bigger battles. There is much more at stake."

They nodded their acknowledgement, and Yagura turned around to take a long breath. He wasn't sure what to expect within his home, it had been a long time since he'd been inside and there is all manner of bad things that could have happened.

He would save his village, even if it cost him his life to do so.

* * *

><p>"They appear to have amassed some troops."<p>

Gaara flicked his wrists to open up the tops of all five of his gourds, "It would appear so. Are you prepared?"

Utakata twirled his bubble blower between his fingers, "Even if I wasn't, it isn't like I would be able to get away from them."

"I doubt you could either."

The two of them floated on their respective techniques in the middle of the ocean separating the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, on a surprisingly clear day with no sign of any chance of the kind of violent weather that was typical of this part of the world.

Sailing towards them were five large ships armed to the teeth with Quiraji soldiers. Each ship was armed with side cannons and the Quiraji soldiers were stringing up bows as if preparing for war.

"Do you think they see us?" asked Utakata.

Gaara began drawing sand out of his two outer gourds, forming a large mist of sand above the two of them. "It doesn't matter. He, who hesitates, is lost."

Utakata brought his bubble blower up to his lips, "Sounds about right."

Gaara began to float towards the ships on his sand, while Utakata kept behind him and moulding chakra into his bubble blower. The two of them could see the Quiraji soldiers putting arrows into their bows, but neither of them was particularly concerned.

Resisting the urge to simply transform his limbs into the sand monster's within him, Gaara took aim at the closest ship and began forming his sand into dozens of long spears. He decided it was wiser to begin with a long range battle to see what kind of anti-shinobi measures the Quiraji were going to utilise, and while he had plenty of sand around him he didn't have an infinite amount of chakra. If he transformed, it was a one-time technique that would leave him fairly helpless afterwards.

Besides, Shukaku couldn't swim.

He unleashed the spears at the ship, watched as the Quiraji employed no defence against his aerial attack, the sand attacks slamming straight into the ship's hull. Several Quiraji soldiers were taken out as the spears pierced through their plated armour with barely any resistance, but the main damage was done to the hull of the ship, causing a number of large holes to appear close to the water.

Gaara watched as water began to seep into the ship, knowing that if they didn't fix those holes the ship would capsize at some point. However Gaara wasn't going to let them try as his sand automatically came up to defend him from a large number of arrows being shot at him from the ship. It was a strange sensation as Gaara could feel everything that happened with his sand, the places that were struck were losing integrity faster than what he would have expected.

_That's strange…it's almost as if…_

He went to attack the archers with sand from one of his extra gourds, but held back as he saw a strange trail of bubbles moved over the ship in front of his attackers.

Trusting in his sand to protect him from attacks, Gaara turned around to watch his companion continue to blow small bubbles towards the ship. He couldn't sense that much chakra in each individual bubble, but Utakata appeared confident so he turned around to see what the attacks would do.

One of the Quiraji soldiers got annoyed at the small bubbles getting too close and swiped at it with a free hand. Immediately upon contact the bubble exploded, taking out the soldier's arm above his elbow.

The scream of pain was almost haunting, though Utakata wasted no time in bringing up his free hand into a handseal.

"Kibakuhou." (Explosive Bubbles)

The moment he said the name of the ninjutsu each of the small bubbles speeding up to almost unperceivable level and attaching themselves to each soldier. Gaara did a small calculation and immediately flew backwards on his sand, trying to pull out the sand out of the water from the spears he had fired earlier.

He didn't have enough time to get more than a handful of sand back as the bubbles Utakata shot at the ship exploded all at once, melting together into a single explosion that obliterated the ship with a deafening roar. Gaara brought up his sand shield and hardened it as much as possible to stop the shockwave knocking him off his sand platform, while Utakata protected himself by standing within a thick-looking bubble.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked loudly, as his ears rang from the explosion.

Within his bubble, Utakata shrugged, "They didn't seem to be able to stop it. That tells us something, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps it does. You don't want to show your best techniques so early on, do you?"

The Six-Tails container let out a tsk and leapt out of his bubble shield to stand on top of it. "If this is it, then I don't see a point holding back. I don't like this anymore than you do."

Gaara tilted his head slightly as he saw the other four ships turning to sail towards the two of them, seemingly ignoring the charred remains of the first ship and the floating body parts that had been blown off by Utakata's technique.

"They haven't revealed their hand yet. Let's take these out quickly and recover our strength."

The kimono-wearing shinobi nodded his approval and floated towards the eastern two ships, while the Kazekage moved to towards the others. He was grateful he had assistance, as while he was confident in his battle capabilities as the leader of Sunagakure, there were too many unknown factors in this battle.

_If Shouri was in charge of this invasion, he would have a number of ships skirting around the edges, to avoid the ocean defences and attack us from the rear. He'd test us with single ships then strike with a massive force to overwhelm us. _

As Gaara watched the two ships in front of him coordinate their efforts and begin rolling out cannons from the lower decks, he was grateful that the old Shouri was dead and not commanding the invasion fleet. The new Shouri appeared to be more of a hunter than a general, while the Quiraji leader Kyoukou was not a military mind; his strengths lay in different areas all together.

_I hope he isn't on one of those ships. Neither of us have the type of skills that could handle his kind of abilities. He's probably the one responsible for the starvation in the civilian settlements too. _

Deciding that he wasn't going to allow the Quiraji soldiers to get the jump on him, Gaara collected two whole gourds worth of sand together to form a pair of giant claws that he looked similar to his occupant's.

Using his hands to direct the sand claws, Gaara moved in closer to the action and changed his approach to compensate for the increased speed of his sand. The Kazekage had fought many battles, but both his advisors and his own importance to the village had prevented him from taking the battlefield himself, and that had bothered Gaara for a number of years.

He had a lot to make up for, and every Quiraji soldier he took out here was one less that could attack his home or kill his people. It was his duty as the Kazekage, and as a shinobi.

They tried to defend their ship against his claws with bows and arrows as their cannons were not in position to attack him from below. Gaara could feel the strange sensation as the arrows struck at his sand claws, but paid no attention to them as he slammed both his claws into a single ship below him. Easily able to control the sand claws with pinpoint precision, Gaara used one to slam into the front of the ship and send the Quiraji archers scrambling over the edges of the ship to avoid being crushed. The other sand claw went straight for the three masts of the ship, tearing them off without much resistance and sending them crashing into the sides of the ship. To their credit, the Quiraji soldiers that weren't being destroyed by his sand claws did what they could to counterattack him, though Gaara defences weren't that easy to crack.

While Gaara quickly destroyed the ship with his sand claws, the other ship seemed unafraid of attacking their allies as they sent a hail of cannonballs towards the ship and Gaara's floating position.

It was only Gaara's sharp hearing that saved him, as nearly a dozen cannonballs were flying straight at his back. As confident as he was in his sand defence, Gaara pulled apart his sand platform and dropped down into the ocean below, missing the ship by a few metres. He kept his sand claws attacking the ship as water covered him, but Gaara was able to avoid being hit by the other ship's cannonballs, causing them to slam into their companion ship with devastating effect.

Underneath the ocean, Gaara crushed all four of his extra sand gourds into hard sand and began to swim underneath the ship.

_Shukaku, a little control would be appreciated here. _

To his surprise, the Tailed Beast obeyed his command without comment, using the sand claws on the ship above to clutch at the sides of the ship like he was picking up a bucket.

Holding his breath, Gaara moved all the sand he had available underneath the ship and grimaced as he summoned up as much physical power as he could through his sand.

Flying above the ocean above the other ships, Utakata watched his companion's battle with fascination. Below him the Quiraji soldiers on the two ships he had attacked screamed in silence as they melted to pieces within individual bubbles. It hadn't taken much effort to disable each of the soldiers, though Utakata was surprised to see that there were fewer soldiers on the ships than he had originally thought.

_He said they had far more people than this. Something is wrong here. _

However Gaara served to surprise him further, as he watched in amazement as one of the ships flew out of the ocean and slammed into the other one with devastating results. The ships shattered into thousands of pieces of wood, he couldn't even see the bodies of the Quiraji soldiers that would have been crushed into dust by the crashing ship.

Utakata shook his head, he could scarcely believe that the Kazekage had done something so reckless mere minutes after giving him grief for blowing up the first ship. He looked down to see Gaara slowly appear out of the water, floating up on a newly constructed sand platform with a giant amount of sand moving around him.

The Six-Tails container floated down to the Sunagakure leader, watching as his companion recreated his sand gourds and began squeezing out the water from his shinobi clothes.

"You don't think that was unnecessary?"

Gaara ran a hand through his red hair and flicked the water into the ocean.

_It's a good thing she isn't here. She'd probably flip out. _

He turned to his companion, "I was taken by surprise. I think there is something different about their weaponry."

"Well I haven't found anything like that," said Utakata, putting his bubble blower back into his shirt and rubbing his hands together to try and get them warmer.

The two of them took a few moments to recover their strength before they both remembered where they were.

"Is that all of them?"

Utakata watched from their high vantage point as the Quiraji soldiers struggled in the waters below. "Are they underestimating us? That was a pretty one-sided battle."

Gaara dropped down a pair of kunai with explosion notes wrapped around them into the water where the Quiraji soldiers were struggling to swim away, aware that if they left them lingering they could still attack them.

"They were only scouts," he said, using the sand around him to protect the two of them from the large explosion underneath. "It is likely they were sent to test our defences, force us to show our hands."

He indicated to the direction the ships had come from, as a large number of shadows began to appear on the horizon.

"The real battle is still to come."

* * *

><p>"So what's it like being married?"<p>

Hinata smiled at the green haired shinobi warmly, "It's…relaxing, actually. When we dating there was always this fear that something might come between us, but now…not so much."

Fu grinned back, "Sounds nice."

"Quiet, both of you," snapped Yugito.

The two girls shook their heads, but did as the older woman said. They walked in staggered formation through the dark tunnel underneath the ground, with Yagura walking at the front and the woman following up behind him. He'd given them images of Kirigakure shinobi to transform into, but he'd warned them that the village had defences against Henge transformations that required them to acquire another type of disguise.

"We've been walking for a long time," said Fu, putting her hands behind her head. "How long is this damn tunnel?"

Ignoring the girl's comment, Yagura turned his head slightly to regard the only non-Tailed Beast container in the group. "Can you use your Byakugan while transformed?"

Hinata nodded and put up her hands into a handseal, "Am I looking for anything in particular?"

"Up ahead there should be a large opening with the ANBU team setting up defences for the civilian evacuation. Can you confirm their presence, and whether one of them has a Byakugan?"

Instead of observing the area with her Byakugan, Hinata pulled up the group and forced Yagura to turn around to face her.

"You have a Hyuuga working in your village?"

The Three-Tails container shook his head quickly, "No, no. It was a relic from an old war, a man called Ao took it from a fallen Hyuuga shinobi. He's the one who discovered the man controlling me years ago."

Hinata frowned through her disguise, she didn't like the idea that an heirloom of her clan was a prize from war, but she wasn't as paranoid about it as her clan had been. "You should have warned me earlier. Byakugan users can detect when someone else is using the doujutsu within their range."

Yagura bowed his head slightly in apology, "Can you see if he is there? I'll have to change our plan if he is, since he knows my chakra better than anyone."

After a few seconds, Hinata put down her hands and rubbed the back of her neck sorely, "I couldn't see him in the area you were talking about. There are two women and two men setting up kunai traps near one of the tunnel entrances. They appear to be just above Jounin level."

"You can tell their strengths?" asked a surprised Yagura.

Their Hyuuga companion nodded as she deactivated her Byakugan to preserve chakra, "It's based on their chakra levels. I can't tell any more than that from here though."

"No, that's plenty," said Yagura. "There aren't any civilians, correct?"

Hinata confirmed his suspicion and the ex-Mizukage told them his plan for their attack.

oOoOoOo

"This better not be another drill," said one of the Kirigakure ANBU shinobi, tightening the wire trap with his teeth and activating it with a small amount of channelled chakra.

He grimaced as a female ANBU shinobi clapped him on the back with a bark of a laugh, "You're just happy to get away from the wife for a few hours, right?"

"Hey, keep that to yourself, you never know who is listening. The woman is psychotic, I swear."

"Then why did you marry her?"

The male ANBU shinobi sighed and stood up from his set trap. "She was really, really, attractive at the time."

Even behind her mask, he could tell she was rolling her eyes as she went to speak to the others of their squad.

One of the other ANBU shinobi stood at one of the entrances with her arms folded across her chest, ignoring the efforts of her companions.

"Something wrong?" asked the approaching female ANBU shinobi.

The female ANBU shinobi slowly drew the sword from her back and held it at her side, "Someone is coming from the western side."

The others of the team stopped what they were doing and immediately jumped to stand beside the two of them, each drawing their own respective weaponry.

After just over a minute a small figure appeared from the darkness. Wearing the skin of what she had looked like at such an age was a very child-like Fu. She had her characteristic green hair and orange pupils, though instead of her cheerful expression she had tears running down her face and was sobbing quietly.

Immediately upon seeing the child the ANBU shinobi lowered their weapons, though they were wary of sheathing them completely.

"Are you lost?" asked one of the female shinobi with a soft voice, trying not to scare Fu.

Looking at the four masked shinobi in front of her, Fu put on the waterworks as a small child would be expected to and put her tiny fists to her crying eyes. "I lost Mummy…where is my Mummy? The bad men came and Mummy got taken away…where is Mummy?"

"How did she get into the tunnel?" asked one of the male ANBU shinobi cautiously.

Her disguise seemed to work as the ANBU shinobi slowly put their weapons away and the woman who had spoken earlier walked forward and knelt to be at Fu's level.

"It'll be okay, honey. We can go look for your mother if you want."

Fu stopped sobbing and looked at the masked shinobi with a quivering lip, "I'm scared…"

Reaching up to her face, the woman removed her mask and smiled warmly at the child-like Fu through bright blue eyes. "My little girl is about your age. We can go now and look for your mother."

"Don't forget our mission," reminded one of the male ANBU shinobi.

The woman turned around and gave him a scowl, "It's probably just a drill, there is no reason we…"

Her sentence was cut off as the child-like Fu launched in her chest and sunk her teeth into her throat, causing her to seize up and freeze in place. Before the other ANBU could react, Fu was already pulling her teeth out to snarl at the remaining Kirigakure shinobi with long fangs that looked horrifying on the face of a child.

They didn't get a chance to get revenge for their companion however, as the other three of Fu's group appeared out of the darkness and struck at the defenceless ANBU shinobi.

Hinata took no time in disabling the male shinobi she had targeted, striking him in the throat and forehead to force him to unconsciousness. It was harder than she had thought it would be to strike with chakra once again, something she was decidedly out of practise with.

Yagura was nowhere near as clinical, tapping the other male shinobi in the mask with his staff, causing him to crumble to the ground without resistance. He looked down at the body with disappointment; the standard of ANBU had clearly fallen since his tenure as Mizukage. That would definitely have to change when they changed the leadership of the village.

Yugito, on the other hand, simply jumped in front of the final female ANBU shinobi and slashed across her chest with an open hand, using chakra to create a claw that rendered her shinobi armour obsolete as it tore through muscle and bone like it wasn't there. The Kirigakure shinobi coughed blood into her mask and fell to her knees before collapsing onto her back.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Yagura when he had seen what she had done, running to the fallen ANBU and giving the Kumogakure shinobi a dirty look. "What part of 'don't kill them' did you not understand?"

Yugito rolled her eyes and turned to Hinata, who was just as surprised as their leader was. "You are a healer right? Heal her up and be done with it."

Hinata didn't wait for confirmation from Yagura, dropping down to the ground and placing her hands on top of the ANBU shinobi's chest. Having spent years healing Naruto's wounds, something like this was nothing, but it bothered her that the Two-Tails container knew she was a healer without having informed her of such. She had told Yagura, but unless Yugito had eavesdropped on their conversation there wasn't any other way of her knowing.

_Unless Naruto told her…which is fairly likely. He never did know what was good to say and what was better to keep to himself._

While Hinata healed the ANBU shinobi so that she didn't die from her wound, Yagura stepped in front of the blonde shinobi and clutched at his staff tightly.

"Whatever disputes you might have with my people, they end here. I am the leader of our group, and I expect you to follow orders."

Yugito stared down at the ex-Mizukage for few seconds before reluctantly nodding. "As you say."

Both Hinata and Fu watched the exchange with concern on their faces, though Hinata could tell why the Kumogakure Tailed Beast container had gone so far in their first battle together. She was testing their leader's virtues, seeing whether or not he could be defied or not.

_This alliance hangs by a thread. One more wrong step and we'll be fighting each other rather than the enemy. This mission is more dangerous than we thought. _

Looking to change the conversation, Fu transformed back into her normal shape and regarded the body of the woman she had bitten. Her eyes were darting from one side to the other, even as the Kirigakure shinobi was completely paralysed from the venom she had injected into her neck.

"That was easier than I thought. I'm surprised they fell for the crying child routine."

"Everyone has a weakness," said Hinata, taking her hands from the ANBU shinobi's body and standing up to wipe them on her pants. "A crying child is difficult to ignore, even for the hardest of shinobi."

"And what is yours?" asked Fu with a feigned innocent look on her face.

"Cinnamon rolls," said Hinata with a longing look in her eyes.

The Seven-Tails container grinned at the young woman before turning to the pair staring at each other intently. "So what's our next move?"

Yagura finally tore his eyes off of the insubordinate Yugito, and looked at the four bodies in between their group. "We have to take their masks and uniforms, and hide the bodies so they can't raise an alarm. All we need to do is get through the civilians and into the village proper, then we shouldn't be noticed as an ANBU squad moving around the village."

"Sounds simple enough," said Fu, reaching down to grab the mask of the ANBU she had taken out.

After a few minutes they had hidden the bodies in a dark crevice and Yagura had created a null zone of shadows with ninjutsu so they couldn't be noticed unless they were stepped on. They pulled on the uniforms of the ANBU shinobi and placed their masks on their faces.

Hinata struggled to pull the grey armour over her front, taking several tries before giving up and tossing it on top of the Kirigakure bodies. She straightened out her shirt and shrugged, there wasn't anything else she could do. She asked if some of the ANBU wore something other than the armour, but Yagura assured her that it wasn't unusual for woman of her shape to go without the grey plates.

Fu looked down at her own chest, having taken one of the male uniforms, noticing that hers fit rather loosely in comparison. She looked back up at Hinata with a slight twinge of jealousy, "How did you manage them?"

The Hyuuga woman laughed and rubbed at her hips sorely, "You wouldn't be happy if you had them, trust me. The back pains are awful and they hurt more often than not."

As she pulled on her own set of armour, Yugito found it was tighter than her liking, but still fit well enough to be serviceable. It was strange wearing the uniform of another village's ANBU, she had worked extremely hard to achieve her position in her home village and this almost felt like an insult to the Raikage.

_I'll make this venture worthwhile, and bring back something that makes up for the delay in bringing back Bee. _

Yagura placed the last ANBU mask on his face and turned to the others, noting that besides the odd looking composition of their group, they looked every bit like the people he used to command. He felt a pang of regret as he recognised what they were about to do. He might not have been the most liked person in his home village, but he still loved his people.

"Are we ready to go?" asked Hinata, finding herself wondering how the ANBU shinobi breathed through the masks they wore. "I can't imagine these will hold up under close inspection."

"We will be going to the prison first, to release Mei Terumi. Then we can move on to the Kage building and go from there."

"That's been bothering me, actually," said Yugito, flexing her fingers habitually. "If he replaced the Mizukage with a doppelganger, why go through the effort of keeping her alive?"

"I don't know," admitted Yagura. "She may not be alive at all. It's a risk we have to take."

"It's a punishment."

The three of them all turned to look at Hinata, their masks hiding their expressions.

Hinata put up a hand to clarify, "Whoever is in control of the village is looking to punish the shinobi. What better way to do so than to make you watch your village burn around you, helpless to do anything to stop it?"

"That's why we are here," said Yagura, grasping his staff tightly. He had changed the look of it so that it didn't resemble anything like it had previously been, though Hinata was right, they wouldn't hold us on close inspection.

That was up to the distraction team.

* * *

><p>"How the hell did they find so many ships?"<p>

"It's clear they've been planning this invasion for a long time."

Utakata stood up on his floating bubble, his legs having gone to sleep while waiting for the second wave to appear. "But if they are making a deal with the guy in charge of Kiri, why such an invasion force? Why go through the effort?"

The Kazekage didn't have to think about it too much as he counted the number of ships moving towards them, feeling his blood run cold after estimating how many soldiers were about to rain death on them.

"It's a safety measure. If the man reneges on their deal, or wants to change something, the Quiraji leader can threaten him with the destruction of his village by posting an army right outside it."

"How do you know that?"

Gaara took a slow deliberate breath; he still had plenty of chakra to fight with, though his reasonable relationship with Shukaku helped him recover quicker than most. "It's what I would do."

His companion shook his head and ran a hand through his dark hair, "Why can't anything ever be simple? Why can't people just trust each other?"

"Do you?"

Utakata thought about it for a moment before grinned and bringing up his bubble blower, "Fair point."

Gaara looked down at the ocean beneath them, wary that using his sand as he had earlier would take too long and too much chakra. "You said you were from the Hidden Water, correct?"

The Six-Tails container breathed out slowly, "I was. What's your point?"

"Are we not on your battlefield of choice?"

Utakata looked down before turning back to his companion and placing his hands together into a handseal. "Move back."

The Kazekage floated backwards and brought all of his gourds to within a metre. He placed his hands together and began hardening his sand in one gourd to a hard mass. While he continued his preparation, Utakata finished a long set of handseals and placed his hands outwards at the large Quiraji army sailing towards them.

"Suiton: Bakusui Shouha!" (Water Element: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)

The ocean underneath the two of them rumbled and caved in to turn into a giant wave that began to crash towards the Quiraji fleet. The ships looked like they were going to be overwhelmed by the water wave that reached almost a hundred metres tall.

As he sent the wave of water at the ships, Utakata couldn't help but pant softly. He hadn't intended to make the attack so large, but Saiken had pumped him full of chakra and overloaded his tenketsu points. It was probably done with the best intentions, but Saiken wasn't particularly well suited to long drawn-out battles.

From their high vantage point, it appeared as though the front elements of the Quiraji fleet would simply disappear under the pressure of the wave. However after a few seconds it became painfully obvious that something had happened.

The wave wasn't moving, its momentum had been cut short and it appeared to be falling back into the ocean.

Utakata snarled and put down his hands, there was no point in trying to push any more chakra into the technique. "You were right; they haven't shown all their tricks just yet."

The wave fell completely back into the ocean to reveal five ships in formation with four Quiraji soldiers on each ship having their hands up in a defensive motion.

Gaara frowned uncharacteristically upon their appearance; they wore pitch black robes and looked more like cultists, better suited to conducting rituals and sacrificing animals.

"How many tricks do they have up their sleeves?" he asked through his teeth.

"What was that?" asked a confused Utakata, having wasted a large amount of chakra on that attack.

The Kazekage shook his head, he wasn't sure. But they couldn't afford to waste chakra finding out, that wasn't their purpose here. Using a small amount of chakra he created a third eye and sent it towards the fleet, hoping that something so small wouldn't be noticed so that he could gather some intelligence for a later battle.

Summoning the sand from the gourd on his back, Gaara collapsed his defences inwards and turned to his companion as his element floated around him. "You focus on attacking. If we use our aerial speed to our advantage, they should struggle to keep up with us."

Utakata didn't respond, but blew a large amount of bubbles around him to slowly form into humanoid shapes.

_Good plan_, thought Gaara. _If we use clones they won't be able to tell who the real ones are, while we can attack at a whim. _

He pulled apart the sand from one whole gourd around him so that it was a fine mist before sending it towards one of the outlying ships. It was difficult to see it moving even if you were looking straight at it, and he knew that they would win by creating dozens of smaller battles rather than the large scale attacks they had performed earlier.

As if anticipating their machinations, three cannonballs came screaming towards Gaara's position. He brought up two gourds worth of sand to defend himself, and it was lucky that he had taken the precaution as the cannonballs exploded on impact and nearly broke through his sand defence.

_They are breaking apart the chakra that binds my sand together. They seem to have created more ways to fight us on the battlefield. _

For a strange reason it didn't bother Gaara as much as he thought it would, as he began flying away from the follow-up cannonball strikes. If they didn't have such measures, they wouldn't have put the shinobi world in such a precarious position.

_And if Rock Lee is any representation of our struggles, we've grown to fight them as well. The only real advantage of war. I hope we never have to use such things against each other, though that is probably wishful thinking. _

His third eye confirmed the arrival of his sand mist above one of Quiraji ships, Gaara putting out his hands as if moulding clay and compressed the mist down into a score of small balls that were harder than steel.

Without hesitation, Gaara sent the balls crashing down into the ship, tearing through the wood while ignoring the Quiraji soldiers all-together. His theory was they were far less threatening without their ships, and while his balls of sand destroyed ship by ship, he would present himself as a distraction for the Quiraji to concentrate their attacks on.

Utakata took a different approach to his attacks, having created five clones of himself with his bubbles which stood in the same way he did on top of floating bubbles. The advantage of his bubble techniques was that it didn't take much chakra and he could change the contents to suit his needs, but they were only as destructive as his opponent's defences were weak.

As dozens of cannon shots came screaming towards him, each Utakata split off to attack a separate ship. He wasn't a fool, he knew that neither of them had the stamina to take out every ship in front of them, but each one they took out was one less that would make shore in the Land of Water.

With the speed of his travelling bubbles, Utakata was able to easily avoid the slow cannonball shots from the larger ships, though he could see as he got closer that the Quiraji soldiers were putting arrows in their bows to defend their ships from attacks.

However they never got a chance to fire at the clone of Utakata as he floated just above the ship and exploded in a large mass of liquid. He used the wind against the enemy force as the liquid fell on the front of the ship without the Quiraji soldiers able to do anything about it. The moment it made contact with the wood of the ship and the Quiraji soldiers it began to make a loud sizzling sound. It then started to burn, but only for a second before the acidity kicked in and it melted straight through anything it touched.

The screams of the Quiraji who had been touched by the acid were lost with the loud crashing of the ocean, but they were also drowned out by the sound of the ship collapsing under its own weight as the bow of the ship melted into nothingness.

Utakata performed the same trick with two further clones to similar effect, but wary of how quickly their enemy could adapt their tactics he in turn changed his method of attack.

He used his bubble clones to create a fine mist around a cluster of five ships, while Utakata floated down to the ocean and placed his hand on the wavering water surface.

"Suiton: Shouaku Tsume." (Water Element: Grasping Claws)

With the mist as cover, the Quiraji were unable to see the large hands of water emerging from the ocean, though they certainly felt them as they began tearing the bows from the front of the ships.

His two clones were taken out by lucky bow shots which caused the mist to begin to dissipate, but Utakata was already on the move. The advantage of being on amicable terms with his occupant was that he could use the second consciousness to control the hands of water attacking the five ships while he concentrated his efforts on moving back to Gaara's position. It was that kind of attack and run manoeuvres that would win them the battle, though if they weren't careful would be overwhelmed as he saw the Quiraji ships closing ranks to avoid the outlying ships being taken out as they had.

Gaara moved out of the way of a stray cannonball, but was grateful that his sand defence was automatic as several of the Black Robes made obvious gestures towards his position. His sand defence held up, but several holes appeared as he could feel something scrapping against his cheek.

The Kazekage felt up at his face, pulling back his fingers to see small drops of blood on the tips of his fingers. He hadn't worn his sand armour because of how much it had weighed him down, but judging by how easily the blows had pierced through his first defence it was clear it wouldn't have helped.

Unlike when he was younger, the act of being injured didn't scare him anymore.

"That was some kind of wind chakra," observed a recently arrived Utakata.

Gaara shook his head and tightened his defences to cover both of them, "No, that was something else entirely. It was pure spiritual energy, stronger than chakra but not as easily manipulable."

"How do we fight against something like that?"

"We don't," said Gaara, moving his fingers like he was manoeuvring a puppet.

Behind a small cluster of Black Robes that had taken position on a single ship floated his third eye, which changed its composition in line with Gaara's orders, forming into a small blade that was sharp on both ends. Knowing that the specialist Quiraji soldiers would attack again and likely strike a better target than his cheek, Gaara wasted no time in attacking them without reserve.

The blade of sand cut through the Black Robes as if they weren't there, taking out the six that were standing on the deck of the ship before they even knew they were under attack.

"We need another plan of attack," said Gaara, forcing the sand blade that attacked the Black Robes to dissipate into a fine mist and move to another ship. They would be on the lookout for such an attack now, meaning once again he would have to change his method of attack.

"I have an idea," said Utakata, slowly drifting down towards the ocean surface. "Something they won't be able to defend themselves against."

"Wait! Where are you going?" demanded Gaara, not entirely trusting the Six-Tails container to flee a battle that could go either way. "What is your plan?"

Utakata looked up as his body began to slip into the ocean beneath Gaara's position, "I'm unleashing the monster."

The Kazekage swore under his breath and dodged a cannonball from one of the artillery ships in the back of the Quiraji fleet. If Utakata's transformation took as long as his did, he would have to be on the defensive for longer than he would have liked. In these kinds of situation he would normally turtle into a sand cocoon and plan out a strategy, but with the Black Robes appearing on the ships they still hadn't destroyed, he knew his perfect defence was nowhere near as effective as he would have liked.

_If his strategy doesn't work, we are going to need reinforcements, sooner rather than later. _

* * *

><p>"I'm pretty sure he didn't tell us about that," said Roshi dryly, staring at the village in front of their group.<p>

Standing behind him, Han made no comment in return, but he wasn't comfortable with his position in the group. He knew he had no place on the ocean battle, and his infiltration skills were not his speciality, but neither was his part in this particular mission.

His companions were hardly the type he would look to work with either.

Performing dramatic leg stretches was the young blonde Naruto, who seemed perfectly fine with his deployment to their current position, even though his wife had been taken to the more dangerous part of the village.

Beside the Nine Tails container was the rapping Tailed Beast container from Kumogakure, who didn't even seem bothered by the fact that they were going to be attacking another village.

And then, of course, there was Roshi, who seemed determined to keep an eye on him. He hadn't let up as to how he worked out the information about the civilians, but Roshi knew him well enough to venture a guess.

If Han would be able to continue the things he used to do, his Iwagakure accomplice would be quite the hindrance.

And he did not tolerate hindrances.

"Are we still going to attack?" asked Naruto, feeling a little bit out of place with the older Tailed Beast containers. "This'll be a lot harder with that there."

In front of the Village Hidden in the Mist, was a massive wall that rivalled the one that had surrounded Konoha, with a pair of gates with the symbol for the Mist Village written on them. Even at the reasonable distance, the four of them could tell that there were no Kirigakure within the vicinity; they likely sensed their approach and hide back within their village.

"They won't come out, we gotta fight 'em pound for pound…"

Naruto looked up at him with an amused grin, "That wasn't bad, Bee."

The tall Eight Tails container put up his hands in his usual rapping pose, "If you dig that, you ain't seen scat. Fool, ya fool, we gonna tear this down and bring them out of their town."

"That…was less impressive," commented Roshi dryly.

"Any suggestions on how we break these fools' wall?" asked Bee, ignoring Roshi's remark.

Han indicated to the wall with his free hand, his other still sitting in his vest. "There is a large group manning the wall, observing us closely."

"Preparing to counter-attack, no doubt," said Roshi, sighing loudly. "This is going to be such a hassle."

Naruto took a step forward and put his hands together in his most used handseal, "I got an idea that might be able to coax them out."

The others didn't say a word as a dozen clones of Naruto appeared in front of the group in a battle line. If they were surprised by the ease of his using the shadow clone technique they didn't say anything to such an effect.

Naruto reached into the pack on his back and removed a camouflage-coloured cap, placing it on his head before standing upright. The clones stood in front of him in rigid formation.

"Alright you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings! We are on a mission, and these festering maggots are all that stand between us and glory! Are we going to let this perversion continue?!"

"NO WE WILL NOT!" yelled the clones, while the other three Tailed Beast containers could only look on in shock.

"That's what I want to hear!" roared the original clone, crossing his arms over his chest and spitting as he said each word.

"ABOUT...FACE!"

The clones spun around in a single motion so they were facing the original.

"PRESENT…ARMS!"

His companions all watched in horror, even the normally stoic Han, as Naruto enacted his brilliant and inspiring plan of attack.

"Aaannnndddd…MOON!"

Each clone of Naruto dropped their pants and bent over, flaunting their rears at the closed gates to the Hidden Mist Village. In a single motion they swayed from side to side, while the original Naruto nodded his approval and deepened his frown.

Killer Bee roared out in laughter and went to join the line of mooning clones, but the Eight Tails within him threatened to implode in a violent explosion if he took even one step forward.

Roshi just shook his head, unable to comprehend how this could possibly help coax the Kirigakure shinobi out of their village.

Han merely watched without any emotion evident on the exposed half of his face, though a part of him wondering what event would occur after such a thing.

After half a minute the Naruto clones pulled up their pants and saluted to the original clone of Naruto before disappearing into separate clouds of smoke. He nodded to himself in satisfaction and stepped towards the still-closed gate.

"Come on out you cowards! Fight us like shinobi!"

"Kid, they ain't going to come out just because you flashed them," said Roshi. "They know they are safer within their walls than outside of them."

Killer Bee cracked his knuckles loudly and stepped up to his shorter companion's side, "Then maybe we should tear their walls down and make them come out."

"We said we'd keep the village mostly intact," said Roshi, though considering the composition of their group he doubted that would actually happen.

"Nothing they can't repair with a bit of elbow grease," grinned Naruto.

Killer Bee chuckled and clapped Naruto on the back, "You got the right idea kid. Let's bring some noise!"

Before they could do anything however, the massive gate began to swing open. Before it got to even a third of the way it stopped, having opened far enough for the figures standing behind it to fit through.

"Now we are talking," said Naruto, cracking his neck loudly before hopping from one foot to the other.

"Don't get too excited," said Roshi, not amused by the youth's enthusiasm. "It isn't like their whole army is coming to greet us."

"In that, you are mistaken." Han took his hand out of his vest and made a single handseal. "They did bring the majority of their military power."

The four of them stood in a staggered formation, as seven Kirigakure shinobi began to walk slowly towards them.

"Well this just got interesting."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Again, I must ask for your patience in terms of the next release. I need to spend next week writing for a competition, so it'll be a fortnight until the next chapter is released. I know that's kind of a dodgy move considering how this chapter ended, but that's how the cards fall unfortunately.

If anyone was concerned, the people coming for the distraction team are not Edo Tensei. I dislike the idea of it on the offset, purely because they can't be 'killed' properly. Besides, anyone who knew the technique is dead so no concerns there. There will be explanations, I don't like leaving things unexplained.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	64. Chapter 59 The Seven Swordsmen

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 59 – The Seven Swordsmen

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Seven Swordsmen would have gotten some screen time.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The attack and defence of Kirigakure began. Gaara and Utakata committed themselves to fighting off the Quiraji invasion, and after destroying a scouting force without taking a hit they didn't encounter any trouble. However the battle turned on its head as the main fleet of the Quiraji came towards them and a new foe emerged in the Black Robes, able to use spiritual energy to attack. As the battle began to move in the Quiraji's favour, Utakata dived under the water, stating he was going to transform to help them win the battle. On the ground, Yagura led Hinata, Fu and Yugito into a tunnel that ended in an underground complex where they ambushed and defeated a team of ANBU shinobi, taking their clothes and masks so they could infiltrate the village. At the front of the Kirigakure village, Naruto, Killer Bee, Roshi and Han found themselves confronted with a giant wall around Kirigakure. In a rather interesting attempt to coax the enemy shinobi out of the village, they finally saw the gate swing open to reveal their approaching foes.

***End Summary***

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><p>It was difficult to contain his excitement in front of such fascinating opponents, but Naruto held himself back as the seven Kirigakure shinobi slowly walked towards them.<p>

"Is that going to be enough?" he asked, wary of what they were actually there to do. "I mean it isn't as if they brought out everyone."

"You know who they are, right? Do you really want any more to come out?" Roshi didn't mean to sound frustrated at the blonde's question, but he had fought the previous generation of the shinobi in front of them over a decade ago, and they weren't people that should be underestimated.

Killer Bee decided it was wiser to not keep writing in his notepad, putting it in his pack and cracking his neck loudly. "They don't have their weapons out yet, we should attack before they get the chance to."

All three of them turned to the Kumogakure shinobi with concern; if he wasn't rapping or talking in rhymes then it must be quite serious.

"I don't think all of us needed to come with," said Jinin, crossing his arms over his chest to match his heavy frown. "There are only four of them. Kushimaru and I could handle them ourselves."

Kushimaru nodded in agreement, "Yeah, this feels like overkill boss."

The only female in the group scoffed loudly in response, "Please, the two of you are the worst team ever. You'd be more likely to kill each other than the enemy."

"Enough bitching you lot, I'll be more than enough for these people," said Jinpachi, placing a hand on his large blade's hilt.

"Guys…we shouldn't be fighting each other…" said a meek Chojuro behind the taller group members.

The newest member of the group laughed loudly and put his hands behind his head leisurely, "Listen to him. One battle at the summit and he thinks he runs the group."

The group continued to argue until their leader took a step forward and stared through purple eyes at the blonde shinobi that had forced their hand. He wasn't sure what to make of the enemy composition considering the three different villages being represented, but he wasn't about to let them dishonour his home without some kind of retribution.

"Quiet, all of you. They are about to make a move," said Mangetsu, wary that he couldn't control his group from attacking for much longer. They had no sense of teamwork unless they were given the right cause; they were the type that was unleashed, like a plague.

"What about the Mizukage?" asked Ameyuri, looking back at the closing village gate. "They are probably trying to draw us out of the village."

"That woman can handle herself," said Mangetsu with a hint of anger in his voice. "And if not, it won't matter much longer."

The other group members all spoke their approval and prepared themselves to fight against the foes that had been gifted to their doorstep.

It would be a welcome distraction.

Before the other Tailed Beast containers moved to attack their opponents, Naruto stood in front of his group and put his hands together in a handseal.

"Hang back for a second, I have an idea."

The three of them took a step back and watched as over thirty shadow clones appeared in front of him. They were surprised that he could make so many, but kept it to themselves as the shadow clones charged forward towards their seven opponents.

The Kirigakure shinobi all looked at each other for a moment before pulling out their respective weapons to combat the shadow clones.

The only female in the group grasped two long swords with prongs along the blades in her hands, swinging them widely at the three clones that moved against her. One was taken out immediately by a parry and thrust manoeuvre that caught the shadow clone by surprise, while the other two moved around to flank her. With kunai in hand they dived at her, but were cut down as she spun around on the spot and ran bolts of lightning through her swords to disperse them.

The tall masked Kirigakure shinobi didn't waste any time in destroying his attackers, flicking his hands to send a long sword attached to a razor wire that he manipulated with expertise, pulling his blade back and forth to destroy them without them being able to come within close combat range.

As the clones of Naruto moved towards the angle-faced shinobi he pulled off the two weapons from his back and prepared to receive their attacks. They moved around him but he leapt forward and with a speed Naruto hadn't expected from the large man he struck his large axe at the first clone. The shadow clone was able to get his kunai up to defend, but it didn't last at all as the blade went straight through the metal and into his chest, dispersing the clone into a cloud of smoke. His other clones were able to avoid similar strikes, but the Kirigakure shinobi was able to avoid nothing worse than a bruise as the hammer part of his weapon came around in a circle and collect both of them in a violent swing.

The Kirigakure shinobi with an eye-patch charged forward into the clones that were trying to attack him, slamming his strangely wide sword into the decoy clone, causing a large explosion that took out all three in that single blow. He quickly fell back in line with his companions, aware that it was only the start and he was under the glare of his commanding officer.

Initially Chojuro was hesitant about defending himself against the clones charging towards him, as he wasn't the best defensive fighter in the group, but as he felt the cold stare of his companions around him and for reasons he couldn't comprehend he could feel his anger boiling within. Grabbing at the double-hilted sword at his back, Chojuro dodged two kunai strikes by shadow clones and yanked off the bandages of his blade. It revealed a long chakra-covered whip that cracked loudly and made short work of his attackers before slowly forming into a fish-shaped sword that he held with both hands.

The pair of brother Kirigakure shinobi that received more clones than the others wasted no time in leaping forward with hands shaped like claws, not bothering to draw any weapons like their companions. The younger-looking shinobi seemed to expand his legs into large muscles before pouncing on his opponents and doing enough damage to make them disappear without taking any in return.

His older brother was less hot-headed, easily dodging the kunai strikes as if they hadn't even happened. He struck out with his hands straight into the clone's chests and made them disappear into puffs of smoke, glaring at the original Naruto for a moment before standing just in front of the rest of the Kirigakure defence as the clear leader of the group.

"What was the point of that?" asked Roshi, as Naruto had a hand to his chin deep in thought.

Han slowly turned his head to regard his Iwagakure compatriot, "If you cannot recognise his strategy, Roshi, perhaps you are no longer suited for battle."

The Four-Tails container shot the tall shinobi a glare that could have melted ice, but he didn't get the chance to retort fully as Naruto turned to face their small attacking group.

"They have a lot of speed and experience on their side, but they are overconfident. We should split them up and take them on according to our own strengths."

Roshi didn't hide his surprise at all; the blonde Tailed Beast container sounded more like a shinobi than any of their earlier interactions. It was also clear he knew how to use his shadow clone technique to its fullest ability, having gained experience fighting their opponents so as to better combat them.

"Not bad kiddo, but they ain't gonna let us do what we feel," said Bee, looking over at the patiently waiting Kirigakure defenders. "Are they waiting for us to fly or what?"

Naruto turned around and cracked his knuckles loudly, "I'll confuse them with a large group of clones, and we'll attack, try to separate them. They all seem to have unique weapons, so be careful."

"Well they are the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist," said Roshi. "But that's a good plan."

Naruto frowned and turned slightly, "They are? You mean like Zabuza?"

His three companions nodded and Naruto turned back to their opponents with a newfound respect in his eyes. He knew that two of their opponents hadn't brought out weapons, but if what he and Hinata had seen was any indication, he already knew who his opponents were going to be.

However before he could create the clones to attack the Swordsmen, he saw the leader of the group place his hands together in a handseal that was quite familiar to the Konoha Tailed Beast container.

"Everyone get ready, he's going to create a mist in this area," warned Naruto, preparing himself for the same style of attack he had faced all those years ago.

Without saying a word Han stepped forward and forced Naruto back as steam began to bellow out of the furnace on his back. Before the Kirigakure shinobi could create a mist for his companions to attack them through, Han blasted a large wave of steam at the seven of them, forcing them to scatter to avoid being struck.

As they split up exactly as Naruto had wanted them to, the four attackers jumped forward to intercept them. Han had specifically designed his steam to disperse quickly, but it had the desired effect as the Swordsmen's battle lines were decided.

* * *

><p>With two figures charging towards him, Naruto summoned up a sword from his belt and stood in a guard position. The steam was slowly dissipating as the battlelines were drawn, but Naruto was still at a disadvantage as one of the pair seemed to pull a giant sword out of nowhere and leap at him. The blonde shinobi took a step back to receive the blow, but he was lucky that he had because the massive sword cleaved through his blade like it wasn't even there.<p>

The large blade slammed into the ground as Naruto jumped back with surprise, recognising the blade that had attacked him with a frown. It was in the hand of the younger brother of the pair that had destroyed his clones without even needing weapons.

Naruto looked down at his broken sword with a pout. "That took a lot of effort to make, I'll have you know. It was custom-made."

Suigetsu hefted the Executioner's Blade with his enhanced arm from the ground to his other hand with his characteristic grin, "It's pretty pathetic compared to ours."

"Well aren't we modest," said Naruto, putting his broken blade back into its sheath. He turned to the taller brother with a raised eyebrow, "Do you not have a sword?"

Mangetsu made no comment in response, while his younger brother laughed in amusement.

"I'll be plenty for you. Bring out your real weapon and let's get it on."

Naruto frowned at the brazen declaration by the Kirigakure shinobi, it was clear that he enjoyed battle more than the average shinobi. He'd seen it a number of times before; those were the truly dangerous ones, as they didn't care whether their opponents were fought with honour or not and collateral damage was almost a guarantee.

It appeared that Mangetsu was satisfied to let his brother fight on his own, though judging by the look in his eyes Naruto could tell that he wouldn't hesitate to jump in and finish him if he was given the opportunity.

Naruto took a long breath to calm down his nerves and clapped his hands together before standing in a bring-it-on pose. "Come on then, little man. I'll break Zabuza's sword in two."

Suigetsu lowered his sword slightly upon hearing the previous owner's name, "How do you know his name?"

"I was there when he died."

The younger brother looked at Mangetsu for a second before his arm grew large as he jumped forward and swung the Executioner's Blade at Naruto, who easily jumped away from the slow attack.

"You'll die for that, blondie. Zabuza might have been a rebel, but he was my teacher."

Naruto knew there was no way he could explain that he had respected Zabuza and hadn't been the cause of his death, but if he kept swinging like that then Naruto didn't think the battle would be too difficult.

Suigetsu jumped over his blade and swung it over his head at Naruto, who sidestepped the blow and jumped forward with a balled fist. The Swordsman used the handle to pivot on the spot to dodge his punch and collect him in the side of the head with his feet before picking up his blade and slashing through his stomach in a single motion.

"Well that was easy," he said, shoving his sword into the ground and grinning at his brother.

Mangetsu didn't say anything in response, but he pointed to behind Suigetsu with a tired expression.

The younger Houzuki turned around to look at what his brother was pointing to, but couldn't defend himself as Naruto slammed a fist into his face, sending him flying backwards. He'd covered his arm in wind chakra with his Kattoken, but it didn't have any visible damage as Suigetsu fell into the ground in a large puddle of water with the Executioner's Blade stuck in the middle.

Naruto cancelled his Kattoken, thankful that he'd learnt to use the technique with chakra as well as with spiritual energy. When used with chakra it was nowhere near as powerful, though the rotation of the wind was much faster. It also didn't injure his arms as much either.

"You shouldn't underestimate him," warned Mangetsu as his younger brother's face appeared in the puddle of water.

"How was I meant to know that was a shadow clone? He never made a handseal."

_Yes he did, you just didn't see it_, thought Mangetsu. He kept that observation to himself though, since it was clear that his brother wasn't going to be able to defeat him on his own.

Suigetsu slowly formed back into his normal form as Naruto leapt back a short distance to assess the situation. He wasn't as hot-blooded as he used to be, but Naruto was extremely frustrated that he wasn't able to damage him properly.

_Wind chakra doesn't work, and neither would spiritual energy. Damnit, this is annoying…_

Remembering what Hinata had told him about the elements, he knew that to defeat their water forms he would need to use Earth-based techniques, but unfortunately he didn't know any.

Watching Suigetsu pump up his sword arm to a large scale so he could swing around Zabuza's sword with ease, an idea popped into Naruto's head.

_If I can't defeat them traditionally, I'll do it my way. _

Without needing to form a handseal, a shadow clone appeared at his side, with the pair of them pulling out identical kunai. Suigetsu seemed unimpressed, though when the clone disappeared without a sound his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Got some surprises up your sleeve? Doesn't matter, it won't help you."

He hefted the Executioner's Blade up with one arm and moved to charge at the original Naruto, while his opponent shoved his kunai into the ground in front of himself and clapped his hands together to run through a rapid set of handseals.

Unlike his impatient brother, Mangetsu could see what Naruto was planning, though he knew he couldn't get there in time to help.

"Suigetsu! Get out of there!"

The younger Houzuki brother turned to his brother with a confused look on his face, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw where the clone of Naruto had teleported to, holding its kunai between its hands as it ran through the same handseals as the original Naruto.

Before he could react, Naruto activated his trap.

"Raiton: Hekirekimori!" (Lightning Element: Thunder Lance)

A single massive bolt of lightning struck between the two kunai of the Narutos, dispersing the clone holding one in an instant, but the effect was instantaneous. The bolt had struck straight through Suigetsu's chest, too fast for him to avoid or defend himself against. His arm slowly returned to its normal state as smoke poured out of his mouth and ears as he dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

From his outward position Mangetsu was furious at what had happened, but he wasn't about to run to his brother's defence. He knew Suigetsu wasn't weak enough to be killed by something like that, though he wouldn't be participating in the fight any further.

He turned his purple eyes to his blonde opponent, figuring he had underestimated the Konoha shinobi more than he should have.

"One down," stated Naruto as he picked his burning hot kunai off the ground. He held it for only a second before juggling it and dropping it back to the ground, grabbing at his fingers gingerly.

It wasn't the best standoff in his career, but judging by the stare the Seven Swordsmen leader was giving him, Naruto wasn't going to hold back whatsoever.

Mangetsu took a step forward with his hands in the shape of claws, causing Naruto to frown as he saw him leave Zabuza's blade next to his brother's unconscious body.

"You aren't going to draw a sword?"

"Not unless you demonstrate a reason why I should," said Mangetsu, slowly walking towards his opponent as water started to drip from his arms.

"_This one is dangerous, boy,"_ warned the Kyuubi, but Naruto was already preparing himself for an attack.

As he approached Naruto, the Swordsman swung his arms like he was scratching off his opponent from a canvas, causing two massive claws of water to appear from the ground and slam into Naruto's position.

Unable to jump away in time, Naruto used his spiritual energy teleport to appear behind his opponent, coughing as some of the water had gotten into his throat.

Mangetsu spun around as he heard Naruto appear and slammed a clawed hand into his chest, sending a ripple of pain through the Nine-Tails container's body. Naruto clutched at his arm as his breath escaped through his mouth, but even as he grabbed his skin it began to liquefy and entirely encompass Naruto's body.

After only a few short seconds, the blonde's face was completely covered and he stopped struggling as Mangetsu drowned him in a small sphere of water.

Half a minute later his body fell to the ground with Mangetsu pulling out his water and reforming it back into his arm, looking down at the orange and black clad shinobi with surprise. "I thought it would've been harder than that."

He heard a rustling of ground behind him and turned around to see Naruto slowly walking towards him with a frown on his face.

"Well that one didn't last too long. I'm a bit disappointed to be truthful."

Mangetsu watched as his opponent walked towards him without a scratch, even though he had felt the life leave him through his own liquefied state. The body was still lying on the ground behind him.

"You can use more than shadow clones it would seem."

"The years have taught me to be a cautious fighter," said Naruto, flexing his hands slowly. "Besides, that looked pretty dangerous."

_I won't be able to tell if this is the original or not. He's smarter than he looks. _

Deciding to test his opponent one more time, Mangetsu pumped water through his arm and increased it in the same manner as his brother, charging towards Naruto with cold determination.

Not one to back down from a fight without a reason, the Nine-Tails container charged forward as well, curious to feel how strong the leader of the Seven Swordsmen was with his own two hands.

Naruto and Mangetsu's arms clashed at the same time and neither gave any ground as they tried to overpower each other in a single strike.

"You know the Mizukage is a fake, right?" said Naruto during their exchange.

Mangetsu stared him down, but wasn't able to contain a short sigh. "Of course we know. The Swordsmen are not stupid."

"Then why are you fighting us? We are trying to help you!"

The Swordsmen leader beat back Naruto and snarled at him, "By attacking our village?! By insulting our honour and invading our home?!"

"Nobody said it was a perfect plan…"

Mangetsu looked at his opponent with contempt for a moment before closing his eyes and concentrating. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of this, but when he opened his eyes the look he gave him sent a shiver up his spine. It wasn't the cold calculating stare that he had been giving before; this was something far more dangerous.

While glaring at his opponent, Mangetsu slowly pulled out a metal hilt from his small pack that had no blade attached to it, taking a moment before flicking his grip and fuelling a small amount of chakra into it, causing a long bolt of energy to appear from the hilt upwards. It sparked with electricity as he held it in a backwards grip.

"What is that?" exclaimed Naruto, fascinated by the golden yellow blade.

Mangetsu flipped his grip back held it tightly with one hand in front of him, while the other hand moved along the blade, feeling the prickly sensation as lightning flew off it.

"A blade from your home village, Konoha boy. It is called the Raijin no Ken."

Naruto's eyes widened, he hadn't heard anything about such a weapon, but it looked stronger than any weapon he had seen before. He swallowed slowly and clenched his fists stubbornly. "Then I think it belongs in the hands of someone of its origin."

Mangetsu bared his teeth with a slight amusement, "You'll have to pry it out of my hands then, Tailed Beast container."

Naruto began warming up his Kattoken around his arms and stared at his opponent, "That's the plan."

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><p>"So I've got the dark guy, huh?" observed the only female Swordsmen with a smirk. "Just how I like it."<p>

Killer Bee slowly reached back to pull one of his swords from his back, but with his opponent's twin swords by her side he changed his mind and instead moved his hand back to his chest. In that seemingly innocuous movement he flicked a pen at Ameyuri at an unimaginable speed.

Charging with lightning chakra, the pen aimed to cut through her throat, but Ameyuri simply turned her body to the side and let it fly past her.

"Now that's more interesting. You use lightning chakra, huh?"

Bee indicated to his forehead protector with a thumb, "Of course ya fool; I'm from the village with all the power. I ain't one for hitting little kids, but I'm gonna make an exception for ya."

Ameyuri stared at him for a good few seconds before placing a hand on her stomach and laughing boisterously. "Oh my god, that was absolutely priceless. I was thinking of just messing around with you for a bit, but now you've got my blood thundering."

Killer Bee pointed at his red haired opponent with a wide grin, "That's the spirit, we gonna take it to the limit. Prepare yourself little girl, for my killer rhymes!"

"_Every time you get worse and worse. Would it kill you to talk like a normal person, Bee?"_

Seeing that there was no point in talking any further, Ameyuri brought up her twin swords and tapped the edges together to create spark of lightning that ran through the metal up and down the blades. She leapt at Killer Bee with a wild look of glee on her face, slashing at his large form with one of her swords.

The Kumogakure Tailed Beast container didn't take a step back, pulling out one of his swords at his belt and blocking her strike with the blade.

Ameyuri seemed amused by his strike and pressed down on her blow, letting lightning crackle between the two of them loudly. After a few moments she realised that she wasn't breaking through his guard, causing a confused look to come across her face.

"You aren't the only one who can run lightning through a sword," said Bee, letting a crack of lightning run along his blade to demonstrate what he meant.

The female Swordsmen shrugged her shoulders in response, "Fair enough. Bet you can't do this though."

She moved her tongue around the inside of her mouth for a moment before grinning up at her opponent through jagged teeth. "Mizutama."

Before Bee could react she spat a small ball of water at his face, slamming straight into his forehead. He was propelled backwards several feet, which allowed his opponent to withdraw her attack and point both her swords up towards the sky.

Lightning began to collect at the tips of her swords as Bee stumbled on his feet, clutching at his head in pain.

Ameyuri wasn't one to let her opponent recover though, as the lightning from her swords formed into a sphere that she wasted no time in hurling at her opponent.

"Raiton: Raikyu!" (Lightning Element: Lightning Ball)

The sphere of lightning flew towards Bee at a quick pace, but the Eight-Tails container was able to get up a hand in time to block it, letting the sphere hit his palm directly. It appeared that the lightning was going to run up his arm and damage him directly, but Ameyuri saw that the lightning seemed to withdraw into his palm as the sound began to dissipate.

Eventually the sphere disappeared altogether without any visible damage and Killer Bee stood up with a huff. He patted himself down and picked up the sword he had dropped from the ground.

"That was too close; you almost shocked me into a killer rhyme."

Ameyuri tsked and lowered her swords, "You might be a more interesting meal than I had anticipated."

"_Watch out Bee, this girl is dangerous."_

_Don't be complaining, fool ya fool, this girl ain't that cool. _

The Eight-Tails groaned loudly within Bee's head.

"_It's really sad that I understand what you mean through that drivel you always spew. She's holding back her strengths, Bee. Go at her full charge."_

Killer Bee frowned and cracked his neck slowly, he wasn't about to let the Eight-Tails tell him how to fight without seeing the evidence for himself. He saw that the red haired woman hesitating in attacking him again, she seemed aware that her lightning strikes wouldn't be effective from range.

He wasn't going to show her that he was funnelling the lightning into the ground by a mechanic under his clothing, something he had only added recently after Yugito had pointed out that in a colder place like the Land of Water wearing nothing but the lower half of his armour was impractical.

_I guess the precautions I took against brother are helping me now. Time to fight for real. _

He reached back with his free hand and tossed up his swords two at a time, catching them with his arms and legs in his traditional seven-sword style. If she was surprised by his one-legged stance she gave no reaction, though she did clutch her Kiba swords tightly and held herself in a defensive stance.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a Killer Bee!"

Bee leapt towards her while spinning like a ball, his swords glinting in the sun. His swords crashed down onto his opponent, who was able to block his initial strike with both of her blades.

However against his style, just blocking wasn't nearly enough.

Spinning around like a top, Bee began slashing at her with his unique style of combat, trying to break through her guard to slash at her arms and legs. He designed the style to defeat swordsmen exactly like his opponent, but he was impressed that Ameyuri wasn't panicking.

Bee was faster than her by a small margin, but he wasn't aware that she had a far superior talent when it came to swordplay, and that an expert swordsman doesn't rely on their eyes to follow an opponent's movements.

Ameyuri initially blocked and parried his strikes, until she saw a tiny opening as Bee flipped around like a dancer and his swords jumped into the air. Striking dead straight with her Kiba blades, she caught two of Bee's swords with the uppermost prongs of her swords and with expert skill buried them in the ground before spinning in a similar manner to her opponent and kicking him in the face.

Killer Bee jumped backwards in surprise, it was the first time someone had seen through his sword-play. He recovered his composure as he saw Ameyuri reach down and pick up his blades before snapping them with a surprising show of strength.

"You got skills better than most, kid."

Ameyuri grinned through jagged teeth, "If terminal leukaemia couldn't take me down, you've got no shot old man."

Bee collected his swords into his hands as he raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't terminal mean it should have killed you?"

His red haired opponent got a strange look in her eyes as she started to run lightning through her swords like it was a defence mechanism. "Some leaders are more generous than others. The Mizukage knows techniques you couldn't even dream about."

Despite his sunglasses, Bee's expression darkened slightly. "I'll bet she does."

Ameyuri brought up one of her Kiba blades and pointed it directly at his face, "Don't you dare disrespect the Mizukage in front of me. She was a good woman. I'll cut your head off and wear you like a hat."

The Eight-Tails container sheathed three of his blades and held the other two in each hand, running lightning through them in the same manner that his opponent was. If he couldn't defeat her with skill, he would have to fight with strength.

Something he was a specialist in.

His opponent seemed to respond positively to his standoff declaration, as she held her twin blades in a similar fashion to when they started the fight.

They had only just begun.

* * *

><p>Han stared at the two Swordsmen that had come over to face him with his usual stoic expression. The young man who seemed to be more interested in his feet than his opponent was of no concern to him; he would dispatch him at his pleasure. However the tall masked one he recognised from the last war and that intrigued him infinitely more than anything else on the battlefield. He hadn't fought in the war, of course, but he had been given much to study during that time.<p>

"Do we really have to fight?" asked an apprehensive Chojuro, holding his double-hilted Hiramekarei lightly.

Kushimaru tilted his head slightly and spun his long blade in his hand, "Stop embarrassing yourself, Chojuro. Don't make the boss regret keeping you in the Swordsmen."

The smaller shinobi shirked under his companion's comment, but he knew that the ANBU shinobi was right. Since he came back from the Kage summit he had been unsure of himself and delving deeper into his own depression.

Han waited patiently for his opponents to make a move, his style of fighting was counter-attack based and he already had a plan on how to take out his two opponents.

"Stay back if you don't want to fight, it doesn't matter to me." Kushimaru tightened his grip on his long sword and pulled back his arm.

With deadly accuracy he threw Nuibari straight at Han's chest, but the Five-Tails container simply side-stepped the blow, making judgements on the masked Swordsman's range and attack capabilities.

However Kushimaru's attack wasn't over with just that as a long wire ran from the sword hilt to his gloved hands. With an experienced grip that he had learnt through the fires of war, Kushimaru manipulated the wire and brought the sword back into Han's blind spot.

The tall Tailed Beast container saw the wire reflecting a piece of sunlight and leapt high into the air on instinct, with the long sword scrapping at the side of his red armour and causing sparks to fly as it returned to its wielder.

Shooting out steam from the bottom of his feet to maintain his height, Han stared down at his opponents with a morbid fascination.

_His technique is effective. A worthy shinobi for his cause. _

Removing his hand from his vest, Han began to pour steam out of the furnace on his back. It was lighter than the steam he had used to counter their Mist technique earlier, so much lighter than it was barely noticeable as he slowly floated to the ground.

Looking at his opponents, he noticed that the tall Swordsman was standing on his own, spinning his long sword in a circle in front of himself by the wire attached, seemingly waiting for the right moment to strike.

Han wasn't a fool; he could already work out what their plan was. It was almost insultingly simple.

Turning around in the air, Han saw the stammering Swordsman jumping to attack him with what looked like a glowing blue shark with a massive hammer attached to the front.

"Hiramekarei Kaihou!"

Han watched him attack with morbid fascination, not even bothering to move out of the way. The hammer slammed into his chest and passed straight through as he appeared on the ground watching Chojuro jump through the steam clone he created.

Bringing up a single hand from his ground-level position, Han put his fingers together and summoned up a small amount of chakra.

"Jouki Shinkan." (Steam Fuse)

A spark flew out of his fingers as he snapped them, igniting the steam he had created earlier, which Chojuro was conveniently in the centre of. The explosion was quiet and contained; Han didn't like to make a fuss with his abilities, though it didn't depreciate its power whatsoever.

Han didn't waste any effort observing the effect of his technique, turning his attention to his second opponent who was readying himself to throw Nuibari at him again.

"Don't count me out yet!" came a voice from above the Five-Tails container.

Looking up without a change in his expression, Han saw a descending Chojuro hefting a massive blue-covered axe. He had to resist letting out a sigh, some people just refuse to die when they should.

"Hiramekarei Sai!"

_He names his attacks as well? Such a child. _

Han stamped a foot on the ground, "Doton: Ganban Kyuu." (Earth Element: Bedrock Coffin)

Four large rock stones shot out of the ground and encompassed Han completely. Within his stone barrier, Han watched as Chojuro's blade came slamming down and cut straight through the rocks. Reaching up with his hands, Han caught the blade and held it with a slight show of effort.

As he felt himself being pushed down by the sheer power of the attack, Han turned his head slightly as Kushimaru's long sword came flying through the remaining rocks in his barrier and cut through the side of his red armour. Han grimaced slightly as his occupant started to heal the damage, feeling his sensibilities insulted at the fact that he was a momentary disadvantage.

_Enough of this charade. _

Bellowing steam out of the furnace on his back, Han twisted his grip on Hiramekarei and pushed it so that it crashed into the ground beside him. He dissipated his rock barriers to see Chojuro staring at his with an interesting look of confidence on his face.

Han had to change that.

Ignoring the long sword of Kushimaru flying nearby, Han leapt forward with steam-powered speed and placed a hand on Chojuro's chest through his defences. The Kirigakure shinobi appeared surprised at his agility, though it wasn't long before he was screaming out in pain as Han melted through his clothing into his chest.

It generally didn't take long for Han to destroy skin and bone alike with his technique, but he wasn't able to complete the transaction as Kushimaru appeared nearby the two of them and twirled his sword's wire around Han's throat.

The Five-Tails was forced to replace himself with a nearby boulder, which was neatly cut where his throat would have been. Chojuro fell to the ground and continued to scream in pain as his companion gathered up his long sword and wire in his hands.

Seemingly unconcerned for his partner's safety, Kushimaru took a moment to turn around and kick Chojuro in the face to knock him out, silencing the young man's screams and leaving him to suffer unconsciously on the ground.

"Finally he shuts up. That kid is such a pain in the ass; I don't know why he's even part of our group. Weakest one by far."

Han said nothing in return, eyeing his remaining opponent cautiously. He agreed with his decision to knock his companion out, but the Swordsman was quite adept at using his weapon to its full advantage, and if it could cut through his red armour than he would need to fight cautiously.

Kushimaru shoved his long sword into the ground in front of himself and ran through a handseal sequence so fast that Han could barely follow them, though he wasn't going to let some Kirigakure shinobi get the jump on him again.

Slowly a white tail began to appear from his rear, causing his Swordsman opponent to hesitate for a moment, which was all Han needed. Using the extra chakra that came with going into his first tail form, Han exploded towards his opponent and unleashed a flying side kick that was just barely dodged by the tall masked shinobi.

Kushimaru wasted no time in picking up his blade and counterattacking at Han's chest, but the Five-Tails container was too fast for the strike and jumped around to collect the Swordsman in the face, causing a small crack to appear in his mask.

Not one to let his opponent rest, Han continued a torrent of rapid high-powered close combat strikes each fuelled by the giant reservoirs of strength that his occupant provided him. To his credit Kushimaru was able to keep up with his speed and continued to try and counterattack with his Nuibari, but Han's particularly angular close combat fighting style didn't allow him more than the very occasional side strike as they continued their bout.

Underneath his mask Kushimaru clenched his teeth and flicked his wrist to bring his long sword back to his hand after his previous failed throw and used it to block a powerful punch that aimed to take his head off his shoulders. He was used to being the aggressor; it was to his disadvantage to be in such a close quarter encounter.

Taking advantage of a partially wide sweeping kick, Kushimaru kicked off the ground and created distance between himself and his opponent before finishing off the last two handseals in the sequence.

Appearing out of the ground were nine clones of himself, each wielding the same Nuibari that he had, but that wasn't why the technique required such a large amount of handseals.

Han pulled back his assault and reassessed the situation, if the original was mixed in with the clones it would be nearly impossible for him to track where the attack was coming from.

But Han wasn't a fool; he knew that his opponent wouldn't bother for such a low grade technique. It was extremely obvious what he had to do.

As each clone of Kushimaru pulled back their weapons to attack him, Han turned around and reached out to grab at thin air. Each clone of the Swordsman froze in place as he slowly appeared in front of Han, with the Five-Tails hand firmly around his throat.

He had no interest in informing the Kirigakure shinobi that an invisibility technique had no effect on someone who was in control of their Tailed Beast, nor that he was impressed at the execution of such a technique despite its ineffectiveness.

Kushimaru couldn't struggle under his iron grip as Han slowly crushed his windpipe, though he had no interest in killing his opponent in such a manner.

He instead pulled away the long sword that the Kirigakure shinobi adored so much and let his throat go before spinning around in a circle and removing his head from his shoulders in a single slash.

The tall body sank to its knees before dropping onto its chest, while Han reached out and grasped the head firmly in his free hand. He let go of the Nuibari, feeling violated that he had used such a blunt instrument to remove the threat, before reaching up and removing the cracked mask from Kushimaru's face.

He took in the Kirigakure's agonised expression for a moment before using a small ball of steam to melt away his face. He hadn't performed his signature for a long time, and Han breathed in the mixture of steam and blood through his mask with widened eyes.

It was good to be free.

* * *

><p>Even after seeing them destroy some of Naruto's clones, Roshi wasn't going to make any assumptions on their abilities as he stared at his two opponents. The one with the large sword and hammer seemed obviously an offensive type, but the one with the wide sword was a wild card.<p>

_They are both close range fighters. I should create some distance and attack at range. _

Jinin hefted his hammer onto his shoulder and looked over at his companion, "You taking wages today?"

The wide-sword wielder scoffed as he flicked off the excess scroll from his sword and refilled it with chakra. "On this old guy? I'll give you twenty to one."

"I'll take those odds," said the wielder of Kabutowari, switching his grip on his hammer. "You clearly don't recognise him."

"Should I?" asked Jinpachi, looked Roshi up and down with a suspicious look. "He doesn't look like much."

While the two of them were speaking the Four-Tails container created some distance between the two of them and placed his hands together into a basic handseal before putting them to his mouth.

"Youton: Shakugaryuugan no Jutsu!" (Lava Element: Scorching Stream Rock Technique)

He spat a large collection of molten rocks at the two Kirigakure shinobi which glowed a fiery red as they screamed towards their position. The Swordsman looked at each other for a moment despite their situation and both put up single handed handseal.

At once a large wave of water appeared at their feet and crashed into the rocks, cooling them rapidly and sending them into the ground uselessly.

Roshi bit at his lip in frustration, he hadn't thought the Swordsmen would do anything expect fight with their weapons, and if that was how they could fight then he was at a significant disadvantage.

As the water fell away from the battlefield he looked up to see Jinpachi charging towards him with his wide scroll-like sword swinging towards his chest. He initially put up his arms to block it, planning to cover himself with lava to prevent any damage, but just at the last second he noticed a large number of explosion notes rolling out towards the edge of the blade.

_Holy shit…_

Deciding that blocking such a blade was a horrible idea Roshi replaced himself instantly with a rock clone and leapt backwards to see Jinpachi's sword slam into it and explode violently, sending chunks of rock flying everywhere. Roshi was able to dodge from the debris, though he noticed that his attacker had taken a blow to his leg from a flying rock.

_What a violent technique. He risks just as much damage to himself as he does to his opponent. _

Before Roshi could catch his breath, he glanced up to see Jinin flying towards him with his axe aiming to slash him in two. Unable to dodge in time, Roshi put up his hands in defence, creating a large amount of rock on his arms to increase his defence.

As the axe bit into his rock-enhanced arms, Roshi could have sworn he saw his opponent smirk as it failed to reach his skin. His eyes widened as he saw Jinin pull back his other hand and slam the hammer part of his weapon into the back of his axe, causing his rock defence to fall apart and the axe to slice partially into his arms.

It was only quick reflexes and a willingness to keep breathing that kept Roshi's arms attached to his body as he rolled to the side and clutched them painfully. The damage wasn't too bad, but considering the combination between the two of them he was on the back foot worse than he could have feared.

"_Let me at them, old man. I'll burn them to a crisp."_

Roshi shook his head to the lava monkey's request, he couldn't risk them discovering that they were Tailed Beast containers unless he had no choice.

_I'm not out of options yet. These guys just surprised me is all. _

"_Uhuh. Sure."_

_Shut up you stupid monkey. _

Jinpachi slowly walked towards his companion with his explosive sword on his shoulder, watching him pull his axe out of the ground with an annoyed look on his face.

"That should have killed him," said Jinin.

"Oh please, it is hardly the first time someone has dodged your 'certain-kill' strike."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off."

Jinpachi scoffed and turned his gaze to the other battles around them. "Hmm. Looks like Ringo is having a bit of trouble with that Kumo guy. You got this?"

"Ringo? Since when were you so familiar with Ameyuri?"

"You never know your luck in a big city. She'll come around at some point."

Jinin laughed and scratched off a piece of rubble from his axe, "Yeah, and put a blade through your chest. You know how she is, she's as lucky to gut you as sleep with you."

"And it would be worth it," said Jinpachi before starting to walk towards his female companion who was locked in a furious duel with Killer Bee.

However he only took two steps before massive rock spikes shot out of the ground and formed a large ring around the two of them, trapping them in place.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" said Roshi as he jumped on top of one of rocks and clapped his hands together. "Youton: Garandou Yougan!" (Lava Element: Lava Void)

A large stream of lava began pouring into the hole he had created, after a few seconds it was completely covered in boiling liquid with no sign of his two opponents. Roshi took a long breath of relief before frowning as he noticed that the lava level was slowly decreasing. After a few seconds he noticed a large hole in the side of his rock formation, giving him a fairly clear picture of what had happened.

He turned around to see Jinin jumping towards him with his axe swinging high, the same attack pattern as before. However this time Roshi had enough time to react, and he could see all the gaps in his opponent's style.

_He's leaving himself wide open to attack. He's way too cocky. _

Pulling back a fist, Roshi moulded a reasonable amount of chakra and waited until Jinin was close enough not to dodge before punching the air between the two of them, sending a spike of rock straight at his opponent's chest.

Jinin was experienced enough to get his axe over in time to block the spike, but that exposed his face as Roshi slammed into him with a fast kick that sent him crashing into the ground. Not one to let his opponent recover, Roshi placed his hands together and sent a single ball of molten rock straight at Jinin's fallen body, though it was intercepted mid-air as Jinpachi slammed his explosive sword into it and sent it shattering into pieces like he striking a baseball.

Roshi landed on the ground and took several jumps backwards to create some distance between them as chunks of burning rock fell to the ground like a tiny meteor shower. Jinin groaned as he picked himself up from the ground, while Jinpachi stood in front of him with an annoyed look on his face.

"That's the last time I cover for you, Jinin. You're on your own now."

"Nobody…asked for your…" The Swordsman clutched at his face in pain, Roshi's kick had broken his nose into several places. "Bloody hell that hurts."

"Useless," muttered Jinpachi under his breath, flicking his hand to move more explosion notes to the edge of his sword. "What is he doing now?"

The two of them watched as lava appeared to completely encase Roshi's body, large globules falling onto the rocky ground and making loud sizzling sounds as they burnt away rock and stone alike.

Jinpachi went to run towards him, but his companion held him back with his hammer arm. "We should attack together. He's not the type we should underestimate."

"Don't you tell me what to do, you useless piece of crap. I'll kill you first if I have to!"

"No, you'll try and fail. Let's just do this and then help the others."

Jinpachi snarled through jagged teeth but relented and pulled back his wide sword. "What do you suggest?"

Placing his axe on his back, Jinin went through a quick set of handseals before adopting a position that his companion was quite familiar with. Nodding his approval, he performed the same technique as their lava-covered opponent went to run towards them.

Before he could get within attacking distance, Roshi skidded to a halt and stared through lava-covered eyes as a mist began to appear on his chosen battlefield, obscuring his opponents as they appeared to meld into the grey of the air.

_That's going to make this difficult._

From the previous wars he had fought in, Roshi was well aware of the properties of the Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in the Mist Technique), but he had no means of countering it, unlike his companions.

He couldn't hear anything beyond the clashing of metal from the other Tailed Beast containers' battles, but Roshi had never really been a sensory type to begin with so that didn't bother him so much.

"_On your right! Duck!" _

Trusting in his Tailed Beast's warning, Roshi ducked and rolled away just in time to avoid being decapitated by a sweeping blow of Jinin's axe. He moved to strike back in retaliation, but Jinin spun around on the spot and slammed his hammer straight through Roshi's guard and into his lava-covered chest.

Roshi gasped in pain and coughed up a small amount of blood as he fell to his knees. Even with his lava armour it had probably broken several ribs, the impact alone was enough to nearly knock him out.

As Jinin jumped back for reasons Roshi couldn't understand, his Swordsman companion appeared behind the Four-Tails container and raised his Shibuki to attack the seemingly defenceless Roshi.

Just as it looked like the battle had reached its conclusion, a hand of chakra shot out of Roshi's back and clutched at both of Jinpachi's arms to stop his blow from falling.

"What the hell?" exclaimed the Swordsman, though he could do nothing as the chakra arms wrenched the explosion sword out of his grip and held it above the fallen Tailed Beast container.

_What are you doing?_ demanded Roshi in his head, not wanting to give his occupant credit for saving his life.

"_Well you weren't going to do anything."_

Roshi groaned in pain and struggled to his feet before grabbing the wide sword from the chakra arms that the Tailed Beast had provided him. It felt heavy in his arms, but that didn't compare at all to the death glare that he got from Jinpachi before he faded back into the mist.

_Well things have turned slightly to my favour. _

Standing in a defensive position with Jinpachi's sword in hand, Roshi slowly dissipated his lava armour; there was no point in being defensive anymore. He knew that one more strike to his chest and he'd likely be bleeding internally and that wasn't so easily fixed.

For a few seconds it seemed like his opponents weren't going to attack him for fear that he had the advantage, but Roshi wasn't naïve enough to lower his guard in impatience.

"_Swing left!"_

Gripping the Shibuki with both hands, Roshi swung it in a wide arc to the place his occupant had told him to, feeling a satisfying thud as the wide sword crashed into the side of an attacking Jinin, who once again had left his side open as he had attacked.

As the connection was made, Jinin knew he was already dead, but nothing could have prepared him as the explosion notes ignited and exploded with a massive roar. His Kabutowari went flying through the air as he had released his grip on the 'sword' at the last moment, though he had no chance of escaping as his body disintegrated in the explosion.

Not used to wielding the strange weapon, Roshi had no way of knowing that there was a specific movement he had to make to avoid the recoil from the blast, meaning he suffered damage to both his arms and body as he went flying backwards at the same time. The blade smoked as it sat on the ground ruined by his inability to use it properly, while Roshi groaned in pain on the ground.

The mist around him slowly dissipated, but Roshi had time to rest as he saw the extremely agitated Jinpachi running towards him. In a fluid motion he picked up his dead companion's Kabutowari and swung in a large motion to slam the hammer into Roshi's chest and finish him off.

However the Four-Tails wasn't going to let that happen, stretching out an arm of chakra to beat away the hammer and force the Kirigakure Swordsman to fall towards Roshi's body.

Using what little strength he had left to stretch out an arm, the Four-Tails container covered it in lava and the motion of attacking Roshi caused Jinpachi to fall straight into his strike.

His arm went through his side and out his back, knocking Jinpachi out immediately due to the shock to his system, causing his body to fall limp on top of Roshi's injured form.

"Ah…" grimaced Roshi as he saw the chakra arm disappear and he clutched at his side with a hand.

He pushed off the large man's unconscious body and groaned in pain. Even as he had beaten away the hammer, when he had fallen he had shoved a kunai into Roshi's chest past his defences.

_Can you heal that?_ he asked to his occupant, though he could feel the seriousness of the damage already.

"_Man up, it's only a scratch."_

_Says the one without a knife in his chest._

The battle appeared to have swung in their favour as most of the Seven Swordsmen were already down for the count. Naruto still fought against Mangetsu at a speed that his eyes could barely follow, and Killer Bee was pressing his advantage against his female opponent.

_Where is…_

"Having a touch of trouble are we?" came a deep voice beside him. The blow to his head was still affecting his vision, but Roshi would never forget that image.

He turned his head slightly and looked up at his tall companion, "Han…help me…to my feet."

The Five-Tails container looked down at the older Iwagakure shinobi, making a quick assessment of his injuries at a glance. He didn't say a word, staring at Roshi's eyes intently.

After nearly a minute of staring, Han eventually reached down with a hand towards Roshi's chest. The Iwagakure container grinned through bloody teeth and struggled to bring up a hand for his companion to help him up. "For a second there I thought you were just going to leave me here."

"You thought wrong."

Roshi's eyes widened as Han drove his hand into his chest through his wound. Steam immediately began to emerge from the connection, but before he could react Han's hand gripped tight on his spine. The steam around Han's hand melted away Roshi's chest with little resistance, leaving a giant hole in his chest to the ground beneath.

The other two Tailed Beast containers were too wrapped up in their individual battles to notice what was going on, while Roshi's hand fell back to the ground and his eyes began to fade.

Han leaned down so that his face was barely a foot away from his old companion's, his eyes glaring straight at his victim's.

"This is not for revenge. I would not stoop to such a petty reason for my actions."

He slowly pulled his hand out of the wide hole in Roshi's chest and patted him on what little clothing was left on his neck.

"I cannot have you impeding my progress any further. Hindrances cannot be tolerated."

Roshi's eyes glazed over as the strength finally left him and the Four-Tails within him flailed uselessly as it perished with him.

Placing his hand over his former companion's face, Han performed his signature as he had with Kushimaru before standing back up and placing his hand back into his vest.

He recognised the fact that the Tailed Beast would likely be at least a decade from re-entering the picture, so there was little chance of the lava monkey coming to get him for revenge any time soon.

_If my calculations are correct, I could probably capture the beast when it reappears. An interesting thought for another time. _

Before either of his companions could notice what had happened, Han used the frantic battlefield to disappear in a small puff of steam, leaving no trace of his actions. The battle continued to rage on, with both Naruto and Killer Bee none the wiser.

Exactly how Han planned it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Watching the anime to get ideas for how the Seven Swordsmen fight was like rubbing sandpaper on my face. There is so much filler my brain hurts, and even then they hardly show them fighting as well as they probably should be. How the mighty have fallen or something like that.

There will be an explanation as to why the Seven Swordsmen were still alive; I'm not going to leave it just as is. But that is in the next few chapters.

I might have taken a cue from One Piece in one of the fights in this chapter. See if you can recognise it.

I wasn't too sure what sword to give to Mangetsu considering the fact that Samehada was gone, but I figured that it would be a weapon appropriate for the Swordsmen, though I plan on giving the blade some justice, despite being part of anime filler. Filler can sometimes be useful. Sometimes.

I'll admit Han is sort of an excuse to explore some of the darker sides of shinobi battles that I feel isn't explored in the manga/anime at all. All those 'killers' don't seem portray the cruelty that they really could.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	65. Chapter 60 Dealing with Traitors

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 60 – Dealing with Traitors

**A/N**: I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story since its beginning; I'm very flattered that my story has over 550 reviews. It really does mean a lot to me.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be honest to God infiltration missions.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The battle with the Seven Swordsmen began with gusto as Naruto demonstrated a new level of battle instinct that gave the four Tailed Beast containers the edge in the fight. Using shadow clones to gain some experience in their techniques, Naruto and his companions began their fight with the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. A clash of techniques forced four separate battle lines to be drawn, and the fight was on. Naruto took on the pair of Houzuki brothers, Suigetsu and the Swordsmen leader Mangetsu in a heated battle, though with clever use of teleportation and lightning he was able to neutralise the younger brother without much effort. After being confronted with the question, Mangetsu confirmed that the Swordsmen are aware of the Mizukage's doppelganger and were very angry about it, though they still defended their home. Pulling out the Second Hokage's sword, Mangetsu and Naruto continued their duel without noticing anything around them. Killer Bee fought on par with Ameyuri Ringo, who demonstrated both an ability to push lightning through her blades and an ability to see through his swordsmanship. The two were equally matched, with neither giving any ground as they continued to fight. Han was faced with both Chojuro and Kushimaru, though he was not concerned whatsoever. After a short battle he took down Chojuro with little effort, though he was interrupted before he could finish the job. Kushimaru gave him a run for his money for a little bit, before Han gave in and went into his first tail form and removed his head from his body. Roshi, on the other hand, struggled against his two opponents Jinin and Jinpachi. He was forced to bring out his best techniques without actually transforming into his Tailed Beast form, eventually taking out Jinin with his companion's weapon, though the kickback was enough to damage him seriously. He was able to defeat Jinpachi with a final blow, but was unable to get up to recover. When Han came over under the guise of helping, he killed Roshi and left the battlefield, satisfied with the results of the day.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The four infiltrators slowed their pace to a walk as the first elements of the Kirigakure civilian population began to come into view. They were mainly mothers and small children, though they noticed that there were a few scattered Genin among the civilians.<p>

"They got here quick," observed Yugito, as they stood about a minute away from meeting them.

"The Genin tend to get the civilians to mobilise quickly, while the shinobi move to neutralise the enemy forces," said Yagura, adjusting his uniform and nodding to his companions. "Keep in character; we don't know who is mixed in with them."

The women nodded in agreement, as the first group of civilians noticed their approach and looks of relief on their faces.

"Oh thank the stars, we were worried you weren't going to be able to help us," said an old lady to Yugito, a smile unwrinkling her face.

"We're here to help," said Fu, noticing that Yugito wasn't going to say anything in response.

Yagura nodded to the women and moved forward to come to the first Genin he could see, standing at the same height as the young man but his presence and outfit demonstrated his seniority.

"How many came with you?" he asked in a gruff voice.

The Genin seemed to shrink under his masked gaze, "Um…about fifty…sir. My Jounin teacher said to defend the civilians while they take out the enemy threat."

"Good work son. Continue doing your job, and you'll go far."

The Genin's face lit up at the ex-Mizukage's comment, but Yagura and the group was already moving down the tunnel towards the village. Despite concentrating on not breaking their cover with the people of the village, the Tailed Beast containers and Hinata noticed a strange pattern in the people they were ultimately there to save.

There was a glazed-over look in their eyes, like there wasn't much to be joyful about in their lives, current attack on their homes notwithstanding. It was likely this wasn't the first time they had been down in the tunnels in recent times, and they probably figured it wouldn't be their last.

Both Hinata and Fu wanted to ask what had happened to them to make them that way, but it became apparent when they noticed a rather small amount of elderly in the civilian population as they moved without much future interruption.

_This is worse than I thought_, said Yagura to himself, feeling a terrible sense of dread at the urgency of his mission.

As they moved closer to the edge, Hinata slowed to a stop as she saw a young girl crying by herself as the other civilians walked past her. She knew their mission was time-sensitive, but she couldn't pull herself away as she slowly leant down in front of the young girl and offered her a hand.

"Are you okay, dear? Where are your parents?"

The little girl moved her hands from her eyes and looked up at Hinata's masked face with a scared expression. "I was…I dunno…I want my mummy!"

Behind her Kirigakure ANBU mask, Hinata smiled warmly before slowly reaching forward and rubbing the top of the little girl's head. "We'll help you find your mum, I promise you."

Her three companions pulled back and huddled around her, scaring the little girl even further.

"We don't have time for this," warned Yagura. As sympathetic as he was to the situation, there were larger things at stake.

Hinata tried to give him a glare, but the effect was minimised by her mask. "We can at least put her on the right track."

Behind her own mask, Yugito rolled her eyes and walked around behind the little girl, before lightly tapping her on the back of the neck and knocking her out. She picked her up off the ground and handed her to a nearby Genin.

"Take her to the others," she instructed, using the same tone of voice she would when she gave orders to her own subordinates in Kumogakure.

Hinata wanted to be furious at what she had done, but the more cynical part of her agreed with her. She didn't like it, and made that very clear to Yugito once they emerged from the tunnel, but decided to leave it at that for the time being.

"Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Mists," said the ex-Mizukage, indicating to the village in front of them. "Stay in a tight formation, more than one infiltrator has been lost within our mists."

Staying true to its name, Kirigakure was covered by a light mist that hid it from most outward observers, but from their inner village perspective it was really something else.

The village was a multi-complex assortment of tall buildings with trees on top and stone walls that gave it a rather new age look compared to the other villages. To Hinata it didn't look like it was any larger than Konoha had once been, but there was heavy bushland and tree coverage even within the village proper. A large circle building sat at the very centre of the village with an overview of the entire area, with the symbol of the Mizukage stamped on its front.

_This village would be a nightmare to invade_, thought Yugito, taking mental notes of some strategy weaknesses, though closer looks showed her they were obvious weaknesses that were likely well-reinforced. _This trip has become worth it already._

"Let's keep moving," said Yagura, not wanting to remain static for too long.

"Where are we going?" asked Hinata, still using her Byakugan to get extra information about their mission. There were a number of things that concerned her, particularly the fact that after passing by nearby three hundred civilians there were almost none left in the village itself.

"How many shinobi does the village have?" she asked quietly, figuring she wasn't going to get a real response to her first question.

Yagura turned to her after a slight hesitation, "Perhaps ten thousand, maybe more."

_That's a serious discrepancy of population._

Hinata turned her gaze back to the people they just passed, noticing serious problems with their appearance including withdrawn features and a lack of physical energy, likely caused by severe malnutrition.

_They are feeding the shinobi and starving the civilians…this is unacceptable. I'll take this guy out myself if that's what it takes. _

She followed the others as Yagura led them through the village, jumping from the tunnel entrance to the tree tops along the edges of the village before moving onto the nearby cylindrical buildings.

They moved slowly and deliberately, with both Yagura and Yugito holding them back at times as Kirigakure shinobi moved past them. They didn't receive more than the occasional glance from the younger members of the patrols, their ANBU disguises working as intended as several other ANBU squads moved in similar patterns to their group.

"Where are they all going?" asked Fu, as they waited behind the wall of a building close to the southern edge of the village.

Yagura frowned behind his mask; he wasn't sure what was happening, they weren't responding in the manner he had expected. He expected a reasonable force to respond to the four people he had sent to distract them at the village entrance, but the bulk of the Kirigakure shinobi force appeared to be reinforcing the village walls rather than converging on the enemy in front of them.

"Hinata, can you use your eyes to see what kind of response your husband and the others received?"

The Konoha shinobi nodded and concentrated for a moment, though it was only for show as she had been watching the battles the entire time. "There were seven people that attacked them."

"The Swordsmen…" muttered Yagura. "I should have thought of that…they wouldn't send anyone else if they were going into the field; they're too prideful for that. How has the battle gone so far?"

"Five of them are down, three of them are dead."

"Damnit, I told them not to kill anyone. Is that so hard?" Yagura's tone was frustrated, but it wasn't as if he was expecting much better.

Yugito scoffed loudly, "Against those kinds of opponents, it would be hard to hold back. We are in the business of death, if you've forgotten."

"Still, it's not how I wanted things to go," said Yagura, leaving the topic for the time being as they started to move again.

"We don't always get what we want," added Fu quietly as they leapt towards the eastern side of the village.

After a minute Hinata stopped herself on top of a building rooftop, forcing the group to pull back and regard her with suspicion.

"What is it?" asked Yagura. "We are short on time."

_I can't tell them what I just saw. It would change the entire mission, and we can't afford the distraction. Naruto hasn't noticed…but he doesn't seem to be moving to attack the others. Damnit, what is going on with this mission? It just gets worse and worse. _

The Hyuuga shinobi hesitated for a moment before shaking herself out of it, "It's…nothing, just tracking some movements nearby. They're gone now."

Staring at her through his ANBU mask, Yagura took a moment before indicating to the single story on the other side of the village. "That's our target."

Both Fu and Yugito looked at the building suspiciously, "Will these disguises hold up?"

_Not if the wrong people stop us_, though Yagura, though he kept that to himself. "If we move quickly enough, we'll look like another squad moving to secure that part of the village."

"I'll take point, lead us around the patrols," said Hinata, walking to the front of their group.

Yagura extended his hand to indicate his approval and the group started to move again.

* * *

><p>Closing the door behind her, Yugito kept to the back of the group as Yagura spoke to the prison warden. He spoke in a code she didn't recognise, though judging from the tone of the warden's language it wasn't going well. Eventually they moved back to traditional Japanese.<p>

"We came to transfer the prisoners to an offsite facility, and you are telling us most of them are dead?! What kind of incompetent operation are you running here?"

The Kirigakure warden shrugged as he threw the chart in his hands onto his desk and leaned his head into the back of his chair, "We've been told to ration supplies like the rest of the village, and it seemed stupid to feed prisoners who are on death row. I've got a family of four to feed, sir."

Behind his stolen mask, Yagura bit at his lip in frustration, things had fallen apart worse than he'd feared. If she were actually in charge, Mei Terumi would have never let such a thing happen, but then again he knew that everything that was going on was new.

Shaking his head, Yagura pulled out a notepad from his disguise's pocket and flipped through the pages like he was trying to find something. "Fine, I can understand that much. We still have our orders though and I'm not about to disobey the Mizukage. How many prisoners are left?"

"Just over one hundred including the Omega-level prisoners."

"And how many guards do you have under your command?"

The warden raised his eyebrows at the question, "It's…er…just me, sir. This is a mostly automated prison…but surely you know that, don't you sir?"

"Yes…of course."

Yagura closed his notepad quickly and put it back in his pocket. That confirmed everything he needed to know. Turning his head, he gave a quick nod to Hinata.

The Hyuuga shinobi wasted no time in putting her hands into a handseal and activating a low level genjutsu, immobilising the warden in his chair.

"That won't hold him for long," she warned, but Fu was already on the move, sinking her teeth into the neck of warden to knock him out completely.

"Good work," said Yagura, moving around the desk and flipping through the files. "How long will he be out for?"

Fu wiped her mouth and sat on the desk, picking at her nails with a slight hum, "A few days, maybe more depending on his immune system. More than enough."

Yagura didn't respond, spending several minutes going through the files.

"Is there any reason we are sitting here?" asked Yugito. "Why don't we just go in and spring her?"

"I don't know about here, but in Konoha we had safeties set in place for the more dangerous prisoners so that if you didn't know the defences you couldn't get to them at all." Hinata turned her head slightly as she used her Byakugan to look around the area. "There are two lower levels of the prison that my eyes can't penetrate. If the Mizukage is anywhere, it'll be there."

Yagura let out a sound of approval as he pulled out a small innocuous book from the desk drawer, running a chakra-filled finger along the spine to open it. "This should have what we need."

"How are we going to move her from the prison to the Kage building?" asked Fu as she jumped off the desk. "She's probably mal-nourished and weak; it isn't like she'll be in a state to fight."

"I'll take care of that," said Yagura, tucking the book under his arm and moving to the back door.

Even through her Kirigakure ANBU mask, Hinata could see through her Byakugan the slight facial movements on the ex-Mizukage's face.

_And will you survive this plan, Yagura? The others can't see it, but I can tell. What aren't you telling us?_

"So what's the plan then?"

Yagura turned around and removed the mask from his face, indicating that the others should do the same. "Are there any other guards in the building, Hinata?"

The Konoha shinobi took off her mask and placed it on the desk, "No, it was just the warden like he said. All the Kirigakure shinobi in the area have been moved towards the front line, likely in response to Naruto and the others. I don't know why they are attacking them though, it's like they are waiting for something."

"Can you see how the battle is going?" asked Yugito. "I'd rather not have to drag Bee's body back to the Raikage. That would annoy him just a little bit before he removes my head from my shoulders."

Hinata cancelled her Byakugan to preserve chakra, shaking her head. "I can't see that far very clearly. I don't have anything more than earlier." Two years of playing cards with less-than-savoury types had given Hinata a very effective poker face, as there were things she had seen from the battlefield that she didn't think the others needed to know at this point.

The others seemed to believe her, making no mention of it again as Yagura indicated to the nearby door, "We'll have to be careful here. This whole building is new to me, so my expertise may not be as useful as we intended."

"Sounds fun," said Fu, though she wasn't too ecstatic about breaking into a prison rather than out of one. She'd broken out of her own prison in Takigakure just before it was destroyed, and didn't have many good experiences in such places.

"Is there anyone else we are springing?" asked Yugito, slipping a piece of paper into her back pocket without any of them noticing. "Or is it just the Mizukage?"

Yagura gripped his hand on the doorknob for a moment before turning slightly, "Just her. The others are likely to be murderers or worse, we don't want them running around."

The Two-Tails nodded in agreement, if Kirigakure's prison was anything like their own, the occupants would be the worst of the worst.

"Let's just do this before someone comes and discovers what we are doing," said Hinata, reactivating her Byakugan. She braced herself for whatever she might see, while keeping an eye on her husband's battle with the leader of the Seven Swordsman. She knew it probably wasn't a good idea to use her chakra in such a manner, but there were times when the blonde shinobi concerned her.

Just another part of being in a marriage.

oOoOoOo

Passing through the initial levels of the prison blocks, the group ignored the shouting and begging of the Kirigakure prisoners and moved as cautiously as possible. Yagura said they were primarily robbery and incompetent criminals, and he defended the village's position on imprisoning the latter when Hinata called it into question.

"If they are detrimental to the village, then why wouldn't we imprison then?"

"Just because they've done something incorrectly? Do you honestly think you have the right to do so?"

Yagura stopped at the end of a cell block and turned to the white-eyed shinobi, "If their incompetence causes the death of fellow shinobi, or risks harm to the village, we absolutely have the right to imprison them. And I don't like how uptight you are about this discussion, Hyuuga. This is my village, and I will not have questioning its methodology on a whim."

Hinata stared down at him for a few seconds before putting her hands up, "You don't have to beat your chest to me, ex-Mizukage. I do understand how things work in this world."

The Three-Tails container stared at her right back, before moving onto the next cell block. It bothered him that many of the people in the early levels of the prison were there by his hand while he was being controlled, but as a leader he took responsibility for everything he did. There were also a number of political prisoners that he had put in there before he had come under that man's influence, and he had no intention of letting them out.

As they moved down a staircase and opened the door to the next level, Hinata gave them a signal that there were things she couldn't see beyond the door. Moving into the room, the four of them saw a large glowing floor with spikes running along the middle.

"What is this?" asked Fu, moving to step onto the glowing floor.

Before her foot touched the ground, Yagura reached out and wrenched her back. "Don't touch the floor; nothing here is what you think it is."

Fu picked herself up and stuck her tongue out at his back.

As the ex-Mizukage flipped through the book he took from the warden's office, Hinata gave Fu an amused expression. "How old are you, out of curiosity?"

"Nineteen, give or take."

Hinata didn't want to point out that lying to someone with a Byakugan was meaningless, simply giving her a knowing smile and standing by their leader's side. "Is it an electrified floor?"

Stopping at the page he was looking for, Yagura shook his head and ran a finger down the image. "Worse. Stepping onto the floor alerts the whole village to the presence of an intruder, gasses the prisoners with a deadly neurotoxin, and ignites the explosion tags in the building's walls."

"Yeah…so let's not do that," said Fu, taking another step back just in case.

"We just have to get to the other side, right?" asked Yugito, staring at the doorway and patch of concrete in front of it.

Yagura nodded, closing the book and putting it into his pocket. "That's the theory, I guess."

"Oh, well that's easy enough," said Fu, sprouting a pair of wings on her back and letting the buzzing sound echo through the room as she fly above the glowing floor.

She hovered dangerously close to the bottom before flying back up with a childlike look on her face. One of her wings moved over one of the spikes and she called out in pain as the spike shot up out of the glowing floor and slammed into the roof, splitting her wing in two. She began to lose height at a rapid speed, but before she hit the ground and doomed them all, Yagura shot out with an arm of red chakra and caught her in a tight grip.

"Are you okay?" called out Yugito, trying not to jump out onto the floor to help her.

Fu grimaced and held her shoulder tenderly, as Yagura's arm wavered slightly under her weight. "I've felt worse…but not by much."

"I can't hold her for long," said Yagura, lamenting the fact that he didn't have the kind of control he once had over his occupant's chakra. Being previously deceased had its disadvantages.

"I've got her," said Hinata, moving her spiritual energy to her feet and floating into the middle of the room to where Fu was being held.

Slowly pulling her out of Yagura's grip, Hinata floated to the other side while avoiding any possible contact with the spikes and putting her on the concrete carefully.

"Thanks, I'll be okay," said Fu, standing up carefully and letting her occupant heal the damage. It was more shock than anything else, but a part of her pride was wounded as Hinata flew back to the other two and offered a hand to their leader.

"How the hell are you doing that?" asked Yagura, noticing that there was no chakra being emanated from her whatsoever.

The Hyuuga shinobi gave him a wink and nodded to her hand, "We all have our tricks, ex-Mizukage."

Shrugging his shoulders, Yagura let her pick him up in a decidedly un-Kage-like fashion. She transported him across to join Fu, but hesitated before going back for their blonde companion.

Yugito had taken several long steps back and gave Hinata a death-glare.

"You don't want to fly?" asked Hinata, hovering down to the ground beside Yagura and Fu.

Yugito dropped down to all fours and looked at her three companions on the other side of the room, "I'm an ANBU shinobi from Kumogakure and the container of the Two-Tailed Cat. I have no interest in being carried like a small child."

Hinata smirked and took several steps back to leave her a landing area.

Yugito took a long breath before charging forward and leaping into the dangerous room. It was clear from the first jump that she wasn't going to make the full distance in any capacity, but neither Hinata nor Fu moved to fly forward to help her.

Instead they watched as the Kumogakure shinobi lured a few of the spikes to shoot up into the roof and leapt off them to increase the distance of her jump, doing so twice before landing on the edge of the concrete with a satisfied look on her face.

"I don't need your help."

Hinata turned around and motioned for her to come with them, "Evidently not. Let's go."

oOoOoOo

"You've got to be kidding me," said an exasperated Yugito.

"This is new to me too," said Yagura, flicking through the warden's book. "How far things have fallen…"

Hinata frowned as she cancelled her Byakugan; they were on the levels where she could only see specific areas with heavy levels of concentration, making it mostly a meaningless exercise. "What are you talking about? This is more intricate than anything I've seen before."

Fu walked forward and kicked at the nearest steel wall, "This doesn't look that difficult."

The sound of her kick echoed around the steel walls and around the corners, before eventually making its way back to their group.

"Wow…that's weird…"

"It's called a labyrinth, Fu," said Hinata. "Think of a maze, but more nightmarish."

"Sounds fun," said the Seven-Tails container.

"You're very peppy, aren't you?"

She grinned at her companion as Yagura indicated for them to follow him.

The Three-Tails container followed specific instructions within the warden's book to lead them through, even as they moved from one room to another and the steel doors slammed shut behind them.

As the patience of the group began to dwindle at the thirtieth minute within the labyrinth, Yugito found herself questioning whether they were going in the right direction.

Yagura ignored her question and rapped his fist on a nearby steel door, causing it to slowly fall into the ground to reveal their ultimate goal.

"Seriously, a little book gave us specific instructions on how to get through the defences of their most secure prison?"

Hinata chuckled and walked past Yugito and into the next hallway, "Sometimes it's the small things that break the greatest fortresses."

"Is that how they got through to Konoha?"

For a moment Hinata considered letting that go, but something primal awoke within her and she grabbed at her shirt with a furious look on her otherwise serene expression.

"That's my home you are talking about, so treat it with some damn respect. My father and sister were in my village, along with my whole clan and everyone that we cared about. If you continue berating my people, I will close off every chakra point in your body and drop you into an active volcano."

The Hyuuga heir activated her Byakugan and stared straight into the surprised Tailed Beast container's eyes, watching the influx of chakra through her body.

"And that is me being nice."

With that, Hinata let her go and turned back to the job at hand, her expression back to her usual optimistic self. Yugito was shocked at the sudden switch in personalities in the seemingly docile Hyuuga shinobi, but didn't make a move against her as a cold realisation crept into her mind.

She would kill her and not think twice about it, and Yugito wasn't sure she would be able to fight her off.

Hinata's eyes told her she had a serious problem with her, and if she didn't keep to herself it would become a very dangerous place for her.

Ignoring the two women's argument, Yagura led the group out of the final part of the labyrinth.

In the hallway the four of them saw a long row of solid steel doors, each covered by complex seals that looked like they would take days to decrypt.

"How many of these cells are full?" asked Fu, tracing a finger along the wall.

Yagura didn't have to look through the warden's book to know the answer to her question.

"All of them."

Yugito let out a low whistle of appreciation, "Which cell is our mysterious target in?"

"The one at the end," said Hinata, pointing down the row of prison cells.

"How do you know that?"

The white-eyed shinobi gave her the most basic of are-you-kidding-me look. "It's the one that has five separate seals across the front, with two security seals along the walls that would shut down the whole complex if unlocked incorrectly."

"How do you know all that?" repeated Yugito.

"I'm a Hyuuga of Konoha, why wouldn't I be an expert of Fuinjutsu?"

Yagura walked past the two of them and down the corridor, "Another time ladies, if you please. We are here to do serious work, not have a pissing contest."

For a split second Hinata's expression darkened and she gave Yugito a look she wasn't even aware she had in her repertoire. The Kumogakure shinobi wasn't sure what she had done to deserve it; however she could see that it was something the two of them would have to resolve another time.

"Can you unlock it?" asked Hinata, breaking off contact with the Two-Tails container.

Yagura flipped through the warden book, trying to find the right reference for that particular lock. "It…won't be easy; this is the most complex array I've ever seen. It's likely that I'll need your help, Hinata."

"Let's get to work then.

* * *

><p>After half an hour they finally broke the lock. Yagura slowly pushed the door open with his staff to regard the contents. Hinata had told him that it wasn't pretty, and Yagura could see pretty clearly what she meant.<p>

The cell was tiny, barely fit to cage a beast let alone the leader of a village of shinobi. There was no source of light within the cell; it was illuminated from the corridor with a blinding glare.

Within the cell was a single figure huddled in the corner, covered in a single piece of prison uniform that hung off her a shirt that was two sizes too big. Her flush red hair was frayed in strands and covered her front in a small attempt to maintain some sense of personal pride, while her body was withered and withdrawn.

"My god, who would do this," said Fu, shaking her head like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

The female prisoner shook herself awake at the sound of voices, and a pair of lively green eyes snapped forward to regard her would-be saviours.

"Terumi…can you understand me?" asked Yagura carefully, wary of what had happened during their last encounter.

Dragging her nearly skeletal body around to face him, Mei Terumi took a long breath through her teeth. "For a dead man, you are looking well, Yagura. I guess it was only a matter of time that we would meet again."

"He's very real," said Yugito, "And so are we. We're here to get you out."

Despite her deteriorating condition, the fifth Mizukage laughed awkwardly. "Won't that be…the day. Three women from different villages and…the last Mizukage that I killed with my own hands. It's a bad joke with no-one to laugh at it."

Stepping into the cell with his staff on his back, Yagura lent down onto a knee and looking his killer straight into the face. "I was brought back to do this, Mei. The village needs you, and we can't have you dying in a place like this."

For a moment the Mizukage's eyes dropped the ground, "I can't move my legs, Yagura. I'm not a leader anymore; I'm barely a shell of a woman. I can't save anyone in my state."

Yagura leaned forward so that only the two of them could hear him, "This isn't the time for you to give up, Mei. Let me do this for you, and we can save our home together."

The prisoner stared into his purple eyes for a few moments before reaching out with a thin hand and clasping him on the shoulder. "Yagura…I'm days from death, even with healing and food. You have to…"

Yagura clasped her hand with both of his, smiling warmly at the younger woman who had killed him so many years ago. "Not a chance."

He turned to his three companions, "Stand back and close the door."

The three of them gave him a suspicious look, but Hinata closed the door according to his order and they all stood back. Without needing prompting from her female companions, Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched something that she would never reveal to anyone besides her husband.

Within the cell, Yagura helped the Mizukage to her feet, noticing a glimmer of hope in her green eyes. She'd always been a strong shinobi, and had made the hard decisions when staging the coup against him, and he didn't come all the way back from death to let her go just yet.

She needed saving.

The Three-Tails container ran through a long set of handseals, the room began to brim with power as his technique came to completion. Yagura could feel a great wrenching within his stomach, but pushed through the pain and clapped his hands together before reaching out and placing his hands one over the other onto the Mizukage's stomach.

To her credit, she neither cried out in pain nor collapsed under the pressure of Yagura's technique. The room filled with blue and white energy as Mei Terumi began to recover from her months of solitude and torment with frightening speed.

Hinata grimaced as the bright light hurt her eyes, though it wasn't long before the door swung open and the other two saw the results of the previous few minutes.

Standing tall and bright in the middle of the small cell was the fifth Mizukage, looking nothing like the sullen withdrawn prisoner they had seen only a few moments ago. Her figure had filled out and it looked like she actually fit into her prison clothes, with the dirt and bruises on her body all but gone.

"Damn…" said Yugito, looking up and down at the leader with an impressed look on her face.

Mei turned around and helped Yagura to his feet, the Three-Tails looking like he had aged twenty years in the past two minutes. He breathed heavily for a few moments before straightening himself out and giving his companions the signal that he was okay.

"What did you do?" asked Fu, reaching out and lightly poking the Mizukage's breasts with fascination.

The red haired leader looked down at the young girl with an amused smile, "You right there?"

"Sorry, it's an old habit."

Mei reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately, "It's okay. I used to do that to my sisters."

"How did you do this?" asked Hinata, her hands already glowing with blue chakra to heal their group leader. "Her chakra levels are off the chart, it's like she was never a prisoner to begin with."

Yagura grimaced as he let her heal the wounds that had reopened during the transfer, "I gave her a part of something I'd given up the rights to a long time ago. She is now a part of our group, in a measure of speaking."

"You gave her the Three-Tails? I didn't think that was possible without the previous container dying in the process."

The ex-Mizukage shook his head at Yugito's question, "In her state, I was only able to transfer half of the Three-Tails chakra. When the time comes I'll do the rest, but I suspect I still have a role to play before that occurs."

Mei smiled down at the older Mizukage, offering him a hand as Hinata gave her an indication that she had healed what she could.

"You have done much to make up for the past, Yagura, I won't forget it. We can save this village together." She frowned slightly before rubbing at her temples with her fingers. "It's…strange. I can feel a presence swimming around in my head, though it seems to be quietening down."

Yagura chuckled with a tired expression, "It gets worse, believe me. There are times when he won't shut up."

Mei shook head slowly before looking at his companions more carefully, "So, do you mind explaining to me what is going on then? Why are the Tailed Beast containers from Kumogakure, Takigakure and the heir to the Hyuuga clan at the bottom of our most secure prison?"

Hinata wondered how she could have known all of that, until it occurred to her that they had all removed their masks, revealing their forehead protectors and faces to the current Mizukage.

"That…could take a while," said Yugito.

The Mizukage looked up and down at the Two-Tails container for a moment to size her up before indicating to her stolen Kirigakure clothes, "Mind if I steal those off you? It wouldn't do for the leader of the village to be running around in prisoner robes."

Yugito grinned and reached down to remove her top before noticing that Yagura was standing nearby.

"Maybe we should step back into the cell to change."

"I have no intention of ever returning to that place," said Mei, taking a step away from it to prove her point.

Yagura put up his hands and turned around, "I'll keep my eyes shut."

Mei smiled at him before removing her prison shirt, "I'd like to keep some level of innocence before I get married."

After a minute of changing Mei wore the outfit of the ANBU shinobi of her village, while Yugito pulled on her Kumogakure uniform from her pack.

"Won't I stand out among the group now? Our outfits are pretty different."

"People won't ask questions if you are travelling with me," said Mei, thanking the Two-Tails container for her help. "Now, tell me what is happening so I can start to take back my home from the bastard that has been plaguing it for too damn long."

"We'll talk as we go back through the labyrinth."

"You know the way?" asked Yagura, noticing his voice had started to sound like he felt.

"Of course I know the way. I built it."

* * *

><p>After making their way back to the top levels of the prison, Mei hesitated for a moment before she called Yagura over to her side. "Does that book have a prisoner manifest?"<p>

Yagura retrieved the book he had appropriated from the warden and handed it to the tall woman, "Except for the people on your old level, yes. Anyone in particular you are looking for?"

"Call it a hunch," said the Mizukage, looking through the names quickly before nodding to herself.

Fu leaned in to get Hinata's ear at the back of the group, "What do you think?"

"Think of what?"

"The Mizukage! Is she what you were expecting?"

Hinata watched as the red-haired woman slowed her pace and ignored the shouts of the prisoners before coming to a single person cell at the end of the row.

Within the cell was a blue haired shinobi sitting on a bed with his hands across his chest. One of his eyes looked like it had been pulled out, though it was clearly something that had happened a long time ago. He still wore a green robe with white trimmings and looked completely out of place in comparison to the other prisoners.

He sensed their approach and looked up, seeing both the Fourth and Fifth Mizukages standing side-by-side and his expression darkened immediately.

"Are you here to mock me again? You don't deserve to be standing there in their images, and I won't let you bring me down like this. Get out of my sight."

Mei Terumi smiled down at him, and his resistance wavered slightly. "I thought you'd be in here Ao. If there was anyone that would notice the doppelganger's deception it would've been you."

Ao slowly rose from his bed and turned his single-eyed gaze to the shorter shinobi at her side, "I saw you walking past earlier, but I couldn't believe it. Now you stand at the side of the woman who put me in here and I don't know what to believe anymore."

Tracing a dark blue fingernail along the bars, Mei melted the bars to leave a wide enough gap for her to enter. She took a cautionary step inside, and to his credit Ao didn't recoil, he knew he had no chance at defeating her under the best circumstances, let alone in a prison cell.

"Ao, you were always a bright shinobi. You were the one that exposed the conspiracy surrounding my companion here, and if anyone could help us here it is you."

The blue-haired shinobi took a step forward and stood toe-to-toe with the slightly shorter Mizukage. His expression seemed to have softened, but his uncertainly melted away as he was met with the green eyed gaze of his leader.

"You are the real thing, aren't you?"

The Mizukage nodded and left the cell, "Come help us take back our home, Ao. We need your help."

After half a minute he made a decision and left the cell with her, nodding a greeting to the others of the group. "This is a strange day to say the least."

"Guy, you have no idea," said Yugito, unimpressed by the fact that they were wasting time for a single shinobi that didn't look like much.

Ao wanted to ask how it came to be that there was a Kumogakure shinobi in the middle of the Kirigakure prison, which was the least of his concerns, but before he could the Mizukage frowned and stared into his empty eye socket.

"What happened to your Byakugan, Ao?"

Hinata poked her head out from the back of the group and stared at their new companion, "You had a Byakugan? How did you get it?"

"It was a relic of a previous war," said Ao, not understanding how a Hyuuga could be in their group as well. "But it doesn't matter anymore."

"What happened?" repeated Mei, drawing his attention back to her question.

"I don't have an answer for you, I don't know. It just slowly disappeared like it was being eaten away, but by then I was already put in here by the person pretending to be you."

Activating her Byakugan, Hinata's eyes widened as she saw the chaos of chakra running through the blue-haired shinobi's system. It was frighteningly invasive, and had a level of intricacy that she couldn't even begin to comprehend, but Hinata knew it wasn't anything a normal shinobi could have done. She also knew that it wasn't something she should inform him of; since she could see that the chakra actually perceived things around him.

"Are you combat ready?" asked Yagura, wary that Ao wouldn't ever trust him even with the current Mizukage's reassurances.

The Kirigakure Jounin cracked his knuckles loudly and took a long breath of air outside of his cell.

"If it is who I think it is, I'm going to tear him apart with my own two hands. Let's go before he gets away."

"Now that's a plan I can get behind," said Yugito, pumping herself up as they moved to the entrance of the prison. "Where do we go from here?"

"The Mizukage's building," said both old and new Kirigakure leaders at once.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of moving at a high speed to the large circle building in the middle of the village, the current Mizukage called the group to a halt and moved them to a hidden grotto concealed by a row of trees. It was clear from the moment she stepped out of the cell why she was the leader of the village, and Yagura had gladly shifted leadership of the group to her. One of his main goals had been achieved, but he kept the repercussions of his earlier action to himself.<p>

"_You are running out of time."_

_Don't lecture me, Isobu. I know my own limitations. Focus on yourself._

"Why have we stopped?" asked Hinata to their new leader.

Mei turned to her one-eyed companion and considered their position for a moment. "We don't need everyone to attack the building, it's only so big and we have enough military strength as it is."

Hinata looked for a moment before nodding to the red haired leader, "There are no guards, only the fake Mizukage."

A smile came over Mei face, "Good. He's drawn the guards away to avoid an obvious conflict of interest when we expose him. However this is not a foe we can underestimate."

"What do you need me to do?" asked Ao, having worked with her long enough to guess what she wanted him to do.

Mei's smile widened, "Nobody knows you were imprisoned, right?"

"No, ma'am. It was only once I stopped co-operating that he put me in prison."

"Good then. I want you to gather the ANBU and post guards around the Kage building, with explicit instructions not to enter under any circumstances."

She turned to Yagura, "You have people on the outside?"

"I'm not pulling them out just yet; your doppelganger has too much influence to risk it. A distraction is the best way to keep the normal shinobi under wraps."

Ao jumped away to do his duties while Mei and Yagura discussed their plan of attack.

"This feels out of my league," said Fu as she stood with Yugito and Hinata to the side of the grotto.

Yugito scoffed at the notion, "This is what we signed up for. What were you expecting?"

"I dunno, tea and cupcakes?"

The Two-Tails container rolled her eyes, "What are you, twelve?"

"I try to be."

"I think they are ready for us," said Hinata, not wanting to get in another stupid conversation with the two women.

oOoOoOo

Letting her top commander gather up their best forces to guard the building, Mei led the group around the sides of the Mizukage building, pointing out that even with only the fake Mizukage inside it was foolish to enter from the front.

With the building being held above the walls of the centre of the village, the five of them hung off the wall by their chakra-covered feet.

"When do we go?" asked Yugito, feeling her blood pumping in her veins. It was a mini-ritual for her, a way to get pumped up for the coming fight without going ballistic like Killer Bee did.

"Hinata?" asked Mei, turning to the only non-Tailed Beast container in the group.

"We're clear," confirmed the Hyuuga heiress.

Mei turned to the Two-Tails container with a grin, "Now we go."

The five of them flung themselves over the stone wall and onto the grassy base level of the Mizukage building, with Mei jumping up several places around the sides to lead them onto a small balcony hidden by a cluster of trees.

Yagura landed on the balcony and hesitated as he saw Mei breaking into her own building rear entrance.

_How does this end? Do we have the strength to take that man out? _

He shook himself out of it; this wasn't the time to question his decisions. He nodded to his companions to indicate his readiness and they made their way inside the building he had once worked in.

Having entered from the rear entrance, there was only a single corridor that separated them from the office of the Mizukage. Hinata confirmed that their target hadn't moved from her original position, and the group moved quickly to form up at the solid door designating the entrance to the office.

Mei went to use Kirigakure hand signals to direct their attack, but reconsidered it when she was reminded that three of them weren't from her home village. Yagura had told her why he had garnered their trust and their strengths, but the Mizukage wasn't sold on them entirely. The Hyuuga girl was the most useful by far, but she was frighteningly observant and that wasn't a quality that you necessarily want from an outsider.

However both Fu and Yugito wasted no time in positioning themselves in the doorway, indicating for the other three to get ready.

The two of them kicked the door down and Hinata, Yagura and Mei jumped over the top of them and prepared themselves for any kind of attack that could come their way. Instead, they found the fake Mizukage standing with a set of papers in her hands, a warped grin on her face.

"It doesn't end with such a pathetic…"

Her voice was cut off as Mei Terumi shot forward and clutched at her throat with a single handed iron grip.

"No more," was all she said before snapping her doppelganger's neck and drenching her with lava as she threw her body to the ground.

"Well that was a lot of build-up for nothing," said a disappointed Yugito, stepping into the office. She kept it to herself, but this was a treasure-trove of information that she couldn't wait to get her hands on.

Looking down at the figure she had just killed, Mei was surprised to see that the body slowly transformed from her image to something she hadn't seen before at all.

It held the shape of a man, but that was where the similarities ended. He was completely white with stitches across its arms and legs. Despite being clearly dead and burning, it stared up at her with lifeless yellow eyes and the same smile he had when he was wearing her face.

"What the hell is that thing?" asked Fu, kneeling down beside it and poking it like one would a jellyfish. "Some kind of plant?"

"Is it dead?" asked Yagura, drinking in the image of his old office. It felt ironic that the doppelganger had fallen in a similar manner as he had.

With her hands glowing blue, Hinata made a quick medical examination and kept most of the more obvious information to herself. "Yes, it is. It's…strange. It's like it was never alive to begin with."

Running a hand over her desk, the Mizukage took a long breath before turning to their group, "It doesn't matter. What's done is done."

She turned to the Two-Tails container, putting on her leader face once again. "The Fourth Mizukage said he made a deal with Kumogakure for a release of your prisoners, and I will honour that deal."

"That's a nice sentiment, but my companion is still fighting on your doorstep. Is it over now? Can I call him in and tell him to calm down?" asked Yugito, stretching her arms and cracking her neck. "I could use a bath."

Thinking about it for a moment, both Yagura and Mei put up their hands cautiously and drew the others back together into a group; they knew it couldn't have been that easy.

"Someone's coming," warned Hinata, her Byakugan showing her what everyone had already figured out.

There was a surge of chakra in the room as they all turned to the front of the Mizukage's office.

"That wasn't very nice of you. He didn't even get a chance to fight back…"

oOoOoOo

Slowly appearing in a spiral of chakra, the masked shinobi slowly traced his single eye over the strange group of shinobi that had invaded his privacy.

His opponents wasted no time in unleashing their attacks on him. Mei spat a large globule of lava straight at his chest while both Yagura and Yugito shot forward and attacked with their respective weaponry at each side.

All three attacks went straight through him as if he wasn't there, with the spiral masked shinobi not even noticing them as he looked down at the white corpse at his feet.

"I guess this scenario has been bled dry. It lasted longer than I would have expected, so that's something."

He looked up at the Mizukage, who was watching with surprise as the other attackers continued to fail to strike at anything substantial in his body. "Keeping you alive was a mistake. No point in sending a message if it falls on its face."

"You've held my village prisoner long enough," said Mei with her hands in a handseal.

Turning his head down slightly, the masked shinobi shrugged in his Akatsuki robe, "It hasn't been your village for a long time. Don't pretend to be a leader when you aren't one."

His masked face turned to one of his attackers, who had given up and jumped back to the rest of the group, "It would appear that death cannot stop even the most stubborn of people. How are you, Mizukage-sama?"

Yagura gave him a purple-eyed death stare, "Your time is over. Get out of my home."

The masked shinobi let out a deep laugh before looking over at his other opponents, "You brought two additional Tailed Beast containers to the fold as well? It's a shame my plan is no longer functional with the death of the Kyuubi."

Hinata went to correct him, but hesitated when she noticed what he was hiding behind the black eye of his spiral mask.

_That can't be right. They are all dead except..._

"Regardless, it no longer matters. The Quiraji will be here within the day, and this village will be protected from the war that is to come."

He moved his head slightly and revealed a three-tomoed Sharingan that caused his opponents to hesitate. "I no longer have time to waste with you people. What makes you think I cannot take over your minds at my slightest whim?"

"Because genjutsu doesn't work on Tailed Beast containers who have complete control of their occupant," said Yagura defiantly. "Why do you think I brought them here?"

The masked shinobi turned his single-eyed gaze to the current Mizukage and the girl from Konoha, "Not all of you are containers. Perhaps I will have you kill your friends?"

Placing her hands together and staring straight into his mask with her white eyes, Hinata moulded large amounts of chakra in a show of force. "The Sharingan isn't effective against large groups, and you are outnumbered five-to-you."

Her expression darkened as she glared at him, "And my doujutsu exceeds yours by a fair measure."

"Arrogant little girl, aren't you?"

"Enough of this crap," said Yugito, clutching her hands into claws and slashing at his throat, though once again went through his body without any effect.

"Who the hell is this guy?" demanded a frustrated Fu, not sure how to even begin to fight someone she couldn't hit.

"I have no name," said the masked shinobi, who hadn't even thought of attacking his enemies yet. It was beneath him.

"Bullshit, everyone has a name," said Yugito, jumping back to take the measure of her opponent. "Or are you too embarrassed by it? Is it a girl's name?"

Even with only his Sharingan visible, it was clear that she had hit a sensitive spot as his chakra appeared to darken with his mood. "I once went by the name Tobi; it suffices for the mortals such as yourself."

"Mortals? You aren't a god, and never will be," said Mei, standing against him with her hands ready to attack him. "You are simply a man, and a soon-to-be-deceased man."

"I'm done talking to you people."

With that he stepped forward to grab at his nearest opponent, which was Fu, but the Seven-Tails container wasn't going to let that happen, jumping back and spraying a small area of sparkling dust that threatened to paralyse him in place.

Tobi was forced to use the same technique to dodge as he moved to catch her with his hands, however he was intercepted as Yugito began scratching and clawing at his body, using the small area to her advantage.

After nearly a minute it became clear that they weren't going to be able to harm him, however after having observed the entire fight they were starting to get a good picture.

"How does he keep dodging?" demanded a frustrated Fu. "It's like trying to fight air."

Even with her Byakugan active, Hinata wasn't sure what she was seeing. There were times when his chakra signal was normal, which was frighteningly large compared to most, and when he was avoiding their techniques it was like he wasn't there at all.

"Trying to figure my abilities out is meaningless," said Tobi with the same arrogant tone he had been speaking with. "Are you done flailing against the inevitable?"

"He can't attack while he's like that," said Hinata, ignoring his taunt. "It's like he's phased out of reality, or intangible."

"How are we meant to fight against that?" demanded Yugito, breathing through her frustration.

Yagura held back from fighting against Tobi directly, his techniques weren't well suited to close quarters combat, though collateral damage was hardly the issue as the majority of the Mizukage's office was trashed beyond recognition.

_He can't take the fight elsewhere, as that would draw the attention of the Kirigakure shinobi outside. She was right to order the ANBU around, it contains the situation, and it's clear he doesn't have many offensive capabilities. But how do you fight against something you can't hit?_

As Tobi continued to try to grab at his opponents one at a time, he was attacked on all sides by Fu, Yugito and Mei, while Hinata conserved her strength and observed his ability with patience tempered by her medical training. None of their strikes were effective, but Tobi didn't seem like he was going to leave the battle that clearly wasn't in his favour.

_There is a pattern to his movements; I just can't…wait…_

Running through the battle in her head, Hinata began to understand a small part of what was going on in the Mizukage's office. It was ingenious in its design, but there was something intrinsically simple about it as well that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

It was only when the Mizukage burnt a hole through the wall with a ball of lava and Yugito attempted to slam a bolt of lightning in his face and shattered the window behind him that she finally caught what was missing.

"Everyone back me up," she said, jumping forward and covering herself in a thin layer of defensive chakra. It was a higher level Hyuuga technique that she had mastered from her memory of reading her family's scroll, but it led into a technique that she really didn't want to use in such close quarters.

Tobi turned to regard her with the same level of disdain as the others, but was surprised when she didn't come at him with an attack, but rather she dived straight into the middle of his body, exploiting his intangibility and standing as if she was trying to take his place.

He moved to the left, and Hinata followed him, forcing him to maintain the technique as she seemed to stick to him like glue.

"What are you doing?" asked a confused Mei, holding back attacking for fear that she might hurt the Hyuuga shinobi.

With her Byakugan activate, Hinata had complete coverage over the small battlefield and could respond to each minute movement that her opponent made, keeping herself in his body tenaciously.

With Hinata keeping herself within his intangible form, Tobi was unable to retaliate in any way. He tried to move out of the way in a variety of ways, but Hinata was tenacious while her companions were waiting for the right moment to strike.

Tobi knew his own abilities far more than anyone else, and it disturbed him that the white-eyed girl had seen through one of his weaknesses so easily. The only way for him to get out the situation was to sink into the ground, which would remove him from the area altogether.

He still needed this village, it was the only way he saw he was going to survive the next few months, and it was vital that he did. Otherwise his plans would fall to pieces, and he couldn't have that.

With less than two minutes before he would be forced to return to normal tangibility, which would cause serious issues for both him and the Hyuuga girl, Tobi decided it was time to take the battle onto his home turf.

A loud suctioning noise sounded through the makeshift battlefield as the area around Tobi began to swirl towards his right Sharingan that was revealed through his mask. Even as she felt herself being pulled in like a black hole, Hinata maintained her vigil and refused to let him turn back to normal, though she was surprised to see both Fu and Yugito jump forward to try and save her.

The three women all disappeared in sort order as Tobi sucked them all into his alternate dimension, knowing that he could probably just leave them there.

But they had insulted his pride and he wasn't about to let that go.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Not really too much to say about this chapter, things are moving along at the pace I was expecting it to.

Next week will be the most entertaining chapter I hope I will write for this story. It's a Bonus Chapter, but I'm turning the dial to 57. It shall be glorious, and probably cringe-worthy.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	66. Bonus Chapter 6 The Return of Ninjaman

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – The Return of Ninjaman

**A/N**: Take nothing in this chapter seriously. At all. This is a parody, and should be treated as such.

I apologise once again for the serious lateness of this chapter, things have been coming to a head in my personal life and I've not had much time for writing. I hope this chapter makes up for it. For obvious reasons, it's super long. It could have been much longer, but I decided to compress it because I have plans for the future Bonus Chapters.

Also, here is a game for my faithful readers. Try to spot all the references. There are quite a few.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, it would have One Piece's sense of humour.

* * *

><p>"NINJAMAN! NINJAMAN! NINJAMAN!"<p>

Letting out a sleepy groan, Naruto slowly rose from his bed and glared dagger at the monitor at the end of his bed, attempting to will the alarm into silence. He scratched at his messy blonde hair with a follow-up groan, he had only just woken up and already he was exhausted.

Feeling the silk blanket on his well-toned body, Naruto turned his head slightly and watched as the other occupants of his bed slept quietly beside him. The older one with fair skin and short black hair had a serene look on her face that did nothing to reveal the personality that had emerged during the previous night.

Naruto's legs were still sore, and not in the way he was particularly comfortable with.

The other occupant masked none of her comfort in his bed, her slight frame strewn across the bed like she'd fallen asleep in the same position she had collapsed into the bed in. Her long blonde ponytail was frayed and pieces of her hair were everywhere, but considering what they had been doing Naruto wasn't surprised at all.

A quiet knock on the door drew the blonde ex-hero's attention from his beautiful women and he called for the knocker to enter.

"Some breakfast, master?" asked his elderly butler as he came into his bedroom, his greying hair and wrinkles betraying his true age. He still moved with the skill that he had when he had done the same things Naruto had done in his youth, even as he held a tray of tea and a single empty cup in his hands.

Jumping out of the bed in a single bound, Naruto grimaced as he felt his under-used muscles scream out in protest. He'd only been out of action for a few weeks and was already feeling the effects. He turned to his butler with a slowly awakening look, uncaring that he was fully naked. "Ramen. Miso with extra noodles."

"Yes, master." The butler indicated to the ladies that occupied Naruto's large fluffy bed, "And these?"

Naruto looked over them for a few moments before beginning his regular stretching routine. "The dark haired one you can send on her way. I've ticked that off my list for the time being."

"And the other?"

Despite his protesting muscles, Naruto couldn't help but recall the previous night vividly. Even before they had finished, he'd decided she was a prize worth keeping. "Give her a room down the hall and tell her the routine. Tell her the rates, and if she relents double it. There is something about her…something…elusive. I want to take my time with her."

"Yes, master," said the butler, placing the tray on his bedside table. "Anything else?"

"Not for the moment, Hiruzen."

The butler bowed deeply to him for a moment before leaving his master to his business.

Finishing his stretching, Naruto turned back to his bed, noticing for the first time that the monitor hadn't folded itself back into the bedframe as it normally did. He let out a third groan, he'd hoped to get some fun with his new escort before the business of being a celebrity came about, but it would appear that his stature mattered little when it came to early morning tumblings.

He pressed a single red button on the back of the monitor and stood back as an image slowly appeared in holographic form. He was expecting his agent, pestering him for another television interview, or the women's league trying to sue him again.

Instead the image of a tall blonde man with battle scars and an annoying resemblance to the ex-hero appeared in his bedroom, wearing the same damnable outfit with the same cloak Naruto had once gifted him. He stared at the ex-hero for a moment before coughing awkwardly, "Have I…caught you at a bad time, son?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his muscular chest, "Don't call me that, Minato. I'm a busy man, what do you want?"

"We…are…could you please put some clothes on? The women in my office are starting to gather."

"Fine," said Naruto bluntly. He picked up a dark orange robe and flung it around his shoulders, tying it at the waist and standing back in front of the blonde man's image. "Now why have you disturbed my home with your presence? I'm not in the hero business anymore, remember?"

"I remember, the shinobi wars." Minato let out a small sigh, "The world was lessened by your retirement."

"Yes, yes, blah, blah, blah," waved Naruto dismissively. "What do you want?"

Minato coughed again, bringing himself back to his point. "The Princess has been taken by the Evil Lord."

"And this concerns me…why? You make it sound like that isn't an everyday occurrence."

The blonde politician gestured to his chest with both his hands, "It was that Princess, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes snapped back forward, and he put his hands to his chest in the same manner, "That one?"

"The very same."

The ex-hero didn't even need to consider it; this trumped anything he could possibly be doing in the next few months. Placing a hand inside his robe, Naruto gave his father a knowing look.

"You want me back in the game? Even though I've been out for so long?"

A strange smile came over Minato's face, one that sent Naruto's blood on edge, "Yes, we are well aware of that. We have arranged for you to undergo some…rehabilitation."

"Do I at least have time for one final fling?"

"No."

Naruto sighed and shook his head as the image faded away. It would seem the perks of being the hero he once was were long gone.

And once again, he was back in the game.

* * *

><p><em>You're the best! Around! Nothing's gonna ever keep you down!<em>

The inspirational song blared into Naruto's ears as he paused on the mountainside to catch his breath. His hands were callused and bleeding from each time he launched himself up the rocky surface.

As was tradition he didn't wear any safety gear; a hero needed no such thing. But it had been years since he had climbed the Mountain of Reflection, and Naruto wasn't as in shape as he should be.

Shaking himself out of it and making sure his iPod headphones were still in his ears properly, Naruto looked up at the massive task in front of him and groaned loudly.

"There has to be a better way…"

As he went to grab the nearest handhold, a flash of inspiration hit him and he pulled back his hand to slap himself on the forehead.

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" he groaned, shaking his head.

oOoOoOo

Naruto stood in the middle of the room, letting the pleasant piano music flow through his ears as he rose up to the mountain top. The room barely swayed as it climbed the mountain rapidly, though to his disgust he did have to wait as it picked up a number of tourists going from one site to another on the mountain.

He bit into an apple and let the fruit juice run through his teeth, mentally preparing himself for what was to come. It had been nearly a decade since he'd first come here, and he wouldn't be surprised if the reception was much the same.

A quiet ding rang through the elevator.

_Top Floor: Point of No Return. Top Floor: Point of No Return._

Naruto tossed his apple core into the corner of the elevator and stepped out onto the mountain top. Unlike his half-baked climb up the mountain, the top didn't look like it was in the middle of a blizzard. Instead it was quiet and calm, the air much thinner than what he was used breathing. He took a moment to get used to the environment before walking towards the long staircase in front of him.

At the top of the staircase was a single small building that looked like it came from an old movie, it looked rundown and ready to collapse, but Naruto knew it was hardier than it looked.

Rows of blades lined the distance between him and the house, with every kind of sword imaginable available at his fingertips.

Looking down the line of weapons, he saw the reason he'd been sent back to the Mountain of Reflection. Sitting with his legs crossed underneath his pale robe, the white-haired old man noticed his approach and stared at him through small eyes. He still had the same red marks on his face that drove Naruto mad in frustration, but he swore to Minato that he would be respectful to the old man.

He bowed at his waist and stopped several metres in front of him, "Honoured master, I have come to seek your wisdom once again."

The old sage slowly rose to his feet, towering over the ex-hero and looking down on him as the scum he knew him to be. He cracked his neck loudly, causing Naruto to wince at the sound.

"You've gotten fat," said the sage bluntly.

Naruto felt a vein on his forehead pop at the insult, but he kept himself in the bow, staring at the ground at the old man's feet.

A small smirk came across the sage's face, "Good…good. You've learnt to keep that temper of yours in check."

"I have come to complete my training…master."

"Have you now?" The sage went to stroke his magnificent beard before remembering he'd never had a beard and shook himself out of it. "And what makes you think I want to help you?"

Still staring at the ground, Naruto reached into his belt pocket and produced a small book. He offered it to the sage, who stared at it curiously as he took it from his hands. He opened it up to a page in the middle and his eyes widened at what he saw. It took all his effort to not drool over the contents, nodding his approval as he snapped it shut and turned around to walk back to his house.

"Your training will begin tomorrow," he said with his voice echoing around the mountain. "Prepare yourself."

Naruto looked back up at the retreating back of his master, taking a long breath of relief. It was always difficult to tell what the white-haired sage would do, but some things never change.

"I will…Master Jiraiya."

oOoOoOo

"You must feel the Force, flowing through you…"

Naruto gave no response as he continued his one-handed hand stance. The old man sat on top of his feet far above his head, smoking a pipe as he spewed out cliché lines from his favourite movies.

Rocks seemed to tremble around him, and for a moment Naruto wondered if the mysterious training he was going through was actually having an effect on his power, but after a few minutes it was clear his master was just full of crap.

Sweat accumulated on his brow, as the radio next to them played inspirational music that only served to anger him further. He continued to hold his position, trying to ignore the fact that the old sage was reading the porn magazine he had given him on top of his feet.

"You must keep the faith!"

Naruto snarled and swapped hands, keeping himself steady. This was going to take a long time.

oOoOoOo

Strapping his student into the contraption, Jiraiya stepped back and regarded his student. Naruto hung from a clothes line by two pegs, clapped harshly onto his nipples, pulling him up with an agonised expression on his face.

"Why…do I have to…do this…again?" demanded the ex-hero, each word bringing about a new level of pain.

Jiraiya walked forward and twisted one of the pegs, causing him to groan in pain. "One day, you will have the strongest nipples in the world. A man with strong nipples can conquer anything."

Naruto shook his head and immediately regretted it as the pegs pulled even harder on his chest.

"Whatever you say…"

His master stepped forward and slapped him in the face. "What do you say when addressing me?"

The ex-hero grimaced and looked down at his master, "Yes…sir…"

"You have much to learn."

oOoOoOo

Jiraiya stepped back and looked at his student, having noticed the change in the young man in the few hours since he'd started his training.

"Your montage training is now complete. Now you must face your greatest opponent."

He indicated to a large image near the edge of his house. Naruto nodded in anticipation, he knew he was far stronger and fitter than when he had arrived at the mountain top. His chest still hurt, but that wasn't unusual after a training session with the old sage.

The old man removed the cloth from the large figure and a loud groan emerged from Naruto's mouth as he saw the damnable red car that he hadn't noticed earlier.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Jiraiya grinned his old man smile as he handed him a cloth and a small bottle. "You know the drill."

Naruto snatched the cloth and bottle from his hands and snarled. "You are an evil, evil man."

He stomped towards the car as Jiraiya pulled out his porn magazine again. "You must feel the energy of the task at hand, each movement flowing into the next."

He gestured dramatically as the montage music began once again. "But most of all, you must exercise restraint in all things. Be wary of the three vices: women, money and alcohol. And when in serious doubt, remember your training."

Jiraiya moved his hands in the same motions the ex-hero was, "Make sure to get the rims done as well."

oOoOoOo

Naruto shouldered on his cloak and took a long breath. He hated the training methods of his master, but couldn't argue with the results they achieved. He hadn't been prepared earlier to storm the Evil Lord's lair, but his body and mind were now one and he felt more serene than the last time he'd been a hero.

Jiraiya stepped towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You are now ready. For now, there is nothing more I can teach you."

Naruto bowed respectfully, despite hating the man with unbridled passion. "You honour me."

"You were my second-best student; never forget what you have learnt here."

"Second-best?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "Who was your first?"

The old sage shook his head at the memory, "Pray you never meet him. He used my teachings for evil…and even tried to kill me with my own fish-heads."

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, but let it go as he considered the immense task in front of him.

"Before you go, I have something for you."

The hero had to stop himself from jumping out of his skin; the swords of his master were renowned around the world for their quality. If he wielded one of them, rescuing the princess would be easy.

Jiraiya reached into pocket and produced a gunk-filled rag, handing to his student with a proud smile on his face. "Take this, to remember your training and the commitment you made here on this mountain."

Naruto's face dropped and he tentatively took the rag from his master's hands, "Um…thanks…I guess…"

"Where will you go now?"

The newly resurrected Ninjaman stuffed his master's rag into his pocket and cracked his knuckles loudly. It was time for him to get moving.

"I'm going to get a team together."

* * *

><p>The battlefield was deafeningly loud.<p>

Running through the sandbagged trench with his head beating against the helmet he had taken off a body, Naruto winced at the sound of every shell that fell nearby as he tried to move as quickly as possible.

Within the trench were hundreds of soldiers trying their hardest to hold the line against the vastly superior armed force threatening to push through to the civilian holdings behind them. Their rifles barked loudly at every pull of the triggers, but for every bullet fired there were three fired back.

Naruto pulled up next to a soldier that was clutching his arm through bloody teeth, "Where is your commanding officer?"

The soldier turned to him with hazed over eyes, "Sharon? Why are you blonde?"

"Where is your commanding officer?" asked Naruto again.

"I'm going, going…back, back…to Cali…Cali…"

The blonde hero rolled his eyes and stood up for a moment before a stray bullet came flying into his helmet and blew it off his head. Naruto jumped in surprise and looked down to see the large bullet hole in the helmet that should have killed him.

"Lucky I have plot armour," he muttered under his breath, though he still ducked for precaution's sake.

He looked around the trenches, noticing a small command post that had been set up at the end of his current trench. Naruto nodded dramatically and began crawling towards the command post, appropriating a rifle and slinging it over his shoulder.

A hero has to do, what a hero has to do.

oOoOoOo

After dragging himself into the command post, Naruto found himself in the middle of a war room with his target directing the action.

There were ten soldiers huddled around a map of the area on the central table, with a tall green clad man at the forefront.

"I want mortars shelling this grid here," said the commander, pointing to a part of the map with a stab of his finger. "Then the infantry can push forward and take out the guns on the left flank."

One of the other soldiers frowned at his command, "They'll sustain heavy casualties if the mortars aren't able to take out the heavy machine guns."

"Are you questioning my order?"

"Sir, I was just objecting to the notion that our men can be used as cannon fodder."

"Objection noted," said Rock Lee. He pulled out his sidearm and shot the officer in the face.

The other officers jumped in surprise, while Naruto grinned and walked into the room. "Are you Commander Lee?"

The green-clad leader stepped over the body on the ground and holstered his pistol, "Who's asking?"

The blonde hero puffed out his chest proudly, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, formally known as Ninjaman, making a dramatic return to the scene!"

Looking up and down the blonde for a moment, the general shrugged unimpressed and turned to one of his advisors standing over a patch of ground sitting on top of a table. "What is it we are looking at here?"

"This is a representation of how much ground we gained in the last push."

"Splendid…" said Lee, nodding to himself. "And how much is it?"

The advisor pulled out a measuring tape and took an account of the scenery, "Two point four metres, sir."

"And what is the scale?"

"Um…one to one…sir."

Lee stared at the advisor for a moment, resisting the urge to draw his firearm again, before turning back to the main map. "Fine. Reduce rations by a quarter for a lacklustre effort. What's next?"

"Hey! Are you just going to ignore me?" demanded Naruto, stepping into the war room fully so he was in line with the other advisors. "I am the Great Ninjaman!"

The general looked up at him and rolled his eyes before dismissing his advisors out onto the battlefield. As they left two of them removed the body, leaving a long blood stain on the ground.

Lee waved him over, "Keep your chest beating to yourself. And it's General Lee, get it right."

"Right, right…" said Naruto, leaning his hands onto the map.

"Get your hands off my table," said Lee strictly, pushing a large collection of papers to one side.

Naruto put his hands up in mock surrender, wondering why he had come to get this one first. "I'm putting together a team, and you're the first name on my list."

"What, like a softball team? I'm not that kind of person, boy. Now get out of my war room before I shoot you."

Ninjaman refused to give up without a fight, "I need your help rescuing the princess from The Evil Lord."

Lee scoffed at the notion and moved a small flag from one position to another, "And I want an extra hundred men to fix the hole in our barracks and a woman to scrub my feet at night, but neither of those seem likely, do they?"

"But I need your help! The princess is doomed without our intervention."

"I don't care if she's the Queen of Belgium; I'm not going to abandon this battle so you can get a decent lay."

Naruto gave him a suspicious look and gestured to his chest, "She'd be a really good…that's not the point! You are on the list, and I'm not leaving here until you come with me."

Rock Lee went to say something in response, but his expression darkened as he looked through the hole in the command post to the trenches below.

"Son of a bitch…"

Pushing off his strong legs, Lee jumped through the hole into the trenches, causing Naruto to groan in exasperation and run out towards where his future companion was going.

After a minute of running he finally caught up to Lee, to see a particularly strange situation.

"Did I hear you right, soldier?! I think you need to repeat it, I don't speak fluent moron!"

The young soldier shirked under Lee's terrifying visage, "What?"

"I asked you a question! Are you going to answer me or not?!"

"…what?"

Lee reached down and slammed the soldier against the trench wall, "What country are you from, boy?"

Nearly pissing himself, the soldier continued to stammer uncontrollably, "What?"

"What ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak Japanese in What?"

The soldier's hands began to shake in terror, "What?"

"JAPANESE YOU MAGGOT! DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"

He started nodding his head violently, "Yes…yes sir!"

"Why did you remove your helmet soldier?!"

The soldier looked down at the ground at his discarded helmet for a moment before turning his terrified face back to his general, "…what?"

Lee pulled up the pistol from his belt and shoved it into the soldier's mouth, "Say what again! I dare you, I double dare you! Say what one more god damn time!"

"I…it fell off in the fight…sir."

Lee yanked out the pistol from the soldier's mouth, but still kept it in hand as he brought the soldier's face close to his own, "Do I look like a bitch?"

"What?"

Taking an angry breath, Lee aimed his pistol at the soldier's shoulder and fired, causing him to scream out in pain and drop to the ground.

"Do. I. Look. Like. A. Bitch?" said Lee slowly and precisely.

"NO!" screamed the soldier, holding his hand to his shoulder.

"Good. Now why did you remove your helmet?"

The soldier grimaced as he struggled on the ground, "I was scared…my eyes hurt…and I couldn't see anything…"

Lee reached down and picked up the soldier's helmet, "This is the thing that keeps your head from being blown off. This is the thing that keeps you alive."

"But sir…the machine gun fire is cutting us to shreds. I can't go up there, I'll get killed!"

Lee glared at him for a moment before dropping his helmet and moving towards an ammunition crate nearby. "Did they teach you guys nothing about trench warfare?"

He dug around for a moment before removing a belt of grenades, turning back to sling the belt around the soldier's waist, pulling him up onto his feet. "You use grenades for to create cover, then pop your head up and take them out."

The soldier nodded in understanding, taking slow breaths in an attempt to ignore the pain in his shoulder.

With a quick motion of his hands, Lee removed the pins from the six grenades on the belt and stared the soldier straight in the eyes. "Let me show you."

Picking up the soldier with an impressive demonstration of strength, General Rock Lee threw the soldier over the trench wall and waited. There was a loud bark of machine gun fire before a large explosion rang through the area.

Hefting the soldier's discarded rifle, Lee poked his head up and fired two short bursts, taking out the machine gun operators before ducking back into the trench.

He tucked the rifle under his arm and turned to a shocked Naruto, "Now, what were we talking about again?"

"Um…you…helping me rescue the princess…"

Rock Lee nodded his understanding and dropped his rifle on the ground. "That's right. As I said, I can't help you there."

He walked over to the ammunition crate and slowly pulled out a bazooka out of nowhere, loading it with a large rocket, "These men need my help in winning this battle."

Making his way back to the trench wall, Lee hefted the bazooka onto his shoulder, "Without me here, they would be slaughtered in an instant, and I care too much about my men."

Naruto gave him a suspicious look as the general fired the bazooka over the trench wall. "Yes…I can feel the love…" he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" yelled Lee under the roaring sound of the explosion. "I couldn't hear you."

The blonde hero shook his head, "Nothing, nothing. Are you going to help me or not?"

Lee snorted and dropped the bazooka onto the ground, moving to operate a conveniently placed mortar. "I have no interest in leaving this battlefield for some meaningless quest. Either pick up a rifle, or slink away like a little girl."

Naruto frowned, unsure of what to do next. General Rock Lee continued to fire larger and larger weaponry with more gusto and fervour, while the blonde hero pulled out a large pad of paper from his pocket. He flipped through it for a moment before letting out a gasp in acknowledgement.

He shoved the papers back into his pocket and straightened his back, "Is there anything I can do to sweeten the offer?"

Lee removed his helmet and goggles and leaned his head out of the anti-aircraft emplacement, "Unless you can end this war in a single blow that doesn't require divine intervention, you are wasting my time."

Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, "How about if I give you five dollars?"

General Rock Lee stopped putting in the code on the portable nuclear bomb and looked up at the blonde hero with a deep frown.

"…right now?"

Naruto pulled out the note and flicked it so it made a satisfying _thwack_. "Right now."

Lee breathed through his teeth for a moment before standing up from the nuke and walking over to him and plucking the bill out of Naruto's hand. "Okay. Lead the way."

Naruto motioned to the path leading out of the trench, flicking his cloak in a dramatic flair. "Nice to be working with you, General Lee."

The general hesitated for a moment before turning to regard the soldiers that stood in formation behind him.

"Alright you scum-ridden faeces buckets! I am leaving for a very important…mission for High Command. All lieutenants are hereby promoted to captains, and all sergeants are demoted to privates. You men and women will win this battle, or so help me I will come back and shove that nuke up your collective asses and watch you burn through fashionable sunglasses."

The soldiers all saluted in formation, but General Rock Lee and Naruto were already gone, slowly walking into the distant sunset.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Lee stood outside of the bar, looking in onto the shadowy interior with serious expressions.<p>

"What should we expect?" asked the general, picking at his teeth with a toothpick.

The hero shrugged, "He's on the list, so he must be good. Not sure why he is all the way out here though."

The town around them sat in the centre of a desert-covered wasteland, with sand blowing with a fair amount of force. With a sandstorm incoming, most of the townsfolk had taken shelter within their wooden homes.

Naruto gave his companion a knowing glance before pushing through the swinging door and entering the door with the clanking of his boots striking at the floor with each step.

The bar was as seedy as they come, with drunks hanging off bar stools with glasses of whiskey in hand, with busty waitresses distributing jugs of beer with charm and good will. Naruto straightened his back at the scene; he disliked the lawlessness of places like these.

"I'll go look for our new member."

Rock Lee nodded in acknowledgement, "I'll investigate the bar. It's looking at me intently."

Ninjaman waved him off and scanned the bar for his future companion. A dark skinned man sat on a stool near the edge of the wall and played a boisterous song on the piano, his large afro shaking from one side to the other. The bartender scowled as Lee ordered a drink and sized up the nearby drunks.

This was a terrible place.

It didn't take him long to zone in on the man they had come there for; he sat in the middle of the bar with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a lit cigar in the other. His jet black hair sat in a tangled ponytail that hung behind his head and the smell of alcohol and degradation was overwhelming.

Naruto nodded to himself and took the seat beside him, turning to ask for his help before realising that the man was asleep at the bar. He rolled his eyes and motioned to the bartender, calling the older man over to him.

"What with this guy?" he asked, motioning to the man beside him with his head.

The bartender shrugged and continued to clean the mug in his hands, "You want something?"

Beside him, the sleeping man jerked awake suddenly and shook his head for a moment before groaning loudly and taking a long puff from his cigar.

"You okay there?" asked Naruto, concerned about the health of his future companion.

With a gravelly voice that told Ninjaman volumes about how much the man smoked, he coughed and turned to the blonde man with glazed over eyes, "Oh…I'm fine…"

He took a long swig from his bottle of whiskey, draining a quarter of the bottle in barely a few seconds before letting out a soft belch and putting his cigar back into his mouth.

"You sure you don't want to eat something?" asked Naruto cautiously.

The man shook his head again, tightening his grip on his bottle, "Food makes me sick…"

Naruto frowned heavily and turned on his stool to face him properly, "Man drink like that and he don't eat, he is going to die."

"When?" asked the drunk, lifting the bottle to take another swig.

"What's your name?"

Putting down his bottle, the man turned to him and removed the cigar from his mouth. "Well my name is Shikamaru, but most people call me…" He hesitated before turning back, "Shikamaru."

Naruto ordered a drink from the bartender and regarded the alcoholic with a suspicious look, "I came here looking for you. But I didn't know the Nara Kid had turned into a drunk."

Shikamaru waved him off and drained the remainder of his bottle, tapping it on the bar to indicate that he needed a replacement. "I'm not that man anymore."

"Why not?"

The drunk turned his gaze up to Naruto's optimistic face, "Well…if you must pry."

"Oh I must, I must."

Shikamaru groaned in response and leaned back onto the bar.

"Few years back I was playing a grand master's chess championship, the final match to determine the best in the world. My opponent was a little kid from China, someone so far beneath me I didn't even rate him. After a few moves it was clear that he wasn't a match for me so I stood up from the table to take a much-needed stretch."

He lowered his head in disgust, "Little bastard stole my Queen."

Naruto wasn't sure what to make of that, everyone knew that if a piece left the table and wasn't returned the user forfeit the match. "What happened next?"

"Well, I slunk away from the board, crawled into the nearest bottle, and I've been there ever since."

"I knew you weren't really the Nara kid. He's been dead for years." Naruto sipped at the alcohol in the glass placed in front of him, wincing at the strength.

"Oh, lordly lord," said Shikamaru, slowly pushing himself up off his stool. He wavered on his feet for a moment, the newly acquired bottle of whiskey in hand before turning to a nearby fellow drunk.

He pointed to him with a drunken arm, "Your father was a blacksmith, your wife is pregnant with twins, and you need to shoot your brother-in-law."

The drunk looked up at him with a wide-eyed look, but Shikamaru was already turning to a nearby waitress with a generous shirt and skirt on. "If you don't tell your lover that you have the disease, then you should at least tell your children before you die."

The waitress gave him the same look the drunk had, but Shikamaru wasn't finished as he walked over to a small child next to the piano player and knelt down to his level.

For a moment it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything, until he got right into the child's face.

"CHANGE YOUR PANTS!"

The child jumped back in surprise, but Shikamaru had already stood back up and took a swig from his whiskey bottle. He turned to Naruto with a smug grin on his face, "Satisfied?"

Ninjaman put up his hands, "Fair enough, so maybe you are the Kid. Are you willing to come with us to save the princess?"

The drunk looked at him for a moment before gesturing to his chest, "That princess?"

Naruto nodded with a smirk, "Yes, that one. She's been taken by The Evil Lord, and I swore to get her back."

Shikamaru let out a long sigh and stretched his neck from one side to the other, "I can't say I'd be any use to you, but I guess I could tag along. Don't expect me to sober up though."

The blonde hero chuckled and extended his hand to the Nara Kid, "Glad to have you on board."

Looking at his hand for a moment, Shikamaru barked out a laugh and walked past him, recovering some composure with each step. "Where is our…companion-in-arms?"

Naruto took a long breath and turned to where he had left the general, seeing the green-clad soldier surrounded by four buxom ladies sitting on his lap and in his arms.

"Are you coming with us?" called out Naruto, already knowing the answer.

Rock Lee looked down at the very obvious breasts around him before turning his gaze to the blonde hero and drunk genius.

"Give me a few hours. I have to…storm the trenches…man the guns…get my freak on."

Naruto rolled his eyes and turned to his new companion, "I guess we are going to be here for a while. Want me to buy you a drink?"

Shikamaru stopped drinking from his whiskey bottle and scoffed at the notion, "I doubt you could afford it, kid. Want me to buy you a club soda or something? Get you a buzz?"

* * *

><p>The three of them walked up the stone steps, noticing the serious backwardness of the architecture around them compared to their own homes. It had a historic feel to it, but as they got to the top of the mountain Naruto knew they were in the right place. It had the right feel for the person they had come here for.<p>

"So who is this guy we are coming here for?" asked General Lee, kicking away a pebble near his feet far away. "Seems like a lot of effort."

"Trust me," said Naruto, "This guy has power like you wouldn't believe."

Shikamaru finished his bottle of whiskey and threw it onto the stones below, "There's a reason he's hiding out up here. He may not want to come with us."

Naruto dismissed his concern out of hand, "I'll just threaten to unleash my sister on him. She's been looking for him for payments for years."

Beside him, Rock Lee let out a low chuckle, "Is there anyone your sister hasn't slept with?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said Ninjaman, indicating to the top of the stone stairs. "He's up there."

The three of them came to a halt as they saw a small grotto with a single building and a small pond in front of them. Sitting in the centre of the grotto was a single man in a monk's robe, two small fang marks on his cheeks and wild uncut that seemed out of place with his clothing and place of living.

Naruto smiled slowly as he recognised his future companion, "It's good to see you, Inuzuka Kiba."

The monk opened an eye slightly, regarding the intruders with caution. "You are not welcome here, blonde devil. Go back to your plagued lives and leave me to my peace."

"I can't do that, and you know it," said Naruto, stepping forward into the grotto. "You are on the list, and I'm not leaving until I've added your strength to our own."

"And I've to have no say in my role in this story?" asked the monk, picking his words carefully.

Naruto gave him his characteristic grin, "Nope."

Kiba took a long drawn out breath before standing up on his bare feet and regarding the others through animalistic eyes, "Fine, fine. It would appear I have no choice in the matter. I will join you."

Naruto grasped his hand in an enthusiastic handshake before introducing him to the other two members of his group.

"So what's your ability then?" asked General Lee, taking the monk's hand into his own.

A slow grin came across the monk's face as the handshake became a contest of strength.

***Conveniently placed Flashback***

The blue genie slowly rose from the lamp and wringed his hands with an evil chuckle, "Hehe…who would seek a wish from me, must answer me these questions three…"

A long blonde haired man walked forward and nodded to himself, "Hn…Ask me the questions, genie, I'm not afraid."

"What is your name?"

He flicked his blonde hair with a sly grin, "Deidara of Akatsuki."

"What is your quest?"

"To create the perfect piece of art."

The genie leaned forward dramatically, "What…is your favourite colour?"

"White," said Deidara quickly, not having to think about it at all.

"Right. What's your wish then?"

The Akatsuki member frowned for a moment; he wasn't expecting it to be that easy. "I want you to make me into the most perfect piece of art imaginable."

The genie nodded in understanding and clicked his fingers. Within seconds a white glow appeared around the explosion-user, turning him into a beautifully jewelled white bowl with an attachment on top and a stand underneath.

At the back Kiba burst out laughing, hunching over as he failed to contain himself. "You…you turned him into a toilet! Oh my god, that is too precious."

The genie nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Of course. What is more artistic and beautiful than the place we go to relieve themselves?"

He turned to the two remaining people, "Who is next?"

The pale lanky shinobi stepped up to the genie, "Ask me the questions, genie, I'm not afraid."

"What is your name?"

"Orochimaru."

"What is your quest?"

The snake shinobi hesitated for a moment before turning back to the genie, "To achieve everything."

"What…is the strongest shinobi to come out of Konoha?"

Orochimaru went to say himself then hesitated again, that would be too easy. "Um…Uchiha…"

"Wrong," interrupted the genie, snapping his fingers. The snake shinobi exploded into a mess of bloody gore, leaving his ambition sitting in the cold stone beneath.

The blue genie turned his fiery gaze to Kiba, "What is your name?"

Kiba took a long gulp, "Inuzuka Kiba."

"What is your quest?"

"To…to avenge my friend's murder."

"What…is the person who has taken your love?"

The canine shinobi bit at his lip angrily, of course it had to be that. He knew he couldn't hesitate too long in responding, he judged that the genie was not the most patient being in the universe.

"It…was…my mother's partner…Kuromaru."

A creepy smile came over the genie's face, "That is correct. I'm not one to judge on the love that passes between a man and his…"

"Do I get a wish or what?" stamped Kiba impatiently.

"Yes, yes, what is your wish, blah blah blah."

Kiba stepped forward and clenched his fists tightly, "I wish for…a sandwich."

"A sandwich?" repeated the confused genie. "You're going to waste your one wish on a sandwich? You don't want anything else?"

"Nah, sandwich is good." He motioned with his hands, "Maybe about this big. On wheat bread? I dunno, whatever you've got around, I'm good."

The genie flew back a metre and frowned at the mortal, "Dude, I'll just make you a sandwich. You should use your wish on something important."

Kiba cocked his head to the side, "I dunno…I could really go for a sandwich right now…"

"Just…think of something you really want…"

"Oh…I dunno…I guess…"

***End Conveniently placed Flashback***

Kiba released Lee's hand and nodded to Shikamaru. "Where are we going?"

"That's for the third act," said Naruto, nodding to the path down the mountain. "Can you demonstrate your ability to the two of them? They'll want to see it for themselves."

Kiba snarled, his personality emerging for a moment before retreating back into his monk persona, "I would prefer not to. This is not a place for violence."

Rock Lee snorted and put his hands on his hips, "What are you, chicken?"

The Inuzuka warrior froze in place before slowly turning in place and giving the general a glare of death. He took a single step forward and clenched one of his fists.

"Nobody calls me chicken."

With a swift change in uniform, he slammed his fist down into the ground in front of Lee, causing a massive tremor that shook the whole mountain, creating large ripples in the nearby pond and the building to shake violently.

As a trained soldier with years of military experience, Rock Lee didn't flinch at the strike, but he did take a step back when he saw what Kiba had changed into to be able to use such superhuman strength.

His monk's robe had vanished, and in its place was an outfit that was entirely out of place in the current setting. He wore a tight fitting white shirt cut across his chest and a plaid red and dark blue skirt concealed his privates. From his knees down he wore dark blue stockings that led into a pair of outrageously bright red high heels and his wild hair had grown out and been strangely placed into a pair of pigtails.

The three warriors all stared at him as he stood back up and placed a hand on his hip that made him look even more ridiculous, if at all possible.

Unable to contain themselves, the three of them collapsed on the ground in hysterical laughter.

Kiba dismissed his outfit and replaced it with his monk's robe out of nowhere. He watched as they struggled to pick themselves up off the ground before falling back down and doubling over with laughter.

"Yes, yes, it's all very amusing," he said impatiently. "Are we going to get going or what?"

Shikamaru was the first to recover, though only a little bit as his sides shook from the effort. "Let me guess…the genie…oh my god…it's too funny…"

Naruto was up next as he nodded feverously to try and contain himself, "Nice to see…you're keeping…yourself fit…"

Rock Lee finally pulled himself together and straightened himself out like he was back in the war. He patted himself down and took a laboured breath. "I am a General of the Northern Armies, I am better than this. I am a General…"

Gritting his teeth in obvious frustration, Kiba turned around and started making his way down the stone stairs. His new companions lasted only seconds before they all collapsed in laughter once again.

It was going to be a long mission.

* * *

><p>"We need a chick," said Lee as the group stopped for the night at a local tavern in downtown.<p>

Naruto shrugged in response, "What for? We have all the heavy-weights we need. The list is done."

His three companions looked at each for a moment before Shikamaru threw away his empty bottle, causing it to shatter on the stones nearby.

"He's right; we need a girl to join our group."

"Otherwise we'll just look like a bunch of queers," said Kiba, scratching at his chest with a claw.

Shikamaru turned to the tattooed warrior with a drunken smirk, "You don't think the pigtails and heels might have given it away?"

Kiba snarled and raised a claw, "Want me to prove my manliness to you?"

The Nara Kid looked him up and down for a moment before letting out a snort, "I wouldn't be so proud of that thing, Inuzuka."

"Hey! It isn't the hammer you're using; it's the nail you're throwing it at!"

Naruto put his body between the two of them, not wanting to foster a fight, "Look, I'll concede the point; we need a female group member. Does anyone know someone we can use?"

The four of them considered the issue, as they sat down at a table after entering the tavern.

An unbelievably attractive waitress and asked for their order.

Shikamaru put down his menu and leaned forward, "Yeah, four pints of ale, four glasses of whiskey with ice, four vodkas and cranberries and a bottle of your best red wine."

He turned to his three companions, "What do you guys want?"

Running a finger along the menu, Kiba stared at the waitress' breasts with the desperation of a wounded hound. "Yeah, I'll have fifteen hamburgers, nine steaks, twelves sausages and a green salad."

"So, names?" asked Naruto, ignoring the sheer absurdity of the ordering process.

"Konan?"

Shikamaru waved off the suggestion, "She's too tied up in the politics."

Lee tried to snatch a steak from the newly arrived plate, but was swatted away by Kiba with a snarl. "How about Mei Terumi?"

"No, she's married," said Naruto.

"Really? To who?"

Ninjaman shrugged and picked at his meal, "Some big wig, guy looks like a mountain."

Kiba swallowed a massive piece of steak and spat one of the bones onto the ground, "How about Anko? She's strong, independent, got a good rack on her…"

"No good," said General Lee. "She's dead."

The strong-man gaped in surprise, "Really? How?"

Lee hesitated for a moment, wary of what was in front of them. "Syphilis, compounded with HIV. You didn't think that all that stuff she did would catch up with her?"

Kiba stared at him awkwardly, letting the sausage in his mouth fall onto his plate. "I didn't…I thought…jeez, I've got to get myself tested."

"Gentlemen, we are getting off topic," said Naruto, regretting the whole venture all together. "We need a name."

The four of them were silent for a long time, two rounds of food and drink went by before the conversation picked back up.

"Tayuya?"

"Too spiteful."

"Rin?"

"Too…plot irrelevant."

"Karin?"

All three of them groaned at the mention of the woman's name and shook their heads vigorously at Kiba's suggestion.

"Just…no," said Naruto quickly. "If I have to get my sister Naruko into this, I will. Don't make me make that call; we shared a womb, that's the extent of my tolerance of her."

Staring into the empty bottle of wine with both disappointment and longing, Shikamaru looked up at his three companions bickering about inviting Ninjaman's twin sister to the group.

"I have the perfect woman."

The three of them all turned at once. They stared at him as if waiting for an explanation, but he was already turning his attention to his last pint of ale.

"Well don't fall over yourself telling us," said an impatient Kiba.

Shikamaru drained the entire pint in one go and let out a short belch, "It's called patience you cross-dressing buffoon. Perhaps you've heard of it?"

The Inuzuka soldier snarled at him, but once again Naruto got between them. "What are you going to tell us? Someone we should know? We've run through all the names in the field."

"Not this one. Let me make a call."

oOoOoOo

"The Forge of Blades," read Kiba as the group stopped in front of the shop. "Kind of a pretentious name, don't you think?"

"Tenten makes half the blades in the country, she's earned the right to the name," said Shikamaru, examining the door for potential traps.

Leaning forward, Lee noticed a small warning side next to the door knob.

"_Warning: Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be made into bread."_

"Charming," said the general, taking a step back. "Who's going in first?"

The four of them looked at each other for a moment before racing to place their hands on their noses.

"Not it!" yelled Kiba, Lee and Shikamaru at the same time.

"Not…ah shit," said Naruto, groaning loudly. "Ungrateful bastards…"

The three of them grinned and motioned for him to take the first step, watching as Naruto slowly made his way to the door and opened it cautiously.

"Hello…?" he asked at a whisper, opening the door a little bit wider to get a glimpse into the forge.

Inside was a massive centrepiece that burned hot like a volcano, with dozens of blacksmiths all working at the same time to forge an incalculable number of weapons. They raised their hammers and slammed them into the blades in sync, each seemingly humming a low singing tune.

One of the blacksmiths noticed their arrival and walked towards them, throwing off their mask to reveal a beautiful woman who looked to belong more in a palace surrounded by princes than in a forge getting her hands dirty. She wore a set of slacks and worn out clothes with soot-covered gloves on her hands. Her hair seemed set into two buns behind her head but with a slight shake it came out into two long pigtails that ran down towards her knees.

The long haired woman looked over the four of them for a moment before pointing to them one at a time. "No, no, maybe, and if I had a few drinks in me."

"Huh?" asked a confused Kiba.

She waved off his question and turned to Shikamaru with a deep frown, "I thought I told you never to come back here."

The Nara Kid put up his hands in mock surrender, "I know, I know. But we need your expertise."

"What's your name?" she asked to Naruto, clearly seeing that he was the leader of the group.

"Ninjaman," said Naruto proudly, striking his customary hero pose.

Tenten only took a moment to make up her mind, "Okay, I'm changing you from a maybe to a no. What is this about?"

Naruto wasn't sure what she was talking about, but laid out the situation to her quickly.

Once he was done telling his story, Tenten turned back to her forge and removed her gloves, revealing a set of rough set of hands with blood red fingernails. "That sounds like your problem, not mine. Why should I help you?"

Naruto turned to Shikamaru with a raised eyebrow, she had a fair point.

The Nara Kid took a cautious step forward, "The Evil Lord has employed the service of a particularly skilled assassin…one you are somewhat familiar with."

Initially it seemed like she had no idea what he was talking about, but after a second her dark eyes lit up and her expression became one of clear enthusiasm.

"Really? Oh that is wonderful news; I've been looking for him for months."

She looked around the forge for a moment before grabbing one of her assistants and pulling him towards the group, "You're in charge until I get back."

"But mistress…where are you going?"

An evil grin came her face, "To bring back your father. He's long overdue to take the trash out."

oOoOoOo

The men waited for her to sort out her forge and arm herself before re-emerging back in the main area. She hadn't changed her outfit at all, but she had put on a surprisingly large amount of war paint on her face, giving her a terrifying visage to go with her array of weaponry.

"You ready to go?" asked Naruto, anxious to get underway.

"Hang on, let me put on my armour."

Tenten reached up and slowly removed her shirt, struggling for a moment at her chest before taking it over her head and letting her long hair fall back over her shoulders. She wore a blood red armoured bra that had spikes coming out of it, and as she removed her skirt she revealed a similarly designed set of underwear.

She nodded to herself as she folded her removed clothes and turned back to her new companions, grinning seductively at their faces. "Okay boys, I'm ready."

Being the first one to shake himself out of it, Shikamaru looked her up and down with a frown, "I thought you said you were going to put armour on."

Tenten gave him a confused look and tapped herself on her flat stomach, "What are you talking about? This is my armour."

Struggling to hold back his inevitable nosebleed, Kiba tried to look away from her highly developed body and failed miserably. "But you're just wearing underwear!"

The blade mistress chuckled and indicated to the armoury around her, "This is just as strong as anything you see here."

"Bullshit."

She held out her arm and motioned for Naruto to grab a nearby sword. "Go ahead."

Naruto grabbed the sword but hesitated, noticing that the weapon was extremely sharp. "This could cut through your bones! I'm not going to cut through your arm just to prove Kiba is an idiot."

"He does that on his own," added Shikamaru with a smirk.

"Yeah…hey!"

Tenten rolled her eyes and nodded at her arm, "Just do it. I know what I'm doing."

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto pulled back the sword and swung it as hard as he could. The blade seemed destined to remove her arm at the elbow, but just as it went to slice through her skin it bounced off like it had struck an invisible barrier.

The sword shook in Naruto's hands as he stared at her untouched arm with amazement.

"See? Just as good as any armour you boys would wear."

After a few seconds they conceded her point and Naruto put the sword back into its rack.

"Welcome to the group," said the blonde hero.

* * *

><p>"Kanpai!"<p>

The five of them tapped their glasses and drained their beers in a single slug.

Naruto grinned at his four group members; they looked more reliable than he first thought they would have. He'd only planned for four, but adding Tenten was a clever move from Shikamaru, and she would only add to their group dynamic.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Tenten, slamming down her empty glass. "What kind of information do we have?"

Naruto finished off his beer and gave them a disquieting look, shaking his head slowly. "I was only working to get a crew together. We still have no information on the Evil Lord, or where he's holding the Princess."

"So what, we go around and squeeze people?" asked Kiba, grinning as he put his feet up on the table.

Placing a cautionary hand on one of his pistols, General Rock Lee sat back in his chair and bit at his lip, "That won't do much. We don't even know who this Evil Lord's minions are."

Shikamaru slugged down his ninth beer, he was almost done with appetisers, "That's not true. There is a retired member of his army that I know of."

They all turned to the drunken genius; he hadn't spoken of such before then.

Before Ninjaman could ask who he spoke of, a tall woman with reddish brown hair past her skinny chest walked over to their table and smiled sweetly at the group.

"Can we help you?" asked Naruto, looking her up and down with the expertise he had garnered over the years.

She reached into her shirt and pulled out a piece of paper from between her breasts, handing it slowly to him with a full-toothed smile. "I was instructed to give this to you."

Naruto frowned as he took the paper from her, which deepened to a look of pure fury as he read it.

"What's it say?" asked Shikamaru, noticing the dramatic change in their leader's demeanour.

Ninjaman slowly stood up from the table, clenching his fists to match his expression.

Tenten looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, "Naruto?"

Their leader slammed one of his fists on the table, sending a shock through the glasses and sending several of their drinks over the side.

"There is something I must do. Alone."

"Alone?"

"Don't follow me. This is my burden, no-one else's."

With that said, he walked out of the tavern.

* * *

><p>The rain belted into Naruto's head, causing his normally spiky blonde hair to droop onto his forehead. His companions had done what he'd asked without much further protest; this was his battle to fight.<p>

As he'd promised, Naruto waited in the low grass near the cliff facing, taking one breath at a time to try and keep himself relaxed.

This was something he had to do.

"You came," said a gravelly voice behind him. "I am surprised."

Naruto let out a sigh and turned around to regard the speaker, "I swore to take you down."

"But you are powerless to do so."

Standing in the rain in complete opposite of the blonde hero was his Naruto's nemesis. Clad in a suit of pitch black armour and a long wavering black cape, he regarded the protagonist through mechanical dead eyes.

"Are you prepared to face your destiny?"

Naruto let out a low growl and clenched his fists so tightly that blood trickled down his fingers and dripped onto the ground. "My master told me that I couldn't be a true hero unless I faced you one last time."

His nemesis reached across to his belt and removed a long sword from its sheath. Its blood red hilt glowed darkly in the stormy weather. "You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain."

"Is that how you became a force of evil?" questioned an angry Naruto, reaching into his belt to remove his own blade. Its hilt was a lighter green than the soaked grass beneath his feet.

His opponent put up his blade to a guard position, "As will you, once you recognise the pointlessness of resisting me and my master."

"I will not turn, no matter what you try."

With that, Naruto charged into his foe, swinging his blue-hilted blade to slice through his shoulder. His opponent easily blocked the strike and took a quick in-step to drive his red hilt into Naruto's face, sending the blonde hero flying backwards into the wet grass.

"Pathetic."

Naruto clutched at his face and felt blood run through his fingers. Clutching his sword tightly, Naruto let out a grunt of pain as he set his nose back into place, feeling a shock of pain through his face.

Feeling his rage accumulate quickly, Naruto charged forward and stabbed at his masked foe rapidly, watching as each strike was parried like it was nothing. He tried to feint high and strike at his side, but his nemesis side-stepped the blow and nicked him in the side, just deep enough to draw blood and drain some of his strength without seriously injuring him.

Ignoring the pain in his side, Naruto charged forward again, but to his surprise his enemy met him head on, smashing apart his guard and cutting him half a dozen times in seconds, causing him to drop to his knees.

"You are bea…"

He didn't get to finish as Naruto leapt to his feet and slammed his sword at his enemy's face, only to be blocked by a single-handed sword strike. It became a contest of strength as he tried to overpower his masked foe with both hands on his blue-hilted sword. His arms began to scream out in pain as he felt himself being pushed back by the one-handed gripped sword, as his enemy's soulless black eyes on his mask stared at him dispassionately.

Taking a step back to try and regain his posture, but his enemy pressed his advantage and threw him off balance, causing him to stumble back even further.

Naruto groaned as he got up to his feet, his eyes widening when he saw how close he was to the cliff's edge. Sensing danger behind him he brought up his sword just in time to stop his nemesis slicing off an arm, though his masked opponent continued to rain down blows relentlessly onto his sword.

After a quick counter swing of his sword his opponent disarmed him and sent his blue-hilted sword flying off the cliff behind him before slashing him across his right hand, causing the blonde hero to scream out in pain and drop to the ground.

"You are beaten. It is useless to resist. Do not let yourself be destroyed as so many have before you."

Gritting his teeth through the pain, Naruto crawled on his hands and knees towards the cliff's edge, clutching at a nearby tree for dear life.

His enemy slowly walked towards him, his sword covered in blood and refusing to be cleaned by the rain belting down on them.

Barely clinging onto the tree at the edge of the cliff, Naruto stared at his opponent with hatred in his eyes as he lowered his red-hilted sword. The pain in his arm flared up as he stared into the soulless mask of his enemy.

"There is no escape," said his nemesis, watching him frantically look around for a way out. "Don't make me destroy you."

As Naruto shuffled closer to the cliff, his enemy continued.

"Naruto…realise your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the world."

"I'll never join you!" yelled Naruto defiantly.

"If you only knew the power of evil! Jiraiya never told you what happened to Iruka."

Clutching at the tree with his good hand, Naruto gave his enemy a hateful glare. "He told me enough. He told me you killed him."

"No. I am Iruka."

The rain seemed to suddenly quieten down as the revelation struck Naruto like a smack to the face.

"No…no…that's not true! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Search your feelings; you know it to be true."

"NOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO!"

Iruka continued to monologue at him, but Naruto couldn't hear anything besides white noise. He heard something resembling the same offer he had been given throughout the fight, but he did the only thing his body would let him do.

He let go of the tree and fell off the cliff's edge to the hazardous depths beneath.

oOoOoOo

By some miracle of fate, Naruto survived the fall and was washed ashore within hours of having fallen into the treacherous ocean. Despite the weight of the revelation pulling him down and making each step agonising, Naruto pulled himself back onto the grassy plateau that he had fought his old teacher on.

Within seconds Naruto felt his pain and anguish culminate in that single moment before his stomach churned violently and he buckled onto his knees and vomited onto the ground in front of him.

After a few moments he stopped spewing and regarded the disgusting waste. Looking into the chunks a revelation slammed into his brain and he began vomiting once again, his throat burning at the constant flow of bile that splattered onto the grass, forming a wide pool in front of him. Naruto could hear a strange upbeat cord running through his mind as he continued to produce ungodly amounts of vomit, so much so that it had started to move over his knees and feet and into the surrounding area.

Eventually Naruto's throat muscles gave in and he stopped, his body giving up all at once and collapsing into the pool of vomit.

_Pick…pick yourself up…_

The blonde hero frowned and brought his face up to see the floating face of his master. It looked like a hallucination, but Naruto wasn't about to argue as he grabbed at an outstretched hand and wrenched himself up onto his feet. His entire front was covered in vomit, but he didn't care about that as he took in his surroundings.

Off to the side of his position sat an oddly placed square rock, with a jewelled hilt that shone a bright green despite the stormy weather, leading down into the rock as if the rock had simply formed around the silvery blade.

Feeling the strength return to his legs, Naruto stepped through the pool of bile and onto the grass, letting the pouring rain clean him off as he made his way over to the stone.

There was something strange about the sword, and as he clutched his hand on the hilt he felt a bolt of electricity shoot through his body.

Yet surprisingly it didn't hurt one bit.

In a single fluid motion he pulled out the sword and held it towards the sky, hearing loud orchestral music as the triumph flowed through his body.

_This is amazing! I feel incredible! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I can win! I feel great! I. Can. Do. This!_

For a moment it appeared like the heavens themselves had divined that moment and Naruto turned around slowly to see his former teacher slowly walking towards him, his red-hilted sword at his side.

"It would seem we are fated to fight once more," he said with a dull mechanical tone.

Holding his newly acquired sword in hand, Naruto stared at Iruka with a mixture of despair and understanding. He didn't know what could have changed his old teacher so much, but there was one thing he knew for certain.

If he defeated him, his old teacher would be redeemed.

Iruka seemed to notice his newfound confidence with a tilt of his head, taking a moment to acknowledge his foe before moving with fluid expertise and slicing at his face. While he had no intention of killing his former student, he still attacked with the motion of killing.

With newly acquired speed, Naruto ducked under the blow and drove himself forward, getting a quick slice to Iruka's chest before leaping away to create some distance.

If his opponent knew of his breached defences he gave no indication as he moved towards Naruto once again like an automaton. His attacks seemed sluggish to Naruto as he ducked and weaved, scoring several blows to Iruka's armour before realising he had him outmatched in every way.

Jumping back several feet, Naruto lowered his blade and took in a long breath. "You were once my teacher, and you can be again. The real Iruka is in there somewhere, I can feel it."

"It's…too late for me…" said Iruka slowly, as if resisting some kind of force that quickly set him back up on the path of attacking his former student.

Seeing his attack as if it were in slow motion, Naruto let out a long sigh and side-stepped the blow, bringing up his newly acquired blade and slicing through his enemy's blade hand at the wrist, severing it completely.

Iruka made no sound as he reeled back from the blow, but Naruto quickly slashed at his chest, carving out a bloody letter N before driving his sword straight through Iruka's armour like it wasn't there and kicking him down to the ground.

"I am Ninjaman! Like my teacher was before me. Whatever evil force held you sway no longer has any power over you."

He pulled the sword out of his old teacher's chest and watched as Iruka's body moved from its aggressive state to a more passive one as he lay dying on the wet grass, rain still beating down on both of them.

Iruka coughed violently as Naruto dropped to his knees in front of his old teacher, throwing his green-hilted sword to the side.

There was no need for it anymore.

Struggling to reach up with his hands, his old teacher indicated to his face. "Naruto…help me take…this mask off…"

"But you'll die!"

"Nothing…can stop that now. One last time…let me…look on you…with my own eyes…"

Understanding his teacher's meaning, Naruto carefully undid the latches and removed the black mask from Iruka's face, revealing a sunken and damaged face. Through barely conscious eyes, Iruka smiled up at his old student.

"Now…leave me."

Naruto shook his head vigorously, "But I have to save you!"

"You…already have. You were right about me…tell your sister…you were right…"

With that said, Iruka's eyes became vacant and he died.

Naruto took a long breath and struggled to contain himself as he reached up and slowly closed his teacher's eyes, feeling he deserved at least that much dignity.

"Rest now, gentle soul. You're home."

Clutching Iruka's limp body in his arms, Naruto stared up at the rain pouring down onto him, feeling a maelstrom of emotions boil to the surface. Slowly putting his teacher's body onto the grass, he threw his arms up into the air and dropped onto his knees.

A helicopter flew above him loudly, drowning out his scream of anguish.

* * *

><p>The others didn't say a word when Naruto returned to where they were staying, they understood their leader had been through something terrible and he would speak on it when he was ready.<p>

As good as his word, Shikamaru had found the information he was looking for on the Evil Lord's minion. He lead them to a wrestling arena deep in the middle of the lower city, telling them to follow his lead.

It was nearly midnight when they reached their destination, a seemingly inconspicuous warehouse that had two giant guards standing at the entrance. They put up their hands to stop the five of them in their tracks.

Kiba clenched his fists as they came to a stop, "Do you want me to…"

"Don't be silly," said Tenten, crossing her arms over her bikini armour.

Shikamaru stepped forward, "I'll handle this." He regarded the guards with a smile, "Evening gentlemen."

"Password?" demanded one of them with a spit.

The Nara Kid thought about it for a moment before reaching into his pocket and producing a roll of bills. He began to take one off at a time, gauging the reactions of the guards before finally coming to a halt and handing them a large amount of money.

"Correct," said the first guard, the two of them moving out of the way and opening the door to let them in.

"That seemed easy enough," said Naruto with a grin as they walked into the arena. "How much more cash do we have on hand?"

Shikamaru shook his head; he wasn't going to reveal how much he had in a place like this.

"So who are we looking for?" asked Lee, not liking the look of the place they were heading into.

The corridor they were in led into a giant arena that roared with cheers as hundreds of people showed their affection for the competitors in the arena. Their group took their seats near the top and looked down to see two new competitors walk into the arena.

They each were accompanied by their trainers as they stepped into the arena and removed their robes. One wore a blue set of trunks that barely contained his mass, while the other red. The arena shook violently at each step, for each competitor clearly weighed in at more than 200 kilograms.

Shikamaru pointed down at the wrestler in the blue trunks, "That's our man."

Ninjaman looked down at the massive competitor, noticing the red swirls on his cheeks that clearly defined him as separate from his equally massive opponent. "That's one fat bastard."

"So what's the plan, boss?"

Naruto wasn't sure, a part of him wanted to just go down into the arena and beat the information out of him, but he knew that sometimes it was better to be patient. "We'll get him after the match. That way he'll be tired and it won't be so crowded."

"Seems reasonable," said Kiba, leaning back on his chair with a wild grin. "I've got fifty on our mark's opponent."

Tenten nudged him, "I'll take that action."

The five of them watched as the two sumo wrestlers did their pre-game performance before squaring off against each other. They appeared equal weight, but from the smirk on their mark's face, they probably weren't equal skill.

Their two massive stomachs slammed into each other with a loud smack as they tried to put each other onto the ground or out of the arena. For several moments it seemed like neither was going to give ground to the other, but that didn't last very long.

Using a single hand to keep his opponent at bay, their mark changed his leg position and placed his other hand in a position that men should never do in an honourable field of battle.

His opponent's face drained of colour as he regarded their mark with a pleading look, "Please…"

An evil grin came over their mark's face, "Not a chance."

They didn't need to watch what happened next. The scream made it fairly obvious.

Kiba let out a loud sigh and shook his head as Tenten punched her fist into the air and put her hand in front of him.

"Well that was quick," said General Lee. "Seems like our mark is a bit of a bastard."

As the winner of the match exited the arena to a mixture of cheers and boos, Naruto stood up from his seat and turned to go back the way we came. "Let's move."

The four of them looked up at him for a moment before all shrugging and following behind him without another word.

oOoOoOo

Akimichi Chouji groaned loudly and felt the strength in his legs waver as he struggled through his third bowel movement. Tears came unbidden on his eyes, an unfortunate side-effect of his manly physique.

A knock came onto his door, "You okay in there?"

"I'm…fine…" he muttered, clenching his hands on his legs.

"Okay man, I'm just saying: you've been in there a while."

Naruto and his group stepped into the backroom, before collectively blanching at the horrid smell that permeated through the area.

Kiba dropped to his knees and felt his stomach lurch, "Oh dear gods…what killed what to create such a smell…"

As they attempted to recover, a man wearing a full body black robe stepped in front of them and gave them the deepest of frowns. It made the purple puppeteer makeup on his face give him a frightening visage, though none of them were easily frightened.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded with a loud voice.

Naruto stepped forward so he was face-to-face with him, "Who the hell are you?"

"I am the great Kankuro, master of the underworld! Now are you going to tell me why you are back here?"

The blonde hero pushed past the robe-wearing man out of the way and walked into the rest area, while Rock Lee knocked him out with a single blow to the stomach. Kankuro dropped to the ground and was unceremoniously stepped on as his group followed behind him.

Having heard the commotion from within his toilet, Chouji stumbled out into the rest area, shaking his head after the effort he had just been through. "The shit is going on here?"

He wore a simple loincloth, clearly demonstrated the rolls of fat on his gut. Tenten almost took a double-take; he had larger breasts than she did.

Chouji's eyes laid on Naruto and he froze in place, his expression changing to one of angry understanding. "You…"

"You know who I am?"

The fat wrestler snorted, "The Evil Lord warned me about you. Said you might be coming after the lovely little princess. Well you're too late. By now he's already had his way with her."

"You really are a bastard," said Tenten.

Chouji turned to her and his expression once again changed. The swirls on his cheeks stretched into a creepy smile as he winked at her and leaned on a nearby wall, "Ooo, you're a pretty one…aren't you? Do you find me sexy?"

The blacksmith wasn't able to entirely express how incorrect he was by her face, but he got the message as he turned back to their leader.

"What are you here for? I'm not telling you anything."

Ninjaman chuckled and clenched a fist slowly, "What makes you think you can stop me?"

"You aren't able to hurt me, hero. Nobody is." Chouji tapped his gigantic belly enthusiastically, letting the rolls rumble in a scarily intriguing fashion.

"This is a waste of time," said Rock Lee, behind him. He pulled back a fist and drove it into the sumo wrestler's side. To his surprise, his fist sunk into his rolls of fat and the force dissipated.

General Lee tried to pull out his hand, but the fat man's stomach refused to let him go.

"See? You can't touch me."

The general kept his cool, while Tenten pushed her way past her male allies and cracked her knuckles menacingly. "You men never did understand how to make someone truly suffer."

She smiled wickedly at the large wrestler and stood so close she could practically taste his breath. She was just as tall as Chouji, so she didn't have to stand on the tips of her toes as she leaned forward and whispered one single thing in his ear.

Immediately the fat man's expression changed to one of complete terror and his hands began to shake. Tenten stood back and nodded to Lee, who made a single pull and wrenched his hand out of Chouji's side. "Now…where is the Evil Lord?"

Chouji grimaced at the sound of her voice and bowed his head as if hearing it was pain enough. "He's got an army camped out in a warehouse down on the End Road."

Naruto turned to his female companion, his face showing his surprise, "That was easy."

"You just need to be able to apply the right amount of pressure," said the blacksmith with an evil grin.

The fat wrestler sunk to his knees, causing the ground to shake as he was unable to contain his fear of the scantily-clad warrior.

"I think you've seriously messed him up," said Kiba, leaning down to look at the fallen wrestler.

Rock Lee went to kick him for trying to take his hand, but hesitated when he remembered how well that had gone the last time. "Who cares? We have what we need."

Naruto knelt down in front of the fallen wrestler, ignoring the fact that his female companion evidently had far more power than he had originally suspected. "How many men does he have?"

"Hundreds…thousands…I don't know…" He began to blubber uncontrollably, "Please…just let me go…I don't want to eat any more babies…"

The blonde hero stood back up onto his feet, "We aren't going to get anything more from him."

"You have a scary power, girl," said Shikamaru, thoroughly impressed with how the whole had been worked out. "We might be able to do this after all."

Tenten shook her finger at him, "That's a one-off."

"What's the next move, boss?" asked Kiba, now ignoring the whimpering Chouji like the rest of them.

Ninjaman grinned widely at his four companions, "We go save the day."

* * *

><p>The five of them stood in the middle of a completely empty white room, each wearing a long black overcoats and black sunglasses with their arms crossed over their chests.<p>

Naruto brought up a cell phone to his ear, "We're almost ready."

_Is there anything you need?_

The blonde hero gave his group members a look for a moment before nodding at Shikamaru.

"Guns. Lots of guns."

He put the phone in his pocket and waited as rows and rows of weaponry shot past them out of nowhere and filled the white space. Most of the group waited for the weapon racks to come to a halt, though Kiba couldn't hold in his surprise and reached out to grab at one. He was struck by a stack of metal and sent spinning into the ground, groaning as he struggled to stand up.

"Shut up…" he said at the group's smiles.

Finally the racks came to a stop and the five of them were surrounded by every weapon imaginable. None of them questioned the appearance of the weapons, each going to their own areas to arm themselves for the coming battle.

Rock Lee was positively giddy at the arsenal in front of him, filling the six holsters on his legs with high powered Desert Eagles before moving to the more interesting weaponry. He had to resist drooling at the prospects as he hefted a mini grenade launcher and clasped it to his belt.

They had no idea what kind of resistance to expect, and General Rock Lee was not one for underestimating his opponents.

With that in mind, he found the section of mini-Nukes and started stringing them across his chest.

With his magic powers, Kiba didn't need any particular weaponry, but he felt he needed to maintain some kind of visual prowess in comparison to his comrades. Once he activated his super strength, his stylish overcoat would be replaced with his 'regular' outfit, and that simply would not do.

Making his way through the aisles, Kiba noticed a section of armour that was rather appealing. With nothing better to do, he grabbed a pair of black armoured gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles. They fit his hands like they were designed for him, and a single check assumed him that they stayed on despite his change in outfit.

Nodding to himself, Kiba decided he was ready.

Shikamaru wasn't sure what he was meant to do with all the weapons in front of him; he wasn't a direct fighter in any capacity. He knew it would be smart to take something, even the smartest person in the world needed to get his hands dirty at some point.

Staring down the long racks of weapons, Shikamaru noticed something that caught his eye. He made his way down towards them and clasped his hands around a small circular device.

"Curious…"

"What'd you find?" asked an approaching Naruto, having armed himself with a pair of katana on his back and a super-powered pistol.

Shikamaru held the device in his hand and showed it to his leader, "Iocane. A colourless, odourless poison that is tasteless and dissolves instantly in liquid."

"Sounds pleasant."

The Nara Kid nodded, "What do you expect? It's from Australia after all."

Naruto chuckled in agreement, "Sounds about right."

The others of the group came up to them and gave Naruto their readiness. He acknowledged them and took a step back to regard his fully armed and operational group.

"We need a name," said Kiba after a few moments of silence. "Something manly."

"That wouldn't help your problem," said a grinning Shikamaru.

Kiba ignored him and turned to their leader, "How about Polar Bear Lion Group?"

They all stared at him for a moment before each shaking their heads and tightening their group so that he wasn't included.

"What about Lionel Masters?" asked Rock Lee.

"No, no, we should be the Beings of Darkness," said Tenten with a wild grin.

"Perhaps Monsieur Sunflowers…"

Naruto clapped his hands together to get their attention, "I've got it. It suits our group perfectly, and most of all it doesn't sound like any of those stupid names."

He nodded to each member individually, grateful that they had chosen to accompany him on such a terrifying journey.

"We are the Golden Dragons."

* * *

><p>Naruto kicked in the door with a satisfying crunch and walked into the warehouse in slow-motion, with The Golden Dragons following behind him in a long battle line.<p>

However when they arrived, all they saw was a mostly empty warehouse with sound and lighting equipment strewn across the concrete floor. All the cameras were pointed at a section to the east of the warehouse, where a loud crowd had gathered.

"What the hell is going on?" asked a very confused Lee, lowering the pistols in his hands.

Naruto shrugged and turned to his group, putting his arm up to hold them back. "I'll check it out. Wait here."

With nothing else to do, The Golden Dragons waited at the entrance as Naruto trotted towards the crowd, noticing that they were standing in a circle and there were two fold-out chairs at the front.

Sitting in one of the chairs was the Evil Lord, drinking from a coconut in a large sun hat.

"Is…this in the script?" asked Naruto, placing a cautious hand on the free fold-out chair.

The dark haired antagonist looked up at him for a moment before waving him over with a wide smile, "Ah! Glad you could make it. Take a seat!"

Seeing nothing else to do, Naruto shrugged and sat down, finally seeing what everyone was crowded around to watch. In the centre of the crowd was a dug-out arena covered by a thick layer of mud.

And in the arena, was the Princess of the Kingdom, clad in a golden bikini, struggling to pick herself up from the wet surface.

Opposite her was a similarly clad pink-haired woman who charged towards her and wrestled the Princess down back into the mud, wrapping her long legs around her chest.

"This wasn't on any schedule I saw," said Naruto, turning to Sasuke with a confused look.

The Uchiha clan leader smirked and reached over to the side to produce a bucket of popcorn, offering it to his compatriot. "DVD extras, apparently."

Naruto stared at him for a moment before accepting the popcorn and staring down at the two wrestling women in the pit. "Sounds good. Got anything to wash it down?"

Sasuke threw him a beer and popped open his own, letting out a satisfying ah.

"Are you ready for tonight?"

The antagonist let out a long breath through his teeth, "I'm not thrilled at the idea, I won't lie to you."

"Oh come on, they are going to love you!" said Naruto enthusiastically, watching as Hinata flipped her opponent onto her back and began bending her arms behind her back.

"I want it said that I still think this is a bad idea. Meeting your parents isn't something I look forward to."

Naruto sighed and leaned forward on his folding chair, "Sasuke, this is something we have to do. My sister didn't have an issue with you."

"That's because she's sleeping with my brother!" Sasuke threw up his hands in exasperation, "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"

The blonde hero reached over and gently pushed his fingers into the antagonist's hand, "Sasuke, my parents should meet my fiancé. I know it's going to be difficult, but we made a promise to be together."

Sasuke sighed, of course he was right. "Fine, fine. Is Naruko going to be there?"

"I suspect so. She apparently has an announcement to make."

"Yeah, Itachi told me the other night. They didn't waste much time. Apparently it's twins."

"Big shock there. You didn't grow up with her."

'That bad?" asked Sasuke, hearing the crowd cheer loudly as Hinata ripped off Sakura's bikini accidently before slipping on the mud and having the pink-haired fighter tear off her own in response.

"I still have nightmares of the top bunk shaking violently and her moans echoing through the room."

"No wonder you are gay," said a smiling Sasuke.

Naruto shoved him in the shoulder, "You don't have an excuse, Mister Tiny Dancer."

The Uchiha warrior gave him a scary look, "You said you wouldn't call me that in front of other people. Don't make me bring out the photos again."

Naruto barked out a laugh and put up his hands in surrender, "Okay, okay. Fair enough."

oOoOoOo

Naruto kicked in the door with a satisfying crunch and walked into the warehouse in slow-motion, with The Golden Dragons following behind him in a long battle line.

As they'd expected, inside was the Evil Lord and his army of minions. The bad guy himself wore a robe of pure darkness and held a terrifying look in his red eyes. His minions all appeared to look the same, wearing identical shirts coloured in red and each staring at his Golden Dragons with cocky looks.

Naruto's eyes locked onto his enemy's and a loud bass sound echoed through the chosen battlefield.

Just as he was about to start his monologue, a crew member accidently walked into the shot, throwing Sasuke off of his scene and causing him to go red with anger.

He walked up to the vacant-looking crew member and shoved him violently, "I'm gonna kick your f***in ass! I want you off the f***in set, you prick!"

"I'm sorry," muttered the crew member.

"No, don't just be sorry! Think for one f***in second! What the f*** are you doing? Are you professional or not?"

"Yes, I am."

Sasuke stamped his foot, "Do I f***in walk around and rip down…No, shut the f*** up, Steve! Do I walk…NO! Nnno! Don't shut me up!"

"_I'm not shutting you up."_

"Am I gonna walk around and rip your f***in lights down? In the middle of a scene? Then why the f*** are you walking right through?" He pranced around the crew member in a re-creative demonstration. "Oh, dah-dah, dah-dah, like this in the background? You got any f***in idea about, hey, it's f***in distracting having somebody walking up behind Gus in the middle of the f***in scene? Gimme a f***in answer! What don't you get about it?"

The crew member pointed to a part outside the set, "I was looking at the light."

"Ohhhh, gooooood for you! And how was it? I hope it was f***in good, because it's useless now, isn't it?"

The crew member simply nodded fearfully, "Okay."

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, "F***'s sake, man, you're amateur. Naruto, you have f***in something to say to this prick?"

At the other side of the set, Naruto shook his head, clearly used to rants such as this, "I didn't see it happen."

"Well, somebody should be f***in watching him and keeping an eye on him," he said, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Fair enough," said Naruto with a shrug.

"It's the second time that he doesn't give a f***. About what is going on in front of the camera. Alright? I'm trying to f***in do a scene her and I'm going 'Why the f*** is John walking in there? What is he doing there?'" He turned back to the crew member with fury in his red eyes, "Do you understand, my mind is not in the scene if you're doing that."

"I absolutely apologise. I'm sorry, I did not mean anything by it."

He reached over and shoved the crew member, "Stay off the f***in set, man. For f***'s sake. Right, let's go again. No, let's not take a f***in minute, let's go again! And let's not have you f***in walking in! Can I have Clare put this on, please?"

Naruto turned to the other crew members around the set, "Clare, wardrobe, please. Can I have Clare, wardrobe?"

"You're unbelievable, man. You're un-f***in-believable. Number of times you're strolling a-f***in-round in the background. I've never had a crew member behave like this." He noticed the confused look on his face with growing anger, "Ahhhh, you don't f***in understand what it's like working with actors, that's what that is."

"No, that's not…"

"That's what that is man. I'm telling you! I'm not asking, I'm telling you. You wouldn't have done that otherwise."

The crew member shook his head quickly, "No, what it is…is looking at the light, and making sure that you were…"

Sasuke turned and kicked a nearby trash can violently, "I'm gonna f***in kick your f***in ass! If you don't shut up for a second, alright?"

"_Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke…it's cool, it's cool…"_

"I'm gonna go, you want me to f***in trash your lights? Do you want me to f***in trash them? Then why are you trashing my scene?"

"I'm not trying to trash…"

"You are trashing my scene! You do it one more f***in time, and I ain't walking on this set if you're still hired. I'm f***in serious. You're a nice guy! You're a nice guy! But that don't f***in cut it when you're bulls***in and f***in around like this on set!"

"I got it," said Naruto, stepping towards his counterpart. "I know, I get it."

Sasuke jabbed a finger at the crew member, "Yeah, you might get it, he doesn't f***in get it! You might. He! Does! Not! Get it!"

"I know. Good adjustments, okay?" reassured Naruto. "For real. Honestly, I get it. Just walk for five seconds, just for five seconds."

"No, I don't need any f***in walking! He needs to stop walking!"

"I get that," said Naruto.

Sasuke shook his head violently, "I ain't the one walking! Let's get Clare and put this back on, let's go again." He gave the crew member one final death glare, "Seriously, man, you and me…we're f***in done professionally. F***in ass."

oOoOoOo

Naruto kicked in the door with a satisfying crunch and walked into the warehouse in slow-motion, with The Golden Dragons following behind him in a long battle line.

As they'd expected, inside was the Evil Lord and his army of minions. The bad guy himself wore a robe of pure darkness and held a terrifying look in his red eyes. His minions all appeared to look the same, wearing identical shirts coloured in red and each staring at his Golden Dragons with cocky looks.

Naruto's eyes locked onto his enemy's and a loud bass sound echoed through the chosen battlefield.

"There is nowhere to hide, you evil bastard. We are here for the princess!"

The Evil Lord grinned malevolently at him, motioning with his hand as a minion came to the front of the pack. In his arms was the squirming form of the princess, her hands and legs bound by rope and a rag stuffed into her mouth. She wore an outrageous golden bikini that seemed to struggle to hold in her famous breasts. Her pure white eyes stared at Ninjaman with a pleading look, though they were hardened when she saw the sheer confidence oozing out of the Golden Dragons.

Uchiha Sasuke nodded his head and the princess was taken away, unable to do much more than wait for her inevitable rescue. "You have come at a good time, Ninjaman. My army has just been completed."

He indicated to a row of red shirt-wearing minions, "Allow me to introduce my ultimate team of evil bastards." The first minion grinned as he motioned towards him, "This is Blade." He turned to the next one, "Laser." Taking a side step, he indicated to the one beside him, "…Blazer."

The Evil Lord looked over at his army, realising that those were the only names he actually remembered. Giving an indifferent shrug, he turned back to the Golden Dragons, "The others you will get to know rather well over the next little while."

The Golden Dragons appeared unimpressed by his display; though Naruto was confused at the overwhelming confidence the Evil Lord was demonstrating.

He knew he had to have some kind of leverage that gave him power over them, but for the life of him he couldn't understand what he had.

"Ah, I suppose you came here for a specific reason," said the Evil Lord, waving his hand to another minion. After a few moments a minion broke through the group, a pale-looking man in his hands. The man was clearly beaten and had been a prisoner for a long time, though there was a creepy-looking smile on his face like he didn't know what else to do.

The minion handed the prisoner over to the Evil Lord and gave him a deep bow before taking his place back in the group.

Sasuke gripped the prisoner for only a moment before dropped him violently to the ground, smiling triumphantly.

"He isn't one of mine," said Naruto, not even sure where the odd-looking man came from.

"Ah, well that changes things," said the Evil Lord, grabbing the prisoner by the scruff of his shirt and bringing him up to his face.

The prisoner smiled at him with an emotionless expression, seemingly unable to do anything else.

"Hi, my name is Sai. Is the fact that you have an incestuous relationship with your brother and an unhealthy obsession with your own family the reason for your inferiority complex?"

Sasuke frowned deeply and moved the prisoner so he could see Ninjaman across from him, "You sure he isn't one of yours?"

"Positive."

"Oh well," said the Evil Lord. A minion came to his side quickly and handed him a short sword.

Sai's expression didn't change, though he eyed the blade with interest. "Ah, a fine example of craftsmanship. A leather bound hilt assists the grip and the tempered steel allows for the finest of edges. I would recommend going for the base of the neck, with a blade like that you could remove the head in a single blow."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and dropped his prisoner to the ground before swiftly taking his head from his shoulders. His body slumped to the ground while the head sat in a pool of blood and stared at him with the same soulless expression as before.

Resisting the urge to shiver at the creepiness of the situation, Sasuke handed the blade back to his minion. "Clean up!"

A squadron of minions appeared out of nowhere and disposed of the body rapidly, scrubbing and cleaning the floor with fervour. One concentrated on removing a single spot of blood on the Evil Lord's shoe, before being unceremoniously kicked away once Sasuke decided he had waited enough.

"Are we going to do this or what?" demanded Ninjaman, sick of waiting. He couldn't see the Princess anymore, but he knew she was nearby. The only way he was going to be able to rescue her, would be to go through the Evil Lord and his forces.

Sasuke gave a tsk and crossed his arms over his chest. It was clear he was just as annoyed as his nemesis, but the Evil Lord had an advantage that Naruto did not.

Numbers.

oOoOoOo

As the minions charged towards the Golden Dragons, their red shirts wavered as the sound of their feet hitting the ground was nearly deafening.

Before the others could make a move, Rock Lee took a step forward and removed his two pistols from their holsters.

"General?"

"I've got this," said the military leader to Ninjaman, motioning for them to stand back.

The minions charged at him with a variety of bladed weaponry, but Rock Lee wasn't concerned about their numbers or obvious training.

He took a step forward and flicked the safeties off.

"Control art restriction system released to second level. Situation A. Cromwell approval is in effect. Releasing power restriction until the target has been silenced."

His face screwed up into a mask of concentration as he began the first stage of his attack. Letting the first minion come into his warpath, Lee pushed his pistol into his face and pulled the trigger, punching a hole through his face with the bullet. He slipped past the falling body and held his other pistol across his chest, firing a shot into a nearby minion and blowing him away.

The red shirts seemed to hesitate after seeing how effortlessly he took down their first two minions, but Rock Lee wasn't about to let them regroup.

Launching off his feet, he landed in the midst of a large group of minions and rapidly began firing his pistols in a deliberate pattern, his movements allowing him to easily dodge the blades trying to cut him while he continued to fire his pistols and take them out without prejudice.

Within minutes dozens of the Evil Lord's minions lay dead on the warehouse floor, with General Rock Lee standing in the middle of a mountain of corpses riddled with bullet holes, not a single scratch on him.

As no minions came at him for fear of being shot, Rock Lee took the moment to reload his pistols, ignoring the fact that he had shot far more bullets from his pistols than they were normally able to fire without reloading.

"Seems a bit overkill, don't you think?" said Kiba with a low chuckle.

Lee looked around for a moment before biting off the pin of a grenade and dropping onto the corpses, leaping back just enough to stand out of the blast radius.

"No. That is overkill," pointed out Tenten. "I'm changing you to a yes, military boy."

"Later," said the general, tapping his feet on the ground to get his footing. His eyes focused on a figure at the back of the remaining minions, "He is here."

The other Golden Dragons stared at him curiously; it wasn't like the general to act so strangely.

Seemingly aware that he had been noticed, the figure the general had been staring at came out of the group and stood against the military genius. He looked like a taller and older version of Rock Lee, the similarities were frightening. They appeared to wear the same outfits and even appeared to walk the same way.

"You came…" said the green-clad figure ominously. "How long has it been?"

Rock Lee threw away his pistols; there was no need for such a thing now. He took a step forward and breathed out slowly.

"Father. We must settle this once and for all."

Maito Gai nodded slowly and took a step towards his son, "That is true."

The others stood back, it was clear this was their fight.

They walked towards each other until they were within an arms' reach of each other, staring each other down with hatred only a family dispute could inspire.

Producing a coin from his belt, Gai indicated to his son with a nod, "The old way?"

"Tails," called Rock Lee, watching as the taller man flicked the coin into the air and let it fall onto the ground with a clank.

Looking down at the result, Gai gave no reaction beyond putting his hands at his side and standing with his legs far apart. Taking a few steps back, Rock Lee gauged the distance to his target with expert eyes.

Taking two long steps forward, Rock Lee brought up his foot in between Gai's legs and the scene appeared to freeze. All the observers including the females winced in agony, with some of the more manly observers having to look away to stop themselves from experiencing the pain. As the scene unfroze and the connection was made, the ground seemed to shake under the weight of what was happening, and Gai immediately fell back and grabbed at his lower half with a clear show of how much pain he was in.

For a few moments it seemed like it was going to be over from that first blow, but after nearly a minute his father stood up and straightened himself out, though it was clear he had suffered some damage.

"I would have been disappointed if you had fallen after just that."

"You…have much to learn, my son."

With a longer run-up than Rock Lee had, Gai charged forward and drove his foot into the waiting gap between Lee's legs. It had an even greater effect on the observers and the ground around them, and Lee was sent into a spin of pure agony. His legs wavered under him and threatened to buckle, but Lee refused to lose after having come so far.

Trying to ignore the blinding pain in his nether-region, General Rock Lee of the Northern Armies centred his breathing and brought himself back from the brink of despair.

"Impressive…" muttered Gai, taking the open stance once again. "But you cannot defeat me."

Rock Lee swore under his breath and steadied his footing. From that one exchange he could tell that in a straight-out shoot he wasn't going to be able to defeat his father, as he said.

However he didn't become a general by playing by the rules.

Tapping the back of his foot without giving an indication of what he was doing, Rock Lee's face clearly showed how much damage he had taken as he prepared for his next strike.

Gai smirked as he saw his son preparing to kick him; he knew that there was no chance of his son defeating him. He wrote the book on this type of combat.

Lee walked up to his father and stopped, not taking the run-up that he was justifiably allowed to take, staring his enemy straight in the eye.

"Not going to take the run-up?" asked an interested Gai.

"Not gonna need it."

Swinging his leg back up so far that it nearly tapped the back of his head, Lee swung his leg straight into Gai's crotch, the impact seemingly not making any initial impact. However there was a quiet click from his foot, and Gai's face changed to pure terror as he realised what was about to happen.

"Clever girl…"

The explosion on the end of Lee's foot detonated and sent his father flying into the roof, his eyes nearly bursting out of his face in pain and his body stuck in permanent rigor mortis.

Pulling back his damaged foot, Rock Lee turned back and gave a customary thumbs up to his companions. Bent over on their knees was the other three men of the group, throwing up violently in response to the horrors that they had seen. Even Tenten's face was screwed up in horror.

After holding his pose for as long as he could, the damage from the battle struck him completely and he fell to the ground, unable to move his legs.

His battle was done.

oOoOoOo

Tenten crossed her arms and waited as the minions hesitated to move against her. She had sensed him since they had entered the warehouse, and it should be clear by her visage that he wasn't going to escape her this time.

"Come out," she said at a low growl. "You have to face me."

The minions parted to reveal a man standing at the back of the warehouse, trying to hide his nervousness behind a cloth mask hiding most of his face.

A cruel smirk came across Tenten's face, "Found you."

The warrior took a step back and put his shaking hands up, "Hey…um…I wasn't expecting you to be here. Do we really need to do this here? In front of all these people?"

Tenten started walking towards him, each step causing more of the minions to move back away from her warpath. "Oh no, we're doing this. Right here. Right now."

"Honey…baby…I swore I was going to come back at some point." He went to remove the headband that was covering one of his eyes, but stopped himself when he saw the terrifying look she was giving him.

Before he could react properly, Tenten shot forward and grabbed the top of his head, clutching his silver hair in her hand and bringing him down to his knees.

She leaned forward and gave him her best attempt at a sweet smile, "Love you too, babe."

Kakashi tried to struggle, but she kept him in an iron grip and began dragging him towards the entrance by the hair on his head.

The Evil Lord's minions didn't stop her from taking him, though the other members of the Golden Dragons were a little bit perplexed by the fact that she didn't have to do any fighting at all.

"I'll stay home for a week…a month…as long as you want!" begged Kakashi, but Tenten ignored him and threw him out of the entrance, blowing a kiss to the minions behind her before walking out to join him.

"The children are waiting, dear."

oOoOoOo

As Naruto and Sasuke waited for their groups to complete their own battles, Kiba felt himself getting impatient at the scene unfolding in front of him. He wanted to join in the battle, but there was clearly no need for him as no opponent had yet appeared that was worth his time.

The Evil Lord let out a small groan at his minions being taken out so easily, turning to a part of his group. "White Lotus, you're up."

Out of the sea of red shirt came a tall man wearing a white robe with an arrogant smile on his face. His eyes betrayed his relevance to the plot as he grinned manically at the heroes.

"Who's that bastard?" asked Kiba, clearly seeing the change in his leader's expression upon seeing such a foe.

Ninjaman snarled and took a step forward, "A traitorous bastard. One who needs to have reality beaten into him slowly and methodically."

Before their leader could step any further, Kiba put his hand on his shoulder to pull him back. "He will, don't you worry. But you need to save your strength for the big bad guy."

He clenched his fists and changed his outfit, feeling the genie-empowered strength flow through his veins. His opponent burst out laughing at his appearance, but Kiba didn't care. By the way his enemy held himself he could tell this was someone worth fighting.

This wasn't a time for names, or dramatic duels at sundown.

"You really think you can beat me?" said a cocky Hyuuga Neji, putting his hands at his sides like he didn't even need to take a defensive stance.

Kiba grinned and bared his fangs at his opponent as the others made way for their fight. "I'm going to beat you into the ground and grind your bones."

"You will try."

With their monologues out of the way, Kiba charged at his opponent and unleashed a wild swing at his head. Neji simply moved the minimum distance out of the way and reached out with his fingers, lightly tapping several points along the animalistic warrior's arm.

His enemy snarled again and lashed out with his other hand, which the white-eyed enemy deftly avoided by jumping back.

Kiba tried to bring up his arm to strike at his enemy again, but found his muscles unresponsive. He tried to move it again, but nothing seemed to work. "You bastard! What did you do to my arm?"

"A simple thing, something a barbarian like you couldn't possibly understand."

Shaking his head to get himself back into the game, Kiba stamped his foot and re-centred himself. The pigtails flew behind his head as his rage built; he'd never met an opponent he couldn't pound.

Unwilling to let his opponent play his mind tricks, Kiba stepped towards him with violence in his mind. He tried to punch his opponent with his still used hand, but once again Neji got out of the way.

The white-eyed fighter tried to repeat his trick, but Kiba dropped his hand and spun around with his leg in an attempt to collect his opponent in the head.

However before his high heel could touch Neji, the traitor stepped forward to neutralise the strike and pushed a hand into his chest, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

Kiba doubled over and coughed blood onto the ground, feeling his strength quickly vanish from his body. His outfit hadn't disappeared, which meant he was still under his 'curse', but something was different.

He felt powerless.

Neji scoffed at the image of his fallen enemy, keeping his arrogant smile on his face. "This is just comical. Not only do you look ridiculous, but you are powerless to resist me."

Kiba snarled and tried to get back on his feet. "I will kill you if it's the last thing I do."

"Please. You couldn't kill a baby. Why don't you run home like a little girl?"

He walked slowly towards his fallen prey, preparing his hands to give the killing blow.

As he tried to pick himself up, Kiba could hear the voices in his head reminding him of all the times he had been mocked by his enemies and friends alike.

The voices became almost deafening as he got back onto his feet. Neji stepped in close and raised his arms, ready to finish the job.

Feeling his rage reach a devastating crescendo, Kiba shot forward and surprised his opponent, who was unable to do anything as the strength ran through his arms once again.

In a single motion Kiba grabbed at the traitor's arms and crushed them at the elbows by closing his hands. Neji screamed out in pain as Kiba took a step back and began winding up his hand for the final blow.

The white-eyed traitor looked at him with pure terror written all over his face. He saw Kiba's hand and understood exactly what was about to happen.

He tried to put up his hands in defence, but with his arms broken there was no way for him to stop inevitability.

"Not…not in the face…" he pleaded.

Kiba shrugged and slammed his fist into the traitor's crotch, sending him crashing down into the ground.

"Thank…you…" he said before the pain caused him to black out.

The winner stood up on top of his enemy's body and put up his hands in triumph.

His roar echoed throughout the warehouse, letting everyone know that he was a real man.

oOoOoOo

The Nara Kid didn't bother sullying his hands with the fighting of lesser men. Even since arriving at the warehouse, there had been a terrible feeling sitting in his stomach, and it became obvious what the source was when Rock Lee had broken through their ranks.

Sitting in front of a small table was a young man, wearing a light brown robe that accentuated his bright red hair. He had dark rings around his eyes and had a tattoo of the word love stamped on his forehead.

Shikamaru breathed through his teeth and slowly walked towards his chosen foe. Any minion that tried to attack him was taken out by Kiba's rampage, as the General was still down from the damage from his own fight, and the blacksmith had seemingly disappeared completely.

The young man noticed him approaching and reached down to the side of the table.

"I wasn't sure you would come," said Gaara.

Taking a seat at the other side of the table, Shikamaru glared at the young man with controlled anger.

"It was only a matter of time until we came face to face once again. This time will be different."

Gaara placed the board on the table and began laying out the pieces. "I doubt that."

Looking down at the pieces on the board, Shikamaru considered his options and made a new plan. "How about we change the stakes?"

Gaara picked up one piece from each side and held them in closed fists in front of his opponent, "Like the gamers of old? So be it. You cannot defeat me."

Shikamaru tapped a fist, revealing a white pawn. He smiled in triumph and began planning his method of attack. His opponent leaned forward and crossed his hands over his chest.

Just as Shikamaru went to move his pawn forward, Gaara looked into his eyes. "How many years have you spent inside that bottle?"

The Nara Kid ignored him and moved his pawn up two spaces.

Almost immediately Gaara moved in response, and the game was on.

Several minutes into the battle, Shikamaru took the first casualty. His knight made a deft move and removed one of Gaara's pawns, swinging the battle in his favour.

"I see you've improved since we last fought."

Gaara glared at him and hovered his hand over his queen. "I beat you then, and I'll beat you now."

He went to take Shikamaru's knight.

"F**ked your sister," taunted the Nara Kid.

His opponent's eyes widened in shock and he glared at Shikamaru, "You did not."

A terrible grin came over the Golden Dragon's face, "Ask her. She'll tell you. Did you not wonder why her kid has a black ponytail?"

His taunt caused the young man to reconsider his move, and the Nara Kid could already see the cracks forming.

The game continued.

As Shikamaru had dreamt about, the battle was as close as what was possible in chess. They each attempted to psych each other out, both touching on hard points in their lives.

Leaning back in his chair, Shikamaru took a moment to see the whole board. It was unclear several moments ago, but with Gaara's last move he could see the play. The play he'd been working towards most of his life since it had been ruined by the very man he was now once again facing.

Taking a long breath, he placed a hand on his castle.

"Steeeeeveeeee Perry!"

Shikamaru ignored the taunt and moved his castle into position, feeling a grand sense of relief that he was finally in the end game.

Gaara snarled and went to move one of his pieces, but Shikamaru reached over and grasped his wrist. Turning over his hand, Shikamaru revealed a white pawn in his opponent's hand. "Don't think you can pull the same thing as last time."

His enemy snarled as the Nara Kid slowly placed his pawn back onto the table. "This is the old way. Anything goes."

"True. But if you get caught cheating, then it isn't the old way at all. It's just stupid."

He pointed to the remaining black pieces, "Now make your move."

His opponent moved his pieces in the way Shikamaru had suspected as the Nara Kid positioned his pieces for the final strike. It was clear from the look on the young man's face that he could see what Shikamaru had been planning all along, and there was no way to stop it any more.

Taking a single moment to grin before moving his bishop into position, Shikamaru stared at his opponent in triumph. "Checkmate."

Gaara's eyes covered the board frantically, trying to find a way out. He shook his head violently, unable to believe that he'd been beaten.

"No…no, no, no, no, no."

The Nara Kid slowly rose from the chess table, feeling the weight of responsibility lifted from his chest. "You have lost."

"NOOOO!"

Gaara screamed out before bursting into hundreds of silver coins. They clashed loudly with each other as they struck the floor, though Shikamaru wasn't surprised at the resolution.

How else was he going to fuel his drinking?

Retrieving a bag from his belt, the Nara Kid began collecting his due.

oOoOoOo

"You don't seriously think evil can win, do you?" asked Naruto of his opponent. "Look around you, your forces are falling apart at the seams."

Sasuke shrugged in response, "They are just minions. There are plenty more of those in the world."

"And we'll crush them underfoot, same as these. Face it, you are through."

A slow evil grin came over Sasuke face as he reached across his belt and slowly removed a jet black sword from his belt. "You know nothing, Uzumaki Naruto."

He flourished the blade in front of his chest and began to force his power into it.

"Bankai."

A massive circle of pure black energy enveloped The Evil Lord, drawing in all the light and happiness in the world into that single point. Everyone that was fighting in the area stopped and watched in with a mixture of awe and despair as it collapsed into itself before finally turning completely into the standing form of The Evil Lord.

His outfit had changed slightly to be more ragged and dark in colour, with a long black cloak attached to his shoulders with a red inside. In his hands was a pair of black blades, one longer than the other by half and wicked sharp by comparison.

Clutching the pair of blades with expertise, Sasuke held an offensive stance and stared at Naruto.

"Tensa Susanoo."

Naruto cocked his head to the side in response, "I'll admit, that was impressive."

"Why does it sound like you are being sarcastic?"

The blonde hero grinned slowly and took a stance, closing his fists and putting them at his sides.

"Is that a fact? Tell me…does a fool like yourself even experience fear?"

He began to grit his teeth and yell loudly, the force of it causing the ground to start to shake underneath their feet. His yelling became louder as a golden aura slowly began to appear around his body, amplified by his yelling.

The combatants around them stopped their battles again, clearly distracted by their mutual power-ups.

Naruto's chest began to get larger as the glow began to get brighter, and his yelling reached almost deafening levels. As his power reached a critical mass, Naruto let out a final roar and covered the area with bright light as he completed his transformation.

Unshielding his eyes from the scene, Sasuke watched as Naruto regained a normal stance. His hair stood up on its end and his eyes had changed from blue to bright green, with a light golden glow around his entire body. A cocky smirk sat on the hero's face.

Sasuke lowered his blades and looked up and down at his enemy, "All that yelling and all you did was gain a little glow? That's hardly an impressive transformation."

"No, see here," said Naruto, reaching up and holding one of his spikes of hair in his fingers. "It's gotten a lot closer to gold than its normal blonde. And it got a little bit longer too."

"So what are you, a Super Moron?"

Naruto's smirk grew wider, "I'm a Super Ninjaman."

Sasuke just shook his head, "You're an idiot."

Super Ninjaman clenched a fist and pointed it at his sworn enemy, "I hereby vow that I will defeat you and save the princess from your grasp."

Just as he finished his vow, Sasuke seemed to disappear right in front of him. Naruto's eyes widened, but before he could react he found one of the Evil Lord's blades at his throat.

"And just how do you plan on doing that?"

The blonde hero hesitated only for a moment before grabbing at Sasuke's wrist and turning the blade away from his throat, jumping away to avoid the Evil Lord's second blade.

He landed carefully and a smirk came onto his face, "Don't think I'm as easy as the little boys you always go for. I'm the real deal."

Sasuke snorted at his claim and dived straight at him.

Within their own minds it became a contest of wills as they rained blows on one another at extremely fast speeds. Sasuke's blades tore the hero's clothes to shreds and started to enact a death by a thousand cuts, while Naruto's punches and kicks were unavoidable and broke muscle and bone at every contact.

Each movement demanded a response, each blow required a counter, and their battle was as even as it could possibly be while they both sustained massive damage.

To the outside observers, however, it was a different matter altogether.

The Evil Lord's blades were sheathed at his side as he stood still and waited with his eyes closed.

Super Ninjaman stood in the same manner, though his 'Super' glow remained despite the lack of power being utilised at that moment.

For several minutes they battled with their minds, each performing terrible attacks and counters that threatened to tear each other's minds apart. The last of the Evil Lord's minions were taken out by Naruto's Golden Dragons and they then waited for him to complete his battle.

They had no business involving themselves in their duel to the death.

At the same time in their minds, their battle reached a dramatic conclusion.

Sasuke spun away from a wide kick from his enemy and drove one of his blades into the hero's stomach, taking a moment to grin in triumph before bringing up his other blade and removing his head from his shoulders, letting his body sag to the ground.

Naruto, on the other hand, kicked away one of the blades of his opponent and ducking under a slash and kicking his opponent into the air. Reaching out to grab his chest, Naruto flipped him around and took a low stance, bringing his opponent crashing down onto his knee. The Evil Lord's spine snapped and he was able to cough up blood once before his entire form collapsed onto the ground.

The two opponents opened their eyes at the same time and regarded each other, assured of their inevitable victory.

"I guess it was inevitable," said Sasuke slowly, sheathing his swords at his side.

Naruto nodded, his 'Super' glow slowly dissipating. "Let this be our final battle."

They stared at each other for a moment before charging at each other with their arms raised, ready to do whatever was necessary to win the day.

Ninjaman's hand reached his opponent's face first, causing the Evil Lord to recoil at the light slap before surging forward and slapping Ninjaman in response.

Their cheeks both began to redden as their hands were like a furious buzzard's wings, each trying to overpower the other in the only method they knew how. They both grimaced and groaned at each contact, trying to overpower the other with a fury of slaps.

Eventually the battle became too much and the Evil Lord began giving ground, slapping more defensively as Ninjaman pressed his advantage.

"Ow…ow…ow…time out! Time out!" called Sasuke, jumping back and clutching his red face tenderly.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, not sure whether he should honour the time out or go for the killing blow.

His choice was made for him as Sasuke reached out and slapped him full in the face, grinning as he blatantly broke the rules of their honourable duel.

"Time in," he said with a cruel look.

Naruto snarled and spat blood at the ground, charging forward and slamming his hands into the Evil Lord's face, unleashing a torrent of slaps that would make even the hardiest child wince in pain.

The barrage of slaps continued as Naruto began pushing Sasuke towards a suspiciously placed opening that contained a bubbling red liquid. The Evil Lord tried to call for a time out once again, but Naruto refused to stop, continuing to press his advantage even as his hands began to numb under the effort.

Behind the Evil Lord he could see the white-eyed Princess, chained to a nearby wall with a gag in her mouth. Her appearance only served to fuel his determination as he pressed through Sasuke's counters and shoved him with his hands to the edge of the red pit.

"Okay, okay, I give up!" shouted Sasuke, knowing how dangerous his position was.

Naruto grabbed him at the shirt, his eyes blaring with anger as he threatened to finish his enemy once and for all. "You are finished. This situation is everything that is wrong with being evil. You must acknowledge your wrong and repent for your sins."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, unwilling to compromise despite in the face of annihilation. "This is blasphemy! This is madness!"

Ninjaman let go of his opponent and rolled his eyes, "I'm not saying it."

"_You have to. It's in the script."_

Naruto turned to the director and shook his head, "It's a stupid line, I'm not saying it."

"_You're on contract. Say the line."_

He turned back to his opponent, who gave him a sympathetic look before resuming his furious visage.

Naruto sighed and took a step back.

"This is Naruto…" he said at a whisper before kicking Sasuke straight in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the pit of lava.

The Evil Lord roared in disbelief as he fell, swearing to get his revenge before hitting the lava and melting into obscurity.

oOoOoOo

As his Golden Dragons cleaned up the mess that the battle had made, Naruto removed the chains from the princess' body and she leapt into his arms, wrapping him up into her bosom as tightly as possible.

"I knew you would save me, Ninjaman."

Naruto grinned as he felt her long dark hair tickling at his neck, "Of course, my dear princess. I swore that I would save you. I don't break my promises."

She pulled her head back and looked into his bright green eyes with affection, "If there is anything I can do to make it up to you…" She licked her lips slowly, "Anything at all…"

Ninjaman's grin widened as they stood arm in arm, "I can think of a few things we can do."

They stared into each other's eyes for a long time before the two of them slowly leaned in for the much anticipated finale to the story.

Just as their lips were about to touch both of them hesitated before completing the act. For several moments they struggled to kiss each other before Hinata relented and turned towards the camera.

"Do I really have to kiss this idiot?"

Naruto looked over at the camera as well, "Yeah, I'm not really comfortable with this either."

"_It's part of the script, you have to do it."_

Hinata groaned and let go of his waist, "I know, but now that we are here, I'm having second thoughts. I have a husband and children to think about after all."

In turn, Naruto took his hands off her breasts and shoved them into his pockets, "Yeah, I kind of promised my fiancé I wouldn't betray his trust on this. Can't we do a script re-write?"

"_You have to do the kiss; it's the only way to get romantic tension into the story."_

The two of them looked back at each other for a moment before both groaning in resignation and leaning in once again. They nearly did the act, but both of them once again recoiled backwards and took several steps away from each other.

"Nope," said Naruto stubbornly. "Even for someone like her, I just can't do it." He walked back to where they had put Sasuke back in place for his stunt double, shaking his head as he went.

Hinata threw her hands up into the air and shook her head so her meticulously maintained wig came off her head and revealed her short blonde hair. "I'll be in my trailer. Call me when there is something I can get behind."

"_Bloody temperamental actors. Get the writing team in here and get me a rewrite. We will finish this movie if it kills us. AND SOMEONE GET ME SOME DAMN COFFEE!"_

* * *

><p>Walking into the camera shot, the hooded shinobi let out a long sigh and stared at the crowd through his dark glasses.<p>

"What, no part for me?"

Shino slumped his shoulders, clearly displaying his anguish.

"Nobody wants me in their movie…"

A cloud of insects slowly began to emerge behind him, forming into a set of Shino clones that took up dancing poses.

"I'm so…"

"_CUT! THAT'S A WRAP PEOPLE!"_

Shino looked around to see the movie crew taking down the lights and microphones and chatting amongst themselves.

He let out another long sigh and sulked away.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

What do you guys think? I've never been quite sure about my comedy writing, so I'd love to hear some feedback on whether you thought this chapter was funny or not. I just hope it was entertaining, and you guys got a kick out of it. It really is a labour of love, and that's why it took so long. I wanted to get it right.

I decided against putting my OCs in this story, purely because I wanted the absurd immersion to be as much as possible. I had some pretty ridiculous plans for Fiore and some of the others, but held off because this chapter is already pretty full of ridiculousness.

I wanted to replicate the language of the movies I was parodying, but I think that might break the censor just a wee bit. Regardless, I hope they were conveyed well enough.

Until the end of my university semester, chapters will be fortnightly. I just want to give each thing in my life its due, and that means I can't concentrate on giving my story the best writing possible in a weekly timeframe.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	67. Chapter 61 Deus Ex Machina

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 61 – Deus Ex Machina

**A/N**: I want to thank you guys for the feedback surrounding the last chapter. It was an experiment, and I'll admit it isn't my thing. That's what I'm using this fanfiction for, and I appreciate the honest feedback. Please keep it up, it really does help.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, character betrayals would make sense.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Having successfully infiltrated Kirigakure, the ex-Mizukage Yagura led his team deep into his home village in the hope of rescuing the current disposed Mizukage and saving his village from an oncoming Quiraji invasion. After an encounter with some civilians, the team got to the prison and took down the warden without any trouble, making their way through the many traps to the lower levels of the prison, finding a malnourished and near-death Mei Terumi. Deciding to risk his life for his home, Yagura transferred a large portion of his recently re-acquired Tailed Beast, making the disposed Mizukage a close Tailed Beast container. On their way out of the prison, Mei broke out her best lieutenant and gave him orders to mobilise the ANBU before the group moved to the Mizukage's building. Breaking into the building, they immediately killed the Mizukage's doppelganger, only to find that it was itself a replacement for the real villain. Revealing himself to the group, a masked man called Tobi revealed his displeasure at the day's events. They tried to attack him, but their attacks were ineffective as he appeared to phase straight through them. After several attempts, Hinata began to work out the trick with her Byakugan, moving her body into his to negate his ability to attack them back. Using his strange doujutsu, Tobi sucked her into a technique, with both Yugito and Fu diving forward to save her and being sucked in as well.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Skidding along the ground, Naruto used his hands to slow his momentum before glaring back up at his opponent in frustration.<p>

Mangetsu took a laboured breath and steadied himself on his feet, ignoring the gaping wound in his side that bled onto the soft ground beneath his feet. His opponent had an annoying habit of pressing him in a manner the Swordsman hadn't been expecting in someone that looked like he did.

Naruto looked at the battlefield around them, noticing how drastically it had transformed during their battle. They'd kept away from Kirigakure itself for most of their duel, but the ground was scorched from Mangetsu's lightning blade and torn apart by Naruto's wind technique.

"You've got to be running low on strength by now," commented the Swordsman leader. "I can see the difference in your expression."

The blonde Tailed Beast container chuckled and stretched out his shoulders, flexing his arms dramatically. "Are you kidding me? This is training exercise compared to some of the other battles I've fought."

"You're underestimating me?" said Mangetsu with a raised eyebrow, shocked at the idea of it. "Surely you know better by now."

Naruto grinned at his opponent wickedly, "On the contrary, this is the most fun I've had fighting in ages. You aren't trying to kill me; I'm not trying to kill you. It's great fun!"

Mangetsu stared at his opponent for a moment before groaning and running a hand through his white hair, "This is infuriating. I am trying to kill you, boy!"

"Well, okay, maybe you are…but you must admit you're having fun too."

The Swordsman groaned again and brought up his stolen Konoha blade, "I'm going to start cutting you now. I don't know when I'll stop."

Naruto grinned and reactivated his Kattoken, wishing he had better control over the technique. His original intention had been to end the battle quickly, but his opponent was as tenacious as he was, meaning that the damage to his arms was reaching breaking point.

_If Hinata were here I could keep fighting as normal…_

He shook himself out of it; he had to win battles without relying on his wife's healing abilities. Not that he'd ever tell her that.

Looking at his opponent's body, it was clear that he was just as tired as Naruto was, though he had something the Swordsman leader did not.

_Kyuubi! Kyuubi! You there? Placing a collect-call to the pain-in-the-ass Nine Tails!_

Inside his head he heard a low growling, followed by a string of expletives. _"I was napping, boy. I dreamt I was a volcano and was pouring lava all over pathetic mortals like you."_

He began to charge at his opponent, fuelling as much strength as he could into his Kattoken as he clashed with Mangetsu's sword. Because of his technique the lightning couldn't quite reach him, but Mangetsu was a tricky opponent and every swing of his sword aimed to cut through his guard. Naruto treated his arms like they were swords and parried with each blow, though he wasn't able to get any offensive movements going.

_I could use your help, Kyuubi. Any chakra you want to give would be fantastic. _

The voice inside his head snorted, _"Yes, that will absolutely happen. And I'll grow wings and fly away. No, wait, I can actually do that. I'll grow a large horn and…no I can do that too. Damn it."_

_Kyuubi, I could do without your crap at this time. He's going to overpower me pretty soon; he's not losing any speed._

Mangetsu feigned a strike at Naruto's head but as the blonde shinobi went to defend himself he shifted part of his body into water and skirted around the sides, slashing at Naruto's shoulder.

Immediately upon contact lightning shot through Naruto's body and he roared out in pain, lashing out wildly with his arms. Mangetsu dived away easily, but the unstable nature of Naruto's Kattoken meant he suffered numerous cuts to his arms in response.

Creating some distance between himself and his opponent, Mangetsu could feel his arms weakening at the wounds he suffered.

_Kyuubi! Any time now!_

Naruto's voice was starting to sound desperate, though a part of him had noticed his opponent was just as exhausted as he was. As he gritted his teeth and stood up from the ground, his eyes widened as he saw the body of Roshi lying not far away. It was clearly messed up fairly bad, but he didn't have to be too close to see the Four-Tails container wasn't going to be getting back up.

Mangetsu noticed his shock and went to move in to take advantage of it, but Naruto's expression changed as he turned back to his opponent with a look of cold fury in his eyes.

The Swordsman leader stopped in his attack and doubled back, "You shouldn't be so angry with me. Your people killed three of mine. I should be angry with you." Mangetsu's voice was emotionless, but he felt a cold fury growing inside him at having to admit that he didn't care about his companions' deaths. They weren't exactly his favourites in the group to begin with.

"But you're not," said Naruto coldly. "I didn't like Roshi that much, but we came here to help save your village. He didn't deserve to get killed."

Mangetsu lowered his sword, thankful for the respite from the fighting though he wouldn't admit it. "You keep saying that. How could you possibly be trying to help us?"

His opponent shook his head, "I'm through talking. Let's finish this."

"_I haven't given you any of my power, boy, just so you know."_

_I know you are not strong enough to help me just yet. I've got this. _

"_You haven't 'got this', you're barely standing."_

Naruto ignored his occupant and stamped his feet into the ground, slapping his legs and concentrating as much as he could on hardening himself with physical energy. His opponent seemed hesitant to attack him again, but seeing the look in his eyes it was clear there was only one way to solve their duel.

Driving the lightning blade into the ground in front of him, Mangetsu went through a quick set of handseals and clasped both hands on the sword's hilt. A large column of water began to emerge behind him and he lightly tapped the Raijin no Ken on its edge, causing the column to electrify and create a terrifying crackling sound as he began to move towards his enemy.

Naruto responded less obviously, though his technique required more concentration than he was used to. Physical energy techniques didn't have any obvious effect on his body, but in combination with whatever strength he had left put into his Kattoken caused the air to sound like it was being torn apart from every angle.

As they started to move towards each other, several large balls of water began to separate and fly towards Naruto, crackling with lightning. The Nine-Tails container ignored them and charged forward, not even noticing when they made contact with his body. His technique allowed him to ignore the pain and the damage as he closed the gap between the two of them rapidly.

Mangetsu spun the Raijin no Ken in the air and held it up to bring it down on Naruto's head, as the lightning-covered water behind him turned into a large dragon and reared its head to come crashing down on his enemy.

The two of them finally clashed in a single instance of strength and power, Mangetsu's water and lightning slamming into Naruto even as he slammed a fist into Mangetsu's stomach, completely covered in air-based spiritual energy.

Mangetsu grinned at the contact and changed his body into water to absorb the impact, completely surrounding his enemy with water. He knew that nobody could survive for long under those conditions; even as he stabbed into the sphere he created with his sword in an attempt to finish the job.

After half a minute he withdrew the water and looked down at the blonde boy's body. He nodded his approval at the battle they had had, it wasn't something he was going to forget any time soon.

"You died well, boy."

As he turned to work out what was left of his group, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to see a broken sword sticking out of his chest.

"Wha…"

Naruto walked out from Mangetsu's side, his face not showing any emotion as regulated his breathing, "Sometimes it's the simplest techniques that win battles."

Mangetsu tried to turn his body to water, but he didn't have the strength to mould any chakra. "How…when…"

The Nine-Tails container indicated with his head to Mangetsu's back, "I marked you during our first exchange. I just needed to distract you long enough to take advantage."

Coughing blood onto the ground as he fell to his knees, Mangetsu let out a small chuckle, "You…missed my heart…"

Taking little care in removing his sword from his opponent's chest, Naruto sheathed it on his belt and stared into Mangetsu's face. "On purpose. I'm not a killer. But you need to stop being in my way."

The Swordsman leader shook his head and reached forward tentatively, grasping the hilt of his sword and slowly pushing it towards Naruto. "Your…prize. I didn't like…using it anyway. Too…simple."

Naruto took the sword with caution, wary that his enemy could still attack him even in his state. "My thanks, I guess."

"You're going to…help the…village?" he asked, looking up at his opponent for only a moment before his wound took him from consciousness.

Naruto took a step back as he strapped the Raijin no Ken to his belt, nodding his respect to his opponent before turning around. "I'll do my best."

oOoOoOo

Killer Bee tried to hold back Ameyuri's twin blade assault, but the young woman was too fast for him and was already inside his guard before he could stop her. She hooked his swords through her Kiba blades and sent them flying to the sides as she kicked him straight in the chest and stomped him into the ground.

Ameyuri stood on top of his prone body and held one of her blades at his throat, while the other stabbed at the air above. "Hell yeah! Winner!"

She looked around to see if there was anyone to celebrate her victory, but judging by the battlefield it looked like she was the only one around from the Swordsmen still standing.

"_What are you doing, Bee?"_

The Eight-Tails container sighed at the sound of his occupant complaining, the fight had been one frustration after the other.

_It's not like I'm not trying. She's a good fighter. _

"_Perhaps as a swordsman. But not as a shinobi. Get your head right, Bee."_

Killer Bee sighed again and looked up at his opponent, remarking on how sharp her teeth looked through her wicked grin. A thought came to his head and he immediately grimaced at the prospect.

"_BEE! That's horrible! I would have thought you above such things."_

Inside his head, Bee shook his head continuously, unable to escape the terrible thought.

_Fine, FINE!_

Taking an account of his situation, Killer Bee reached out and grabbed at the Kiba blade aimed at his throat, while a tentacle shot out of his shoulder and wrapped around her other wrist.

Ameyuri's expression immediately shifted to panic as she realised how much the situation had just shifted away from her advantage. "Ah crap. I celebrated too early again."

Killer Bee grinned behind his sunglasses and activated a basic ninjutsu, "It isn't like a Swordsman to hold back from killing someone."

Lightning shot up the Kiba blade and bypassed the safeguards, causing her to shake as she suffered the technique completely.

Jumping up from the ground, Killer Bee's tentacle let go of her wrist and Ameyuri dropped to the ground, her blades falling out of her hands.

"You're strong, kid. It's only because I'm a Tailed Beast container that I beat you."

Ameyuri gave him her trademark toothy grin before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body fell limp. Killer Bee could only shake his head as he stepped back from the woman's unconscious body.

"Have a few problems, did you?"

Bee turned to see Naruto walking towards him, the look on his face telling the Eight-Tails container that his blonde companion had won his battle as well.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," said Bee, rubbing at his neck sorely. He didn't want to admit it, but the battle with Ameyuri had drained him of more chakra than he would have thought. "Where are the others?"

A solemn look came over Naruto's face as he indicated to the side. Bee turned and saw why his expression had changed so drastically.

The two of them slowly walked over to a ruined section of the battlefield in front of the closed Kirigakure gates. They looked down at the red haired body at their feet, both of them feeling a sense of regret at the death of their companion.

"Did you see who took him down?" asked Naruto, not sure how he felt about the Four-Tails container's death. "It doesn't look there is any more fighting going on."

Killer Bee could only shake his head, "I was too preoccupied with my fight."

"I don't see Han anywhere either. He might have been taken out as well."

"How much chakra do you have left?" asked Naruto, though he could tell that they were both in about the same condition. He shook his head before Bee could respond, "What are we meant to do now? Whatever advantage the others would have gained is surely done by now."

His companion nodded in agreement, "I don't know how much longer we could have kept this up anyway. Maybe we should transform and attack the village directly."

"Don't be ridiculous!" said a shocked Naruto. "What part of not killing them do you not understand?"

Killer Bee jabbed a finger at Roshi's body, "They killed one of us! What else am I meant to do?"

Naruto took a step back and crossed his arms with a disapproving look, "I preferred it when you were just rapping."

The Eight-Tails container went to say something, but Naruto's expression changed and he turned his head like he was listening to someone speaking in his mind.

After a few moments Naruto turned back to his companion, his concern clearly written on his face.

"What is it?" asked Bee quickly.

"We have to move. Grab Roshi's body and fall back to the rally point."

The Kumogakure Tailed Beast container smirked before barking out a short laugh, "Don't think you can command me, kiddo. You might have the Nine-Tails, but you ain't no leader of me."

Naruto apologise with a weak smile, "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I have to go and help one of the others, but you know we can't attack the village anymore. They didn't attack with their main army, but if the other group was going to make it in, they would be there already."

Killer Bee had to concede that point, there seemed little point in maintaining their position of attack. But he didn't like the idea of retreat, and despite himself he worried over Yugito's wellbeing.

Reaching down with a large hand, he hefted Roshi's body over his shoulder, mentally regretting that he had to treat the body in such a way. "Where are you going?"

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated his energies, "To save the day."

* * *

><p>With a crack of lightning Naruto appeared above the ocean, only having a moment to steady his feet on the ocean floor before he could get his bearings. A voice called out behind him, but Naruto didn't get the chance to ask what they said as a cannonball came screaming towards him. He activated his secondary teleportation skill and reappeared a short distance forwards, hearing the explosion behind him nearly deafen his ears.<p>

"Naruto? Are you okay?"

The Nine-Tails container turned around on the water to see Gaara floating towards him, clutching at his shoulder with blood running the length of his shirt.

"Gaara?"

His old companion put away the kunai he had been given by the Nine-Tails container and offered him a hand up onto his floating sand platform. "You don't waste any time. We have to go, right now."

Naruto leapt up onto the sand platform and patted his friend on the back, taking care to avoid his injured side. "What's been happening? Why did you call me out here?"

Gaara took in a short breath and indicated to the ocean around them. It was only then that Naruto took a proper look at his surroundings, his eyes widening as he saw the devastation.

Scattered across the ocean surface were large planks of wood and plumes of smoke, with littered bodies telling a grisly tale. Naruto could scarcely believe the carnage; it was far too familiar to the siege for his liking.

"So the battle went well then," disgusted with himself that he approved of what had been done here.

Gaara used his sand to pull them high into the air above the battlefield, and Naruto saw that there were still a half dozen battleships sailing towards them.

"How did you guys manage this?" he asked, concerned that there was something here he was missing.

The Kazekage indicated to the forward-most battleship with his better hand, "It doesn't matter. They took Utakata, and I've barely got enough chakra to keep us afloat."

Naruto bit at his lip, scenarios running through his head. A few years ago he would have charged down in and likely gotten himself heavily injured, but now he knew that situations like this required a more patient approach.

"Can you get back to Kirigakure?" he asked as a plan began to form in his mind.

Gaara nodded quickly, "What are you planning on doing?"

The Nine-Tails container stood up from his kneeling position and put his hands together, creating a Kage Bunshin to stay by his old friend's side. "You said Utakata was down there, right?"

"Naruto, don't…" Gaara started to say, but Naruto was already gone, having dropped down to the ocean surface.

The Nine-Tails container sped quickly along the water, finding new avenues of strength to maintain his fast pace as he charged towards the battleship Gaara had pointed out. His approach was clearly noticed as cannonballs and arrows quickly rained down on his position, but Naruto was too fast to be caught by such attacks.

Within a minute he was at the front of the battleship, taking a moment to gather his strength before leaping high onto the bow and activating his Kattoken in preparation for anything the Quiraji was going to throw at him.

On the deck of the ship was a pack of Quiraji soldiers ready to spear him with their weaponry, but it was the five figures dressed in black robes that drew Naruto's attention. They felt…wrong to him, like something he wanted to get as far away as he could.

"Do we have another sacrifice then?" came a voice behind the Black Robes, walking into view. Immediately Naruto was on edge as he felt an even worse feeling in his gut at the figure's presence, not recognising his robed figure, but recognising the draining feeling he had on the surrounding area.

"Who are you?" demanded the robed figure, holding a chain in his near skeletal hand.

Naruto's expression darkened as he saw Utakata being dragged on a chain behind the figure. Both his legs appeared to be gone, and the chain was attached to a collar around his neck. Naruto felt his choler rising at the treatment of his fellow Tailed Beast container, but battle-tested wisdom indicated that this was a foe he shouldn't face on his own.

"What are you going to do with him?" asked Naruto, biting back his inner need to rage against the Quiraji foe.

Kyoukou yanked forward the unconscious Utakata and grabbed at his throat, pulling him up to head height, "Who, Utakata here? Oh nothing more, I suppose. He's told me all I need to know."

"Then let him go. You've lost your army, you can't win here."

The Quiraji leader smiled a humourless grin and placed his free hand on Utakata's head. Naruto yelled out in distress, but couldn't do anything as Kyoukou appeared to drain the essence of life from his body, causing him to wither and die before Naruto's eyes.

"Oh no, Naruto. There is much more I think we can learn from your kind." His soulless eyes stared into the blonde shinobi's, "To think the beasts of old survived this long."

Remembering the Kyuubi's tale about the war with the Quiraji, Naruto swore to himself as he realised they didn't know about the Tailed Beast's presence until just now. It was clear by the look of Utakata that he was gone, looking like he'd been dead for a number of years despite having only gone a few moments ago.

"I'll kill you for that," said a furious Naruto, feeling his Kattoken blowing out of control in line with his anger. "Slowly and painfully."

The Quiraji leader cocked his head slightly, seemingly amused at the anger displayed by the shinobi. "He killed my men in that beast form of his, slaughtered them without any question of mercy, and you are angry at me for exacting justice? You shinobi are the most hypocritical people I've ever met."

A part of Naruto felt like the Quiraji leader made a reasonable point, but that was quickly overwhelmed by his disgust at how his companion had been killed.

He clapped his hands together and accumulated a massive amount of chakra, indicating that whatever discussions they were having were now over.

Kyoukou immediately barked an order at his Black Robe subordinates, who pushed their hands towards Naruto, but the blonde shinobi had already activated his technique. As they attacked him all at once, the Nine-Tails container jumped forward and spun around in a whirl, using his Kattoken to pull apart as much as he could before he flew too close to Kyoukou and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

The damage to the battleship was done however, as his wind chakra had ripped apart the mast and was forcing the ship to take on water. A short distance away, Naruto watched as the crew began to panic and several of the remaining ships moved to help the crew abandon their battleship.

"Well that worked, I guess."

"_You took too many risks. What if…"_

"There's no point in arguing, Kyuubi. What's done is done."

Not wanting to waste any more chakra than he had to, Naruto turned around and began running back to Gaara's floating position, hoping his distraction would keep the Quiraji from launching an attack until their leader was back on a ship that wasn't sinking.

oOoOoOo

"That was your plan?"

Naruto jumped onto the sand platform and nodded to his clone before turning to the Kazekage, "Can you get us back to the Kirigakure island?"

Gaara frowned at being given an order, but nodded regardless, "I have enough strength for that. What did you have in mind?"

"We have to regroup. Roshi's dead, Utakata's dead, Han's probably dead…this whole thing is a mess."

"Such is war," said Gaara, ripping a strip off of his scarf and wrapping it around his shoulder. "Were the others successful?"

Naruto shrugged, he had no way of knowing what had happened to the other group. He sat down on the sand platform and took a long breath to calm himself down. "I doubt they'll be willing to follow us with such small numbers. If nothing else, you and Utakata stopped the invasion."

"That was all Utakata. If that man hadn't shown up, he would have destroyed all of them."

"Did he transform?" asked Naruto, remembering the time he had seen Gaara transform during the Chuunin Exams in Suna. He'd seen a number of horrible things in his life, but that had been the first time he had been properly frozen in fear.

"Something like that. I was trying to defend myself from attacks while he dove underwater and changed. All I could see were strange slimy tentacles that destroyed battleships with a single swipe."

Their sand platform sped over the water as Naruto and Gaara recovered from their respective battles and discuss what they should do next.

"When do you have to go back to Suna?"

His old friend sighed, he missed his home. "I said I would commit to solving the problems here for the greater war. If we can secure Kirigakure as an ally, we have a good chance of surviving the wars to come." He turned to Naruto and offered him a bottle of water, "Besides, I have faith in the people of my village."

"I'll have to visit it again at some point," said Naruto, taking the bottle with a nod of thanks. "Sounds like you've done some good things with it since the last time I was there."

Gaara nodded as their sand platform moved over the land and towards their previously agreed rally point. With a rocky exterior and entrance facing a small amount of ocean, their rally point was cleverly disguised as a meaningless piece of land concealed from both sides of Kirigakure. Because that's all it was.

As they descended to the rally point, they saw Killer Bee relaxing on a smooth piece of rock. When they came to a stop it was clear that the Eight-Tails container was asleep, though he still seemed to be wearing his sunglasses and tapping his foot to some unknown beat. Roshi's body had been carefully placed on the ground, though with Han gone they weren't sure how they were meant to get it back to Iwagakure, or even if they would want it back.

"Nice to see one of us can be so relaxed," said Naruto dryly, jumping onto the ground.

Gaara let his sand slowly bring him to the ground and gingerly touched his shoulder before grimacing in pain.

_I'll have to improve my techniques, if my defence can be breached so easily by their soldiers. _

"_You should have let me at them."_

The Kazekage kept his stoic visage, but internally he was rolling his eyes. _Shukaku, you can't swim._

"_Ah. I'll just shut up then."_

_Thank you. _

A strange feeling came over the Kazekage and his face twitched into a tiny smirk. Turning his body around to the opening, he coughed slightly to clear his throat. "You can come out now."

The air in front of him shimmered for a moment before dissolving into a short haired young woman who gave the Kazekage a respectful bow, "You called, Kazekage-sama?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin at her appearance, but relaxed himself when he saw her wearing a Suna forehead protector.

Killer Bee continued to snooze uninterrupted.

Without needing prompting, the Suna spy stepped forward and examined her leader's shoulder, concern clearly written on her face. "Did you bandage this yourself, sir?"

Gaara waved off her concern, though that didn't seem to stop her. "Matsuri, I need you to tell me what you know about this village, anything that can help us."

"There isn't much to say, Gaara-sama. The village has been in lockdown for weeks," she said as she undid the scarf around his shoulder and reached into her pack to produce a healing substance. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think these guys were hiding."

"But you do know better?" asked Naruto, finding the spy's actions acceptable, despite Gaara trying not to indicate how bad his wound was. Even after his battle with the Nine-Tails container, the Kazekage was not accustomed to injuries.

The brown haired girl shot him a dark look before turning back to her leader, "Gaara-sama, who is this man?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," said Gaara through his teeth, not enjoying the stinging sensation as the substance she rubbed into his wound began to heal him.

Upon hearing that, Matsuri's expression changed instantly and she gave the blonde shinobi a wide smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir! Gaara-sama has said many great things about you."

Naruto gave a chuckle and patted his old friend on the back, "I like this one. How come you didn't mention you had a spy in the village?"

Gaara grimaced as he pulled his shirt back up over his wound and looked over at his friend, "It wasn't necessary. I sent her here before I knew of this mission. Don't forget, I'm a Kage. There are some things we have to do."

"Yeah, don't remind me," said Naruto, his smile showing that he was only feigning annoyance. He turned to Matsuri, "Do you have any soldier pills on you?"

The young girl nodded and revealed a small selection of medical items in her pack. She gave her leader a smile, "Would you like one too, Gaara-sama?"

"I'll be fine, thank you Matsuri."

Naruto reached into the pack and produced four pills in hand, taking a long breath before swallowing all of them in one go.

"Is that wise?" asked Gaara, watching as Naruto struggled with the massive burst of chakra that the pills gifted to him. More than one pill was dangerous even to Chuunin-level shinobi, but four at once was unheard of.

Naruto grinned through clenched teeth, "I'll be fine. Just…give me a second."

Gaara nodded and turned his attention inward to his occupant.

_Shukaku, where are your chakra levels?_

"_I'm not your ally, kid. I'm your prisoner."_

_I'm trying to be civil, Shukaku. _

Inside his head he could hear the same evil chuckling that used to keep him from sleeping as a younger shinobi.

"_Fair enough. You won't be transforming any time soon, I've been feeding you chakra to keep you alive."_

_Why didn't you heal the injury on my shoulder?_

"_I already told you, kid. Sometimes suffering is good."_

"Gaara-sama? Are you okay?" asked a concerned Matsuri, seeing the unfocused look on her leader's eyes.

The One-Tails container shook his head and nodded to his subordinate, "I'm fine, Matsuri. I'll need you to go back into the village and check something for me."

"Of course, sir!" said the enthusiastic ANBU shinobi.

"Hold on a second," said Naruto as he picked himself up from the ground. He felt chakra flowing through him, which he knew would cause him to crash horribly once the battle was done, but he didn't care about that at the moment. "Take me with you."

Matsuri gave Gaara a raised eyebrow as he in turn gave Naruto a questioning look. "What are you planning, Naruto?"

The blonde shinobi grinned and patted himself down as if he was covered in dust, "I have to make sure my wife is okay."

"Wife? You're married?" asked a shocked Matsuri. He wasn't much older than Gaara was.

Naruto ignored her and gave Gaara a confident nod, "We need to know what's happened with the others. I have to make sure Hinata isn't hurt."

"Why don't you just teleport to her?" asked Gaara, feeling at the Hiraishin kunai the blonde shinobi had given him at the start of the mission.

"I can only do Hiraishin a limited amount in a short period of time. Something tells me this isn't over yet, and I might need to do it again soon."

"Fair enough," said the Kazekage. He turned to his spy, "Can you take him to the others from our group?"

Matsuri nodded, though she was visibly unhappy at what she had to do. "They went into the Mizukage building not long ago. But the ANBU have surrounded the building, it won't be easy."

"Can you do it or not?" asked an impatient Naruto.

"Of course I can!" said Matsuri, not wanting to appear weak in front of the Kazekage. She walked forward and grabbed him by the shoulder before turning back to Gaara, "With your permission, sir?"

Gaara considered the situation for only a moment. He knew the limitations of Matsuri's concealment technique, and it would be too difficult to ask her to take both of them. He also knew that Naruto was the most stubborn person he'd ever met, and nothing would stop him from going after his wife.

He gave her a quick nod and the two of them vanished under a concealing blanket of wind chakra.

Seeing his subordinate and friend go back into the fight, Gaara let out a short sigh and placed his original gourd on the ground beside him. His other gourds had been destroyed, and he felt useless.

"You gonna just let them go?"

Gaara turned to stare at the speaker, reminded that he wasn't alone. "I'm the Kazekage; I can't go in and brazenly attack another village."

Killer Bee scoffed and turned his gaze back to the sky, "Won't matter before long. I doubt this'll come to anything anyway."

Despite himself, Gaara could understand the Eight-Tails container's pessimism. Even with all the victories they had achieved over the Quiraji, it felt like there was always something that came up to knock them back down.

"Will this ever end?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Don't count on it," said Killer Bee in response, drifting back to sleep.

* * *

><p>A burst of information slammed into Hinata's mind as her Byakugan took in their new surroundings. Both Yugito and Fu had leapt to their feet immediately upon being dumped in the area and watched their foe cautiously as Tobi materialised in front of them.<p>

The dimension was covered in a dark blue haze, with the three kunoichi feeling all their senses thrown into disarray by the odd proportions of the objects within. Their feet stood on a smooth dark blue floor that appeared to run into an infinite horizon, while the area was covered by a mass of different shaped rectangles, some piercing high enough into the dark sky that they couldn't see the tops.

Hinata quickly recovered from the change in scenery and picked herself up and concentrated her energy on their enemy. She could see through the man who called himself Tobi's mask, though it wasn't exactly what she had expected.

Underneath his mask, half of his face was scared terribly like it had been burnt away and rebuilt, and his concealed eye held a second Sharingan, telling her that he must be an Uchiha that she'd never heard of. His chakra reminded her of both the Uchiha brothers, though it was separate from them as well.

But she wasn't going to tell him she knew that. Information was power in their world.

"This is a messed up place," commented Fu, her eyes wide open at the dimension they'd be been brought to. "It's like up is down or something like that…"

Yugito nodded, keeping her cat-like eyes on their foe and preparing herself to attack him with all her strength. "Will he still be able to use that strange technique?"

"I don't think so," said Hinata, feeling an odd resistance to her attempt at pulling at the air around her with spiritual energy. "This is part of his technique…it seems to be based on his Sharingan. That's what brought us here."

"Seem to have all the answers, don't you?" said their enemy, flexing his gloved hands menacingly. He moved his masked face to stare at each of them individually before coming back to the young Hyuuga girl and finding his anger spiking to heights he hadn't experienced in years.

He was going to kill her and enjoy it. It wasn't as if there was anything else to do, now that his plans were ruined once again.

"I have an inherently stupid question," said Fu. "How are we meant to get out of here?"

"Focus on taking him out," replied Yugito quickly, extending her nails into long claws and leaping forward to slash at Tobi's front. "We have other things to worry about."

The masked foe seemed almost insulted by the attack as he moved the bare minimum to avoid the attack before reaching out and grabbing the Two-Tails container by the throat with a crushing grip.

Both Fu and Hinata shot forward to defend their fellow kunoichi, but Yugito wasn't a green soldier unprepared for battle like Tobi thought she might be. With a burst of speed she brought up her feet and shoved them onto Tobi's chest, using her hands to grab at his hand and bite into it with her claws.

She couldn't see the expression on Tobi's face, but that mattered little to her as she felt his grip lessen and she was able to jump backwards away from his arm and landing with a smirk on her face.

Hinata and Fu held themselves when they saw Yugito was able to keep herself uninjured, though the body language in their enemy showed he hadn't been expecting her to break his grip so easily.

"Don't attack him one-on-one," warned Hinata. "His Sharingan gives him too much of an advantage."

Taking in an account of the situation, Tobi exhaled a long sigh and shook the arm that Yugito had clawed at. The kunoichi watched as a strange white substance appeared along his arm and covered the dark red wound and appeared to heal it within seconds. The rip in his sleeve remained, but it was as if he'd never been hurt in the first place.

Hinata watched the whole thing with her Byakugan, but couldn't understand how it worked. She knew there were some things she would never understand about other shinobi's techniques despite the information she could obtain, but their enemy seemed to get more complex as they fought him.

"Enough of this charade. It is clear that you are not going to go down without some effort. I'm tired of playing these games." He reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing a head of short spiky hair, his face still covered by his orange spiral mask, though his right Sharingan was clearly obvious through the hole that had seemingly gotten wider. "You will never escape this place. It will be your tomb."

Hinata looked at her two companions as they wordlessly agreed to each attack at once. Trying her best to work out an attack strategy with their abilities, but put that thought aside as she saw Tobi shifting his posture to a more aggressive stance.

However despite her own hesitation, both Yugito and Fu dived at their foe, intent on finishing what they had started in the Mizukage's office. The Two-Tails container moved rapidly to his side and pulled back a claw, while Fu had surrounded herself with bright coloured sparks and had her hands ready in a complex hand seal. Before Hinata could call out for them to fall back and think about it for a moment, their enemy reacted to their attacks at once.

Using his Sharingan to predict their attacks, Tobi clapped his hands together and created a large column of fire between himself and Fu, forcing her to stop before she leapt into the flames. Just as Yugito's claw threatened to remove his head from his shoulders, he grabbed at her wrist and spun her around in a circle with a surprising show of strength, sending her flying straight into the column of fire.

The Kumogakure shinobi screamed out in pain as she flew out the other side and slammed into Fu, setting her on fire in the process. The two of them frantically rolled on the ground, trying to put out the burning flames.

Her hands already running through the ninjutsu, Hinata threw a large globe of water onto the two women to put them out before concentrating her chakra on removing the fire column, wary of how well their opponent could likely manipulate the flames if left unchecked.

She still kept her Byakugan active, which saved her life as Tobi moved with an unnatural speed behind her and reached out to grab at the back of her head with his hands. Hinata jumped closer to the column of fire and spun around before diving towards the masked foe, her hands as fast as blurs as she struck at as many chakra points as she willing to risk before moving away again as he threatened to slash at her face with a kunai that appeared out of his sleeve.

The Hyuuga heiress kept her piercing gaze on Tobi as he put his arms down and turned to stare at her, his Sharingan showing her a whole range of twisted emotions. But one thing was clear from that short exchange they had just had.

"What has happened to your body?" she asked softly, not expecting an answer from their implacable foe.

Both Fu and Yugito got up from the ground and patted themselves down, the two of them seemingly angry at themselves for panicking so easily. They moved over to Hinata and took up positions again.

"He's a lot stronger than he looks," observed Fu, silently communicating with her occupant and trying to form a strategy of her own. "Any suggestions?"

"Physical attacks won't work, he's too fast," said Yugito, lamenting the fact that she had to admit his Sharingan gave him an edge in speed and manoeuvrability. "I might have to change."

It was very slight, but there was a slight shift in Tobi's expression behind his mask as Yugito made her observations that Hinata caught. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she'd lived her life by being cautious so she wasn't going to dismiss any piece of information.

"We're at a disadvantage here," she said quietly to her group members. "I still haven't worked out how to properly use my main techniques in this place; he's too powerful to go at one at a time."

"One at a time…" Yugito considered her statement for a moment before a sly grin came over her face and she motioned for the other two to stand back. Running through a quick set of handseals that Tobi was easily able to recognise with his Sharingan, she dug her claws into her palms before driving them into the ground. A giant burst of wind slammed into Hinata at the same time, knocking the white-eyed shinobi off her feet as she let out a satisfying noise at the revelation.

Yugito pushed as much chakra as she could from her occupant as she activated her technique. "Kuchiyose: Hineko Kakekomi!" (Summoning Technique: Fiery Cat Stampede)

A small plume of smoke erupted under her hand before the area around her exploded into bright blue flames, setting a stark contrast to the dark world around them. Both Hinata and Fu instinctively put their hands up in defence, the blue flames were far hotter than anything they had experienced in the past.

If Tobi was concerned by the appearance of the flames he gave no indication as he pointed a hand at the flames that had consumed Yugito entirely.

However before he could do anything, a small part of the blue flames shot from the side and slammed into Tobi's side, setting his robe on fire as it drew a long gash before diving past as he tried to swat it away.

Dozens of flames began to repeat the trick, and Tobi was forced to activate his own fire technique to keep them at bay. Yugito maintained her fire technique, her two allies noticing that the flames had taken cat-like shapes and were gaining in speed.

Seeing their enemy was unable to respond, Hinata turned to Fu and gave her two quick hand signals, pointing upwards then straight down. Despite being from different villages, the Seven-Tails container understood what she meant. A pair of large insect wings appeared on her back and she took to the sky, slowly making her way into her Tailed Beast form.

Yugito let out a bestial roar within the blue flames and sent out a large cat-like burst of blue flames that slammed right into Tobi's flame wall, though the masked shinobi was easily able to read the attack through his Sharingan and move out of the way.

But that didn't matter as his senses drew him up to the loud buzzing sound in the sky, causing him to let out a growl and put up his hands. A white substance began to emerge out of his arms, but he held back his technique as his Sharingan began to notice a strange sparkling light around him.

It wasn't clear to him what it was, and without seeing the handseals or the origin his Sharingan wasn't able to read the technique. After a few seconds he realised it was doing exactly what it was meant to, it was distracting him.

But he was wrong. It was doing much more than that.

Seemingly in an instant, the Two-Tails container appeared in front of him, covered in blue flames in her Tailed Beast form, reaching up with a fiery claw to rip him to shreds. His inborn instinct on his reliance on his red eyes proved less than helpful as the sparkles grew intensely bright and blinded him temporarily. It was only those same instincts that saved his life as he leapt backwards and just missed being torn apart, the ground where Yugito's claw struck lighting up with the same blue fire her Tailed Beast form was covered in.

"You'll have to try harder than that," he said with a cocky tone, still unable to work out how the technique had blinded him in both eyes despite his mask.

"Not that hard," came a soft voice behind him.

Hinata placed her hands in front of her to either side of Tobi, pushing her spiritual energy through the air and creating a vacuum in a square around him. The masked shinobi tried to struggle, but Yugito shot forward in her regular form and slashed at his arms with extended claws on her hands, taking his arms off at the elbows.

To their surprise, instead of his regular deeper voice, a childlike scream came from his body, and was quickly silenced as Fu came diving down and stabbed through his chest with her seventh long tail, piercing through where his heart was.

The three of them took a step back as his robed body slumped to the floor. Fu turned back to her normal form and cocked her head suspiciously, "That was…odd."

"Very odd," said Hinata, restoring the area around the body so that there wasn't a risk of one of them walking into it. "Like he became a different person."

The two of them seemed to get the message as they turned around to watch Tobi slowly appear out of the ground, his arms across his chest like it was a simply stroll in the park. His Akatsuki robe had gone with the doppelganger; he simply wore a dark blue light robe with a white sash around his waist.

"Asphyxiated…disarmed…stabbed…that's a damn shame. He was a good boy."

"That wasn't a clone," observed Hinata, kneeling down and placing a hand on the body they had just taken out. "It's some kind of…chakra hybrid."

Tobi turned his masked gaze to the white-eyed kunoichi, "His name was Zetsu. Or at least his template was. He was the last."

Staring at him with her Byakugan, Hinata noticed that the strange substance she had encountered earlier was gone from his body, with the exception of the right half of his body. She couldn't understand how he could have become that way, but she began to get inklings of a strategy on how to fight him.

Since it was clear he had seen through their techniques, such a formation wouldn't work twice.

Tobi reached up to his mask, and with a single clench of his hands crushed his mask on his face, letting the chunks drop to the ground to reveal his twisted expression as he regarded the kunoichi through his cold red eyes.

Fu stared at his face for a moment before shaking her head at the image, "Man, you are really ugly."

"Your good at focusing on the little things, aren't you?" asked Yugito with a sarcastic tone.

"What's wrong with his eyes? They don't look normal," said Fu.

Hinata stepped over the body and stood beside her companions, monitoring everything about their opponent to ensure she was prepared for anything he could throw at them. "It's the Mangekyou Sharingan. Don't stare at them directly; he'll put you under a genjutsu."

"Won't matter to us, we are Tailed Beast containers," pointed out Yugito. "If we all attack at once, his doujutsu won't be as effective."

"A well thought-out plan, though futile." Tobi's face broke into a twisted grin, "Now that I know your abilities, I'll take pleasure in tearing you apart."

Yugito and Fu shared at look between each other, they both knew they were low on chakra from their transformations. It was clear that he still seemed at a fairly intimidating level of strength, and they had no means of escaping the dimension he had taken them to.

"The two of you are pretty fast, right?" asked Hinata quietly, noticing that Tobi had no weapons hidden in his outfit, nor any obvious written seals that he could use to summon any.

The Tailed Beast containers nodded, though still confused over what she was talking about. Hinata stepped forward and slowly pulled her sleeves up so that she had better use of her arms. "Back me up; keep him from countering with any ninjutsu."

Both Yugito and Fu seemed to notice a scary confidence in the young dark haired kunoichi, but seeing no better plan they took positions at her side.

"Are you honestly going to try and fight a Sharingan-user with taijutsu?" scoffed Tobi, unfurling his arms and holding them in an open stance in mockery of her defiance.

Hinata reached into her pack and produced a small flask, but Tobi wasn't going to let her complete a technique as he ran through a long sequence of handseals in unbelievable speed before putting his hands to his mouth.

"Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku!"

A massive wall of intense flames exploded outwards from his mouth and covered the entire area in flames as it covered the distance between him and his enemies in an instant. Yugito snarled and dived to the side, using her immense speed to try and outrun the flames. Fu stamped a foot on the ground before jumping high up into the sky, using what little chakra she had left to summon her occupant's wings and reaching just above the flames.

Hinata did neither as the flames slammed into her position, with Tobi unrelenting for several moments before cutting off the technique and regarding the devastation his fire technique had caused.

"Hmm. As I thought." Tobi turned his scarred expression to his hands, wondering why he had been forced to spend so much chakra on three little girls.

His take-over of Kirigakure had ultimately failed, and with both the last Zetsu's dead there was no way he would be able to repeat the feat. Looking at his gloved hands, Tobi wondered what he was even doing with himself since his main plan fell to pieces.

His Sharingan drew his attention back to the battlefield as he saw three chakra signals coming into view. Tobi found himself gritting his teeth in frustration, "Don't you people ever die?!"

Fu landed on the ground a fair distance away from him and folded her wings into her back, swiping her hands to get rid of the flames on the edges of her skirt. "Not when we can help it."

Yugito also made her way to her Tailed Beast container ally, having hidden from the flames behind one of the giant rectangles. "That was some technique. Must have taken a lot of chakra to use."

Emerging from the sphere of water she had created, Hinata released her breath with a sigh of relief. The water trickled back into her flask and she walked up to her companions, grateful that she had finished her training on spiritual energy and manipulating water in time for them making landfall back home.

"How could you still be alive? That's the most powerful fire technique I've ever seen," said Fu with a shock at seeing Hinata unhurt.

The Hyuuga heiress smiled warmly at her companion and took her place at their side, enjoying an aura of mystery surrounding her techniques. A part of her wanted to explain it, but she liked the fact that Tobi had a look of veiled shock on his face.

Looking at her companions with her Byakugan, Hinata could tell how little chakra her companions had left. She wasn't sure how much they could borrow from their Tailed Beasts, but Hinata knew that she would have to be the main combatant in this final part of their fight.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Yugito, recognising that the confident Hyuuga kunoichi had the most strength left between them.

Hinata nodded, "The two of you need to distract him while I try and get close. If I get into taijutsu range, it's over."

"You seriously think you can defeat me with just taijutsu?" said Tobi with an arrogant stare. "You are underestimating me."

"Why don't you…" started Fu, but Hinata put her hand up to stop her.

"Don't get sucked into his pace," said the white-eyed kunoichi. "Let's just get this over with."

Her two companions looked at her for a moment before nodding and preparing themselves to charge at their mutual foe. The three of them began to move towards Tobi, with Yugito and Fu at the front with Hinata right behind them, a circle of water slowly emerging around her from her flask at her side.

Tobi frowned and put his hands together into a handseal, spitting a rapid fire set of large fireballs at the women charging towards him.

The three of them were easily able to avoid the fireballs, though when Tobi ramped up the speed they were getting closer and closer to striking them. As they came within mid-range of their enemy's position, Yugito and Fu both swung around the sides, forcing him to concentrate on three areas at once. He concentrated his attacks of Hinata's approaching position, but after seeing a number of fireballs stopped by a shield of water he could see how much of a disadvantage he was facing.

Both Yugito and Fu flew at him from either side, but his Sharingan was able to read their movements easily, allowing him to move at a slightly faster speed than the Tailed Beast containers. He blocked Fu's swinging leg and grabbed at Yugito's wrist, throwing the Kumogakure ANBU into her Tailed Beast companion, but as his Sharingan was distracted by them he wasn't able to track Hinata's charge towards him as she demonstrated a speed he hadn't seen before in the young Hyuuga shinobi.

Using her spiritual manipulation of the air around her to increase her speed, Hinata was able to duck under one final fireball before throwing four large globules of water at his sides. Clapping her hands to activate the technique, Hinata extended the water towards him in an instant, using them to hold his arms in place.

If Tobi was surprised by her movements he gave no indication as he began to power through the restraints, but it was already too late as Hinata slipped into his guard even as her companions recovered and moved to charge at him once again.

For a single moment it seemed like Hinata and Tobi were engaging in a battle of their doujutsu, but both of them knew the battle was already over. In that single moment, Hinata gave him a sympathetic look before pushing her hands towards his chest.

Tobi stopped struggling against her water restraints as he saw the Hyuuga seal laid down on the floor that encompassed both of them. His eyes widened as she took her stance, but was surprised even further as she moved her hands to a different position and added a second layer to the Hyuuga seal binding him in place.

Her white eyes stared at his messed up body and she began fuelling spiritual energy into her Hyuuga taijutsu technique.

"Juuken Hou: Hakke Hyaku Nijuu Ha Shou!"

Hinata's hands were a blur of speed as they slammed into Tobi's chest, though before he could recover from each individual strike, five more slammed into his front. Hinata was quick, yet methodical, and after several moments she completed her attack and drove a single finger into the base of his neck before releasing her breath and stepped back as Tobi dropped to his knees.

His face betrayed his terror as the chakra keeping his right side attached to his body began to come apart, as he looked at his opponent with a mixture of confusion and appreciation.

Hinata didn't know what had caused someone like him to become that way, but at that time she didn't care as she massaged her fingers sorely.

"That was crazy!" said Fu as she came up to Hinata and clapped her on the back. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

"I wouldn't have been able to get through the armour that he used to make that clone," said Hinata, smiling at the young girl's enthusiasm. "And I wasn't sure I could do the technique to begin with. My cousin was always better at that technique than me."

"Is he still alive?" asked Yugito, noticing that their enemies eyes had changed to a normal black.

Hinata nodded, "But he can't use chakra. I've shredded his chakra points."

"For how long?"

The young Hyuuga kunoichi shrugged in a manner that was very similar to her husband, "Forever? I have no idea, but unless he has a way to get more chakra points, he won't even be able to stand up."

"Wow," said Yugito with a surprised tone. "That's…surprisingly harsh."

"We can't leave him here though," pointed out Fu. "The others wouldn't let him live after what he's done to their village."

Yugito looked at her companions for a moment before rolling her eyes and producing a kunai from her belt, driving it into Tobi's temple before flicking the blood off and sheathing it.

"Well that's done, I guess," said Hinata, not sure how she felt about the cold-blooded ending to their fight.

Fu stared at the area around them, remarking at how despite the battle damage it all looked the same to her, "I don't think there is an exit anywhere in here."

The Two-Tails container snarled in agreement, it did appear like they were stuck in the strange dimension. Seeing Tobi's fallen body in front of her, she pulled back a leg and began kicking it in the side, feeling a lessening of her anger with every blow.

"Why are you doing that, Yugito?" asked Hinata with a groan.

"I'm out of dead horses," replied the Kumogakure kunoichi before going back to kicking Tobi's corpse.

* * *

><p>Minutes later while the girls were resting they were seemingly not surprised at all as a loud crack of lightning appeared beside Hinata as her husband came charging out of thin air with the lightning sword he had been given, ready to slice through anything threatening his wife.<p>

"Rargh…huh?"

The blonde shinobi turned around with surprise on his face, more at the fact that there was no battle going on around him. He turned to see the amused expressions of the girl's faces, as Fu slowly picked herself up from her resting place on a small rectangle and Yugito seemed content to wait it out.

His gaze fell upon his wife and he felt himself relax as he saw she wasn't harmed. "Hinata…thank god. I…uh…came to the rescue…"

Hinata smiled at him and gently reached forward to touch at his cheek, "That's sweet, honey. Did you happen to bring some food?"

"I could do with some sweetbread," said Fu, running her hands through her hair in an attempt to straight it. "What about you, Yugito?"

"Sashimi," said the Two-Tails container, eying the blonde shinobi suspiciously. "Aren't you stuck here with the rest of us now?"

After giving his wife a kiss on her cheek, Naruto turned to see Tobi's body lying on the ground, twisted and nearly without a human-like shape. "I see you handled things rather well then."

"You had any doubts?" asked Hinata with a mock frown on her face.

"Of course not," said Naruto as he spun back to regard his wife, able to see through her ruse. "But he was clearly a strong opponent, and I didn't want to presume."

His wife playfully slapped him across the shoulder before hooking her arm around his and leaning on his shoulder, "Can you take us back now?"

Naruto nodded and indicated to the other Tailed Beast containers to come and grab onto him before reaching into his pocket and dropping a Hiraishin kunai on the ground.

Hinata gave him a questioning look, but the blonde shinobi merely winked at her as Yugito and Fu both placed their hands on his shoulder.

"So how does this wo…"

Yugito never got to finish her sentence as Naruto teleporting the three of them out of the dimension and away from the memories of their battle.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so Tobi dies. Finally. He wasn't in this story long, and without the stuff that happens in the real story he doesn't have too many techniques, so this was a weird battle to write. Regardless, I hope you liked it.

We're coming up on the ending of this arc, and then we move on to the serious business of this story. There is still much more to go yet, and I'm not going to stop until I finish it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	68. Chapter 62 Willingness to Commit

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 62 – Willingness to Commit

**A/N**: To anyone who was concerned Tobi was taken out too easily last chapter; that was a little bit of the point. I didn't want to drag his fight out too long (which is what the real story is doing at the moment), and I wanted to show Hinata's growth and how they worked together. Besides, I really don't like him as a bad guy, even now.

Also sorry this took so long to get out. Commitments are a pain in the ass. Now that my studies are done for the year, I'll be trying to get these chapters out every 7 to 9 days as before.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, it would show that sometimes people die in undramatic and dull ways. Heroes can fall from horses and break their necks.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Having been stuck in battle with the remaining Swordsmen of Kirigakure, Naruto and Killer Bee were finally able to defeat their opponents, though they left Mangetsu and Ameyuri alive. Discovering Roshi's body and Han's disappearance, the two of them left the battlefield. Naruto was summoned by Gaara to the water battlefield and saw the devastation the two defenders had wrought among the Quiraji fleet. Naruto confronted Kyoukou on the deck of one of the ships, but could do nothing as the enemy leader killed Utakata in front of him, but Naruto was able to destroy the ship he was on and delay the invasion even further. Both he and Gaara left back to the rally point, and after being greeted by Gaara's spy, Naruto took her assistance in discovering what had happened to his wife. Within the strange dimension they had been taken to, Hinata and her companions fought against the enigmatic Tobi. They worked together and took down the strange Zetsu creature that was protecting Tobi from their attacks before finally taking him down and killing him once and for all. After a few minutes, Naruto appeared to come to the rescue, but seeing that the fight was over he simply took the kunoichi out of the dimension with his Hiraishin technique.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Naruto and Hinata landed gracefully on the floor within the Mizukage's office, with the young Hyuuga heiress pecking her husband on the cheek before regarding the room. Naruto smirked and reached down to offer a hand to the two women who had fallen onto the floor.<p>

Both Fu and Yugito groaned as they picked themselves up both of them holding their stomachs sorely from the transition.

"What the hell was that?" stammered Fu, clutching at her head in an attempt to stop the world from spinning so quickly.

"Sorry about that," said Naruto with a comforting smile. "For some reason the technique didn't work as well as it normally does."

"It was a different dimension, honey," said Hinata, placing a hand on Yugito's head to heal her thumping headache. "Spiritual energy didn't work the way it should normally."

Fu shook herself out of it and gave the married couple a suspicious look from the ground, "And the two of you weren't hurt at all?"

The two of them looked at each for a moment before shrugging to the green-haired girl and turning to regard the occupants of the room.

The Mizukage smirked at the new arrivals, looking over at the previous Mizukage for a moment before finally looking back at Hinata. "Is he dead?"

Hinata nodded before turning her gaze to Yagura and finding herself shocked at what she could see through her Byakugan. It wasn't obvious on the outside, but his system was eating itself up inside him. "Yagura…"

The Fourth Mizukage put up a hand to stop her, "It's fine, Hinata."

Mei gave Naruto a curious look, "How did you get into this office? We didn't even see you enter."

The Uzumaki shinobi chuckled and kept his wife's arm tightly at his side, before frowning and realising that there was something he had forgotten. He turned back to her, but before he could ask she let his arm go and gave him the slightest of nods.

"Naruto, where are you going?" demanded Yagura as the blonde shinobi quickly made his way to the entrance.

He turned around and gave their leader a curious look, "I just came to make sure Hinata was okay. We aren't done yet."

"Yes we are," said Yugito with a tired sigh. "The bad guy is dead and the village is secure."

Naruto looked at her for a moment before shrugging and trotting back to her side. "Well that's that, I guess. What do we do now?"

Taking a moment to thank the girls for their help, the Mizukage reached forward and flipped her old desk up to its proper position. She took a moment to sigh at the state of her office before stepping around and sitting at the chair that had been spared any damage from the fighting.

"It's strange seeing someone else behind that desk," said Yagura, with the hint of a smile on his face.

"Missing your old job?" she said with a smirk.

The shorter Mizukage shook his head, concealing a grimace of pain, "That's not my place anymore. I wanted to secure my home while I could…"

"…and you have done just that." Mei looked around to see if there was any paper left in the office, but it seemed that the doppelganger hadn't been using any for a long time. She turned her gaze back to her predecessor. "I will speak to the villagers on your behalf and set the record straight."

Yagura took a moment before turning to their companions, "Can you give us some time to speak alone? There are things I need to tell her that needs to stay in this room."

They all nodded quickly, though only Hinata could really tell what his true intentions were.

"You should all wait in a nearby room before going out into the village," said Mei from behind her desk. "Our shinobi have been on high alert, they would likely attack you on sight."

The door swung open in perfect timing and Ao walked in with several ANBU shinobi, immediately taking up offensive positions around the foreigners before Mei put up her hands to stand them down.

"Ao, well done. Tell our forces to stand down and get a clean-up crew in here at once."

The one-eyed shinobi bowed quickly to the Mizukage and signalled orders to the ANBU accompanying him. They gave the intruders stares for a moment before leaving to go about their business. Mei knew that within hours the village would be at rest, but she had a thousand things to fix and no time to do them.

"I guess we should go get Gaara and Killer Bee then," said Naruto. He went to leave but stopped as he clutched at his stomach with a loud groan.

Hinata rolled her eyes and pulled his arm up over her shoulder, turning her gaze to her female companions, "Excuse me; I have to make sure my husband hasn't killed himself through some…stupid manner."

Fu and Yugito both chuckled at the scene, though the Seven-Tails container jumped as she heard a strange female voice in her ear. Fu frowned and turned to Hinata, "Apparently Gaara is already on his way. Something about not wanting to wait on ceremony."

"Wait, you mean that Killer Bee is by himself?"

Naruto groaned as he looked up and gave the Two-Tails container a stare, "He's a big boy, he can handle himself."

Yugito cursed loudly and stomped her way to the doorway, "I'm going to kill him." She swung the door open and stepped into the corridor. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Yugito!" called out Hinata, causing the blonde kunoichi to turn with a furious look on her face. The Hyuuga heiress bowed her head slightly and smiled, "It was a pleasure working with you."

The Kumogakure shinobi sighed quietly and nodded at her before disappearing towards the exit.

"Not much for feelings, is she?" commented Naruto with a smirk.

"Leave her alone, dear. She's duty-bound to her village." She leaned down and kissed the top of his head, "Now let's get you somewhere where you can lie down before your stomach bursts."

Fu watched the two of them walk out before shrugging and following behind, leaving the Mizukage's to their discussion.

Once the door was closed, Mei stood up from her desk and gave her predecessor a deep respectful bow. "Thank you for all your help, Yagura."

"Give me your hands, Mei," said the Three-Tails container bluntly, stepping in front of her desk and offering his hands to her.

The red haired leader frowned in confusion, "Didn't you say there were some things you wanted to talk about?"

"Give me your hands," repeated Yagura. He took her outstretched hands into his, "I have to finish the transfer before my body collapses. I don't think I was meant to have much more time than this."

Mei sighed in response and stared into his purple eyes, "You're a good man, Yagura. You've done this village a great service."

Fuelling chakra through their hands, Yagura bit back a laugh and shook his head slightly. "Be wary of when he comes out of his cage. Isobu has a tendency to bite."

"Anywhere you want to be buried?"

"The old plot was fine. It had a nice spread."

* * *

><p>Yugito sped through the village, cursing her circumstances several times over while ignoring the odd stares of the returning Kirigakure citizens. She may have been given a free pass from the Mizukage, but Yugito didn't like moving through a hostile environment regardless of how things had turned out.<p>

_If he's gone, I'm going to track him down and beat him to death. _

She jumped off the edge of a roof with a single bound, looking up to see a torrent of rain come crashing onto her face. Putting up an arm to shield her face, Yugito swore under her breath and increased her speed substantially.

_Matatabi, can you check to see if the Eight-Tails is nearby? I can't sense anything._

Leaping over the wall of Kirigakure in several bounds, Yugito tried to get her bearings in mid-air, while repeating her question to her occupant. The Two Tails had been suspiciously silent since they'd returned from the strange dimension, but Yugito could feel her still inside so she wasn't sure why she wasn't responding.

The deluge continued as she made her way to the rally point they had agreed on before the mission. She hated the fact that she seemed to always be chasing the insufferable man; it was her lot in life.

By the time she had gotten to where Killer Bee had been seen last, the rain had turned into a heavy storm that Yugito was struggling to move quickly through. Her primary element was fire, and she'd been with her occupant so long that anything that was her antithesis was also Yugito's. Leaping from wet branches onto the ground, the Two-Tails container sought shelter underneath a large rock formation, taking a moment to catch her breath and take an account of her situation.

She hadn't recovered from her battle with the man called Tobi, but she couldn't let Killer Bee run off on his own. She sighed again and reached up to feel at her hair, grimacing as her hands came back drenched in water. Yugito put little account in appearance, but she liked her blonde hair the way it was.

Pulling apart her ponytail and wringing the water out of it carefully, Yugito found herself sinking to the ground with her back to a large rock that was surprisingly dry.

_Matatabi…talk to me. Are you there?_

Once again she was greeted by silence.

_If you're snubbing me, that's fine. I don't need this at the moment anyway…_

Leaning her head on the rock behind her with her hair strewn across her shoulders, chuckling to herself that she probably looked quite the fright. She'd never wanted a stiff drink so much in her life, but couldn't bring herself to go back to Kirigakure and wait out the storm. Yugito was known for her stubborn nature and she wasn't going to change just because she was a little bit tired.

Though she was pretty tired, and felt like she hadn't slept in weeks.

Hours later Yugito shook herself awake, simultaneously feeling relief and disgust in herself. Instinctively she yawned widely and scratched at the back of her neck, looking around at the area through tired eyes. The rain had eased up to a light drizzle, but Yugito doubted that her quarry would have left a trail she could follow after such a deluge.

"Didn't even get a drink. The Raikage's going to kill me."

"_I'm sure he'll understand, Yugito."_

"You're still alive in there, huh? Wasn't sure whether you were snubbing me or not."

She heard a number of illegible sounds from her occupant, though the fact that she got a response was encouraging to the Two-Tails container.

Taking a long breath, Yugito picked herself up from the ground and went to dust herself off when she saw something that turned her face to a deep scowl.

With a sigh she reached down and removed the small piece of paper stuck to her breastplate, flipping it over and reading it twice to make sure she was reading it right.

_Yugito_

_You looked so innocent sitting there, I couldn't help but _

_exploit the opportunity. I wanted to leave and get my Enka on, but_

_I figured that'd be rude. Sometimes you've gotta let the rap take its own course._

_I'm heading back to brother. Sometimes you've gotta face the music. _

_Killer Bee_

_P.S. You really shouldn't leave yourself defenceless like that. _

_Weaker men would have taken advantage. _

_I only stole a kiss._

Feeling a rage seething through her teeth, Yugito crumpled up her note and got her bearings once again.

"_What are you going to do, Yugito?"_

"I should have never had that night with him. He's been insufferable since then."

Checking her muscles to make sure she was reasonably rested, Yugito began the long journey back to her home village. A part of her didn't want to have to explain to the Raikage that she was gone for so long and yet his younger brother came back of his own accord.

"_What are you going to tell your fiancé?"_

Yugito swore loudly as she moved across the ocean at top speed.

She hadn't thought of that.

* * *

><p>Hinata saw her husband's face when they entered the bathhouse, flashing him an amused smile before gently closing his mouth from his chin and stepped into the tiled room. The apartment they had been loaned for the night had been a simple affair, with the Kirigakure shinobi still suspicious of their intentions despite the Mizukage's pronouncement of them as allies.<p>

But access to the bathing house was fair game and the two of them had not had a decent bath in years.

"I think I might actually cry," muttered Naruto, following his young wife in with the same look of amazement he had first adopted.

"I wouldn't recommend that," said Hinata as she turned around to regard her husband through her pure white eyes. "It's not the most attractive look on you."

"Is that so?" Naruto walked past her and slapped her lightly on her backside playfully, causing her to jump slightly before he shouldering off his shirt and placing it on a nearby rack.

In front of them was a large bathing pool that appeared to be heated through a complex set of machinery, with several different areas that looked like they could accommodate a large family.

They had put up a sign on the door; they had no intention of sharing that night.

Naruto sighed loudly as he slipped into the hot water, feeling all his senses heightened by the recent battles and finally being in an area that he could spread his legs out without hitting the edge of a barrel.

"How's the water?" asked Hinata as she started to ball her hair behind her head and tie it with one of her hair ties.

Naruto didn't give a response, choosing to stretch out his arms and let the water soak up to his neck.

For several moments he kept his senses focused on trying to relax, it felt like centuries since he'd been able to properly relax. He knew they were still in a dangerous place; the Mizukage's intentions weren't particularly clear to him. But at that moment he didn't care at all.

"Ah…that really is nice…" said Hinata as she slipped a single leg into the water, feeling it press on her muscles immediately upon entry.

Naruto turned his head slightly to watch his partner enter the water, remarking at how much she had changed since they had last seen their friends. He'd considered Hinata a lovely girl when he'd finally gotten it through his head that she was there and that she was a girl, but she'd slowly transformed into a beautiful woman in the years they had spent together.

Remembering the looks his parents used to give each other when he'd met them in his mindscape, he was able to recognise the same expression he gave her whenever he saw her. They'd been hardened by some of the things they had seen, but there were times that Hinata would flash him that small half-smile of hers and soft look in her eyes, and Naruto would marvel at the beauty in front of him.

"Are you okay, dear?" asked his wife, gently placing a hand on his cheek. "You're staring."

Naruto smiled affectionately, reaching up to gently stroke the back of her hand with his fingers, "I can't help myself. You have this stunning glow about you, I can't quite place it."

Hinata returned his smile and leaned down to kiss him lightly on the lips before looking into his eyes, "You have that effect on me, my love. You are looking quite handsome yourself."

She turned around and finished lowering herself into bath, sighing in pleasure before taking a seat beside her husband.

"Want me to wash your back?"

"Maybe later," replied Hinata, looking at the small fountain on the wall of the bathhouse. "Gods…I feel like I've never sat down before in my life."

Naruto nodded in agreement, even during the easy times on Grace's ship they'd always been occupied by some task or another. "When this is all said and done, we need to take a vacation."

"Definitely," muttered Hinata, leaning her shoulder on his and feeling his body heat adding to that of the water. "Somewhere sunny…"

"…with a beach," finished Naruto. "I think you'd look lovely in a bikini."

"I don't look lovely now?" she asked with a pout.

Naruto reached over and pulled her head towards him so he could kiss the back of her hair, "That's not fair, Hinata. You know I can't say no to you, especially when you make that face."

Bringing up an arm and letting the water slowly drip into the pool, Hinata patted him on the leg affectionately. "Well sometimes you need a bit of a push."

For several minutes they lay like that, comforted by each other's presence without needing to say much beyond affections that they commonly said to each other each day. The air had begun to fog up before they started to wash themselves and each other.

"So where are we going to go now, do you think?" asked Naruto as he ran his soap-covered hands along Hinata's bare back. He knew each place from her backside to her shoulders that she was sensitive, and wasn't above exploiting them to hear his wife stifled sounds of approval.

"I'd…like to visit Neji first. I thought he was dead…and he likely thought me the same."

Her husband nodded as he began to massage her sore shoulders. She hadn't mentioned they were sore, but Naruto knew the signs and wasn't going to let her leave until she was feeling better. "That's a fine idea. He'll live a few minutes in happiness before dying of shock when he finds out we're married."

Hinata laughed quietly at the thought of Neji's reaction, "It'll be interesting, that's for sure. We can probably help him with whatever he's doing with that village too."

Naruto sighed loudly, dropping his hands off of her shoulders and staring down at the water between them. Hinata turned around slowly, reaching out to run a hand through his blonde hair, "Something on your mind?"

"It's nothing…" started Naruto, before falling victim to his wife's eyes once again. "It's just…we're always fighting someone. It's been years since the Chuunin Exams and it just hasn't stopped."

"I know how you feel," said Hinata, moving herself so she could lean her head into his chest. Subconsciously Naruto began to stroke her hair, with Hinata not commenting on the fact that he was pulling it out of its tie and would get wet when she didn't want it to.

"I just wonder when we'll get the chance to be people, rather than shinobi. Settle in a home, have children…that sort of thing."

"You want to have children?" asked Hinata as she closed her eyes and enjoyed her husband's touch on her head.

"Of course I do," said Naruto with a peck to her forehead. "A boy first, so I could teach him how to be a man. Then a girl to keep him in check."

"Do I get any say in this?"

"Nope," he said with a grin. "You get to be the best mother in the world though, so it's not all bad."

Hinata giggled slightly and nuzzled into his chest, "But I'll get fat and slow. You won't be able to stand the sight of me."

"Don't be ridiculous! You will look stunning, I know it." Naruto voice cracked slightly as he held her head close to him, "We'll have the chance. I'll make sure of it."

"Naruto?" asked Hinata with a slight concern at his change in tone.

"It's nothing," he said quickly, stroking her long dark blue hair through his fingers. "Just making silent vows, you know me."

She smiled at him warmly before moving her head off his chest and motioning with her fingers, "Turn around, I'll do your back now."

Naruto complied and groaned as her slender fingers moved along his muscles with the expertise that only a Hyuuga could properly achieve. He felt himself fall into a trance as his wife found more aches and pains than he cared to count, making sure not to hurt him as she massaged and washed his back.

"I look forward to trying," she said quietly to herself before kissing the middle of his back affectionately.

They didn't say much else to each other throughout the night, though not for a lack of items to speak about.

They had other things to do with their time.

* * *

><p>Stepping into the Mizukage's office, Gaara immediately noticed the changes that a single day had done to the large circular room from what Matsuri had told him. Any evidence of the battle that had been fought within was gone without a trace, and the shelfs had been restacked with books and scrolls, though Gaara was certain that was mostly for show.<p>

A meeting between people of their positions tended towards showmanship as much as discourse.

Mei Terumi leaned forward on her desk and puckered her lips, showing him just enough skin to make him slightly uncomfortable without demonstrating any impropriety. "It is good of you to come, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara bowed at his waist, lamenting his lack of proper clothing for the occasion. "It was my pleasure, Mizukage-sama. Recent events have given us much to discuss."

A small chuckle came from the Kirigakure leader's lips, "That may be the understatement of the century." She indicated to the seat opposite her desk, "Please, take a seat."

Placing his gourd beside the chair, Gaara sat down carefully and regarded his equal with calculating eyes. If any of the past few days had worn on the red haired leader, she showed none of it as she looked nothing like the malnourished prisoner Naruto's wife had described to him earlier.

Gaara took a deep breath and went to begin their negotiations, but he found himself hesitating at a key piece of information. Mei noticed his hesitation, but waited patiently for him to speak.

The Kazekage considered how to frame his question for a moment before resuming his posture and looked into her eyes as an equal.

"Have you analysed everything that man did as your duplicate?"

She eyed him cautiously, hiding her surprise with the temperament of a born leader. "We have. Why?"

Leaning forward slightly, Gaara collected a wealth of information about how he should deal with her in comparison to when he had negotiated with her doppelganger at the Summit. "I want to make sure that none of the things he enacted have adversely affected what we will discuss. Sunagakure will not tolerate any interference from another village to our detriment."

Mei Terumi thought about his point for a moment before leaning back and widening her smile.

"It would seem your reputation as a Kage is well deserved. You do your village justice."

"Thank you," said Gaara politely, though he was sure she was only placating him so that he would be more open than he should be. "I was saddened to hear of the Fourth Mizukage's passing. He was a good man."

Mei nodded, and for a moment Gaara caught a glimpse of regret in her eyes before she recovered her visage and regarded him once again with the same Kage stare. "He was. I will make sure he is remembered as such, even if it means I have to speak to everyone who ever interacted with him."

"Noble," replied Gaara quietly. "The rest of the shinobi world will not hear about what has transpired here, I will make sure of it."

"Unless your demands are met?"

The Kazekage was not an expressive man so he was easily able to hide what he thought about her accusation. Regardless of how true it was. "I have no interest in such things. I came here to ensure there would be a good relationship between our two villages."

"Indeed?" The Mizukage leaned forward and clasped her hands together, "I have some documentation of the discussion you had without the pretender. Regardless of his intentions, our village has been in the motions of preparing for this war for quite some time."

"During my tenure I have noticed as such. However the problems we discussed still remain."

Mei nodded grimly. She'd been absent for far too long and while their military had seemingly thrived under Tobi's control he had blatantly ignored dozens of administrative and social problems that had left the village on the brink of destroying itself from the inside.

"You would have me honour the arrangement you made with the pretender?"

"It was a fair deal at the time and the offer still stands. There is no reason why our villages cannot work together for the betterment of both." Gaara reached into his small pack and produced a scroll that had hastily written information contained within. He placed it on the desk and slowly pushed it towards her.

She looked at the closed scroll for a moment before pushing it to one side, "You are giving more than you are receiving. A cautious person would be suspicious of such an offer."

"But a desperate person has limited choices," pointed out Gaara. "We both want the same things, Mizukage-sama. I need your people to survive so that you can help us with the coming war and you need my people to keep the Quiraji occupied so they don't return to finish the job."

He waited patiently for the Mizukage to make her choice; he was pushing for the deal mostly for show. Because his spy had been in the village for so long, he already had the information he required from her, but he didn't want to see her people die when he had the ability to help.

Gaara also knew that an offer for negotiation would be better received than an offer of assistance.

Eventually Mei Terumi let out a long sigh and shook her head, "It's a strange time when such things are needed. I will provide you with our training procedures. How will you deliver the food though? My people do not have a wide area to produce crops like yours do."

"I'll send a few of my shinobi to set up an area so we can transport food from our stores to yours, without fear of interference from the Quiraji."

The Mizukage slowly rose from her desk, "I would be a fool not to say that I am grateful for your assistance here. If not for your intervention earlier, we would be fighting off an invasion at this very moment, and the transition would not be pleasant."

Gaara put up a hand as if showing it was nothing unusual, "I have one final request before I leave, Mizukage-sama."

His red haired counterpart stared at him for a moment before crossing her arms over her chest, "You wish for an alliance, no?"

"As I would think you would. The Otokage and I have a standing agreement to assist each other when it comes to the Quiraji, as Sunagakure is on the forefront of the battle and are the ones doing the dying."

"Do not overstep your authority, Kazekage-sama. You do not command my forces, and I've already had to suffer the law of another."

Gaara slowly stood up from his chair, staring into the green eyes of the Mizukage with a new understanding of what the woman had been through. He regretted that these were the things he had to do as the leader of his village, but he also didn't see any other choice.

"I am speaking about survival, Mizukage-sama. I would not seek to give you any commands at all. We've spent too long fighting ourselves that we don't even know how to trust one another. All I am speaking about is an understanding that when the time comes, your people will do what they need to do to survive."

He felt a pang of anger and couldn't help placing a hand on top of his gourd nearby, "Either we all survive this war or none of us do. I will not watch my people die because we cannot find a middle ground to stand on."

The Mizukage stared at him for several moments, finding herself intrigued by the young leader. A smile slowly crept onto her full lips and she relaxed her body, "Such a young, pure child. You've spent time in war, yet you hold onto such values. I think it would be fascinating to know you."

Despite the situation, Gaara felt a tiny blush creep onto his cheeks before he slammed it back down and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm not asking for anything in writing, Mizukage-sama. But a greater war is coming than the one here, and we are facing extinction."

"I know, Kazekage-sama, you don't need to keep repeating yourself." Mei began organising some of the papers on her desk before turning her gaze back to Gaara. "I will not make promises that put my village at risk, but Kirigakure understands the situation we face. We know our place."

"Then I will depart for my village," said Gaara before bowing formally to the Mizukage. "It has been a pleasure visiting your village, Mizukage-sama."

A smirk sat on Mei's face as she nodded slightly, "I don't doubt. Do you require an escort? I hear the road is dangerous these days."

Hefting his gourd onto his back, Gaara turned around and made his way to the door, "That will not be necessary."

Watching the Kazekage leave, Mei Terumi found herself smiling at the outcome. It had been as she had expected, but compared to the other shinobi leaders the young red haired was a breath of fresh air.

She shook her head for a moment before turning to the documents she needed to organise. There was a lot of work to be done, and she had lost a lot of time.

* * *

><p>Fu turned to gaze at the village one last time as she shouldered her pack and approached the gate guards. She felt an odd emptiness in her chest, something she hadn't expected when they'd started their mission. Within her mind, her occupant was still silent, refusing to answer any of her concerned questions since they had learnt of Utakata's death.<p>

The gate guards jerked to alertness as she stood in front of the large gates, taking a moment to make sure she was who she appeared to be before pulling the crank to open up the gates. The Mizukage had given them free reign to leave the village, though Fu didn't doubt that she would be followed.

"Leaving so soon?"

Fu turned her head to see her white eyed companion leaning on the outside of the gates, the same warm smile that she always wore sitting on her face. The Seven-Tails container gave her a tired smirk and walked over to her, "This didn't turn out the way I wanted it to."

"And what way was that?" asked Hinata gently, noticing the grief written on Fu's expression.

The green-haired kunoichi shrugged in response, "I dunno. An answer to a question I don't know how to ask?"

"That sounds complicated. You don't want to come with my husband and me and see if the question is out there somewhere?"

"No…I don't think that would be wise." Fu stared at the ground with a sad expression, "People have a tendency of dying around me. It would be better if I was on my own."

Hinata sighed and uncrossed her arms, taking a few steps forward to stand in front of her new friend, "I understand how you feel. I've lost friends over the years…family…and I've wondered whether or not I was the cause."

"You don't feel like that anymore?" asked Fu with a slight sense of hope in her voice.

Hinata considered her question for a moment before smiling at the younger girl, "There are some things that are within your control and others that aren't. Even if something was your fault, you can't let it run your life. Take responsibility for your actions, but don't be bogged down by your failures."

Fu stared at her for several moments before smiling and letting out a short giggle, feeling it through her sides. "Thanks for the sermon. I feel like I haven't laughed in a long time."

"If you want to go out on your own, that's fine," said Hinata. "I can understand not wanting to put others in danger. Just…be careful out there, okay?"

Nodding to reassure her friend, Fu held onto one of the straps on her bag carefully, "I will. I'm not alone…not really. If in doubt, Choumei will look after me. She always has."

"Well, I should probably get back inside," said Hinata, straightening out her dress from leaning on the gates. "If my husband wakes up and I'm not there, he's likely to tear down the building."

"You're lucky to have someone like that," said Fu with a small hint of jealousy. "Would he really tear down the building?"

With a short laugh, Hinata nodded quickly, "Just for starters. Though I'm just as bad as he is. You should hear about the time he was training on an island and I nearly tore the ship we were sailing on apart worrying about him."

Fu laughed with her before turning her gaze to the night sky in front of them, "Perhaps another time. I'd like to get some distance before setting up for the night."

Hinata reached out and offered her hand to Fu, who took it and shook happily. "Well Fu, I hope the next time we meet is under better circumstances."

The Seven-Tails container gave her one final smirk before taking to the air as her wings appeared on her back. Hinata felt a compulsion to follow after her and help her through her problems, but she knew she had other problems that had to come first.

"Couldn't stop her, huh?" came a familiar voice behind her.

Hinata turned around and threaded an arm around her husband's waist, "You know I wasn't trying to. I just wanted to make sure she knew that she had a friend in us, that's all."

"You're a good friend, Hinata. I'm sure the others miss you terribly."

"Not as much as you and Sasuke, right?" said Hinata with a sly grin.

"Damn straight! I owe that Uchiha bastard a beating for slacking off so much that he didn't try and find us," said Naruto with a clenched fist, entirely missing his wife's sarcasm.

Shaking her head with a warm laugh, Hinata led him back into Kirigakure towards their temporary accommodation. She didn't ask why he had come out to the front gates, and figured he didn't know properly himself.

For the time being, she was happy to let him rant about Sasuke and enjoy the relative freedom they had for the time being.

She had no doubts that things were about to change, and these small moments were the things she cherished the most.

* * *

><p>Mei Terumi stopped the head doctor in his tracks and waved off his stammering of a greeting before gesturing to the large double door at the end of the corridor.<p>

"How are their conditions?"

Taking a moment to make sure that what he was doing would be covered by a nearby nurse, the head doctor indicated for her to follow him to the room. "Stable, none of them are critical. The enemy seemed to go out of their way not to seriously injure them."

"Yes, he did tell them to do that," muttered the Mizukage softly.

"What was that, madam?" inquired the head doctor; though his question was waved off as they entered the room.

The large patient room had eight large beds with accompanying medial implements, but only four were occupied closest to the end of the room as the doctor ran through the specifics of their injuries.

Mei only listened half-heartedly; she could see how they were doing by how they appeared in their beds.

A short person under normal circumstances, Chojuro appeared tiny under the sheets of his bed; even as the doctor pointed out that he'd only suffered a concussion and mild burns to his chest. He'd been kept in the ward primarily because of his position, though hearing the rumours about the dissent in the ranks of his organisation it wouldn't surprise her if he were to re-join her regular shinobi. He slept soundlessly as the drugs allowing him to heal didn't require him to be conscious to do so.

Coming to the next bed, Mei let out a long sigh as she saw the unconscious body of her favourite Swordsman, looking like she'd been through hell and back. The head doctor indicated that she would make a full recovery from the lightning burns, but Mei was aware of Ameyuri's somewhat weak constitution and couldn't be certain of anything these days.

Reaching out she gently placed a hand on the red haired girl's leg, hoping that she recovered soon. Unlike some of the women in her village, Ameyuri was a breath of fresh air; she always seemed happy to do whatever was necessary and would argue with her if she thought she was wrong. She knew the young girl idolised her, and at times she had exploited that for the benefit of the village, but she did admit to having a soft spot for her.

The remaining two beds were empty, which only served to cause the head doctor to sigh in exasperation and busy himself with the charts of the occupants.

Leaving the remaining members for a moment, Mei turned to regard the empty beds with a sense of frustration and grief. She knew she was partially responsible for their deaths, but she took solace in the fact that their killers were themselves taken out. By the sounds of it, they had been given the only death a shinobi truly expects, and she knew that the three of them had likely respected the fact that their opponents had done them such a service.

"Are you okay, madam?"

The Mizukage turned to the head doctor and smiled the smile she gave when she was hiding her frustration, "I'm fine. How long until Ameyuri and Chojuro are recovered?"

"They should be awake in a few days, but it'll be two weeks at least for them to be back in service. Do you mind if I ask a question, madam?"

Feeling a spike of anger, Mei edged closer to the doctor, "Only if you stop calling me that. I'm not old enough to be called that by someone like you."

The head doctor shirked backwards and apologised quickly, but Mei waved him off and gestured for him to ask his question.

Motioning towards the first empty bed in the room, the head doctor gave her a puzzled look, "I've worked here a long time, and no one has ever told me why there are eight beds in here. Aren't they called the Seven Swordsman because there are always seven of them?"

"It's not surprising you don't know, the Swordsman don't speak of their practises much beyond their own ranks." Mei ran a hand along the sheet of one of the empty beds, as if recalling some long past discussion on the topic. "While there are always seven of them, they train an eighth under the principle that if one of them falls the eighth will take their place. When Raiga left, Ameyuri took his place. Chojuro came in when Zabuza was killed, and when we heard of Kisame's demise at the hands of his partner Mangetsu's younger brother was initiated."

She sighed as she thought about their current predicament, "They may not recover from the evens of the past few days. While they are an arrogant bunch, more than one of them dying at once hasn't happened since the Wars."

Mei turned to the head doctor and gave him a knowing look, with the head doctor understanding that he wasn't to repeat anything he had heard.

"I'm telling you this because things are going to have to change in this place. The attack had taught us that we need to be prepared."

"Of course, ma…Mizukage-sama. If there is anything we can do here, please don't hesitate to ask!"

But Mei was already on her way out of the room, leaving the head doctor to tend to the injured Swordsman. She had somewhere she needed to be.

oOoOoOo

Suigetsu clutched at his chest tenderly as he stared out at Kirigakure from above. He had healed as much as he was going to without specialist care, but he hated hospitals and doctors since escaping from Orochimaru's grasp and was grateful for the fresh air even if it did cause him some discomfort.

Flexing a hand carefully he noted how he was beginning to get his strength back, but his confidence was in tatters. He wouldn't tell anyone, but his defeat at the hands of the blonde shinobi with such relative ease had made him question whether he was truly ready to be a Swordsman. It had been a string of lucky circumstances that had landed him his much-coveted role, but for the first time in his life Suigetsu wondered if he'd earned his place.

Taking a cautious glance at the figure sitting with his legs over the edge of the roof, Suigetsu found himself concerned about him for the first time in nearly a decade. Since they'd been recovered from the battlefield and healed within the hospital, his older brother hadn't said a word. He wasn't the most talkative person to begin with, unlike Suigetsu, but even when asked directed questions he seemed barely even hear them.

Suigetsu sighed and put his hands behind his head, "Never thought this place would turn out like this. Maybe I shouldn't have come back at all."

"This is your home, Suigetsu. You shouldn't say things like that."

The younger Houzuki brother and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the warm smile on the Mizukage's face as she walked towards them. His surprise was quickly replaced with anger as he found himself blaming this figure for what had happened to them.

"What do you want?" he said with a low growl.

Mei felt her guilt rise to the surface but she knocked it down and approached him with open arms, "To ask for your help."

Suigetsu was momentarily stunned by her declaration and took a step back, "That's…what?"

His older brother frowned and turned his head, regarding the Mizukage with calculating eyes. For a moment he wasn't sure what to say as the red headed leader waited patiently for him to make sense of the situation.

"Brother?" inquired Suigetsu with a confused look. He'd never seen his brother so unsure in their lives, and while normally he would give Mangetsu grief he felt the situation warranted his silence.

The older Houzuki brother seemed to come to a conclusion as he slowly turned his piercing gaze to his brother. "Get the others."

"Brother?" repeated Suigetsu, unsure what he wanted.

Mangetsu gave him the same snarl he had when Suigetsu had previously left the village, "Now, brother. Bring Ameyuri and Chojuro here."

"You know they are both bedridden, right?"

The Swordsmen leader gave him a stare that could have killed a herd of bison in its tracks.

Suigetsu immediately put his hands up in surrender and began walking to the door, shaking his head at being ordered around like some kind of servant.

Once he was gone the Mizukage gave the Swordsman a raised eyebrow, but Mangetsu's expression didn't change.

"You look healthy for a man who was stabbed through the chest recently."

Mangetsu stared at her for several moments without saying anything before his eyes narrowed and he turned his back on the tall woman, "…how long have you been back?"

"A day, maybe more." Mei moved to his side to look over her village, "How long have you known?"

"Since it began," said Mangetsu bluntly. He gritted his sharp teeth as he thought back to that time, his fists clenching. "You abandoned your people."

Mei winced at his accusation, but didn't deny it. "Did you try and stop him? I could not see you sitting idly by while someone like that takes over the village."

The Swordsman leader snarled at her loudly, "Of course I tried! But I…it doesn't matter."

"Yet you didn't leave? You could have taken the Swordsmen away and made a living outside of his influence."

"We might be killers, but this is our home. I refuse to see it fall to ruin because one woman couldn't keep a hold on her position." Mangetsu winced unintentionally, his wounds were not completely healed and his chakra was dangerously low. He hated hospitals as much as his brother did, but he wasn't as vocal about it. "I guess he did what he said he would…"

"Hmm? Who did?" asked a confused Mei.

Mangetsu ignored her question and turned around to see Suigetsu walk through the roof entrance. Shortly following behind him was a sickly looking Chojuro, who looked ready to keel over at the first gust of wind that came his way. The young Swordsman looked around the roof with exhausted eyes before seeing the Mizukage standing next to his superior. His eyes turned to anger for a moment, but the slightest look from Mangetsu made him reconsider his view of her.

"Are you sure he should be out of bed?" asked the Mizukage. "He looks ready to collapse."

Chojuro didn't say anything as he came to his fellow Swordsmen's side, remembering the primary order of their ranks. Unless the leader says 'jump', you don't move a muscle.

"What the hell is this all about?" came a loud female voice from the entrance, drifting off as Ameyuri stumbled into view. Her eyes widened as she saw the Mizukage standing in front of them, and she wanted to greet her, but just like Chojuro held off as she recognised the gravity of the situation.

"Stand in line," ordered Mangetsu, waiting for the injured redhead to stand beside his other subordinates. The Mizukage was clearly surprised by the show, but kept all comments to herself and waited.

The leader of the Seven Swordsmen stepped forward and stared directly into the Kirigakure leader's eyes, "I did not agree with your appointment when you were made the Mizukage. It was an impulse decision after the disaster that was the Fourth, and since you were so easily manipulated I believe my original observation to be correct."

Mei kept her normal expression despite his statements, aware that her control of the village would be easier if he were her ally rather than her enemy. "What do you propose? Will you challenge my position? That is your right."

"Why the hell are we standing here?" demanded Suigetsu impatiently. "Does he seriously think we are going to keep up this charade?"

Mangetsu glared at his younger brother angrily, but Mei put up her hands, "I've clearly wronged all of you. But that man is dead, that you can be sure of." She turned her gaze to the female of the group, "I'm glad you are still alive, dear. I've missed your company."

Ameyuri's resolve wavered momentarily; her affection for the Mizukage was well-known since her recovery from her illness. The day they had discovered she'd been replaced, Ameyuri had gone on a murder spree on other villages that had threatened to consume her entirely.

"There is a war coming, Mangetsu."

"There is always war," said the Swordsmen leader. "And war always has soldiers."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "We will not kneel to you until you have proven that you are able to make this village as great as it is meant to be."

Mei nodded with a serious expression, "Of course. We both want the same things."

Mangetsu stared at her for several moments before turning back to the other Swordsmen and muttering several quiet orders to them. The Mizukage took the moment to leave them to their discussion as she looked out over her village as she loved to do.

She didn't expect to gain their respect immediately, but the Swordsmen were a tradition and the older Houzuki brother was a leader that could bring the village together.

* * *

><p>Naruto frowned slightly as he saw the devastation at the front of the Kirigakure gates, wishing that his wife didn't have to see the battlefield. She was clearly able to sense his discomfort as Hinata tapped her head slightly on his shoulder, "You okay?"<p>

"It's nothing," said Naruto quietly. "Just wish that we didn't lose Roshi and Han."

"You didn't even like Han though." Before Naruto could answer though, Hinata squeezed his arm in sympathy and turned the two of them around to greet the approaching Kazekage.

Gaara wore his original sand gourd on his back with no visible sign of the damage suffered on the ocean. He nodded courteously to Hinata before turning his pale-green gaze to his old friend.

"Are you sure you won't come to Sunagakure, Naruto? We could certainly use you and your wife's skills."

Naruto shook his head with a smile on his face, "Thanks, Gaara. But we should really see Hinata's cousin first. It sounds like Neji is in the middle of everything. Besides, we're much faster on our own."

"And Neji should be told that we are alive, I'm sure he was worried about us."

Gaara scoffed uncharacteristically, "That man has spies everywhere. I'll bet he knew what you two did last night before you did."

The married couple gave each other an awkward stare before both coughed awkwardly through chuckles.

"Oh please, you guys aren't fooling anyone," came a female voice behind them.

Approaching from the village proper was the Mizukage with a wide smile on her face. She was accompanied by a score of Kirigakure shinobi, a demonstration of both force and understanding on their diverging paths.

"Well then," said Gaara, turning back to Naruto. "Stay safe, Naruto."

"You too."

The Kazekage extended a hand towards the blonde shinobi, and Naruto only hesitated for a moment before shaking it with a cheesy grin.

Naruto turned to Hinata, "You ready to go?"

The young Hyuuga heiress nodded quickly and the two of them paid their final respects to the Mizukage before disappearing in a flash of lightning.

"Will you require an escort?" asked the Mizukage to Gaara.

The Kazekage shook his head and put up a hand into a handseal, summoning a tiny amount of chakra.

He summoned up a small platform of sand from his gourd, nodding to the Mizukage in respect before turning his gaze to the journey ahead.

"Are you coming?" he asked to the open air.

The Kirigakure shinobi in attendance all jumped as his Sunagakure spy appeared from thin air. She was kneeling in front of the sand platform in a respectful salute.

"Are you sure, sir?"

The red haired Kage looked down at the young girl and motioned with his hand, "We are leaving, Matsuri."

She looked up at him for a moment before shrugging and hopping up onto his sand platform. She thought about it for a second further before sitting down close to Gaara, just a bit closer than decorum should have allowed.

Gaara paid no attention to her as he raised their sand platform high up into the sky on the path back to their home.

oOoOoOo

For hours the two Sunagakure shinobi flew over the countryside silently, Gaara's sand hovering them at such a height that they had little to fear from the Quiraji in the Land of Fire beneath. Matsuri found herself slowly edging towards the Kazekage, her efforts concentrated on not making it obvious how uncomfortable she was with the height they were flying at.

"Matsuri…" started Gaara, causing the young girl to jump in surprise at his breaking the silence, nearing falling off the small sand platform they both sat on.

She smiled at him awkwardly, "Yes, Gaara-sama?"

"You handled yourself with honour and duty beyond your standing orders," he said, oblivious to her awkwardness. "I am impressed."

Matsuri's cheeks reddened at the compliment and could only nod meekly in response.

With his hands crossed over his chest, Gaara continued to fly them towards the village by the most direct route, it taking little effort to control his sand now that he'd had a day to rest.

"How long have you been in the ANBU, Matsuri?"

The brown haired girl thought about it for a moment, "Almost a year, Gaara-sama. I was given special consideration from Temari-sensei in my initiation." She grinned characteristically as she thought about it. "I was the youngest ANBU in our history," she said proudly.

"Your skills have proven her assessment correct. When we return to Suna I shall speak to the head of the ANBU about a promotion."

Matsuri was overjoyed by his statement, but hesitated when she actually thought about it and turned to him with a confused look, "I don't understand. The ANBU have no ranks, sir. I'm a spy because of my skills, that's all."

"I was speaking of outside the ANBU. We are heading into a war, and I want my best shinobi doing what is necessary."

"What are you talking about?" asked Matsuri, though she could understand what he was alluding to.

Gaara turned his head slightly so that he could talk directly to her face, "You will be my assistant, conducting the missions that require the utmost secrecy. You've proven yourself most capable and I need people like you at my side."

For almost a minute Matsuri sat in shocked silence, unable to believe what he was asking. Gaara waited patiently for her response, understanding that it was a big commitment from the young girl, rife with danger.

Eventually Matsuri realised it was an easy decision and stalling wasn't going to change anything. She hopped up onto her feet before kneeling in front of him on top of their sand platform.

"It would be an honour, Kazekage-sama. I pledge my life to your service."

Gaara found a faint smile resting on his face, though the moment was spoiled as his third eye caught a strange black energy screaming towards them before below. He tilted their sand platform and watched as the energy missed them by a hair's breadth, increasing their speed substantially.

Having been kneeling at the time, Matsuri was almost thrown from the sand platform, but Gaara reached out and clutched one of her arms with his hands, pulling her back onto the flat surface. The manoeuvre caused Matsuri to fly straight into Gaara's chest as he stabilised the sand platform. Completely beyond her control, Matsuri steadied herself by grabbing her arms around the Kazekage's waist, her face extremely close to his own. She could feel his red hair gently tickling her face, and held it for as long as she thought she could get away with it before jumping back and stammering an apology quickly.

Gaara wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was for the situation, so he simply turned and stared out at the sky in front of them.

The two of them sat in silence for what felt like hours before Matsuri finally couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm really sorry about earlier," she muttered quietly, finding herself reverting back to her old shy ways.

Gaara hesitated for a moment before relaxing himself slightly, "It's…fine. It was not…it's fine."

The young ANBU shinobi nodded quickly before giving the Kazekage a curious look. She wasn't how to phrase what she wanted to ask next, but Matsuri also figured there was only a short window of opportunity remaining.

"Gaara-sama…when we return home…I could make you some…dinner or something. I've been told my cooking is quite good and…uh…oh just forget about it…stupid idea…"

The Kazekage kept his stoic expression throughout her awkward question, though his time with Shikamaru had given him an insight into things that he once didn't care much for.

He waited the appropriate time before turning to the brown haired girl with a small smile on his face, "I would like that, Matsuri," he said quietly.

"Really?" stammered Matsuri, her eyes widening in conjunction with the expression on her face. "I mean great! Is there anything you want to eat?"

Gaara shrugged and recrossed his arms over his chest, "I will be your guest, so it is your choice."

A wide smile sat on the young girl's face, thinly veiled by her deep blush. "Can…can I hold your hand?"

"Don't go too fast, Matsuri. I'm still your superior."

"Yes sir."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

First of all I would like to apologise for the quality of the previous couple of chapters. I want to get them out in a timely fashion, but I only have so much time to dedicate to my writing at the moment and I know that has likely caused some things to seem a bit off.

There have been times when I've considered leaving this story and writing some of the things that I want to get published, but I'm dedicated to finishing the story and I will do just that. I'm not going to put in a half-assed effort either, I have a plan for the final quarter of this story and it'll probably be a while before it is finished.

There are a few things I've wanted to explore in this story that wouldn't necessarily be as long a chapter as I've been writing. The relationship between Lee and Sakura for an example, and the one between Kiba and Ino. So in the near future there may be slightly smaller chapters that are more concentrated, or I might put the two together. The other parts I'm planning on integrating into the main story chapters.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say for this bit. The next chapter will be the last for this section, and then we are going into the final part of the story. So I hope you are still interested to see what happens, because I'm still looking forward to writing it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	69. Chapter 63 The Last Snow Shinobi

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 63 – The Last Snow Shinobi

**A/N**: I'm trying a different style for this chapter; I hope it's not too stark of a difference. I just wanted to give it a go, so please do give me feedback on what you think. I'm not going to change the story to this style, but I'd love to hear what you think. This is also a pretty dark chapter.

I'm also shortening the summaries. Not because they were too long, I just don't want to spend much time on them.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, they would have stories focused on secondary characters for more than just a chapter or two. It's a damn long story after all.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After the battle with Tobi reached its conclusion, the combatants returned to the Mizukage's office. A short conversation later and Yagura completed the transfer of the Three-Tails to Mei, dying in the process. Naruto and Hinata found time to relax in a bath house for the first time in a long time, while Yugito hunted down the renegade Killer Bee, only to find that he was on his way back to Kumogakure. Fu later left the village to go off on her own. In a meeting with the Mizukage, Gaara was able to secure several deals for his home village without compromising his village's integrity. The Mizukage visited the surviving members of the Seven Swordsmen and reached an agreement with Mangetsu to help rebuild the village. The next day both Naruto and Hinata left on their journey to Otogakure to meet Neji, while Gaara left with Matsuri to Sunagakure.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>With a loud curse on my lips, I ducked under a hail of arrows and spun around with my hands clasped together in a basic handseal. The Quiraji soldiers had been relentless in their pursuit, already restringing arrows for another volley from their quivers hidden under heavy cloaks.<p>

I stamped my foot into the snow around my legs as I activated my ninjutsu.

"Hyouton: Yukitama!" (Ice Element: Snowball)

A large collection of snow rose out of the ground in front of me, taking a moment to hover conspicuously as it formed into a large ball before slamming straight into the five Quiraji archers. They'd tried to protect themselves by putting their arms up, but I'd fuelled enough chakra into the technique to topple a small building. The snow buried them deep enough to suffocate them to death while I fled back up the mountain range.

I resisted the urge to throw up as I covered my face with my hood and jumped straight up into the snowstorm that constantly covered the mountain I'd been living on for the past week. I was running dangerously low on chakra and hadn't eaten for days, but with those final pursuers gone I figured there was enough of a lull for me to recover my strength before I brave scouring the village again.

Reaching the shinobi marker on the mountain side, I placed my hands on the smooth rock and took a long breath. I felt a shock run through my arms, forcing me to grit my teeth through the pain as the marker took a record of my chakra and identified that I wasn't an enemy. I thought it was excessive considering our enemies didn't have any chakra, but the others in my group were paranoid.

For good reason too.

The rock beneath my hands glowed slightly before a section of snow fell apart with the automatic door, revealing the lair that we'd been working out of since the village had been taken.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out as I walked into the opening.

Immediately I knew there was something wrong, as the lights hadn't turned on when I'd opened the door. Pulling out one of my few remaining kunai from my pack, I slowly paced my way through the entrance. I barely had enough chakra for a single technique, having put most of my strength into taking out my pursuers, but if this was how it was going to end, I was determined to go down as an honourable shinobi of Yukigakure.

Within minutes my fears were confirmed as I saw the first stain of blood on the steel walls. I tried to keep myself contained, but before I reached the living area I noticed Lori's body covered in a pool of blood.

"No…no, no, no, no…"

I wanted to drop to my knees and weep, or make my friend's body look more dignified, but my shinobi instincts kept me on my feet.

That saved my life as a sword strike went to take my head off at my shoulders. I brought up my kunai just in time to block the attack, though I forced myself to jump backwards to avoid the shock from the clashing of steel.

A robed warrior glared at me through lifeless eyes as he sized me up in a single moment. His sword was drenched in blood. The blood of my friends.

Throwing any resemblance of caution to the wayside, I charged forward towards the Quiraji assassin, my kunai tracing a deadly line towards his throat.

The Quiraji assassin wasn't just going to let me cut his throat though, bringing up his sword to parry my attack. However I hadn't survived this long by making Genin mistakes like letting the enemy make such a basic manoeuvre.

Dropping my wrist, I twisted my body around the sword strike and disappeared from view. The Quiraji assassin hesitated for a moment and that was all I needed to reappear behind him and drive two kunai into his temples. The assassin crumpled to the floor and I felt a shock through my system as the last of my chakra slowly dwindled away.

Taijutsu had never been my strong suit, but all shinobi of my rank were very advanced in all three areas of shinobi combat.

In a panicked state I stumbled towards the tiny mess that we'd been eating out of, knowing that if I didn't find what I was looking for I'd collapse and die within minutes. After searching the medicine cabinet I found the pill bottle that I was looking for, popping the lid off the top and downing one of the blue tablets contained within.

The effect was almost instantaneous as my wounds knitted themselves back together and my chakra points slowly filled back up. I'd been through worse before, but taking the blue pill was something I wished I didn't have to do.

We didn't have many medicines in Yukigakure and that was the last of its kind that I knew of, but it kept me alive for the time being, even if it was going to shorten my lifespan significantly.

I sank to the ground and tried not to throw up at the horrible smell of my dead comrades. They were only Genin, barely even shinobi, and now they were all dead. I was meant to protect them, to keep them safe from the invaders, but I couldn't.

I wasn't strong enough and now they were all gone.

My name is Sapphire.

I'm the last living shinobi of my village.

* * *

><p>I decided that I couldn't stay in the hideout anymore. It had become a place of death and misery, and after burying my friends on the mountain I couldn't stand it anymore.<p>

However if the past week's scouting missions and attacks were any indication, the village was not a safe place to stay in any capacity. The last time I infiltrated my own home village, I'd seen dozens of soldiers searching for any survivors, far more than I could reasonably take out on my own without significant risk.

The Quiraji soldiers seemed immune from certain types of techniques, as one of my compatriots had discovered. He'd tried to capture a group of them in his most powerful genjutsu, a technique that would have made even the hardiest shinobi quiver and wet themselves in fear, incapacitating them long enough for the rest of us to take them out.

The Quiraji cut his throat without a second thought, barely even noticing he was trying to attack them.

Every time I thought about the previous week's battles and the dwindling numbers of our people, I get a horrible mixture of sadness and fury in my chest. I hated that I'd been driven from my home, but it wasn't over by any stretch of the imagination.

There was still one Snow shinobi left in Yukigakure.

oOoOoOo

With my knowledge of the surrounding area it was no trouble to get within a stone's throw of the village, though getting inside was the difficult part.

The Quiraji seemed intent on searching every nook and cranny for survivors, but they maintained a strong military presence on the outskirts, likely looking for any signs of stragglers such as myself.

Feeling inside my weapon pouch, I made a count of my weapons and swore under my breath. I only had three kunai and a dozen shuriken left, with no soldier pills or medicine to speak of. That was barely enough for one or two battles, and certainly not enough to survive on considering what I was up against. My recently murdered companions hadn't had any weapons on them, that's why I had left in the first place, though my mission had been a failure.

Sinking my body low into the snow to avoid detection, I considered my options.

I could flee the area altogether. I knew the mountains of Yukigakure like the back of my hand; I'd grown up here since I was a little girl. There were dozens of caverns and passageways through the mountainsides that avoided the ever-present snowstorms and the likelihood of the Quiraji finding any of them was quite low.

However I dismissed that option out of hand. Surviving just on its own is not living. I had a duty to my home, and my comrades. They had to be avenged and I was the only one left who could do it. My life doesn't matter anymore. It hadn't since I'd lost the people precious to me.

The weapons storage facility wasn't an option either, as it had been one of the first hit during the invasion. The Quiraji clearly knew that when certain techniques didn't work shinobi fell back onto weaponry and other ninja tools. Nearly all of our stores had been destroyed, and I'd already scavenged what little stores we had outside the village.

If there was ever a village that fell due to hubris, it was ours. I wanted to say that I had pressed our deceased leader into being more prepared for what would have been an inevitable invasion, but I'd be lying to myself. I'd been one of the voices saying that the Quiraji could never reach us and that the other shinobi villages would likely take them out for us.

Shaking myself out of my characteristic depressive mood, I took a long breath as I realised there was only one option that I could take.

I swore again and pulled out three shurikens between my fingers, counting the Quiraji soldiers directly in front of me. The night was conveniently quiet, with only a light breeze carrying snowflakes across the air. Under other circumstances it would have made for a beautiful night for a stroll and I'm sure the night sky was drenched in stars.

With no sound at all, I threw the shurikens at the three soldiers standing guard at one of the village's alleyways. They took them all in the throats, sending them face down into snow at their feet. They didn't make a sound as they died, even as I moved stealthy along the snow and ensured that they couldn't rise again.

They didn't have any food or medicine supplies on them, but I pocketed a number of knives and blades to replenish my stock. I wiped off the blood from the shurikens I used to kill them and put them back, before taking up a long sword that the middle soldier had been holding and sheathing it on my side.

I noted that none of them were the main Quiraji danger soldiers, merely the ones that did the marching and the dying. They wore simple armour and weaponry, with strange symbols designating them in the strange dialect they spoke to each other. I went to take one of their cloaks to use as a disguise, but looking at their bodies I realised there was no way I'd be able to pass myself off as one of them.

It wasn't that they didn't have female soldiers; one of those I killed had been a woman. But I had the fair skin and bright blue eyes that I'd inherited from my mother and passed down to my daughter, while the average Quiraji soldier was closer to tanned and had not a pair of blue eyes between them.

I heard a rustling sound inside the village and immediately shot to the side to hide behind one of the towers. I watched as a Black Robe slowly shifted into view, his withered face hidden under his heavy set robe. I silently cursed at his presence, knowing how difficult they were to dispose of.

The Black Robe breathed out a fog of cold air before looking down at one of the bodies on the ground. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I sprung out of my hiding spot and drew my stolen sword from its scabbard. The Black Robe immediately turned at the sound of metal scrapping on metal, but before he could employ one of the techniques that had turned so many of my friends into corpses I drove my sword into his chest.

His black eyes glared at me hatefully even as he pulled up his hands to grip me by the sides of my face. Leaving the sword in his chest I pulled out two of the kunai from my sleeves and slammed them into his temples. He struggled for a moment before slowly falling to the ground, his hands barely brushing at the sides of his face.

A shudder ran through my body at the touch, but I was grateful that I'd been able to take out the Black Robe with such ease. As his blood began to pool on the snow an idea popped into my head.

It wasn't my best idea to be fair, but hopefully it'll work.

oOoOoOo

Walking with the same deliberate motions I had observed earlier, I made my way through the village very carefully. The robe was heavy on my shoulders and I could feel the blood from the Black Robe's wounds on my skin.

It felt wrong just to be wearing the enemy's regalia, let alone sneaking through my own home. However the disguise was working perfectly as the regular Quiraji soldiers gave me a wide berth and shifty glares, they seemed to dislike the Black Robes' presence just as much as we had. I filed that information for later, though I seriously doubted I'd have a chance to exploit it.

The streets of my home seemed oddly alien to me now, even though I knew every turn and sign that was in front of me. The small bakery that fed the children every day was now a smoking ruin, having been burnt down to the ground with the occupants inside. The apartment building that I met my husband in had a giant hole in the centre of it, though I didn't give it a second glance that would have singled me out from the other soldiers.

I passed my old home without even looking at it; the last memory of being inside had left a horrible knot in my stomach. I tried my best to avoid any contact at all with the Quiraji soldiers around, though I started to notice that there were far more soldiers in the village than the last time I had come this deep inside. I stopped counting after the ninth group, figuring that judging by spacing and disposition the Quiraji had to have several hundred soldiers throughout the village.

They really were trying to exterminate us and I was their only target remaining.

The Black Robe's hood kept my face hidden from the Quiraji soldiers as I used the snow-covered streets to navigate my way around, though I had to take a roundabout route because I almost ran into another Black Robe that would have surely given me away. I knew that my disguise would only last until the bodies were discovered as I hadn't been able to hide the blood trail as well as I would have liked considering the lack of significant snowfall.

After nearly twenty minutes of methodical movement I found the building I was looking for. While Yukigakure itself was built on an icy plateau in the middle of a giant mountain range for a number of purposes, several of the buildings had been constructed through the plateau's surface and deep within were some of our closely guarded secrets.

One such building had already been found and destroyed, as the leader of my village had hidden there with his family and been butchered where they slept.

The Quiraji had spared no one as they rampaged through our village, completely taking us by surprise.

I noticed that the door to the small one-storey building had snow built up against it, implying that the Quiraji hadn't gotten around to checking it yet. On the surface it looked more like a rundown storage unit that had been abandoned, but that's why it was one of our key areas.

Tapping on the door in the correct sequence, the wooden frame slowly creaked open and I slipped inside, ensuring that none of the surrounding Quiraji soldiers saw me disappear within.

Once inside I shut the door quietly and was immediately surrounded by darkness. I had no means of lighting the room at my disposal, but I was willing to be patient. I unshouldered the Black Robe and let it fall to the floor, glad to be rid of such a burdensome garment.

The room slowly came into view as my eyes adjusted to the dark and I recognised a number of the signs that indicated on a way down to the underground level. With a short tug I found a lever cleverly disguised as a gardening hoe that opened up a stairwell in the corner of the shed.

The storage unit was mostly empty, with the outlines of the contents having gathered enough dust to indicate it had been months since a living person had been inside. I hadn't been expecting much, but some extra supplies would have been nice. The room was as dark as the entrance, but with my eyes completely adjusted I was able to notice a single locker that had gone unmolested in comparison to the rest of the room. It had a numbered lock on it, but I didn't have time to try and work out the combination.

I put up my left hand into a handseal, "Hyouton: Aisuyaiba". (Ice Element: Ice Blade)

A hard blade of ice formed around my right hand, which I brought down immediately on to the lock, shattering it under the sharp blade. I knew my use of the technique would likely be detected by the Quiraji above, but it was less risky than taking my time in breaking through the lock with a pick.

Opening the double locker doors, I breathed out a slight sigh of relief as I saw that the reason I'd come there was still intact.

Inside was a set of Chakra Armour, one of the first of its kind. It had been one of the initial prototypes, which had been notoriously temperamental and prone to exploding. They'd been placed into storage when the next generation had been created and all of the sets of Chakra Armour had been destroyed during the invasion when their wearers had been killed.

Except for this one.

It was the female model, which was handy as I pulled it out and struggled with how heavy the main body was. I'd never worn Chakra Armour before; they were reserved for the shinobi above my station. Even at the height of our village's power before the death of the royal family and the disappearance of the princess, there had only ever been ten sets of Chakra Armour at once.

Chakra Armour negates any ninjutsu or genjutsu that is directed at the user, though that gave no benefit against Quiraji warriors that don't even use chakra for their attacks. However the reason I'd risked so much to get here was because Chakra Armour uses several power sources to increase the user's chakra exponentially, and the power of their techniques. I knew it was risky to don the armour, as all it would do is put me in an aggressive mindset.

But I could use some aggression right now.

Removing my shinobi vest and tossing the tattered piece of clothing on to the floor, I shouldered the armour on and grimaced at the cold feel of it against my skin. The moment the first power source slid into my shoulder I felt a surge of chakra through my body, a shock that I hadn't felt for years.

It was such a rush I quickly pulled on the rest of the armour and zipped it up, the other power sources shooting electricity through my body.

I felt like I could take on an army of Quiraji soldiers with my bare hands. I would take their heads and crush them under my boots. They would suffer for the things they'd done.

Though it was a bit tight on my chest.

oOoOoOo

It took only a few minutes for the Quiraji to encompass the building, with four Black Robes and a single soldier clad in dark red armour that I had seen leading them in battle. I had never seen the sensory types that were so easily able to pinpoint whenever one of us used chakra, but they had been the bane of my existence.

However this time I felt powerful enough to take them all out with my bare fists.

I jogged up the staircase and simultaneously ran through a set of handseals, feeling the ominous presence of my enemies just outside the door. I could hear them marshalling for an attack and knew I had to get out of there fast before the building was brought down on top of my head.

Clapping my hands together I slammed my hands into the ground beneath me, praying that the technique would work in the way I wanted it to.

"Doton: Shougeki Tsuchi!" (Earth Element: Shattering Ground)

Expanding outwards from my position within the building the ground began to shake violently, causing a number of items within the house to slam into the ground. Outside I could hear cries of alarm as large cracks began to form all around my position, even as the foundations of the building started to collapse.

It quickly became difficult to stay on my feet as the earthquake began to spiral out of control, with large sections of the building pulling apart as the ground split open as if to reveal the demons within, with dozens of Quiraji soldiers falling in and being trapped deep inside.

I quickly removed my hands to stop the technique, but the aftershocks continued as some of the Quiraji forces recovered quickly and noticed my presence through one of the large holes in the building I was in.

Muttering under my breath I ran through a rapid set of handseals and flicked my hands towards the front row, sending a wide spread of ice shards that impaled them to their comrades behind them, even as I was running forward with weapons in hand.

All the rage that'd been accumulating in my chest over the past few days rose to the surface and my body began to work its terrible duty without emotion or remorse. I didn't care what happened to me in those moments, I just knew these people had to die.

I killed and I killed until I was nearly overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers.

Just as I nearly lost my head in a literal sense, my shinobi instincts kicked in and I fled the scene, leaving a trail of bodies in my wake as I sped back into the mountain range and lost myself in the newly growing snowstorm.

I'd reaped a terrible toll on the Quiraji forces, but as I took a glance back to see if there were any pursuers I realised that while I had killed dozens of their soldiers during my rampage, there were hundreds more still in the village.

I'd barely made a dent.

* * *

><p>I normally love the cold. The icy bite on my skin as the wind forces you to acknowledge the power of nature; it was always something that I embraced since I was a child.<p>

Tonight I can't stand it.

I couldn't remember much of the previous battle; the adjustment to the chakra enhancement of the Chakra Armour was like nothing I could have predicted.

The moment the adrenaline wore off I found myself dragging my feet along the snow. I wasn't sure why they weren't pursuing me; I'd left enough of a trail for a pack of wolves to hunt me down and devour me without any effort necessary on their part. I certainly wasn't complaining by any stretch of the imagination, but it was getting harder and harder to drag myself up the mountain side. I had no clue where I was going, but anywhere that wasn't home was enough.

I forced out a chuckle at my situation before squinting my eyes at a strange image in front of me.

Sitting on its back legs and giving me a disgruntled stare was a large white bear, a streak of grey fur running down its back designating it as an old patriarch. It reminded me of some of the younger cubs I used to play with as a child. Those sessions wouldn't last long before the mother came roaring in and my father had to whisk me away to safety, but it was always a memory that brought a smile to my face.

The bear's eyes weren't hungry, or even threatening. It snorted at me for a moment before standing on its feet and slowly turning around before waddling across the snow.

I'm not one to believe in signs. I think I'd tear my hair just by the past week's events alone.

But something about the old bear compelled me to follow it, even as the Chakra Armour kept weighing me down and making every step agonisingly slow.

_Keep pushing forward girl. If you can take this next step, you'll be…_

I found myself laughing hysterically at the fact that I didn't have a cheesy line to help motivate myself, which felt absurd as I moved around a small rock formation and put up my hand to shield my face as a blast of wind came down the mountainside.

I temporarily lost sight of the patriarch and tried to get my bearings, taking note of the fact that I was much higher up the mountain compared to home than the last place I'd been staying in. The higher up the mountain I went, the less air there was to breathe, though the Chakra Armour was helping mitigate the difference.

After a few minutes of stumbling around and wondering what my next move should be, I felt a strange bump against my leg. I was too tired to spin around and retaliate against the unknown enemy force, figuring that if they were determined enough they'd get through my defences regardless.

To my surprise, at my feet was a small bear cub, backing up a few metres before bounding forward playfully and butting its head into my leg.

I stared at it for a few moments, not sure whether to laugh or to cry at the adorable cub. It charged forward and butted its head again against my leg. With a confused chuckle I reached down and picked up the bear cub, cradling it in my arms.

The cub didn't protest upon being picked up, though it did start trying to gnaw on my arm with its barely-grown teeth. The Chakra Armour wasn't so easily pierced, but it did brighten my mood at the little animal's enthusiasm.

With a shrug, I started to carry the bear cub in the direction that I thought the bear patriarch had gone to. After a few minutes it gave up trying to bite my arm and started to doze off, bringing a grin to my face that had been absent for what felt like forever.

It reminded me of when I nursed my little baby. Though that had been decades ago the feeling was still right at the forefront.

I tried to shake the image out of my head; it would only lead to memories of what had happened last week. I'd been fairly composed about it, but it would only take a few things to bring that all back. I doubted I would be able to function after that, so I needed to stay strong.

Within a minute the bear cub was making adorable little sleeping noises in my arms, even as my legs powered through the snow loudly. I wasn't using chakra to keep myself going, the armour seemed to keep my strength up all by itself, but thankfully after twenty minutes I caught a glimpse of an opening in the mountainside.

I didn't want to wake up Little Cuddly (as he was subsequently named), but shelter would be nice for the remainder of the night. I could get my bearings and re-evaluate my situation.

Walking closer to the opening I saw a pair of young bears standing in the entrance to a wide cave. They growled loudly for a moment as I walked towards the opening, seemingly uninterested in attacking or mauling me. I figured it was because of the cub, but I was still cautious in my approach. The bears sniffed at me for a moment before snorting and turning their gazes back to the falling snow outside.

I sighed in relief that I didn't have to kill such creatures, though in my state I doubted I could've taken them without using chakra.

The moment I stepped into the cave, Little Cuddly woke up and began struggling in my arms. I gently placed him on the cave floor and watched as he fell over his feet trying to run frantically. Watching the bear cub stumble its way into the cave, I shrugged and walked after it, curious as to where it was going.

The cave wasn't as cold as I would've thought, though I suspected the Chakra Armour I was wearing had an inbuilt thermal power source. The cave was surprisingly deep, with a number of different sized bears giving me strange glances but again didn't give my presence the slightest interest.

I'd given up on guessing why I was being given a free pass, though it became clear as I saw the bear cub nuzzling into the size of a massive bear matriarch with a dozen of its siblings.

The matriarch gave me a yellow-eyed glare, but only for a second before grunting a loud sigh that I could sympathise with and laid her head back on the cave floor.

"This is as good as any place, I guess."

I reached up and pulled at my hair tie, letting the blonde hair I'd bundled up fall past my shoulders. It was nice to be able to relax for a change, though if the bears devour me in my sleep…I guess that'd be a fitting ending.

Moving my hands up the back of the Chakra Armour I felt at the buttons, trying to remember what sequence was needed to deactivate the locks.

"Hmm…is that…wait…"

A few minutes later it occurred to me that I'd been trying to open it correctly the whole time and the Chakra Armour wasn't responding at all.

"Ah shit…that would explain why it wasn't being used anymore."

Without being able to see what I was working with, there was no way I was going to be able to get the Chakra Armour off. I almost put my hands into the handseal to create a Kage Bunshin to do it for me; until it occurred to me that I couldn't use chakra without the Quiraji below discovering my location.

While I no longer cared for my own safety, that much was slowly becoming clear, I didn't want to put these creatures at risk.

Seeing nothing else to do about it, I settled myself into a corner and rubbed my arms to try and get warmer. After a little while I found myself drifting off to sleep, once again plagued by things that I wished would just stay away.

Without my noticing, a number of the little bear cubs wandered over and sat themselves on my lap.

Pretty sure I wasn't going to get eaten tonight.

Though stranger things have happened.

* * *

><p>The next morning I stretched out my arms and made funny faces at the bear cubs as they sat in front of me in a little pile of adorable fur. I found myself deeply regretting the fact that I couldn't remove the Chakra Armour and a part of me was grateful that none of my friends could see me doing the things I needed to.<p>

But then one of the larger bears came and grunted at me, and I got the message. I rubbed noses with one of the bear cubs who was nice enough to only half-heartedly try and bite my nose off.

I nodded my thanks to the animals, still not sure why they let me stay for the night. As I walked out of the cave into the surprisingly bright morning, the cubs bounded after me until they were scared off by what I assumed were either their parents or their teachers.

Breathing in the fresh air, I wondered what I was going to do with myself. I was going to go through a list of ideas, but just as I was about to go into an introspective mood, I noticed something quite peculiar.

Standing in the snow facing the village was a young Quiraji soldier, seemingly standing by himself with no comrades nearby. His pants were down at his ankles and I figured he was doing something that I was suddenly insanely jealous of.

I wanted to kill him just on general principle, but another idea came to my head that sounded much more promising.

Cracking my knuckles and grimacing as the Chakra Armour nearly made me accidently actually crack the bones knuckles, I stepped towards him.

I was going to take my time with this one.

* * *

><p>I threw a bowl of freezing cold water into the Quiraji's face, glaring hatefully at him as he was roused from unconsciousness.<p>

"Do you speak Japanese?"

The Quiraji soldier looked up at me for a moment with a terrified look in his eyes, and it was then I realised that he was just a young boy, probably no older than my son had been. He didn't respond to my question, though it amused me that he'd already begun to wet his pants.

To be fair, I had interrupted him mid-stream.

Under the assumption that he could speak the language, I pointed to the blood stains on the walls around the two of us. I'd cleaned out the bodies of my dead comrades and buried them in the snow, but I hadn't had the heart to clean off the blood, even though I wasn't staying here anymore.

"These shinobi were just kids. They had done nothing at all and you butchered them without a thought."

My prisoner quivered under the hateful stare I gave him, "I'm just a soldier! I haven't killed anyone!"

"Ah, so you can speak." I made my way back towards him and pulled out a kunai, driving into the arm of the chair just next to his fingers. "I don't care if you have been the nicest person in the world. These were just children! They deserved better than what they got."

Reaching over to a table I had prepared nearby, I showed my prisoner a scalpel I had prepared. During my time in the ANBU I hadn't been in the torture division, but after being a shinobi for forty years I knew what to do to get what I needed.

And what I needed right now was revenge.

"Please…please don't hurt me…" stammered my prisoner, but he didn't do anything to dissuade my resolve. "I'm just a soldier!"

I slammed the scalpel into his hand, causing him to scream out in pain. "I've seen what soldiers do! Don't try and use that as an excuse!"

"Okay…okay…I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!"

With deliberate movements I slowly pulled out the scalpel and placed it on the table. He struggled through his restraints in pain, but I felt no sympathy whatsoever for him. It was his kind that had killed my friends and family, and I swore that I would make them pay.

Taking a long breath to centre myself, I wringed my hands intimidatingly and glared down at the terrified soldier. "Now, how many Quiraji soldiers are in the village?"

He stuttered for a few moments, but as I picked up a vial of something that looked like poison despite the fact that it was simply dark green alcohol.

"I…don't know! I'm just a scout, no one important!"

Leaning forward I grinned maliciously, "Then that's unfortunately for you. If you don't have the information I need, this is going to take a long…long time."

"Thousands! There are five battalions deployed here!"

"Interesting," I said with a curt nod. "And what was your goal here?"

To my surprise his expression snapped to a serious hateful glare that was reminiscent of the looks I'd been giving him.

"To kill every last one of you."

A part of me respected his sudden flip; though that meant that my initial approach would no longer work. I moved my face towards his ear.

"You failed."

Moving back to my prepared tray, I started to filter through the tools I scavenged. "Next question. Who is your leader?"

Despite the distance between the two of us, the Quiraji soldier spat into my hair. I clenched my hands in fury, but kept my cool as I pulled up a curved kunai and turned back to my prisoner.

Using my free hand to wipe his spit off of my blonde hair, I started to walk towards him menacingly.

"I repeat. Who is your leader?"

oOoOoOo

Washing my hands for the tenth time in a vain attempt to get the blood off, I considered what my next move would have to be. I was no expert torturer, but I knew enough to know when a prisoner was telling the truth. If I worked on that assumption, I could focus my efforts.

Whoever this Benkei is, he's clearly an important figure in the Quiraji war effort. If he's in the village, then I'm the only one who can take him down. It wouldn't bring back my family and my people, but it would feel really good, and help soothe some of my inner rage.

I'm going to kill him if it's the last thing I do.

* * *

><p>Standing with my hair blowing in the wind, I looked down at my village with sad eyes. The information I'd gotten from the Quiraji soldier had made my decisions for me and for once I wasn't unsure about the path I was on.<p>

The time for stealth was over.

Running through five handseals quickly I placed my hand on a patch of snow in front of me. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Through a small puff of smoke emerged a small wolf cub, scratching its white and grey ears with one of its paws. It looked up at me and a cute smile came over its teeth-filled face.

"Aunty Sapph! Are we going to play today?"

With a shake of my head, I reached down and scratched at the little wolf's head, "No, not today, Mari. I need you to go and get your grandfather."

The wolf cub stared at me through adorable yellow eyes, "Really? Are you sure? He's been in a bad mood for…"

"…about two decades, yes, I'm aware. But I promised him that if it came to this, I'd invite him. He'd hold it against me for…well as long as the last grudge I guess."

I kneeled down and pet the cub before standing back, "Quickly, Mari. I don't have much time."

The wolf cub chuckled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Looking back down at the village, it was clear that they'd detected my use of chakra, despite how little it was. It was early in the morning, but I could see large groups of Quiraji soldiers mobilising in the passageways of the village. It was difficult to see any specific details of their deployments, but I'd be willing to guess that there were scattered Black Robes within the ranks.

I told myself I wasn't going to flinch. I swore to myself that I wouldn't let him get an edge over me.

But right on cue, a giant cloud of smoke appeared in front of me, blasting me off my feet.

With a loud groan I picked myself up off the snow, watching as the smoke dissipated and a giant white wolf emerged from within. It was easily five times the size of the bear patriarch; its scythed paws were as big as I was. A long streak of red ran across its back, and its black and yellow eyes gave me the same deathful stare that it gave me when I first signed the summoning contract.

As much as I disliked the great wolf, I still gave him a respectful nod. "Good morning, sir."

The wolf lord stared at me like I was a piece of game it was hunting before letting out a loud grunt of disapproval.

"You've gotten old," he said with a gravelly voice.

I frowned and glanced over his large form, "And you've gotten fat."

A loud snarl emerged from his jaws before he turned around on his haunches. "Disrespectful wench. Clearly nothing has changed." He glanced down at the village below, "Why did you summon me? I told you that you'd forfeited the right to call me decades ago."

I let out a sigh and walked around to stand at his side, "You also told me that when it was time…"

"…so it would seem," finished the large wolf. "What are you considering?"

With a load crack of my neck, I began stretching my arms. "There is a man down there that I have to take out. The likelihood of my surviving is pretty low, so I could use some support."

The great wolf turned his head to regard me with an amused look in his old eyes, "You grew some balls, Sapphire. What makes you think I'll risk my pack on something like that?"

"Because you've got nothing better to do?"

The wolf grunted in response before rearing his head and howling deafeningly into the air. I covered my ears and winced painfully, but I couldn't help keep a smirk on my face at his response.

As the roar slowly came to its end, dozens of clouds of smoke appeared around us. The large wolf began scratching at the snow in front of him, while grunting a number of expletives that turned my ears a terrible crimson colour.

The wolves that appeared from the clouds of smoke were scarred and weathered, much like their patriarch. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, as the youngsters of the wolves were almost never absent from a good hunt. But it soon became clear as the last wolf appeared and I counted just over a score at my side, not including their leader.

"I'm honoured that you're fighting at my side one last time."

He snorted and took a step forward, "Don't think this means I like you. Your hair is still stupid."

I barked out a laugh and began running towards my old home. I had no clue where my quarry was, but I would find him regardless. The elder wolves easily overtook me in their enthusiastic charge, quickly followed by the thundering sounds of their leader bounding forward and leading the attack with a series of terrifying roars.

Using the Chakra Armour to boost my speed, I kept up with the summoned creatures as I told the wolf leader the specifics on who we were fighting.

"I'll see you on the other side!" I yelled over the raging wind.

"That still sounds stupid!"

I swore loudly and began to run through a long set of handseals for our first assault.

I never get to have any fun.

oOoOoOo

Marshalling their forces towards the mountainside, the Quiraji soldiers stood in formation and lined up their pikes in anticipation for the charge.

"Why the hell are we fighting animals?" complained one of the soldiers. "In such crappy weather too!"

"Bleh, it's just a bit of snow," said another with a grin. "Didn't you ever get deployed in the Ranges back home?"

The first soldier snorted loudly, "Only deadbeats get sent to the Ranges."

A soldier in dark red armour walked up behind the group, drawing his sword and barking orders at them to stand to. The Quiraji soldiers grumbled but stood ready as it appeared like the mountain was determined to swoop down and destroy them.

The snowy mountain was drowned out by the load roars of what sounded like a pack of rabid wolves charging towards them, though that in turn was drowned out by a strange female voice.

"HYOUTON: FUBUKI KAKUYOKU!" (Ice Element: Swallow Snow Storm)

A section of snow rose out of the mountain side and formed into icy birds that started to swoop down onto the Quiraji forces. The birds slammed into the Quiraji soldiers and cut through their armour and flesh like it wasn't there, killed scores of soldiers in the first volley alone as the wolves leapt into the Quiraji ranks and began tearing them limb from limb.

With the Chakra Armour enhancing the technique, Sapphire leapt over a rank of Quiraji soldiers and began running on the rooftops in her search for the mysterious Quiraji leader. The ice birds continued to slam into the soldier ranks, but the Quiraji had recovered quickly.

The Red Warrior snarled and swiped at a collection of ice birds seeking to take his head off, destroying them with little effort. "Hold the line! They are just animals!"

Several Quiraji soldiers stepped back as an elder wolf tore the throat out of one of their companions. Their leader stepped forward and with a sweep of his sword removed the wolf's head even as it snapped at his arms before dying quickly.

"Get back in line, soldiers," he said threateningly. The Quiraji soldiers all collectively gulped before stepping back and holding their positions.

Skidding on her feet and spinning around to regard her pursuers, Sapphire completed her set of handseals and pointed both her hands towards the dozen Quiraji bowmen.

"Hyouton: Haryuu Mouko!" (Ice Element: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger)

A long ice tiger emerged from her hands and slammed through the Quiraji bowmen, freezing them in place before the force caused them to shatter into thousands of pieces. The ice technique began twisting around and slamming through buildings and soldiers alike, Sapphire letting the technique run rampart while she reconsidered her position. A large portion of the Quiraji force had been at the edges of the village to receive their strike, but there was also a collection near the centre that drew her attention.

"Coward…letting his soldiers do the dying while he stays safe from harm."

She began moving towards her new target, while the wolf patriarch finally reached the Snow Village and started his bloody work. His sheer bulk was enough to destroy buildings with every swipe of his claws, while the Quiraji soldiers that sought to take him down were torn to bits by his giant teeth.

A Red Warrior stepped towards him as his subordinates died to the great wolf's blows, bringing up his sword with a confidence that the summoned patriarch found thoroughly insulting.

He brought his jaw towards the Red Warrior and let out a roar that burst the eardrums of any Quiraji soldiers nearby, though the Red Warrior still came at him unflinching.

The great wolf snarled and opened his mouth wide, "Koori Otakebi!" (Icy Roar)

A large blizzard emerged from his jaws and froze the air between him and the Red Warrior, though it was clear the Red Warrior was not affected by his technique directly.

But the air had gotten very cold, and the Quiraji soldier's strength was drained by the new deadly environment, and was too slow to stop the large wolf slicing him into three pieces with his claws.

A collection of arrows slammed into his side and caused him to roar in pain, far more than he would have thought normal arrows could have done. Turning his giant head to his attackers, the wolf leader sent another blast of icy wind into them from a distance, causing them to freeze and shatter rapidly.

Breathing through his teeth, the wolf patriarch winced as he felt another of his pack fall to the sheer numbers of their opponents. They knew what they were getting into, but the pain still existed in his heart.

With a loud roar of fury, he leapt away and started to create a war path into the centre of the village.

Landing in the middle of a group of Quiraji soldiers, Sapphire extended her arms out and fuelled her chakra through her Chakra Armour to create long ice spears that she gripped tightly before swinging them in a deadly circle, cutting down five soldiers as they charged at her. Spinning like a dancer and dodging each sword strike like it was nothing, Sapphire carved out a bloody path through the Quiraji soldiers before burying her two ice blades into the front of a Black Robe that had been trying to hurl sharp rocks of earth at her from his bare hands.

The ice spears dissipated the moment they pierced the Black Robe's chest, but the force had crushed his chest regardless. Sapphire regarded his corpse for only a moment before spinning around and throwing her body back to avoid a hail of arrows sent at her position. She concentrated for a moment and created two large ice gauntlets covered in spikes on her hands, counting slowly in her head before emerging out into the open and bashing away some of the newly shot arrows before reaching the bowmen and destroying them with her weapons.

She let her ice gauntlets fall to the floor and reached up to feel at her head. Her hand came back bloody, but the adrenaline had relieved her of the pain for the time being. Taking a breath to calm herself as she reconstituted a new set of ice weapons through the Chakra Armour, Sapphire once again moved towards the group of Quiraji soldiers that hopefully contained the man she was determined to kill.

oOoOoOo

A Black Robe came up to the quiet man and handed him a scroll. The large man took the scroll and dismissed him quickly, reading the information before tossing it onto the snowy ground.

"What do we do?" asked a nearby soldier, clutching at his arms in an attempt to fight the cold. "We're getting slaughtered out there!"

The Black Robe gave him a dark stare before turning back to the man he'd handed the scroll to, "Shall we retreat, sir? This village has already been cleansed. What can one shinobi possibly try to do?"

The man turned to the Black Robe and the colour drained from the Quiraji warrior's face. He immediately put up his hands, "I'm sorry for questioning you, sir! I just mean…it's just one shinobi. Surely we can just let them die on their own?"

"That is not the point," said the man as he turned back to the village being destroyed around them.

Just as the Black Robe was about to ask him what he meant, a wolf came bounding over one of their barricades and tore into one of their soldiers with its claws and teeth. Putting out one of his weathered hands, the Black Robe set the wolf on fire in an instant, causing the wolf to yelp in pain for several moments while it thrashed around before dying on top of the dead Quiraji soldier.

"To ensure your enemy is dead, you must kill them with your own hands," said the man, which the soldiers around him nodded quickly in agreement.

The Black Robe replicated the motion before collecting his robe around his feet and moving back to the man's side. "Yes, Lord Benkei."

The Quiraji leader removed his hands from being crossed over his chest and regarded the destruction occurring around them. By the sounds in front of them, their quarry had come to them.

Just as he'd planned.

Suddenly a wolf the size of a building crashed through the Quiraji ranks, killing dozens with each sweep of its giant claws and ripping their soldiers to bits within its powerful jaws. Its dark eyes fixated on the Quiraji leader and it sprang towards him, casting a wide shadow under his feet as it aimed to crush him under its massive weight.

Benkei reached up with a fist before bringing it down to the ground directly in front of him.

The wolf froze in mid-air for a second like it had struck a wall of solid concrete before being sent crashing into the ground with a sickening crunch of broken bones and limbs.

Immediately the Quiraji soldiers swarmed the giant wolf and started stabbing it with their weapons, as their leader barely made a note of the beast's demise and turned his ancient gaze to the remainder of the battle.

The weight of numbers was slowly pulling down the wolves with seemingly minimal casualties, the first assault had been the most devastating but his trained soldiers had recovered quickly and cut them down every time one of them jumped to attack them.

Turning his head slightly as if hearing a sound that no one around him could, Benkei let a shadow of a grin appear on his face before spinning around and putting up an open hand like he was crushing an apple.

Hanging in the air was an armoured shinobi with ice-covered weapons covering her body, a long streak of blood running down what he assumed was meant to be a sandy blonde head of hair.

He took a deliberate step towards the floating shinobi and watched as her icy armaments fell to the ground and the odd blue glow on her armour dissipated.

The middle aged woman tried to struggle in the air, but Benkei's grip was ruthless. He clenched his hand slightly and she screamed out in pain.

"And so dies another shinobi."

He brought the last Snow shinobi closer to him so he could see her expression.

Struggling through bloody teeth, Sapphire stared at him hatefully.

"I die free."

Benkei brought her even closer and whispered quietly, "But you die, nonetheless."

He clenched his hand into a fist.

* * *

><p>Sheltering his eyes from the constant storm, Kiba gave his cousin a smirk, "I told you I knew the path. Oh ye of little faith."<p>

Nagisa ignored him and stared down at the village below them, keeping a hand firmly grasping a white tuff of fur of Yuki, her wolf companion. "Something has happened to the village."

The Inuzuka heir gave a suspicious look before taking a sniff of the air. The storm was messing with his sense of smell, but Kiba was a specialist tracker for a reason. "There are hundreds of scents down there. I don't recognise any of them though."

"The men who tortured you aren't down there," said Nagisa quietly.

"I'm flattered you remember them." Kiba patted Akamaru's back lightly as they started to move to a ridge closer to the village proper. "I dunno why Gaara wants to connect with this lot so much. They'd never help with the war effort."

Yuki barked twice underneath Nagisa, causing the both her and Kiba to frown and stare down at the entrance to the village.

"That can't be right…" muttered Kiba, though Akamaru quickly repeated Yuki's observation and the Inuzuka heir snarled in response. "Nagisa, what do you think?"

The dark haired shinobi considered their position for a moment before giving Yuki a slight tap and moving down the mountain slope. Kiba sighed and gave Akamaru a short bark of an order before holding on for dear life as the enthusiastic white dog leapt high into the air and went into free fall on the way behind Nagisa.

Minutes later Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the ground, with both of them giving their companions death glares before turning to the Snow Village in front of them.

"Something is seriously wrong, Kiba," said Nagisa, hopping off Yuki's back and kneeling down to pick up a small collection of snow in her gloved hands.

Kiba sniffed at the air cautiously before giving his cousin a quick set of hand signals. Nagisa nodded and barked quietly at Yuki before hopping back onto her mane and the two of them faded into the white background. Kiba clapped his hands together momentarily and transformed into a white wolf that looked similar to Akamaru before the two of them started running back up the mountain side.

Just as they left a patrol of Quiraji warriors made their way to where they had landed, chatting among themselves as they hide their faces under brown hoods. They continued to talk for several minutes before one of them noticed the strange paw prints that were slowly being covered by the falling snow.

He leant down to check to make sure that they weren't just native wolf tracks, but as his companions huddled around him, the two Inuzukas struck.

Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the group from their blind spot into a cyclonic Tsuuga, ripping three of them apart before they could react. As the remaining two jumped back in surprise and reached for their weapons, Nagisa and Yuki reappeared and bit into their necks, killing them instantly.

Taking a moment to kick at one of the corpses, Kiba spat on the ground and wiped some of the blood from his bushy tail. "So they've come this far into the mountain side."

Nagisa spat the blood from her mouth onto the snow as if it was poison and wiped her red lips, "Gods I hate that taste."

"Then why do you bite? You have claws, and kunai, and plenty of things."

The older Inuzuka shinobi shrugged and looked down at the bodies, "My way is quicker."

"And more disgusting," muttered Kiba, looking over at Akamaru for approval before realising that the large white dog was relieving himself on the body of one of the Quiraji soldiers. "Animal…"

Both Nagisa and Kiba noticed the scent at the same time, though both of them were struggling not to be nauseous at how wrong it smelt.

Holding his nose between his fingers, Kiba struggled to hop back onto Akamaru's back while Nagisa was more gracious on mounting her companion as the two animals gave each other a look before moving away from the village.

"We should…get a look before…we leave…" yelled Nagisa over the distance between the two fleeing animals.

"Not a chance!" yelled Kiba back. "Something like that…no way!"

Nagisa gave him a disapproving glare, but didn't argue the point as their companions quickly put a large distance between them and the village they had spent weeks searching for. She'd worked with him for a long time and wasn't the assertive type to take command, so she understood that he made the decision for both of their safety.

That didn't mean that she wasn't going to disagree with him, but she'd sensed the same thing he had, and had no interest in going back to get some information on it.

Hours later they had made significant distance back to Sunagakure, though they took a few moments to rest before moving on to reporting to the first scouting position at the border to the Land of Wind.

"What are we going to tell the Kazekage?" asked Nagisa, taking a long swig of her water bottle before pouring out the rest onto a small bowl for Yuki to drink from.

Kiba tore a chunk from some dried meat, ignoring the pestering of Akamaru at his side. "We'll have to report what we saw. Yukigakure is gone. We were too late."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

So what did you think? I wanted to convey some of the darker elements of the war, where the good guys don't always win. Please tell me what you think; I'd love some feedback on this style. I switched back to third person for the final battle because there were some bits that she wasn't there for that I wanted to write.

Okay, that chapter was in two weeks. I can do this; I was able to churn out a chapter a week when I was much busier. I'll work harder.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	70. Chapter 64 The Sound of Progress

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 64 – The Sound of Progress

**A/N**: After reading a Guest review, I'll admit it. I might have been a bit delusional about the dark elements of this story. I guess it got a lot darker than I initially conceived, without my even noticing. I'm not going to change it; it fits the story quite well. My main thing is that I don't want it to become angsty. So long as I can avoid that, I think it'll be fine. Also, because I've been going through my story and I'm anal, all Red Guard are now called Red Warriors.

**A/N2**:I'll also be trying to convey more of the romance side of the story. I recognise that has been a bit lacking, particularly since the main pair are so far along. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it completely.

**A/N3**: I knew I could write a chapter in a week. The next few should be in the same schedule pattern.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, people would drown when they are underwater for so goddamn long.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

At the village of Yukigakure, the last living shinobi fought against the Quiraji invaders bravely, but ultimately in vain. She perished with the lord of the wolf summons at the hand of Benkei, with the Quiraji army finally succeeding in wiping out the village completely. Kiba and Nagisa arrived at the village at the request of the Kazekage, but they were too late and fled at the presence of the Quiraji leader before they fell to the same fate as the Yukigakure shinobi.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Hinata thanked the elderly lady and smiled at the little boy at her side, waving to them as they returned into their small fishing village. She turned to her husband who was nearby tossing rocks at a nearby tree, shaking her head slowly.<p>

Naruto sighed and hopped up onto his feet. "You'd think someone would know where this place is. It's a shinobi village; it's not like you can hide it underground."

"That's exactly what they might have done, Naruto. I doubt Neji took the same approach as Konoha, there's a good reason why nobody knows where it is."

The blonde shinobi smiled at his wife and conceded her point, "Okay, well I can search the old way, but that'll take time. The Land of Rice Fields is pretty large."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Naruto grinned evilly and stepped forward quickly to sweep Hinata off her feet into his arms, holding her tightly yet affectionately as he pulled her face towards him. "I have several."

A slight blush came over Hinata's face as she gently placed her hands on the sides of his face, "That sounds lovely, but we have company."

Naruto frowned slightly and looked up to see an old friend sitting on a nearby rock with the widest possible grin on his face. The blonde shinobi's surprise was only levelled by the fact that he was holding his young wife in a rather compromising position. He let her back onto her feet and watched as she dusted herself off as if it would make her appear more presentable.

"What are you doing here?" asked Naruto before shaking his head in response to his own question. "No, wait, better question. How did you get here?"

The old man sitting on the rock's smile grew even wider as he pulled out his trademark bag, but to his surprise Hinata put up a hand to stop him.

"And don't you dare say it's a trick."

Magnus cackled loudly and waved his short legs in the air like a child, "It's a really good trick?"

Naruto and Hinata shared a look as they often did before laughing in turn and approaching him with wide smiles. "It is good to see you again, old friend. But again, what are you doing here? I thought you were travelling around in that country, minding your own business."

"I was and I am. But I was feeling a bit bored, and a bit lonely, and a bit hungry…"

"Is it just me or has he gotten crazier?" whispered Naruto into Hinata's ear.

"It's not just you," she whispered back.

"…and anyway, that's what happened to my horse," finished Magnus, ignorant of their whispering. He turned his gaze back to the lovers, "What's up with you guys?"

The couple gave their friend a brief rundown of the events that had transpired over the past three years, with Magnus keeping a rapturous expression throughout their story. They asked for what he'd been doing in return, but as they expected he dodged their questions expertly and plied them with oranges and easy laughs.

After a nostalgia-filled conversation, Hinata found herself needing to be excused. She apologised to both Magnus and her husband and quickly ran into the village.

Once she was out of ear-shot, Magnus' expression changed to a more serious tone and he pulled his blonde friend into closer proximity. "There is something you will have to do, something that may end your life in the process."

Naruto gulped visibly at the prospect, though a part of him was sure that Magnus was just messing with him. Reaching into his ever-present bag, the old man pulled out a small dagger and handed it very carefully to the young shinobi. Naruto frowned and took it from his hands, examining it to see if there were any obvious special properties, but it appeared to simply be a blade of jagged metal with a plain black hilt.

He flipped it over in his hand and went to feel at the edge with his fingers, but a loud withdrawn gasp from Magnus caused him to hesitate.

"You…might not want to do that…" said Magnus with concern in his voice.

Carefully placing it in one of his hands, Naruto looked at his old friend with a mixture of confusion and curiosity, "What is it, the Dagger of Destiny?"

"Well…no. It's just a dagger."

"Then why shouldn't I touch the edge?"

Magnus looked at him like he was stupid, "Because you'd cut yourself?"

Naruto's gaze shot to the sky as he pocketed the dagger inside his jacket, "I was almost worried that you were taking something seriously for a change. Does it actually do anything?"

The old man shrugged and started to peel an orange he had mysteriously produced from his bag. "I dunno. Seems like something handy to hold on to though."

Naruto groaned loudly before turning and smiling as he saw Hinata walked towards them with a satisfied look on her face. "So, what are you doing now? Are you going to come with us?"

With orange juice flowing down the sides of his mouth, Magnus chuckled as he watched Hinata kiss her husband lightly on the cheek before smiling down at him. "Nah. I've got important…stuff I need to do."

"Cheating at cards?" asked Hinata with a raised eyebrow.

"And sleeping," added Magnus. "You two go have your adventure. I just wanted to pop in and say hi. I would've said something at your wedding, but the two of you were in such a rush."

"Hang on, you weren't at the wedding," said Naruto as he remembered the townsfolk who had attended their nuptials.

Magnus finished his orange and tossed the peel onto the grass before hopping up to his feet and grinning at him, "Wasn't I?"

Naruto and Hinata shared another look, but neither of them was willing to challenge the old man's statement.

Magnus reached over and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder with a lively look in his eyes, "Remember, just because something can't die, doesn't mean it can't be destroyed."

"I have NO idea what that means," said Naruto with a sigh.

"Well that's convenient, neither do I." Magnus pointed to a direction nearby to the slowly setting sun, just past a small forest of trees. "The place you're looking for is a day's walk that way, north-west. You can't miss it."

"Um…thanks…" said Naruto in reply. "How do you know that?"

He immediately regretted asking as he saw the look on Hinata's face beside him. Magnus waved a hand over his face with a whoosh sound, "It's a trick."

"I just had to ask…" muttered Naruto to himself while Hinata giggled quietly and locked her arm around her husband's.

The strange old man turned to leave with his ever-present bag sitting on his belt.

"Magnus…"

He turned around and flashed his friends a wild grin, "Something else you need?"

Naruto looked at his wife for a moment before turning back to their friend, "Is your part in this…over? You've been very helpful to us, but something tells me we haven't seen the last of you."

Magnus chuckled vigorously, "Perhaps, perhaps not. The game is yet to play out fully, and I hate to lose. If she keeps cheating, then so shall I."

"We don't know what any of that means," said Hinata with a confused expression on her face.

"That's the point, my dear," replied the old man. "If I didn't let you discover for yourself, then there is no fun to be had."

The two Konoha shinobi shared a look for a moment, but when they turned back to ask him something else he was gone.

Naruto rolled his eyes, while Hinata let out a small chuckle in amusement. They knew where they were going now, but not for the first time they questioned whether there was a larger part to their quest than they first thought.

Figuring things would work themselves out at some point in the future; Naruto and Hinata adjusted their path and began walking to where Magnus told them Neji's village was located. The likelihood that Magnus was simply pulling a trick on them was fairly high, but neither of them had a clue on where to even start otherwise.

* * *

><p>The shinobi village of Otogakure was unlike either of them had been expecting. The village was settled within a large scale set of concrete walls, looking more like a fortress than a village.<p>

How none of the Land of Rice Field's civilians didn't know where it was, was beyond either of them. Four tall towers sat on the corners of each part of the village, each appeared to be bristling with weaponry. It also sat on a tall hill with only a single raised walkway that would allow for the people to descend to the main level of the land.

Naruto found his head shaking as they walked closer to the village. "You could hold this village with six old ladies with broomsticks…forever."

"Looks very…Neji-like, doesn't it?" said Hinata with a smile.

Her husband nodded in agreement as they stepped onto the walkway. Immediately they saw large groups of shinobi wearing forehead protectors they were familiar with, readying a number of long range weapons. If they presented themselves as a threat they could easily be taken out without getting within a stone's throw of the main gate.

"Hold it right there!" came a voice from the gate.

Both Naruto and Hinata halted immediately, recognising that they weren't in a position to argue the point. They put up their hands to demonstrate they meant no harm.

"Are you armed?"

Naruto snorted loudly, "Of course we're armed. We're shinobi."

An arrow screamed through the air and landed straight into between Naruto's legs. The blonde shinobi didn't flinch, though he did raise his hands up higher to extenuate his point.

"Can we come in? We're friends of your…leader," said Naruto loudly.

"Still can't say it properly, can you?" asked Hinata quietly. "Jealousy is not an attractive trait, dear."

"Yes dear," said Naruto drolly as they watched the large gate in the front of the village open slightly and a group of three Sound shinobi approached them. They were led by a tall man who looked like someone had tried to grind rocks on his face, and to Naruto and Hinata's view they couldn't see any weapons in their hands.

"State your business quickly or we will kill you on the spot," said the leader without hint of emotion.

Naruto went to step forward, but Hinata put a hand up to stop him and stepped in front of the guard.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata and this is my partner Uzumaki Naruto. We are old friends of your leader, Hyuuga Neji. We've come to offer our help."

The guard frowned at her statement, taking a moment to stare at her white eyes before turning to the other guards and motioning with his head. The two of them nodded in response and walked around to stand behind Naruto and Hinata.

"It doesn't quite work that way around here," said the guard. "We'll have to get clarification of who you are and even then I doubt the Otokage will see you."

"Otokage…damn, he really did do it, didn't he?" said Naruto with only a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

The guard motioned towards the gate, "Come with us to the security checkpoint. If everything checks out, we'll see about getting a message to the Otokage."

Seeing nothing else to do, Naruto and Hinata followed the three guards into Neji's village, unsure what to expect within.

oOoOoOo

After a pair of sensory shinobi scanned them for anything out of the ordinary, Naruto and Hinata were given a pass by the security team and were sent from the security gatehouse to the front of the village. They were still surrounded by security armed to the teeth, but for the first time they were granted a look at the village exterior.

From what they could see, the village of Otogakure was a thriving village on such a scale they hadn't seen in a very long time. The streets were lined with shops and markets, yet the streets were twisted and winding, with seemingly no rhythm or rhyme to them whatsoever. Each of the buildings were the same height despite the variety in shapes and the streets were full of people going about their business.

Hinata made several observations about the village that she was sure that her husband likely would not. The people of the village all walked as shinobi would, though they appeared more relaxed than they likely were. Each appeared to be either discussing items of interest with one another or bartering for items from a variety of shop fronts. She noticed women and children acting as she remembered they used to in Konoha, though there was a different atmosphere due to the different people.

"So can we go?" asked Naruto to one of the guards.

The female Sound shinobi ignored his request as the main guard came to them from the security gatehouse with a weapon at his side.

"You will wait here until you are given final clearance. If you leave this spot, you will be hunted down and killed before you could even get to the first group of houses."

Naruto chuckled at the prospect, "You guys could try. I reckon we could probably take the lot of you down without so much as a scratch."

Despite her usual graceful exterior, Hinata let out a groan and her gaze shot up towards the sky, "Naruto, why …"

The main guard stepped forward so that he was right in front of Naruto's face as his expression grew furious.

"Look, I don't give a damn if you think you could take all of us down, if you threaten any of us you will be taken down without prejudice."

"Whoa, calm down there," said Naruto with his hands up to indicate he meant no harm to them. "It was just a joke. Can you just tell Neji to give the stick out of his ass and let us in?"

He turned to his wife with an apologetic look, "Sorry dear."

Hinata shrugged lightly, "I agree, Neji-niisan's stick is almost as big as yours."

Her husband grinned widely at her. Hinata groaned at the look on his face, "I didn't mean it like that."

"I don't care," he said through a chuckle. "I'm counting it."

The guard watched the exchange with barely contained fury. He tapped a finger on the blade at his shoulder impatiently before finally giving in and barking an order at the guards around them, causing them to stand with their weapons ready.

Both Naruto and Hinata immediately had weapons in their hands, but still stood neutrally in amidst the guards.

The main guard stepped forward to stand off against Naruto directly, "Like I said, you aren't going anywhere without the say-so of the Otokage!"

To their surprise a Sound shinobi appeared out of thin air beside the air, holding a small piece of paper in his hand. The guard snapped it out of the messenger's hand and read it quickly before cursing silently and turning to the two of them.

"The Otokage has granted you permission to enter." With that the Sound guards stood down, but the main guard didn't back down completely. "But don't think this gives you a free pass! This is our village and if you step one toe out of line…"

Another Sound shinobi appeared at his side, handing him another piece of paper. The guard snarled and read it quickly before crumpling it up and tossing it on to the ground.

With an exasperated look on his face, the guard slowly lowered his blade before sheathing it on his belt. He cleared his throat awkwardly, "Apparently…you have been given free passes. I am to provide you with an escort to the Otokage."

He turned to one of his subordinates, "It's around midday, he'll likely be at the academy. Escort our…guests to him without delay."

She saluted him quickly before motioning for Naruto and Hinata to follow her. The two of them nodded courteously as Naruto chucked a quick smirk to the main guard. Just as they went to leave, the guard put up a hand and placed it on Naruto's shoulder.

"I'm watching you, boy. If you have brought our enemies to us, I will not hesitate to…"

A third shinobi appeared at his side holding a piece of paper.

This time the guard didn't even bother reading it, he simply threw his hands into the air and stomped back to his post, grumbling incoherently to himself.

oOoOoOo

The village continued to impress the two of them as they were 'escorted' on the way to the Otokage. The pathway they were walking on slowly opened up to a large oval area with a building that brought a smile to both Naruto and Hinata's face immediately.

"I can't believe he built that in three years," said Naruto with an impressed whistle.

"I can't believe he built this whole village in three years," said Hinata. "It's unimaginable."

"He didn't do it alone," came a deep male voice from behind a nearby wall. The two Konoha shinobi watched as a huge man with a completely bald head walked into view, a bag of potato chips in his hands. "This village was built by all of us."

"Jirobou!" came a second voice, though this one sent a chill down Naruto's spine. A tall man with dark grey hair and a wicked smile on his face jogged up to the large man. "You deadshit, you stole the last bag of chips! I was going to relax and eat those while going through brother's intelligence report."

The large man shrugged and shoved a large handful of chips into his mouth just to prove his point.

Naruto stepped forward and pointed an accusatory finger at the grey-haired shinobi, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sakon turned to him with a look that Hinata could only describe as apathetic, "Oh, it's little blondy."

Before Naruto could say any more, his wife put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Naruto, we knew that there would be some survivors from those battles."

Sakon laughed deeply at her comment, "You kids couldn't kill us if you tried. Not for a lack of trying, I'll give you that." He turned to Jirobou, "You got any chips left?"

The large Sound shinobi looked into the bag for a moment before shovelling the last few pieces into his mouth and chewing loudly. "Nope."

"Fatass…" swore Sakon under his breath. "I'm gonna check the markets before signing in." He walked towards his blonde ex-foe slowly before feigning a head butt.

Despite himself, Naruto flinched, causing the Sound shinobi to bark out a laugh and push past him with a shove. The Konoha shinobi stared at him with fury in his eyes, but he knew that attacking the Sound shinobi just on principle was a stupid move even for him.

"You're here to meet with the boss man, right?" asked Jirobou in a surprisingly polite voice.

Hinata nodded with a smile on her face, "Yes, we are. I'm Hyuuga Hinata, this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes, I've heard of you," nodded Jirobou. He turned to their escorts, "You're relieved. I will take them to the Otokage."

The guards bowed in respect to him and disappeared back to the front gate.

Without a word, Jirobou started walking towards the building in front of them, with Naruto and Hinata following behind quietly.

The building had a large plaque that told the newcomers that it was an academy modelled after the one that had been destroyed in Konoha, but their gazes were drawn to a large crowd of people standing in a circle on the grassy oval.

The three of them walked up to the group, noticing that many of the people appeared to be Genin, with some older shinobi seemingly standing with their children, watching with fascination at the events in the middle of the group.

Standing in a form several years older than either of them remember in his black and white robe was the Otokage. Neji wore his hat over a long head of dark hair and didn't appear to have any weapons on hand.

Around him were ten young people armed with a variety of bladed weaponry, each charging forward to try and remove Neji's head from his shoulders or pierce him through the middle.

However the Otokage merely brushed aside the blows with the grace of a dancer, each blade strike barely missing him as he moved through the attackers and moved around them so that he could continue to dodge their attacks.

As they stepped into the ranks of observers, Naruto and Hinata found themselves impressed by what they saw. Even as several of the attackers banded together and seemingly pinned the Sound leader into an inescapable position, Neji leapt high into the air and placed his right hand on the hilt of one of the staffs before pushing himself over his attackers and landing away from them with his arms at his side.

"That's not that impressive, he's probably using his Byakugan," whispered Naruto to his wife.

Hinata simply smiled and indicated to her cousin's relaxed expression. Neji's eyes were their normal white colour with no popping veins to indicate that he was using his doujutsu in any capacity.

"Okay, that's a little bit impressive…I guess…" muttered Naruto quietly.

The attackers moved to slash at the Otokage once again, but he put up a hand, "Stop."

They all froze in place as Neji walked into their ranks. He placed his remaining hand on one of the attackers at the wrist, adjusting the grip on his sword, "You need to keep a tighter grip on your weapon. If the enemy is able to dodge your attack they could disarm you with little effort."

The young man nodded and stepped back into line with the others. Neji observed them momentarily before turning his gaze to a young woman with dark red hair, "You attack well, but you overextend too quickly. Practise your footwork more thoroughly."

"Yes sir," said the young woman with respect in her voice.

Neji turned to regard the group as a whole, "You have all come a long way. I will send your evaluations to your supervisors and those that are promoted to Chuunin will be integrated into the forward ranks. Those that do not, you will have another chance within the week. Dismissed."

The students all bowed to the Otokage respectfully before dispersing with the observers. A young woman approached Neji and handed him a damp cloth, which the Hyuuga leader took with a word of thanks. He pressed the cloth to his face with a sigh as Naruto and Hinata walked up to him with smiles on their faces.

Neji turned to them and a rare smile broke out on his face. "Ah, you finally got here. I was expecting you sometime last week."

"Never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you, Neji," said Naruto as he regarded the Otokage.

"Likewise," replied Neji before turning to his cousin. "Hinata, it is good to see you alive and well."

Unlike the two of them, Hinata had no issue stepping forward and embracing her cousin in a tight hug. Naruto chuckled at the image, while Neji recovered from the surprise quickly enough and placed his right arm onto her shoulder. After a few seconds Hinata released him and stepped back, smiling warmly at her cousin as she wiped at her eyes.

"I thought you were dead for so long. We would've come sooner, but we were held up."

"In Kirigakure, I'm aware." Neji nodded to Jirobou behind them, who left them silently to their discussion. "By the sounds of it, the two of you haven't been in the country for a long time. I've been trying to find you since I first established Otogakure."

"In that, how the hell did you do all of this?" asked Naruto, motioning to the village proper. "This isn't the Sound village we destroyed years ago. Was this all you?"

Neji crossed his arms over his chest, "That's…a long story. Why don't we talk about this while I show you around?"

Hinata showed a rare frown on her face as her eyes were drawn to her cousin's left hand, or rather the lack of one. "Neji, what…"

The elder Hyuuga brought up his stump with an awkward look on his face, "That's…the price of hubris I had to pay. It's also a long story."

Naruto examined it with a low whistle, "That's rough. Do you have a hook or something to put on it when you fight?"

Neji resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he pulled his sleeve back up to cover his stump, "You haven't changed at all, Naruto. Somehow that's oddly comforting." A thought came to his mind and he turned to his old friends with a slight smirk, "How would like to meet another old friend?"

* * *

><p>The sounds of metal slamming on to metal were virtually deafening by the time they reached the blacksmith, but none of them paid any heed as Neji rapped on the front door.<p>

"Whoever it is, get lost! We don't have time for any more orders!" came a loud female voice before a loud crash caused her to curse loudly.

Neji rolled his eyes and put up a hand to Naruto and Hinata to tell them to wait for a moment. He turned back to the door, "It's me. Open the door."

"Oh shit! Baro, open the door quickly!"

The Otokage stepped back and watched as one of the doors swung open and a large blast of heat hit the three of them as a soot-covered man coughed loudly and stared at them through beady eyes.

"Don't you know we're on a dead…oh shit…" The man bowed to Neji quickly, hitting his head on the door and crying out in pain. "I'm…sorry sir, I didn't know it was you."

"Back to work, Baro," said Neji, letting him nod respectfully to the Otokage's companions before diving back into his work.

The blacksmith workshop was massive, far larger than any of the other buildings they had been shown so far. Six furnaces bellowed fire and metal as they were worked by the aproned blacksmiths, with rows upon rows of blades stacked in boxes on the sides of the walls. The workers ignored Neji and his companions, continuously slamming hammers into anvils in perfect synchronisation. Naruto found a grin sitting on his face; all that was missing was a work song and a supervisor with a whip.

"This is our blacksmith," said Neji proudly. "This room is where we win the war."

"Impressive," admitted Naruto, reaching down to pick up one of the swords in a nearby crate. "This is some good quality steel."

"HEY! PUT THAT DOWN!"

The blonde shinobi dropped it immediately, having been conditioned to respond instantly to a loud female voice after being on Grace's ship. "I wasn't touching it."

Hinata nudged him with a smirk as a young woman in a mask stomped over to them and glared at him with what felt like fiery eyes.

Naruto wanted to put up his hands in surrender, but the young woman reached up with callused hands and removed her mask. Her face sat in a constant smirk because of a scar that ran from her lips to her cheek, though her eyes spoke volumes of a range of other emotions.

"Looking good there blondy," said Tenten with a hint of amusement in her voice. She turned to his wife, "Hinata, you are looking well."

The Hyuuga kunoichi almost squealed as she shot forward to give her old friend a hug, but Tenten put a hand up between them to stop her.

"Hang on there; you don't want to do that. I'm covered in soot, dust and vomit. Don't ask about the last one."

"How is work coming along?" asked Neji of his subordinate.

Tenten turned to him and her eyes showed her frustration, as did her furrowed brow. "Better, though interruptions like this make it impossible to keep to your insane schedule." She turned back to the married couple, "Not that it isn't brilliant to see you guys. I would love to talk…"

Another loud crash echoed through the building, causing Tenten to sigh before putting her mask back on and turning to her workers. "Get that furnace burning again! If you've ruined those kunai, I'll have you working triple shifts until they are replaced! And somebody take Yui to the hospital, she's started to turn purple."

Through her mask she nodded to Naruto and Hinata before storming back to the furnaces. They turned to Neji for an explanation as to the mad rush, but the Otokage waved off their question and motioned for them to join him outside.

He shut the door behind them as the three of them all breathed in the sootless air.

"Seems like Tenten is doing well for herself," said Hinata through deep breaths. "I don't think I've ever seen her so animated."

"What's with the scar on her face?" asked Naruto, though he regretted it as Hinata gave him a disapproving look.

Neji shook his head; he wasn't going to tell them what happened with Tenten and her father. That was her business and hers alone. "There are a number of other places you should see, but there are a number of things I have to attend to."

"Of course, we don't mean to intrude on your duties," said Hinata quickly.

"Well, maybe a little bit," said Naruto with a smirk. "This place is pretty neat. Be nicer if people weren't giving us shifty looks every five seconds."

"Be grateful that's all they are giving you. We don't get visitors at all, so people around here are naturally suspicious." Neji motioned for them to follow him as he began to walk towards his office and apartment complex. "But since you guys are family, I've given you a free pass."

Walking down the street with Neji beside them, Naruto and Hinata could see the level of respect their old friend had to the Sound shinobi. They didn't regard him necessarily with warmth, they both knew that the elder Hyuuga was a difficult person to like, but there was respect and admiration in their eyes as they saw his black and white robe.

"Where are you taking us now?" asked Naruto as they turned a corner and saw the large building that he worked and lived in. "Hinata and I have been on the road a long time, we could use the time to rest before we work out our next move."

"Of course," replied Neji quickly. "I'll get someone to organise a pair of apartments for the two of you to stay in."

Naruto and Hinata both shared a look and despite walking behind the Sound leader, Neji turned around and frowned with his hands by his side, "Something I should know about?"

"You should tell him," whispered Naruto quietly.

"No way, you lost the coin toss," whispered Hinata back.

"I'll rub your feet…"

"You do that anyway."

"Damnit, you're right."

"You guys know I'm right here, don't you?" said Neji with an unamused expression on his face.

Naruto gave Hinata one final look before sighing and bringing up his hand to show the golden band around his finger. His wife reciprocated the gesture, and the look on Neji's made it clear that the message had gotten through.

For several seconds Neji's white eyes were fixed on their rings as a range of emotions played out on his face. Naruto was sure that the situation was going to end badly, but to his surprise the Hyuuga leader merely gave him a look before turning around and continued walking towards his home.

Naruto and Hinata shared another look before shrugging and following after him.

"I'll see to getting you an apartment," said Neji with a hint of a begrudging tone.

* * *

><p>Neji nodded to the guards at his apartment as Naruto and Hinata followed behind him quickly. "That's a remarkable story," he said as he slowly went through the process of unlocking the security. "This Magnus person sounds particularly interesting."<p>

"Not as interesting as building a village of your own. How many shinobi do you have working for you?" asked Naruto.

"Over a thousand," said Neji, opening the door and indicating for them to enter inside. "There are several large clans that make up the bulk of our army."

Naruto let out a low whistle; it was an impressive amount to accumulate in just three years. He and Hinata walked into Neji's apartment, and were immediately struck by the fact that they heard children laughing. They shared a glance before both gave Neji questioning looks, but the Hyuuga shinobi made no comment as he stepped forward and opened up a second set of doors.

Inside was a wide living area with a number of couches and desks, but the couple's eyes were drawn to the two small children sitting on a wide carpet, both of them playing with a set of building blocks. A woman appeared from a side corridor with bright silver hair that ran past her waist and a pair of violet eyes that spoke of both intelligence and kindness. In her arms was a sleeping baby covered in blankets, but the real surprise came when she smiled at the elder Hyuuga and kissed him lightly before greeting them politely.

"Naruto, Hinata, this is Yuko. She was the daughter of the Daimyo…and my wife."

"Wife?!" exclaimed both of them with dropped jaws.

Yuko chuckled lightly, "We get that a lot." She turned to her husband, "I can take the children out if you want to talk business."

"No, that's okay. I brought them here to meet them," said Neji with an affectionate expression.

Both Naruto and Hinata were blown away by the idea of the elder Hyuuga producing offspring, but as they looked at the little boy and girl playing with blocks the evidence was irrefutable. As they played with their blocks, they both glanced over at the couple through bright white eyes. Hinata even found the young girl's face eerily similar to her younger sister Hanabi, bringing a small collection of tears to her eyes.

She wiped her eyes and turned to her cousin, "What are their names?"

Neji indicated to the twins playing on the carpet, "The girl is Akari, and the boy is Hizashi. I named him after my father." He motioned to the baby in Yuko's arms as his young wife carefully took a seat on a rocking chair. "His name is Akira."

Naruto slapped Neji's on the back again with gusto, through which the Hyuuga leader merely sighed with exasperation.

"How old are you?" asked Hinata sweetly as she knelt down beside the twins.

Hizashi thought about it for a while, turning to Akari for a moment before grinning with slowly growing teeth at his new aunt, "I'm two…" He put up two fingers to prove his point.

Naruto chuckled at the toddler and gave Neji an amused look, "You didn't waste any time, did you?"

The Hyuuga leader ignored his comment and placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, "Are you okay? You're looking a bit tired."

Yuko smiled up at her husband and continued to rock the baby in her hands, "I'm fine, just haven't been getting much sleep lately."

He smiled back down at her, reaching forward to brush his hand across Akira's little head as he slept silently. "I can look after him tonight if you want to get some sleep."

His silver haired wife simply smiled in response, she knew he would do so without question, but they both knew there was a better way of getting rest for both of them.

"I must say Neji, I'm very impressed," said Naruto, watching as Akari waddled her way to Hinata and started to feel at her pant leg with the kind of fascination only a small child could exhibit. "A village, a family…seems like you've got everything worked out."

Neji smiled proudly at his family, "It's a cause of great happiness for me."

A knock came from the door and a young woman bowed as she walked into the room, "Excuse me sir, madam, it is time for the younglings' bath."

"Of course." Neji knelt down beside Hizashi, "Take your sister and go with Toriko."

The little white eyed boy stood up slowly and pouted defiantly, "I don't wanna. She keeps kicking me."

The Otokage turned to his daughter with a disapproving look that struck Hinata as frighteningly similar to the ones her father would give her.

However unlike how Hinata would shirk away from her father's pressure and withdraw into herself, her niece stamped her feet and pouted, "I have to. He steals all the soap bubbles."

Neji continued to stare at her and his daughter stared right back. After almost a minute, the Otokage sighed and turned to his young wife, "Yuko, can you talk some sense into this little hell-raiser?"

Unfortunately the silver haired woman was fast asleep, her young son still sleeping in her arms without a sound.

At Hinata's side, Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the image. "Quite the family you've got there, Neji. The irony is perfect."

Neji once again ignored his blonde friend and reached down to pick up a struggling Akari with his hand and giving her to the woman. Unlike his sister, Hizashi followed quietly behind her as she took them to the bathing room.

Leaving his wife to her well-deserved rest, Neji motioned for his two old companions to follow him towards his office.

"Your family is wonderful, Neji," said Hinata with a warm smile on her face. "You all appear to be very loving."

"Yeah, didn't think you had it in you," said Naruto with a slap on Neji's back.

The Otokage shot the blonde shinobi an annoyed look as he shut his office door behind them. "So long as it lasts."

"How bad is it?" asked Naruto with a serious tone. "We saw bits and pieces…"

"It…hasn't been good," said Neji slowly as he took his seat behind his desk. "The Kazekage told you of some of our friends?"

The two of them nodded sadly, the news of both Kurenai and Asuma, compiled with Shino, had struck both of them hard. Hinata had taken it particularly hard; she'd lost two of her teammates without even knowing.

"For the past two years, the Quiraji have been attacking us through a variety of means," continued Neji, placing his hand on to his desk. "At first they would convert shinobi and use them against us, but when that facility was destroyed and its creator killed, the real army arrived. They were merely bidding their time."

"Gaara and Utakata said that the army they destroyed over the ocean of the Land of Water was nearly a thousand soldiers strong," said Naruto. "Surely that will've made some kind of dent in their overall force."

Neji shook his head grimly, "Not even close. By our estimates, their entire army landed on the Land of Fire shores over a year ago. At least we hope so; otherwise we'll have no chance."

"How many soldiers are we talking about?" asked Hinata with concern in her voice.

Neji reached over and picked up a nearby piece of paper, "Tens of thousands, possibly over a hundred. These soldiers are just basic warriors, not holding a candle to the average shinobi, but their weapons are very powerful and they are very determined."

Both Naruto and Hinata breathed out slowly, it was a difficult thing to imagine.

"To our knowledge, there are three main armies. The size of which we do not know." Neji sighed visibly, "We've been trying to track their movements, but we've lost a lot of good people already."

He turned back to his old friends, "We could really use your help here. The two of you have a place here, if you wish to stay."

Hinata looked at Naruto for a moment, suddenly realising that neither of them had talked about what they actually wanted to do with themselves. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she also knew that now was not a time to settle down and have a family as they both wanted.

Naruto leaned forward onto Neji's desk, "What are you offering? We've been travelling for a long time to get back to you guys. It isn't like we can go back to being regular shinobi like the old days."

"I'm sure I could find something for you two, Naruto. Your skills would be invaluable to our village."

The blonde shinobi went to make a comment, but Hinata chimed in before he could. "What about the others? Gaara mentioned a fair number of our group is residing in his village, but others like Sasuke left for their own purposes."

Naruto turned and frowned at his wife's comment, "Gaara didn't mention that to me."

"Yes he did, Naruto. You were drinking rum with him at the time."

"Ah, that's right," said her husband with a warm smile. "That was fun." He turned to Neji to snap himself out of the memory, "What do you know about the brooding idiot?"

Neji put up his hand to indicate for them to wait before using that hand to shift through a large stack of paper on his desk. "I've got it written down here somewhere. Hmm…ah, here it is."

He read off the paper quickly, "Sasuke and his brother have joined a rebellion in the Land of Earth. They appear to be trying to overthrow Iwagakure."

Naruto gave him a look that defied description, "Why the hell would he be trying something like that? Doesn't he know we need all the shinobi we can get?"

"I couldn't tell you," said Neji. "All we know is that he's part of a group called Cascading Flow and they are fighting a losing war."

Naruto glanced over at his wife, and she immediately understood what he wanted to do. The young woman sighed and ran her hands through her dark blue hair.

"Can I at least have a bath first?"

"I'm not saying right now…"

"Yes you are," she said back. "If I was a jealous woman, I'd be concerned for you, Naruto."

The blonde shinobi smiled and placed a hand on his wife's back, "I love you too, dear."

"Can we get back on topic, please?" asked Neji quickly, not wanting to hear any more of their couple talk. "What are you suggesting?"

Pushing himself up off his chair, Naruto stood up to face the Hyuuga leader, "If Sasuke is in danger, we should go help him. Maybe we can talk them out of killing the Iwa shinobi at the same time."

Neji turned to his cousin, "Hinata? Do you support this?"

"Just because we are husband and wife doesn't mean we agree on everything." She turned to Naruto and smiled to reassure him, "But we'll talk about it. Can we get back to you about this?"

Neji recognised when his argument would have no place, nodding in response. "If you'd like Hinata, there are a few things I would like to discuss with you alone. Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

"It would be my pleasure, Neji," said Hinata with a slight bow. She turned to her husband, "What are you going to do?"

"Well you two have fun at your dinner. Maybe I'll have a look around the village or something."

"Okay then." Hinata stood up from her chair slowly. "Will your wife be cooking for us?"

Neji smirked at the idea, "Definitely not. I love my wife, but she can't cook worth a damn. I'll get the restaurant to make us something. Give me a few hours, there are several things I need to do before day's end."

"Of course," said Hinata quickly.

"And talk about what I proposed. You'd be safer here than out there."

"We aren't safe anywhere," said Naruto with a grim expression.

* * *

><p>Nodding to the guards outside the large steel door, the Otogakure walked into the laboratory and immediately clutched at his nose at the horrid smell emanating from within.<p>

The laboratory was covered in capsules and animals kept in cages, screaming out for release. Neji hated that such things were necessary, but he'd found out a long time ago that you can't win wars by being honourable.

He looked over at the scientists working tirelessly at their benches, creating the poisons and medicines that would keep their army above the Quiraji soldiers they faced on the battlefield. They ignored his presence completely, which was a blessing as Neji had been pushing everyone to their limits to meet their deadlines.

A fiery red-haired woman ran through the laboratory and stood over a group of scientists working with a malicious green acid on a collection of petri dishes. Pushing at the black glasses on her face, the woman observed their work for a moment before throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation.

"No, no, no! You have to mix the mulberry roots with a diluted mixture of black water element! Otherwise it won't get the potency needed to break down the proteins on a molecular level!"

Using a small amount of chakra to block off his sense of smell, Neji flicked his wrist to collect his robe's sleeve as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"How are things progressing here?" he asked loudly.

The scientists all ignored him, being too involved in their work, but the red-haired woman turned around and stomped towards him with a tired look on her face.

"Slowly," she said bluntly. "These people have no idea what they are doing. It's like working with a bunch of apes with chopsticks."

Neji sighed loudly as his observant eyes noticed the slight slumps in the scientist's shoulders at her comments. "Karin, you need to work on your people skills. I gave you the position of head scientist because of your knowledge, but people work best when they are properly motivated."

Karin snorted and pushed her glasses up her nose, "Fear and intimidation work much quicker. That's how Orochimaru kept his people working for him."

"And he died because he had no loyal followers," pointed out Neji. "I'm not Orochimaru and everyone here knows it. You need to understand that."

The woman swore under her breath and turned around to a nearby workbench with no scientists working on it currently. "Well if wishing and magic ponies are what you want, feel free to do so. I'm only here for my own experiments."

Neji followed after her and glanced at a notepad with a number of scientific details that went completely over his head. "I don't care about your motivations, Karin. I care about your ability to get results. What can you tell me about the specimens we've been giving you?"

"Ah, now that's an interesting field." She bounded away with a disturbing amount of joy, with Neji stoically following behind as she led him to the morgue section of the laboratory. "Your scouts have given us no small amount of material to work with, though there were some initial barriers."

"Karin, I asked for results, not pre-amble."

She put up a hand to wave off his concern and drew his attention to a corpse laid out on the table. "There is a clear genetic marker missing from Quiraji soldiers, one that prevents them from being able to mix physical and spiritual energy into chakra."

"Fascinating," said Neji, trying his best not to look at the open chest of the Quiraji corpse. He wasn't squeamish by any stretch of the imagination, but he was having dinner with his cousin later on and wanted to be able to keep something down. "How does this help us?"

Karin tapped a pen to her lips as she poured over the information on the chart. "We've got a number of poisons that are tailored specifically to break their immune systems down, but that's not the interesting thing that we discovered."

She put down the chart and reached into her lab coat, producing a small vial with a clear bubbling liquid inside. "This is our golden ticket."

Neji took the vial from her hand and looked into it, suspicious of what she was claiming. It appeared to be very inconspicuous, but if it was something like a super-virus then he could already envision the use for such a thing.

Though he hated the fact that he'd accepted such means of warfare.

"What is it?" he finally asked, handing the vial carefully back to his chief scientist.

Karin placed the vial back into her coat and stepped forward to close the morgue door behind them. "It's an enhancer. This serum will allow a select group of people to use both physical and spiritual energy on scales unimaginable. Think of the kind of power the Tailed Beasts wielded, and put that in the form of a squad of shinobi."

Neji had to admit that sounded enticing, but something like that sounded far too good to be true. "What's the catch, Karin?"

The red eyed scientist hesitated for a moment, but under Neji's white eyed stare she relented quickly. "It breaks down the user's immune system to basically nothing. Because we are using the spinal fluid and adrenaline from the Quiraji soldiers, it isn't completely compatible with our systems. They would die within a week of using the serum."

Neji shook his head and turned around to open the morgue door, "That's unacceptable, Karin. I'm willing to compromise a number of things in order to achieve victory, but not at such a price."

"But what about…"

The Otokage turned around and glared at her, causing the normally strong-willed Karin to shirk backwards as she realised the level of the power the man in front of her commanded. If he wished her killed, he could simply order one of the scientists to do it and they would obey without question.

"Concentrate your efforts on the items we spoke about when you first arrived here, Karin. Nothing else."

"Yes…sir…" she said through her teeth, giving him a slight nod in deference to his position.

Neji started to walk back towards the entrance, the scientists all staring at him with proud looks in their eyes.

"You have one month."

* * *

><p>Neji waited patiently in the recently constructed restaurant, a single glass of water sitting untouched in front of him. As Otokage he'd had the other guests spend their night elsewhere, now wasn't the time to mingle with his villagers. He didn't want the wrong people to eavesdrop on what he was to discuss. He trusted his people with his life, but there were some things they didn't need to know.<p>

And all the waiting staff were his people, over and above the regular villagers.

The receptionist at the door rang a bell to indicate his guest had arrived, Neji standing up and straightening out his robe so that he presented a respectable image.

Thanking the receptionist with a warm smile, Hinata walked into the restaurant and marvelled at the aesthetics. There were over a dozen tables and a large fish tank that was full of a wide variety of fish.

Neji's eyes widened at his cousin, she wore a long tight-fitting silver dress that fell just past a pair of black strappy high heels. Her hair was bundled up behind her head with a golden hair clip; she looked nothing like the girl he'd grown up with.

Hinata walked up to him and bowed in their clan's manner, Neji immediately noticing the similarities between her and her mother before she died. His aunt had been a beautiful woman, but Hinata was something else.

For a split second Neji was jealous of Naruto, but he squashed those thoughts down as he greeted her back and she gracefully sat at the table.

"You didn't have to dress up for the occasion, Hinata-sama. It's just a dinner between family."

The young woman smiled warmly as a waitress served her a glass of water. "I haven't had much reason to dress like this for a long time, Neji-niisan. I might not for even longer."

"Is it Yuko's?" he asked respectfully, trying his best not to stare at her neck region.

Hinata shook her head, "I bought it a long time ago, stored it in a scroll until now. And Neji, you shouldn't be looking at me that way."

The Otokage had the respect to look embarrassed, "Sorry. You look very beautiful is all."

Placing her hands on the table gently, Hinata regarded her cousin through her white-eyed gaze. "Also you shouldn't be calling me Hinata-sama. You are a Kage now, if anything I should be calling you Neji-sama."

He waved off her comment glibly, "You are the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, I'll always be calling you Hinata-sama. That's how it should be."

She stared at him for a moment before letting you a soft laugh and taking a sip from her drink, "Neji, you aren't a part of the Branch Family anymore. I gave you that scroll and you removed the caged-bird seal from your forehead. As my elder, you are the heir to the Main Family now."

"But I…"

Hinata put up a finger to stop him, "Neji, we are both adults. We've both gone on our different paths, and the old ways don't work anymore."

Neji went to say something, but held it back as he realised that there would be no talking her out of the matter. She could hold her own as well as anyone he knew.

The waitress returned to their table and handed them menus, exchanging pleasantries with her leader and his cousin before taking their orders and leaving them to their business.

"It's really amazing what you've done with this place," commented Hinata. "Reminds me a lot of Konoha."

"But different as well," said Neji. "This is our home, our village."

"I know Naruto is very impressed. I think he's jealous that you got to fulfil his dream before he could."

Neji chuckled at the thought; he enjoyed the idea of his cousin-in-law being somewhat miserable about it. "Well it's all worked out in the end. Have you and your…husband…discussed what I was talking about?"

Hinata sighed softly and put her hands together, "We have, and even if I wasn't married to him, I have to agree with him. Naruto and I have the freedom to help the others, and by the sounds of it there are some that really need it."

"It's not a safe world out there, Hinata. You are family; you should be here with us."

His cousin shook her head slowly as their food arrived and they thanked the waitress. Neji had ordered a fresh plate of herring soba while Hinata, to his amusement ordered their best ramen without a second thought. The Otokage simply let out a long breath and they began eating.

"We are better off trying to help bring others to you, Neji. I think you know that."

"I'm just trying to keep you safe, that's all," said the Otokage emphatically, but he knew that the decision had been made.

Hinata slurped a large group of noodles before grimacing as she realised she wasn't in a seedy bar like she was used to. She apologised immediately, but Neji merely smiled at her and motioned that it was fine.

"I'm safer with Naruto than anyone else."

"I know, I know. You can't blame me for asking though."

After they finished their meals they talked for a long time over a bottle of wine, finding that they had a lot to speak on that didn't have anything to do with their current situation. Neji asked about what they'd been doing over the past three years, while Hinata asked him about Yuko. She wanted to know about how they met and was quite persistent until he finally relented and told the story.

"So what is Naruto doing while you are here dining with me?"

"He mentioned something about helping one of your men with your defences. You know Naruto; he likes to help when he can."

_If Kidoumaru puts him to work on what I think he will, we might actually be prepared_, thought Neji, though he kept that to himself. "I'm sure he will be stunned when he sees you." His eyes shot to the ceiling and he groaned loudly, "And I just remembered you are my cousin. Forget I said anything."

Hinata grinned and raised her wine glass, "It's forgotten. It's not as if he makes me dress up or anything."

"You've been talking to Yuko, haven't you?" said Neji with pain in his voice.

His cousin grinned evilly and drank from her glass slowly.

* * *

><p>Hinata smiled to herself as she shouldered on the grey bathrobe that had been sitting in their room. She ran her hands through her dark blue hair, ensuring that transforming back hadn't messed it up before they went to sleep properly.<p>

Lying on the bed panting heavily and covered in sweat was her husband, though not as he normally was. His hair was scattered around his face in two long blonde ponytails and he was stark naked, but in a female form.

Taking a seat beside her exhausted husband/wife, Hinata placed a hand on his/her leg. "Are you okay, honey? You haven't turned back yet."

Naruto gasped several times to catch his/her breath and looked at her with both love and exhaustion in his/her eyes. "Why…didn't…we…try…this…earlier?"

"I wasn't sure you'd like it, dear. I think you are beautiful in that form, but I wasn't sure how you'd feel about mine."

Through his/her gasps, Naruto was able to put his/her hands together and release the transformation, turning back to his normal male form. He took long breaths to calm himself down for several moments before reaching forward and threading his arms over her sides and clutching at her back.

"I didn't have a problem at all. It might sound weird…but I liked it."

Hinata's smile widened and she placed her hands into his. "I'm glad. It certainly was a different experience. You aren't feeling any side effects?"

"There's a strange feeling in my stomach, if that's what you mean."

She had no interest in telling Naruto what that was; it would probably gross him out.

The two of them lay down on the large double bed in their room and held each other for a long time, neither needing to say anything. After a while Hinata removed her bathrobe and they got under the covers, it had started to get colder as they approached winter and it was easier to use each other's body heat than add on extra blankets.

"We probably shouldn't tell anyone about what we just did," said Naruto quietly.

"Embarrassed?" purred his wife into his chest, tracing a line over his many scars.

"Well…maybe a little."

Hinata chuckled, "You're cute when you turn that shade of red."

Her husband ignored her teasing and wiggled his head so that he was on one of the pillows properly. "If that's how it feels for you guys, how do you keep it in your pants so much? If we felt like that, we would never not want to."

"Oh, you know. Normal things. We tend to think about shoes…our friends…sometimes we get cramps…"

"Hinata…"

The white eyed girl grinned and turned around so that he could hug her from behind, "We have very good self-control."

"Hinata, we once had sex in synchronisation with a pair of dolphins."

"That was…no wait…that was my suggestion…damnit."

Naruto grinned as he kissed his wife's back affectionately, "Self-control my foot."

They lay in silence for a little while longer before a thought came to Hinata's mind and she turned around and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Did you model your breasts after Sakura's?"

"Did you model yourself after Sasuke?"

"I withdraw the question."

* * *

><p>As Hinata said a quick goodbye to Tenten in the blacksmith, Neji took Naruto to one side at the village entrance.<p>

"I don't like that the two of you are leaving so soon, Naruto."

"It's not something I'm particularly excited about either," said the blonde shinobi in response. "We've been running around so much that we've barely had a moment to catch our breath. But our friends are still out there and we have an obligation to help them."

Neji sighed; he knew that there was no way he'd be able to convince them to stay. "You were always like that." He looked into Naruto's blue eyes, "Be careful out there. The two of you are charging into a war just to find a few people. I know you will look after my cousin, but I'm giving you a large amount of trust here. Don't lose her, Naruto."

The blonde shinobi adopted a serious expression on his face, "I have no intention of losing my wife."

"Good. As odd as it sounds, you are part of my clan now. The two of you will always have a place among our people, it's part of the reason I've taken this village this far."

The two of them turned to see Hinata walking towards them, a pack on her shoulders. As his wife approached, Naruto turned to Neji and handed him one of his kunai.

"Take this, Neji. When we find Sasuke, we'll be able to come back immediately."

Neji took it and placed it in his pocket, "I'll keep that in mind. We have a number of plans in place, but that would be most reassuring."

Hinata smiled at her cousin before giving her husband a quick peck on his cheek, "Are you ready to go?"

Naruto nodded and offered her his hand, which the white eyed woman took with a smile. "To the Land of Earth, I guess."

"The provisions we've given you should last you a while," said Neji, nodding to the gate guards for them to open up the entrance. "Be quick though, we are much stronger together than we are apart."

Naruto and Hinata bid him one final farewell before starting down the walkway. Neji only watched them for a moment before signalling for the guards to close the gate. He quickly made his way back to his office, trying to push down the feeling that he wouldn't see them again.

oOoOoOo

With their packs in hand, Naruto and Hinata begin down the grass path towards the Land of Earth.

"You sure this is the right thing to do?" asked Hinata quietly as they walked side by side.

Naruto turned to her with a curious expression, "What makes you ask? I thought we both agreed."

"I do agree with you, honey. But rushing into a warzone isn't the best plan in the world."

Stopping for a moment just as the village of Otogakure had started to fade out into the distance, the blonde shinobi brought his wife's hands into his as he liked to do from time to time.

"Our friend is right in the middle of that. I have faith that Sasuke will be fine but…"

Hinata smiled and kissed the top of her husband's hands gently, "I understand. Besides, this Cascading Flow group sounds like they would make good allies."

Naruto winked at his wife affectionately, "Exactly. Neji's looking for more strength to push the Quiraji back and they could be just the right kind of people."

"You're insulted that Sasuke didn't invite you along, aren't you?"

"Not even a single message!"

* * *

><p>Neji let out a long breath as the visitors walked out of view. He cancelled his Byakugan and considered the fact that it was possible he wouldn't see his cousin again for a long time.<p>

Just as he was about to turn and continue the monstrous amount of paperwork on his desk, Sakon burst through the door, causing a frown to emerge on Neji's face.

"It's called knocking, Sakon."

The grey haired shinobi was short of breath as he stared at his leader with a desperate gaze, "I'm sorry sir, but it couldn't wait. Kumogakure has just come under attack."

Neji swore loudly and slammed his fist onto his desk, "Damnit!"

"Sir?"

The Otokage unclenched his hand while turning his white-eyed gaze to his subordinate, "How big is the force?"

Sakon caught his breath as stood up straight, "Tens of thousands. Enough to level the village."

Neji swore again, "We should've had more time. We were meant to have another month before this happened. We're not prepared."

"What are your orders?"

His leader pulled up a piece of paper and wrote down a list of information quickly, handing it to his intelligence shinobi. "Take these instructions to Dosu and Rene and recall Zaku from Suna. Tell them to wait as long as they can, but to execute their instructions to the letter."

Sakon nodded and went to leave the office.

"And tell Kidoumaru to meet me here, right now."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

For those who are interested, I've constructed a basic timeline that explains the major events that have happened so far and the time between them in relation to the characters. Thanks to Thormanator for the idea.

**BEGINNING**

-3 months – The Konoha Shinobi leave for the Chuunin Exams in Suna.

0 – Returning from Suna, they discover Konoha has been destroyed.

+1 week – Itachi/Shizune join the group. Orochimaru/Tsunade/Jiraiya die. Asuma/Kurenai/Tenten retire.

+5 weeks – The Kyuubi is 'extracted' from Naruto. Gai is killed in battle.

+7 months – Itachi and Kakashi search the past for answers. The group enters Uzu village.

+9 months – They attack the Sound Village. Neji kills Kabuto. They get scattered by Shouri.

+10 months – Shikamaru is found in Suna. Naruto/Hinata are sent to the Quiraji homeland. Sasuke is sent to an arena in Iwa. Kiba is sent to a mountain in Yuki. Sakura is captured by the Quiraji and brainwashed. Ino works in a small town. Lee is captured by Quiraji. Chouji is found at a village. Shino bars himself in a forest in the Land of Fire.

**POST SEPARATION** – Add 10 months

0 – Neji assembles Sound shinobi and begins to make a village. Kiba discovers a frozen Nagisa and thaws her out. They escape Yukigakure's grasp.

+1 month – Ino discovers Asuma/Kurenai killed by Iceheart. Rescues Airi. Neji creates first village, goes to capital, marries Yuko. Kakashi stays in Amegakure, befriends Konan. Naruto takes Hinata to a castle town and fights off an invasion while she recovers. Sasuke escapes the arena with Fiore's help and meets his mother. With Cascading Flow they attack the Daimyo of Iwa, and Mikoto is killed by Kyoukou.

+1.5 months – Naruto and Hinata are married.

+2 months – Ino leaves for another village. Amegakure is destroyed by Shikyo. Nagato dies reviving Konan, and she goes with Kakashi. Itachi kills Shouri at the battle of Kumogakure, but is captured by Sensou. Naruto/Hinata begin work on a ship.

+3 months – Neji brings the clans in for Otogakure. Tenten joins the village.

+4 months – Shikamaru is imprisoned. Shino is killed by Iceheart. Lee escapes the Quiraji prison with Jito. Naruto/Hinata leave on Grace's ship for their homeland.

+5 months – Shikamaru helps Suna fight off invasion. Gaara is promoted to Kazekage.

+6 months – Chouji decides to stay at his village. Lee attacks Iceheart and is killed, but revived by Shikyo.

+7 months – Lee tracks down and defeats Iceheart. With Sakura in recovery, Lee escapes Kirigakure.

+8 months – Ino races to hospital, stays with Shizune.

+1.5 years – Neji and his subordinates attack and destroy the Village of Water. The hospital with Shizune and co. is attacked and they all flee to Sunagakure. Shizune leaves with her summons.

**END SEPARATION** **PERIOD **– Add 3.5 years

0 – Jito brings together a group to invade the Land of Fire (Kakashi/Konan/Sasuke/Fiore).

+1 week – They are joined by Lee. They attack the Quiraji factory. Jito sacrifices himself to save Itachi and a captured Anko destroys the facility with herself.

+2 weeks – The group escape the Land of Fire and enter Suna.

+1 month – The remaining Kages meet on neutral ground for a meeting, with Neji declaring himself the Otokage and tells them about the Quiraji threat. Sensou attacks the summit with an army of converted shinobi. Lee arrives and kills Sensou in single combat.

+2 months – Eight Tailed Beasts gather at the ocean edge. Naruto/Hinata made landfall. They agree to help Yagura. Naruto scouts out the Land of Fire, destroys their port and a science facility. The group attack Kirigakure. Roshi is killed, Han disappears, Utakata dies. Tobi is killed and Mei Terumi is reinstated as Mizukage again.

+3 months – The last shinobi in Yukigakure is killed by Benkei. Naruto/Hinata reach Otogakure.

So yeah, that's the timeline so far. Took a while to work some things out, but hopefully that'll give you some clarification. So if Naruto was 13 at the start, he's now just over 17.

In response to Fragile Kirito, this story has some Summoning Techniques already. Shizune and Ino have the tiger-summoning, Sapphire had wolves, and there are several more coming up. The other two won't be making an appearance though, as they were predicated on Jiraiya's teachings, and he is dead.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	71. Chapter 65 Searching for Sasuke

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 65 – Searching for Sasuke

**A/N**: I still can't believe this story has 600 reviews. That simply blows my mind, you guys are awesome. I'm writing this story for you guys, and the responses are exactly what I want in feedback.

**A/N2**: I'm changing up the paragraph break too, since the format that fanfiction does has always been bugging me. So it'll still be oOoOoOo, but now it'll be more obvious.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, shinobi besides Kakashi would run out of chakra.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

On their way to meeting Neji, Naruto and Hinata were greeted by their old friend Magnus, who cryptically helped them find where to go. Arriving at Otogakure, the two of them were very impressed with what they saw, though they were more surprised that Neji had a beautiful wife and three small children. After several discussions and meetings with old friends, Naruto and Hinata decided that they wanted to travel to Iwagakure to help Sasuke in his role in the Iwagakure Rebellion.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>A pair of Iwa shinobi dropped to their knees and clapped their hands together in synchronisation, "Doton: Konran Doumu!" (Earth Element: Chaos Domes)<p>

The earth in front of them exploded upwards and shot forward towards their targets, with the Iwa shinobi grimacing under the weight of the chakra demand of the technique. The technique crashed across the rocky terrain like waves on an ocean, but their prey was too quick in the air to be caught.

One of the Iwa shinobi struggled under her failing chakra, and that falter killed her as a sharp wooden spike shot through the air from one of their targets straight into her throat. The spike retracted quickly as she fell to the ground, with her companion jumping at the attack but he was subsequently caught in a collection of fireballs that killed him almost as quickly as his companion.

Their targets slowly approached the bodies with caution; they had to make sure they were dead. It wouldn't be the first time they'd been faked out on, but upon quick inspection the skirmish was over.

"I would've gotten the second one," said Fiore, scratching at her teeth with her wooden pick. "You didn't have to interfere like that."

Her Uchiha companion grunted a response and cracked his neck loudly, "I'm sure. How many is that now?"

"Fifteen. Think they've gotten the message not to mess with us yet?"

Sasuke breathed out for a moment before taking an account of their surroundings. "Seems likely. I doubt they would be in a position to pursue us so easily after we killed their scouts."

"Why did they attack us again? It sounded like you exchanged some words with them before they started hurling rocks at us."

The Uchiha shinobi shrugged dismissively, "They were taking too long. It seemed easier to just provoke them and get it over and done with."

"You should really work on your patience," said Fiore, approaching him from the side and punching him lightly in the shoulder. "Are we going to head back? I'm starving."

Placing his hands into a handseal, Sasuke shot her a suspicious look, "You should never lecture me on patience."

Fiore snorted and went to retort, but hesitated as she saw the expression on his face shift. Her partner blinked and his eyes turned to their red Sharingan state, the young Uchiha's eyes widening as he glanced around the nearby area. His face screwed up in concentration before swearing silently and running through a quick set of handseals.

"Something wrong?" asked his partner quietly, knowing Sasuke wasn't the type to panic unnecessarily.

Sasuke bit at his thumb and placed a hand on the ground, "We have to run. Right now."

"What? Why?"

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A large cloud of smoke appeared in front of the two of them, dissipating as great feathered wings expanded outwards and a loud shriek echoed throughout the area. A large hawk stared down at the two of them through piercing eyes before bowing its head respectfully to its summoner.

The Uchiha shinobi nodded back before turning his red-eyed gaze to his partner, "Get on the hawk, Fiore."

The Cascading Flow warrior scoffed and pulled out her wood, "No way, I can't stand flying that way. I'll take my own way, thank you very much."

Sasuke went to chastise her stubbornness, but his eyes caught the chakra output of a technique that forced him to jump in front of the young woman and stretch out his arms. A massive purple skeleton drenched in violet flames emerged around the two of them just as dozens of large boulders came screaming towards the two of them and the hawk. The large bird was clever enough to move behind Sasuke's technique as the boulders smashed into the skeleton's body. They dissipated with only the slightest indication of damage on the purple skeleton, while Sasuke concentrated heavily on maintaining the technique. His eyes had changed to three intersecting ellipsis with a pinwheel at the centre, giving him a terrifying visage.

"How long until the next volley?" shouted Fiore over the thundering sound of the boulders striking the ground.

Sasuke blinked and his eyes changed back to their regular Sharingan state, the purple skeleton collapsing in on itself before dissipating completely. "Not long enough," he said in the middle of a leap onto the back of the hawk he'd summoned. "Get on the damn bird, or I'm leaving you behind."

Fiore spat out a string of expletives and jumped on the hawk's feathered back, her wood sitting in her hair balled up behind her head. She didn't even try to keep herself steady normally, clasping her arms around Sasuke's waist and holding him as tightly as possible.

Sasuke was concentrating too heavily on giving orders to his hawk as they took to the air to give her action any reasonable notice. The large bird took to the air with a single flap of its wings, a second volley of massive boulders just landing underneath its body.

The hawk banked rapidly and began flying at high speed, swooping down at several Iwa shinobi who were trying to reactivate their techniques. Its talons tore them to pieces in a single swipe before flying off into the distant sky.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

An Iwa shinobi came up to his commander and knelt down on one knee, his hand over his chest in a salute. "The Cascading Flow rebels have fled the area. Do we pursue?"

His commander slowly rose to her feet and let the rubble in her hands fall to the ground. She turned to regard her subordinate, taking no noticing of the grimace at her expression. "Our orders are clear. Those two are top priority, without them the rebellion will suffer greatly on the field."

"Yes madam," said the Iwa shinobi, bowing his head before standing back up and moving back into line.

Kurotsuchi glanced over at the shinobi under her command through her single good eye. A part of her hated being assigned to such a task, but the rebellion had torn the country apart and she had the opportunity to cut out its heart before it could consume their village as well.

"Move out! I want those two caught before the day's end!"

At her command the force of two hundred Iwa shinobi moved at top speed after the large hawk, determined to tear its riders off and drag them back to the village. Kurotsuchi pulled her gloves back onto her hands and fuelled chakra into her legs to forward herself at the same pace as her subordinates.

She would do her duty until she could do no more.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sasuke peeked over his hawk's side, sighing loudly at what he saw. They were a reasonable distance away, but after flying for several hours they hadn't been able to shake off their pursuers. He didn't have the sight of a Byakugan, but his Sharingan was able to give him a reasonable view of who their pursuers were. He didn't see any masks indicating any Iwa ANBU, but that didn't mean much to him. The fact that the force of that size would keep up with one of his fastest hawks was telling enough.

On the hawk's back behind him, Fiore slept soundlessly. It had been difficult enough to get her to calm down at first, but Sasuke had pointed out that she needed to rest far more than he did. He'd lied, but the young woman knew that when they landed the fight would be renewed and he'd promised to tie her to the hawk's back so that she didn't fall off.

He'd lied about that too. She was far too trusting sometimes.

The hawk let out a loud caw and Sasuke tapped it on the back in response. It began to fly closer towards the ground as Sasuke reached over and unceremoniously kicked Fiore in the side. The young woman woke up immediately and began to stand up rubbing her eyes.

The moment she saw they were still flying she dropped back down and spread out her hands to grab at the feathers frantically, glaring at her companion through furious violet eyes. "You said you would tie me down!"

"We're landing," said Sasuke, ignoring her protests as he eyed their pursuers. "We weren't able to shake them."

Despite her concerns about the hawk, Fiore was able to push herself up, clutching at his arm to steady himself. "How many?"

"Too many for the two of us to handle." The hawk flapped its wings rapidly as they approached the ground, its talons scrapping against the dry rocks before landing properly.

Sasuke and Fiore both jumped off its back, with the wood-user pulling away from Sasuke as if he was diseased, patting herself down to check that he hadn't done anything to her while she slept.

"I'll never understand why you hate flying that way. You do crazier things when you flit about on that piece of wood of yours."

"I can control that," replied Fiore with a tsk, flicking her wrist to grab her wood from her hair. "How long?"

Sasuke used his Sharingan to check the area around them, finding the area was not a good place for a stand at all. They had landed on the best place for the hawk to land, a wide flat area of stone with no cover whatsoever. He turned to his hawk and dismissed it, but the large bird let out a large shrill sound and stared down at its summoner with avian eyes.

The Uchiha shinobi smirked for a moment before turning back to the distance where the first elements of the Iwa pursuers appeared in view. "You know what to do?"

Rubbing at her stiff neck sorely, Fiore opened and closed her eyes quickly to try and wake herself up more. "Yeah. Like we talked about."

The two of them stood in front of the giant brown hawk as the Iwagakure shinobi moved towards them. It was clear the Iwa force considered them a high priority, which caused the two of them to smirk proudly.

"Who do you think they'll call on first?" asked Fiore, her wood having formed in its staff form in her hands. "They'll have to talk before attacking; otherwise they won't be sure we are who we are."

"Well you're the terrorist, so they'll probably want you more than me," said Sasuke. He reached to his back and produced a long katana, brandishing it expertly. "You're far more valuable to them as a hostage."

"Well I don't intend to let that happen. I've been in a prison before, it didn't stick."

"I won't let them take you either," said Sasuke confidently. "Your mother would kill me."

"Not before I do," said Fiore cheerfully.

The two of them watched as the Iwa shinobi came to a stop a short distance away, an intimidating show of force if there ever was one. They could clearly see the hatred on the shinobi's faces, though there was a mixture of fear as well. Between the two of them they had accounted for a vast majority of the deaths of the Iwa shinobi, though neither took pleasure in such acts.

Well, not much.

A female shinobi stepped forward from within the Iwa ranks, one that caused both of them to struggle not to wince at her disfigured appearance. Her single eye scanned the two of them quickly before finally resting on Sasuke's face.

"I know you…" she said with a strange expression on her face. "You were at the Chuunin Exams…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow towards their opposition, "I don't know you." He turned to his partner, "I guess you win."

"You can have her," said the Cascading Flow warrior with a grimace. "I'm sure your children would be beautiful."

Kurotsuchi ignored Fiore's jab at her appearance and stood with her back straight. "The two of you aren't escaping anymore. You'll pay for the lives you took this day."

"I take the hundred on the left, you take the hundred on the right," whispered Fiore with amusement in her voice.

"Bet you I'll take more than you do," whispered Sasuke back. "Hell, I bet the hawk takes out more."

"Enough!" shouted the Iwa kunoichi. "You are outnumbered and outmatched. If you surrender, we won't kill you."

Sasuke looked over at Fiore for a moment before turning his red eyes to Kurotsuchi with a confident expression. "I was just about to say the same thing to you."

Kurotsuchi snarled and turned to her force, "Take them!"

The Iwa shinobi collectively shouted their approval and charged forward towards the two warriors. Dozens began completing ninjutsu techniques, while others readied weapons and moved around to flank them.

"I guess that ends negotiations," said Fiore. "You ready?" she asked quietly to her partner.

Sasuke didn't respond, clapping his hands together and facing them to each side. His chakra exploded outwards in a whirlwind motion.

"Katon: Enkou Kyousei Senpuu." (Fire Element: Great Fire Whirlwind)

The Iwa shinobi in close proximity were buffeted back as a massive wind force exploded outwards and lit up with bright blue and orange flames. It enveloped the two of them and the hawk they'd flown on with ease, reaching scores of metres into the air.

Kurotsuchi stared up at the raging whirlwind of fire, her years of training recognising that it was purely a defensive measure, one that likely would not last long. She placed her hands into a handseal and motioned for the others to follow suit.

She placed a hand to her lips, "Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Element: Water Trumpet)

Over thirty Iwa shinobi spat water directly into the flames, but despite their best efforts the flames refused to be put out. After several moments she released her technique, causing the others to do the same. She stood back several steps and looked up at the height of the fire whirlwind.

Something about this smelled wrong to her.

She turned to warn her forces to be on their guard, but as she did so the air began to fill with arrows from every direction.

Kurotsuchi barely had enough time to spit out a barrier of earth from her mouth to cover the shinobi around her. She and the others nearby all ducked underneath the rock barrier and held their arms over their heads; all they could do was wait until the volley was over.

Numerous Iwa shinobi were unable to defend themselves from the barrage, arrows taking them in the neck and chest with deadly accuracy. Eventually after almost a minute the arrows stopped falling, with the remaining Iwa shinobi recovering from their defensive formations and taking in the situation around them.

Their village was known for their defensive techniques, but a full third of their force had been killed or mortally injured in the ambush. Kurotsuchi let out a string of expletives and barked out orders for them to tighten up their formation. They couldn't see the archers that had attacked them, but their leader noted that the fire whirlwind their targets had hid in had begun to dissipate. On instinct she glanced up at the sky, initially to see if that's where the attackers had come from, but instead she noticed the large hawk they'd seen earlier flying above them with their two targets sitting on top without a scratch on them.

Sasuke glanced down at the Iwa force, sighing for a moment before reaching into a pocket and handing his female partner a couple of bills. "I knew I shouldn't have bet the upper."

Fiore grinned and shoved the bills into her pocket, "I did warn you, no way they would lose more than a quarter." She indicated to the force below; the Iwa shinobi were already rallying and preparing to counterattack. "We should attack before they regroup."

Her partner once again ignored her as he directed the hawk to fly them away from their enemies. With his hands together in a handseal, Sasuke dropped off of his summon's back and placed his hands on the ground beneath.

"That won't be necessary," came a familiar voice behind the Uchiha shinobi.

"You don't command me here," said Sasuke with a serious expression. Nevertheless he withdrew his hands as Fiore carefully landed on the ground beside him, shooting the hawk a suspicious glare before turning to the speaker.

"You guys took your time," she said curtly, though she was thankful that he was here. "We were beginning to think we'd landed in the wrong area."

The speaker stepped forward with his hands in a complex handseal, "The two of you are fatigued, we will take care of the rest."

Sasuke went to retort, but as he looked into the speaker's face it brought the same chill down his spine as it did the first time he saw it. Muttering obscenities he moved behind the speaker, glaring daggers into the fan symbol on the back of his cloak.

His partner chuckled at the scene and tapped him on the shoulder cheerfully. "Always nice to see at least one of the two of you has stones left in you."

Sasuke turned his hateful gaze to the violet eyed woman, but she paid no heed to it as the battle began to recommence.

Over a hundred Cascading Flow warriors revealed themselves from hiding places surrounding the Iwa shinobi, either from fake rocks or pits from which to fire arrows from. The Iwa shinobi immediately moved to retaliate against their aggressors, but almost as a single unit paused in shock as the leader of the ambush stepped into full view.

He wore similar clothing to Sasuke, with a longer cloak due to his seniority in their diminished clan. It didn't appear that he had any weapons on his person, but the truly intimidating nature of Itachi's visage was his face.

Across his eyes was a pitch black cloth tied behind his dark hair, with two fiery green orbs underneath where his eyes would've been. His fiery eyes glared down at the Iwa shinobi with an express of despair that was overwhelming.

"It's Demon-Eyes…"

"No way…"

"I thought he was a myth…"

The mutterings of the shinobi were more damaging than the Cascading Flow warriors could have hoped, though the displeasure on Sasuke's face was obvious. He rolled his eyes and stared up into the sky.

Several of the Iwa shinobi put their hands together and tried to dispel what they thought was a genjutsu, but the image did not change as Itachi slowly raised a hand towards the air.

In a chakra-enhanced demonic voice, the elder Uchiha gave the command, his opponents unable to sense the reluctance he felt in his chest.

"Slaughter them."

Under regular circumstances the Iwa shinobi would've had the advantage in battle, even with the ambush scenario. However the Cascading Flow warriors had become very proficient at fighting against shinobi and with Itachi at the fore it was much more one-sided.

The air above the Iwa shinobi darkened rapidly, black clouds forming in the sky before balls of green fire began to fall towards their positions. Despite their training and experience, many of the Iwa shinobi panicked and tried to flee the area, only to be cut down by clouds of arrows with deadly accuracy.

Several of the more reasoned shinobi tried to send slabs of rock towards the green fireballs to stave them off, but to their dismay it appeared as though the fireballs obliterated them without taking any damage. A few Iwa shinobi who weren't concentrating on the aerial attack tried to break through and attack the archers directly, but a large number of Cascading Flow warriors behind the archers shot forward and cut them down through superior numbers and speed before they could complete any techniques.

The battle was over in less than two minutes.

Once he saw that there were no more shinobi on their feet and presenting a threat to them, Itachi dissipated his genjutsu and the sky cleared above the battlefield. The survivors looked around the battlefield with confusion in their expressions; there were no impact sites from where the fireballs had struck the ground.

Fiore turned to one of the Cascading Flow warriors at their side, "Scour the area, we don't want any of them escaping back to their village."

"They are all here," said Itachi in his regular voice. He didn't turn to regard any of his companions, merely stepping forward towards the mass of defeated Iwa shinobi. Sasuke and Fiore followed quickly behind him, their weapons out and ready in case there were several Iwa shinobi that were lying in wait to attack them.

Of the two hundred Iwa shinobi that had chased after Sasuke and Fiore, barely a handful had survived the ambush and the Cascading Flow warriors were ruthless as they moved among the bodies and continued their bloody work. Most of the ambushers were civilians who had been recruited for the rebellion and disliked the fact that they had to do it, but many of them relished the opportunity to enact revenge against their oppressors.

Itachi, Fiore and Sasuke came across a kneeling Iwa shinobi, her body pierced by many arrows, though she still had the strength to glare up at her murderers with a hateful eye.

"She's the leader," said Fiore with an accusing finger. "Should we take her prisoner?"

Itachi shook his head, "They don't do prisoner swaps, you know that. Any prisoners they have are already dead. The Tsuchikage doesn't value his shinobi's lives as much as he should."

"Well we can't leave her here," pointed out Sasuke. "She'd likely survive those wounds and report back on today's events."

His partner stepped forward as her wood formed into a sharp sword, "I'll take care of her. She's the one who killed Nia." Her expression spoke of her anger, one that Sasuke recognised all too well.

However neither he nor Itachi stopped her as she stabbed her wood sword into Kurotsuchi's chest. If she was surprised by the attack she gave no indication as the light began to dim from her remaining eye.

She muttered a single word before the life completely drained from her and she fell to the ground the same as her subordinates.

"Did you hear that?" asked Sasuke, leaning forward to Fiore's side.

The young woman shrugged in response, "I couldn't make it out."

"She said 'Rina'," observed Itachi a short distance away, his back to the pair of them.

Fiore frowned as she stood back up on her feet and saw the Cascading Flow members began to go through the bodies for weapons and supplies. "That sounds familiar. Isn't there a doctor back at base…"

"The green haired girl," agreed Sasuke. "Did she have some kind of connection to her?"

"We'll find out when we return." Itachi placed his hands in his sleeves and turned to walk away from the scene. "Elika will want to know how the battle faired. We should return to Cascading Flow."

* * *

><p>Turning to his young wife on the ground below, Naruto shrugged in response to her question. "This is the third one. Something is very wrong here."<p>

Hinata nodded and cancelled her Byakugan quickly to preserve chakra, "Completely empty, but no signs of battle or bodies."

The two of them continued their search around the empty village. They searched through a number of houses for supplies, but failed to find anything worth taking. It had been a week since they'd left Neji's village, but they hadn't seen a single sign of human life at all. They'd made some considerable distance into the Land of Earth, though neither had any clue where the Iwagakure village even was.

"What do you want to do now?" asked Hinata, dropping a plastic pot onto the dirt beneath her feet.

Her husband looked around the empty village one last time before turning back to the dark haired girl, "Well if we can't find any villagers, we need to find someone from either side of the conflict. We came here to stop the fighting anyway."

Running a hand through her hair and sighing as she realised how much dust had gotten in since the last time she washed it. "We'll have to move quickly then. We don't know how long we've got until they are forced into a conflict that ends the rebellion."

Naruto jumped down off of the roof he'd been standing on and kissed his wife on the cheek affectionately, "Smart and beautiful. A perfect combination."

"Oh be quiet you," said his wife back with the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks. "We should get going before we lose the rest of the day."

Naruto nodded with a look of regret before the two of them disappeared at a relatively high speed.

There were still many places left to search before they found Sasuke and his comrades.

* * *

><p>Naruto sniffed at the damp air suspiciously, "Something feels off."<p>

"I'm sure it's nothing," said Hinata at his side with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You've been jumpy for days."

The blonde shinobi sighed before flashing his wife a smile, "Of course. I just wish we knew where we were going." He felt at his pack on his shoulder, "We've got about a day's worth of food left."

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

The two of them began climbing a wide ridge of sheer rock, the two of them taking a moment to look out over the rocky plains before leaping down before. Hinata used her spiritual energy to slow their descent before they lightly touched down on the ground. Naruto marvelled at her control of the technique, the last time he had tried to do the same he had nearly sliced his feet off in the process.

He went to kiss her on the cheek in thanks, but as he tried he froze still. Hinata immediately knew something was wrong and with a flick of her wrists she grasped two kunai and turned to face where her husband was staring.

Underneath the rock cliff were a score of dark blue soldiers with bows pointed directly at them. They appeared ready to fire at a moment's notice, and a woman with dark brown hair and scars across her face drew a short sword from her side.

"Lower your weapons or we will kill you," she said quickly, her violet eyes showing them how serious her threat was. "Do it now!"

Hinata didn't relinquish her kunai, deciding rather to lean her head slightly to her husband, "Naruto…why haven't you teleported us out yet?"

"I've been trying," he whispered back, a kunai appearing in his hand. "Something is blocking my Hiraishin."

The female leader of the group stepped forward and brandished her weapon, "Drop your weapons, shinobi! Your disguises do not fool us!"

"Disguises?" Both of them were quite puzzled by the accusation, but weren't sure whether they should attack regardless or surrender to them. Naruto shot the leader a suspicious look, "Who are you? You lot clearly aren't shinobi."

The scarred woman turned to her soldiers, "Fire."

Naruto swore under his breath and transposed himself between the archers and Hinata, even as his young wife jumped backwards as fast as she could. With his single kunai he was able to block several of the arrows fired at him, but two slammed into his legs with great velocity, while another one caught him in the stomach. The force of being shot drove him into the ground as pain shot through his entire body. He tried to use one of the pain supressing techniques that Hinata had taught him, but like before the technique refused to work.

With blood flowing through his teeth, Naruto brought his head up to see Hinata charging forward like a furious angel, striking left and right at the archers and blowing them away with bursts of wind spiritual energy. He tried to push himself up, but the arrows and the pain kept him on the ground, he found himself slowly drifting into unconsciousness.

_What the hell…I've been shot before but not like…wait…shit…_

He tried to reach for one of the arrows in his chest, but a boot slammed into his temple and knocked him out before he could confirm his suspicions.

Hinata slammed an open palm into the chin of an archer before turning to see the female leader of the group kick Naruto in the head to knock him out. The Hyuuga kunoichi was not normally prone to episodes of fury like her husband, but seeing him assaulted so brought out her primal side.

With her hands covered in spiritual energy in a manner similar to her husband's fighting technique, Hinata shot forward to attack the enemy leader. She ignored the remaining archers that she hadn't knocked out as her hair flailed wildly behind her head. Her eyes remained a pure white as she didn't even attempt to use her Byakugan, all her being was focused on this one woman and taking her apart in every manner possible.

She shot one of her hands forward to pierce through the woman's chest with a fine blade of wind, but her opponent demonstrated a speed the kunoichi hadn't expected and moved around to her side, swinging her sword to take Hinata's arm at the elbow.

However Hinata had found against swords thousands of times over the past few years and knew every trick in the book, and several that weren't, on how to avoid such a strike. Dropping her weight to her other side, she rolled out of the way and hopped back up onto her feet, collecting the two kunai she'd dropped when she'd jumped back earlier and flicking them at her opponent.

As she suspected, the leader was able to block the strikes without effort. The scarred woman took a moment to glance at the soldier's Hinata had taken out, though it was only for a split second before the young shinobi charged forward again with clear killer intent in her eyes.

The woman easily evaded Hinata's attacks, sheathing her sword in the process and using her superior speed to manipulate the dark haired girl away from her husband's unconscious body. Hinata didn't even notice as she kept trying to push through the woman's defences but found her far too slippery to be caught.

Eventually Hinata found herself with her back to the archers beneath the ridge without her noticing. The woman didn't hesitate in calling for them to fire on her immediately, though Hinata was able to bring up a shield of air to block the arrows that threatened to take her in the back.

Unlike the first volley, the archers fired their arrows in waves, forcing Hinata to concentrate her efforts on defence. This allowed the leader to shoot forward and slam her closed fists into Hinata's head, causing her to crumple into the ground. Her attack went through the young shinobi's wind shield like it wasn't there, though the enemy leader did suffer numerous cuts on her hands and arms as a result of her attack.

The leader looked down at the young girl's unconscious body with a mixture of confusion and admiration; it had been a long time since she'd seen such fight in an enemy's eyes. She turned to one of her soldiers, "We're leaving this position."

One of the archers shouldered his bow and approached her, "How was she able to attack like that? I thought the field was meant to block their chakra abilities."

Glancing over at the markers they'd laid out for their trap, Elika sighed loudly and ordered her soldiers to pack them back up. They'd been expecting a small Iwa patrol, but they'd likely been diverted elsewhere and she couldn't tarry here much longer.

"What do you want us to do with these two?" asked one of her soldiers.

Elika knelt down beside one of her knocked out soldiers, taking his pulse before a confusion look came over her face. "She didn't kill any of them…"

She turned back to the soldier, "Wake the injured, we're taking the two of them with us. Something doesn't feel right about these two...they don't seem like regular shinobi."

Reaching down to heft Hinata up over her shoulder with ease, Elika looked down at Naruto's unconscious body for a moment, remarking at how he'd been able to deflect so many killing shots and still survive with very minor injuries. If they hadn't laid down a dampening field, she wouldn't have liked to meet them in battle without more backup.

Elika signalled to her soldiers. "To Cascading Flow!"

* * *

><p>"Something on your mind, brother?"<p>

Itachi turned his face to his younger brother, what was meant to be a reassuring gesture merely served to remind Sasuke of how much Itachi had changed since he'd rescued him from the Quiraji. "To what do you speak?"

The younger Uchiha gave his brother a knowing look, "Look, you might have glowing demon eyes, but I can tell when something is bothering you."

Itachi was not expressive by nature, but there were minor body language quirks that Sasuke was well aware of. What might appear to be simple facial expressions spoke volumes to the young Uchiha.

"This is not how I thought this would be, little brother. The things we have to do…Mother would be ashamed."

Sasuke stepped in front of Itachi and placed a hand on his chest to stop him, "We have both done much worse for the right cause. It isn't as if we are killing innocents."

"You cannot be the judge of who is innocent and who is not," replied Itachi cryptically. "Death for the sake of death means nothing."

"You're unsure of their motivations? I thought we had convinced you."

"Of their cause, yes." Itachi motioned to the Cascading Flow warriors that walked around them. "But these are simple people who should not be doing such things. Many of them are farmers, bakers and such. There should be other means of resolving this conflict."

"Well I'm open to suggestions," said the younger Uchiha. "But considering how the battles have been faring, you may wish to think quickly."

Itachi made no comment in return, though his body language spoke of his displeasure at his younger brother's attitude. He would often warn of the danger of hubris, but some lessons were better learnt on their own.

A warrior came up to Itachi and asked him a question that drew him away from Sasuke, causing the younger Uchiha to nod in understanding and move to the side of their group. After several minutes he noticed Fiore bounding up towards him with a strange glow about her.

Not that he'd ever tell her that, she didn't need the ego boost at all.

"Something I can help you with?" he asked as she came to his side.

The violet eyed girl pulled him to the side of the group with the same enthusiasm that she'd shown the first time they'd fought. She whispered something into his ear that caused him to do a double-take and pull her further out of earshot of the rest of the Cascading Flow warriors.

"Run that by me one more time?" he said with no lack of disquiet in his voice.

Fiore stared straight into his eyes with a frightening amount of confidence, "As I said, when we get back home, we should have sex."

The Uchiha shinobi frown deepened, "No."

"Just no? No explanation or reason? Nothing at all?"

Sasuke thought about it for a moment before turning his back to her, "I'm going back to the group."

Fiore reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcibly pinning him to a nearby tree. She clenched a fist and threatened to dive it into his face.

"Why the hell won't you take this seriously?! Would it kill you to show an ounce of emotion for one second?! We spend every moment together and you've still got nothing?!"

Sasuke hesitated for just a split second, but Fiore saw it. In her anger she drove her fist into his chest, but it barely inflicted any damage on the powerful shinobi, her heart wasn't really in it.

"Do these last three years mean nothing to you?" she muttered quietly, her eyes staring down at the ground in defeat. "I should have known you didn't care."

At that, something in Sasuke snapped. He reached forward with his hands and gripped her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him directly.

"Of course I care about you, you stupid woman! Do you seriously think I would do half the things we have if I didn't feel something?!"

"Then why won't you make a move?!"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!"

He hadn't meant to, but Sasuke had run his voice coarse at the proclamation. The two of them locked eyes, with neither conceding the silence. An entire conversation occurred between Sasuke's black eyes and Fiore's violet orbs, yet neither could quite understand what the other was trying to say.

Eventually Sasuke was the first to break the eye contact, his gaze drifting off to the side as he showed hesitation for the second time in as many minutes. He let go of her shoulders and fell back against the tree.

"I've lost almost everyone…my friends…family…if we get any closer I'll lose you too." His eyes looked back up at her with an expression that threatened to make the hard-bitten warrior tear up, "I'm not strong enough…not strong enough for that…"

Fiore took a step back to give a bit of space, suddenly every interaction she'd had with the Uchiha made perfect sense. The two of them had hinted to each other over the years and the gossiping among their companions had been rife with rumours, but only now did she truly understand him.

With affectionate deliberate movements she gently placed her hands around his neck, noticing that he didn't shy away from the touch as she feared he might. With a sad smile on her face, she used a hand to push his face back up to look at her directly.

"And you think I am?" she said gently. "I'm…terrified…every day." She took a long breath to calm down the butterflies in her stomach, but they proved too resilient. "Every time I see you, I get that little bit of hope in my chest that everything will be okay."

Both of their gazes fell downwards as Fiore leaned her forehead into his. "We could die at any moment. I don't want to waste the chance to know you…before that happens."

Sasuke breathed out heavily, he could feel her breath on his face as surely as a harsh breeze. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling by any measure, though the logical part of his mind was telling him to retreat and re-examine the situation.

"I didn't know you felt that way," he said finally, surrendering to the fact that it wasn't something he could keep putting to one side.

Fiore chuckled lightly and placed a hand on the side of his face, feeling at the rough skin of his cheek and neck. "I'm sorry for pushing you. I should've been able to tell…why you had been backing off."

Sasuke gave her a rare smile and shook his head slightly, though not enough for her to need to remove her hand, "I should've taken the risk. I wanted to…I was just…"

"A little girl in a short skirt," said Fiore with a smirk.

Her Uchiha partner dropped his smile at her jab, but his eyes expression the affection he'd been struggling to convey. "You are an…aggravating woman, you know that?"

The tanned skinned girl removed her hand from his face and tapped him lightly on the chest, "Only because I get away with it. So…not to press the issue or anything…"

Sasuke breathed out a sigh of exasperation; she was relentless when she wanted something. It was as if she hadn't understood anything in the past few minutes. "I think I do what to try."

His partner's face lit up immediately at that, "Fantastic! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that."

She turned around and flicked the wood spike out of her short brown hair and tossed it into the air, gesturing in the air as if moulding the element to a particular shape, though he knew she didn't require any hand movements to form it into whatever shape she required.

Sasuke's eyes began to narrow as he realised the wood was forming into a small enclosure around the two of them, including the small tree at his back, with a frightening amount of detail. There were no windows as far as he could tell, but that appeared to be part of the design as his partner turned back to him with a look that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Surely…you don't mean right now…"

An evil smirk came across Fiore's face as she undid the zipper of her jacket and stepped forward as deliberately as she could, "You aren't leaving here until we work this out. Completely and thoroughly."

Sasuke found himself staring at her without shame as she began to undress, any reasonable thoughts fleeing from his mind as she revealed her tanned skin body underneath each piece of clothing.

_What…what am I meant to do now?_

Inwardly Sasuke cursed his brother for this particular void in his training. He always fought better when he was prepared and ready. This was something beyond even his consideration expertise.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Further down the road, at the head of the hundred Cascading Flow warriors that were retreating back to their home base, Uchiha Itachi expressed the tiniest of smirks.

* * *

><p>As they approached the first elements of defence surrounding the main Cascading Flow building, the group's leaders all put up their hands at once to stop the ambushing force from proceeding.<p>

"Where are the sentries?" asked a concerned Fiore. She frowned and squinted to try and get a better look at the surroundings. The air above them had clouded over as the sun had set, yet the fires that usually littered the landscape were nowhere to be found.

Sasuke began signalling to their warriors to spread out in search formations before turning back to his partner and brother, "I'll lead a small group inside and see what the problem is."

Fiore nodded in agreement and went to step forward, but Itachi shook his head slightly. "We'll all go. Goro can handle things here while we scout it out." He turned his demonic gaze towards a large man who had a large axe on his back. "Hold your position here. Don't press forwards unless you receive the signal that the building has been compromised and we need your assistance."

He nodded in agreement and began shouting orders around the army while Sasuke and Fiore picked a select handful of warriors to accompany them. They hoped they weren't too late.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto groaned loudly as he awoke to consciousness. His eyes slowly opened but were quickly clenched as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Feeling down with his hand, he could no longer feel an arrow protruding out of his flesh, but his hand still came back sticky with blood.

"Hinata? You there?" he called out, opening his eyes again and trying to make sense of the blurry surroundings.

"I'm over here," came her voice a short distance away.

Naruto tried to sit up and failed, feeling cold stone underneath his fingers as he shifted so that he could see his surroundings. He sat within a small prison cell with his hands bound by a strange pair of handcuffs. On first inspection he discovered they were blocking any attempts he made to mould chakra.

"Hinata? I can't see you, where are you?"

"I'm in the opposite cell," said his young wife, allowing Naruto to divert his gaze towards her voice. He was barely able to make her out as she sat enveloped in darkness, but all his pain and exhaustion was forgotten as he shot straight up and clenched his hands on the bars of his cell.

Hinata sat with her hands and legs bound by the same handcuffs as he was. She looked like she had been beaten severely, her face was covered in blood and her hair was ragged and frayed. He couldn't quite make out her eyes, but merely judging by her body language Naruto could tell how she was feeling.

"My love…what did they do to you?"

"Nothing, it's nothing," said Hinata slowly. "I can't break my bonds…can you?"

Naruto looked down at his handcuffs and strained against them, they cut into his wrists tightly. He took a long breath to calm himself down before fuelling a small amount of physical energy into his hands. It caused the wound in his chest to flare up in pain, but Naruto pushed through it and pulled his hands apart as far as he could, slowly bending the metal inside the handcuffs until they finally snapped off.

He gasped loudly and fell to the floor; the use of physical energy had drained his stamina more than he would've thought normal. The wound in his stomach had opened up and was flowing lightly through his shirt, but as he felt around his legs he noticed that the wounds he'd suffered from those arrows had healed completely.

_Is this your doing?_ he asked internally. After several seconds it was clear he wasn't going to get a response, so he focused his attention on his more immediate problems.

With a small amount of effort he used spiritual energy to teleport himself into Hinata's cell, reaching down to place his hands into hers reassuringly. "It's okay, I'm right here."

She looked up at him and his heart broke as he saw the relief in her eyes. Breathing heavily he fuelled physical energy into his hands and broke both pairs of her handcuffs, catching her in his arms as she nearly fell to the ground.

"My precious Hinata, it's going to be okay," he repeated slowly as he brushed at her hair affectionately. "Why did you fight back? We had a plan, didn't we?"

"They shot you…" she replied quietly, her hands reaching out to grasp at the collar of his shirt. She slowly moved her head into his chest and muttered as tears fell from her eyes. "I thought I'd lost you again."

"Again?"

Taking several moments to centre herself, Hinata wiped at her eyes and looked at her husband with a strong expression, "When you had the Kyuubi extracted. I…didn't know if you were going to make it or not." She smiled warmly, "Seems silly now, doesn't it?"

"Not at all," said her husband, leaning forward to kiss her lightly on the lips. "I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too." Hinata went to get up, but grasped at her head and pushed her hands on the ground to steady herself. Naruto kept his hands on her shoulders to reassure her, but was already losing strength because of the wound in his chest.

"Not quite…according to plan…huh?" he said through pained breaths.

"I think I have a concussion," said Hinata quietly.

The two of them sat quietly for several moments before they both started to giggle uncontrollably. Hinata sighed loudly and cradled her head in her hands, "I can't believe I snapped like that. You were shot in the chest; it wasn't like you were going to die right then and there."

"I can't believe I got shot in the chest," said Naruto through pained giggles. "So did you kick that woman's ass? I think she kicked me in the head."

"Not quite. She was much stronger than I would've thought."

"Well that's something…I guess. So are these the right people?"

Hinata nodded as she rubbed at her sore wrists, "If they were Iwa shinobi they wouldn't have used chakra dampeners, and if they were Quiraji they would have killed us on the spot. That only leaves one group left."

"Good to hear," said Naruto with a grimace of pain. He turned his head to look at his wife, "Next time, let me do the planning."

"It worked out, didn't it?" replied Hinata with a tired smile.

Naruto barked out a laugh before wincing at his stomach, "Yes, sure. Walk into an ambush and get captured then wait for Sasuke or Itachi to verify who we are. Great plan."

"Better than your idea of covering the area in shadow clones." Hinata leaned over and placed a hand on her husband's stomach, "Why isn't this wound healing like you normally do?"  
>Naruto shrugged, "No doubt the Kyuubi is having its fun. I can't think of any other reason."<p>

Hinata took a moment to heal her head with her chakra, thankful that the headache she'd suffered was short-lived before turning her attention to her husband.

Her hands glowed with blue chakra as his wound began to stitch itself together.

"Naruto…this isn't a normal arrow wound. It damaged your chakra points on impact."

Her blonde husband breathed out a sigh of relief as she healed his wound, once again thankful that he married a woman with medical training. "It's the same type as the Quiraji use."

"Why would they be using Quiraji weaponry?" asked Hinata, turning her hands back to normal and leaning back onto the wall behind her. "How would they even get them in the first place?"

Kissing his wife tenderly in thanks for healing him, Naruto got up to his feet and took a proper look at the prison they were in. There were only two cells in the near vicinity, the ones they had occupied, with a small staircase leading up to another level.

"Those chakra dampeners were probably Quiraji technology as well. They are fighting shinobi after all; it would make sense to use those kinds of speciality weapons against them."

Having healed herself of her concussion, Hinata picked herself up from the ground with her husband's help, leaning on his shoulder, "Are we going to get out of here now?"

Naruto frowned; he was almost used to breaking out of prisons by nature. "Well we are here, so if we go along with the plan we need to stay here."

"So we sit and wait for Sasuke? Sounds like fun," said his wife with a sigh. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Naruto nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything else there was a loud crashing noise directly above them. The two of them were on edge immediately, reaching for weapons they no longer possessed. They shared a look for a moment before a second crash caused them to both nod in agreement.

"Okay, let's get out of here," said Naruto, taking Hinata's hand into his. The two of them disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the prison bars. Naruto chuckled to himself as they started to walk towards the staircase.

"What is it?" asked Hinata softly.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking on how useful that technique is, that's all."

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The group of twenty Cascading Flow warriors made their way through each of the defence checkpoints cautiously, with no indication of any of the sentries that should've been greeting them whatsoever. At the front stood Sasuke and Fiore, with Itachi just behind. They had seniority in the rebellion, but Itachi had a presence that made the Cascading Flow warriors want to follow his orders.

As they made their way into the main living hall, they all immediately stood on guard as they saw what had happened within.

The large tables that were normally in the middle of the hall had been smashed to pieces and thrown to the sides, with damaged weapons all around the floor. The Cascading Flow warriors glared at the back of the hall, where they could see a large number of their comrades kneeling on the floor with their hands clearly bound and each had been beaten severely.

Standing behind the defeated Cascading Flow warriors, was a large group of Iwa shinobi, each wearing an animalistic shinobi mask on their faces. They appeared as a sea of faceless shinobi, with each holding a bladed weapon to one of the hostage's throats.

Fiore snarled loudly as she saw her mother kneeling at the front of the hostages, blood flowing from her head through her hair and dripping onto the floor. She went to step forward, but both Sasuke and Itachi pulled her back, they needed to get a better grip on the situation.

Sasuke turned on his Sharingan and tried to see what they were dealing with. He counted over fifty shinobi standing in the hall; though to his surprise he could see two chakra signals a short distance away. He figured they were likely there to flee at a moment's notice back to the village, but he knew that if he gave any orders to their men the Iwagakure shinobi might kill the hostages. He bit at his lip in frustration; he didn't know what to do.

"This must be every single one of their ANBU," said Itachi quietly. "A last ditch effort."

"What do we do?" asked Sasuke with a whisper. "Genjutsu?"

Itachi gave the slightest shake of his head, "Too many. They would be prepared to counterattack it, and you can't use Tsukuyomi."

The Iwa ANBU shinobi that stood with a sword to Elika's throat coughed loudly to get their attention. Each of his companions was ready to slit the hostage's throats at a moment's notice, a demonstration that they had the clear advantage.

Sasuke looked over at Fiore, who appeared to have calmed herself down as she stepped forward to negotiate. With nothing else he could do, Sasuke turned his Sharingan eyes back to their enemy and stood by her side.

"If you wanted to kill them, you already would have," he said quickly before Fiore could say something they might both regret. "What do you want?"

The lead ANBU shinobi turned his masked face to the young Uchiha. Sasuke was almost blown away by the chakra output she was giving out; it was comparable to his older brother before he lost his eyes. "You have spilt much Iwa blood over the past few years," she said with clear hatred in her voice. "We came here for revenge."

Fiore tightened her grip on her wood staff as she couldn't keep her eyes off of her mother's fallen form, "If you want a fight, you've got one."

Sasuke turned to his brother for a moment before something occurred to him. He turned back to their enemy, "You must know you cannot escape from here. Our forces have surrounded this building completely."

The female ANBU breathed inwards and puffed out her chest slightly, "Then we will die for our village." She indicated to her hostage, "Along with all of you."

Narrowing his eyes slightly as he contemplated whether to call for an attack or not, Sasuke ran a number of different scenarios in his mind. He couldn't see any that didn't involve a number of hostages dying, and with the number of ANBU near Elika he knew she would be the first killed.

"What do you want then?" he asked finally.

The lead ANBU turned to one of her subordinates for just a moment before regarding the young Uchiha through the soulless slits in her mask. "If you agree to our demands, we will let the hostages go and leave peacefully."

"Bullshit," said Fiore quickly. "Don't trust them," she said to Sasuke unnecessarily.

He put up a hand to indicative he understood, but he wasn't going to risk the hostage's lives if there was another option. It didn't cost them anything to talk, and he hoped that the force outside suspected something was wrong and converged on their location.

Though he couldn't bet on that.

"What do you want?" he asked finally.

With her free hand, she indicated to her hostage, "In exchange for freeing the hostages and the ceasing of hostilities, we want Elika, the leader of Cascading Flow to come with us." The expressions on each of the Cascading Flow warriors were clear enough to her to see what they would do, but she wasn't finished. She motioned to the front elements of her enemy, "We also want the one called Demon-Eyes, the daughter of Elika, Fiore and her partner."

Despite the situation, Sasuke inwardly groaned at the fact that he was still referred to as Fiore's partner. Even Itachi, who'd only been with them a short time, had made a name for himself. What did he have to do to get recognised?

"We can't accept that," came his brother's voice behind him. "The rebellion would crumble without its leadership."

Sasuke looked over at the hostages; they were all faces he recognised from his time at Cascading Flow. They weren't combatants; most of them were doctors, farmers, fishermen. He didn't recognise any of the warriors that were always with Elika anywhere, the ANBU must have killed them and kept Elika alive as a bargaining chip.

They only had one option. If it meant saving the other's lives, then there was no other choice.

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The young married couple pushed through a small door into what appeared to be a large kitchen. They stepped onto the tiled floor and looked back at the door, with Naruto letting out a low whistle as he saw that the prison door was inside a large fridge.

"Clever…" said an impressed Naruto. "No one would suspect that's where the prison was."

Hinata nodded in agreement, though her white eyes were directed to the nearby table inside the kitchen. To her surprise, it appeared as though their personal items had been dumped on top without anyone going through them at all.

They shared a confused look before stepping forward and rearming themselves quickly.

Naruto grinned to himself as he reached onto the table and picked up the hilt of his sword.

"You know, you've never told me why you like that thing so much," said Hinata beside him, checking the medical supplies that had been taken out of her pack carefully. "It's just a sword, honey."

The blonde shinobi showed her the hilt for a moment before placing it on his belt, "It's not just a sword. It's a glowing energy sword! It's awesome."

Hinata merely smiled at herself and finished going through her things, shouldering her pack onto her back. "Let's get going honey. That sound might've been Sasuke, he might need our help."

Twirling two kunai in his hands before placing them up his sleeves strategically, Naruto concentrated for a moment before bobbing his head. "We can use chakra again. Seems like they didn't think we'd be able to break out."

"Smart group of people…" said Hinata with a rare display of sarcasm, activating her Byakugan and widening her eyes in response to what she saw.

"What is it?" asked Naruto, concerned over his wife's expression.

Hinata didn't respond, she simply tugged on his sleeve and began moving towards the nearby open doorway. Her husband wasn't one to question her too much; he followed her quickly with the Second Hokage's sword in hand, just in case.

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Naruto frowned as he and Hinata hid behind a doorframe and looked in at the situation unfolding in front of them. They weren't sure what was going on, but the ANBU shinobi holding weapons to the hostages were clearly Iwa shinobi. A small part of him was happy to see Sasuke at the other side looking well, though he nearly did a double take as he saw the image of his older brother behind him. He wasn't sure if it was a genjutsu or not, but that wasn't his biggest concern.

Hinata tugged at his side and indicated to one of the hostages at the front, Naruto signalling back to her that he recognised the woman that had taken them hostage. They'd already established these were the people they'd been searching for, and seeing Sasuke had confirmed it, but they'd clearly come to a very tense situation.

They hadn't been noticed by either side yet, and after a very short conversation in hand signals they both came to the same conclusion. It was a simple plan, but those tended to be the most effective.

Naruto moulded a small amount of chakra as a test, with Hinata confirming his suspicion that there were no chakra-sensing types within the Iwa ANBU ranks. He counted fifty two ANBU shinobi and twenty warriors standing against them, including the Uchiha brothers.

While it would normally be a more even battle, since they both knew how strong Sasuke and Itachi were, the fact that there were hostages changed everything.

He turned to Hinata and signalled his idea, which she agreed with. He asked her if she could do her part, through which she gave him a look that made him smile and turn back to the front. Something about how Sasuke was looking at the enemy shinobi told him they didn't have any more time. He waved a hand just at the corner of Sasuke's view, and while he didn't get any confirmation that his old friend had seen him, he signalled his plan through hand signals regardless.

Sasuke sighed loudly and placed his katana back into its sheath, presenting his hands together their foe. "Okay."

"We have a deal?" asked the Iwa ANBU suspiciously.

The young Uchiha stepped forward and turned back to the other leaders of the Cascading Flow Rebellion, "Trust me. Follow my lead and it'll all work out." His Sharingan shifted to its ellipsis Mangekyou form as he stared back at the Iwa ANBU, "If you break your vow, we will hunt you down and kill you, no matter how many of us it takes."

Getting another ANBU to stand over Elika with a blade at her throat, the female ANBU stepped forward with her sword in hand, "We are shinobi of our word. If you come with us now, no more blood need be shed."

With the Iwa ANBU concentrating their gazes on the Cascading Flow warriors, Naruto and Hinata began their preparations. Naruto silently created a small collection of Kage Bunshin and regulated his breathing while Hinata concentrating heavily on maintaining her Byakugan and manipulating her spiritual energy separately, a feat she wasn't sure was possible until this very moment.

They waited until the enemy leader was a single step away from Sasuke, his brother and the tanned skinned girl before they began their plan.

With her hands stretched out towards the closest ANBU shinobi, Hinata began to systematically remove the air around the heads of two of them. They began to silently choke and die, with the young Hyuuga kunoichi using her spiritual techniques to soften their landings so they didn't make a sound as they fell.

The other Iwa ANBU didn't seem to notice at first, though the Cascading Flow warriors started to notice that something was happening as they started to arm up once again. Hinata was able to take out another three pairs of ANBU shinobi before she decided it was too risky to continue the covert attacks. She signalled to Naruto that she was done and stood in a ready crouch.

The blonde shinobi nodded and concentrated on his targets. He hoped that Sasuke had gotten his signals, but he didn't see any other choice at this stage.

Moving through the air in an instant, Naruto appeared beside the two ANBU standing over Elika's kneeling form. He couldn't see their expressions, but he imagined they would've been surprised to see him. Not one to wait on ceremony, Naruto reached out and grabbed them by the shoulders before disappearing in a flash.

The Iwagakure shinobi behind Elika's fallen form all jumped at the sight of two of their group disappearing with the strange shinobi. Several of the ANBU near the back of the hostage group went to kill their hostages, but crumbled to the ground as Hinata appeared behind them and drove her fingertips into their spines, overloading their chakra systems and knocking them out.

Immediately all hell broke loose in the hall.

The lead female ANBU snarled loudly and went to attack Sasuke directly, but the young Uchiha shoved a hand forward covered in lightning straight through her chest, killing her instantly. Fiore shot past her partner and threw her wood staff towards her mother, expanding it outwards into a protective shell that encompassed the Cascading Flow leader completely.

As some of the ANBU moved to kill their hostages, they were tackled in mid-air by Naruto's Kage Bunshin, with nearly two dozen stopped from attacking the fallen warriors.

The Cascading Flow warriors all shouted out a battle cry and charged forward, with Sasuke and Itachi at the forefront. Sasuke's hands sparkled with lightning as he tried to take out as many ANBU as he could without them killing their hostages.

It became clear that the Iwa ANBU were not going to be able to escape the hall, some of them appeared reluctant to kill their hostages when there was little reason to anymore. However an odd number of them began attacking each other in what appeared to be a fit of insanity. Unwilling to attack their comrades without understanding what was going on, they fell to their comrades blades before realising that the ANBU had fallen victim to one of Itachi's more powerful genjutsu, one that required him to remain in the background and control their senses from afar.

Fiore punched and kicked as feverishly as she tried to fight off as many Iwa ANBU as she could, though without her wood she was a far less potent foe than she would normally be. As several of her opponents circled around her and went to take her out, they were flanked by Sasuke and killed without prejudice.

With Naruto and Hinata's assistance, the battle was over in less than a minute. All of the ANBU were either knocked out or killed and none of the hostages had been killed. A number of hostages had been injured by spiteful ANBU as they were taken down by the Cascading Flow warriors. Almost half of the Cascading Flow warriors had been killed by a last ditch effort by three ANBU that had nearly destroyed an entire side of the hall, but the battle had been won.

Hinata turned her white eyed gaze to the approaching warriors, watching as they untied the hostages and tried to wake them up. The spiky haired girl besides Sasuke ran up to the wooden enclosure she'd placed around her mother and pulling it apart back to its staff form before clutching her mother in a tight hug. Elika, like the other hostages had been knocked unconscious prior to the battle, but Fiore was grateful that she wasn't hurt.

Leaving his brother and the remaining Cascading Flow warriors to tend to the hostages and the bodies, Sasuke walked up to Hinata and gave her a rare smile of appreciation. She smiled back, but was more grateful when she heard the characteristic crack of lightning as Naruto reappeared by her side, his Kage Bunshin having dissipated as they fought with the Iwa ANBU.

Seeing that the battle was over, Naruto relaxed his posture and grinned widely as he saw his old friend was okay.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

If there are some things that seem ambiguous in this chapter, trust me, wait until the next chapter. I don't want to reveal everything at once.

I also know the Iwa ANBU were taken out fairly easily, but they were at a disadvantage. They also underestimated their enemies.

In response to the asked question, Naruto won't be learning how to use Natural Energy. Since he never had Jiraiya as a teacher and never learnt the Frog Summoning Technique, there would be no way for him to even make that connection, let alone a need for him to learn it. Remember Natural Energy has an element of chakra in it, thus making it less effective against the Quiraji. In response to the other question, well you'll just have to wait and see. But suffice to say, the relationship between Naruto and the Kyuubi is still unresolved.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	72. Chapter 66 Rebellion at Iwagakure

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 66 – Rebellion at Iwagakure

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be epic sieges.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Naruto and Hinata entered the Land of Earth with the intention of finding their friend Sasuke, though it was difficult as each village they came across was empty. In another part of the Land of Earth, Sasuke and Fiore led an Iwa force into a trap that led to their destruction, including the death of their commander Kurotsuchi. While Naruto and Hinata did find the Cascading Flow warriors they were looking for, they weren't seen as allies and taken prisoner by Elika and her force. While on route back to Cascading Flow, Sasuke and his force noticed that something was wrong and went in with a small group, confronted with the image of Elika and their non-combatants being held hostage by the remaining Iwagakure ANBU. With Naruto and Hinata's assistance after they broke out of prison, the hostages were freed and all their enemies were taken out.

***End Summary***

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><p>After ensuring that there were no more Iwa ANBU endangering their lives, the Cascading Flow warriors stood down and began to revive the hostages. Fiore knelt down beside her mother and began lightly slapping her cheeks to wake her up, while another warrior checked her for injuries.<p>

Several warriors went to tell the warriors outside to stand down temporarily, while the others began to move the bodies out of the hall. A serious blow had been struck on both sides, but with the death of what was likely to be all of their ANBU; Iwa was at a significant disadvantage in the war.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for the first time in years, sizing each other up. Both of them had gotten taller in the three years since they'd worked together and collected a number of scars that demonstrated the difference between their old forms and their new ones. They both had a weary look in their eyes, but they walked towards each other with no small amount of male bravado demonstrated.

The two Konoha shinobi stood mere inches away from each other, Naruto's blue eyes glaring into Sasuke's red Sharingan. If the observers didn't know the personalities of the two in question they would think they were about to engage in an epic battle.

Almost in synchronisation, Naruto and Sasuke drove their fists into each other's faces.

The impacts sent each shinobi flying in opposite directions. Hinata shot behind Naruto and caught him between her hands, steadying him in place, while Fiore watched as Sasuke slammed into the nearby wall with no small amount of amusement.

Wiping at his mouth with a wild grin, Naruto nodded his thanks to his wife before turning back to his opposite. "You still hit like a little girl, Sasuke."

The younger Uchiha jumped out of the hole in the wall he'd created and dusted himself off with a huff. He cracked his neck loudly, "You haven't exactly improved much either." Flexing his hand he felt a stinging pain along his knuckles, it was like he'd punched a brick wall, not that he'd ever admit that to his blonde friend.

Watching as her husband approached his old friend, Hinata simply shook her head with a small smirk on her face. "First thing you do when you see each other…it's like nothing's changed."

Naruto and Sasuke continued their 'conversation', while Hinata turned her attention to the wounded. The Cascading Flow warriors seemed happy to let her examine them once it was clear she knew what she was doing, they didn't demonstrate any hostility to the young woman as her hands glowed light blue and she used her medical training to help the more severely injured.

As a medical team came to help her mother regain consciousness, Fiore made her way over to Hinata and knelt down beside her. "So I gather the two of you are friends of Sasuke?"

Having healed one of the hostage's concussions, Hinata smiled at the spiky-haired girl, "You could say that." She indicated to her old forehead protector; they'd started wearing them again since coming back home. "My husband and I have known Sasuke since we were children."

Fiore's expression could only be considered priceless as she turned to look at her partner arguing with the blonde shinobi, "Husband? That's…well…aren't you guys a bit young?"

Hinata chuckled quietly and stopped her medical technique, wiping her hands on her jacket. "Maybe, but it was the right thing for us. With the war and everything going on…"

"I can understand that," said Fiore, her eyes drifting to her partner and she thought about what they'd done before arriving at the base. She hadn't thought about the future between herself and the Uchiha, but judging by the look on the white-eyed girl's face when she looked at the blonde one, she found herself feeling a little bit jealous.

Hinata excused herself and approached her husband, placing a hand in the middle of his back and planting a small kiss on his cheek before nodding to Sasuke in greeting. "It's good to see you again, Sasuke. You're going well?"

The younger Uchiha smirked slightly, "For what it's worth, Hinata. I don't know how this would have turned out, had the two of you not shown up." He didn't want to admit it, but in the three years they hadn't seen each other, Hinata had only grown more beautiful and womanly in his eyes. He had no interest in her from that perspective, but he had a begrudging respect for Naruto on that account alone.

"I was just telling Sasuke about what happened in Kiri," said Naruto. "He's said that his forces have seen Han in the past week," he continued with a grave tone in his voice.

The married shared a concerned look; that had a number of implications neither of them wanted to talk about at that very moment.

Changing the topic so they could speak on it another time, Hinata asked Naruto why he'd been gone so long when he took the Iwa ANBU away with his Hiraishin technique.

"Oh, I took them to the first place I could think of." Naruto smirked at the recent memory, "Let's just say they didn't enjoy the trip."

Hinata grinned at the prospect, she understood what he meant. "How is Grace?"

"She's good. She was raiding some small town off the coast of the Land of Wind, having a grand old time. She's invited us to join her sometime next week."

"Sounds like fun," said Hinata back. She went to say something else, but hesitated as she remarked at how different she was compared to the last time she'd seen Sasuke. She was excited by the prospect of wild swashbuckling and consuming large amounts of rum, something she'd have never even considered a few years ago. Her father would be having a fit right about now and not just because of her choice in husband.

Though she still kept her clothes in respectable quality.

Sasuke wasn't sure what they were talking about, but despite the fact that he was surprised to see them, it was nice to know they weren't dead. He turned to Naruto, "Why are you here? No-one's seen you guys in years. Shikamaru and such had written you off."

Naruto and Hinata shared a knowing look with a smile before they both turned him and saying at the same time, "It's a long story."

The younger Uchiha let out a long breath and turned his gaze to the injured Cascading Flow warriors around them. "Well I can't say we've got time to chat. You've dropped into a mess of a situation."

The married couple nodded in understanding as they saw Itachi approaching them from behind his younger brother. Hinata excused herself as a Cascading Flow warrior tapped her on her shoulder and asked for her help with some more of the wounded.

Unable to cope with not knowing, Naruto asked the more important question he'd thought of since first seeing him. Pointing to the older Uchiha's face, Naruto didn't hold back. "Okay, Itachi, what the hell is with your eyes?"

A small grin appeared on Itachi's face as he indicated to the cloth around his glowing green eyes. In a statement that made Naruto's eyes roll, Itachi simply said, "It's a trick."

Sasuke groaned at the same time as Naruto, clearly his older brother still enjoyed being the most cryptic person they knew. "He lost his eyes and decided that he needed a more…intimidating visage."

Naruto gapped at his eyes like a little boy would, he was so impressed at it he didn't even care that it was probably just a genjutsu or something similar.

Itachi leaned in to his brother's ear, "You should set out a new perimeter force, Sasuke. They might've sent a secondary force to observe and reinforce their companions."

"Of course," said Sasuke. "Naruto," he said formally before disappearing in an impressive display of speed.

Naruto gave an understanding look at the empty space where Sasuke had been before turning quietly to Itachi. He had a thousand questions, not just the five hundred follow-ups about his eyes, but he recognised there were more pressing things at the moment.

"Itachi, why are the two of you here? Fighting against shinobi…is there some kind of master plan we can't see? It doesn't make any sense."

"Should you prove to be an ally, perhaps you'll come to know," came a female voice behind him. The blonde shinobi turned to see the woman who'd taken Hinata and him captive. She was cradling her head with a single hand with blood slowly falling through her fingers. There were several medics trailing behind her making a number of comments about lasting damage and her needing to lie down to rest, but the tall woman ignored them to confront the Konoha shinobi.

"You broke out of the prison," she stated with no inflection of emotion in her voice.

Naruto gave her a sarcastic look, "It wasn't that difficult. We saved your butts too."

"Perhaps." Elika turned to her Uchiha subordinate, "Was your ambush successful?"

Itachi nodded curtly and pulled a scroll from his robe, handing it to the Cascading Flow leader. "There are a few things that we need to discuss…" Despite being blind, he still turned his face to indicate to their blonde associate. "…in private."

Elika nodded and began to motion for them to speak in another location, but Naruto wasn't about to let that happen. He stepped between the two of them and faced the tall woman with a serious expression on his face.

"I'm not about to let you continue killing shinobi without knowing why this is happening. We are all in danger from a far more dangerous foe! The Quiraji aren't going to leave us alone, we all have to work together."

Despite obviously being seriously injured, Elika gave him a look that would have normally caused the blood to drain from Naruto's face. However he had been hardened from such things and she had little effect on him.

"I don't give a damn what you think, little boy. I've been fighting wars since you were at your mother's tits. You might have some skills, but I could smash you into dust and barely break my stride."

Naruto took a small step forward so that he could stand toe-to-toe with her. She was taller than him by a measure that only served to anger him, but Naruto wasn't going to let her lord over him and continue killing potential allies.

"Firstly, my mother died when I was born, so don't speak about her without a measure of respect. Secondly, these are the people that killed almost everyone I knew. If your war stops us from surviving, I would take you down with me before I watch any more of my friends die."

His eyes were blazing with confidence; she could see the commitment to his cause clearly. Here was someone she could use, someone like Sasuke or Itachi, but with different talents. While normally she would gladly chew out someone who was so insubordinate, Elika had to capitalise on the situation.

Besides, the white-eyed girl that had been with him had impressed her greatly during their previous battle.

Dropping her hand to her side and letting the blood clot as quickly as it could, Elika stared at him for a few moments before pointing to the kitchen that led to the prison they'd escaped from earlier.

"Perhaps if you knew of our cause, you wouldn't be so quick to judge."

"What are you offering? I'm not going to willingly help you slaughter a whole village of people." He was quite adamant about this, partially after the information Gaara had given him about the fact that there were barely any of them left, but also because Naruto didn't want to kill people for any reason. He would if he had to, but he took no joy in the action. Some pride perhaps, but no joy.

Elika turned to take him to the kitchen, "Come with me, boy. Your companions fight with us, and perhaps after hearing why you will too."

Naruto wasn't convinced by any capacity, but he motioned for her to proceed. As they walked towards the kitchen, he passed Hinata doing her best to heal a broken arm. She hadn't been Shizune's best student when it came to medicine, but years of practise and an impressive amount of talent had given her the knowledge to heal such injuries in short amounts of time.

The blonde shinobi leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hinata, you probably want to come with…"

Before he could finish, Hinata shook her head while using her Byakugan to concentrate on mending the broken bone in the young man beneath her hands. "You go ahead. There's a lot to do here."

She didn't have to say it, but he knew that she was saying that she trusted him to make the right decision for the both of them. Their marriage was always a back of forth in that regard. He'd trusted her to make sure that the mission to Kirigakure was something they should commit to while he explored the Land of Fire.

Though it might've been revenge for the time on the island with all the monkeys. She'd promised she'd get him back for that at some point.

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After almost half an hour, Naruto and Elika re-emerged from the kitchen. Naruto had a clearly disturbed expression on his face, while the Cascading Flow leader went straight to her daughter standing near a group of warriors with Sasuke at her side.

"What's going on?" she asked, as she saw the two of them were standing over a green-haired woman that she recognised as one of their medics. Her eye-liner had run down her face with tears, which only served to confuse Elika further.

Fiore turned to her mother with a frown, "This girl was known to one of the Iwa shinobi. They were probably lovers or something like that, but Sasuke and I are determined to find their connection. She might be the reason those ANBU were able to break through our defences."

At the other side of the hall, Naruto greeted Hinata with a hug before she asked him a wordless question of concern. Naruto shook his head like he couldn't believe what he was about to say.

"You sure?" she asked before he could say it. "We might not have time, Neji sounded like he was about to do something quite rash."

"We don't have a choice," said her husband with a sigh. "If we help, we could probably save a lot of civilian lives."

"At the expense of the Iwa shinobi's lives? Would that be worth it?" Hinata hated the idea as much as he did, but from what she'd seen from the Cascading Flow warriors she'd healed, they would throw themselves onto the grinder to get rid of the shinobi from their land.

Naruto leaned forward and gently kissed her on the cheek, as much to reassure himself as her. "All life is at the expense of other life. You know that as well as I do."

"We aren't weapons though, Naruto, we are people," said Hinata with characteristic wisdom. "We would be doing the Quiraji's job for them by doing this."

"I know, I know." Naruto looked over at Sasuke and the two Cascading Flow women. He knew she wasn't arguing with him in order to change his decision, rather to make sure he was making the right one. With another sigh, he turned back to her and placed his fingers through hers and felt her soft skin against his callused hands.

"They have a good reason to fight. We can't fault them for that."

Back at the green-haired girl who was now crying into her hands, Elika almost did a double-take at what she'd heard. "Are you telling me that you killed the Tsuchikage's granddaughter?"

"And they've lost their entire ANBU corps," added Sasuke. "They've just lost a significant amount of military strength, and they don't even know it yet. Despite his tough exterior, the Tsuchikage will be grieving for his granddaughter and less able to command his shinobi effectively."

Elika considered the information for several moments before turning back to her daughter. "Rina isn't at fault, daughter. She might've had a bad choice in lovers, but she had no means of filtering information to her. The ANBU merely powered their way in."

Fiore wasn't convinced, but indicated for several medics to come and take the green-haired girl away so she could grieve in private. When the day's events had calmed down she would go and apologise to her for the way she was treated, but for the moment she needed to maintain her game face.

"How reliable are your Konoha friends?" asked Elika to Sasuke, having come to rely on the younger Uchiha's military perception. He still overreached much of the time, but his ability to analyse situations and manoeuvre them to his benefit was startling.

"Extremely," said Sasuke in response. "Their presence should prove to be the tipping point. It solves a number of areas that Iwa hold over us, and by the looks of it they've gotten much stronger since I last saw them." He glanced over at the loving couple with a slight smirk, "Not that they need to know that."

Elika nodded slowly, her decision had been made.

"Call every faction towards us," she ordered to her captain, knowing that Sasuke spoke with her authority to much of their force. "Gather whatever supplies we require, but we move on the village by nightfall tomorrow. The cover of darkness should allow us to move unhindered while they regroup. We've been given a rare window of opportunity and I refuse to let it go to waste."

Sasuke nodded and disappeared for the second time, while Elika felt at her head and sighed at the blood that appeared on her hand. There was much to do before their army mustered onto the battlefield once again, and she didn't have time to deal with such mundane things as injuries.

Knowing that if she ignored it, her injury could fester or get even worse, Elika spread out a number of battle plans from a set of scrolls on a nearby table before calling over two medics and ordering them to stitch her up as fast as possible.

No-one would be resting tonight.

* * *

><p>It took the Cascading Flow army two full days to march on Iwagakure, and in that time they were not accosted by any Iwa shinobi whatsoever. There was no way to tell whether they had been seen or not, but an army of fifteen thousand wasn't exactly hard to spot, even at night.<p>

They stopped marching nearby the large mountain range that held the Iwa shinobi village, wary of the fact that they were all deep in enemy territory and many of them likely wouldn't survive the coming battle. Naruto and Hinata's presence was seen as a boon by most of the civilians, though Elika was reserving judgement until they proved themselves to be on their side. Sasuke and Itachi had talked up their potential to her, but she was still wary of any shinobi.

After the Cascading Flow forces set up their forward camp just out of sight and range of the Iwa shinobi within their village, Elika called in the married couple to her command tent. She nodded in respect to their decision to join their rebellion; Sasuke's word had gone a long way with her.

"Good, I require your help." She motioned for them to come forward as she picked up a pair of devices on the table between them. "I need you to plant these at strategic locations near the Iwa defence wall."

She passed them to the couple, who took them carefully into their hands. The devices were circular with a flat top, a small red crystal placed in the centre. They were clearly alien; Naruto and Hinata had never seen their like before.

"What are they? Bombs?" asked Naruto, trying his best not to press the crystal at the top. It was very compelling.

Elika shook her head as her daughter walked into the tent with Sasuke quickly following behind, "No. These are the chakra dampeners we used when we captured you. After that field test, we believe now is the time to put them to use. The Iwa shinobi won't know what to do."

Hinata placed the chakra dampener in her hands back onto the table, "And you want us to put them near the wall? Won't they notice us doing that?"

Before Elika could say anything in response, Naruto put up a hand as he thought of an idea. "If we transform into the images of the Iwa shinobi, and I teleport us to a nearby position, we can probably fool them long enough to get the things in place."

"That would certainly work," said Elika. She turned to her daughter, "You'll need to go as well."

Fiore nodded and picked up the third device, "When do we leave?"

"Right now." The Cascading Flow leader turned to the Konoha couple, "Are you prepared now?"

The two of them nodded and placed their hands into handseals, transforming into versions of themselves in Iwa shinobi uniforms, with Hinata's eyes having changed to give her a more silvery look as opposed to her obvious Hyuuga heritage. Fiore glanced around for a moment before Sasuke rolled his eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder, using his chakra to transform her. The young Cascading Flow warrior changed to the same uniform as her allies, though her facial features had been altered slightly to avoid being recognised.

She began to thank him, but as she looked down at her chest a frown came over her face and she stepped closer to whisper into her partner's ear.

Both Naruto and Hinata smirked at what their chakra-enhanced ears heard, while the colour drained from the young Uchiha's face rapidly. Fiore stood back and nodded to the other Iwa-disguised shinobi. The three of them left the command tent and went about their mission, while Elika gave her daughter's partner the look he thoroughly deserved.

Sasuke breathed out slowly to try and push Fiore's threat out of his mind. A loud growl from his stomach did the trick as he realised they'd been on the road so long without having anything to eat. Deciding there was nothing left to do but wait for them to return, Sasuke offered to bring Elika some food, but the middle-aged woman declined.

She was too nervous to eat.

* * *

><p>After placing the chakra dampeners into position, the three warriors quickly fled back towards the Cascading Flow command tent. Elika gave them a quick debriefing before gathering all her commanders together and displaying a map of the village defences on the stone table in the middle of the group.<p>

The one called Goro placed three flags near the village walls to designate the chakra dampeners before standing back in line with the others. Two of the dampeners sat on either side of the main village wall, while the third one sat almost fifty metres from the centre, creating a triangle area of effect.

"It won't be long before they discover and disable the devices," pointed out Naruto. "I wasn't seen, but they aren't stupid."

"Agreed," said Sasuke quickly. "If we are to attack, it must be in the next couple of hours."

Elika placed a hand to her chin and considered the situation. The addition of Naruto and Hinata to their force had bolstered their chances for success substantially, but taking Iwagakure would cost many of her soldiers' lives. It was her duty to mitigate that, but with her goal in reach it was difficult to maintain proper perspective.

Staring at the map for several seconds, Naruto frowned and leaned forward to get a closer look.

"What is it, honey?" asked Hinata, placing her hand gently on his shoulder.

Naruto uncrossed his arms and pointed to a section of wall around the main village. Iwagakure was surrounded by large rocky mountains on all sides, with the largest gaps being covered by large walls manned with Iwa shinobi. The Cascading Flow warriors had tried to find passageways through the mountains, but the Tsuchikage had filled them all up, essentially bottlenecking his village into the single location.

"If this wall can be breached from afar, they will struggle to bring reinforcements there quickly if they are occupied on the main front, here."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Elika, impressed at the young man's military knowledge.

Looking over at Sasuke for a moment, Naruto smirked characteristically and turned back to the Cascading Flow leader. "I can bring a large enough army on my own to keep them occupied at the front wall. They'll have to keep a substantial number of their shinobi against me; otherwise I'll overrun their position."

"You can do that?" Elika wasn't convinced by his confidence, regardless of the tales she had heard.

Sasuke stepped forward to speak on his friend's behalf, "It's what he's best at. He'll save countless lives and only lose chakra in return."

Elika looked Naruto up and down for several seconds before shrugging and reordering the flags on the table. "That's the plan then. If you set off the chakra dampeners at the right time, you might be able to break through." She turned to one of her commanders, "Get the warriors fed and armed. We move out within the hour."

"How are you going to breach the wall?" asked Naruto, pointing to where she had moved the main army flags. "These are Iwa shinobi; walls are kind of their thing."

Now it was Elika's turn to smirk towards the blonde shinobi before gesturing a hand towards Sasuke and his older brother who was standing off to the side.

"We have our own battering rams. Be reassured, we'll get into the village."

* * *

><p>Placing the final part of his disguise onto his head, Naruto turned to show it off to his wife standing beside him. "How do I look?"<p>

He wore a nondescript set of black fatigues and wore some of his wife's makeup to disguise his scars and marks on his cheeks, with a small brown cowl to cover his hair. He looked about as ordinary as he possibly could, which was part of the plan.

"About right," she said after a few seconds. "Are you ready?"

He nodded and sliced at his thumb with a kunai, wiping the blood across both of his palms before putting them into a handseal. He turned to the five Cascading Flow warriors that had been designated to guard him, "Remember, if my concentration is broken, this whole thing won't work. So don't let any of them come nearby, okay?"

The warriors all nodded and stood in a defensive formation around the blonde shinobi. Hinata smiled and tapped her husband lightly on the shoulder before taking up her position at his side. He'd tried to convince her she'd be better suited with Sasuke and that part of the army, but Hinata had simply pointed out that she would be his last line of defence and there was no way she was going to let him out of her sight.

Concentrating a large amount of chakra through his handseal, Naruto began creating his army of clones, each appearing in the same attire as their summoner. He'd made sure to make them as dense as possible, from Hinata's reconnaissance the Iwa shinobi had done exactly what they thought they would.

Across a wall nearly a kilometre in length stood a massive number of Iwa shinobi. As the army of Narutos took to the field and came into view, they began pulling out weapons and preparing their defences. If any of them were surprised at the seemingly odd similarity of the 'Cascading Flow' army, they made no mention of it as the army stopped just out of long range from the wall.

Through her Byakugan, Hinata made a quick count of the Iwa shinobi on the wall. She did it a second time just to be sure before kneeling down beside her husband.

"Naruto, there are just over eight thousand Iwa shinobi on the wall. You'll need more clones."

Though Naruto's eyes were closed and he was concentrating heavily on moving his clone army into place, he acknowledged the information with the slightest of head movements. He changed his handseal and exponentially increased his chakra output. From now on, he had to concentrate on maintaining the technique, and wouldn't be able to communicate with her until the battle was done.

She wasn't sure how much of his reserves he was putting into making his clones, but as she observed him with her Byakugan she noticed a familiar-looking red chakra trickling into his regular chakra pool. Without a seal blocking the Kyuubi from himself, Naruto was free to take as much of the Tailed Beast's chakra as he saw fit, though he'd held off doing so for reasons unknown to her. She'd recognised that there were some things Naruto didn't tell her, likely for her benefit.

The Cascading Flow warriors around them remarked at the sheer numbers he was able to churn out. Even Hinata was impressed, though she was concerned that he was squeezing out more chakra than would be healthy, even for him. She was very proud of what he'd done, though she regretted the fact that he had done it to destroy a shinobi village.

Standing against the wall of Iwa shinobi, was an army of just over five thousand clones of Naruto; each acting independently according to his orders. Naruto was a student of warfare and had seen sieges in the past and fought on both sides, he knew that numbers that were anything less than ten to one for the attacker meant that a well-guarded village would rarely fall.

However Naruto didn't intend to win the battle at all, merely delay them as long as he could. At a distance they looked like the Cascading Flow army, and even with lower numbers than his opponents, Naruto's force would reap a bloody toll on the battlefield.

Not being a patient person by nature, Naruto commanded his army to attack the wall. It wasn't going to be an easy battle, but he had plenty of tricks up his sleeves.

And a few he'd wanted to test out for a while.

* * *

><p>After getting confirmation that Naruto's army had begun its attack on the Iwa front, Elika ordered her rebellion's forces to attack according to their battle plan. Under an extremely powerful genjutsu that Itachi had cast on the Iwa defenders and scouts, the forces of Cascading Flow approached the small wall mostly undetected by the Iwa shinobi. There were several hundred that appeared to be more of a reserve force and unprepared to repel a full assault, which only served to strengthen their attacker's position.<p>

Standing in full armour with the other commanders, Elika turned to both Sasuke and Itachi and nodded for them to proceed. Her daughter was among the first wave for the frontal assault; her presence was a great boon for the warrior's morale and Elika felt reassured that she would keep as many of them safe as she could.

Both Sasuke and Itachi placed their hands together and sped through the same set of handseals, their chakra exploded in a blue aura around the two of them as they both completed their technique at the same time. The Uchiha brothers pushed their hands towards the small section of wall they intended to breach.

"Tengai Shinsei!" (Heavenly Obstacle Quaking Star)

Neither of them had used the technique before in tandem, but the effect of both of their chakra being poured into the complex ninjutsu was immediate as the sky began to darken above the wall they were targeting.

The Iwa glanced upwards towards the sky and froze in terror as two large meteorites came crashing towards them at breakneck speed. Several of the less frightened Iwa shinobi did their best to create a tall earth barrier above their position, but as the meteors slammed into the barriers they collapsed in on themselves like folded paper.

With a thundering crash, the meteors crushed dozens of Iwa shinobi into dust before driving straight through the wall and leaving a sizeable gap in the Iwa defences.

The enemy shinobi scrambled to recover from the sudden attack, with a small number leaping back into the village to bring reinforcements while the surviving Iwa shinobi turned back to their attackers to see a massive army of Cascading Flow warriors approaching. The attacking force was a mixture of Elika's warriors and normal civilians that had become fed up with the way they were being treated by the Tsuchikage and the Earth Daimyo, though the latter has been dead for a long time.

Fiore let out a loud cry for their force to charge. With over two thousand Cascading Flow warriors by her side, Fiore felt no fear as she charged towards the large gap that had been opened by the Uchiha brothers.

She twirled her wood staff expertly, deflecting several thrown kunai with relative ease as they reached the wall with minimum casualties. The Iwa shinobi were still recovering from their first strike, unable to mount an effective defence by the time the Cascading Flow warriors had arrived at the gap and began pouring into the village.

The battle had begun.

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As Cascading Flow warriors poured into the village, several of the recovered Iwa shinobi attempted to use their Earth techniques to close the gap, their hands rapidly running through handseals in frantic efforts as their companions fought valiantly against the civilians. Each shinobi that was killed took out a number of Cascading Flow warriors as they went down, but the Iwa shinobi that tried to act defensively were taken out with little effort; the Cascading Flow warrior's weapons cut through any form of chakra defence easily.

Shooting across the battlefield to stop the Iwa shinobi closing the gap, Sasuke's long katana crackled with lightning as he left a long white trail from his position beside his older brother. He leapt high into the air onto the broken wall and cut a swatch through his opponents in seconds. Unlike Naruto, he had no qualms about taking the lives of his enemies; he'd seen the worst that they had done to his comrades.

Itachi had stayed behind at their original position to command the troops and use pinpoint genjutsu techniques to sway the battle, while Sasuke went about the dirty business of ensuring the Cascading Flow warriors survived the battle of Iwagakure.

After a few minutes of constant battle, Sasuke's Sharingan noticed a large chakra source rapidly approaching the breach. By this time almost two thousand of their troops had entered the village and were battling furiously with the Iwa shinobi, yet there were thousands more that were trying to push through and overwhelm their enemy before they could regroup and use their superior strength against them. It was obvious Naruto's army was holding up a vast majority of the Iwa shinobi; which only caused Sasuke to shake his head in surprise. Clearly he couldn't underestimate his old companion anymore.

The chakra source appeared high into the air, but Sasuke didn't recognise it temporarily. That almost cost him his life as a clear cone shape slowly began to appear. The young Uchiha's eyes widened when he realised what was happening. He leapt backwards high into the air and swiped some blood from a cut on his cheek before pointing it downwards towards the ground, summoning a large hawk for him to land on before he moved around in a wide circle.

"Get out of there!" he shouted as loud as he could, but it was already too late.

The clear cone he'd seen expanded downwards into the breach, encompassing every Cascading Flow warrior that was currently trying to get into the village. Sasuke watched in horror as hundreds of civilian fighters were pulverised into dust. They disappeared into nothingness and left a deep concave into the rocky ground.

The Cascading Flow warriors around the devastated area all recoiled with the same horror as Sasuke had, while the Iwa shinobi all cheered and immediately redoubled their attacks against the invaders. His Sharingan honed in on the attacker, with the Uchiha's face screwing up in anger as he saw a short elderly man hovering in the air above the breach. The Tsuchikage was wearing his Kage outfit and had a terrifyingly furious look on his face.

Sasuke's hand began to crackle with lightning, he could see that the Tsuchikage was about to fly towards the rest of the Cascading Flow army still recovering from the death of so many of their companions at once. He wasn't about to let the same thing happen twice, commanding his hawk to take him straight into the direct path of the Tsuchikage, with the intention of running him through with his Chidori blade.

Unfortunately he was overtaken by a blur of brown that nearly knocked him off his large hawk. He doubled back and swung around in the air to see what had shot past him. He watched as his partner leapt high off of her wood platform, collected the wood into a staff and tried to slam it into the Tsuchikage's face.

The elderly leader anticipated her attack and spat out a chunk of rock to block the strike. She glared daggers into his eyes, but the Tsuchikage didn't give her anything but a passing glance. He went to place a hand on her arm to increase her weight a hundred fold and cause her to fall out of the sky, but Fiore knew all about his techniques and pushed off his rocky arm with her legs before landing back on her wood platform a dozen metres away.

She hovered at the same height as him, her eyes carefully watching for any significant movements. If she hadn't been told what the handseals he was running through meant she would have died immediately as the Tsuchikage spread out his hands and a wide crescent shape appeared between his hands before shooting across the sky towards her.

Fiore just barely dodged the particle technique by pulling away her wood platform and dropping a dozen metres in a split second. She could feel the air above her being pulverised by the Tsuchikage's technique, but that wasn't the most troubling in the encounter. After seeing that she had dodged his technique, the Iwa leader turned his attention to the Cascading Flow army beneath them. He started to create another clear conical shape between his hands, but Fiore wasn't going to let him kill more of her people.

She used her platform as a springboard and shot towards him, reaching into her jacket and tossing half a dozen knives directly at the Iwa leader. The Tsuchikage was forced to cancel his particle technique and spit out a small slab of rock to defend himself. While he was distracted, Fiore flew around the side and jumped off her wood platform before using it to strike at high speed at the Tsuchikage's side.

Her wood struck out faster than the Tsuchikage could react completely, though he flew at an angle that she only got a glancing blow at his side. The elderly man grimaced in pain, but kept his stare squarely on his opponent as Fiore pulled back her wood and stayed afloat. Unlike the shinobi she was facing, Fiore couldn't fly on her own. But that wasn't a problem for her, so long as she was clever about it.

"You are persistent…girl," said the Tsuchikage through his teeth.

Placing her hands outwards to her sides, Fiore didn't waste her time with words. She could see Sasuke approaching her position on top of his hawk from the side, but she waved him away with a hand. She wasn't sure whether he'd get the signal or not, but so long as she kept the Tsuchikage occupied, their forces shouldn't have much issue taking the village, assuming everything worked the way they'd planned.

Extending her wood platform up to her hands, Fiore stared down her opponent and began to formulate a battle plan. Her opponent had the ability to destroy her in a nanosecond if she slipped up, but Fiore knew that if she didn't stop him he'd wipe out massive amounts of her comrades.

* * *

><p>The Iwa shinobi didn't have any siege weapons to speak of to repel the invading army. Instead, large groups of them collected together and created large boulders in front of them before Iwa shinobi using chakra-enhanced strength sent them flying towards the army of clones.<p>

With shinobi-based instincts the Naruto clones had little issue avoiding the large boulders, which only caused the numbers of attacks sent against them.

On top of the main defensive wall, stood a tall man with a large bulbous nose stared at the army bearing down on his home. Usually a calm and disciplined man, Kitsuchi constantly fought down the urge to leap off of the wall and tear into the invaders with his bare hands. It had only been a day since he heard of his daughter's death at the hands of the rebels, and he was torn between his duty as a shinobi and his fury as a father. She'd been a pain in the ass, but he'd loved her regardless.

The only reason he was on the wall and not with his wife grieving was because he recognised that if he didn't, the village would likely fall to the rebels. And then his daughter's sacrifice would have meant nothing.

"Sir, I have the intel you asked for," came an Iwa shinobi at his side. Kitsuchi greeted him and asked for his report quickly. "The enemy appears to all be the same, sir. We believe it to be some kind of clone technique."

Kitsuchi grabbed the shinobi and pointed his head towards the battlefield, "Look at that army, Chuunin! There are thousands out there; nobody has the ability to create that many clones at once. It cannot be done." He pointed to a group of invaders that had been crushed by one of the flying boulders, "No clones bleed like that, Chuunin. No, this is just a trick to make us think it's a diversion. We hold here."

"Yes sir!" said the Iwa shinobi with a quick nod of his head. He ran back into his position as Kitsuchi watched the battle unfold in front of him. The invading army was almost at the wall, having only suffered minor casualties from their bombardment. He couldn't understand the enemy strategy; they carried no siege ladders to attempt to climb up the wall and he couldn't see any explosives to try and break through.

If anything, it appeared as though they were willing to simply throw away lives in the hope that the Iwa shinobi run out of stamina and ammunition.

Standing beside her husband and watching the battle through her Byakugan, Hinata found herself wishing she could give commands to him as with her doujutsu she was able to see a number of places he could exploit. However while fuelling the technique and making more clones to replace the ones that were taken down, Naruto was connected to every single clone and controlled them individually. The amount of mental concentration that was required was unbelievable, she was very proud that he was able to do the technique to such an extent.

Through her black and white vision, she watched as the front line of clones came within range of the wall and in perfect synchronisation leapt high into the air towards the shinobi lining the wall.

"Defensive positions!" called out Kitsuchi, placing his hands into a handseal in tandem with the shinobi about to be attacked. He put aside the troubling thought that no non-shinobi should be able to do what they were doing and concentrating on moulding chakra to activate his ninjutsu.

Hinata waited until the last possible second before depressing the control button in her hands.

The more sadistic side of her appreciated the looks of confusion on the Iwa shinobi as they attempted to activate their ninjutsu and discovered that they no longer functioned. Her understanding of the devices was quite limited, but having experienced it in the past she knew that it wasn't quite the same as being in the chakra nullifying field of the Quiraji commanders. Rather, it merely prevented chakra from being used in a technique or ability.

The effect was devastating to the Iwa shinobi.

As the Naruto clones made their way to the wall through the air, they each pulled out a hilt that brought a smirk to his wife's face. With flicks of their hand they activated the energy blades in their hands. The Iwa shinobi continued to try and activate their techniques, but for the few that it was clear to that it wasn't going to work they pulled out weapons to defend themselves.

In the first wave of attackers to make it to the wall, three hundred Iwa shinobi were cut down without prejudice.

The Iwa shinobi attempted to push them back with their own weapons, and through sheer numbers were able to push the clones back, but as they killed the attackers another wave leapt onto the wall.

Each clone that died left a corpse that caused almost as much concern for the Iwa shinobi as the living attackers stepped over their bodies and pushed through the defensive formations with no concern for their companion's wellbeing.

Through sheer weight of tenacity and numbers, the Iwa shinobi were able to push the clones back once again, but it became clear to the survivors that if they weren't able to use chakra, they were at a serious disadvantage.

Hinata continued to monitor the battle from her husband's side, wary of any Iwa shinobi that might break away and try to come after them. She was intrigued by the fact that Naruto's blood clones weren't affected by the dampening field, not that they would use chakra-based techniques to begin with, as they only had limited amounts to use. So long as they leapt into the air before entering the dampening field, they were able to use any of the weapons that Naruto had on him when he created them, including the Second Hokage's sword.

Despite knowing that they were ultimately a distraction force, Hinata could entertain the idea that their army would be able to push the Iwa shinobi back into their village and end the war.

* * *

><p>With his shinobi being overwhelmed around him, Kitsuchi swore loudly as he destroyed one of the attackers with a rock-enhanced fist. His techniques seemed to work so long as he was at the very back of the wall, even though his chakra refused to mould anywhere else. They'd seriously underestimated the forces against them, but judging from how many casualties they'd suffered at the hands of the enemy he couldn't think of any other way to repel the invaders. The enemy soldiers were leaping up onto the wall like an army of shinobi would, but there were still too many things that were wrong about the situation.<p>

"Sir, we have to retreat back into the village!" came the voice of one of his commanders. "There are too many of them!"

_The interior of the village isn't fortified…they were never meant to get this far. And they aren't weakened like we are…_ thought Kitsuchi angrily. He turned to the commander and grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, "If we retreat, we die. We will hold them here!"

To extenuate his point he grabbed the sword from the commander's belt and slashed to the side, catching one of the attackers in the side. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor, only to be kicked off the wall by the Iwa shinobi.

Kitsuchi tossed back the commander's sword and used the temporary gap to look out over the wall. The enemy's numbers appeared to be endless, but as he looked down at their piles of dead, something felt very wrong. By his estimate his shinobi had killed over three thousand of the invaders, for a heavy price, yet the number of bodies below couldn't have amounted to more than several hundred.

Trusting in his shinobi to protect him momentarily, he watched carefully as one of the bodies that had been sliced to death with several kunai slowly sunk into the ground and disappeared completely.

His eyes widened at the implication, only certain types of clones acted in that manner. But he'd never heard of clones that bled and died before, he'd killed enough with his bare hands to tell that they were flesh and blood.

Squinting his eyes towards the distance, Kitsuchi could have sworn he saw something at the very back of the invading army, but it was only for a second before he was distracted by two attackers leaping high onto the wall and slashing at him with strange swords made of yellow energy. He was still in the strange place that prevented him from using chakra, but Kitsuchi was a veteran of wars and was easily able to dodge the attacks and slash their throats with kunai before they could react.

As the corpses fell down in front of the wall, Kitsuchi turned to one of his commanders, "Call up the reserves and hold this position."

"Sir, what about the breach on the east side? If we pull the reserves they won't have the numbers they need…"

"The Tsuchikage is handling it personally," interrupted Kitsuchi quickly. He knew that any negative attitude at this point would be devastating to the battle and hoped the old man's presence would help boost morale. He only hoped that his father didn't get himself killed in the process, they'd already lost far too much in this rebellion.

The commander saluted Kitsuchi and leapt off the wall into the village. The Iwa shinobi knew he only had a limited window before they were overrun before the reserves arrived, but he had no intention of waiting. He reached out and tapped two Iwa shinobi on their shoulders as they finished off their opponents, motioning for them to follow him. They nodded in compliance and mimicked his movements as he pushed himself off the wall and into the side of the incoming army. As they leapt the wall they could feel their chakra responding once again, with the Iwa shinobi's training kicking in and clapping their hands together in a handseal.

Before they landed on the ground, they shot several large boulders into their landing zone, flattening the invaders underneath with a sickening crunch. They landed on top of the boulders and pushed forward in an attempt to break through. With Kitsuchi's large scale Earth techniques they were able to stop themselves from being overwhelmed by the invaders as they continued to try and swarm their positions.

As they drew further and further away from the Iwa defensive wall, Kitsuchi noticed a small group of people standing in formation in the distance, wearing very different clothes from the invaders. They appeared to be guarding a single figure sitting with his legs crossed and wearing the same appearance as the invaders.

"If we take them out, the invaders may retreat," said Kitsuchi to his companions. "Take them down!"

The Iwa shinobi both nodded and pushed ahead of their general to carve out a path for him to attack. They landed in the middle of a group of invaders and cut a swatch through them with weapon and ninjutsu, though one was taken out by a clever move that cut him down the side with a lightning blade before being swarmed and killed by the clones.

The moment he landed on the ground, Kitsuchi created a pair of giant rock gauntlets that easily bashed apart the small number of invaders that came near his position. He powered forward towards the small group that stood off in the back, with the single Iwa shinobi at his side. After almost a minute of constant fighting they broke through the invading army and sped towards them, the Iwa shinobi at his side running ahead to greet the five warriors that moved between the two of them and their target.

The Iwa shinobi clashed violently with the Cascading Flow warriors, while Kitsuchi came up behind him and attacked them furiously with his rock gauntlets. With their combined efforts the Cascading Flow warriors were easily overwhelmed, their blades falling apart beneath their ninjutsu and they were ultimately taken out with little effort.

Kitsuchi turned his attention to the man sitting a short distance away, but before he could move to attack him he felt a powerful wind blast him backwards. As he recovered his feet quickly, he watched as a young woman jumped in front of his companion. Her hands were like a blur as they slammed into his chest; it only lasted for a moment before she reached forward and pushed him flat onto his back.

Kitsuchi didn't have to check to know that his companion was dead, which only served to anger him further. He was sick of seeing his comrades fall to enemy hands.

The young woman turned to him and stared at him through white eyes that he could have sworn were Byakugan as she took up a taijutsu stance between him and his target.

"You'll pay for that," he said angrily. "For every life you've taken."

Hinata didn't respond, she was using her doujutsu to analyse his chakra levels. It was clear that he wasn't at his full strength, but he still had a frightening amount of chakra to use and the look on his face told her that he would gladly kill her without a second thought.

She watched her opponent move towards her with his rock gauntlets moving expertly, he was clearly an experienced shinobi.

But Hinata was a taijutsu specialist and with her Byakugan tracking him it was no trouble to move the minimum distance out of the way of his relatively slow attacks. She ducked and weaved her way out of his rock gauntlets, analysing his attack patterns and finding that he seemed to prefer straight lines. That made dodging his attacks fairly simple for the experienced Hyuuga kunoichi.

After cartwheeling back from a wide sweeping attack, Hinata used a burst of chakra to shoot forward and attempted to drive her chakra-focused fingers into the weak points in his neck.

Unfortunately Kitsuchi was faster than she initially thought, bringing up a rock gauntlet to block her fingers while using his shifting momentum to slam his other gauntlet into her side. Hinata moved her body to avoid most of the damage, but it still clipped her on her hip, causing her to cry out in pain as she shot back several metres.

She clutched at her side and coughed violently onto the rocky ground, the blow had struck directly into her liver. She immediately began using chakra to try and repair the damage, but she knew that without serious medical attention in the next few hours, nothing she could do would matter.

While she attempted to repair the damage, Kitsuchi, having appeared satisfied that she wasn't going to get back up anytime soon, began marching towards Naruto's seated position. Before he got within a stone's throw of the Konoha shinobi's position, he saw the young girl appear in between him and his target once again.

She brought up her hands once again with pain written on her face, "You will not touch him!"

"Get out of my way, little girl," said Kitsuchi with no small amount of anger in his voice.

Hinata strengthened the chakra to her eyes and stared him down. Clearly he didn't think she was a threat, but Hinata wasn't out of the game just yet. She watched as he let his rock gauntlets fall off of his hands as he straightened up his stance before placing his hands into a handseal. His chakra was steady within his system, though it appeared to explode outwards as he activated a technique.

Her eyes widened and she jumped back just in time to avoid two large slabs of rock from each side that threatened to squish her into a paper-thin state. As she landed she could see the chakra emanating from his feet towards her, forcing her to jump back again to avoid a second attack of the same nature. This happened a third and a fourth time until Hinata realised that he was pushing her back to Naruto's position. At this rate he'd be in range of attacking her husband and that would cripple their attack completely and possibly kill Naruto in his defenceless state.

She quickly decided she'd had enough of defending.

Using her spiritual energy underneath her feet, Hinata rocketed up into the air straight at her opponent. She came at him at such a high speed that Kitsuchi was forced to cancel his offensive technique and slam his hands into the ground in front of him, erecting a large wall to defend himself from her attacks.

However Hinata had no intention of attacking in a straight line, rather using her aerial manoeuvrability to shift around Kitsuchi's defensive wall while running through a quick set of handseals. It was extremely difficult to maintain her Byakugan, her spiritual energy to keep her afloat and fuel chakra into her ninjutsu technique, but in the defence of her husband Hinata felt an overwhelming power swelling within her. It refined her focus and increased her strength tenfold.

Hinata appeared at Kitsuchi's side and activated her technique. From her hands spat a short beam of water that caught the Iwa shinobi in the side of his head, causing him to spiral backwards from the blast.

However unlike her opponent, Hinata had no intention of letting him recover from the attack. With a burst of speed she shot towards her tumbling opponent before striking out with her fingers. Kitsuchi was able to get his arms up to defend his vital points, but Hinata had counted on that fact.

With wind spiritual energy running through her hands and forming into deadly daggers at her fingertips, Hinata rapidly shredded the chakra points and muscles in his arms, causing them to drop uselessly by his side. Using her momentum she grabbed at his shoulders and pushed as much strength as she could into her spiritual energy, sending the two of them high into the sky.

He weighed a lot more than she would have thought for someone of his size, but with his arms useless she didn't need to take him up that high.

It seemed like a cruel thing to do, but once she reached a reasonable height, Hinata let him go.

She deactivated her Byakugan so that she didn't have to watch, but she heard it nevertheless. She floated to the ground slowly, making sure that she landed close to Naruto's position so that she could resume guarding him. It was unfortunate that their Cascading Flow bodyguards were dead, but even with a damaged liver and what she assumed were several cracked ribs, she would stand at his side until the battle was over. She could already feel the disorientation and nausea associated with her injuries, but she refused to let them sway her from her duty.

Though if someone were to offer her a bottle of water and an energy bar, she might consider leaving her husband on that premise alone.

* * *

><p>Fiore clutched at her left arm with a grimace, it refused to move even an inch. She tried to shake her muscles from their frozen state, but it felt like thousands of kilos worth of weight was strapped to her arm.<p>

She'd increased the density of her wood platform to accommodate the excess weight, though she was highly resentful of the fact that her opponent had literally made her heavier than she used to be.

He clearly didn't know how important that was to her.

Opposite her hovering in the air was the Tsuchikage, breathing heavily through laboured breaths with his hands in a handseal. The Cascading Flow woman had shown a remarkable refusal to die and had caused him to waste much of his chakra between trying to catch her in the air and defending himself against her rapid fire attacks. If he'd been thirty years younger the battle wouldn't have been a problem, but with his sore back and bad eyesight, it was difficult to maintain his composure in the fight.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was fighting for the protection of his village, the Tsuchikage knew the young girl would have taken him out by now. He'd been able to barely graze her left arm and magnify its weight by over a dozen times, but that only seemed to anger her further.

The battle beneath them was not going well for his side either. It killed him that he wasn't able to assist his shinobi as they died in the hundreds, every time he tried the Cascading Flow girl stopped him. His estimate was that they would be driven from the village in a short amount of time, a part of him was ready to sound a full retreat and regroup, but he knew that would never work.

This was their home, and they would rather die than surrender it.

The Tsuchikage's chakra was running dangerously low, but Fiore had been far too quick for his techniques. His options had run out.

With his hands running through a long set of handseals, three rock clones began to appear at his side, hovering in the same manner as he was. Fiore watched them carefully; her knowledge of the various cloning techniques told her that it was a desperation move, one that clearly preceded a large offensive attack.

She had no intention of letting him finish his technique.

In manipulating her wood, Fiore usually used her hands to direct it, though many years ago she had discovered this was not necessary for reasonable control. As she was unable to use her left arm, Fiore turned her mind to focusing on the wood itself and bending it further than she had in the past.

Her wood platform began to move to her will, while the Tsuchikage's clones each appeared to create a variety of long clear shapes aimed directly at her. She was confused by this tactic as he couldn't possibly think that she would be caught by such a slow technique.

She recognised it as a distraction method for the original who was still running through handseals behind the rock clones. Fiore had no means of sensing what technique he was using, but judging by the desperation on her opponent's face she knew it wasn't going to be good for her, or the warriors below if her guess was right.

The wood platform finally started to change into the shapes she desired, expanding outwards in every direction. It formed into long spikes that shot straight towards the Tsuchikage's clones. They appeared to have been prepared for it as they slightly altered the shapes of their techniques and shot them into the wood attacking them.

Fiore raised herself higher into the air so as not to be accidently struck by the particle techniques, but with her mind so intrinsically linked to her wood she grimaced in pain at its destruction. Massive chunks of her wood were pulverised in an instant, yet she pushed through and continued to expand it, driving the spikes into the rock clones and dissipating them. She moved her wood towards the original Tsuchikage with the intention of finishing the job, but with a surprising demonstration of dexterity the elderly man reached forward and grasped the wood with his bare hands.

Fiore frowned and used her right hand to command the wood to spike outwards, causing the Tsuchikage to call out in pain, but maintain his grip on her wood. The determined look on his face was frightening as he activated his technique.

"Doton: Choukajuugan no Jutsu!" (Earth Element: Super Added-Weight Rock Technique)

With her wood connected to her feet, Fiore could feel her wood gaining rapidly in weight. In a split-second she was already being sent towards the group.

In a desperate move, Fiore leapt off of her wood platform and summoned up a section that hadn't yet changed in weight to her hand, forming it into a sharp axe and driving it straight into the wood attached. It severed straight through the wood and cut it off from the element in her hand, which she quickly formed into a new platform so she didn't fall to the ground. The wood she was now using hadn't been effected by the Tsuchikage's technique, though she was lucky she'd cut it off when she did.

The wood in the Tsuchikage's hands cracked and shattered into tiny pieces of rubble, the added weight too much for it to maintain its structural integrity. The Tsuchikage grimaced as he pulled the now-rubble spikes from his hands, that'd hadn't worked entirely to plan.

But he wasn't done yet as he placed his hands to each side of his body. He could see the young Cascading Flow warrior charging towards him with her strange technique forming into a large collection of bladed edges that she obviously wanted to cut him to pieces with.

"Fuuton: Senmoufuu no Kaze Yaiba!" (Wind Element: Rotating Ferocious Blade Winds)

Fiore's eyes widened as she felt the air around her being cut to pieces by some unknown force, though she found it strange that the Tsuchikage had hardened himself completely in a layer of rock that he'd previously used to block her slashing attacks. On instinct she withdrew her wood and tried to put some distance between the two of them, but she could hear the slashing getting closer and closer to her position.

_There was no intel on him using Wind techniques…shit this is really bad…_

She flew away as fast as she could, but when it became clear that she wasn't going to be able to escape, she instead took the wood from beneath her feet and extended it in a protective shell all around her. Her stamina was almost completely drained so she wasn't able to make the wood as thick as she would have liked, but it was the best she could hope for.

The wood began to fall apart as it was slashed to pieces by the Tsuchikage's wind technique, Fiore able to do little except hold her breath and prey that he runs out of chakra before the invisible blades reached her.

She winced as the front section of her wood shield was ripped off by the wind blades, she could feel them pressing against her skin. For some strange reason she couldn't see her life flashing before her eyes, as many people have claimed to have experienced. Instead all she could see was a great blue ocean and a burning hot environment all around her. Fiore had accepted her fate; there was no way for her to stop the attacks in time.

The blow never fell.

For almost half a minute Fiore sat in her wood shell, unsure what could have happened. By all rights, she should've been killed by now. After figuring she wasn't about to die, she retracted her wood shield back to a normal platform and prepared herself for whatever she might encounter.

To her surprise, and subsequent relief, she saw her partner flying on one of his hawks in front of her. At his feet was the Tsuchikage with a sword through his chest, though she could tell he wasn't dead just yet.

"Took you long enough," she said with a tired smile.

Sasuke gave her a look and extended his arm to help her onto his hawk's back. "You only gave me the opening, Fiore. This was all you."

She chuckled as she collected her wood in a short stick and held it in one hand while gripping his waist with the other, "I'll hold you to that statement…"

The hawk they flew on suddenly banked to the side, threatening to throw the two of them off as it moved to avoid a large collection of thrown shurikens from the ground below. Sasuke pulled his sword out of the Tsuchikage and picked him up with one hand easily, passing him off to his partner. He nodded to her quickly before lighting his sword up with crackling energy, "This battle isn't over yet."

With that, he leapt off of the hawk and into the fray, while his mount took Fiore back to the Cascading Flow command post. She wanted to join him in the fight, but was too preoccupied hanging on for dear life.

She really hated flying that way.

* * *

><p>Within six hours the battle was over.<p>

Thousands had died on both sides of the conflict, but with the Tsuchikage in their custody and their main general dead, the Iwa shinobi were fighting a losing battle.

However they didn't go down without a fight, killing many rebels before finally succumbing to their inevitable fate.

After securing the village entirely, Naruto approached Elika to discuss their arrangement. He hadn't secured anything from her when he'd initially agreed to help with her rebellion, and judging from the losses they'd suffered he wasn't sure they'd be in any condition to help in the war against the Quiraji.

"Lady Elika," he said formally to the tall woman. She was still decked out in her worn battle armour with blood drying on its plates, giving her quite a terrifying visage. His gaze was slowly drawn to the small elderly man propped up against a nearby wall, his hands clasped in the same handcuffs that Naruto had worn earlier and a large cloth bag over his head. Judging by his shallow breathing he could tell he wasn't dead, but Naruto still didn't envy his position.

"What will happen to him?"

Elika turned to the blonde shinobi, "He will stand trial for his crimes. What happens to him from there on is up to the people."

Having heard her reasoning behind the rebellion, Naruto could imagine what that trial would entail. He let out a long breath, "And the Quiraji?"

"Now that the war is over, the people will be going home," said Elika quickly. "But you knew that from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Perhaps." Naruto walked around a nearby table and leaned his hands on the back of a chair, "But our problem still remains and our cause is weakened with the death of so many shinobi."

"They wouldn't have fought with you and you know it."

The Konoha shinobi shrugged, that was something he had considered. "Well my wife and I are leaving to go back to help our friends. Any assistance you could render would be very beneficial."

Elika shook her head quickly, "I cannot do that. These people have no cause to die against an enemy that has no interest in them."

Naruto wasn't the student of facial expressions that his wife was, but something in Elika's face told him something he'd suspected since meeting her.

"You made a deal, didn't you?"

He walked closer towards her and pointed an accusing finger at her, "That was the only way you could have won this war, wasn't it? They armed you with their weaponry and tactics and you in turn remove one of their greatest foes."

Elika smacked away his hand quickly, "I did what I had to. The Quiraji have no interest in normal people and I did what was necessary to survive. They didn't give us anything, except the promise that they would not attack us. Our Quiraji-based technology came from unknown sources."

Naruto considered what she said for a moment before it struck him.

"Neji…"

Everything became clear to him at that moment. Things had happened on a much grander scale than he could have imagined and not for the first time in the past week he wondered how many things the 'Otokage' had manipulated.

He turned back to Elika, "Then there is nothing more to be gained here. My wife and I will take our leave of your land. I get the feeling we aren't welcome here anymore."

The Cascading Flow leader reached forward and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to make it seem as a non-threatening gesture. "Your efforts were invaluable in winning this war, Naruto. We won't forget that anytime soon. But you must understand our position."

"Unfortunately, I do," said Naruto with a sigh. He wasn't going to demand her dedicate any resources to help against the Quiraji, but he was grateful that at least nobody else would die in her conflict. He turned to leave the room, though as he walked through the doorway he noticed Sasuke standing in the hallway. Unlike Elika, he'd changed from his battle outfit and didn't even look like he'd received a scratch from the battle, even though Naruto knew he'd done some of the hardest fighting in the village.

"You didn't think you'd be going alone, did you?"

Naruto's face lit up at his statement; he'd been wrapped up in getting the Cascading Flow army that he'd forgotten the main reason they'd come to the Land of Earth was to help Sasuke in the first place.

Sasuke looked off into the distance away from Naruto, "Someone's got to keep you from looking like an idiot, after all."

His blonde friend grinned and he opened his arms widely, but Sasuke took a step back with his hand up to stop him. "Don't hug me."

Naruto chuckled and put down his hands, "Well, I'm happy that you want to come along. I didn't figure you for the settle-down type anyway."

"The Quiraji killed my mother and many of our friends, Naruto. I might not be obsessed with revenge anymore, but that doesn't mean I won't fight for it." Sasuke's voice was determined; he could still remember the image of his mother's life withering before his eyes.

"And he won't be alone," came a female voice behind him.

The two Konoha shinobi turned to see Fiore walking towards them, a small towel over her hair. She scratched at the side of her head before placing a hand on his shoulder. "I wasn't going to let you go off on your own, you know that, right?"

"Fiore…maybe you should…" started Sasuke, but the young Cascading Flow warrior ignored him and stepped forward to extend her hand towards Naruto.

"I have my own reasons to fight, Uzumaki. I won't take no for an answer."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke for a moment with amusement in his eyes; he liked this girl for him. She was the right amount of strong woman to put him in his place. He took her hand with a hearty shake, "Then welcome aboard. We'll have to meet up with the Otokage before our next move, but having seen you fight I must say you'll be invaluable." He looked back over at Sasuke again, "And anyone that can shut the teme up is a friend of mine."

Fiore chuckled in response, while Sasuke merely threw his hands up into the air and stormed off. The two of them shared a look before bursting out into laughter once again.

* * *

><p>Fiore hummed quietly to herself as she packed her bag with all the essentials. Despite the previous week's events, she felt strangely upbeat. She wasn't sure what her mother intended to do now that their rebellion had succeeded, but she'd made her choice.<p>

"You ready to go?" came Sasuke's voice from the doorway.

"Give me a second," she said back, going through her clothing for a few moments before making a decision and placing the last few pieces that she needed before flipping the top over and buttoning it into place. "Okay, I'm good."

With his own pack over his shoulder, Sasuke gave her a small smile as he remarked at how beautiful she looked as the setting sunlight struck her face through a nearby window. He wasn't sure what was happening between them, but for the moment he was happy with how things were.

"The others are waiting outside. Itachi mentioned something…about something…" Fiore slowly made her way towards him, grinning as she snaked a hand around his waist. "…I wasn't really listening to be honest."

The young girl smiled at his admission, leaning forward to kiss him gently on the lips. She didn't have to lean down at all; they were about the same height, though she did pack a pair of her heels to change that if the situation dictated it necessary.

"We could make them wait…if you want." Her voice changed to a light purr, though to her disappointment her partner's expression didn't appear to change.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Naruto is not the most patient of a person…"

Fiore rolled her eyes with a groan, "Not what I meant, Sasuke. You really need to work on understanding what I mean."

Sasuke looked at her violet eyes with the same look he generally wore when he was disinterested, "If you are talking about having sex, as I said, we don't have time. Besides, we did it three times this morning."

"Four times," corrected Fiore quickly. Sasuke gave her a confused look, but the young woman smirked back. "You were asleep."

Sasuke did his best to conceal his displeasure at being used in such a way, turning to lead her towards the main entrance to Cascading Flow. It felt oddly empty now that almost all of their warriors had returned to their homes, yet the warriors that had survived the battle and decided to remain kept the hall as boisterous as it once was.

The two of them had already bid farewell to Elika and the other warriors, though Naruto said that he'd made a marking on the building in case Fiore wanted to return at any point to speak with her mother. While Fiore didn't like the decision her mother had made surrounding the war with the Quiraji, she understood her position and didn't hold it against her.

They greeted the married couple near the border of the surviving standing army, with Naruto and Hinata both thanking Fiore for coming with them. They knew she didn't have to accompany them, but she dismissed their thanks with a wave of her hand.

"We're all prepared then?" came Itachi's voice from around a nearby corner.

The group nodded in agreement as they greeted the older Uchiha. Once Sasuke had agreed to join them, Itachi committed to their cause as well. Though they hadn't gained an army as Naruto and Hinata had hoped, the addition of the Uchiha brothers was a massive boon to the war effort, and Fiore had a proven ability to fight against the Quiraji leaders better than either Naruto or Hinata could.

Naruto created a Kage Bunshin to the surprise of the group. He put up a hand to stop them asking, "It's just a policy of mine. If I'm teleporting more than one person, I have to make sure that the seal is still in place."

He nodded to the clone and watched as it disappeared with a quiet crack of lightning. Barely a second later he gripped his temple tightly with a grimace of pain.

"What's wrong?" asked his concerned wife, placing her hands on his arm gently.

"I'm fine…I'm just glad I checked the seal before sending everyone along." Naruto put down his hands and breathed out slowly, it was always a painful experience when that happened. "Either the seal was broken or it's been destroyed."

"What does that mean?" asked a confused Fiore, not knowing any of the details of the technique he had attempted to use.

"It means we'll have to walk," said Itachi from the side.

Hinata had obvious concern on her face at the news that they couldn't immediately return to her cousin's side. She knew that her husband had given him a seal wrapped around a kunai, so the only way his technique wouldn't work is if the kunai was destroyed or Neji had intentionally broker the seal. Both possibilities had serious implications; she didn't want to think of the idea that she had already lost her cousin after just reconnecting with him.

"Will you be able to keep up with us if we move at shinobi speed?" asked Naruto to Fiore, knowing that Sasuke and Itachi wouldn't have an issue.

"She'll be fine," said Sasuke before Fiore could answer. The young girl gave him a look before shrugging and nodding to their blonde companion.

"Then we should get going. At best speed, Otogakure is still a week away."

They all began their final preparations for the trip, with Fiore created a wood platform to fly on. It would take concentration, but she would be able to keep up with them with little issue.

None of them could shake the feeling that something terrible had happened.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

There are several things I'd like to note for this battle. Firstly, I wasn't going to be able to detail every single thing that happened in the fight. There were literally thousands of small battles that happened in this chapter that occurred in this manner, it's simply unreasonable to do them all. The fights that the many Cascading Flow warriors and civilians had against the Iwa shinobi were quite numerous. Secondly the reason the Tsuchikage fell in that way is that you have to remember that he is a bit older in this story than he is in the main story, and isn't the shinobi he once was, particularly against a fighting style like Fiore's. Also any concerns about him using Wind techniques, remember that his Particle style is a mixture of Earth, Wind and Fire, so it's conceivable that he'd have some ability in each of those elements.

Also, I'm going to be in the US for a long while and at least for the first few weeks my release schedule will be a bit messed up. As such, expect the next few chapters to be fortnightly affairs. However the next chapter will all be about the romance side of the story. So you've got that to look forward to. And don't worry; it won't with Naruto and Hinata. There's been plenty of that already.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	73. Chapter 67 Time Enough for Love

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 67 – Time Enough for Love

**A/N**: I'd like to try something new in this chapter. While this one will mostly be on a single type, I want to try putting in little subtitles for each significant section. Please tell me if they enhance or detract from the reading experience.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be realistic romantic interactions.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Naruto and Hinata were reluctant at first, but they were eventually convinced to join Cascading Flow's rebellion. The two shinobi were integral in the taking of the village. Naruto's army of blood clones held off the Iwa shinobi's main force at the front, while Sasuke and Itachi blasted a hole in the side wall and Cascading Flow warriors poured in. After a short counterattack from Iwa, Fiore confronted the Tsuchikage in a midair battle, and was able to take him down with Sasuke's assistance. In defence of her husband, Hinata killed the Iwagakure main general. The Rebellion was successful and the village was taken. Naruto and Hinata were only able to convince Sasuke and Itachi to return with them, but luckily for them Fiore offered to come with. However they were unable to teleport to Otogakure, meaning they'd be forced to walk back to the village.

***End Summary***

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><p>Revelation<p>

Inuzuka Kiba looked at his partner with a serious canine stare, trying to determine the best way to respond to what she had just told him.

"Are…wha…no…what?!"

Yamanaka Ino took in a deep breath and stared right back at him through her green eyes; this was just as hard on her as it was for him. If not more so.

"I'm telling you it isn't possible. I don't know what else to tell you, Kiba…But I'm certain."

The Konoha shinobi's confusion was more obvious in his expression than in the rampant shaking of his head, but it definitely was clear. Deciding that he couldn't deal with it standing up, Kiba decided to sit down on the table opposite their bed. He exhaled slowly, laying his furry tail at his side so he didn't sit on it. He'd done that in the past and it generally hurt like hell. "I don't…but…" He glanced back up at her, "How long have you known?"

His blonde lover hesitated for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor; it was difficult to look him in the eyes. "About three months."

"And you didn't think to tell me?!" Kiba's disbelief was quickly being replaced with anger.

Ino put a finger to her lips quickly with panic in her eyes, "Keep your voice down! I don't want Airi to wake up and hear us fighting."

Kiba groaned loudly, "Ino, the girl is telepathic. She can tell when you fart too loudly on the other side of the village."

The Yamanaka shinobi couldn't really dispute that; her daughter had a penchant for hearing things that a three-year-old shouldn't have to. Whether she chose that or not was still up for debate. "Just…keep your voice down, okay?"

Kiba breathed out through his fangs and leaned forward on his knees, clasping his hands together tightly. "This is really messed up, Ino. We've been together for over a year now. This is the kind of thing you're meant to talk to me about." He shook his head constantly, he still couldn't believe it. In front of him she was clearly trying to work out a way to make him feel better, but Kiba wasn't sure he wanted to feel better.

All he felt was anger.

Eventually he stood up from the table he was sitting on and scratched at his fur-covered ears with a bite of his lip. He went to say something but no words seemed to form in his throat.

Ino jumped up from the bed and tried to embrace him in a loving hug, but her partner turned away from her and walked to the window of their bedroom.

"Kiba…" she started

He put up a hand to stop her while the other opened the glass window into the windy desert village they resided in. "I'm going out for a run." Before she could attempt to stop him from leaving, the Inuzuka shinobi leapt into the village and into the windy storm-covered night.

He had a lot to think about and couldn't do it with her there.

Back inside the apartment, after closing the window behind Kiba, Ino dropped back onto the bed and let her tears slowly fall onto the sheets. She knew that it would've been difficult for him to process such a troublesome issue, but she'd thought he'd at least be willing to talk about it. She was certain he hated her for concealing the fact that she couldn't have children, despite the fact that neither of them had spoken of making a deeper commitment to each other.

With Kiba constantly on missions for the village and her long hours at the hospital, they had taken refuge with what they had. They'd almost never gotten the chance to talk properly and she'd laid this bombshell on him the first chance she got.

But she hadn't expected him to react like this.

From the corridor she heard the soft pattering of feet on her carpet floor, causing her to turn to see her little girl walking into her room rubbing at her eyes with her tiny hands, yawning wide enough for Ino to fit a small animal inside if needed.

"Mummy?" asked Airi at a whisper. "What's going on?"

Ino smiled sadly at her daughter's concern making sure to wipe her eyes before opening her hands and taking the little girl into her arms. The moment she collected her into her lap Airi fell asleep with cute breathing noises emerging from her mouth. Her young mother sighed quietly and ran her hands through her daughter's hair, pulling it away from her face and behind her ears.

With a free hand Ino wiped at her face again at the new tears and breathed out loudly while staring at the stone ceiling of her apartment. She tried to act strong for her daughter's sake even if she was asleep, but it was difficult to maintain a strong visage constantly. If she was still around, she'd take counsel in her mother's arms, but she was gone like the rest of her clan.

She had no idea what to do.

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Seeking Advice

Kiba landed on his feet on the roof of one of the many spiral buildings in Sunagakure, keeping his eyes closed to protect from the harsh wind. The shinobi village was protected from the worst of the elements from the surrounding desert, but on nights like this it got pretty bad even inside the perimeter.

It didn't help that it got freezing cold at night too.

He had dust in places he didn't know he had places, but Kiba was still able to pinpoint where he was going with little effort. Most of the time he didn't even need his shinobi senses to make his way around the general area. He considered going for a proper run around the surrounding area, but dismissed the idea as he remembered that there was a standing curfew in the village. Unlike some, he wasn't in the best standing with the border patrols either.

_Perhaps I should visit the kennels. I'm sure Akamaru is hanging around somewhere._

He sighed at the thought with a shake of his head, now wasn't the time to talk to his canine companion. Akamaru was likely still spending time with his new litter. At that thought he felt his frustration rising, even his animal companion had started a family.

Some things just refused to work the way he wanted them to.

Shaking himself out of his depression, Kiba focused his senses on the one other place he could go to. With a tiny amount of chakra to steady himself, the Inuzuka heir leapt down into the village with impressive speed.

Landing in front of the round door he'd aimed for, Kiba took a moment to think about it before knocking lightly with the back of his hand. He knew that if he tried to open the door without announcing himself he would suffer the consequences of all the traps that had been put in place. He'd seen the results of some of them; they were definitely less than pleasant.

After quite a while the door opened slowly. He let out a slow breath of relief as he saw Nagisa standing in the doorway, wearing a thin shirt he didn't recognise. Her dark hair just begged to be brushed and cared for, something that always bugged him about her. She rubbed at her eyes with a wide yawn, "Kiba? What are you doing here?"

"I…I dunno actually," said the Inuzuka clan heir. "I guess I just need someone to talk to…I dunno, it seems stupid now that I'm here…"

Nagisa sighed and forced her eyes open wide in an attempt to wake herself up more, slapping herself lightly in the face. "Kiba…can this wait? We just came back from the front and I need some rest."

"I know, I know. I just…I don't exactly have anyone else to talk to."

The Inuzuka kunoichi sighed and motioned for him to enter inside with a dispassionate wave of her hand. She closed the door behind him and took him into the kitchen, flicking on the kettle and grabbing a mug for herself from a nearby shelf.

She didn't offer to get him anything.

Kiba looked at his cousin with a suspicious look in his eyes; it looked like she'd been asleep in the middle of the floor. She wasn't wearing the makeup that she usually wore when on duty, though her red fangs with black lining tattoos were still clear despite several scars across her cheeks. He didn't consider his cousin a pretty woman by any stretch, but even in her current state he still thought of her as striking. He had to keep reminding himself that they were related.

"Now, what is so important?" she said with a tired sigh, not hiding her exasperation at all. She could see that her cousin was wound-up pretty tight, but he also seemed to be unable to deal with some of the larger issues they had to face as adults in the shinobi world.

It wasn't a good combination.

Kiba went to open his mouth to speak, but hesitated when he noticed an unfamiliar scent in her apartment. He turned with a suspicious look to see a figure walking from his cousin's bedroom. It was a young woman, no older than he was, though clearly younger than Nagisa. She wore a light blue towel around her waist that barely covered up her bare skin, with a similarly coloured towel bundled up in her hair. Kiba was surprised to see that she had purple marks on her face that were surprisingly similar to their cheek markings, though he could tell immediately that she clearly wasn't an Inuzuka. The young woman leant on the side of the doorway and regarded the two of them with faded blue eyes.

"Something wrong, Nagisa?" she asked with a raised eyebrow sent in Kiba's direction.

The Inuzuka kunoichi shook her head and smiled at the young woman with something that spoke of a relationship deeper than friendship even to Kiba's ignorant gaze, "It's okay, Maki, go back to bed. It'll be warm in there, the heater was just fixed."

She stared at their guest for a moment before sighing and rubbing the towel in her hair. "If you say so. Are you going to be a while?"

"Probably," said Nagisa with a nod to her cousin. "Do you want some coffee?"

The Sunagakure kunoichi yawned with a hand in front of her face before waving off the offer and turning around to walk back into the bedroom. Kiba gawked loudly as he saw that the towel around her waist wasn't actually covering anything that would have been considered modest, though she didn't seem to care that he could see it. "Nah, I'm just going to get into bed. Wake me up when you're finished."

Nagisa nodded with an affectionately smile before turning back to her cousin, giving him a strange look to accompany his own. "What?"

Kiba pointed to the now empty doorway for a moment before pointing her, and then back at the doorway with his mouth hanging open. Getting the picture, Nagisa rolled her eyes at his ignorance and reached for the finished kettle, pouring boiling water into her mug. She tossed in the contents of a small packet and stirred it slowly.

"You never told me you…" Kiba let his sentence trail off; he had no idea how to finish it.

"You never asked," replied Nagisa without emotion, taking a sip from her drink to test the temperature.

The Inuzuka heir's frown deepened; that was something he would have thought his cousin would have shared with him. They'd been working together for nearly three years and were the only family they had left, yet he knew little more than surface details about her and her lifestyle. "How long have the two of you…"

"None of your business," said Nagisa coldly. She stared at him through her canine eyes, sending a chill down Kiba's spine. It was the same kind of look his mother would give him when he did something wrong; it also tended to precipitate fairly brutal 'taijutsu' lessons. She was nothing like his mother, but he didn't like the reminder.

Deciding it would be better to change topics, Kiba told her about the revelation that Ino had dumped into his lap. His cousin continued to drink without pause until he had finished his explanation.

Nagisa finished off the last of her drink and placed her mug into the nearby sink and running water through it to clean it. "I know," she said simply.

"You knew?" exclaimed Kiba with no small amount of concern in his voice. "How the hell did you know?"

"Ino told me," said Nagisa as she leaned on the kitchen counter. "She was concerned that you wouldn't react well to the news. Clearly she was correct."

Kiba bit at his lip so hard that blood trickled down his face, it seemed like everyone knew about this before he did. He breathed out slowly to calm himself down and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm hardly overreacting. We've been together for over a year, and only now does she tell me that she can't have children! How the hell am I meant to react?!"

"That's exactly the problem, Kiba. You've only been together for a year. With the war and everything going on, children should be the last thing on your mind. Neither of you are likely to survive long enough to have children to begin with."

Her cousin went to protest, but he had to admit she made a good point. They'd only recently returned from a long mission against the scouting elements of one of the Quiraji armies and in a few days would be leaving again for the front. They had little time for personal lives, but Kiba wasn't about to let the war destroy what little enjoyment he could find in life.

Besides, that wasn't the issue at hand.

"If she can't have children…then I don't think I should be with her. I have a duty to restore the clan."

Nagisa snorted loudly, "The clan…please. I've heard so many things done in service to 'the clan', that some days I don't even care that none of them are left."

Kiba's face darkened immediately, "Don't talk about our family that way. They might have done some bad things in the past, but we always had the best intentions at heart."

"Save the speech, Kiba, you're wasting your breath." Nagisa was too tired to give a damn about his feelings. "The clan died when Konoha did. You might want to revive it for some honour-based reason, but you have to face the fact that you probably won't be able to." She gestured with her hands to extenuate her point, "One person creating a whole clan is a rare thing, particularly in times of war."

Kiba did his best to contain himself during her tirade, though something was bothering him as she spoke. After a little bit it occurred to him what it was. "Why are you talking as if you won't be trying to revive the clan? Don't you want to have children?"

Nagisa shrugged lightly, "It's not something I think about. I might be dead tomorrow or the day after. There's no need to worry about it until then."

"Is that why you are spending your time with that woman?" asked Kiba accusingly. "Because you don't want to fulfil your obligation?"

"I'm spending my time with Maki because I prefer women, Kiba. Not because of some bizarre pathetic excuse." Nagisa glanced over at the empty doorway with a sigh, "I should get angry at you for making such a judgement, but you're too much like your mother. She was exactly the same. Blunt and ignorant."

Kiba took that as a good thing, even though he knew it wasn't. "Well…what do you think I should do?"

"That's a stupid question," said his cousin as she turned back to him. "Do you love the Yamanaka girl?"

Kiba thought about it for a second; that was a difficult question to answer. Whenever he thought about the blonde kunoichi he got a strange mixture of feelings in his stomach, but when he tried to identify them as love he always seemed to fall short. He preferred to spend his time with her whenever he could, but there were plenty of times he wanted to stay away from her.

Nagisa pointed to him with a single finger, "That hesitation is your answer."

The Inuzuka heir's eyes dropped to the floor, it was a difficult thing to think about. "I can't say I love her completely. But that doesn't mean I don't want to at least try. I have an obligation."

His partner sighed loudly, "Think about this from her perspective, Kiba. She's just found out that she cannot have children, despite having an adopted daughter already. Any chance of the Yamanaka clan being revived died the moment she discovered that, so consider how difficult this is for her. It's not all about you and your need to increase your numbers by any means possible."

Nagisa picked at her dark hair for a few moments before brushing off the shoulders of her shirt, "If I was in your position, I'd be trying my best to be the one thing in her life that isn't fighting against her."

Kiba bit at his lip hard, his thoughts causing his tail to flail about behind him uncontrollably. He shook his head as if to come to some kind of conclusion. "I should go talk to her…"

"Yes, you should."

He looked back up at his cousin to thank her for what little help she offered, but Nagisa was already making her way to her bedroom with her back facing him. "Shut the door on the way out."

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Long Days

Ino's chakra glow intensified over the patient's chest as she attempted to repair the severed blood vessels before he bled out. Her hands were covered in blood despite her technique and a nurse was constantly padding at her forehead in a vain attempt to keep sweat from falling into her eyes.

"Doctor, we're losing blood pressure," said one of the nurses at a nearby machine that was beeping loudly.

Ino swore and turned to one of her assistants, "Ready the paddles and get me 3 milligrams of Proamatine." She intensified her chakra output and threaded the patient's vessels together in a rough manner before moving her hands up closer to his heart. "Keep pressure on the wound and bring in suction."

The machine monitoring the patient's heartbeat buzzed loudly, causing all the doctors to look at it with dread. Ino swore again and ordered the nurse to use the paddles, but after several attempts it was clear that their efforts were in vain. Letting a nurse wash her hands of blood before drying them on a nearby towel, Ino sighed and wiped at her long blonde hair on her face. Despite the fact that it tended to get in the way most of the time, she refused to cut it to a more appropriate length.

She glanced at the clock on the wall before breathing out slowly. "Time of death: 9:14."

The nurses didn't say anything when she left the surgery room, they knew it was their duty to take care of the body and didn't want to interfere with her mental state at that moment. Ino was a brilliant doctor, one of the best Suna had ever seen, but she was human just like the rest of them.

"You seem agitated," observed a fellow doctor when she saw Ino enter the locker room.

Ino turned to her and attempted to give her a smile in greeting, but failed. "It's nothing. Business as usual."

The doctor didn't make a follow-up comment, she'd heard about the patient. "I think the Chief wants to speak to you. Sounded important."

Rolling her eyes, Ino slapped her own cheeks lightly before shutting her locker door, "There's always something. I was meant to take Airi to meet her new teachers." She looked at the watch on the underside of her wrist, trying her best to work out the timing. "If she doesn't keep me long I could still make it, I guess."

Her fellow doctor smiled and clapped her on the shoulder, "You do far too much, Ino. If you don't slow down, you're going to burn out."

Ino dismissed her concern quickly, "I should get going. Are you done for the day?"

"No, I've got a double in Intensive until 3." The doctor nodded to Ino before leaving for her shift. She closed the door behind her and left Ino to her thoughts.

The blonde doctor let out a long breath and leaned her head on her locker door. It seemed like things were going all out of whack at the same time, but she couldn't let the small things overcome her. If she broke down, she wasn't sure what would remain to pick up the pieces.

The only way she was going to be able to cope was to deal with things one at a time.

She made her way up two sets of staircases before knocking loudly on the large wooden door in front of her. She didn't wait for a response before opening it and walking inside.

Inside the office the Chief of Medicine put down the clipboard she was examining and greeted the blonde doctor with a wave of her hand, indicating for her to take a seat in front of her desk.

"You asked to see me?" said Ino with no small amount of impatience in her voice.

Haruno Sakura sighed loudly and clasped her hands together, "It seems like that's what I have to do to see you, old friend."

Ino stared into her friend's green eyes directly, "I've been busy, Sakura. As have you. What's this all about?"

The Chief shook her head, "Ino, it doesn't take a doctor to see that something is wrong with you. I'm just worried about you. We all are."

"Sakura, cut the dramatic crap. What's brought this about? Is it because of the patient today?"

The pink-haired doctor stood up from her chair and walked around to lean in front of her old friend, "I heard about your fight with Kiba. I know things have been difficult lately, and I wanted to tell you that if you wanted someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Why does everyone think I'm some precious flower that needs caring for?" Ino placed her hands on her knees and clenched them tightly. "I don't need your help, Sakura. I don't need Kiba's help. I'm…fine."

"Even so, I'm not about to let you destroy yourself by working yourself to death. I know you take pride in your work, but with things being as they are, I think you need to take some leave."

Ino looked up at her friend to protest, but she could feel a great pressure pushing down on her shoulders. It was difficult to admit, but she'd been holding in a lot of her emotions, and if she were diagnosing herself she would force herself to relax. She sighed and unclenched her muscles, despite their equal beginnings as Genin; Sakura had authority over her and had her best interests at heart. "I guess it would be good to take some time off."

"Thank you," said Sakura with relief in her voice. "I can and do admire the things you do, but you need to look after yourself, Ino. Take Airi somewhere nice, maybe sit on a beach somewhere."

Ino snorted and rubbed at the back of her neck, "Yeah, and after that I'll go punch out the Kazekage just for kicks."

Sakura smirked at her friend's comment; that was the Yamanaka Ino she knew. "Spend a few days with your daughter, okay? I'll get someone to cover for you."

"I'll get you back for this," said Ino as she stood up and thanked her friend. She gave her a small smirk, "It's still hard to think of you as my boss. How many years were we rivals?"

"We still are," said Sakura with a similar smirk. "Only I'm winning."

Ino groaned and left her friend's office, unwilling to let her gloat about her position even though she knew it was only in jest.

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Expected Endings

Ino gently placed her daughter into bed and covered her with a thin blanket. She smiled warmly as she watched the little girl's chest rise and fall with each breath. Anything that tried to anger or disappoint her in her daily life seemed trivial every time she saw her daughter sleeping.

Walking back into the corridor of her apartment, Ino thought about what Sakura had 'suggested' she do for the next few days. While in a constant state of war Suna was under complete lockdown; she seriously doubted that she'd be able to stay away from the hospital for more than a day. With their village the main target for Quiraji aggression, there were always patients needing medical care and she was one of their best doctors.

Ino took a cautionary sniff of her shirt before recoiling in disgust; it had been a very long day. Resolving to clean herself up before going to bed for the night, Ino had a long shower before drying herself off and making a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate. She wore a light towel over her waist and let her wet hair drip onto the floor. The heating in her apartment was at full blast and felt nice against her pale skin; since the village was centralised in the desert it got particularly cold at night. It was no small source of irritation that despite how long she'd been in the desert, she still didn't have a nice tan.

A noise near the front of her apartment drew her attention, though with a quick check with her sensory skills told her it was the last person she wanted to see at that moment. Leaving her hot chocolate on the kitchen counter, Ino made her way to the door and opened it to see her apparent partner standing there with a solemn expression on his face.

She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned deeply, "I don't have anything to say to you, Kiba." Her patience with him had disappeared completely.

"Can I come in at least?" asked the Inuzuka shinobi with a legitimately regretful expression on his face. "I feel I deserve at least that."

Ino clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth for a second before letting out a tsk and leaving the door open as she walked back into the kitchen. Kiba gave her his thanks and shut the door behind himself before following quickly behind her.

Picking up her hot chocolate again and testing the heat with her fingers, Ino took a small sip and regarded him with an angry expression. "Let's hear it."

Kiba hesitated for a moment, he hadn't been sure what to expect but it seemed like Ino had moved past her sadness and was in a fairly angry mood.

The last time she'd been angry with him, she'd broken three of his fingers.

From the other side of the room.

"We never talked about it," he said finally.

Ino raised an eyebrow on the visible side of her face, "Talked about what?"

"Having kids. We don't really talk about anything, Ino." Kiba scratched at his tail quickly; it always seemed to itch at the worst times. "The whole world is upside down, nothing seems to make any sense anymore, and we don't talk."

"You made your feelings pretty clear, Kiba. Perhaps the reason we don't talk is because you have nothing worth saying."

"That's not fair, Ino. This is hard for both of us." He shook his head rapidly, "I don't even know if I could be a father, but I've always wanted the option."

Putting down her drink, Ino sighed loudly before staring into his canine eyes. "Last night told me something that I think we both already knew. Something I think we've known for a while."

Kiba nodded grimly, he knew exactly what she meant. "So…what do we do now?"

Ino uncrossed her arms and took a sip from her drink before noticing that the temperature had dropped rapidly in the few minutes they'd been talking. "I don't know. But I do know that I'm happier when you aren't around than when you are."

The Inuzuka shinobi's eyes dropped to the ground, he had negative things he wanted to say about her as well, but he felt like there was no point in bringing them up. It would only serve to put a larger gap between them. "I'll find somewhere to stay for the next little while. Do you want me to grab my things now?"

Ino sighed and walked forward to place a hand on his chest, "You're a good person, Kiba. I know that you'll find someone for you. It just isn't me. I don't think it ever was."

Taking her hand into his, Kiba reached down and kissed it gently before turning to leave. "If you ever need help, you know I'll come for you."

Ino waited until he closed the door behind him and was out of his considerable hearing range before whispering quietly to herself.

"I know…"

* * *

><p>Nightmares and Dreamscapes<p>

Sakura gasped loudly and clutched at her throat, trying to claw her way out of the terrible mask that encompassed her entire head. She thrashed around violently as she tried to pry it off, but after several moments of gasping for breath she remembered where she was and forced herself to calm down. Opening her eyes with a loud gasp, Sakura tried her best to get a grip of her surroundings; they were very different from how she remembered in the nightmare.

The ceiling above her was the same as she'd left it; the silk blanket that covered her was the same; the dark purple shirt she'd worn to bed was the same.

However she was alone in the bed, and that wasn't the same.

With a grimace she felt at her throat, feeling several scratches from her fingernails. She'd been clawing at it again in her sleep, something that she had been doing at an increasing volume over the past few months. Without accounting for anything else around her, she made sure that she wasn't bleeding before checking to make sure she hadn't hurt herself anywhere else. That was always the risk.

Eventually she sat up on her bed, letting her blanket fall over her naked lower half. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark during the night, though it wasn't difficult for her to notice a figure standing against the wall on the other side of the bedroom.

Sighing loudly and running her hands through her short pink hair, Sakura looked at the figure with an apologetic look. "Sorry if I woke you…"

The figure shook his head slowly, "It's fine, I was up anyway."

Sakura went to get out of the bed, but found her legs were still asleep even though she was now wide awake. The dreams were getting more and more vivid; there were times when she couldn't distinguish between the dreams and reality. Even now in her awoken state she could feel the images pressing in around her, reminding her of why she suffered in the first place.

"Who was it this time?" asked the figure.

Sakura took a deep breath and pulled her blanket back over her top half, "It was…it doesn't matter." She tried to keep up a strong face, but she knew he could see right through her. It wasn't something she could necessarily cope with on her own, but she knew that if she were to ever deal with the knowledge and memories of what she'd done, she'd have to do so on her own.

They were her demons and hers alone.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly, leaning her head back into her pillow.

The figure walked forward a few steps into proper view, "Not more than a few hours into the night. Go back to sleep."

"Are you coming back to bed?" She tried not to make it sound like a plea, but he could see right through her.

Rock Lee shook his head slightly even as he watched his partner's eyes begin to close. He could see she was struggling with her nightmares, but he couldn't bring himself to stay with her at that point.

He still couldn't shake the images he'd seen out of his head, regardless of how many times he tried to think of other things. It had been happening more and more often these days; he had no idea why.

But he couldn't shake the image of being pinned to the ground by spikes of water, staring up helplessly as his masked enemy brutally murdered him without prejudice.

He knew she wasn't that figure anymore, but Lee's body remembered it perfectly. His muscles still twitched at the phantom pain.

Lee hated to admit it, but he couldn't be near her at this stage. He loved Sakura as much as he had loved Gai-sensei, perhaps more so, in a different manner.

But occasionally things were difficult between the two of them because of past events and he had no way of understanding why or how to solve it.

All he knew was that if he were to be close to her with such images in the forefront of his mind, he couldn't guarantee that his body wouldn't react without his knowledge. His instincts were so finely tuned that such a thing wouldn't be impossible; he'd once fought against an entire battalion of Quiraji soldiers while being fast asleep. It was something he was proud of, but also very wary of.

Trying his best to shake himself out of it, Lee made his way out of their bedroom and towards where he'd placed his things. He'd only just returned from a long scouting mission deep in the Land of Fire, but already felt like he needed to be back in the field.

He wanted to spend this time with Sakura, but not like this.

Why couldn't things be perfect?

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Morning Discussion

The next morning Lee came back from his usual hundred laps around Suna to prepare himself a light breakfast before going to the next stage of his morning training. A smile grew on his face as he saw Sakura standing in the kitchen, wearing one of his training shirts and nothing else, sipping on a hot cup of coffee. She looked absolutely stunning.

Sneaking up behind her, Lee threaded his arms around her waist and kissed at the side of her neck gently. They rarely had much time together and Lee wasn't usually an overly affectionate person, but they had to take whatever opportunities presented themselves.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked quietly.

Sakura sighed and rubbed at one of his arms with her free hand, "A little bit." She turned her head slightly and pecked him on the cheek, "Did you get much sleep last night?"

"I'm fine," said Lee, though they both knew he was lying. His stamina was impressive and he could go days without sleep, but he didn't make mention of why that was necessary at the moment.

Sakura let it go and finished off her coffee, washing it clean before a thought came to her and she turned back to see him wolfing down a small bowl of rice. "Oh, I forgot, there's something I need you to do for me."

Lee looked up at her over his bowl, "I'm only in the village for a little while, Sakura. Is it important?"

The green eyed doctor smiled knowingly, "It's something only you can do, dear. I promise it won't take all day. We'll still have some time together."

With a smile, Lee got up and kissed her lightly on the cheek, tossing his bowl into the sink. "I can't say no to you, you know that." He turned around and drew her close to him with his bandaged hands, enjoying the warm touch of his skin on his body. "What do you need me to do?"

Sakura smirked and clutched at his hands, bringing them up to her face. She kissed them lightly before placing them at his side and turning to pick up a piece of paper from the counter.

"There's a rare plant in the Suna desert about three days west of the village that we need. Here's a description of it." She handed him the paper and watched him carefully. Three days run for a normal shinobi was something he could take care of in a matter of hours, and the surrounding desert was extremely dangerous for prolonged periods of time. He was the perfect fit for such a mission.

Lee sighed and nodded slowly, "I'll get it done. Maybe we can get together for dinner or something. We don't spend half as much time together as I'd like."

Sakura smiled with love in her eyes and stepped forward to kiss him passionately on the lips. She leaned her forehead into his and stared straight into his wide honest eyes. "I want that too. It's a date."

Not one to waste time, Lee gave her a kiss farewell and left their apartment. He made sure to keep his speed to a reasonable level so as to not knock over anything in his path, but once he left the doorway she heard the familiar sound of his feet kicking against the air. Even as a doctor, she had no idea how he was able to do such a physically inconceivable technique, but being able to run on air was impressive nonetheless.

She disliked lying to him, but sometimes there were things that had to be kept close to the chest. She did truly need the plant that she was sending him out to get, if she was right it might be the critical component to solving Ino's problem. It had been the result of weeks of work, but she wasn't sure of anything until she had the plant in hand.

However at the moment there were other things that she had to get done, that required his absence.

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Dusty Trail

Judging by how close the sun was to setting, Lee judged there was only about an hour till nightfall. He passed through the final checkpoint to enter Suna and tapped his feet on the ground. He had the plant Sakura had asked him to get; he figured she'd want it as soon as possible, meaning his first stop would be her office in the main hospital building.

Getting to the area indicated by her note had been simple enough, though Lee was reminded of how good the desert was for training. From the intense heat, sand-covered tracks that made getting a grip difficult, and the variety of deadly animals, the deserts around Suna were the perfect training ground. He made a note to go back to the area when he returned from his next assignment, whenever that was.

Lee wasn't the type to use his top speed for normal tasks, but at his level of skill it was difficult not to. Even with weights he broke the sound barrier with little effort.

Pushing off the ground with dozens of small kicks, Lee shot through the air towards the centre of the village. The defences were tightest around the hospital and the Kazekage's building, yet he appeared as little more than a green blur to the standing guards. Pushing himself off the air through a feat of strength he knew Gai-sensei would've been proud of, Lee made it to the window that led into Sakura's office in little time at all.

He fumbled around his pack for a moment before producing a small key, one that she'd given him after it became obvious that he wasn't good at going through doors. He figured she was just happy he'd stopped doing 'Dramatic Entries' every time he entered a building.

Opening the window from above before swinging himself inside, Lee felt a twinge of disappointment when he saw that her office was empty. As Chief of Medicine, Sakura was almost never not at her desk or the surrounding area, but after a few minutes of searching it became clear that she wasn't anywhere on the hospital floor at all.

Lee shook his head in confusion and leaned his hands on her desk; perhaps she'd gone home for the afternoon. He nodded to himself and went to leave, but hesitated as he saw a note attached to the inside of the window.

_A fleeting home, one destroyed, another found. _

_Forever together, forever apart._

Rock Lee was not a complex man; but even he could understand the meaning of the note. It was written in Sakura's handwriting; it was clear she was telling him to go to their shared apartment. It wasn't far from the hospital, Lee leapt out of the window straight towards it without thinking to shut it behind him.

Within a minute he arrived at the front door of their apartment, his mind still trying to work out why she had left such a strange note when she could have said it more plainly. He reached forward and clutched the doorknob, but for some unknown reason it refused to open. Lee frowned deeply, the door was designed to respond to his imprint and open at his touch, even through his bandaged hands, yet it refused to budge.

Not one to let a mere door get in his way, Lee concentrated for only a moment before tightening his grip on the doorknob and turning it hard. His increased strength easily tore apart the latches keeping the door locked, though he was careful not to tear the doorknob off the door completely; that was expensive to replace and they weren't exactly rolling in money.

He swung the door open and took a step inside, only to find himself confronted by a large pillar in the middle of the doorway. Lee resisted the urge to destroy it with a single punch on sheer principle of its impeding his progress, but looked it over quickly. It was clear that something strange was going on, and after a few moments he found a note attached to the stone near his ankles.

_Friends lost in time, whether known or unknown. _

_We love, we lose, we grieve. _

_The dead do not care for guilt. _

This note made less sense than the previous one to Lee. He reached to either side of the pillar and grunted as he picked up the heavy stone and moved it to just outside their front door. A quick check of their reasonably sized apartment told him what he had already figured out; she wasn't here either.

Lee shook his head and placed the note on their kitchen counter, looking over it carefully. He was sure it was Sakura trying to tell him something, but he couldn't work out what it was.

A part of him was terrified she'd gotten herself into trouble and was calling for his aid in a rather peculiar manner, but while Sakura was a complex women, she was not the type to string him along.

He made himself a small cup of coffee and continued to stare at the note, comparing it to the first one he had taken from her office.

After nearly half an hour, his eyes widened as the pieces fell into place in his head. He let out a confirmatory 'ah' and shoved both the notes into one of his many pockets before checking to make sure that the plant was still on his person. She hadn't mentioned what she needed it for, but it must be serious if she was willing to go through this much trouble.

Unlike Konoha, Suna only had gravestones for the deceased that were significant contributors to the village. Once the war broke out, Gaara had ordered the graves moved to underground locations within the village, meaning that to mourn the dead one had to traverse into underground tombs that had once been caved in escape tunnels.

Lee waited upon the patience of the guards for this part of his journey, despite working for Suna for a number of years and gaining the respect of the villagers and the Kazekage, he was still seen as an outsider. After a short conversation about his intentions, they let him into the crypts, reminding him not to disturb the grieving family members within.

Following the candle-lit paths, Lee made his way through the crypt, feeling a sense of purpose as he felt like he knew where he needed to go. After a few winding trips and paying his respect to the fallen Suna shinobi he had worked with in the past, Lee entered a small opening that held a single stone tablet.

Unlike the others within the crypts, this one did not have any bodies underneath it. Rather it merely had names carved into it with a long chisel, ones that he recognised; he'd placed several there himself.

This was the tombstone that represented those lost from Konoha, and those from the village that had died since its destruction. Reaching forward, Lee lightly brushed his fingers over several names, feeling the familiar grief he'd been dealing with for a long time.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked at a whisper, knowing that there was nobody to hear him.

He quietly paid his respects to the fallen and burnt a stick of incense before clapping his hands together and praying silently. In the manner he'd been taught as a child, he pressed his fist to his heart before pressing it skywards, indicating that his teacher's strength was still with him.

As he did so, his eyes caught a glimpse of a small piece of paper stuck on the ceiling with a strange adhesive. Lee held back a groan and jumped up a small distance to pull it off.

_Everything that has a beginning, has an end._

_But only by making the jump, can you truly be happy. _

_No holes are permanent, all earth adapts and changes._

Lee was stumped. At least the previous two notes had given him some indication of where he needed to go next. This one just seemed like a nice piece of wisdom, something he could almost read in Gai-sensei's voice.

Feeling the note carefully in his fingers with a confused shake of his head, Lee sighed and contemplated his next move. It would be simpler to wait for her back at their apartment, but something about the notes and the significance of the places she'd been sending him gave him the indication that he shouldn't give up without trying.

He went to place it in his pocket and leave the crypt so he could read it properly under better light, but the paper came away from him and slowly fell to the floor. As he reached down to pick it up, he noticed a tiny piece of writing on the back, one that he wouldn't have noticed except under close examination. Bringing it up to his eyes, a small smile came across his face.

_Ask Shikamaru._

True to his nature, the Nara shinobi deduced the answer almost at the same time as Lee asked the question. He was practically drowning in paperwork, but still took the time to look into nearby locations before pointing him to a small hole in the side of one of the large cliffs surrounding the village. It had once been an armoury, but had since been abandoned for a better location to accommodate their defences, and was the only one left of its kind. Lee thanked him for his assistance and left for the location at top speed, his mind straining at the effort of trying to work out what to expect.

When he leapt into the cliff opening, he was surprised to see a large wooden door that likely led to the abandoned armoury. Unlike the previous ones, this time the note for him was right in front of him, stuck in the middle of the door. He plucked it off the wood and his smile widened as he read it quickly.

_There's always time to take a leap of faith._

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Surprise

Pushing open the wooden door, Lee thought he was prepared for anything that could have been contained inside. He took pride in being prepared for anything. It was why he carried so many things in his backpack, despite it slowing down his speed slightly.

He certainly could never have seen this coming.

Inside the open doorway was a small room no larger than the living room in his apartment, containing little furniture beyond a few tables and chairs. A dark red rug covered the stone floor that gave it an appealing look that he was sure would have earned further examination had his attention not been immediately drawn elsewhere.

The room was lit with hundreds of candles; giving the room so many shadows that Lee couldn't hope to count them. He figured it would have taken a very long time to light them all in such a precise fashion, which only served to impress him further. But Lee wasn't concentrating on that.

Standing in the middle of the mass of candles was Sakura.

Lee slowly walked to stand in front of her with a slowly growing smile on his face, "Sakura…"

The pink haired woman waited until he was in front of her properly before widening her smile and looking directly into his eyes.

With slow deliberation, she knelt down onto one knee.

Lee felt a thousand things at once, but the look in his partner's eyes told him that saying anything at that moment would spoil it. He kept his mouth shut.

"We've been together…a long time," began Sakura, her voice shaking with emotion. "In that time you've always protected me, kept me safe. It…hasn't always been easy for me, but you've always been there to pick me up and tell me that everything is going to be okay." She thought about the powerful memory she had of regaining her mind at his hand and being freed from Sensou's control. "Even when I didn't deserve saving."

She motioned for him to kneel with her, placing forward her hands to take his bandaged hands into her own. "I know it's been hard on you too. But that's not what I want for us. When I think about you, and how I feel about you, I get this overwhelming warmth in my chest. It seems to want to burn me out from the inside, but I never want that feeling to go away."

Patting his hands affectionately, she looked back up into his face, feeling her confidence peak at that moment. "I want to take care of you; to feel every smile and hurt as my own, to be with you for as long as life will let us. Lee, you are the man I want to sit quietly and pass the time with, the man I want to grow old with, the man I want to die with."

Before Lee could process all the things she was saying, Sakura reached into the front pocket of her shirt and produced a small crimson box with silver lining. They weren't what would be considered a traditionalist couple, but she didn't want to give him the chance to do it first.

With deliberation that bordered on sadism, Sakura opened up the box. Inside was a ring with a large jasper stone, coloured dozens of different shades of red. She knew that it was the gemstone Lee liked the most; it represented self-confidence and purpose in life. It was also extremely difficult to obtain.

She offered him the ring with emotional tears slowly dripping down her face, "Rock Lee, will you marry me?"

The taijutsu master was not an eloquent man by any stretch of the imagination, and in a situation like this he knew he'd never have the words to describe how he felt about her offer. He'd been confused about the state of their relationship for a long time, yet such a scenario hadn't been far from his mind.

Though certainly not in this fashion.

Looking into her green eyes, Lee could see the strength of her resolve, something he hadn't seen in her in a long time. It was this Sakura that he'd fallen in love with; this Sakura that he'd fought so hard to save and keep safe.

Regardless of how his pride felt hurt at her beating him to the punch, he already knew his answer.

Taking her hands into his and smiling into her eyes, Lee nodded slowly. "Of course I will."

He was barely able to get a glimpse at her face before she shot forward and wrapped him up into her arms so tightly he wasn't sure whether she was trying to strangle him or not. He could feel her tears falling onto his neck above his green tights, but he knew they were tears of happiness not sadness.

Sakura finally pulled her arms off of him and pressed her forehead into his, looking him in the eyes so much that she could have sworn she could see his soul. "I love you."

Lee grinned, "And I definitely love you." His eyes dropped to the ring in her hands.

The doctor nodded in understanding and took the ring out of the box before moving to place it on his hand. It was comical enough with her trying to push the ring over his bandaged finger that the two of them couldn't help but laugh. Eventually she gave up, but Lee didn't care. He took her face into his hands and kissed her deeply.

There would be enough time to sort out little things like that later.

* * *

><p>The Sound Intervention<p>

Dosu sat in the bushes silently. It had been hours since they'd arrived and his part of their setup was complete, but he was beginning to get impatient. He could hear his companions' heartbeats over the plethora of sounds nearby, but until he got the right tone he wasn't able to begin their plan. A patient shinobi by nature, nevertheless he could hear his own heartbeat pulsing faster than he would've thought possible. If there was anyone that had his level of hearing, the whole plan was already screwed.

Across the battlefield in front of him was a resting army of thousands, more than he could possibly attempt to count on his own. Unlike the warriors they faced at the Kage Summit, these appeared to be more basic troops, ones that bled and died like any other.

But there were a hell of a lot more of them.

His position was high atop a cliff facing down on the army, a precarious position if there ever was one. It would only take a single soldier looking skyward and he would be swarmed in minutes, but Dosu knew humans rarely looked up unless they had to. The dead bodies of the Quiraji scouts had been melted away with a specialist acidic material to leave no trace behind; Dosu figured that the soldiers below trusted their scouts to not be taken out as easily as they had been. It had been almost insultingly easy, though they'd been careful not to use chakra until now.

By using only the most minute amount of chakra to enhance his hearing, Dosu could tell he was avoiding detection from their chakra sensors, as they hadn't come after him so far. They still didn't have any intelligence on what they looked like, but Dosu had faith in their networks; someone had to come up with something eventually.

He moved his head slightly, there was something in the midst of the chaos of sounds that he sought to concentrate on. It took a moment, but he was eventually able to pinpoint it.

"Alpha Noble Omega." It was as quiet as the faintest whisper from a great distance away, only someone with Dosu's hearing could have picked up on it. He acknowledged the signal with the smallest of nods and turned to his side to complete the final calibration. The signal told him three specific details about their mission. One of them was not entirely in position, but close enough to do significant damage, but the other two were ready. It also told them that their allies that weren't aware of their presence were drawing closer, meaning they had little time left to complete their task.

Finally, it told him that one of the Four was present.

That was enough to convince Dosu that it was time to start before they were detected.

Adjusting the wires connected to the five large speakers he had set up along the cliff's edge, Dosu calibrated them to the appropriate frequency and took a deep breath.

Standing behind the speakers so as to not suffer the effects, he activated the weapons array.

The speakers shuddered along the rocky cliff, shooting long wide shockwaves of sound down into the resting Quiraji army beneath his position. Soundwaves were able to be calibrated to do a variety of damaging effects; from nausea to temporary loss of consciousness.

Each Quiraji soldier that was struck by Dosu's soundwaves screamed out in pain and clutched at their heads, unable to do anything as their eardrums burst within their heads and their blood thundered within their veins. Normally they had immunities to shinobi weaponry of such a manner, but after fighting the Quiraji for so long, the Oto shinobi had developed many different ways of combating their foes.

Hundreds of Quiraji soldiers fell under his long distance attacks, but Dosu was not alone in that valley.

Two massive columns of razor sharp wind blades shot over the army, slicing through armour and skin with relative ease. Dosu watched the devastation with a twisted sense of satisfaction; they hadn't been sure whether they'd be able to get those weapons ready in time.

The Quiraji soldiers tried to rally around their siege weaponry and organise a defensive grid, but before they could get into position, huge bursts of pressurised air slammed into the wooden structures, smashing them into tiny pieces. He could hear the shouted orders from the Quiraji leaders trying to rally their troops, even as three single figures moved rapidly from the opposite side of the cliff to his position. The damage had been done to the Quiraji army and they could no longer risk staying any longer. Dosu knew they could do terrible damage to the Quiraji army if they stayed, but that wasn't their mission.

"How many do you think?" came a voice at his side. Dosu turned to acknowledge his former teammate with a single-eyed stare. Zaku ignored the stare and glanced down at the army, "Better than the estimates, I reckon."

A dark haired female shinobi appeared between them, breathing heavily. "They're onto us. Nearly a score of hunters, coming in hot."

Dosu nodded to her in acknowledgement and put up his hand into a single handseal. He activated the explosion tags on the speakers behind him and the weapons that Zaku and Rene had utilised, since they had no means of bringing it back to the village while on the run.

He stood up and put down his hand, "You both know the plan. Move out."

The two Otogakure shinobi nodded to their team leader and disappeared at a reasonable pace away from the Quiraji army. In one swift blow they had crippled the war effort in this area, but it was only one of hundreds of battles to come.

Assuming the Quiraji moved in the way they needed them to.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I have a question to ask of you guys actually. I'm always one to want to include a variety of different situations and perspectives. To this end, I've wanted to explore more homosexual relationships, and as you can see I've had a few female ones, but not a male one yet. This is my question, out of the existing characters that don't have a clear partner, which of them do you think could be in a male homosexual relationship? It doesn't have to be a major character; it's just something I'm wanting to write on.

I hope I got the proposal scene across properly. Sakura is the kind of character that gets a hard rap a lot of the time, but I feel like that would be something she would do.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	74. Chapter 68 The Sound Calamity

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 68 – The Sound Calamity

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, things would go wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Even in times of war, matters of the heart are not far from mind. When Ino told Kiba the act that she wasn't able to have children, the Inuzuka shinobi did not take it well. He consulted with his cousin, as Ino did with Sakura, but at the end of the day it was clear that they no longer loved each other. They decided to split up. On the other side of the spectrum, Sakura and Lee faced their own issues. Sakura found herself constantly experiences nightmares of her time as Iceheart for the Quiraji, while Lee seemed to keep seeing her as the enemy soldier that had killed him. Despite these issues, Sakura sent Lee on a quest for a rare plant, and on the journey back he found several various notes sending him to different locations around the village. At the last location he found Sakura waiting for him. In an emotional moment, she proposed to him and he accepted without hesitation.

***End Summary***

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><p>Parable<p>

_Some battles are won even when they are lost._

_Some battles are won before they are fought._

_In war, both are necessary._

_Yet true victory lies in not fighting at all._

Neji read over the passage in the tome several times; it seemed fitting for what was about to happen to his village. With a slow considering breath, he closed the book and pressed his fingers together. He'd been taught as a Hyuuga to wait for the enemy to make the first move and react to that, but as the Otokage he couldn't afford to be so patient. One single mistake could mean the ruination of his village and his people.

Death was approaching at a rapid pace and not for the first time he lamented the fact that he didn't think they were fully prepared. If it was possible to truly be prepared.

Now it was a matter of waiting.

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><p>A Fine Day for a Battle<p>

In any regular day in the Land of Rice Fields, the weather around the village of the Hidden Sound was carefully regulated by its shinobi to both conceal its position in the middle of an open field with dense fog. Unless they knew what they were looking for, enemy forces always seemed to just miss it.

On this day the sky was as clear as it could possibly be and the path to the village was as open as it was ever going to be. It was as if the heavens themselves had indicated that today was the day that the young village was to fall.

The clear green fields of the Land of Rice Fields were anything but peaceful like they normally were. It seemed to herald a new wave of bloodshed that threatened to overwhelm the land once again, just as it had when Orochimaru had taken control.

The thundering sounds of armoured boots hitting the grass was deafening in the nearby areas, scattering any wildlife and peasantry that thought themselves foolish enough to glimpse the massive army.

It was something that could only be achieved by military might like the land had never seen. Giant war machines shook the ground with each movement of their wooden wheels, destroying the brush underneath with no slowing of pace.

An army of tens of thousands had mustered against the village of Otogakure, preparing themselves for a short siege and sweeping victory. Any student of warfare knew that to take a castle that was reasonably defended would require a ten-to-one number advantage to be successful, yet the Quiraji knew they vastly outnumbered their foe by more than needed. The chakra sensors had informed the commanders that at most there were less than a thousand chakra signals within the village interior and absolutely none outside of it.

Even with their shinobi tricks, this looked to be an easy battle for the Quiraji force.

It was clear that the Otogakure shinobi hadn't expected them to find their village so quickly. They'd attacked their forces relentlessly for years, conducting hit-and-run attacks that had set them back at every turn, but they'd made a critical error when they'd thwarted their war effort in the Land of Lightning.

The Quiraji scouts had discovered that one of the shinobi attackers had been injured while on the run from their advance forces. Her wounds didn't seem too severe, but she'd been left behind by her comrades. Easy pickings for their scouts.

Through her interrogation, they were able to discover the village's position and move against it in no time at all. Within a week of their retreat from the Land of Lightning, they were ready and willing to lay siege to their next foe. The only more hated enemy in the Quiraji army were the shinobi from the desert country; they were relentless and refused to back down from a fight.

The shinobi guerrilla tactics would no longer work; the Quiraji had them exactly where they wanted them.

Or so they thought.

With little to fear from such a distance away from the village, the Quiraji soldiers slowly got into proper formation and waited for the orders to attack. Unlike the previous soldiers the Quiraji had used in their war with the shinobi like the converted shinobi, these were normal soldiers; prone to fear and anger and everything else war brought forth. They were heavily trained and hated their shinobi foes with unbridled fury. It was their pleasure to bring death and destruction to their enemies.

Each soldier wore a set of dark brown armour with strips on their shoulders which served to designate each squad from the other. Unlike their specialist troops like the Red Warriors or Black Robes, they were not directed associated with any of the Four. They were the standard troops; mainstay of the Quiraji army. Swords at their sides and bows over their backs, the Quiraji soldiers were trained to kill shinobi.

The average Quiraji soldiers were the equivalent of between a Genin and a Chuunin in fighting strength, with a standing immunity to genjutsu and many different types of ninjutsu. They'd proved themselves a formidable foe to all shinobi they'd fought so far.

But Neji had accounted for almost everything in the coming battle.

Unknown to the Quiraji forces, there were a number of invisible lines across the grassy fields that had been set up by the Otogakure shinobi. They were marked with chemicals that only the defenders could see from their far away position within their village. They didn't mark with chakra because they knew it would be negated the moment the Quiraji arrived. Their tactics fighting against the enemy were vastly different from when shinobi once fought shinobi.

They had to be.

Almost an hour after arriving within view of the shinobi village, the Quiraji army was finally ready to begin their attack. Their plan was simple: bombard the defenders with their siege weapons once they were in range and then overwhelm with superior numbers.

That was the plan at least.

With a proud roar that only soldiers could produce, the Quiraji began their march towards the Hidden Village of Sound. The sounds they made dwarfed those made when they'd arrived, with the soldiers roaring compounded with the crushing of the grasslands underneath their boots.

It wouldn't take them long to get to the wall and inside the village.

The moment a Quiraji soldier's boot crossed that line however, the first casualty of the battle took place. The first of thousands.

A small patch of grass came apart in the middle of the front group of Quiraji soldiers that had stepped on the unfortunate marked location, revealing a small contraption that shot up to the soldier's waists. It wasn't much larger than a clenched fist, with tight wrappings keeping the contents within.

Before the soldiers could react to its appearance, the contraption exploded.

Tightly bound clumps of shrapnel shot around in a wide circle with such a force that they took limbs from their sockets and heads from shoulders in an instant, despite the thick armour of the Quiraji soldiers. The first bomb took out a half dozen soldiers in an instant, mostly through glancing blows. It had not been as effective as intended when it had been buried.

But there was more than one bomb buried in the fields of Otogakure.

The Quiraji army hesitated momentarily at the activated trap, surprised that they hadn't sensed its presence. It had never occurred to them that the shinobi had means of fighting them that didn't involve the one thing the Quiraji didn't have access to.

But that proved to be a bad decision as dozens of traps along the invisible line they'd crossed shot up from the ground seemingly on their own and exploding in the same manner. They'd been planted to shoot up in sequence with the assumption that the Quiraji would be cautious after the first, and Neji's assumption had been proven correct.

Within seconds of the battle starting, hundreds of Quiraji soldiers had lost their lives while still a full half-kilometre from the main wall of Otogakure. The Otogakure shinobi hadn't even fired a shot.

However the enemy of the shinobi was quick to adapt, having realised that if they turtle up into small groups the shrapnel did significantly less damage. They didn't bring shields to defend themselves, having come to the Land of Rice Fields purely for the purpose of offense, but their armour was thick enough that if they covered each other's weak points they suffered barely a quarter of the casualties they had earlier.

Even though they continued to take casualties with every step, the Quiraji army moved forward at a quick pace towards Otogakure. After the first hundred metres the number of explosives that had been hidden underground withered to none, having already reaped their toll. The first line of Otogakure defence had taken out a fifth of the attacking army and barely made a dent in their attack.

When they'd attacked Kumogakure for the second time, the Quiraji army hadn't bothered to construct siege weapons. The Hidden Cloud village was situated among large mountain ranges that made bringing in catapults and bolt throwers almost impossible. The battles against those shinobi had been hit-and-run tactics with small forces that barely registered on a large scale, yet until they'd been thwarted by the Otogakure interlopers they'd been on the verge of breaking through.

The flat plains of the Land of Rice Fields were a completely different battlefield. On the road between countries, the Quiraji engineers constructed a variety of siege weapons to obliterate the shinobi village that had plagued them since its creation. They'd discovered that their target was protected by massive walls that couldn't be taken by regular means.

But things were not going to be so simple for the invading force.

Unfortunately such machinery is cumbersome and takes large amounts of time to get into proper position. Despite being far away enough from the shinobi village to be out of range of their longest range weapons, the Quiraji siege weapons fell under attack in similar manners to their front line soldiers before they could be set up.

As the large wheels moved over the grasslands, crushing the dead bodies of the Quiraji soldiers underneath, a new type of trap was activated. The weight of the machinery was far greater than the individual soldiers could ever achieve and the moment they came nearby one of the traps the grass began to part once again.

This time the ground collapsed underneath them into large pits with hundreds of poison-covered spikes. They had been dug deep enough that the siege engines slammed into the sides of the pits, breaking them apart and rendering them unable to be retrieved by the surrounding soldiers.

The engineers that were accompanying many of the siege engines suffered similar fates, the ground collapsing underneath their feet and sending them straight into the pits with their creations. Some of them were only scratched by the spikes within the pits, but they were too deep to be climbed out quickly. From those scratches, the engineers died slowly and painfully with their machinery.

Of the one hundred siege engines that attacked Otogakure initially, only one in ten made it within range of the wall to begin the bombardment.

The Quiraji army suffered horrendous casualties in their efforts to get in range of the shinobi village; a reasonable general would have retreated at the first set of traps and rethought the attack strategy. They could have reduced their casualties significantly by sending in sweeping teams and removing all the traps in the surrounding grasslands before attacking the village directly.

But Neji's forces knew that the Quiraji had an almost single-minded obsession with the destruction of their kind, combined with an overwhelming arrogance that was born through a continuous series of flawless victories. No amount of casualties would be enough to satisfy their bloodlust, particularly with the amount of taunting and damage his people had done to their war efforts.

As they set up their surviving catapults and bolt throwers, the Quiraji army stared at the wall with hatred in their eyes. The traps from underneath the ground had subsided completely, though they'd yet to suffer anything from the village itself.

It was clear the shinobi were ready for the attack; there were archers positioned all along the wall. The chakra sensors that had accompanied the army had confirmed that there were hundreds of chakra signals just on the first wall alone, though they seemed to be concentrating their efforts on the main section that was being attacked. They appeared to be waiting for them to come into range.

The Quiraji army were allowed a small reprieve from attacks while they got themselves ready for the main part of their attack; the commanders spreading out their army to attack every section of the wall at once. Even with the casualties they'd suffered on the path to the village, the commanders were confident in their ability to take the village.

There was a temporary lull as the defenders waited for their enemy to come fully into range and the attackers waited for the shinobi to reveal their main defences. It lasted far longer than the army was comfortable with; it was becoming clear that the shinobi had nerves of steel.

Eventually the Quiraji army became impatient and the commanders ordered their soldiers to attack with impunity.

From all four sides of the walls, the village of Otogakure came under siege.

Despite the fact that there was only one path up to the front wall to the entrance that had been covered over and built up with the rest of the wall and no other easy means of accessing the interior of the village, the invading army was confident in its ability to break through and destroy the shinobi within.

But Neji's forces weren't going to let the army attack without follow-up attacks. Their retribution was by no means complete.

As the Quiraji soldiers charged towards the wall with the same roar they'd given during the first charge, a large collection of weapons activated at the same time. With no indications from the ground, the attackers were not prepared for the loud whistling sounds that sounded all around them.

Some of the more observant Quiraji soldiers glanced up into the sky, only to see a dozen large balls of metal flying towards them that looked eerily similar to the bombs from earlier. Like the trained warriors that they were, the Quiraji soldiers immediately made efforts to shoot them down with their ranged weapons. They also once again turtling up in an attempt to minimise their casualties.

However that was the last thing they should've done.

When the balls of metal were pierced by arrows or destroyed by thrown blades that pulled them apart, they popped like balloons to release a strange green fog that spread across a large section of the front wall attacking army. They did their best to avoid its spread, but the green fog was so wide that they couldn't help but be enveloped by it.

Initially it seemed like there had been some failure with the gas that had been sent against them. For several minutes there didn't appear to be any effect whatsoever. The attack continued unabated, with the siege weapons finally set up for attack and the soldiers edging closer to the wall. Things seemed to be looking dire for the defenders.

That was when they began choking on their own breath and collapsing onto the ground with no wounds to show for their suffering.

This slowed down the assault right quick.

Every single Quiraji soldier that breathed in even the tiniest amount of poison gas perished, while those that had been spared were forced to move over or around their dead comrades. There was no time to mourn their dead or even slow down the assault on the shinobi village. There was no telling when the next barrage was going to rain down on them.

Yet it was only when they came within a hundred metres of the wall that the defences kicked into overdrive.

In perfect synchronisation around the village turrets appeared from underneath the ground near the walls and took aim at the charging soldiers. They waited for only a split second to instil the necessary fear before spitting out massive quantities of kunai directly into the Quiraji force.

Sheer quantity of weapons made up for the lack of accuracy; the force of the blows knocking many struck soldiers off their feet while others screamed out in pain as they were taken by the weapons in their faces. They were less deadly than the poison gas and the underground traps, but it was enough to batter back the Quiraji invaders a half dozen times.

For minutes the turrets churned out projectiles, killing wave after wave of Quiraji soldiers. Some of the more courageous soldiers were able to push through the flurry of death and destroy the turrets with thrown explosive materials, but the Otogakure weapons ran out of ammunition long before all of them were destroyed.

The Quiraji soldiers only hesitated for a moment after the turrets were rendered ineffective, but their commanders made it clear that retreat was never going to be an option. They climbed over the bodies of their dead comrades once again and continued their charge towards the village.

Despite the horrible casualties they suffered on the way to the wall, the Quiraji army was able to reach the Otogakure wall with a vigorous fighting force. They had no real means of penetrating the wall besides their siege weapons at the front, but they were determined to kill any shinobi they could get their hands on, even if it meant firing up into the village blindly.

Unfortunately for the Quiraji, there were no shinobi manning the wall of Otogakure.

* * *

><p>Defender<p>

Flexing his many fingers tentatively, Kidomaru breathed out slowly and calmed himself down. It would be easy to let things go too quickly and spiral out of control in their current state, but he had to be patient. Most of the outside traps and defences were motion-detected and would activate on their own, but it was by his hundreds of web threads throughout the village that much of the defences would attack the invading Quiraji soldiers.

It was his duty and his duty alone to defend the village.

He hadn't believed that Neji's plan was going to work, but after seeing the efforts the Quiraji were going through to take the village it was clear he'd underestimated his leader's ability to read the enemy's actions. Even after so many years, the Hyuuga still impressed him. He'd definitely made the right choice following him.

Using sealing techniques they'd learnt from Orochimaru's efforts and some created by the Otokage himself, they'd set up a defensive grid that made it look like the village's defences were run by its shinobi army, loading and reloading the long range weapons and catapults, despite the fact that the village was entirely empty except for him. It played off of the Quiraji army's obsession perfectly.

Kidomaru wasn't the type to go down with the ship though, he wasn't that selfless. He had every intention of doing as much damage as he could possibly do, then leaving.

But he'd volunteered to control the defences on his own purely because he recognised how much more devastating the defence would be with him at the helm. With only the automated defences, he didn't think they'd get even half the casualties they needed to cripple the Quiraji army.

He had no intention of dying with the village, but he took pride in the fact that his efforts were systematically crippling the Quiraji army with no lives being taken in response. It was the perfect form of defence.

A loud crash drew his attention to the eastern side of the village, where he could see that a large hole had been created from a Quiraji barrage that had broken through the wall. Clearly they'd gotten inventive with the explosive material he'd seen earlier. It was frustrating, but it reminded him that he shouldn't underestimate his enemy.

He picked up three of the web strings he'd dedicated to that section and, like a puppet master, expertly took out the invading soldiers with torrents of kunai and short blades from fixed positions before using a small amount of explosion tags to plug the hole with rubble.

Kidomaru was a perceptive shinobi; it came from being a patient hunter. But his concentration was so focused on commanding the defences of his home that he didn't notice the Quiraji assassin that was slowly creeping towards him. It silently crept into range and pulled out a long sickle from its back.

One of Kidomaru's fingers twitched at the last moment as the assassin stepped on one of the defensive webs he'd placed near his position, but it was already too late as the sickle came screaming towards his neck, aiming to remove his head from his shoulders.

The blow never fell.

Just before the blade could touch his neck, a figure appeared from the side and hurled a massive axe at the assassin, catching him in the chest and sending him flying backwards before pinning him against a nearby wall. The figure leapt over Kidomaru's head and pulled out a large spiked gauntlet before smashing in the assassin's skull, killing him instantly.

Forgetting his command over the defences for a moment, Kidomaru leapt to his feet and a pair of his hands shot forward to grab at his assistant's shoulders.

With a furious look on his face, he began to shake the figure violently, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?! I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE! YOU NEVER PAY ANY DAMN ATTENTION WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO THINGS!"

With her face permanently stuck in a smirk from the scar on his lips, Tenten's eyes shone with amusement at his furious expression. Despite being in his iron grip, the ex-Konoha kunoichi was able to lean forward and gently kiss him on the forehead affectionately.

"Nice to see you too, dear."

Kidomaru stared directly into her eyes and had a very rough conversation with her without words in a manner of seconds before sighing loudly and letting go of her shoulders. There was just no arguing with her.

"You are one pain-in-the-ass woman, you know that? I've known some stubborn people…but I swear you beat them all!"

Tenten chuckled and retrieved her axe from the Quiraji assassin; it was her favourite. "The other assassins have been taken care of. You concentrate on the defences and I'll do what I do best."

The arachnid-like shinobi shook his head before picking up his web threads with his fingers; there was no talking to her when she was like this. He knew she probably figured since she created most of the weapons she'd have to be there to make sure they work, but she would have to know that the likelihood of escape was quite remote. Especially if the Quiraji were already on the verge of breaching the village already.

Nevertheless, he was thankful she was here. It's nice to have company in times like this. Though if she died, he'd never forgive her.

Out of nowhere the entire village was rocked by a loud explosion that shook the tower the two Otogakure shinobi were standing on, threatening to through them into the village beneath. Both Kidomaru and Tenten turned to see a giant gap in the main wall protecting the front of the village.

"What the hell hit us?" yelled Tenten loudly, their ears still ringing from the explosion.

Kidomaru ignored her question and manipulated his fingers expertly. Despite the gap, there was still only a small ramp that led into the village, meaning the Quiraji soldiers were still being bottlenecked by design. However the bombardment had taken out a large majority of the forward defences and traps, including a number of the interior catapults, meaning he had to send most of his attention to the areas he could defend properly.

Seeing that he was going about his business, Tenten decided that her efforts were best directed at taking out the Quiraji soldiers that had broken through the village. With a large collection of weaponry at her disposal, Tenten relished the opportunity to test out some of the weapons she couldn't fit into traps. It was rare for her blood to be up this much, but she felt the same as when her father had been killed.

But this time, there was no regretting the slaughter that was to follow. This enemy deserved what was coming to them.

* * *

><p>Invasion<p>

After breaching the main wall's defences, the Quiraji army flooded the village with soldiers. They seemed determined to overwhelm the defenders through sheer weight of numbers, but that only made them more susceptible to the innumerable traps and pitfalls that had been placed throughout the village by its phantom defenders. The fact that the chakra signals all around them were fakes and the bodies set up to represent shinobi weren't real didn't appear to bother the Quiraji soldiers at all. They were completely preoccupied with dismantling the automatic defences and defending themselves from deadly traps.

From a long distance away, Tenten took out Quiraji soldiers left and right with her throwing weapons, while Kidomaru was ruthless in operating the defences with his web strings.

Over five thousand soldiers had died on the path leading up to the main wall of Otogakure. Between the first and second walls of the shinobi village, it took another three thousand lives just to come within a stone's throw of the secondary interior wall.

Both Tenten and Kidomaru had stopped counting the number of Quiraji soldiers they had killed throughout the battle; it became almost a dull routine. Tenten would throw a collection of kunai, followed by more kunai, rinse and repeat. Kidomaru would activate dozens of remote aerial traps to release bombs of shrapnel over the enemy forces, followed by enclosing areas and flooding them with poisonous gas.

It was horrific to experience, but they were committed to the defence of their village until the very end.

The floor of the village, as with the buildings within, had been meticulously designed by Neji's forces for a defensive effort exactly like this. In their calculations, they'd figured that an attacking force would need nearly twenty-to-one numbers to take the village, and they'd be crippled in the process.

However so would their own forces and Neji was never going to accept such loses.

The stone floor of the village had been rigged at specific intervals just as the grasslands around the village were. When a Quiraji boot stood upon the wrong stone, a trap was activated. Many of these traps were simply spike traps that shot up out of the ground and impaled them from the bottom up.

It was not a pleasant way to die.

However some traps were much worse.

A group of ten Quiraji soldiers made their way around one of the stone buildings and into the gap between two buildings towards some of the more centralised parts of the village.

Upon reaching the middle of the gap, the motion sensors kicked in and the explosion tags at the base of the buildings activated, sending them crashing into the Quiraji soldiers in-between. This was not enough to kill the soldiers outright, but Kidomaru was watching the trap activate and sent a single poison bomb from the catapults into the rubble.

The soldiers died slowly, choking on their own breath.

While within the village, without shinobi to kill, the Quiraji soldiers decided that the only thing they could do was destroy everything they could with what they had on them. They were wary of the traps that were taking a significant toll on their force, but the random placements and chaotic nature of how the Otogakure shinobi had set up their defences was slowing their progress.

Once they'd breached the village they took out their fury on the siege weapons that had reaped such a terrible toll on their forces, but when it became clear that there were no shinobi manning the weapons they began searching the village for whoever was organising the defences.

Kidomaru and Tenten's position atop a tower was slightly taller than the other buildings in Otogakure, with such a slant as to be able to see the whole village at once. It was here that they continued to kill Quiraji soldiers with abandon, though with Tenten's ranged weapon attacks it became clear that their position would not be safe for long. Their enemy was not so stupid as to not be able to recognise where the attacks were coming from.

The main group of the Quiraji army poured through the breach in numbers neither of them could believe; they seemed to not be deterred from their attack by the deaths of their comrades. With that in mind, the most casualties they could hope to take would be there.

Tenten threw her largest weapons straight into the clusters of soldiers while Kidomaru focused the manual traps and defences on that location. They took a terrible toll on the Quiraji soldiers with no sign of slowing or losing focus.

There was too much at stake.

With their attentions focused on the major breach, the two Otogakure shinobi didn't notice a small group of Quiraji soldiers climbing over the walls on the western side of the village. With so many places to concentrate on at once, they'd missed the climbing ladders that had been placed on the walls after the automated defences had been taken out. With no shinobi manning the walls they scaled them with little resistance and moved towards the tower the two of them had situated themselves on top of.

They still fell prey to the traps that were set up within the village interior, but the Quiraji army was highly adaptive and were already sussing out the patterns of what was booby-trapped and what wasn't.

Clearing a path at the front of the village, the army flooded inside and attacked with unrelenting fury, even though there were no flesh and blood enemies in range for them to kill.

A group of three Black Robes walked through one of the breaches and armed their gazes straight at the Otogakure's hidden position. Their chakra sensors had finally worked out the difference between the faked bodies and the two shinobi that were physically in the village interior. They knew where their targets were.

Before Kidomaru or Tenten were made aware of their presence, the Black Robes collaborated their efforts together and sent a giant fireball of spiritual energy straight at the tower.

With his third eye expanding his vision significantly, Kidomaru was able to catch the smallest of glimpses of the fireball that threatened to overwhelm their position. With lightning fast reflexes and a wide range of vision, Kidomaru was one of the fastest and most adaptive shinobi in their village.

Yet he barely had enough time to grab Tenten by her shoulders and throw her off the tower before leaping off himself. Many of the larger scale traps were threaded directly to that position and would be lost without his direct control, but they had no means of stopping such a large attack without preparation first. All they could do was fall.

The fireball just barely missed them as it enveloped their position and destroyed the top half of the tower in a giant blaze.

The two Otogakure shinobi fell to the ground quickly, but Kidomaru was already in the motion of shooting a web thread to a nearby building and grabbing Tenten close to his body with a pair of his arms and swinging the two of them around to land in an open area. They hadn't been expecting their tower to be destroyed so easily from so far away, but the appearance of the Black Robes was always going to be a risk. They couldn't account for everything the Quiraji could throw at them.

Letting her partner keep her safe, Tenten tossed away one of her bags that had caught the tail end of the blaze and ran a chakra-covered hand along one of her arms. She stared down at the three Black Robes that had attacked them and pushed her arm in their direction.

She grimaced under the pressure as the seals activated on her skin and her arm became covered by a large cannon that pointed at her enemies. With a large amount of chakra flowing through the weapon, she fired a wide energy blast that evaporated the Black Robe's position entirely. She knew that the Quiraji soldiers had a strange immunity to most chakra-based techniques, but her cannon shot superheated the atmosphere around them, cooking them in their skins. She was glad it worked the way she'd designed it.

The recoil of the cannon shot threatened to break her shoulder as it fell apart off her arm and dropped to the ground while Kidomaru swung them around on his web threads. It hadn't taken too much of her chakra to use, but she'd only had time to construct it for a single shot.

Finally the two of them landed on the ground softly, in an area that hadn't been swarmed by Quiraji soldiers just yet. Kidomaru immediately turned in concern for her safety, but Tenten waved him off and pulled out her next set of weapons.

Their position had already been compromised.

* * *

><p>Desperation<p>

Having been forced into the open, both Kidomaru and Tenten were giving their all to taking out as many Quiraji soldiers as possible. They'd been given explicit orders by Neji to pull out if the situation got too hot like it had, but that had quickly become an impossible option as the village was surrounded on all sides. The Quiraji would take the village; there was nothing they could do to stop that now. Any chance of saving the village had been lost once the wall had been breached. Kidomaru had warned Neji that they had to expect more siege engines than they'd prepared for, but time had run out before they could lay more traps.

It had been a delicate balance of power, intensity and inciting the army to attack the village.

Otherwise they would never be able to destroy the Quiraji army in the fashion they'd planned. It was a bold and decisive plan, but Kidomaru knew that they'd only killed about half of the invading army so far. Their plan to cripple their main army would only work when over three quarters of their soldiers lay dead on the field and their spirits crushed underfoot.

Only then could the tides of war be turned into their favour for shinobi everywhere.

A small group of Quiraji soldiers came from around their position and readied their weapons to attack. It was clear that the deaths of their comrades had enraged them to the point of fury, but if anything it made them more dangerous. Both of them knew that fact intimately.

"Can you cover me?" asked Tenten, jumping back to stand behind her partner.

Kidomaru nodded and began chewing a large amount of webbing in his mouth. As the Quiraji soldiers jumped forward to attack them, he spat a wide-spread web that pinned them against a nearby building wall. Not wanting to waste chakra creating his own blades, Kidomaru turned back and reached to Tenten to grab one of her scrolls. He needed every little bit of chakra he could spare.

The female blacksmith was rapidly writing seals on a long scroll and didn't even notice him taking the scroll; she was trying her best to remember the sequence she had to write. When they'd been blasted off of the tower overlooking the main section of the village, one of her main scrolls had been ruined and she figured now was the best time to recover the technique before they were swarmed.

Throwing kunai at strategic locations to kill his earlier trapped prey, Kidomaru turned his eyes to their surroundings. There were a thousand things happening at once, but he had to pick out the problems that could be resolved immediately.

It appeared as though the Quiraji army were swarming the village like it was a raid; they'd adapted very quickly to the fact that the village was somewhat lightly defended with only the two shinobi within. They would have required more complex tactics if there were more defenders, but Kidomaru had told Neji that he alone was all that was necessary. Tenten was an added bonus; one he was grateful had decided to tag along.

Preparing himself from another attack, Kidomaru could hear the soldiers converging on their location. It was clear that they'd surrounded the entire village and there was no way for them to escape without significant risk to themselves.

Besides, he refused to leave the job half-done. It wasn't game over just yet.

"You ready yet?" he asked impatiently, wary of what his partner was preparing.

Tenten finished her stroke and wrapped the scroll around her arms, "How many are coming?"

"Enough to be concerned," warned Kidomaru, preparing new liquid from his mouth into sharp blades.

The ex-Konoha kunoichi turned on her feet to see large groups of Quiraji soldiers converging on their locations, roaring obscenities and hurling ranged weapons at them. She trusted Kidomaru to be able to intercept the projectiles, which he did with ease.

With her face permanently stuck in a smirk, Tenten felt it suited the situation as she waited until there were enough enemies in range before running her hands over the length of her scroll and leapt high into the air.

Underneath her, Kidomaru stole a glimpse upwards to satisfy his own perverted amusement before clutching his arms tightly into his chest and making sure he was as small as possible while being directly underneath her. If he didn't produce the smallest shadow possible, he'd suffer the same fate as the Quiraji would.

The Quiraji soldiers moved to attack her in the air, but never got the chance as Tenten used her upwards momentum to spin rapidly in the air. From within her scroll, Tenten took all the weapons that she'd stored within her smithy and began throwing them so quickly that her hands were like a blur.

Hails of kunai, shuriken and every weapon she'd created shot towards the enemy soldiers with deadly precision, taking the soldiers in the gaps in their armour near their necks or arms, or bypassing the armour altogether and attacking the face directly. Her spinning motion allowed her to strike in a complete 360 degree circle, taking out scores of soldiers at once.

Tenten threw the weapons on instinct, striking at anything in range. Any projectiles that were thrown at her in response were easily deflected by the larger weapons that she threw in response. Within seconds, the attacking force was reduced to nothing.

However she wasn't going to let it end like that. As her spinning began to slow, she was able to pinpoint sections of the village that were full of Quiraji soldiers searching for anything to attack. Having run out of regular weaponry, Tenten's chakra allowed her to access the more experimental weapons that she'd created in her spare time. With characteristic precision, she threw as many bombs as she could into the clusters of soldiers before her momentum finally gave up and she fell to the ground.

The explosions rocked the area around them, confirming to her that they'd landed on target as planned. Her feet landed softly on the ground and she felt the urge to take a dancer's pose to suit the situation.

Having gotten out of her way, Kidomaru shook his head in response to her attack. It had been impressive for sure; she'd taken out a good hundred or so soldiers within seconds.

But there were thousands of Quiraji soldiers flooding the village and they were running out of chakra.

He went to make a sarcastic comment to her, but he could feel a terrible presence just beyond the bodies of the soldiers around them. His hands tightened around all six of his blades; something was coming straight for them and it gave him a terrible feeling in his gut.

Tenten had noticed it as well and placed her hands at her side; ready to take out any weapon necessary for the approaching enemy.

They watched as a single figured walked into view, taking his time as casually as if he were walking in a garden. He barely seemed to acknowledge their presence; though they both recognised who he was.

If they hadn't been warned by Naruto, they'd never have known he was around. But without a doubt, the man approaching them was the recently revived leader of the Quiraji army; Sensou.

Unlike the reports he'd been told about the Quiraji leader, Kidomaru was surprised to see that despite the battle, the red-eyed warrior wasn't wearing armour at all. Instead he wore a long flowing blood red coloured robe that would have suited a monk on pilgrimage rather than a general on the battlefield.

Not that it made him any less intimidating.

Sensing a chance to end the Quiraji offensive by cutting it off at the head, Tenten summoned a sword from her side to her hand and shot forward to attack him. The man they knew as Sensou didn't appear to be armed, but he also didn't appear to be concerned at all that the Otogakure kunoichi was attacking him.

Sensou looked like he was taking a casual walk in the park as he avoided Tenten's attack, moving just enough to make her strike air. Before Kidomaru could warn her, the Quiraji leader reached up with a bare hand and gently placed a finger in the middle of her forehead.

Under other circumstances it could be seen as a compassionate gesture, but it was anything except that in Kidomaru's eyes. He could see the malice and hatred in the Quiraji leader's face.

Tenten's body went rigid at the touch and her hands dropped to her sides. Sensou pulled back his hand and took a casual step back with a knowing look, placing his hands in his sleeves. With suspicious hesitation, Tenten turned around slowly and shot towards her lover like she was pleading for help.

Kidomaru wasn't one to deny her and opened up his arms to embrace her. However at the last second he caught a glance of her eyes that told him it was dangerous and forced him to jump back to a cautionary range away from her.

In those few moments, Tenten's steel-grey eyes had changed to a full blood red colour, the same as Sensou wore on his robe. From the terrifying look on her normally amused face, it was clear something else was going on. Something that certainly wasn't Tenten.

From the red glow in her eyes, it appeared that Tenten was no longer in control of her body. By the simple act of touching her, Sensou seemed to have taken over her completely. He didn't even bother giving the Sound shinobi a second glance, turning to give orders to the Quiraji soldiers that had begun to gather around him.

"Tenten…you don't have to do this…" warned Kidomaru, but it was clear that she couldn't hear him anymore. He watched with despair as his lover reached into her jacket and produced a black scroll that she held tightly in one hand. Kidomaru had no idea what could possibly be contained within; he never paid attention when she talked about anything that he wasn't interested in. He was just really good at faking it.

But he knew Tenten better than anyone and even when under enemy control she wouldn't hold back.

As a couple they generally didn't fight. They barely even quarrelled. Their relationship had been built on mutual attraction and the need for companionship during dark times.

Nevertheless, Kidomaru was no fool. He knew not to mess with Tenten.

Jumping back and summoning up large amounts of chakra into his hands, Kidomaru swung himself back to a nearby building wall just in time to avoid a large slicing attack from a giant shuriken in his lover's hands. He knew she was able to summon almost every weapon imaginable and it was clear that they were all at her disposal as she hurled the giant shuriken at his body before flicking her hands across the partially opened scroll on her arm, summoning up a pair of throwing axes.

Kidomaru used his web threads to launch himself over the thrown shuriken and used a pair of his hands to run through a long set of handseals. He glanced down at Tenten to see her throwing axes hurtling towards him at top speed. It was only by instinct that he was able to harden his face with golden plating from his sweat glands in time to prevent his face being torn apart by the axes.

While recovering from the strikes, Kidomaru could see his partner preparing her next set of weapons to attack him with. Tenten stared at him without blinking through those eerie red orbs that had been planted in her face, serving to bastardise all the features he found beautiful in her.

Feeling anger quickly flooding his body, Kidomaru's second set of arms completed their set of handseals and he took a deep breath inwards.

As Tenten began to jump into the air to attack him with a long spiked trident, Kidomaru spat hundreds of little spikes from his mouth straight at her. They were each poisonous enough to take down small animals, if a shinobi took enough of them they'd be paralysed for a long period of time. He hoped to be able to take her from Sensou's control without hurting her too much.

But Tenten wasn't so easily taken down. She spun her trident in her hands so fast that it parried every single spike that would've hit her fell away harmlessly. Her momentum in the air was halted by the motion though, giving Kidomaru enough time to swing around to her side and spit out enough sticky material to make six spikes, one for each hand. If he was fighting a short range fighter he'd bring out his bow and pick at them from a distance, but Tenten's specialty was mid to long-range, the same as him.

If the enemy was going to use Tenten's abilities and knowledge, then he had to fight unexpectedly.

She twisted as she landed on the ground and hurled her trident at him, while flicking her wrists to collect a large amount of shuriken before rapidly following them behind. It was clear that she wasn't going to hold back at attacking him from range, but as the trident slammed into his chest and pinned him to the wall, he wasn't going to go down so easily.

The Kidomaru she had struck slowly sunk into the background as it became clear he'd switched places with it, but before Tenten could look around for where he'd ended up, Kidomaru dropped from the air behind her like a spider and drove two of his spikes into the backs of her legs.

The ex-Konoha shinobi made no sound at being attacked, dropping her weapons and shoving her body forward to force him to let go of his spikes. She flipped forward and landed with her front facing him, not showing any evidence of the damage she'd taken. Kidomaru hated that he had to attack her further, but Tenten was a relentless kunoichi even when she wasn't trying to brutally kill him.

She went to move her legs forward, but the spikes had pierced through her muscles and held her in place. Despite being under enemy control, it was apparent that Tenten still held her determination for victory, as Kidomaru watched in horror as she unravelled a scroll completely over her arms and pressed her hands together into a handseal.

The arachnid shinobi swore loudly upon recognising what she was about to do, jumping forward with his spikes in hand. She needed time to activate the explosives on the scroll, and Kidomaru was quick enough to get there in time to stop her.

However there was only one way to stop her completely, one that he knew would remove her Sensou's control. He knew that she wouldn't have wanted to remain in such a state. He also knew that the Quiraji leader's control was likely such that it couldn't be removed in a short amount of time.

Seeing no other option, Kidomaru shot forward and used two of his curved spikes to wrench her hands out of her handseal. One of his other spikes severed straight through the scroll and destroyed the connection between it and her chakra.

His final spike stabbed straight into her chest, piercing through the armour she wore like it wasn't there.

Kidomaru gave her an apologetic look as he drove the spike into her chest further. He could feel that he'd pierced her heart; the irony wasn't completely lost to him. As her face fell towards him and her scroll fell uselessly to the ground, Tenten's eyes blinked and for a split second she was back to her normal self.

Her eyes showed great confusion at why she was in so much pain, but two of Kidomaru's arms wrapped her up and pulled her into a loving embrace.

"I'm so sorry…" he muttered quietly. Before he could say anymore, he felt a strange sensation in his chest, something he hadn't felt in a long time. The strength in his body seemed to disappear and his arms fell limp around his lover's form. With the close contact he could hear that Tenten's heart had stopped beating; she was gone.

Kidomaru tried to move her body to the side so he could sort out what was going on in the village, but with Tenten's limb body on top of his he found that nothing seemed to respond to his commands. The strange sensation in his chest had grown to encompass his whole body; the last piece of his strength was used to press his muscles into opening up the third eye on his forehead.

Looking over the balls of hair on his lover's head, Kidomaru felt an overwhelming sense of dread as he saw Sensou standing over the two of them. The Quiraji leader stared down at the Sound shinobi with disinterest in his red eyes before pulling out the sword he'd used to pierce through Tenten's body and strike at Kidomaru's heart.

The last image the arachnid shinobi saw was the look on his enemy's face and the corpse of his lover on top of him.

Sensou only waited a moment to give his victim one final moment before sweeping downwards with his sword and severing Kidomaru's head through his lovers. They made a nice pair of noises as they struck the stone ground.

The Quiraji leader paused to regard their bodies for only a moment before flicking the blood off of the sword and sheathing it at his side underneath his robe.

A loud buzzing sound began to echo from around the Quiraji leader's position. He glanced around with a heavy set frown before tearing open the air at his side and leaving the half-destroyed village. The soldiers around the area seemed to start to panic, but an order came down the ranks from their commanders and they began to flee the village in record numbers.

They didn't have enough time.

At Kidomaru's death, a single web string that had always been attached to him was severed, sparking a chain reaction around the village. Within minutes the traps around the exterior of the village and along the standing walls activated.

The failsafe would do the job they could not.

The explosions around the village compounded into a single massive explosion that encompassed the entire village and annihilated everything inside into ashes. The sound would have been deafening to any that could hear, but the Quiraji soldiers that made it out of the blast radius were still knocked unconscious by the blast wave and sheer heat of the explosion.  
>Kidomaru and Tenten's bodies burned away in a fitting display of defiance that would've made them proud.<p>

It had been a final measure, but Otogakure's final act was one of stubborn refusal to accept defeat. They weren't going to let their enemy continue to dictate the terms of the war.

The shinobi world had only just begun to fight back.

* * *

><p>Resolution<p>

The army of tens of thousands that had attacked Otogakure had been reduced to less than two thousand in a single day's fighting. Despite losing the battle, Neji's defenders had given the shinobi world a chance to win the war.

The village of Otogakure had been built to bleed and destroy armies. Every aspect had been designed to kill soldiers on a large scale, but at the end of the day the battle had been lost. Though they had slaughtered so many of the Quiraji soldiers that their standing forces couldn't possibly fully recover, both Kidomaru and Tenten had given their lives for their village and their people.

The battle for Otogakure was over.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

If anyone is wondering, there'll be an explanation as to why Dosu's group wasn't present for this battle. All I ask is for patience. I'm a sneaky bastard, don't fear.

This chapter was both easy and difficult to write. I wanted to keep the fact that it was just the two of them defending the village for as long as possible.

This might sound twisted, but there is a kind of perverse pleasure to killing off characters in particularly brutal ways. In times of war they would most certainly die like here, but of course Naruto is not at that level of gore. Though I could have sworn it would have been earlier in the series. Anyway.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	75. Chapter 69 A Long Lost Friend

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 69 – A Long Lost Friend

**A/N**: I know I said that I'd be resolving some of the things from last chapter, but you know me, I love cliffhangers like any writer and wanted to put this chapter in before going into the next Arc.

Also, if you have an issue with character's dying, I want to remind you that this isn't the main story of Naruto. Besides Neji, the last 'good guy' who died was who, Asuma? This is war, people will die. I'm not going to apologise for killing off characters in ways that I think do them justice. I've had plenty of chances to knock off other characters, believe me.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Uchiha Madara wouldn't be the final bad guy.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With the capture and torture of one of their shinobi, the Quiraji army that had been attacking Kumogakure turned their attentions to the village of Otogakure. Mustering an army of tens of thousands, including a hundred siege engines to break down the walls, the Quiraji army attacked with impunity. However the defence of Otogakure was almost overwhelming, as they sprung trap after trap, rained poison on them and slaughtered them in the thousands. The village was only defended by Kidomaru and Tenten, yet they were able to keep the Quiraji army at bay for a long time before the village was breached. The village was ultimately taken, and the defenders killed when Sensou revealed himself and turned Tenten against her partner, but Neji's village got the last laugh. Upon Kidomaru's death, the entire village went up in flames and destroyed the vast majority of the Quiraji army attacking it. Despite the fact that his force lost the battle, Neji's trap had given them a chance to win the war.

Though it is only a slim chance at best.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Search<p>

Konan sighed loudly, waving her hands around the paper birds flying around her head. "This is just ridiculous." It didn't take much chakra to manipulate her paper creations, but it helped keep her mind off of what was happening in front of her.

"Just…give it a few more minutes…"

She turned to her partner and gave him the most loathsome look she could muster, flicking at one of the origami birds that got a little bit too close to her face. Sometimes when she wasn't concentrating they got a mind of their own, but so long as they weren't made from explosion notes she didn't mind.

She did mind sitting in the middle of the day, watching a dog relieving itself in the middle of a patch of grass. She could have sworn it had been nearly half an hour, though it was likely it had been less than ten minutes.

"He's got a way of doing things, Konan. Just let Pakkun go about his business."

"Kakashi, I'm a patient woman, but this is ridiculous. If your dogs were able to track the scent, we'd be there by now. This is just a waste of our time."

The small pug that was the subject of Konan's annoyance kicked a small amount of dirt over his business and stared up at the woman with the same disinterested look he'd been born with. "The scent you gave us was faint at best. These kinds of things take time."

Konan sighed and flicked her nails at the palm of her hand. "Love you too, little dog."

Pakkun huffed and gave Kakashi a knowing look before taking a sniff in the air. He grinded his teeth and turned around to see a blur of motion approaching them from the distance. After a few seconds another hound appeared in front of the three of them, panting softly. He was light brown with a pair of dark sunglasses on his eyes, giving Pakkun a small nod of respect.

"What have you got, Akino?" asked Kakashi behind the small pug.

The ninken looked up at his summoner and spoke in a gruff voice, "It's faint, but I could smell a trace of the scent to the north east."

"How far away?" asked Konan as she hopped to her feet. She brushed off the backside of her cloak and placed her hands out to collect the paper from her flying birds.

"Not more than a day's travel, madam," said the ninken to her.

The middle aged woman glared down at the dog, "I'm not that old, hound. I've told you lot a thousand times not to call me that."

Running a hand through his silver hair, Kakashi tapped his foot on the ground, "Konan, you're pushing forty. It's only right for them to call you madam."

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An hour later Kakashi scrapped himself up from the ground and ignored the amused look in Pakkun's face nearby. He looked around the area to see Konan sitting on a nearby cliff, waving her feet off the edge.

"Let me begin my three part apology by saying…"

She put up a hand to stop him. "Save your grovelling, Kakashi. It's hardly an attractive trait."

Placing his hands at his stomach, Kakashi grimaced as he analysed his internal damage. "Did you have to hit me so hard in the liver?"

Konan slowly clenched her hand in a manner that made his guts drop within his chest, "Yes…yes I did."

Her partner shook his head in an attempt to put the memory of her hitting him aside before turning to the two dogs that had been waiting for him to regain consciousness.

"Quite finished?" asked Pakkun with no small amount of conceit in his voice.

Kakashi nodded and turned to Akino, "You said you found a scent?"

The sunglasses-wearing ninken nodded while scratching at his head with his back foot, "Yes. Bull just reported back as well, we can confirm it."

"That's good to hear. After two weeks of searching it's nice to have a lead." He pulled out a small scroll and scribbled a quick note in code before rolling it up and tying it with a dark blue string. Without asking he knelt down and handed it to the Akino, who took the scroll and stuffed it into the pack on his back. The Konoha Jounin didn't need to ask whether the ninken was rested enough to make the journey, if he wasn't up to it he would have just told Pakkun the information and gone back to their realm.

"Take that to Shikamaru," directed Kakashi. "Tell him we'll be in contact in another week."

Akino barked in response and jumped away in a quick blur, beginning the journey to Sunagakure. For shinobi it would have taken three weeks to get to the desert village, but the ninken was able to make it within a week.

The air was no longer as secure as it used to be; so messenger hawks weren't used as prominently. His hound companions were some of the best messengers left in the shinobi world.

Konan turned her head backwards, "Are we going?"

Kakashi nodded and offered her his hand, which she took with a surprising amount of grace despite having nowhere to plant her feet. She dusted off her cloak and looked down at the pug that always seemed to be nearby.

"Akino mentioned it was not more than a day's travel?"

Pakkun looked up at her, "For a ninken, yes. For you, probably three days." He coughed in his deep gruff voice for a moment before turning around and indicating to the distance with his nose. "It's a village to the north east."

Kakashi glanced up to the sky and took a cautionary sniff before flexing his fingers and telling the small ninken to lead the way. He predicted there would be rain near the end of the day, meaning there was a chance that they'd lose the scent and have to go back to the beginning.

"Do you think he's still alive?" asked Konan as they began to move across the landscape. "It's been a long time since you've seen him."

Kakashi hesitated for a moment; he knew that just because there was a scent, that didn't mean their target was still breathing. "I didn't have much to do with him, but Shikamaru has faith that he's still alive. I trust his judgement."

"He's just a kid though. You people put far too much faith in his intelligence. Kids make mistakes."

"Shikamaru knows what he's doing, Konan. He isn't risking us on a whim. Since Naruto and Hinata showed up, he's the only one that hasn't been accounted for." He smiled when he thought about his reaction to finding out that almost everyone was still alive. "Hell, there are even people I thought had been dead for years still kicking around. Anything is possible."

Konan gave him a grunt in response and concentrated on moving quickly across the land.

Thinking about it for a few seconds, Kakashi turned to her with a curious look, "How come you weren't jealous when I saw Nagisa again?"

The dark blue haired kunoichi scoffed at the notion, "Please. I had nothing to be concerned about there."

"What do you mean?"

Konan glanced over at him and read his expression with amusement. She had no intention of telling him that she recognised the way the Inuzuka female's eyes followed her body during their initial meeting. Granted, Konan had been wearing one of Kakashi's loose shirts and little else, as they'd been staying in their temporary accommodation in Sunagakure. She didn't have the heart to tell him.

She'd save that little piece of information for future blackmail possibilities.

"Konan?"

She shook herself out of her maniacal scheming mode and smiled at him, "It's nothing. Have you thought about what you're going to say to him?"

"Not really. He might not even want to see me." It was a depressing thought, but it had been three years since he'd seen the young shinobi. It was a long time; many things had changed in the world.

He just hoped the young man was okay.

* * *

><p>Peaceful Places<p>

Kneeling at the top of a pair of tall pine trees, Kakashi and Konan looked down at the village they'd been led to. Night had fallen quickly in the small country they'd travelled to and unlike some of the other places they'd visited there weren't any street lights or signage to indicate that the village was occupied.

"You sure this is the right place?"

The pug that had been leading them scoffed once and disappeared in a small puff of smoke. Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his silver hair, "You know, eventually you'll have to get used to trusting the ninken. They know what they're doing."

Konan gave him her usual stoic gaze, her amber eyes reflecting the moon's light in a fashion that only served to accentuate her striking features.

The village beneath them was a simple affair; consisting of a few dozen houses that reminded Kakashi of the small hovels on the outskirts of Konoha. The main portions of the village appeared to be large fields for a variety of crops and livestock. From the outset it was clear the village was self-sustaining.

"How do you want to approach this?" asked Kakashi quietly.

Konan put out her hands to summon a cloud of paper birds to scout out the village, but Kakashi put out a hand to stop her as they both saw a figure walking from one of the houses towards the main field.

She nodded and retracted her chakra, jumping down with him towards the village. They couldn't exactly come in and announce themselves. That was a good way of not making a reasonable impression.

They approached the figure with stealth, figuring it would be better to observe at first then introduce themselves and ask where they could find their target. By using the shadows of the buildings and the relatively dark night they were able to get reasonable close to the figure; though they couldn't quite make him out.

He moved quickly from one part of the field to the other, stopping for a minute at a time before nodding his head and moving to another location. Kakashi gave Konan a hand signal that he was going to approach the figure and stepped out of the shadows.

The moment he revealed himself the figure seemed to hesitate for a moment as if sensing his presence, though he didn't turn around to confront Kakashi. He continued to go about his business, but once Kakashi was only a short distance away the figure spun around and pointed a small blade at the shinobi's throat.

He hadn't been expecting it, but Kakashi still had no issue deflecting the blade with the back plate of his glove. Before even seeing his face, he knew who the figure was. He'd seen the movements enough times to recognise basic Konoha bukijutsu (weapon techniques).

To his surprise, the reason they'd come to the village didn't have the kind of expression that someone who'd just tried to thrust a blade into someone should have.

Rather he was looking at the silver haired shinobi with a wide smile, his cheeks pulling at the spiral patterns that were a bit different from how Kakashi remembered them.

But without a doubt, he'd found their target.

"It's been a long time, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi mirrored his smile and withdrew his glove, looking the young man up and down. The last time he'd seen him he had been unconscious and half the size he had been an hour earlier.

In the years since he'd seen him, Akimichi Chouji had grown into a real man. His body was covered in muscles that could only be developed through constant hard labour. He wore basic working clothes that were clearly made for him, with a pair of working boots that were covered in muck. He barely resembled the boy Kakashi had once known, but it wasn't just his body.

He could tell by his eyes that he had become a real man. A man that his father would have been proud of.

"I'm surprised you recognised me," said Kakashi before turning and motioning for Konan to join him.

Chouji watched the Akatsuki robe-wearing woman with interest before turning his gaze back to his old teacher. "You might look rather different without your mask and with two regular eyes, but even without the ability to use chakra I remember what your presence feels like." He gestured to Kakashi's partner, "I assume she's not an enemy?"

"No, she isn't. She is Konan, my partner."

The amber-eyed kunoichi gave Chouji the slightest of nods before turning to the field beside them. "What were you doing?" she asked with her usual emotionless tone.

Chouji motioned to the field with a hand, "Just making sure there weren't any birds messing with our crops. We've had some problems with them lately, but the others in the village don't want a scarecrow because it scares them."

He placed a hand to his chin for a moment before turning back to the pair of shinobi, "The two of you will need a place for the night, I assume? Come with me, I'll take you to my home."

Kakashi and Konan shared a look as Chouji began walking back towards the village houses. Silently she asked him why he wasn't questioning their presence, but Kakashi signalled back that it was better to let him go at his own pace. Chouji had been quite a trusting boy and unlike him probably never doubted his friends.

He probably didn't want to burden them because of what Kakashi was sensing in the young man. Or rather, what he wasn't sensing.

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Chouji pushed open the door to his house and called out as he walked inside. He turned around and waved them inside before nearly being tackled to the ground by an assailant out of nowhere.

Kakashi and Konan shared an amused look and took a step inside as they watched Chouji turned his head slightly and embrace his attacker affectionately. The older couple were surprised to see his interactions with the young woman who'd wrapped her arms around his waist and planted a slow kiss on the side of his neck. She looked up at their guests through honest blue eyes and the type of smile that neither of them had seen for a very long time.

"Are these your friends?" she asked with a slightly hushed tone.

Chouji nodded and motioned to them with a free hand, while the other held her hand around his waist, "This is Kakashi-sensei, one of my teachers from Konoha. And this is Konan, who I just met."

The two of them nodded respectfully, while Chouji indicated to the beautiful girl behind him, "This is Misa, my wife."

Having never seen the silver-haired shinobi without his mask before today, Chouji found the look on his face absolutely priceless. Behind him he heard his wife chuckle softly into his back.

"I still can't get used to hearing you say that, Chouji."

"Well you shouldn't have married me then," he said back with a smirk. Their banter hadn't changed over the years, something he'd never have thought possible considering how he used to be. He used to be uncomfortable just talking with Ino, and when they were teammates he hadn't even acknowledged her as a possible romantic interest.

Misa chuckled again and broke off her hold on his waist, taking a step back and pointing to her bulging stomach underneath a thin shirt. "You didn't give me much choice, did you?"

Chouji just smiled at her and pecked her on the cheek before motioning for their guests to take a seat in their living room. The two shinobi were surprised to see that the young ex-shinobi had made such a reasonable living for himself; gotten a beautiful wife and even had a child on the way.

"Would you like me to prepare some tea?" asked Misa to their guests. They nodded in thanks and the young woman disappeared into the kitchen with a wordless tune on her lips.

The guests turned their attentions back to their host, who appeared to be observing them with a look that Kakashi wouldn't have expected from him.

"How long have you been searching for me?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

Kakashi glanced at his partner for a moment before turning back to his old student. "Not long, although Shikamaru has been looking for you for years. Do you know about the others?"

Misa came back into the room with a tray and gave their guests their tea with a warm smile on her face. She shared a look with her husband before nodding and returning to the kitchen. Chouji slowly rose from his seat as they noticed he hadn't been given any tea.

"If you'd like to stay for the night, we can prepare a room for you. I'm about to make dinner; you're welcome to join us."

Kakashi pulled his tea away from his face and stared at his old student's face, trying to get a read on what he was thinking. It was obvious why they were there; Chouji wasn't so ignorant as to not understand what their presence meant. Yet here he was playing the host as if there wasn't anything going on around them.

It was all very confusing.

Unlike her partner, Konan could understand what was happening and told Chouji they would be happy to stay. The tea was hot and they'd spent a long time on the road. If nothing else they knew their mission was only time sensitive in the long term. They could spare a day or so.

With that, Chouji disappeared after his wife into the kitchen. After a half an hour they sat at a large dining table and ate a surprisingly good meal despite it being apparent that they only had limited resources to provide.

Only once their plates had been removed from the table, did they finally talk with their reason for being there. Chouji did express his knowledge about the other survivors; he seemed to have a working understanding of what had been happening in the world. Kakashi was initially surprised at the revelation, but when he observed his interactions with his young wife at the table he could understand why he didn't jump at the chance to rejoin their companions.

"The only people I know about are Shikamaru and Neji," said Chouji when asked. "They haven't exactly been keeping their presences secret."

"Almost everyone is still around. The only ones who didn't make it are Shino, Kurenai and…"

Chouji's eyes dropped before Kakashi could finish. "Asuma-sensei…" His hands shook under the revelation that his teacher and secondary father-figure was dead. Kakashi went to offer his condolences, but Chouji shook his head and looked back into his eyes.

_He's saving his grief to deal with in private. He's become a fine man, Asuma. _

"What about Ino?" asked the young man after a few moments of silence.

Kakashi smiled slowly, "She's well. She's living in Suna with Shikamaru as a doctor." His smile widened as he thought of the young woman. "She's raising Asuma and Kurenai's daughter as her own."

"Airi?" Chouji's face lit up upon hearing the news; he'd assumed the baby dead with her parents. "That is wonderful to hear. I'm sure Ino is a wonderful mother. She used to look after Shikamaru and I all the time, so she's certainly practised."

Whenever Kakashi or Konan began to move the conversation towards their purpose, Chouji brought it to a different topic entirely. He was interested in hearing about the lives of their friends, but he didn't want to know too much about what was happening beyond that.

After a while it became clear he had no interest in talking on anything that wasn't surface level, implying that he was aware they were coming. Kakashi figured the young man knew he'd be found eventually.

Before Kakashi could get a proper understanding of why Chouji was acting the way he was, Misa stood up from the table and indicated that they had to retire for the night. The guests were initially suspicious, due to it still being early in the night, but after being shown to their room their fatigue struck them and they realised how tired they truly were.

The moment their heads struck the pillows they were fast asleep. They didn't sleep the whole night, having conditioned themselves on the road to only sleep in three hour intervals.

But it definitely was nice to sleep in a bed again.

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Staying the night at Chouji's house, both Kakashi and Konan were doing their best to figure out what the next course of action was. They'd both come out of retirement at a companion's request and had been enveloped by the war; and here they were about to ask him to do the exact same.

In their discussion during the night, Kakashi had expressed his intention to tell Chouji about why they were there, but Konan wasn't sure that was the best idea. She'd agreed to come back because of her need to avenge Nagato and their people by taking out Shikyo and because she wanted to keep Kakashi safe, but Chouji had no such motivations.

When they emerged from the bedroom they'd been given, the couple was surprised to see that the house was completely empty. Neither of their hosts were anywhere to be found.

The couple shared a confused look for a moment before hearing a strange chanting sound outside the house. Taking a look around the village they'd only gotten a glimpse of during the night, they noticed a large collection of people working in the large field beyond the houses.

Before they could get a better look, they found themselves being accosted by a group of small children. They seemed to be amazed at their presence, with no fear of the adults whatsoever. The children fired off questions in such a rapid manner that it was difficult to work out who was asking what, though they did their best to accommodate them.

To Konan's amusement, she saw a small cluster of boys take Kakashi by the hand and lead him towards the fields. The silver-haired shinobi laughed at the situation and let them take him away, noticing a small number of elderly watching from a small seating area.

The day had only just started, but the weather was already beautiful. Feeling the sun against her face was nice and refreshing, far more than when they were on the road. It was as if the simple presence of other people made everything better.

Looking down near her feet, Konan saw a young girl that couldn't have been more than five staring up at her with a dumb-struck look on her face. She had sandy blonde hair and innocence in her blue eyes that Konan remembered from a long time ago.

The Akatsuki kunoichi leaned down slightly and pulled back a part of her dark blue hair to reveal her face. "Can I help you, little girl?"

"You vewy pwetty…"

Konan's face lit up at the compliment, "Why, thank you. You're very pretty yourself." She indicated to where the other children had taken Kakashi. "Where are they taking him?"

The little girl's head swayed slowly from side to side, as if trying to work out something in her mind. With childlike hesitation she reached forward with a tiny hand and felt at the edge of Konan's robe, her eyes lighting up. "Ooo…pwetty…"

Konan chuckled and stood back up, patting the little girl on the head affectionately before following after her partner. She could see the children had lead Kakashi into the middle part of one of the fields, where there were groups of teenagers working the fields. It wasn't clear whether the little girl was following after her, but Konan wouldn't have minded.

There were many times she'd regretted not having children, particularly during her work at the orphanage during their 'retirement'.

It was simple work, but she could see they were all working hard.

"This is so peaceful…" commented Konan quietly to herself.

She turned to see Chouji slowly approaching her, rubbing his hands on a cloth to clean off the dirt. "We do what we can," he said with a grin. "Through trade we're able to survive and prosper."

"Do you not remember what it was like to be a shinobi though?"

Chouji's eyes changed for a split-second before staring back into her amber orbs. "I do. I remember that I hated the idea of hurting other people. I prefer to cultivate and live with people I love, than to see my friends fall. I can do more here than I ever could as a shinobi."

"That's not why we are shinobi," came Kakashi's voice from behind them. "We fight to protect those we care about."

Chouji turned to the silver-haired shinobi, "There are other means of protecting those I care about without fighting." He looked down at his dirt-covered hands, clenching them slowly. "I can't fight like I once did. My chakra is gone, it has been for years. I'm protecting those I care about here by staying and looking after them." He looked up at the open sky with a far-away look in his eyes. "And I look after my old friends by staying away."

Kakashi looked at Chouji, no longer seeing the boy he once knew once again. Chouji spoke with a wisdom that he likely didn't fully understand, but Kakashi could appreciate it. Without chakra his ability to fight was very little; with the war raging on around them he was a non-combatant.

He didn't like it, but Chouji's choice to remain in the dark might be for the best.

Shikamaru had asked them to find his old teammate for fear that he had perished in a similar manner to Shino, yet Kakashi felt conflicted. He couldn't justifiably take the retired shinobi from his peaceful village, but the war could come for him at any time.

And this village wouldn't protect him at all.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

Chouji considered his request for a moment before turning to look at another part of the field, "We could use an extra pair of hands at the dam. We need to get more water flowing into the fields, but moving the stones has been difficult because of their size."

"I'm sure I could handle that," said Kakashi. "Show me where to go."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

It felt like a quiet night.

The two 'retired' shinobi were very impressed with how the village operated, it reminded them of more peaceful times before the whole world had turned upside down. Despite the gravity of their mission, neither Kakashi nor Konan had any particular interest in asking Chouji to leave his peaceful home.

They wouldn't want to leave if they lived here.

Kakashi had taken in the new information about Chouji's wife in his stride and slightly changed the offer the Kazekage had told him to give to the Akimichi heir. By what Chouji had told them, there were less than fifty people in the village; the majority being children just becoming the proper age for work.

Sunagakure was a large village these days, far more than when they'd travelled to the village for the Chuunin Exams years ago. By Kakashi's reckoning, Sunagakure could easily accommodate such a small number of refugees; since he couldn't bring himself to bring Chouji out of the community and leave them to rot. It had become clear over the day that the Akimichi's presence was the pillar that held the village together.

That, and the comforting presence of his young wife.

In their internal discussion, the couple had decided that they liked Misa. She had a simple charm to her that they felt had been gone from their lives. She didn't have an agenda; she didn't seem to want anything from them at all. Though she didn't strike them as naïve enough to not realise what they wanted with her husband. Yet the fact that she still received them in her home and put on such a happy expression all the time went a long way to her appeal to them.

Chouji hadn't asked them directly why they had tracked him down; though there was little doubt he already knew. Kakashi suspected the reason why he showed them around the village and how they worked the fields was because he wanted them to see that he no longer had a significant connection with their world.

Unlike them, he'd retired properly. The two of them could respect his ability to do what they could not.

Sitting at the edge of the large bed they'd been given in Chouji's house, Kakashi held his hands together and contemplated their next move. A sound from the bathroom caused his eyes to rise up to see his significant other emerging with a towel around her waist, running her fingers through her dark blue hair. She was a decade older than him, yet she looked younger than he did, something that only caused her to appear even more striking.

Not that he wasn't a looker either. Since shedding his mask and adopting the face he was born with, he'd been approached by enough women that he questioned his original decision as a child to wear the mask in the first place. At first he'd thought the attention would annoy Konan, but the older woman had pointed out that regardless of what seemed to be on offer, he continued to return to her.

"What are you looking at?" asked Konan as she approached him slowly.

Kakashi shook himself out of his retrospective and smiled up at her, "Nothing in particular. Just thinking about what we're meant to do now."

"It's pretty obvious. We have to leave him be." Konan adjusted the top of the towel and walked over to where she folded her clothes. Why she'd taken her clothes off before entering the bathroom was beyond Kakashi, but he didn't complain at the time.

"I don't know if it's that simple," said Kakashi slowly. "Even without chakra, he's still a shinobi."

Doing up the night robe she'd packed, Konan picked up a shirt that Kakashi had taken off and threw it back into his face. The silver haired shinobi pulled it off and gave it a curious look.

"It's going to be cold tonight," she said matter-of-factly. "Your susceptibility to colds is absurd, yet you still don't understand why you get them. You're like a child sometimes."

Kakashi muttered incoherently to himself while throwing the shirt on; she was right, as usual.

"You can't save all of them, Kakashi. There are too many, and the enemy is too powerful. You have to focus your efforts."

The Konoha shinobi stared at her for a few moments before slowly rising from the bed and placing his hands on her shoulders. It pained him to hear her talk like that; not that it wasn't rare for her to be like that. "Konan, it isn't like that at all. It isn't just an obligation. You know that."

"Hn. I wonder about that." Konan reached up and removed his hands with a stare before slowly walking over to the small window in their room. "I know you as well as the next person, Kakashi. While those kids mean the world to you in a way, you push them away because it would kill you to lose them."

Kakashi wanted to dispute her points, but just as before he knew a part of himself agreed with her. He breathed out slowly and went to join her at the window, but a jolt of electricity ran through his back that stopped him in his tracks.

He wasn't like Naruto or Kiba with the ability to just innately feel when something was wrong, but at that moment Kakashi had a terrible feeling that something had happened. His muscles seemed to clench and unclench at the same time, while the instincts that had kept him alive for the past three decades flared up like there was an enemy trying to kill him right in front of him.

Before he could investigate, he could feel Konan going through the same thing, though her eyes seemed fixated on the night-covered exterior. When he tried to look at where she was staring, he noticed that the night wasn't as dark as he had seen earlier. There was a light coming from the distance, something that he couldn't quite make out.

But once he got to the window and got a proper look, the blood ran from his face.

The fields were on fire.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

With their crops burning with every second, the children that made up the village shot out of their homes and started to scream. Their screams drew out the few elderly that remained in the village, though it was clear they weren't in a condition to help.

Even before the shinobi could get outside, both Chouji and Misa shot out of the house and tried to get everyone to calm down. Misa gathered all the children she could find and took them as far from the fire as she could, while Chouji took the oldest and strongest to try and help put out the fire.

There were no indications of how the fire had started, but it was quickly getting out of control. The main field took up most of the outside of the village, but if it spread to the other fields then the village would be consumed within hours.

Kakashi was first out of the house, his hands shooting through a long set of handseals. He didn't go directly towards the fire, but instead he moved to where the fields were connected to the river nearby. The fire was threatening to reach his position, but he completed his ninjutsu and activated the fire handseal. He gathered as much water as he could from the river around him and concentrated on the fire as it made a circle around him.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu." (Water Element: Great Waterfall Technique)

The water raged towards the fire, but just as it was about to strike it, it appeared as though it hit an invisible barrier. Kakashi frowned and tried to get a glimpse at what stopped his effort, but hesitated when he saw a shadow flickering in the raging flames.

Flicking his wrists he clutched at a pair of kunai and waited with learned patience as the water collapsed onto the ground uselessly and three figures appeared with their hands outstretched in front of them.

Kakashi's grip on his kunai clenched as he recognised the clothing being worn by the assailants.

They were Quiraji.

The assailants had cocky grins on their faces; they clearly took great pleasure in denying him. Putting their hands down, they drew weapons and stared at him with the fire at their backs, taunting him.

With Quiraji as his foes, Kakashi knew that ninjutsu would be pointless to use to try and put out the fire without taking them out first.

Not one to let his opponents dictate his actions now that he no longer had a Sharingan, Kakashi shot forward with chakra running through his legs enhancing his speed. As a Jounin in Konoha he'd been one of the fastest shinobi, behind his 'rival' Gai and several others. After his retirement and lack of training he'd slowly down significantly, even with their recent return to active duty.

The Quiraji soldiers could barely track him with their eyes, until he was right in front of them.

One of his kunai shot forward and ended the life of one of the assailants, while the other two tried to cut him down with long swords. Even without his Sharingan, they looked like they were moving in slow motion. He could have parried or blocked their attacks in a dozen different ways.

Kakashi decided it was easier to dodge their strikes and let them get unbalanced before his kunai flashed forward and slit them from ear-to-ear. It wasn't a fate he'd do if he were facing shinobi, but he had no sympathy for the Quiraji.

Their bodies struck the floor as he glanced around to check whether there were any other Quiraji around. Deciding it was safe enough for the time being; Kakashi repeated his earlier technique and threw as much water as could from the depleted river onto the fire.

Large plumes of smoke rose as he could see his efforts had put out almost half the fire in the single effort. If he had more water he knew he could put the whole thing out, but Kakashi's skill with water techniques wasn't enough to generate water on its own, particularly without his Sharingan. The only reason he could do the technique at all was because his body remembered the technique, even with Obito's eye back in its original state.

Looking around the ruined field he could see a number of children tossing buckets of water onto the flames, keeping them from spreading to the other fields. The crops that were contained in the burning field were gone the moment it had been lit, yet Kakashi couldn't understand why the fire had been set. From their presence it was clear that the Quiraji were to blame, but burning crops wasn't something he'd heard them do.

_Unless it was to draw us out…_

Kakashi grit his teeth at the realisation and looked around for his partner, but he saw he needn't have worried about her. Floating above the ground away from the fire was Konan, her wide paper wings keeping her high while she stared down at her defeated foes. Running over to her position he could see she had killed five Quiraji assailants in quick secession.

Death by a thousand paper cuts indeed.

Konan acknowledged his appearance with a slight nod before slowly drifting back to the ground.

The villagers appeared to be getting the fire under control, though when Kakashi looked around he could see that the damage that had been done to the village beyond the burning of the fields. Several of the buildings had been burnt separately from the field, as if they were targeted.

Kakashi didn't need any chakra to see the bodies that lay on the ground at the edges of the burnt houses. His heart sank as he realised that most of them were the elderly they'd seen earlier in the day. They'd been targeted specifically because of their inability to fight back.

"It looks like they're getting it under control," observed Konan as her feet gently touched the ground and her paper wings folded back to the middle of her back and disappeared into small pieces of paper.

She began making her way to the children who were throwing buckets of water onto the flames, with her partner following quickly behind her.

Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling that it had been too simple for them to defeat the assailants. It could have been that the Quiraji had been simply a scouting force that had detected their presence and decided to take action.

As they came to the children, a terrible thought came to Kakashi like a bolt of lightning.

Quiraji scouts worked in two groups of five.

He went to warn Konan, but before he could open his mouth he felt a hand cover his mouth and another clutch his throat.

Normally he'd be able to shrug off such a grip with little issue, but something about his attacker's grip made all the strength leave his body in an instant. He felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as his legs began to give way; compounding by the fact that he could see Konan suffering a similar fate in front of him.

He tried to grip at his attacker's hands, but Kakashi didn't have the strength to even lift his arms, let alone fight back.

_What is this…I can't…_

Kakashi began to lose consciousness and felt his breath leaving his body, yet before he wasn't taken down completely he could feel his attacker's grip loosening. The Quiraji's hands slipped from his face and he felt his strength returning; enough for him to shake off his attacker and turn around to confront him.

To his surprise, he saw the Quiraji who'd attacked him reeling back with a pair of kunai stuck in his throat, only needing a small push from Kakashi to fall onto the ground.

_Hmm…odd…_

Kakashi shook himself out of his momentary lapse and turned around to help Konan, but once again saw that there was no need.

Her attacker fell to the ground as Chouji pulled back his hands from the Quiraji's chest and used them to steady Konan on her feet as she recovered from the attack.

With the last two Quiraji dead, the attack was over. The older children had finally been able to put out the fire covering the field and had collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

"You haven't forgotten how to fight it seems," said Kakashi with a tired smile on his unmasked face.

However when the Akimichi heir turned to regard him, there was no humour or acknowledgement in his eyes.

There was only pain. Pain and grief.

Kakashi regretted his words immediately; he could see that something in Chouji had changed in the few minutes since the village had been attacked. He hated the fact that it likely helped their mission to bring the ex-shinobi back with them, but there was nothing he could do except help the villagers recover.

* * *

><p>Decision<p>

Once the bodies had been taken care of, Chouji organised the villagers to start rebuilding the fields immediately. If they lost that source of food they'd struggle through the next winter; particularly if the neighbouring towns had suffered similar fates.

Some of the younger ones complained about the work, but one stern 'discussion' from Misa set them straight. By his calculation they'd lost more than two thirds of their stock, but Chouji couldn't live with the fact that some of his people had been killed during the attack. It hurt worse than anything he had endured during his time as a shinobi.

Kakashi used his canine companions to ensure that there were no more Quiraji in the area, but judging from the manner of the attack it was clear it was only a coincidence that they'd come to the village in the first place.

Though he knew that both he and Konan's presence was likely the reason they'd attacked.

Their house had been spared the devastation of the attack, yet it felt like their presence was somehow violating it. The shinobi were still on edge from the battle, feeling as though there could be a follow-up at any moment.

Sitting down opposite the two shinobi at the table in his house, Chouji slowly breathed out and ordered his thoughts.

"The others have asked and I've agreed. The two of you need to leave…today."

Kakashi went to make a comment, but he felt Konan's hand on his arm stop him.

The Amegakure kunoichi looked directly into the ex-Konoha shinobi's eyes with complete understanding. "We didn't mean to bring them here. You have to know we weren't followed."

"No, you weren't," said Chouji knowingly. "The Quiraji do not bother us because they don't see us as a threat. We are civilians and not part of the conflict."

"But you are part of the conflict," said Kakashi with more alarm in his voice than he meant. "These are the people that killed your family, your friends! How does that not make you a part of the conflict?"

"Because I chose not to be. The Quiraji leave civilians alone because they believe we want them to overthrow our 'shinobi' oppressors." He tilted his head with a telling look in his eyes. "They wouldn't be completely wrong either."

"That's why there are only children and elderly in this village, isn't it?" observed Konan quietly.

Chouji nodded grimly, "The Quiraji offered us peace with the demand that we don't assist the shinobi. They are not aware that I was once a shinobi, or they are and it doesn't matter to them. Either way…"

"…we can't stay," finished Kakashi. "If you had made that deal, why did you let us stay in the first place? You could have sent us on our way without hiding such a thing when we first arrived."

Chouji slowly clenched his fists on the table; the situation clearly weighed heavily on him. "I took a risk. I still hate the Quiraji because of what they've done…and had hoped that perhaps there was something I could do…" He shook his head quickly, "Those that died during the night are on me. I have to live with that. This attack was a warning. If there is a second, there won't be a third."

Kakashi couldn't bear to look Chouji in the eyes anymore; he knew exactly how he felt. By his observation Chouji had a mixture of survivor's guilt and a heavy burden on his heart that he had no place to interfere in.

"What should we tell Shikamaru?" he asked finally. "He won't leave you like this, you know that."

Chouji hesitated for a moment, it was clear he'd thought about such a thing for a while yet it was still difficult for him to say.

"I love Shikamaru like a brother. He's the only real friend I had when we were growing up…"

"You want us to tell him you're dead, don't you?" interjected Konan. She didn't mean to sound impatient; she just knew a lost cause when she saw one.

The look on the retired shinobi's face was the only answer he could give them.

* * *

><p>Failed Mission<p>

It didn't take them long to leave the small country they'd found the Akimichi heir in, yet neither of them felt any need to rush themselves. They didn't work for the Kazekage like some of Kakashi's old companions did. The search for Chouji was one out of obligation for his need to ensure his student's safety, yet it had become clear that Chouji was safer without his presence.

Their mission had been a failure.

The weather quickly turned foul and the two of them took shelter in an abandoned ruin for the night, wary of the knowledge that even though they'd secured the location, the Quiraji were crafty foes and could attack at any moment. If they'd attacked a remote village just on passing because they'd sensed the shinobi presence then nowhere was truly safe.

"We could do that, you know," said Konan offhandedly as she poked at the small fire they'd created.

Kakashi turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "Settle down? We retired once already, remember?"

The Amegakure kunoichi looked up at him through her amber eyes and the silver haired shinobi conceded her point with a sigh. He threw up his hands and sat down beside her.

Konan leaned her shoulder into his and closed her eyes, enjoying the shared warmth of her partner and the fire in front of them.

They didn't love each other; they'd seen enough loved ones die already.

But there was a comfortable partnership to be had between them, much more than either could have expected when they first met. She kept him honest, while he kept her stable.

"We could go back to the village, if you want," said Kakashi after a while. "It's not as if it's that far away. I'm sure the others would take us back without even questioning why we left."

Even though he could only see the top of her dark blue hair and she had a hand placed on the side of his leg, Kakashi could feel her scoff throughout his body.

"That time is gone, Kakashi. We can't go back to those days anymore. Besides, we'd be putting them in danger. You know that."

With a long drawn-out breath, the ex-Konoha shinobi brought up a hand and began to gently stroke the back of her head, "They were fun though. Fishing all day…coming back to a beautiful woman and a hot meal."

"Even though I couldn't cook worth a damn?" asked Konan in an amused voice.

"I didn't say it was a good meal. Just that it was hot."

She reached over and drove her fist into his chest, taking some of his breath away before the two of them shared a laugh and came closer together. It felt like forever since they'd just…laughed.

They sat together for a long time, staring into the fire silently. It seemed to have a mind of its own, flickering in the cold wind from one side to the other.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Kakashi softly, to no one in particular. He was used to having the answers when problems arose, but nothing was as straightforward as in the past. It felt like the destruction of Konoha all over again, without the anger or hatred to propel him forward.

"I still have that bitch to take care of," came Konan's angry reply at a whisper. "I won't rest until she's lying at my feet, paying for her crimes." Her free hand clenched tightly as she imagined squeezing the life out of the woman who had killed everyone she'd cared about.

Almost everyone.

Kakashi found the insistent part of her very attractive, but he worried that she was going to get herself killed in her journey for revenge. For two years she'd kept it at bay and he'd hoped she'd let it lie, but just as he'd seen with Sasuke all those years ago, one sniff of her target and she was off to the races.

He found that all he could do was pat her shoulder and reassure her that he would always be at her side. She nodded in response and nuzzled her head into his chest, feeling his chest rise and fall with each breath.

_I guess I should go find Naruto then. If he's here, he shouldn't be difficult to find. Subtlety wasn't his strongest suit after all. The Kazekage was going to the Land of Water and Shikamaru said that's where he saw him. Maybe they're still there._

With a clear and present goal for the moment, Kakashi felt himself drifting off to sleep as the fire dwindled to ashes. He hadn't had a decent night sleep since they left the village they'd 'retired' to, but seeing Chouji dealing with things so well despite what they'd brought down on him, was reassuring.

However before he could get to sleep, he felt electric shocks running through his body that kept him wide awake. Looking down he saw that Konan wasn't asleep at all, but rather she had something else on her mind. It had been quite a while since they'd done the horizontal dance, but from the look in her amber eyes she'd lost none of her passion.

Turns out he wasn't going to get any sleep after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Current Status of the Konoha Survivors<strong>

Uzumaki Naruto – On his way to Otogakure

Uchiha Sasuke – On his way to Otogakure

Haruno Sakura – Head doctor in Sunagakure

Hatake Kakashi – Searching for Naruto

Yamanaka Ino – Doctor and Mother in Sunagakure

Akimichi Chouji – Retired and happily married

Nara Shikamaru – Head shinobi in Sunagakure, expecting Father

Sarutobi Asuma – Dead

Inuzuka Kiba – Working for Sunagakure

Hyuuga Hinata – On her way to Otogakure

Aburame Shino – Dead

Yuuhi Kurenai – Dead

Rock Lee – Working for Sunagakure

Tenten – Dead

Hyuuga Neji – Otokage, leader of Otogakure

Maito Gai – Dead

Shizune – Retired and living with the Tiger Summons

Uchiha Itachi – On his way to Otogakure

Inuzuka Nagisa – Working for Sunagakure

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

The above section is on request. Any time there is a major shift in a large section of the characters, I'll put one of these up. Since the story is so long, it makes sense to do this just to keep up. It helps me too. If you're looking for a timeline of events up to about now, look at the end of Chapter 64.

I've decided that not every chapter has to be 10k or more words. I found that at times I was tempted to pad certain parts of chapters before compensating and adding things that I wanted to write anyway. They'll still be long, minimum of 8k.

At the end of the story it'll still be absurdly long. That's not going to change at all.

I apologise if this feels like a meh chapter. It's a story that had to be told, but I dunno, I felt kind of hesitant while writing it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	76. Chapter 70 Invading Enemy Lines

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 70 – Invading Enemy Lines

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd know how the bad guy was going to get beaten. I'm sorry Kishimoto, but that's just sad.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Kakashi and Konan, on the request of Shikamaru, complete their mission on finding his lost teammate Chouji. They discover him living peacefully in a small village with mostly children and elderly as the main thing keeping the village together. Along with his lovely young wife Misa. The two of them struggle over whether they should ask Chouji to come with them or not, but before they can the village is attacked by a passing group of Quiraji scouts. The Quiraji burn down one of their main fields and kill most of the elderly in the village, forcing Chouji to admit that the best way for him to protect his people is to make the two shinobi leave and not return. With heavy hearts Kakashi and Konan leave with the intention of telling the others that the Akimichi heir is dead. Kakashi resolves to find his blonde student for their next move, knowing that in all likelihood he could use his help in the times to come.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>"Nine targets spread out over fifty metres. Armed to the teeth, but look like they've been there a while. I doubt they'd put up a reasonable fight."<p>

Sakon cracked his knuckles loudly, "Easy pickings. Send word to the boss man that we're ready to go at any moment."

The scout nodded to the Otogakure leader and leapt away at top speed, while the four shinobi in the group waited for word to attack. They'd been the fifth group to give their confirmation, yet he couldn't shake the nervous feeling in his gut.

He was glad he was only a messenger for this battle.

Kicking off the ground quickly he moved away from the line of shinobi waiting under the cover of darkness and leapt over the large rock facing that concealed the reason behind their presence in the area.

In small camps expanding a kilometre long, huddled the entirety of Otogakure. From children to a small number of elderly, every citizen of their village was present and accounted for.

It had been madness to move them from their homes, but the Otokage had barely needed to mention the imminent threat and they followed him faithfully. In the short amount of time since they'd abandoned Otogakure to its fate, the villagers had traversed quickly to their current location.

When the sun had set it had been quite a beautiful spectacle, but as night had fallen a lull of quiet had come over the Otogakure non-combatants. They relied on the shinobi to protect them, but they also knew that the reason they had been brought along was because there was nowhere safe for them to hide.

Where they were going? That was a different story altogether.

Finally he found the commander that he took his orders from. He took the information with a dismissive tone before telling him to check the supplies on one of the caravans. Thousands of civilians had been accompanied by two score caravans that contained the necessary supplies that couldn't be carried by hand. Families carried whatever they needed and shinobi carried what they needed for battle.

It was a logistical nightmare, but they made it work by a collection of miracles that none of them quite understood completely. Everyone was just happy they hadn't been in battle yet.

That was just about to change.

"How long?" asked an impatient Tayuya with her interrogators standing around her on their section of the line. Normally her subordinates wouldn't be on the front lines, but with the push they had to participate.

"You should be patient, Tayuya," reminded Jiroubo with his group nearby. "He'll give the order once he had all the intel he can get."

The pink haired kunoichi swore loudly and motioned to the non-combatants with a wave, "We can't exactly hide this mass for very long."

At another part of the Otogakure shinobi ranks, Jin tapped his fingers on his arm impatiently. He had the best view of the enemy force they were about to engage. His group of two hundred Otogakure shinobi were ready to pounce at a moment's notice, even though they were a fair distance away.

Their target area was covered with Quiraji soldiers, staring into the night, unable to see the mass of shinobi that were about to attack them. Their plan was deceptively simple, the only reason they hadn't noticed their presence was because they weren't concentrating properly on what was in front of them.

The plan was already in motion.

Two Otogakure shinobi appeared out of thin air and ran through the ranks towards the small encampment that held the Otokage and his advisors. They passed through the heightened security without a problem before stopping and catching their breath.

The Otokage finished buttoning up his robe with his single hand and stared at the newcomers through his white eyes. He hadn't been able to monitor them with his Byakugan due to the nature of their plan, but their presence indicated that they'd been successful.

"How many?"

Kin took a deep breath before looking up at her leader. He'd always had an intimidating stare, but now that he had his war-face on he was downright terrifying. "Three hundred. They are holding position and trying to work out how so many broke through the line."

At her side, Sakon scoffed and moved his grey bang out of his face. "Ripe for the picking, boss. They have no idea we are coming."

"Good." Neji made several gestures to his advisors and they disappeared to their positions before looking back at the two shinobi. "Kin, take the Genin and attach yourselves to the reserves. Unless you see the signal, you are to stay with the non-combatants and protect them at all costs."

The dark haired kunoichi scowled for a moment before acknowledging the order and disappearing.

Sakon chuckled and cracked his neck loudly, "She won't forgive you for that."

"I don't need her to forgive me. I need her to obey." Neji stretched his arm for a moment before starting towards the shinobi ranks spread out in front of them.

"You're joining the attack?" asked Sakon with a hint of surprise in his voice.

Neji's assistant handed him the last part of his outfit and the Otokage placed the black and white hat on top of his head, tightening it before placing his single hand into a handseal. "I'm the Otokage, this is as much my battle as it is yours. If I don't fight at their side, how can I expect them to fight at mine?"

The twin stared at his leader as he walked in front of him before a small smirk came across his face.

_Well said_, he thought to himself. From within his body, his brother echoed the sentiment. They flexed their hands impatiently in anticipation and ran up to stand by his side.

Neji's doujutsu activated and his field of vision expanded so far that he was able to see every single citizen in his displaced village. He took a moment to watch his wife, Yuko, with their children, reassuring some of the other non-combatants that everything was going to be okay.

But his gaze quickly turned to the Quiraji soldiers that held the line between the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Fire. They were the barrier that they had to get through to further their goal in destroying the Quiraji war effort on the continent. His eyes darkened as his mind made the final switch to full fighting mode.

He raised his arm up into the air, seeing in his black and white vision the shinobi that were doing the same thing down the line.

His army of almost a thousand shinobi was ready to invade the Land of Fire at his command. Their numbers had swelled since the Kage Summit, with every clan that wasn't associated with a shinobi village flocking to their cause, including a large number of defectors from other villages.

In a single motion, Neji dropped his arm.

The Otogakure army leapt out of their hidden positions and attacked the entrenched Quiraji soldiers.

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Unlike traditional warfare between shinobi, where it would be a massive exchange of ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu, the battle between the Otogakure shinobi and the Quiraji border soldiers took very little time at all. An army of almost a thousand shinobi slammed into a wide border that was made up of less than two hundred well-armed soldiers.

But the shinobi weren't taking any chances. They hit the Quiraji with everything they had.

Mixtures of thrown weapons, sound waves and elemental ninjutsu struck at the Quiraji soldiers in a massive single volley. It was an over-the-top statement that they were here and they meant business.

It did the job spectacularly.

Unprepared as they were for the attack, the small number of border soldiers quickly folded under the sheer weight of numbers of the Otogakure force attacking as a single entity. Dozens fell without even realising they were under attack, while the few that were quick enough to muster up their defences were rapidly overwhelmed and taken down.

Jin's cluster of shinobi struck at the soldiers from the side while another group did the same on the other side of the line, forcing the soldiers into a makeshift bottleneck that made it that much easier to destroy them. The section they had chosen to invade from was between two reasonably-sized mountain ranges; they hoped that the word that the border had been breached so horribly would not be passed down for a short while.

Even so, Neji used his Byakugan to survey the area for any potential scouts that could break away from the slaughter and bring word to their Quiraji commanders that they were under attack. His fastest shinobi stood at his side as they attacked with the front ranks and killed Quiraji soldiers left, right and centre. Even with only one arm, no soldier was able to stand against the Otokage and the shinobi guarding him.

"Two on the left mountain, blonde, both female," he said with an indication with his hand.

A pair of Otogakure shinobi nodded and disappeared at top speed while Neji turned his concentration to the rear of the Quiraji soldiers; he had full confidence that they would take out the two he'd seen.

Sakon slammed a young Quiraji soldier into the ground and buried him into the ground with a flurry of heavy punches before standing back up and watching his leader go to work. Neji's movements were fluid and deadly, his fingers crackling with lightning energy that circumvented the Quiraji immunity to chakra-based techniques. It was fairly difficult to ignore a jolt of lightning through your body, even if the chakra aspect of it was dissipated.

As Neji left unconscious bodies in his wake, Otogakure Chuunin and Jounin followed behind him and killed the soldiers where they lay. It had been obvious from the very start that they weren't to show the Quiraji any mercy.

Though under his direct orders, Tayuya and her interrogators captured a small number of Quiraji soldiers for interrogation. Since they'd stopped using converted shinobi and their specialist troops, they'd had some success in extracting information from the more basic Quiraji soldiers. And where they were going, they needed every advantage they could get.

After barely ten minutes of fighting, the battle was over.

Using his Byakugan to ensure that no scouts had escaped the small scale invasion, Neji called for a count of their standing force. He already knew the information, but he wanted his shinobi to hear it from their commanding officers.

In the beginning of their invasion into the Land of Fire, not a single Otogakure shinobi had fallen.

But now was not a time to rest. Every moment they spent idly at the border was precarious as it was, so Neji sent orders for their non-combatants to move up into the newly conquered position. They were protected by their Genin and a number of powerful Jounin hidden among their ranks, but the large number of civilians all knew how to protect themselves from attack. They had been preparing for this for as long as the shinobi had.

But just to be sure, he was going to send a full quarter of his force to protect them. If they came under attack, he had confidence they would be okay.

In the meantime, he would lead all of the other shinobi in an attack on the small Quiraji army they had lured to a nearby location with strategically placed chakra signals. Unlike the border he didn't expect to take these enemies by surprise, but he wanted to blood his shinobi in the fires of war properly before they got much further into enemy territory.

He also wanted to send a message to the Quiraji leader. The Land of Fire would not be safe for them much longer. This message would be sent in blood and corpses.

His shinobi stripped the soldiers of anything useful and raided their small storage containers for whatever supplies they could find. They were carrying their food for the most part, though Neji had ensured that they had months-worth of supplies contained within a collection of scrolls.

They were prepared for any possibility that could arise.

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They'd used chakra signals to lure a reasonable number of Quiraji soldiers to a single location, ripe for a good scrap. As any good army they hadn't deployed themselves in such a manner that they were vulnerable to ambush. They'd gathered in a relatively open area and had posted enough scouts that the Otogakure shinobi weren't going to get any closer without being detected.

Neji stood at the head of an army with everyone ready to do their part. The battle at the border had barely whetted their appetite and here the enemy was ready for them.

He didn't even need to give the order to charge.

Massive chunks of stone preceded the shinobi charge and slammed into the Quiraji soldiers, who were unable to defend against Jiroubo's long range attacks. The attack put them on edge and they held their positions to receive the shinobi charge. Their army comprised of mostly regular soldiers, but there were a pair of Black Robes and a group of five Red Warriors that were directing them in battle.

When the Otogakure shinobi activated a large number of ninjutsu towards the Quiraji army, the pair of Black Robes shifted to the front and placed up their hands to absorb the techniques. They were only able to maintain their defence at the front of the army, but the Quiraji soldiers had fought against enough shinobi to be able to dodge the fireballs and boulders being thrown at them.

With Neji at their vanguard, the Otogakure shinobi moved into close range and engaged the Quiraji in a bloody close-quarter battle with weapons and taijutsu. Despite knowing that chakra-based attacks had no initial effect on the soldiers, such as Neji's Jyuuken attacks, the shinobi were able to enhance their own bodies beyond normal soldiers speed and strength.

Each shinobi was more than a match for their Quiraji foes and weight of numbers put the pressure on the enemy early as the two lines clashed.

However these were not the bored guards they had taken out earlier. These Quiraji had come ready to do battle with shinobi and were well versed in fighting their hated enemy. For every soldier that died under the high speed/strength of the shinobi, the Quiraji fought back even harder and made the shinobi work for their victory.

The presence of the Red Warriors hadn't been part of Neji's plan, but nevertheless he took his best fighters and confronted the five Red Warriors that had pushed through the Quiraji lines to participate in the battle. In trained synchronisation they drew swords from their sides and confronted the Otogakure shinobi in front of them.

Neji stepped forward and flicked his wrist to grip a kunai from his sleeve. While he almost always fought bare-handed, he recognised that the blades they wielded would cut through his chakra-based techniques that he used for defence.

A Red Warrior stepped forward upon recognising him as the leader of the group, brandishing his sword brazenly and enticing Neji to attack him first. The Otokage wasn't in the mood to disappoint him.

In a single motion that his companions barely caught with their eyes, Neji feigned a slash at the Red Warrior's wrist before switching position and driving it into the single weak point at the Quiraji fighter's neck. He wrenched out his kunai before it could get in too deep as the Red Warrior gave a half-hearted counter sweep to his side, but Neji leapt backwards and watched as his enemy fell to the ground, dead.

Through his Byakugan he glanced down at his weapon for a moment, impressed at how efficient the poison was. It had taken a substantial amount of physical strength to push through the Red Warrior's physical barrier, but clearly even the shallowest wound was enough to put one down.

With his Byakugan active Neji saw everything happening around him in slow motion. To his left he watched as one of his Jounin was cut in two by a Red Warrior's blade, only to be crushed underneath a massive boulder thrown on top of him by Jiroubo. Even a Quiraji soldier's tremendous resilience was no match for simple physics.

He felt a swell of pride as he watched his shinobi overcoming the Quiraji army through weight of numbers and techniques. A pair of Chuunin engaged a large group of soldiers with only their butterfly swords in hand, yet they worked in such perfect unison that no soldiers could touch them.

It saddened him to see some of his shinobi falling under enemy weapons and abilities; he knew everyone in his village and had trained many of them personally at one point or another. However Neji was a Kage, he had to concentrate on keeping the rest of his people safe.

He turned to see Kin impale one of the Black Robes with a pair of giant needles that penetrated its spiritual barrier with relative ease, while the other was taken out by a triple punch from Sakon and Ukon. With the two of them down, the Otogakure shinobi were able to take down the Quiraji army with ninjutsu techniques with relative ease.

Once the battle was done, over three hundred Quiraji soldiers had been killed, with only a score of shinobi giving their lives for their cause. By all rights it was a flawless victory, but Neji knew his people well enough to know that there would be no celebrations.

As his shinobi ensured that there weren't any soldiers that had escaped, Neji knelt down beside the body of a female Chuunin. She'd only just been given a promotion to Chuunin before they'd abandoned the village by Neji himself, but he couldn't remember her name. He breathed out a long sigh and closed her eyes slowly.

He waved over a medic and told him to take care of the body. While they were going to burn the enemy bodies, the same couldn't be said for their own. They took care of their own.

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"Wake him up," ordered Neji in his most commanding tone.

An Otogakure Jounin tossed a bucket of freezing cold water onto the prisoner's face, causing him to wake up gasping before realising that he had been captured during the battle. He'd been beaten the appropriate amount but Neji had explicitly told his shinobi to leave him alive.

That could not be said for his Quiraji companions. The stink of their corpses had already begun to spread, but the Otokage hadn't ordered their destruction just yet.

"What…where am I?" stammered the prisoner, only to be silenced by a fist slamming into the side of his head. He cried out in pain, but a pair of Otogakure hands held his face up so that he had no time to rest.

"Do you see what we have done here?" Neji motioned to the corpses that had been piled up around them. He'd been particularly careful to not make any of their own casualties obvious to the prisoner; everything had been precisely constructed for the greatest effect.

The prisoner spat a globule of blood onto the ground in front of him before his eyes widened at the gory scene around him. "Butchers…" he muttered under his breath, but that only got him another punch to the head.

Neji motioned for them to hold his face steady and looked down at prisoner, "This is only the beginning." He pointed a finger at the Quiraji soldier, "You will go back to your leaders and tell them what you saw today. Tell them that there is nowhere that is safe for them to hide."

"We have come to reclaim our homeland," said Jin at his leader's side.

"We will never stop hunting you," said Tayuya with a malicious grin on her face.

"We never die," said Jiroubo with his arms crossed over his massive chest.

The Otokage stepped forward and clenched his single fist slowly, "Now get out of our sight and know that your days are numbered."

The shinobi holding the prisoner released their grip and watched him slowly get to his feet. He was the youngest and weakest of the Quiraji soldiers they had faced; they'd found him hiding in a corner away from his companions.

A perfect coward. Exactly what he needed.

The Quiraji soldier looked over the shinobi for only a moment before running away from them as fast as his legs could carry him.

Waiting until the soldier was out of earshot, the Otogakure shinobi visibly relaxed. Despite the short battle it had taken a toll on their stamina and they'd put on an impressive front for the prisoner.

Neji turned to his subordinates before his white eyes rested on Jiroubo, "We never die?"

The large shinobi shrugged, "Seemed like the thing to say at the time."

"I'm not disputing that. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." Neji sighed and ran his hand through his long hair. "Bring everyone up here and get a clean-up crew working. I don't want any children seeing what it cost us to take this place."

His subordinates nodded their understanding and went about their work, while Neji called over his chief scientist. The red haired kunoichi hadn't participated in the battle precisely because he had plans for her, but that didn't stop her from scowling at being called upon in such a manner.

"Is the chip in place?" he asked shortly. He found the best way to deal with Karin was to be authoritative, otherwise she would run rampant.

Karin rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up her nose, "Of course. I implanted it personally."

"And there is no way they'll be able to find it?"

The scientist gave him a look he could have hung her for, "I placed it directly on his brainstem and designed it to feed off the electrical signals in his head. If they can detect it, they deserve to get it."

"That isn't reassuring," said Neji with a shake of his head.

Looking over the battlefield for a few moments, Neji calculated how long they could stay in the area before the soldier they'd released got to his leaders. Whether the tracker gave them the location of their leaders or not was ultimately irrelevant, though it would certainly advance their plans if it did.

Reactivating his Byakugan to survey the area faster than his scouts could, Neji ignore the small pain in his head that had been pestering him lately.

Now wasn't the time to get a migraine.

* * *

><p>Moving an entire village worth of people was painstakingly slow, even when the majority were shinobi that were constantly on watch for enemy soldiers. The civilians didn't complain about the situation as much as Neji had expected; he had immense respect for their faith in his overarching plan.<p>

The Otogakure people moved over the grasslands of the Land of Fire ponderously, with a group of shinobi trailing behind to cover their tracks. It seemed an impossible task, but they made as little impact on the ground as possible.

Neji's heart was torn as they moved through the Land of Fire, something he kept to only himself and his wife. He recognised many of the landmarks and abandoned villages they passed through, but he was constantly on edge for enemy ambushes and traps. He'd expected some kind of retaliation attack from Quiraji forces after provoking them with the prisoner, but nothing had come.

As the sun set on their first day in enemy territory, Neji moved his people over a wide river by means of a temporary bridge while they all admired the remarkable scenery. On either side of the river stood two giant statues that stood opposite to each other astride a deep waterfall that was oddly quiet as water crashed down into the river beneath.

When asked, Neji explained the significance of the two statues to the world of shinobi. The statue of Uchiha Madara stood as an imposing figure that had started to show the weathering that the war in the Land of Fire had taken on it, while the statue of the Fire Hokage still stood stalwartly defiant with barely a scratch on it.

Neji had never had much of a connection between the two legendary figures and himself, but now that he was a Kage he could respect the decisions the First Hokage had to make. The sacrifices he made for his people.

Once they were all over the river, Neji ordered the bridge retracted and broken down so they could carry it with them, taking a final glance at the Valley of the End before running back to the front of his shinobi army. He was still awaiting word on the single shinobi that had been sent to specific areas near the border, with a number of chakra signal generators to throw off the Quiraji scouts.

They knew that trick would eventually stop working, but until the Quiraji soldiers that survived the destruction of Otogakure reported that they had used such methods, he intended to exploit it as much as possible. The longer they went without incident the better.

Though glancing up at the darkening sky, Neji could have sworn he could see a single bird flying off into the distance. It disappeared into a cluster of clouds that brought a scowl to the Otokage's face.

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Huddled underneath the cover with the rain slamming into the ground around them, Neji pulled out a map and indicated to it with his hand. "We'll let them rest for two more hours. Then we have to move."

"In this rain? It won't be easy," pointed out Jin. "We're better off waiting for it to stop or even wait until daylight."

Neji shook his head, that wasn't an option. He motioned for his assistant to bring the light closer to the map. "We're exposed in this position. While we are in the Land of Fire we have to assume they know about our location at all times."

Jin let out a long breath that turned into a sigh, "You've taken us into a dangerous place, boss."

"We all knew the risks," said the Chiza clan head. "None of us like it, but it's what we had to do."

"Enough," said Neji in a commanding tone. He appreciated Touru's support, but they had to focus on the issue at hand. "We are here now and we can't return to the village, so it's all moot. Our goal once we start moving is to get to this temple here." He pointed to a small marking on the map between them.

"That's some difficult terrain," said Arashi, the clan head of the Fuuma. He pointed to a section of the map between their current location and their goal. "But if we use these mountains for cover, get some scouts on top to stop ambushes; we can probably get through without attracting enemy attention."

Neji nodded in agreement, that was how he'd planned it. "I want Jiroubo going with five scouts from the Chiza clan. He'll check the stone for traps while they secure the area."

Touru nodded in understanding; he knew his clansmen were the best for the job. He gave Neji a small bow of respect and left the covered area to organise the scouting party, he trusted the Otokage to work out the rest of the plan without his presence.

"What do we know about this area we are moving to?" asked Jin.

Neji jabbed at the area with his finger, "This is our primary goal. If we can secure this place, we can hold there for some time while we consolidate our efforts."

"We'll be staying in one location? That's suicide!" protested Arashi louder than he expected. "We'll be surrounded on all sides, with no way of getting supplies in or out and no way of protecting our non-combatants."

Neji stared at the Fuuma clan head for several moments; he wasn't wrong about the situation. "This is the way we have to do it. You can see this is good defensible terrain, we'll be able to break the enemy against our anvil."

"Like we could've at home?" shot back Arashi.

The Otokage sighed; arguing wasn't going to get them anywhere. "Get your clan ready, Arashi. This isn't a democracy."

The grey-eyed clan head glared at him but still nodded respectfully and left the covered area.

"He's just worried for his clan," said Jin. "You ask for a lot of faith without giving much in return."

"I'm the Otokage," said Neji with conviction. "They have to obey my orders. Otherwise, they will die."

Jin shrugged in response, "I know that. So do they. But you ask a lot on faith."

Looking back at the map, Neji considered his point carefully. Despite being the leader of the village for longer than he was a Genin, he was still learning how to be a proper leader. Something his cousin always pointed out was a problem with his approach, was that he wasn't good with people.

But luckily he wasn't alone in his position of power.

"Can you please tell my wife I need to speak to her at her nearest convenience?"

Jin smirked and stood up to crack his neck loudly before leaving without giving the leader a show of respect like the others. It wasn't to be disrespectful, it was more of an inside joke between the two of them.

Neji made a mental note that his subordinate was up to fifty-nine executable offences. He was still considering what the payback was going to be.

But for now, he had to focus on their current problem. They'd come to a very dangerous place.

After a few minutes he saw his silver haired wife walk into the covered area. He always found it fascinating that regardless of how long she'd spend walking in the rain, it never seemed to stick.

Without saying a word she slipped her hands around his waist and leaned her head onto his shoulder.

"I need your advice about what we're doing," said Neji softly.

Yuko smiled slowly and started massaging his sides with her fingers gently. "Not until you get some sleep. You've been up for two days straight, Neji."

"I have to get this plan sorted out before we move out…" started Neji, before his sentence ran off as her fingers moved up to the sides of his head and worked at the stress lines that generally appeared when he was concentrating for long periods of time.

Eventually Neji caved to his wife's demand and was able to get a reasonable thirty minutes of sleep. He loved that she stayed at his side the whole time, even though he knew she was probably needed with their children more.

The rain outside continued to be unrelenting around them, with their entire village huddled together for warmth under temporary covers. The sentries that had been placed were cold and miserable, but overly thankful that there was no sign of any Quiraji soldiers.

It had been hard going, but nobody had made any vocal complaints about their situation. They all knew the score and the stakes of what they were doing here.

His assistant appeared at his side and silently handed him a hot cup of tea. Neji smiled at the young shinobi and took it with a word of thanks. It wasn't particularly good, but the Otokage didn't keep him around for his tea-making abilities. He, along with his twin sister, had unique abilities that Neji had come to value since they joined his village.

"Tell the commanders the details of our plan, Kazuha," he instructed while sipping his tea. "I want the entire village packed up and ready to move in an hour."

The young man nodded and placed his hands together into a handseal to spread the word. His technique was similar to the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques at a rudimentary level. After giving the command to his assistant, Neji could be confident that the leaders of his shinobi would know the details immediately.

After a few seconds he could already see some of the shinobi moving out of their shelters and getting the non-combatants ready to move. Everyone was armed except for children younger than five, knowing that they might be called to fight at a moment's notice. He hoped to get them to a more secure location to give them at least a single day of proper rest. The location he'd chosen for their next destination was significant for a number of reasons, but he prayed he wasn't leading them to their deaths.

"It is done," said his assistant at his side, several beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Good. Get some rest and send your sister to me."

The young man nodded in thanks and disappeared into a nearby shelter. A minute later a young woman approached the Otokage and flashed him a smile that was wholly inappropriate for her position.

"What is your will?"

Neji rolled his eyes and indicated for her to stand up, "What is the word from the scouts?"

She flicked through a quick set of handseals and a cluster of seals appeared in the air in front of her. Using her hands she moved through them like they were a book before landing on the one she was looking for. "Everyone reports it is all quiet. No enemy activity whatsoever."

The Otokage sighed in frustration; it didn't make sense. They'd been in the Land of Fire for a week now, moving at a slower pace than he would have liked, but being under the threat of enemy attack constantly made it impossible to not be cautious.

Perhaps he was overestimating the presence the Quiraji had in the Land of Fire.

From the last time he had gotten intelligence from outside sources he knew that there had been a reasonably-sized army that had been destroyed near Kirigakure and a large force that was keeping Sunagakure out of his campaign. They knew that they protected their border rather furiously, but the Land of Fire had a large border that the terrain made difficult to defend even under the best conditions.

Nevertheless, Neji refused to take things easy. Their enemy was powerful enough to destroy a significant number of their race with relative ease and he lived in fear that one of the Four would be a part of an attack on his people. His confidence on defeating one of the Quiraji leaders was quite low, unless one of his backup plans came to fruition.

"Was there anything you need?" asked his female assistant. "A foot rub? Throw down?"

Neji glared down at her with his most disapproving look. While she had her uses, he wondered how anyone put up with her. There had been rumours of an unsavoury nature about her and her twin brother that he had no interest in, but upon remembering what they had been through he understood why she was the way she was.

Admittedly, the temptation to unleash Yuko on her was getting more and more intriguing.

"I want an updated report on our standing forces and supplies before we leave."

She groaned loudly and began scrolling through her visible seals, "Are you serious? That's sooo much work…"

"Now, Kazumi."

The young woman rolled her eyes and pouted, but began the arduous task he had given her nevertheless. While she went about that, Neji used his Byakugan to ensure that there was nothing they were missing. The rain was still falling, though when he looked straight up through the clouds he saw that in a few hours it would ease up in the area.

He had no intention of being here within an hour.

* * *

><p>From what the scouts told him, the temple was exactly how Neji remembered it. Despite heavy Quiraji resistance in the area, both the architecture and outlying areas appeared untouched. If anything it looked like they'd gone out of their way not to destroy the buildings.<p>

"There are perhaps two score Quiraji in the temple," said one of the scouts. "They look like they've been there a while."

"Any indications they have a communication line to the main Quiraji base?" asked the Otokage. While he was always prepared for their enemy to attack them at a moment's notice, the less they knew about their movements the better. He trusted the three groups of shinobi that had been sent out to lay false trails with chakra signals for the Quiraji army to chase.

It troubled him that they had no intelligence on the movements of the larger enemy armies though. He was tempted to send a squad to Suna to get an update on their situation, but their numbers were stretched as they were. While they had suffered very few casualties so far, Neji knew that his shinobi were human and prone to mistakes if over-worked.

The temple solved a number of their more immediate problems and Neji was anxious to take it and get set up. Even if only for a short period of time.

Initially he had placed himself in the vanguard of the attack, but his commanders had pointed out that he was too important to be used for such a small scale battle. Jin pointed out that he'd be best used right after the battle to ensure the temple was free of traps with his Byakugan. Eventually Neji had relented and gathered three groups of Otogakure shinobi to him.

Unlike other battles, this was one he wanted completed with stealth. They needed the temple intact and unscarred, while ensuring that the enemy didn't discover their location for a reasonable period of time.

Kin had significant experience in infiltration and Neji had given her a squad of their fastest shinobi. Her goal was to infiltrate the temple and take out the Quiraji soldiers that were sleeping within the buildings. It was a difficult task, but the long haired Jounin assured him there would be no problems.

The largest group of thirty shinobi attacking the temple was lead by two shinobi, Rinji the bat-user who had once been a prisoner, and the crystal-user Guren. They had a good working partnership that they had proven on the front lines in the past. While Neji had complete faith in them as shinobi of Otogakure, he recognised that they were also quite volatile and Guren's ambition for power was something he had been forced to keep in check.

Nevertheless, their abilities were perfect for fighting Quiraji soldiers and Neji had full intent of exploiting that.

A young Fuuma kunoichi called Sasame had been given a single mission that was vital to taking the temple. The temple had a number of hawks that they knew had been captured by the Quiraji when they had purged the monks from the temple, and they could not allow the enemy to send a message that their position had been compromised. She would lead a small group of her clan members that would follow the previous group in and take out the communications tower before it could be used.

With their civilians waiting a fair distance away, Neji waited for dark before sending the three groups on their mission. He waited close by with a larger force of Otogakure shinobi, just in case the mission went awry and they had to leap forward to join the battle. He wasn't able to monitor with his Byakugan due to the nature of their enemy, but the Otokage had faith in his subordinate's ability to get the job done.

He still couldn't get the butterflies out of his stomach. It felt just like when he'd learnt his father had been sacrificed by the clan for his uncle's sake. Only this time, it was his own people he was throwing into the fire.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

An hour later he got the signal from within the temple that the enemy had been cleared out. He activated his Byakugan with the hope that there were no chakra sensors in the area and looked over the effects of the battle.

The Quiraji soldiers had been slaughtered in their sleep by Kin's group, their throats slashed far away from their weapons. The soldiers that had been patrolling the temple outskirts had been picked apart by a combination of bats and crystal projectiles, with many of the Otogakure shinobi not even needing to participate in the battle at all.

For a moment he scowled, noticing that Sasame's group had defied his order to destroy the communications facility, but his mood shifted when he saw what she had done instead. One of the Fuuma clan had similar spider-like abilities to Kidomaru and had covered the hawks with webs so they weren't able to take flight. As he judged by the body in the tower one of the Quiraji had tried to send a message, but thankfully the Fuuma shinobi hadn't killed him.

If their luck held up, he might have information they could use to further their campaign.

Nevertheless, the Fire Temple of the Land of Fire was now under his command.

* * *

><p>The Fire Temple was surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges that made it an excellent defensive position. Neji was suspicious of why the Quiraji hadn't used it as a proper staging point, but when he examined several of the maps they had discovered detailing the geography of the area, he realised why there had only been a skeleton guard.<p>

They'd already pacified the region and driven out all the civilians so they didn't get in the way of their plans. The area no longer had value for them.

He wasted no time in using his Byakugan to sweep the temple for traps and extra troops, though he didn't expect to find anything. He was thankful that the large crypts that he'd seen once as a young boy were still intact, though he would have to have Jiroubo and the other Earth users expand them so they could hide their non-combatants underground. He would have his shinobi dig a number of holes to hide in around the area and lay traps for any approaching enemies.

The Fire Temple had originally been large enough to accommodate a few hundred warriors reasonably, but Neji's force numbered far larger than that. He would have a defence force set up in the location to protect their civilians but many of his shinobi would not stay in this location. Now that they had a staging point, he'd turn his people on the offensive and kill every Quiraji they came across.

For now though, there were a thousand different things that had to be done to secure the area. With a small smirk he found an extravagant bedroom that would be most satisfactory.

There was a lot of work to be done.

* * *

><p>"Friendlies coming in!"<p>

Neji pushed open the command tent flap and watched as two of his shinobi ran towards him. He breathed out a small sigh of relief; he'd been expecting them for quite a while.

The two Otogakure shinobi saluted him quickly; clearly out of breath. Neji gave them a moment to steady themselves as he looked over a report he'd been given earlier. Getting intelligence into the Land of Fire had proved an impossibility, but Sakon and Ukon's network was still in place. Even though many of their targets had been taken out during the war.

"You're late," he said over the report.

Dosu and Zaku both shared a look before all three of them shared a chuckle.

"Always the hard ass, hey boss?" said Zaku with a grin.

"I have to maintain an image," replied Neji. He handed the report to his assistant before waving the two shinobi into the command tent. "I want your full report immediately."

"Not even time for a breather, eh?"

"Grow a spine, Zaku," said Dosu with a hint of amusement in his voice. He closed the flap behind them and straightened out his back. He cracked his neck loudly and placed his hands on his hips. "A hot shower wouldn't go astray though."

"Afterwards," said Neji. "How did it go?"

Dosu gave him a quick overview of the events at Kumogakure, followed by their retreat and leading the Quiraji army to their home. Neji told him to stop right there and explain what happened to Rene.

"We did as you asked," said Zaku after a moment of hesitation. "I think she's the reason the army found home in the first place. After a few days they'd lost our trail and we didn't want to give away the mission."

Neji took in the information with a short nod, "You did well. The reason I sent the two of you was because I knew you could get the job done."

_And you knew we wouldn't have done that to Kin_, thought Dosu to himself.

"Were you able to determine whether the plan worked?" asked Neji, changing the subject.

Dosu nodded grimly, "It was just as you predicted. They broke themselves upon our walls. Zaku and I both agree they lost almost 90 per cent of their soldiers. We're surprised you didn't see the pillar of flame when the village was fired."

"We had other things to concentrate on," said Neji. "What about Kidomaru and Tenten?" He knew what their answer was going to be, but he had to hear it from them.

Both Dosu and Zaku shook their heads. Neither of them had particularly cared for either of the Otogakure shinobi, but they could appreciate the sacrifice they made for the war.

Neji let out a long breath and turned his back on the two shinobi. He knew the moment Tenten had informed him that she was staying behind with her partner that he wasn't going to see his old teammate again.

He put his grief aside for the time being and concentrated on the problems within his control. He regretted that their home had to be destroyed to make such a dent in their enemy's force. It was a terrible thought, but he regretted the loss of Kidomaru more than the village itself. The arachnid-like shinobi had a knack for pulling brilliant plans out of his ass to solve problems.

The Otokage turned back to his shinobi and glanced at Zaku. "Get yourself rested and then join back with your squad, Zaku. When you are ready, I'll need you to assist Sakon's group in taking out a Quiraji outpost."

Zaku grinned widely, "That sounds perfect. It killed me not to be able to participate in the defence of home." He nodded to their leader and left the command tent.

The two Otogakure shinobi watched him leave for a moment before Neji looked down at the shorter man. "You have concerns," he said with a knowing tone.

Dosu cocked his head slightly before breathing through his teeth. "You have an eerie way of doing that, Neji."

"Not as eerie as being a human lie-detector," replied the Otokage shortly.

His single eyed stared at the Hyuuga leader, "Which you seem to be quite good at avoiding."

Neji dismissed his concern and leaned on the small table set up in the command tent. "You have concerns about what happened with Rene? Speak your mind, Dosu."

The Otogakure shinobi clutched his hands together and stepped around to lean on a nearby chair, "She was one of our own. There must have been other ways of luring the Quiraji army to our village than leaving her behind."

"How did it happen? Rene was not the type to go down quietly."

Dosu glanced away for only a split second, but Neji's white eyes caught the regret in his single eye. He wasn't an expressive shinobi by nature, but to someone like Neji he might as well have been telling him out right.

"When we were fleeing from the Quiraji army, we found an open area. We'd let the scouts catch up to us and ambush us, but there wasn't any issues taking them out. When…after the scouts were taken care of…we broke her legs and left her there."

"Good. We can assume that the Quiraji killed her once they extracted the information they needed."

Dosu stared straight into his leader's white eyes, "I don't appreciate the easy way you throw away our people's lives. That's what Kabuto did."

Neji's expression didn't change at the accusation. With slow deliberation he reached into his jacket and produced a small photo. "This was taken after the battle at the Kage Summit."

Staring at the photo, Dosu's expression changed only slightly under his bandages. He recognised the woman in the picture, but she wore the single-strap white flak jacket belonging to the Hidden Cloud.

"We've never had issues with infiltrators in the past…"

"And we didn't here either," said Neji. "Once she'd outlived her usefulness, I allowed her to do one final service to our people."

Dosu breathed out heavily, "That's cold, even for you. Clever, but cold."

"I recall you willing to sacrifice your friend, Zaku, at a moment's notice in Suna."

"That was different," said Dosu quickly. "We…were different."

Neji went to make an observation, but was interrupted at the sound of the bell being rung around the camp. It was the signal that meant that they had come under full assault by the enemy.

"This discussion will have to wait for another time," said Neji with a sigh.

"Shall I join the defence, sir?"

The Otokage shook his head quickly, "Don't be ridiculous. You'd be more of a hindrance than a help." He placed his hand into his jacket, "Get to the infirmary and report to Goro. If you don't get that infection checked out then you could be out when I need you most."

Dosu rolled his eye and opened up the command tent flap, "I'm not even surprised by this stuff anymore. How long have you known about Goro?"

Neji didn't dignify that with a response. He simply followed his subordinate out and moved to join the defence himself.

He couldn't let his subordinates fight this battle on their own. Even though he was their leader, he was also a proud shinobi of Otogakure.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Apologies for taking so long with this. I didn't have time to write this chapter over the past little while, been trying to get published with some short stories that I've been writing.

Next chapter will be a Bonus Chapter, as usual. This one's…well it's a Bonus Chapter so it's going to be strange. Fun, but strange. And I promise much, much better than the previous one.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	77. Bonus Chapter 7 High School Madness

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter – High School Madness

**A/N**: Yes, this is Konoha High School. No, this isn't Konoha High School. Let's just say this is set in high school, but nothing else is similar. It's a fanfiction within a fanfiction. FANCEPTION.

**A/N2**: Apologies once again for lateness. I had actually written this chapter out completely as a recreation of Part 1 of Naruto in Konoha High, but when I was editing it I wasn't happy with it at all. So I scrapped it completely and re-wrote it in the form it now is. So yeah, sorry about the delay.

**A/N3**: Okay, so this started out as just the high school stuff, but it kind of…became its own thing. It's still a story within a story, but yeah. It's hard to explain, I just hope you enjoy this little side story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be dance-offs.

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were complete opposites in Konoha High School in almost every aspect, from grades to popularity to personality. Yet despite this, they stood on top of the roof of the main Konoha High building and shared a drink as they skipped class together and laughed at the younger children below them failing at gym.<p>

"Check out that kid there," said Naruto with a laugh. "Remind you of anyone?"

Sasuke looked down for a moment before smirking, "Yeah. Makes you think, doesn't it?"

"Oh, did you hear back about that job you were talking about?" asked Naruto, knowing that Sasuke had been trying to get into the same business that his brother was in charge of.

The Uchiha student kicked at a nearby can, "Nothing yet, though Itachi is being a pain in the ass about it."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Naruto wanted to say that surely his brother wouldn't mess with his little brother's chance for a good job, but he remembered that the relationship between the only survivors of the Uchiha family was way beyond anything he could understand.

A loud horn drew their attention down to the road beneath their building. They saw a motorbike pull up to the front gate and a young woman with short spiky brown hair waved at them without a helmet on.

"That's my ride," said Sasuke, crushing his drink in his hand and tossing it to the side area of the roof.

Naruto chuckled loudly, "It's a real man that gets picked up by his lady friend."

The Uchiha student scoffed and flipped Naruto off. "It's my bike, she's just borrowing it. It's not like I have my license or anything."

"Right...and those flowers and love chocolates that were sent to your locker?"

Sasuke snarled and moved to the ladder leading to a lower roof beneath them. "That was…something I need to talk to her about." He turned and jabbed a finger at his friend, "And you swore you wouldn't give me any more crap about that. It's been a month!"

"And it's still funny," shot back Naruto before watching his friend disappear onto the lower roof and then onto the ground below.

When Sasuke approached the girl on the motorbike, she hopped off and embraced him in a long kiss that was far too scandalous for his someone his age. He pulled back and grinned at her uncharacteristically, something that he almost never did.

The young woman rolled her eyes and lifted him up onto her motorbike before he could protest, slapping him on the behind with a boisterous laugh. Sasuke's head shot back and forth in a vain attempt to make sure that nobody saw the exchange, but to his horror he saw the flash of blonde hair on the roof he had just left that indicated that everyone in the school would know within minutes.

"Let's get out of here," he said with a long sigh, recognising his defeat.

Fiore kicked the motorbike on with a wave of her hair, "On to the hotel!"

Sasuke clutched at her sides for dear life, "What, aggggaaaiiii…" His voice trailed off as the motorbike shot through the street into Konoha City.

Back on the roof, Naruto chuckled again and turned around with his hands behind his head. It was a beautiful day to just look up at the clear sky and not have a care in the world. If he was a smoker he recognised it would be a great opportunity to light up now, but smoking made his eyes hurt.

The sound of the roof door opening brought him out of his trance and brought a wide smile onto his face.

Standing in the doorway was the eldest daughter of the prestigious Hyuuga family, wearing a stunning white and dark blue kimono that hugged her figure considerably. She had the clear white eyes that separated her family from the rest of the people in Konoha City; Naruto knew it was some kind of genetic mutation that gave them better eyesight than most people.

Without a word she walked slowly towards him, her arms reaching forward and placing themselves onto the middle of his chest. Standing just a bit higher than usual on her toes, Hinata gently placed her lips onto his before pulling back and smiling into his eyes.

"Hello you," he said with a blown-away look in his eyes.

Hinata tapped her hands on his chest affectionately, "You weren't in class." She said it dotingly, but he could hear the disapproval in her voice. She often told him that to learn he had to attend class.

Naruto put up his hands with a shrug, "What's the point? We're about to graduate, it's not like I have any serious career prospects to study for."

She gave him the same look she always did when he talked that way before taking his hands into hers and kissing the top. "That's just not true, dear." She went to say more, but her expression changed and she clutched her chest painfully.

Naruto immediately offered to help her, guiding her to a nearby bench. He knew she'd been a bit unwell over the past few days, but that didn't stop him from being worried about her.

"You still feeling sick?" he asked with concern in his voice.

Hinata smiled at him and held his arms as they sat down beside each other. "I'm okay. I just came from the nurse's office."

"You've been spending a lot of time there," observed Naruto. "I know you want to be a doctor and all, but I think Tsunade might be getting sick of your company by now."

The Hyuuga heir hesitated slightly and her boyfriend noticed it with a raised eyebrow. Hinata sighed; it had been made clear early in their relationship that they couldn't hide anything from each other. She took his hands into hers and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I'm pregnant."

For a few moments Naruto just looked at her with a blank expression on his face, like he was still waiting for her to say what she had to say. Eventually he realised that he had to blink and shook himself out of his stupor. He looked at Hinata's face in utter confusion.

"Um…I…" He shook his head again, trying to focus and failing. "But wha…" He put up a hand to ask her for patience, taking a few moments to breathe in and out before fully collecting his thoughts.

"Okay, I have a few questions."

Hinata nodded with a warm smile, though her face spoke of the same confusion.

"Firstly: are you sure? I mean these things can be misinterpreted, right?"

His girlfriend reached into her kimono and pulled out a handful of objects before placing them in his hands. Naruto looked over them quickly before realising after the sixth one that they all read the same result. He looked back up to her with a small smirk, "Did you really have to take ten of them?"

Hinata squirmed slightly beside him, "I wanted to be sure…"

"Fair enough," said Naruto, handing the tests back to her as if they were poisonous. "Second question: how could this have happened?"

Hinata chuckled and put up her hands in specific gestures, "Well when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…"

"Stop, stop..." said Naruto with a wave of his hands. "All I mean is that we haven't actually…you know…"

His girlfriend shrugged, "I talked to Tsunade; apparently it isn't that uncommon. I think it was because of that weekend we took to Kiri a month ago."

Naruto sighed with a smile on his face as he looked up at the sky, "Ah, fun times." He shook himself out of it and looked back into her white eyes. "That's kind of a bummer. I always thought we'd…you know…before any of that stuff."

Placing a hand on his chest, Hinata smiled apologetically, "I know and I'm thankful that you have been so patient with me. But…I dunno…"

"We were so careful though," said Naruto, remembering the experiences they had shared since they'd started dating quite a while ago. Because she was from a prestigious family and had a strict upbringing they'd both agreed to wait until marriage to go the whole way with each other, not that they were ready to get married to each other by any stretch of the imagination.

Hinata chuckled as she was thinking about the same things. "We weren't that careful, dear."

Naruto had to concede she had a point. "Does this mean we can…you know…" he asked; a small glimmer of hope in his voice.

Hinata gave him a look that he already knew her response was going to be. He put up a hand apologetically before placing it gently on her stomach. She'd always had a nice figure and a flat stomach, though he could have sworn it was a little bit bigger than the last time he had felt it.

She smiled at the thought and leaned her head onto his head, enjoying the warm touch of his hand. They sat like that for a long time, feeling the warm sun on their faces as they tried to process what they had ahead of them.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Naruto finally. The school bell rang in the distance to indicate that school was over for the day.

"I hoped you knew," replied Hinata with a slight quiver in her voice. They both knew what each other was thinking when it came to the baby itself, but everything else was up in the air. "I guess we should tell Father."

Naruto groaned loudly; that wasn't something he was looking forward to. "Do I have to be there? He's going to kill me. So will your cousin. I don't want to set one foot in that household."

His girlfriend gave him a look that made his heart melt; she had a suspiciously strong power over him that she'd sworn to only use for good.

Naruto threw up his hands in surrender; there is no fighting against such power. "How about tonight then? We should get it over with before I lose my courage."

"I'll tell Father you're coming over for dinner," said Hinata. "Thank you for doing this, it means a lot to me."

"I'm wearing a cup though," said Naruto defiantly. It was a small act, but it felt good to know he had control over something. "And extra padding."

He still didn't expect to survive the night.

* * *

><p>Naruto stood at the entrance to the Hyuuga household, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. He'd cleaned the shirt that Hinata had given him for his birthday last year and was wearing the best clothes he could muster, though he still felt underdressed.<p>

It was the scandal of the school, the heiress of the prestigious Hyuuga family; the owners of the biggest corporation in Konoha City, dating the orphan misfit of the school. He'd been ready to drop out at a moment's notice until Hinata had come into his life and Naruto was determined not to screw up such the wonderful thing he had.

This wasn't a good start.

He reached forward to knock on the door, but it opened up slowly to a servant smiling warmly at him.

"Welcome, Naruto-sama," said the young girl, gesturing for him to entire the household.

Naruto took in a large breath and collected his thoughts before stepping into the household. The servant closed the door behind him and walked by his side through a grand corridor that held heirlooms of the family and pictures of the heads of the family throughout the years.

The last time Naruto had been in the house was when he and Hinata had informed her father that they were seeing each other. To his surprise, her father had been open to the idea and didn't protest at all, though Naruto knew that Hinata had been laying the groundwork for weeks beforehand. Naruto had gained some respectability in Konoha City after resolving a few big scale issues with his own brand of problem-solving.

"Do you know why I'm here?" asked Naruto to the servant, knowing that it took ages to get from the front door to the main dining hall. Most of the time he came to the household he snuck in through a gap in their security system and stayed with Hinata in her room.

The servant smiled and nodded to him sympathetically, "I've been assisting Hinata-sama for quite some time. I don't envy your position, Naruto-sama."

"Do you have any advice?" asked Naruto as they turned a corner and stood in front of the doors that led into the dining hall.

The servant bowed to him and placed a hand on the doorknob, "Don't look him in the eyes for too long. You aren't his equal yet, so don't try and be on his level. Also, try the beef, it's the chef's special today."

Naruto chuckled awkwardly and thanked her for her help. He gulped loudly as the door opened and his name was announced in a manner that he could have sworn was akin to calling out the name of cattle before they are sent into the slaughterhouse.

The dining hall was just as gigantic as he remembered, a long table that looked like it could seat over a dozen people. To his surprise, the Hyuuga family was all standing behind their respective seats waiting for him to enter.

Naruto eyes were immediately drawn to his girlfriend standing in a beautiful gown that while looking quite conservative still demonstrated how beautiful she was. She gave him a comforting look that set his mind temporarily at ease.

Standing beside Hinata was her younger sister, Hyuuga Hanabi. She had only just begun at Konoha High, but Naruto already recognised the potential for her to become as beautiful as her older sister. From his interactions with her he knew she loved her sister very much despite their history. He knew she had a thing for the young kid who used to follow him around, but her personality was very different from Hinata's.

On the opposite side of the table stood Hyuuga Neji, a cousin to the family and seen as the next in line to take charge of the family since Hinata looked to go a different path. He still looked like he had a large stick up his butt, but Naruto had heard his wife had just given birth to twins. She was a beautiful woman and Naruto was convinced he didn't deserve such a nice woman for an arranged marriage, but Neji wasn't one to show his happiness.

However Naruto's stomach dropped when he finally looked upon the head of the Hyuuga family, Hyuuga Hiashi. The tall man with white eyes had a piercing gaze that went straight through his head and into his soul, but to his surprise he didn't look that angry.

Then it struck him. She hadn't told him yet.

The urge to flee came roaring back, but Naruto stood firmly. After all he loved Hinata and would do anything for her.

"Sorry if I'm late," said Naruto with an awkward bow.

"That is quite alright," said Hiashi in a highly formal tone. "If you take your seat, we can dine."

Naruto looked around the table to see where he was meant to sit, though judging from the placements he could see that he had been placed beside Hinata. His heart soared at the impact of such a statement and smiled as he moved around and stood beside the young woman.

He and Hinata shared a look for a moment before they all sat on their chairs and waited as servants brought in plates of food that made Naruto's mouth water. He rarely ever ate such exotic foods, but as his girlfriend had taught him he waited until everything was placed in front of them and the others had started eating before he did.

The food was delicious as expected and Naruto was proud that he didn't make a mess as he ate. Unlike the times he ate with friends or at Ichiraku, there was no conversation at the beginning of the meal. Naruto knew their family was stuffy, but to his surprise after they shared a glass of wine the atmosphere relaxed slightly.

"How are your children?" asked Hiashi to Neji, sipping on a dark red wine.

Neji wiped at his mouth with a napkin, "The twins are colicky and Yuko decided to stay home to look after them. I've consulted a few doctors and they assure me that it isn't dangerous."

"How come you aren't there with them now?" Hiashi's tone was disapproving, but Neji appeared unaffected.

The young man looked over at his cousin, though his white eyes concealed his intentions. "I have a…vested interest in tonight's events."

Hinata sighed silently as her father's gaze turned to her. He didn't ask her a question, rather choosing to simply raise a questioning eyebrow.

"Something we should know about?" asked Hanabi, a wicked grin on her young face. Both Hinata and Naruto were staring daggers into her, but it was clear that they weren't going to be able to delay any longer.

Hinata slipped a hand underneath the table and took Naruto's into hers for support. "Father, I have something to tell you."

Hiashi put down his cutlery and placed his hands together over his plate. "Go on."

The Hyuuga heiress took a deep breath and made the plunge. "Father…I know this is going to sound bad…but I…um…" She couldn't seem to muster up the words, even as Naruto squeezed her hand in both support and fear.

Her father waited patiently for her to say her piece for several moments before unravelling his hands and grasping his wine glass. "If you are speaking about your being pregnant, I am already aware of it."

Hinata's eyes widened and her grip on Naruto's hand got so strong that she could feel his bones breaking within her grasp. Her boyfriend on the other hand was doing his best to hide behind her away from her father's gaze.

"You…you knew?" stammered Hinata after several short breaths.

Hiashi took a short sip from his wine and regarded his oldest daughter knowingly, "There is nothing in my household that I am unaware of. Speaking of which…" He turned to his youngest, "You are grounded for a month, Hanabi."

"What?! Why?!" The youngest Hyuuga resisted the urge to stand up to match her verbal protesting, though the stare from her father was enough to make the young girl shrink back into her chair.

"Skipping out on classes to spend time with a boy in a higher grade is not becoming of a Hyuuga. No television, no Internet, you are to come straight home from school each day."

Hanabi went to protest once again, but hesitated when she saw Naruto poke his head out from behind his girlfriend and give her a questioning look, "You've been seeing Konohamaru? Is that why he's been so happy lately?"

"They went to the zoo together yesterday," said Neji in an off-handed manner.

Naruto turned to the married Hyuuga with an alarmed look, "Is there anything that is a secret in this house? Do you all know everything about each other?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Hinata, not wanting to admit it but she should have known her father would know about her pregnancy. "Father, I hope you aren't mad at me…"

"I'm not mad," said Hiashi with a casual gesture towards his wine glass. He waved over a servant and whispered something into her ear before dismissing her. After a moment he took a deliberate sip and finally turned to regard Naruto for the first time since they sat down. "So…when are you planning on marrying my daughter?"

Naruto had made the foolish mistake of drinking the wine he had been given while Hiashi was speaking. When he had asked Naruto the question he'd been avoiding since discovering Hinata was pregnant, the only thing the blonde student thought to do was a complete full body spit-take across the table.

Hanabi burst out laughing at the scene before a stern look from her father silenced her instantly. Naruto struggled to clean himself up and apologised profusely for making a scene. "I…um…we honestly haven't spoken about it. I only just found out."

"Is that so?" Hiashi turned to Hinata with a disapproving look. "You made a vow, Hinata. I'm very disappointed in you."

The young woman immediately put up her hands defensively, "I kept my vow, Father. We…uh…haven't…"

Now Hiashi's disapproving look shifted to Naruto and he felt about two inches tall. He'd heard horror stories about the Hyuuga family head destroying people's entire personalities with his stare and for once the rumours were true.

Changing the subject, Hiashi stared at his daughter's boyfriend with less pressure but still the same amount of disapproval. "What are your current work prospects after graduation?"

"I…I'm sorry to say I don't really have any," said Naruto, collecting himself enough to recognise how much scrutiny he was under. "My grades have not been the greatest...and I don't really have a family business to go into…"

Across the table, Neji snorted, "Where is all the crap you used to spout about making your own path and using your own strengths?" He didn't have to mention the discussions the two of them had had during their encounters when he was still in Konoha High, it was clear enough.

Naruto looked down at the table, "There was one thing I wanted to do…but I don't have the money to take the trip to try."

Hiashi nodded as he listened to him speak, noting the support his daughter was showing her boyfriend in his time of scrutiny. He had approved of their relationship when he'd first discovered it due to the changes he had seen culminating in Hinata because of his positive influence, but it was clear that they could still use a few extra pushes. "You're speaking about the course in the city of Quiraji, correct?"

Naruto kept his concern about the fact that his girlfriend's father knew about his career prospects to himself, "Ah, yes. I can't really talk about it…but…"

The Hyuuga family head put up a hand in a gesture Naruto never thought he would have seen. "Perhaps something can be arranged. While I have accepted your relationship with my daughter, I do not approve of you not working after leaving Konoha High." He nodded to a servant that appeared at the dining hall doors, waving her over to him. Naruto's eyes widened in fear when he saw what she was carrying, though Hiashi maintained his calm demeanour.

He took the katana from her and slowly rose from his seat. To the blonde student's dismay, the three Hyuuga remained sitting at the table and didn't say a word; even Hinata seemed willing to just let it happen.

"But before we do anything, you and I need to have a private chat about the actions you have committed with my daughter." He slowly unsheathed the katana and turned to Naruto even as the student rose from his chair and began backing away.

He looked down at his girlfriend for comfort, but Hinata stared at the table in the same manner as her cousin and her sister. There was no stopping Hiashi from exacting Naruto's punishment.

"Firstly I will instruct you on the proper manner on treating the women of the Hyuuga family…"

* * *

><p>When the teacher took roll call at the morning of the next day, he wasn't even surprised that Naruto wasn't in class. Everyone else was accounted for and a single glance at his girlfriend told him that there was a reason for his absence, so he left it at that. With a scratch at his ever-present face mask to prevent himself from catching anything from his students, Hatake Kakashi turned to the board and began the day's lesson.<p>

"You hear about what happened at the game?" whispered Kiba across to Rock Lee at his side.

The bushy browed student shook his head before leaning over, "I was at Gai-sensei's house, doing some extra study. What happened?"

Behind the two of them Shikamaru peeked his head from behind his arms, "Guys, some of us are trying to sleep here, can you keep it down?"

Kiba turned and gave the Nara student a shifty glare, "We're in the middle of class, Shikamaru. How the hell do you get good grades?"

"He doesn't," came Ino's voice from Shikamaru's side. "The only person who does worse is Naruto."

The Inuzuka student turned to the blonde girl and gave her a very different look, "Hey Ino, what are you doing tonight?"

"Anyone but you," said Ino with a disgusted look on her face.

Both Shikamaru and Lee turned away at the same familiar scene between the two of them, though they didn't catch the secondary look shared between the ex-couple that indicated something was still up.

Kakashi turned back to his students and placed his chalk back onto the board. "Let's face it, it's not like any of you are paying attention." He walked around and leaned on the back of his desk, "It's almost graduation and it's not as if there's anything else I can teach you."

"Does this mean we can go for the day?" asked Lee with a hopeful look on his face. He turned to the pink haired girl on the other side of the classroom and gave her a thumbs up. He'd been held back a grade due to a number of issues, but it was because of that he'd been able to start dating his dream girl.

Kakashi shrugged, "Just stay on school grounds." He pulled out a book from his pocket and began reading without another word.

Seeing that they clearly didn't need to stay in the classroom the students slowly got up from their desks and began to mingle.

"Anyone want to shoot some hoops outside?" asked Kiba to anyone who was listening.

Sasuke stood up from his chair and moved past him, "Nothing better to do, I guess. What are the teams?"

From a corner of the room, the hooded Shino slowly walked up into Kiba's blind spot. "I will participate. Why? Because…"

Kiba jumped at the voice from behind him, "Damnit Shino! Stop doing that all the damn time!"

The quiet young man pushed up his glasses and moved to the doorway as several others in the class followed suit. Kakashi continued to read his book without even noticing what was happening in his classroom, while the girls huddled around each other and began chatting.

"Did you see the episode last night?" asked Ino, sitting on top of Sakura's desk and crossing her legs to sit more comfortably.

Sakura sighed and ran a hand through her pink hair, "I was studying for finals, I wasn't able to catch it. Any good?"

A wicked grin appeared on the blonde girls face and she leaned forward towards her friend. "Wouldn't you like to know...in fact there was this one scene…"

Her friend clapped her hands to her ears and began muttering loudly in an attempt to block out any spoilers.

Seeing she wasn't going to be able to have her fun at this moment, Ino turned the suspiciously quiet Hyuuga girl sitting beside Sakura, who was still muttering in vain. "What's up with you, Hinata? Your face is practically green."

Hinata smiled uncomfortably and held her stomach, "It's nothing, just a bit of a stomach bug."

Sakura turned to her and took her hands off of her ears, "You've been spending a lot of time in the nurse's office lately. What does Tsunade say?"

"Sakura, I'm fine," said Hinata, though she felt like anything but. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to check the time, standing up from her desk quickly. "I've got to go to the hospital."

"Are you really that sick?" asked Ino with a raised eyebrow.

Hinata put up her hands to reassure her friends, "No, no, nothing like that. I'm just going to visit…um…"

Sakura and Ino shared a look before both laughing and clapping her on the shoulders. "What did Naruto do now?" asked Sakura with a knowing look. She'd been the target of the blonde student's affections long before she came into the picture and was grateful for her to take him off her hands.

"It wasn't like that…" started Hinata, until she felt a rumbling in her stomach. She placed a hand over her chest and looked over at a section of the classroom, "I think I might grab something from the cafeteria first."

Ino sighed and put her hands on her own stomach, "I wish I could eat like you do. I've been on a diet for months."

Sakura agreed with her and asked her how much she'd lost while Hinata went up to Kakashi and asked if she had leave to visit the hospital. She was a model student so it wasn't too much of an ask, though Kakashi warned her that she should tell Naruto to attend class occasionally if he wanted to graduate with everyone else.

After a few moments of talking with Ino, Sakura noticed Lee standing by the doorway with a look in his eyes that made her turn to her friend with an apologetic look. Ino rolled her eyes and motioned for her to go, knowing that she only had a short amount of time before they went their separate ways for their prospective jobs.

She sighed and looked out the window to see the boys playing basketball on the nearby court. Her eyes followed her ex-boyfriend's leaping form for a moment before she sighed again and pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. She didn't regret what happened between the two of them, but there were times when she wished she had someone to talk to at night.

It seemed like everyone was pairing up as graduation loomed closer and closer. Ino had her medical training to look forward to, but there was an emptiness that begged to be filled.

_Clearly I need to start drinking_, she thought, turning back to her desk and pulling out her diary before flipping through it.

* * *

><p>Naruto sat in the waiting room and fiddled his thumbs nervously. He hadn't quite recovered from the previous night's events, but when he'd gotten the text message to come to the big office in the middle of Konoha City he dropped everything and complied.<p>

Hinata knew about what he was planned to go into and had given him her full support, though he still wasn't sure why he had been called in to such an auspicious location.

Eventually a young man with a stern expression in a tight-fitting suit came out of a nearby hallway and motioned for him to stand up and follow him. Naruto wanted to ask why he'd been called there, but from his expression he doubted he'd get a response that wasn't thoroughly sarcastic.

Following the young man into a nearby open door, Naruto saw a single table inside a darkened room with nobody else inside. Once he'd entered his escort left him inside and shut the door behind him, leaving Naruto in a complete dark room and an overwhelming sense of foreboding.

"Bit of a cliché, isn't it?" he said to the room, chuckling awkwardly.

For a few seconds there was complete silence, until he heard the buzzing sound of a speaker turning on. "Take a seat, Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto raised an eyebrow despite knowing they couldn't see it through the darkness, "And if I don't want to?"

"Do as you're told," came a second voice from within the room. This made Naruto almost just out his skin as he hadn't thought anyone else was in the room.

Feeling his way around the dark room, Naruto found a cold metal chair and planted himself on it. "Fine, fine. I came here on your request anyway."

Once he placed his hands on the table a light shot on and illuminated just Naruto's side of the room. He watched as the second speaker slowly walked into view. To his surprise, he saw that it was his closest friend's older brother. Uchiha Itachi wore the same blood red contacts that his younger brother did and wore a neutral expression that always hid his intentions, but nevertheless he appeared to be somewhat pleased that Naruto had come.

"Itachi? What are you doing here?" asked Naruto with a dumbfounded expression. "I thought you worked for Konoha Central."

"I have many ties in Konoha City," said the Uchiha with a dull tone. "Not all of them are well known to the general public."

"Is that why I'm here? Some kind of crazy spy thing?"

Itachi's expression relaxed slightly and he placed his hands on top of the table, "In a manner of speaking." He waved at a point in a corner behind Naruto that held a camera, causing the door to open and the young man who escorted Naruto there to enter holding a bunch of document folders.

He placed them in front of Naruto before scowling deeply and leaving without saying another word.

"He doesn't like me much, does he?" observed Naruto with an amused tone.

"He doesn't like anyone," replied Itachi as he opened up one of the folders and turned it to face the blonde student. "Do you recognise this symbol?"

Naruto looked down at the paper for a moment before giving Itachi a suspicious look, "Of course, anyone with half a brain would recognise the Quiraji symbol. It's been everywhere lately."

"Good," said Itachi, turning over several pages. "That means we can skip over a few things."

"What is this all about? I don't like being left in the dark like this."

Itachi rolled his eyes and pulled out a new folder and shoved it in front of Naruto, "Fine, no run arounds. You're here because of have a unique opportunity to be useful for Konoha City and we need this to be done."

Naruto leaned forward and squinted at the small photo that was accompanied by a bunch of information that he didn't really care too much about. "Who's that? He looks pretty tough."

"His name is Benkei. He is the underground ruler of Quiraji, and the reason for you being here."

The blonde student took a few moments to read through the information, finding that there was much of it that went completely over his head. "What has this guy got to do with me? I'm just a high school student."

Itachi leaned forward onto his hands and stared at the young man, "A high school student that personally took down nearly every gang in all of Konoha City? You aren't exactly what I would consider a normal high school student, Naruto."

Naruto tried to look humble and failed miserably, "Well…yeah I did do that…but it wasn't like I did that on my own, your brother helped sometimes as well."

"Yes, and if Sasuke had any sense of responsibility we would talking with him as well. Regardless, we need your help to take this man down. He's at the heart of most of the issues in this country and we've been trying to take him out for years."

"And you need my help? How damn desperate are you? I'm just one guy." Naruto wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but from the sounds of it there was an underlying level of blackmail by the offhanded comment about his time spent with Sasuke taking down a number of the gangs in Konoha City. It had started as just a way for them to blow off some steam by beating up a bunch of deadbeat criminals on the streets and had evolved to the point that they were practically vigilantes in the eyes of those that knew.

For such a nice girl, Hinata thought it was a very cool thing for him to do. Though she did worry whenever he went out since there was always the threat of him getting seriously injured. He suspected that was one of the reasons why she was going to become a doctor.

"So what do you say?" asked Itachi after a few minutes of silence. He hadn't given the young man any real specifics about the task, primarily because he wanted to gauge his character personally.

Naruto considered the proposal for a moment, it seemed too dangerous to take seriously, but he had to admit he was intrigued. "Since this is 'work', what would I be getting paid?"

Itachi placed a hand into his jacket and pulled out a small piece of paper before sliding it across the table towards him.

Naruto picked it up and looked at the number scribbled down. He glanced up at Itachi, then back down at the number. Naruto considered it for a moment before sliding the piece of paper back to the older Uchiha. "Not good enough."

For a normally serious person, Itachi found himself amused by the audacity the young man was giving him. That number was twice what he would make in a year, not that it meant much. "You have stones, Uzumaki, I'll admit that. Are you willing to do this?"

"Not until you tell me what the hell I would be doing? I'm no assassin." Naruto slowly stood up from his chair to extenuate his point, placing his hands on the table.

"Enough games," came the voice from the speaker. It sounded quite irate, which caused a smirk to appear on Naruto's face. "I'm coming in."

Itachi looked visibly exhausted at the notion as Naruto turned to the door and watched as it opened up to reveal the second speaker.

"You?! Why the hell are you here?" demanded the young student, stepped forward to regard the shorter speaker.

"This is my operation," said Gaara, crossing his arms across his chest.

Naruto leered at the young man from Suna for a few moments before taking a step back, "Well I'll be. You've moved up in the world since that ass-whooping I gave you."

"Are you going to do this for us or not? This has repressions for everyone, not just Konoha City."

Naruto breathed out deeply before turning back to Itachi, "Do I get a cool car, a black coat and sunglasses?"

"No," said Itachi shortly.

"Oh well." He turned back to Gaara and shrugged, "Alright, paint me intrigued. What about my girlfriend? Should something happen to me…"

"She'll be looked after," came Itachi's voice behind him.

"The likelihood of you being killed in this venture is rather small," commented Gaara with his usual dull tone. "And should you succeed in this, we have other work in mind for you."

Naruto nodded in agreement, though he noted he'd have to tell Hinata everything. He suspected she would have a few things to say on the topic, but he had faith she would support him.

Not just because he figured he could negotiate for a fairly reasonable salary. It was something else to be told you can get paid for beating the life out of people who deserved it.

"Why do you want me?" asked Naruto. "Surely you lot could conjure up some kind of super-spy to do this for you?"

Itachi collected the folders from the table and began organising them. "We've tried, but it's very difficult to get close to him."

"And you think I can?"

"Let's just say you're his type."

The expression on Naruto's face spoke volumes.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up with a gasp, clawing at his throat wildly. Beside him Hinata rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock on the table before groaning loudly and covering herself with the silk blanket.<p>

"Do you know what time it is?" she muttered under her breath.

Her partner shook himself fully awake and sighed as he felt the rawness of his throat. He apologised and leaned over to kiss her on the top of her head. "Sorry, honey. Just had a bad dream, that's all."

"About Father?"

Naruto shuddered at the memory from months ago and pulled a part of the blanket back over himself. Without a word he placed his arm around her stomach, feeling the warm sensation on his hand. He smiled into the back of Hinata's hair as he felt a strange sensation.

"I think I felt a kick!"

The tired young woman chuckled and placed her hands on top of his. "It's been doing that all night, dear. Have I mentioned how much I hate you for doing this to me?"

"Not this morning," said Naruto, glancing at the clock. "I'm not sorry though."

"I know." Hinata moved onto her back and kissed him on the lips gently before her eyes closed and she began to breathe slowly in the way she normally did when she slept.

Naruto marvelled at the beauty of his partner and tried to get some sleep before both of them had to get up and go to school. She had been staying in his apartment for almost a month now with her father's blessing, something that neither of them quite understood why but weren't complaining.

He woke up before their alarm went off and turned it off so that she could sleep a bit more. Hinata was a strong woman, but he had to look after her sometimes so that she could look after their baby.

Today was only a formality really, but they both wanted to go for the sake of going. She could afford an extra hour or two of sleep.

He loved her; there was no disputing that fact. They hadn't spoken about marriage since that dinner at the Hyuuga household, but he knew it was on both of their minds. Hinata had gotten into her medical college and still planned to attend despite being scheduled to give birth during her first semester. Her father had paid for his trip to Quiraji city for the secret plan he had for the future, which he suspected the Hyuuga family head knew about since he was deeply involved in government work.

But first, they had to graduate from Konoha High.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto grabbed at his cap before the wind could take it away from him. He turned to Hinata with a proud grin, to which she simply smiled and tapped him on the shoulder.

"We're almost done, honey," she said affectionately.

"I bloody hope so," said Naruto. "My feet are killing me."

They stood in the midst of their graduating class, one that was quite small in comparison to previous years. The principal continued his long-winded speech about values and building futures, taking moments out of his speech to take long puffs from his pipe.

"This is a nightmare…" complained Kiba nearby, yawning loudly. "I think I'm losing brain cells."

Ino turned to the ponytailed student at her side and poked him in the shoulder, noticing that he didn't even respond. "Wow, Shikamaru has found a way to fall asleep standing up."

Naruto grinned and leaned forward, "Is that so?" He reached forward to drop the Nara student's pants, but a sharp slap from Hinata made him pull back from his prank. He grimaced and turned to her with a pout, which only brought a round of snickers from the other students.

She was wearing a robe that was a size too big for her to conceal her slowly growing stomach, but he'd made sure that she was also keeping her left hand within her sleeve.

He didn't want anyone to see her ring until they were ready to announce it.

After he finished his speech, the principal cleared his throat and moved his paper to the final part of the ceremony. "And now, I would like to present the award for the student of the graduating year that achieved the highest level of academic success. This student has proven themselves a value to themselves, their fellow students and Konoha High." His old eyes tracked the graduating students with a wrinkled smile, "And we should all be proud."

He coughed again into his hand before gesturing to the graduating class, "I would call Nara Shikamaru to the stage."

The reaction on Sakura's face was only matched by the one sitting on Sasuke's, both having expected to get the academic award. It was well known that Sakura was a ringer for getting the best marks as she did the most work, while Sasuke was the best all-rounder.

But neither of them would be satisfied as the crowd waited for Shikamaru to make his way up. Of course, they didn't realise he fast asleep while standing in the middle of his classmates.

"Should we wake him up?" asked Kiba with a questioning look on his face.

Naruto turned to see a blonde haired woman stomping through the crowd towards them, "I don't think we need to."

To say Temari of Suna woke up Shikamaru violently would be an understatement of epic proportions. She didn't have to say a word as he picked himself up from the ground, holding his damaged goods tenderly. In a single gesture she pointed to the stage, causing him to roll his eyes and slowly make his way to accept his award.

"How the hell did he get better marks than me?" protested Sakura with a furious expression on her face. "All he does is sleep in class and used to be almost as bad as Naruto."

Temari smirked at the protesting girl triumphantly, "I told him he had to pick up his act, so he could get into officer training for the military. He's a bright guy, just a complete slacker."

Shikamaru thanked the principal for the award and went to go back down, but the principal pulled him back and reminded him that he had to make a speech.

The lazy student groaned and came back to the podium, using it to lean on as he scratched at his face.

"Um…I guess I'd like to congratulate everyone for graduating…it's been…something…or another."

The principal sighed and gently pushed him out of the way, "Evidently genius doesn't always come in normal packages. We'd like to thank Nara Shikamaru for his contribution…and we hope everyone else feels the same way."

The crowd gave a half-hearted clap as the lazy genius stepped down from the stage and back to his girlfriend, who seemed both impressed and furious at the same time.

"Well, this is embarrassing," observed Ino, rolling her eyes and tapping her foot impatiently. "How much longer will we have to wait here before we can go and get drunk?"

"And it is with great sadness that we bid the graduating class farewell. To greater ventures beyond Konoha High into their lives, they shall remember they will always be a part of our school, and our lives. Thank you."

This time the clapping was much more feverish, though mostly because nobody really wanted to be there anymore. Once the crowd finished clapping they began to disperse and the graduating class of Konoha High began to say their farewells to one another.

While many of them would be staying in the area for work in Konoha City, others would be moving on to other parts of the world. Never again would all of them be gathered in one location for one event ever again.

"You want to go home now?" asked Naruto to his fiancé at his side.

Hinata nodded slowly, placing a hand on her stomach, "Can we stop at the store on the way back? I'd kill for some beef noodles and vegetables."

Naruto laughed and began leading her out of the theatre hall. "Of course, dear."

After all, he had preparations to make. He left for Quiraji at the end of the week.

* * *

><p>Dodging knife thrusts and fists was easy enough for someone of Naruto's skill level, so much that the guards standing at his door stood no chance at all as he began his plan.<p>

Opening up the door in the apartment building, Naruto burst out and wrapped his hands around the heads of the two guards as they turned to face him and slammed them together fiercely. The two guards sank to the floor as he began walking towards the main office that held his target.

He'd spent weeks laying the groundwork for today's job, but he'd expected more resistance than he'd already met.

Evidently Itachi's observation had been correct.

Opening up the first door, Naruto walked into a large hall where he saw four figures standing in a line against him. He recognised them as the four main generals of Benkei's organisation and had been the main reason it had taken him longer than he would have liked to get to where he was now.

"You're betraying the master," observed Shiori with a wild look in her eyes.

"As he suspected," said Sensou, clenching his red armoured fists in anticipation.

"Now you will pay your dues," added Kyoukou, pulling his dark hood over his withered, scarred face.

Shikyo said nothing at all. Naruto had suspected she was mute, but that didn't make her any less intimidating. Her pitch black eyes did the job well enough.

But Naruto wasn't put off by the show of force; he'd done his research on each of their abilities and was confident he could defeat them each individually.

Beating them all at once? Now that would be a test.

He cracked his neck loudly and stepped forward with his hands ready to fight. They hadn't called for any of their underlings to assist them, which made sense since they probably didn't think he was anything but a simple spy.

They were very wrong.

Shiori was the first to come at him, arrogant enough to believe that she could take him on his own. She didn't pull out any weapons, though from her movements Naruto could tell she was very proficient in fighting.

He didn't like hitting women on principle, but when he ducked under the first hook she threw at him, Naruto had to take the opportunity to counter her attack. He shifted his fist to a spear-like shape and drove it into her ribs. Her body position had left her open to such an attack and she crumpled to the floor, holding her side painfully.

Before she could recover, Naruto unceremoniously knocked her unconscious with a kick to the back of her head and turned to her three companions. He put up a hand and motioned for them to come at him.

Sensou and Kyoukou appeared visibly furious by his action, though the other female general didn't even seem to notice. The red armoured man pulled out a pair of knives and the older man seemed to be competent enough to present a threat when he moved alongside his companion.

The scenario reminded Naruto of some of the fights he'd had on the streets of Konoha when he would fight for his life. They moved just like the street criminals then.

A reasonable fighter would back off from the initial attack and counter them with his own attack.

But Naruto wasn't a reasonable fighter. He thrived on his unpredictable instincts and ability to adapt at a moment's notice.

So when Sensou and Kyoukou came into his range, Naruto flicked his hands to collect the objects he'd hidden within his sleeves. He shot forward to dodge Sensou's slashing attacks and Kyoukou's fist aimed at head and depressed the nozzles of his two pepper-spray bottles.

The two Quiraji generals fell to the ground screaming and clutching at their eyes. Just as he did with their female companion, Naruto knocked them out quickly before turning his attention to his final opponent.

Shikyo still hadn't moved from her spot in the hall, her pitch black gaze staring at him like she was expecting him to just keel over.

Not one to be put off after defeating three out of four of his foes, Naruto discarded his pepper-spray cans to the floor and stepped forward to confront her. "I don't know what your game is, but decide whether you are friend or foe now, or I'll pound you into the ground."

The pale robed woman didn't appear to move in his vision, but before Naruto could react she had a knife at his throat. It pressed into his skin to the point that he knew he was in serious trouble if he even moved an inch.

Behind her he watched as a large door opened and his final target walked out clapping his hands slowly. A slow smile grew on his broad face as he stood behind his general and stared into Naruto's blue eyes.

There was nothing he could do as Shikyo drove the blade into his throat and spilled his blood onto the tiled floor beneath.

The last image Naruto saw was the triumphant smile on Benkei's face as he bled out and choked on his own blood. He tried to conjure an image of Hinata before he died, but all he could see what that damn smile.

It haunted him until he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

HA! Surprise ending!

Luckily this is just a Bonus Chapter. Or is it a foreboding warning? Muhahahahahahahaha.

Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll try and keep to a better schedule for the next few chapters, since I'm on holidays for the next week. Since coming to America I've found my time for writing a bit short, but I'll try harder. There are plenty of things I want to write still for this fanfiction. Plot twists included.

Tis a good life, being a writer.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	78. Chapter 71 A Counter Offensive

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 71 – A Counter Offensive

**A/N**: A large portion of the inspiration for the chapter was taken from a particular part of the Band of Brothers series, which of course took cues from true events. If you can recognise it, then I applaud you. If not, definitely watch that series, it's very good.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the enemy would be a whole force, not just one dude.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The invasion of the Land of Fire by Otogakure forces has begun. In a bold move the Otokage sacrificed his village to destroy a Quiraji army before taking everyone from the shinobi to the civilians with them. They broke through the barricades at the border and destroyed a number of smaller Quiraji outposts before slamming into a large force they'd lured to their position, destroying it utterly. Neji sent a single survivor back to send a message to the Quiraji as they consolidated their position within his old homeland. With his best shinobi in tow, they took over and occupied the Fire Temple of the Land of Fire. Their scouts were sent to far areas of the Land of Fire as Dosu and Zaku caught up with the main group and gave their report.

Besides a few small incidental incursions by Quiraji forces, everything seemed quiet at their position.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The Otogakure shinobi yawned loudly and rubbed at his eyes. "This is so dull…" He turned to his partner to see her dozing into her arms at the edge of their dug-out hole.<p>

With a groan he shoved her with his shoulder, "Wake up, Sasaro."

His partner muttered incoherently and turned in her hands to continue to sleep quietly. He rolled his eyes and stared out at the boundless grasslands that expanded out from the Fire Temple behind them. They were only one of dozens of dug-outs that spanned all around their temporary hideout in the Fire Temple. The dug-outs were highly defensible and connected by long tunnels that could be accessed for a rapid retreat, or to reinforce instantly.

If the Quiraji came anywhere within several kilometres of the Fire Temple, they would be countered before they came within striking distance of their main base. In addition to their long range scouts it was an almost foolproof way of ensuring the village was always prepared for any sort of attack.

But that didn't stop the border guards from getting bored out of their minds. Even with a reasonable rotation of guards, the hours dragged on endlessly.

Over a week had gone by since the first attack by Quiraji forces. The soldiers had been soundly defeated, yet no follow-up attack had come.

Being on edge for so long was draining for anyone and shinobi were no different.

The Otogakure shinobi sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and started counting the blades of grass in front of him.

It seemed to change every time he did it.

* * *

><p>Hako slammed his cards down onto the wooden table, "Gin!"<p>

The other Oto shinobi at the table snarled and threw down there cards in disgust, though the one who had the smallest pile of counters in front of him stared at his cards for a moment before looking at his companions in confusion.

"We were playing Gin?"

The others laughed at his confusion and took long draughts from their drinks. It had been a quiet night for the most part, barely a peep from any of the civilians underground for a change.

"Have you heard anything from your brother?" asked Riko to her female companion beside her.

Yui shrugged and began shuffling the cards for the next round, "His mission will take weeks, apparently. The Otokage's desperate to get word out to the other villages."

"Our esteemed leader is always hard at work," joked one of the players.

Hako put a finger to his lips, "Shh! Don't you know that our great leader can see and hear everything?"

"I heard he doesn't sleep or eat," said Riko.

"And eats babies and farts lightning, we've all heard the stories," said Yui.

The atmosphere seemed to drop several degrees as Jin walked into the room and crossed his arms over his chest. "Working hard, people?"

They all shot to their feet and gave him a salute. He was well respected by all the shinobi in the room, having taught most of them himself.

Jin looked over their faces for a moment before rolling his eyes, "As you were."

The Otogakure shinobi all relaxed and took their seats, while Yui offered him a place at the table.

"Any word from the outside?" asked Hako, shuffling the deck of cards for a new round.

"Nothing, all seems quiet," said Jin, walking from the doorway towards the window. "It's strange; they know we are here."

"Maybe they're scared of our fearless leader," japed Yui, causing those at the table to laugh loudly.

"Who's on duty at the northern tower?" asked Jin, glancing out the window with a deep frown.

Riko reorganised her cards in her hands and glanced over at him, "Tori and Makunouchi, why?"

Jin didn't say anything back, his frown deepening as he moved back to the doorway.

"Something wrong, sir?" asked Riko, tossing away her terrible hands and covering her chips with her hands.

"Hopefully it's nothing," said Jin, though his tone said anything but that.

After a few moments Hako threw down his cards and grabbed his sword from its resting place on a nearby table.

"We've still got three rounds before we raise blinds!" protested Yui, but Hako shook his head and strapped his sword on his back.

"I'm just going to give Jin some back-up, that's all." He moved to the doorway while tapping for one of the others to join him. She sighed and picked up her own weapon to join him.

"By the way, you guys really suck at picking card games," came his voice from the hallway.

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"What…what the hell happened here?" stammered Hako, pulling his sword out of its sheath just for the sake of his own self-confidence.

The three of them stood in the tiny room that was on one of the outer edges of the Fire Temple, designated as a room for contemplation and self-reflection.

The blood of their Otogakure comrades was smeared on the walls, with barely enough body parts to accommodate the two people they'd known to be in the room.

"Monsters…" muttered Hako, shaking his head frantically.

Jin turned the other shinobi and ordered the kunoichi to raise the alarm and made sure she left before turning and kneeling down next to one of the bodies that looked more like Makunouchi than Tori.

"What are we going to do?"

The Otogakure shinobi stood back up and slammed his fist into Hako's face. The shinobi recoiled backwards and clutched at his face.

"Get a grip! We don't have time for you to have your mental breakdown!" Jin jabbed at the outside area, "Go with Noriko and get everyone on standby."

Hako grabbed the sword he'd dropped when Jin punched him and ran out of the room. Though he was horrified by what he was seeing, Jin was able to detach himself enough to analyse the situation properly.

_They were cut up by straight blades, probably swords or long knives. _Jin looked around the room as the picture began to make less and less sense. _From the blood spray it looks like the killers were drenched in it, but there are no tracks outside the room. It's like they just vanished into thin air. _

Despite his confusion, Jin could draw one obvious conclusion.

There were assassin's in their midst.

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Like a well-oiled machine the shinobi on duty had their weapons ready and began searching the Fire Temple for the assassins within minutes of the discovery of the butchered remains of the first two victims.

But by then, it was already too late.

Search teams swept over every part of the Fire Temple for the attackers, but when several groups didn't come out when the alarm was sounded the search parties began to get suspicious. The rooms and housing that didn't respond were subsequently searched and a similar pattern started to emerge.

In every case it was small numbers of shinobi in confined areas that had been butchered, leaving no trace of the attackers or any account that they'd been able to fight back at all. It only took ten minutes for the searching Otogakure shinobi to ensure that the civilians were completely secure, and little more to make sure that there were no enemies at all in the Fire Temple area.

The forces around the border had been adamant that no Quiraji force had broken through them, and from all accounts Jin was willing to believe them. By the time he was able to get the word to the Otokage, it had been twenty minutes since he'd first discovered the bodies, and they'd gotten the final confirmation of the number of casualties.

"How did this happen?" demanded Neji, throwing his shinobi clothes on over his sleepwear. His wife sat wordlessly in his bed while their children slept without a care in the world on a bed beside them.

"You didn't hear the alarm?" asked Jin, watching as Neji shouldered on his Kage robe and motioned to the door.

He didn't answer his subordinates question as they ran out into the main Fire Temple area; not wanting to admit that he and his wife had chosen that time to rekindle a part of their marriage they'd been neglecting in all the madness of the past few months.

He saw the bustle of his subordinates running around the temple area and felt a stab of pain in his chest. He'd brought them to this place and they were the ones doing the dying. Not for the first time he felt regret at the choice he had to make as the leader of the village.

"Is the area secure?" he asked to Jin at his side. He was grateful for his assistance in many different areas, but it was clear that everything was under control for the time being.

"As far as we know," said Jin. "There's no trace of how they got in or how they left though, they could come back at any time."

"They won't return," concluded Neji. "We aren't easy targets now that we are all active. The damage has been done."

"Monsters," muttered Jin, reiterating his subordinate's earlier statement.

"Clever," said Neji with an unamused tone. The enemy's strategy was obvious but effective and the fact that he hadn't predicted it bothered him immensely. "How many dead?"

"Ninety four."

* * *

><p>Once they secured the Fire Temple area and ensured that it couldn't happen again, the Otogakure shinobi settled in for the night. Nobody had seen the attackers or how they had come into the area to kill the shinobi, but they could all agree that they weren't going to leave them alone any longer.<p>

Any doubt that the Quiraji were aware of their presence at the Fire Temple had completely vanished over night.

The Otogakure shinobi that weren't patrolling the border remained in the various internal buildings in their regular groups. Some had decided to form large groups for the night, while others were confident enough in their companions that they wouldn't come under attack.

As the sun set, the shinobi settled into a tense evening, waiting for their enemy to come to them.

In one of the worship centres that his clan had been using as a recovery area for their wounded, the clan leader of the Fuuma clan took a long draught from his flask and glanced at the injured around him.

Arashi's clan had suffered many casualties since agreeing to join the Hyuuga's new village, yet he hadn't felt any regret for the choice until they had come to the Land of Fire. He hated seeing his people killed without being able to protect them, but he knew that they wouldn't have lasted any longer on their own.

He sighed and placed a hand on the edge of the closest bed to him. His cousin, Sasame, was one of the stronger shinobi in his clan, but she'd suffered a terrible blow across the throat during the night from one of the Quiraji infiltrators. It was only because of their clans special techniques that she had survived the night at all, and their medics were doing everything in their power to make her regain consciousness so she could tell them about her attackers.

She'd clearly given a reasonable fight, her hands had been covered in Quiraji blood when they'd found her.

"You'll have to sleep at some point," commented one of the nurses from a nearby bed. She knew he hadn't left his cousin's side since they'd brought her in; even using his own secret clan techniques to keep her alive.

Arashi smiled at the nurse and went to make a charming comment as he usually did with his people, but his expression shifted as he felt something very wrong run up his spine.

The nurse noticed his expression change and started to make a comment, but froze in place as she saw the air behind him shudder before ripping apart to reveal an ominous shadow within.

She watched in horror as the shadow crawled out of the rip and took shape. It slowly formed into a tall man wearing white and grey clothing. His white boots made no sound as they touched onto the ground, and the expression on his face was paved with hatred as two long knives emerged in his hands. He brought them back to stab down into the Fuuma clan head's back, but before the blow could fall his target disappeared in a puff of grey smoke.

The assassin hesitated for a second at his lost prey and that was all the time Arashi needed to get behind him and grab at his arms. The pale purple-haired Otogakure shinobi held his foe's arms to the point that he could feel the bones being crushed between his fingers, but Arashi wasn't the type to just leave it at that.

"Now I've got you," he whispered into the assassin's ear. Without waiting for a response he planted a foot in the middle of the assassin's back and wrenched his arms backwards.

The Quiraji assassin's arms made a horrific snapping sound before he dropped to his knees at the attack. Arashi walked around and knelt down in front of the Quiraji assassin, batting away his long knives so that he couldn't attack him.

"You made a mistake coming after the Fuuma, Quiraji scum." Arashi tapped him lightly on the cheek with a clenched fist, enough to cause the assassin to spit into his face uselessly. "Now you'll really find out how good our hospitality is."

The nurse that had been in the room with him screamed again behind him, but Arashi paid no attention to her. It was only when her screaming was silenced that he realised that he had made a grave mistake.

He'd assumed there had only been one assassin in the room.

The Fuuma clan head shot to his feet while almost absentmindedly shoving a kunai into the throat of the defeated assassin to see half a dozen identically-clad Quiraji butchering their way through the hospital staff and injured Fuuma shinobi that were around him.

Arashi roared out in fury and his hands sped through handseals to try and save his clansmen.

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Touro snarled at his foe and clutched at his wounded side tenderly. The Chiza clan had positioned themselves in such a position that they had covered every entrance and were prepared for all sorts of different avenues that the Quiraji could use to attack them.

He couldn't have expected the enemy to appear out of thin air and attack them at the same time.

Within seconds he had lost five of his men before they'd even sighted the enemy.

But the Chiza were resilient and fought back with as much tenacity as they were known for. Once they understood what they were facing, his shinobi were able to fight back against the white-clad assassin's, even taking some of them down in the process. It was difficult, but the battle was starting to sway into their favour.

That was when he realised that it wasn't just them that were under attack.

Everyone was under attack at the same time.

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Unlike the other clans from Otogakure, the Nakaru mostly consisted of the reserves force, since most of their techniques were designed for assisting their companions.

So when the alarm rang to signal the village was under attack, they rushed to the defences of their companions, while their clan head ran to get the leader of their village.

However when he got to Neji, he discovered that the Hyuuga leader was well aware of the attack on his people and immediately directed them to every point he could see with his Byakugan. Within his black and white vision he watched as white-clad assassins appeared and disappeared at a whim, attacking his shinobi in the same pattern over and over again. The technique to constantly appear and disappear reminded him of something Naruto had shown him before he had left for the Land of Earth.

After almost a full minute of observation, Neji understood everything about the technique and how to counter it.

With his guards at his side, the Otokage shot out into the open area of the Fire Temple and began a systematic cleansing of the Fire Temple.

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Sakon sat at a table in his quarters eating a small bowl of soup silently. It was rare for him to get some downtime between missions and he couldn't stand to listen to everyone panicking over people jumping at shadows.

Besides, he'd finally gotten the recipe right and was starving.

He was so focused on eating his soup that he didn't notice the change in the air that indicated one of the assassins had come into his room. It made no sound as it pulled back its two long knives to remove his head from his shoulders.

Before the blow could fall however, a pair of arms shot out of Sakon's shoulders and grabbed at the assassin's arms. The head between the arms looked up and Ukon yawned with a tired expression.

"I was napping…" he muttered, glancing at the white-clothed assassin that had tried to kill them.

Sakon put down his spoon and sighed in turn, "And I was eating. Never a dull moment around here."

The assassin tried to pull away, but Ukon's grip was ironclad. The brothers stood up and Sakon's head turned around to sit beside his brother's.

"You took we were a weak target? You Quiraji are a bunch of fools."

Sakon's fist emerged from his back and slammed into the assassin's side. The Quiraji's body dropped from the blow, causing the Otogakure shinobi to release their grip and stand over their victim with pitying looks in their eyes.

"This is the danger everyone is flipping out over?" said Sakon with a scoff.

Ukon nodded his agreement, "I'm going back to sleep, brother. Take care of this."

Sakon rolled his eyes and turned around while his head turned around to fix back into place. "Fine, fine."

The Quiraji assassin glanced up at its attacker for a moment before disappearing in the blink of an eye. There wasn't a single trace of the assassin in front of him, though it was hardly the first time this had happened to the Otogakure veteran.

He spun around and reached out with a hand, only to have the attacking Quiraji assassin disappear again before he could grab onto it. Sakon growled loudly in frustrating and watched as his attacker reappeared on the other side of the room.

It seemed clear from the expression on the assassin's face that he was highly outmatched by the Otogakure veteran, but Sakon could tell it couldn't escape just yet.

_**Probably an issue with his technique.**_

_I am aware of that, brother._

_**Then don't let him get away.**_

Sakon snarled and leapt forward, his arms outstretched to grab onto the assassin once again, intent on ripping him apart piece by piece. Just as his fingers clutched at the white material on his shoulder the Quiraji assassin teleported away once again, this time far away from the Fire Temple.

But this time, Sakon and Ukon both disappeared with him, having been holding onto him at the time he teleported away.

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Neji pushed out his palm towards the Quiraji assassin, "Hakke: Kuusho!"

The blast of air barely got to the white-clothed assassin before she disappeared into thin air, leaving two bodies behind in her wake.

"Damnit!" shouted Kazumi, kneeling down beside one of the bodies. She shook her head like she couldn't believe what had just happened. "I knew her…"

Neji signalled for the other shinobi accompanying him to secure the room while he scanned the Fire Temple with his Byakugan. Despite coordinating their defensive efforts through his doujutsu and getting to the attacked areas as quickly as possible, he counted at least thirty more bodies.

They still weren't able to catch any of the assassin's, or even take any of them out.

_But now our enemy has a face and a method_, he calculated quickly in his head. _We've got to get quicker and more effective._

"Are the civilians okay?" asked Kazumi to him, knowing that her twin brother had been sent on guard duty underground.

Neji nodded and deactivated his Byakugan, "They attacked a few of the guards, but specifically left the civilians alone. It's clearly part of their tactics."

He turned away from them and swore silently, it was infuriating to say the least.

"What do we do now?" asked one of the shinobi, putting away his sword into its sheath.

The Otokage collected himself and turned back to his subordinates, "Collect the dead. Next time there won't be any losses."

He said it with such conviction he almost believed himself.

But Neji knew that nothing was so certain, particularly in times of war.

* * *

><p>The next night the Otogakure shinobi were prepared for the assassins to come into their midst. Neji and Jin had ordered for groups to be no smaller than ten shinobi a piece, with the majority out in the open to ensure that they could account for everyone else.<p>

Several volunteer groups stood prepared in small rooms like the ones that were attacked in the previous two nights. If Neji's assessment that the assassin's were using the same technique that Naruto had demonstrated to him, there was a short delay between teleportations; he had given standing orders that he wanted at least one assassin captured for interrogation.

Once the sun set in the sky, the Otogakure shinobi held their position with their weapons ready, wanting to get revenge for their fallen comrades.

They weren't going to get away from them this time.

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The Otogakure shinobi waited with baited breath until long after the sun rose before realising that no attack was going to come. Eventually Neji ordered them to stand down, but the fatigue damage was already being done to his people.

With his personal frustration at a record high, Neji called in his commanders to his command area and requested a solution. He phrased it as a question, but made it sound like a command and they understood exactly what he was asking.

"What do we know?" asked Jiroubo with his hands on the table.

"They disappear once they attack, though they seem to only be able to do it a few times before leaving the area." Jin shook his head, "It's damn infuriating. They're cowards."

"Have you tried to check the area with your eyes?" asked Touru to their leader. "Maybe they have a camp nearby."

"I've looked, nothing in the nearby area," said Neji. He went to say more, but a thought occurred to him and he put up a hand to ask for silence. He correlated all the facts in his head before he realised what was happening.

"You're right, they must have a camp. But not so nearby, just within range of their abilities."

"How can you tell that?" asked a confused Tayuya.

Neji motioned to everyone in the room, "Because we're all exhausted. It makes perfect sense. They attack for two nights straight to keep us on edge, and then wear us down for the next day so that the next attack is devastating."

He put up his hand in a single handseal and activated his Byakugan as his subordinates discussed the problem. His range of sight was extremely long, even for a Hyuuga, but the further out he looked the harder it was to concentrate on a single area. His father once described it like listening to a group of people singing all at once. You can concentrate on a single voice if you concentrate hard enough, but they tend to blur with the rest.

Neji scanned the area with his Byakugan, stretching his doujutsu as far as he could.

"Can you see anything?" asked Tayuya, clenching her hands back and forth. She was itching to do some violence and hated that she hadn't been able to get her hands on their enemy.

He put a hand to ask for patience, his veins stretching on the sides of his temples. After a few moments he gasped, realising that he'd been holding his breath through the effort. It had been a long time since he'd strained his eyes so much, but he figured so long as he didn't use the second stage he would be okay.

"Well?" demanded one of the clan heads.

Neji pulled the map of the region across the table and grabbed a nearby pencil, drawing frantically on an area near the edge. His drawing abilities left much to be desired, but he was still able to convey what he had to.

Once he was done he jabbed at the middle of his drawing, "This is a ridge about 12 kilometres to the north east."

"That's where they're stashed?" asked Jiroubo, glancing at the drawing.

Neji nodded, that's what he'd seen in the blurs of his Byakugan vision. It was unreliable due to the fact that it was further out than he'd even known he could do, but it was the best they had to work with.

Jin swore under his breath and turned to the clan heads, "We've got to get a strike team to take them out now. I'll take five of our best; we can be there in minutes."

The Otokage resisted the urge to smile; he didn't even need to give the order. He watched proudly as his subordinates made the plans and moved out within a minute of his discovery of their resting position. He'd only gotten a glimpse, but it was clear that the effort of teleporting around had a serious effect on them and they needed time to recover before they could attack again.

If they were quick about it, they might be able to get them and stop the attacks.

Though Sakon and Ukon's absence was troubling.

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When Jin's strike team reached the ridge that Neji had found the Quiraji assassin's hiding place, they'd expected a hard fight but a swift victory.

What they hadn't expected to find was Sakon and Ukon, standing over a large group of corpses, both their hands and bodies drenched in blood. The Quiraji assassin's looked like they'd put through a blender, to the point that two of Jin's team dropped to their knees and violently threw up.

Sakon looked over at the newcomers and wiped some sweat off of his forehead, which only served to spread some of the blood from his hands to his face. "You guys took your time."

"We've been here for hours," said Ukon, cracking his neck to the point that everyone including his brother winced at the sound.

"Do we even…want to know how you two got here?" asked Jin, doing his best not to look at the bodies and failing miserably.

Sakon and Ukon looked down at their handiwork before speaking at the same time. "We were bored."

Jin threw up his hands in dismay and turned back to see that he could see the area near their new base. It was a long distance away; he was amazed Neji had been able to see this far.

"What the hell is that?" asked one of his strike team, pointing in the distance.

He looked in the direction she was pointing for a moment before his eyes widened and his hands clenched subconsciously. "We've got to get back, right now."

"We're not finished here," said Sakon, kneeling in front of one of the bodies.

Jin turned around and grabbed at the Otogakure shinobi's shirt, picking him up, "Another time, Sakon! The others are under attack."

"How the hell can you tell? We're ages away from the temple," said one of his team.

He pointed back towards where the others were stationed, "Because there is a group of giant creatures heading straight towards them and we don't have time to chat!"

Ukon pouted uncharacteristically, but tapped his brother on the shoulder. They shared one of their silent conversations before both sighing and turning to Jin. "Fine, we'll come back later to finish up."

_Sickos_ thought Jin, but he was grateful that they were willing to come with them.

If what he saw was accurate, they didn't have long before their people came under attack.

This time it wasn't going to be from the shadows.

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Placing her hand on the ground, the Quiraji leader grinned a toothy smile at her prey sitting in front of her. The shinobi thought they were safe within their precious little temple, but they didn't realise that she'd been hunting them since they came into her territory.

Shiori was very territorial.

Around her packs of bloodthirsty hounds appeared from under the ground, spikes coming out of their backs and breathing hot smoke from their open jaws. It was little effort to summon such minor creatures, such that Shiori summoned hundreds within seconds just to pad out her attack on the Otogakure shinobi.

The main meat of her army came from the gigantic creatures that she rarely used on her hunts. They were reserved for special types of prey.

Four large rhinos that were the size of buildings began scrapping their toes on the ground, waiting for the order to charge into the Fire Temple in front of them. They were accompanied by a half dozen oversized gorillas that bore massive weapons akin to those wielded by Shiori herself.

Above her other summoned creatures flew a large flock of giant crows that had terrible claws and foamed at the mouths from the diseases they were desperate to spread to their victims in front of them.

But Shiori's favourite creature was the one that would spearhead the hunt.

A white and gold striped tiger clad in the finest white armour that her predecessor had created. It wasn't as large as the rhinos that would do the most damage to the buildings, but Shiori had personally ridden down hundreds of shinobi on its back. Its claws were the size of swords and had an attitude to match.

Shiori had no interest in taking part in this hunt. It was inevitable.

She gave the sound for her creatures to attack and disappeared into a tear in the air. She had other business to attend to that was far more important.

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"DEFENSIVE FORMATIONS!" yelled Jin, running through a rapid set of handseals and taking his place at the head of the front group of two hundred Otogakure shinobi.

The border guards had given them enough advance warning of the impending attack on their position by the army of wild animals and the entire force of their village was prepared for the attack. The commanders had their groups in specific positions, while the reserves held back for the call to relieve their companions if there was a threat of being overrun.

Many of them had experience in fighting giant summoned creatures from previous wars, but these creatures were known to be much tougher than the creatures shinobi were able to summon. They weren't made of chakra and didn't have personalities to reason with.

There were also a lot more of them than any shinobi could summon at the same time.

At the western entrance, Dosu flipped the switches on a line of sound cannons and signalled for the other weapon-users to do the same. "Wait for the word before firing."

"Are we sure they'll work?" asked one of his subordinates, her hands shaking as she held the cannon towards the animals bearing down on them.

"They're the legacy of our weaponsmith," said Dosu with conviction. "Trust in her work."

The other shinobi nodded in agreement, pointing their weapons to the hounds that were threatening to attack them. It was clear that the commander of the beasts didn't realise that they were fighting shinobi that used sound as a weapon.

Dosu would make sure they paid for such a mistake.

At the centre of the defensive line, Neji placed his Kage hat on his head and relayed every piece of information he could see with his Byakugan through his assistant. From his view he trusted his people to hold firm, but the summoned creatures were something he hadn't seen before. He'd seen the void in his vision that indicated one of the Quiraji leaders had been present, which he assumed was the hunter, Shiori.

"Tell Jiroubo to move against the third rhino on the left," he instructed as he took his position in the front lines.

"Nice to see you here, sir," said one of the Otogakure Genin.

The Otokage turned to the young man with a frown, "You shouldn't be here; you're too young."

"I don't think they give a damn…sir."

Neji scoffed and clenched his fist, "Isn't that the truth?" The animal horde was almost upon them, but his shinobi weren't about to let them attack them on their enemy's terms. He put up his arm and released his fist, "Take them down!"

At once the Otogakure shinobi sprung into action, attacking the animals at the same feverish pace as they were being attacked. The front lines clashed with the initial first ranks of the hounds, meeting the animals with steel and ninjutsu.

The hounds were larger than the average shinobi and much faster than their initial movements had indicated, but the Otogakure shinobi were well trained and fought back as hard as they could. Unlike normal summoned creatures they were far more resistant to damage and more than one shinobi fell under their claws when they thought their target was done for the count.

"Fire!" called out Dosu, depressing the buttons on his cannons to fire large sound waves into the hounds charging at them. The high pitched weapons made the hounds falter enough for the backup shinobi to charge forward and butcher the hounds with their weapons.

"Look above!" shouted one of his subordinates, pointing to the sky with her hand.

Dosu glanced up and swore as a crow with a massive wing-span almost took his head off with long claws. "Get the auxiliaries in here! Our weapons don't have the range to deal with aerial foes."

He dropped his cannons and put his hands together into a handseal, but stopped his technique when he saw one of the crows exploded into a cloud of feathers. Without turning around he picked up his weapons again and fired into a hound that tried to leap onto his face. "You're late!"

Zaku dropped down beside his old teammate and blasted two crows out of the sky with bursts of air from his hands, "Since when are you so impatient?"

Dosu went to say something back, but held back when he saw a pair of oversized gorillas charged towards them, moving weapons in their hands that showed they would slam through their shinobi line with little resistance, unless they stopped them first.

"I'll take the one on the left," said Zaku, shooting forward and leaving his subordinates behind. He wasn't much of a leader of people, but his charge was inspirational enough for them to roar out and follow after him.

His old teammate sighed and blasted another hound from attacked Zaku from the side. "Cover your comrades," he ordered loudly. The sounds of the battle were almost deafening in his ears, but Dosu couldn't afford to let it distract him. "Hold the line!" he shouted as he saw several of his subordinates fall under the claws of a group of hounds.

Behind the attacking hounds rampaged the large rhinos the Quiraji leader had summoned, with two of them moving to charge into buildings at the side of the Fire Temple while the other two seemed set on boring through both their companion hounds and the shinobi they were fighting.

But being beasts they weren't away that the ground shaking beneath their giant feet was only partially due to their own rampage.

Before the rhinos could get near the main area of the Fire Temple where the Otogakure shinobi were fighting for their lives, a massive slab of earth shot up from the ground at a curved slant, causing the rhinos to trip over themselves as they couldn't keep a grip on the ground beneath them.

Feeling that the rhinos had fallen into his trap, Jiroubo shot out of the ground and slammed one closed fist into his open hand. Summoning up a massive amount of chakra, Jiroubo shot his hands forward and fuelled his chakra into the earth he'd just used to stop the rhinos.

To his surprise, as he was activating his high-level technique he saw several Otogakure shinobi that had broken through the hounds defending him from the sides, forming a defensive circle around him. A grin came across his face before he put on his usual angry expression he wore in battle and pushed out his arms. "Doujutsu Ougi: Ishigami!" (Secret Earth Element: Stone God)

The rhinos rolled back onto their feet quickly and roared loudly, but were quickly silenced as giant fists made of earth slammed into their heads. In front of them a golem made of earth slowly stood back up and raised a fist high up into the air.

Back in the Fire Temple battlefield the Otogakure saw the golem appeared and shouted out a cheer before redoubling their efforts in the fight against the summoned beasts.

Jiroubo put down his fist and strode towards the two rhinos, knowing that he could only maintain the technique for a limited amount of time before his chakra ran out. He reached forward with the golem's hand and clasped one of the rhino's by its horn, using it as leverage to turn it onto its side before slamming a stone foot straight into its neck.

Any normal creature would have died instantly, but Jiroubo wasn't going to take any chances with Quiraji trickery. He leaned forward and began pounding the creature with the golem's fists until there was little more than blood and bone beneath it. He pulled back and regarded his handiwork for a moment before the golem was rammed in the side by the other surviving rhino.

The impact sent a shockwave that almost knocked Jiroubo off his feet even as his golem was driven into the ground, but his companions steadied him on his feet and kept him in the fight. The large man held back a curse word; he had an image to maintain after all.

"Thank you," he said as he recovered his golem from the ground and silently cursed his foolishness for forgetting the second foe. The rhino had backed up after charging the golem and began stamping its feet on the ground, taunting him.

Jiroubo had no issue taking the bait.

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Karin let out a huff and pushed her glasses up her nose, "All this noise is giving me a headache."

One of her scientists dragged one of the hounds towards her with a spiked chain around its neck. It snarled and snapped at its captor, but the scientist's grip was ironclad. "Where would you like this one, mistress?"

The red haired woman leaned forward to examine her prize, "Full grown male, five foot tall, modified. Fascinating. Put it in sector F-4."

"That one is full of the special project, mistress," said the scientist back, while the Otogakure shinobi assigned to guard them took down any animals that tried to get near them.

"Which one?" demanded Karin with a deep frown; she could have sworn she knew about all of her currently in development.

The scientist coughed awkwardly and made a signal with his free hand in such a way that their guards couldn't see it. Karin let out an _ah_ and motioned for him to pick a different place for the hound for future study.

"Everything is just getting out of control," she muttered quickly before walking up to one of her male guards and pointing past him to one of the fallen gorillas that had been impaled by a large number of lightning strikes from their dear leader. "I'd like a sample of that creature, please."

"What are you looking for?" asked the guard, wary of the bizarre things he'd had to fetch for the young woman over the years. He recognised the contributions she'd made to the village and the war effort, but he wondered how far into her mad-scientist role she was going to go.

Karin flicked at one of her red hairs that was always getting close to her eyes and gave him a look like it was obvious.

"I need its brain for examination. Do I need to spell it out for you?"

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Tayuya pulled her flute from her lips and ducked with a loud curse as an arm came flying towards her, almost striking her in the face. She glanced up to see the large tiger tearing off another arm from one of her subordinates and hurled it at her before biting into its victim's neck, killing him.

"We've got to retreat!" shouted a female Chuunin, but Tayuya grabbed her by the collar and threw her back into the fight.

"You are a shinobi!" she instructed loudly. "Do your jobs!" She placed her flute to her lips and began playing again, a deep mourning tune that flowed throughout the battlefield. Unlike her previous forms of genjutsu, Tayuya had modified her technique so that it enhanced those fighting around her. Upon hearing the tune the Otogakure shinobi felt their strength doubling and their chakra reserves replenishing, fuelling their efforts to get back into the fight.

They fought back against the large tiger that was tearing through their ranks, trying to pierce through its armour with their weapons and throw different types of elemental techniques at it, but nothing appeared to be effective.

After another minute of killing Otogakure shinobi, the tiger's head reared up and its bright gold eyes focused on a single target within the enemy ranks. It could smell his blood from here, recalling the orders from its mistress.

Jumping off its powerful legs, the striped tiger leapt over the ranks of Otogakure shinobi and bashed its way through with a loud bestial roar.

"Sir, watch out!" called out several of the Otogakure shinobi, but Neji was well aware of the danger heading towards him.

He turned just in time to see the tiger pull back a claw to rend him into tiny pieces.

With an almost casual gesture, he activated a sealing technique on the ground. If the beast was made of chakra it would have been crushed under the weight of the yin-yang seal, but the Quiraji creature was only slowed temporarily.

Enough time for the Otogakure Jounin around him to pile onto the creature and begin stabbing it in the weak points of its armour, pinning the creature to the ground. It roared at the attack and swiped out with its arms, ripping open the stomach of a shinobi that came to close to its claw.

Not one to shy away from battle, Neji leapt forward and stood on the tiger's head. He placed his open palm between its eyes, seeing the hateful look in the animal's eyes.

He had no sympathy for the creature.

A large vacuum of pressure extended from his palm and slammed into the tiger's head. Even a Quiraji creature of extraordinary toughness couldn't hope to stand up to a point blank attack of that strength.

The Otogakure Jounin didn't cheer or demonstrate any joy in their defeat of the creature; they were too professional for that. They went about their business of defending their comrades fighting the other creatures around them, while Neji stood back from his defeated enemy and surveyed the area again.

Something about this battle felt wrong to him. The pattern fit perfectly to what he had predicted, but there were no Quiraji soldiers like he was expecting. If they had suffered an attack by both the creatures and trained soldiers, or even some Red Guard and Black Robes, the battle would be much more one-sided. Even the summoner, Shiori, had chosen not to participate in the battle.

There was a greater game being played and he couldn't see all the pieces.

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The massive rhino bore down on the group of Otogakure shinobi, its horn aiming to gore them in a straight line into the Fire Temple. As courageous as they were, they had no techniques that could stop the summoned creature within their small group.

"It's been nice knowing you guys," said Riko with a weak grin on her face.

"If it breaks through here, it'll get to the civilians," said Hako, holding his kunai tightly in his hands.

Yui sighed as the rhino came closer to them, "I never got to sleep with Jiroubo…"

"Gods, if we're about to die, I don't want to hear about your weird fetishes," complained Riko at her side.

The group braced themselves for death, but it never came.

Just before the rhino could strike them, its face was covered in a ball of fire that sent it crashing to the side, screaming in pain. The Otogakure shinobi looked around to see who had saved them, but they could only see a small figure flying in the distance, on top of what appeared to be a flat square of wood.

On the other side of the Fire Temple as the Otogakure shinobi were fighting back against the horde of rapid hounds that were attacking them relentlessly, Neji summoned up his chakra and sent a blast of air through his palm and beat back their attackers.

"You're late!" called out Jin, wiping his bloody sword on his pants. He watched as the Otokage walked up to him and clenched his single hand.

"I had to make sure the other areas were holding," said Neji, using his Byakugan to survey the immediate area. His heart sank at the image of the bodies around them, but they weren't out of the fire yet.

From what he could see, Shiori had clearly underestimated how desperate his people were, and how strong they had become. The battle was slowly turning to their favour.

"I think we're winning," observed Jin quietly. "Though I think my arms are about to fall off." His strike team had fought their way through an army of hounds to get to their companions and he'd lost half his shinobi in the process, but he suspected their charge had broken the enemy animals' resolve.

"How are the reserves?" asked Neji quickly.

"Fine, they gave us enough time to recover our strength. We're not out of the woods though; we might still be overrun if she summons up another batch of those big ones."

The Otokage glanced to the side of the area, his white eyes widening at what he saw. He turned back to Jin with a slow smile emerging on his face, "Somehow I think we'll be okay."

His subordinate went to ask what he meant, but it became clear when the horde of beasts was suddenly struck by hundreds of orange blurs at the same time, moving through them like a tidal wave of bodies.

"What the hell is that?" exclaimed Jin, watching as the orange blurs made short work of the hounds attacking them before moving on to some of the other areas under attack.

Neji put down his hand and saw his shinobi relaxing in exhaustion; they'd been fighting for almost two hours straight.

"Unnecessary back-up."

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	79. Chapter 72 The Necessary Help

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 72 – The Necessary Help

**A/N**: I just want to say something about reviews for a second. I have no issue with criticism, in fact I encourage it. I can't improve unless I know what I'm doing wrong. So please continue to review and tell me ways I can improve this story for your enjoyment. Ultimately I write this story for you guys, and love reading your input, whether positive or negative.

**A/N2**: I also want to say that I regret what I did with Gai. It was early on in the story and I thought it was the right thing to do, but it was stupid, I'll admit that. If I could go back and change it, I would.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, some of the shinobi would have wings. Like angel wings.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After invading the Land of Fire with his entire population, Neji and his people settled into the Fire Temple as a defensible position and waited for the inevitable Quiraji counterattack. After a week of nothing they began to suspect that the Quiraji didn't even care about their presence. That was when the Quiraji began to attack. Assassin's appeared and slaughtered small groups of shinobi without so much as a retaliation. The next night they returned, but the Otogakure shinobi fought them off, killing a large number of the assassins. The following night they prepared for a similar attack, but instead they were attacked by a horde of beasts summoned by Shiori. They were able to fight them off, but even then they were assisted by their new allies.

***End Summary***

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><p>"You're very welcome," said Naruto with a flash of a grin on his face. He didn't intend to hide his happiness that their expedited movements had helped end the battle, but when he saw the leader's face he couldn't help himself.<p>

The Otokage was grateful that the shinobi group had come to help them, but he would have preferred them arrive before the battle started. Neji watched as Naruto and his cousin was joined by Uchiha Sasuke, a strange woman with an amused expression on her face, and what he assumed was Sasuke's older brother.

"As I said, we're happy you came when you did, but we didn't need rescuing." Neji centered his chakra flow from the chaos it had become during the battle. "We had this under control."

Naruto chuckled and wiped his hands as the shadow clones around them cleaned up after the battle. "Keep telling yourself that."

Neji ignored the blonde shinobi and smiled at his cousin, "I'm glad to see that you are okay. I heard all manner of chaotic things from the Land of Earth."

"We're okay," said Hinata with a similar smile. She motioned to their companions, "We brought who we could."

The Otokage nodded a greeting at the Uchiha brothers, making no comment as to the state of Itachi's eyes. His white eyes rested on their female companion and his analytic skills kicked into overdrive as he tried to figure out what felt familiar about her.

He activated his Byakugan for only a moment before he realised what the feeling was. "Ah! You're the Senju girl. I've heard a lot about you."

Fiore's amused expression dropped and she stepped towards the Otokage with a wooden staff appearing in her hands, "I'm no Senju! Don't you dare group me with those bastards."

"Give it a rest," said Sasuke, kicking at one of the hounds on the ground. "Nobody cares."

The Cascading Flow warrior turned to her partner and started to give him a piece of her mind, while Neji gave orders to some of the Otogakure shinobi nearby and turned back to his cousin.

"How did you find us? I was expecting you to hold position back at Otogakure. I was going to have you attack from a different angle to weaken the Quiraji position here."

Naruto clapped his wife's shoulder with pride, "Hinata found the little clues you left between there and here. She knew exactly what to look for. Sorry to disappoint you."

The elder Hyuuga smirked proudly at his cousin; he had left small things in the hope that she would do exactly that. They weren't based on chakra, but rather they were seals made with ink that only she would understand. However he also left them only in the case that they encountered Quiraji forces back at the Otogakure village. "You are late."

"We were a little busy ending a war," said Naruto, glancing over at the arguing couple. "But somehow I think that's what you wanted." He wasn't given to adopting suspicious looks, but Naruto was starting to recognise how much manipulation the Hyuuga elder had done to further his goals. He wasn't complaining, but a little bit of an explanation would have been nice.

"Where are all your people, Neji?" asked Hinata. "We couldn't find a trace of any of your civilians at all. Did you hide them somewhere in the Land of Rice Fields?"

Itachi came up to the group and motioned towards the Fire Temple with his arm, "They're hiding underground. A curious strategy, bringing them here. All your chips are in the same place."

Hinata's alarmed look was enough to make Neji pause before putting up his hand to reassure her. "I'll explain it in a minute. This area isn't fully secure yet; the five of you should come back to the Fire Temple. We aren't sure why these creatures haven't disappeared yet. Clearly they aren't like normal summoned creatures."

Nearby Naruto knelt down beside one of the hounds and felt at its fur for a moment, "These were Shiori's creatures…you're in some serious trouble here, Neji."

Neji's head snapped across to regard another section of the village. "I'll be back in a moment. Find out what you can about the creatures." He disappeared before they could say anything, but when Hinata examined the area with her Byakugan she shrugged; she couldn't see anything that warranted his immediate departure, though she recognised that her cousin's doujutsu exceeded hers by a fair margin.

"He left in a hurry," commented Naruto, but he could tell he was taking his job seriously. He respected Neji's position, even if he still thought he had a stick up his ass.

They turned their attention back to the creatures that they had just been fighting.

"These are fascinating creatures," said Itachi, kneeling in front of one of the killed rhinos and placing a hand on its leathery side. His face wasn't looking at the creature at all, but he could still feel its characteristics through his hands. "Not made of chakra…but also not flesh and bone like normal animals."

"How you can tell that without eyes is beyond me," said Naruto.

The older Uchiha ignored Naruto's comment and stood up slowly before turning his blazing orbs to his younger brother. "We should consult our own summoned creatures, perhaps they have some ideas on how to better defeat them. Sasuke, you're the only one here that can do the summoning technique."

Sasuke stared at Itachi for a moment before uncrossing his arms and groaning loudly. "Do I really have to? There's only one that would know anything about it and I'd really rather not…" His sentence ran off when he realised he was talking to a brick wall. He threw up his hands and began running through handseals.

"What are you doing?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

Sasuke finished the handseals and bit at his thumbs hard enough to break the skin and draw blood. "Something I really wish I didn't have to." He placed both his hands on the ground in front of him and activated the technique. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A large plume of smoke appeared a short distance away from him as it slowly came together into a single figure. The shinobi gathered in the area watched as the smoke dissipated and they all gaped at what they saw.

Standing between the animal bodies was a young-looking woman with almost unimaginably beautiful features that seemed to capture every part of the light that was around the area. She stood at an impressive seven-foot tall with a blood red kimono dress and a pair of fiery red eyes to match. She had long thin arms and legs with dark tanned skin and a small smile.

But the more startling feature about her was the fact that her tall spiky hair wasn't made of hair at all.

It was on fire.

The summoned woman slowly looked around the area with her fiery eyes before she finally landed on her summoner. Her expression changed from what seemed to be a motherly expression to one that could only be described as child-like enthusiasm.

Sasuke groaned loudly as the beautiful woman let out a girly squeal that seemed entirely out of place with her figure and reached down to pick up the Uchiha shinobi and twirl him around in the air close to her sizable bust.

The burst of laughter that came from Naruto's mouth was enough to make him lose his balance and fall onto the ground, as the tall woman continued to spin around in a circle with Sasuke close to her chest like a doll. He couldn't handle it; his sides were almost splitting apart.

"I'm so happy to see you little fire-faerie! It's been so long since we've seen each other!"

Sasuke sighed and tried to force a smile, "Yes, it's nice to see you too…madam."

The summoned woman placed him back down on the ground and started stroking his dark hair affectionately, "I thought I told you to call me Fenix! How are we going to be able to let our relationship blossom into a full flame without using our names?"

She glanced up a moment to see her summoner's partner standing nearby with an amused expression on her face. She smiled at her warmly, "Good to see you, Fiore."

The Cascading Flow warrior chuckled and waved at the tall woman, "Fenix, it's good to see you too. How's the land of things that are on fire?"

"Good, good." She finally released Sasuke and turned to the shinobi she didn't know. "Ah, new people! How delightful! You are all looking quite aflame."

Naruto was finally able to pick himself up from the ground and he said the first thing that came to his mind. He pointed to her and said, "What's with the hair?"

The tall woman appeared amused by his question, but ignored it and turned back to her summoner, "Why did you bring me here? I was sitting on a clutch."

Sasuke motioned to the animal bodies around them, "We thought you'd want to see these things."

She looked at the rhino nearby and her expression changed to one that better suited her outward appearance. She took a single step towards it and left a small trail of fire behind her as she placed a hand on the leathery body.

"This…this thing is…"

Before she continued the rhino burst into flames that spread to all the creatures nearby. The Otogakure shinobi seemed distressed at the fire, but didn't want to say anything against the imposing woman.

The summoned woman clutched her hands together like she was crushing something between her fingers. "Those things are just…wrong. You would do well to destroy any and all that you encounter."

"Can you tell us anything about how to fight them?" asked Itachi, stepping out from behind one of the burning bodies. "They appear to be tougher than regular summoned creatures."

The woman shrugged, "Fire works well on all living creatures. Even aberrations must burn."

"That's your solution?" said one of the Otogakure shinobi nearby. "Kill them with fire?"

"You guys didn't seem to have too much trouble taking them down," observed Naruto. He and Sasuke had taken out a very small number of the enemy creatures in comparison to the ones that the Otogakure shinobi had. He wouldn't want to admit it, but he was somewhat impressed.

"If that is all, I'd like to return to my eggs," said the summoned woman. She smiled at Sasuke before spreading out her arms to reveal a large span of fiery wings that caused her to burst into flames before disappearing completely.

The shinobi around where she had been gaped at what they saw, while Naruto looked over at his old friend with a confused look on his face. "Who is that woman?"

"Insufferable," said the Uchiha with an annoyed look on his face.

"She's the mother of his hawk summons," said Fiore with a chuckle. "The way she treats Sasuke is just priceless, isn't it?"

"She's a phoenix, isn't she?" said Hinata with a knowing look on her face. "She was beautiful."

"Did you find out anything?" came Neji's voice from nearby. He was accompanied by a group of bloody Otogakure shinobi, having gone to clean up after the battle. "Anything that we don't already know?"

"Not exactly," said Itachi with a dull tone. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

The Otokage tipped his hat and motioned to the main section of the Fire Temple, "Come to my office, we'll talk about what we are going to do next."

Naruto and Hinata shared a look before the blonde shinobi shrugged and placed his arms around his wife's waist, "Never a dull moment."

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"Is this all of you?" asked Neji with a slightly raised eyebrow. They had gathered around his makeshift office in one of the rooms where he and his wife had taken residence. He knew that they were likely tired from their long journey, but after hearing their explanation of how they found the village he wanted to debrief them before they spoke to anyone else in the area.

He recognised that the two Uchiha's and the Cascading Flow woman were powerful fighters, but he'd been hoping for them to bring an army with them.

"We're not good enough?" said Sasuke with a frown.

Neji turned to the Uchiha heir with a tired expression; he'd been up far longer than he would have liked. "I was expecting the Cascading Flow army to accompany you. Their fighting ability would be vital against the Quiraji."

Beside her partner, Fiore scoffed and picked at her teeth with her wooden pick, "That's arrogant of you. Cascading Flow is made up of people fighting for their freedom, not some shinobi war. Expecting us to fight your battles is just stupid."

"Yet you're here," observed the Otokage. "What is your agenda here?"

Fiore grinned at the young man, "Ain't that the mystery of the hour? I'm sure it'll tear you up trying to work it out."

"Are you trying to be a pain in the ass?" said Naruto to her. He enjoyed Fiore's company, but her personality seemed to change with the wind.

Sasuke threw up a hand with an uncharacteristic sigh, "She doesn't try, she just is."

"What were your plans with the reinforcements you were expecting?" asked Itachi, having felt the fluctuation in Neji's chakra that he had tried to conceal from the others. The Hyuuga was an expert at hiding his frustrations even if his language spoke differently, but Itachi could almost feel the apprehension emanating from the Otokage.

Neji walked around the table and rubbed at his neck sorely with his hand, "It is irrelevant now. If Cascading Flow will not help us, I have to consider other alternatives." He looked down at the map of the Land of Fire on the table in front of him, taking a few moments as the cogs in his head began to turn slowly.

"You don't have the numbers to break the Quiraji hold here," said Itachi. He didn't need the ability to see to tell that the Otogakure shinobi were way out of their depth. "If they bring the full force of their army here, they'll wash over you like an ocean over a beach."

"Unless we can strike before they do so," said Neji offhandedly. He picked up a report from a large stack and read the numbers quickly before turning his white eyes back to his old companions. "We can hold this position for a long time, even against some of the Four. Enough time to find the Quiraji main base."

"But not enough strength to destroy it," said Sasuke with a scoff. "They are shinobi-killers; we'd be jumping into a trap."

"Not if we have more shinobi." Neji reached forward and pulled out a larger map; one that showed the entire continent. "It would take about five days to get there and back…"

"Suna…" said Hinata with wide eyes. "You'd have them invade the Land of Fire from their area and assist you."

Neji showed the shadow of a smile before readopting his regular stoic appearance. "The Kazekage and I have an understanding. If we present to him the opportunity to strike at the heart of the Quiraji he should jump on it."

At the other side of the table, Naruto laughed at the idea. "You're underestimating Gaara and his obligation to his people. If he thinks it'll put his village at risk, he won't send out a single shinobi to help you."

The Otokage had to admit that his cousin-in-law had a point; if he were in the same position he'd be just as cautious. However he couldn't rely on either of the other two shinobi villages to provide support at this late stage and Neji was running out of options. "Do you think you could convince Gaara to send us help?"

Naruto breathed through his teeth loudly, "That's a big ask. I couldn't ask him to send his people to their deaths."

Neji put up a hand for him to wait and pulled out a pen, "Let me worry about that. How quickly could you get there?"

"Should we go with you?" asked Sasuke, wary of how dangerous that road would be these days.

The Uzumaki shinobi shook his head quickly, "I can get through the lines without fighting; you should stay here. I'm sure you guys could be more use here anyway."

"I'm going to get some grub," said Fiore, pulling her wooden pick out of her teeth. She slapped her partner on the shoulder, "Come on."

Sasuke didn't want to admit that he didn't like Naruto going off on his own, but he knew the blonde shinobi could handle himself well enough. He didn't say anything as they left the room, with his older brother coming with them without saying anything either.

"How long would it take you to get to Suna?" asked Neji again to Naruto.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, "Half a day, maybe less."

The Otokage's eyes widened at his declaration, "That's ridiculous. Even with your techniques that's way too fast."

"It'd be faster if Gaara had agreed to take one of my kunai with him," said Naruto with a sigh. He shrugged, "It wouldn't be that fast coming back though. I can't take more than two people at once."

Neji waved off his cousin-in-laws concern, "I would be in your debt if you could do this for us. I don't mean to use you as a messenger boy."

"It's okay, Neji, I don't mind." Naruto turned to his wife with a grin, "When do you want to leave?"

Hinata sighed and ran a hand through her dark blue hair, "Let me clean my hair at least. All this running around is starting to give me grey hairs."

"I'd like your help here," said Neji to his cousin. "Your medical expertise could be vital to our efforts here."

His cousin smiled at his sweetly, but threaded her hand into Naruto's and held it tightly. "My place is at his side."

Neji sighed and stepped out from behind the table to clasp Naruto's shoulder. He didn't like that he was once again sending his cousin into danger, but if anyone was going to protect her it would be her husband.

He still didn't like that they were married though. There were some things he just didn't want to admit.

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><p>Naruto and Hinata appeared out of thin air and huddled at the top of a tree, above a large group of Quiraji soldiers. When he'd initiated the teleport, Naruto had hoped that they would pass over the soldiers altogether, but their numbers were much greater than they had thought.<p>

"Why are there so many here?" he whispered quietly.

Hinata shrugged while continuing to hold onto him tightly. It was a difficult transition accompanying him through the teleporting; as her body was not as used to it as Naruto's was. When he used it by himself he was able to teleport every five seconds, but when he took Hinata with him they had to wait several minutes between transitions.

Naruto looked around the area to make sure that they hadn't been spotted in their hiding place before grimacing and cradling his head painfully.

"What's wrong?" whispered his wife with concern on her face.

"It's nothing, my head just hurts a bit, that's all."

Hinata reached up and placed her hand up to feel at his temple, but Naruto intercepted her hand and smiled into her eyes.

"I'm fine, really." He went to say more, but a sound from beneath them caught their attention. He looked down to see Quiraji soldiers stringing arrows into bows to shoot them down.

Naruto swore under his breath and pulled his wife closer into his body. He hated how painful this would be for her since she hadn't had time to recover yet, but they were out of options.

Wrapping the air around the two of them tightly, Naruto glanced over a mountain range nearby and activated his spiritual energy technique. They disappeared just as the air filled with arrows.

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><p>After that encounter with the large Quiraji force, it only took the married couple two hours to make it into the Land of Wind. Because of Naruto's technique they didn't have to engage any enemy forces at all. By their calculation they figured there had to be thousands of Quiraji between Sunagakure and the Land of Fire.<p>

It would have been a messy deal trying to get any other type of messenger to Sunagakure. Getting back in wouldn't be as easy either, as the border they teleported over concealed many of the places they could teleport to.

Once they got into the desert, Naruto and Hinata took a moment to rest as they took an account of their surroundings.

"Do you remember where Suna is?" asked Naruto as he drank from his bottle.

Hinata looked around the area with her Byakugan before sighing and deactivating her eyes. "It's been so long. I can't see anything nearby and I can't remember at all."

Naruto smiled at her and patted her on the back affectionately, grimacing for a moment and touching his temple before shaking it off and standing up to stare at the sun. "Maybe I should try the thing Sasuke tried to teach me."

His wife nodded and motioned for him to try, it certainly couldn't hurt.

Placing two fingers on his forehead, Naruto concentrated his chakra like his old friend had shown him. After working so much with physical and spiritual energy separately, working with chakra in such a finite manner was very difficult, but after training so much with Kage Bunshin that he should be able to do it.

He pushed out his chakra from his forehead through his feet and spread it out as far as he could. His old teammate hadn't come up with a name for the technique and had been highly resistant to teaching him. It was only Naruto's persistence and his compromise with teaching his old friend certain aspects of physical and spiritual energy.

It was nice to be able to do something that the Uchiha genius could not. Seeing Sasuke struggle felt like some aspect of poetic justice.

After a few moments of using the technique, Naruto's eyes shot open and he stared out into the distance.

"Did it work?" asked Hinata with the hint of hope in her voice.

Naruto pointed to the expanding desert, "Not even a little bit. But there are two people approaching us."

"Then why are you smiling?"

The blonde shinobi pulled down his arm and chuckled, "Because one of them is an old friend."

Hinata activated her Byakugan again and her smile mirrored her husband's. "Trust him to be here."

They both watched as a pair of shinobi approached them riding large creatures that moved across the desert at very fast speeds. They moved straight towards them with uncanny precision, slowing to a halt as they approached the married couple and the pair jumped off their mounts.

The two of them didn't recognise the young woman that approached them, but considering her similarity to the other shinobi they knew she had to be an ally.

Naruto went to greet his wife's old teammate, but he stood no chance as a giant white dog came bounding up to him and tackled him to the ground. The Uzumaki heir was a powerful shinobi, able to break through solid walls and teleport great distances in a single bound.

He was completely pinned underneath Akamaru's giant paws and before he could try and escape his face was slammed into the desert ground by a massive wet tongue.

Hinata laughed loudly for what felt like years and turned to her old teammate, "It's so good to see you, Kiba and Akamaru. We've missed you guys."

The Sunagakure scout barked out a laugh and scratched at his face, "Same here. We were wondering when you were going to visit when Gaara told us you'd reappeared."

"Unfortunately this isn't a social call," said Hinata with a slight lessening in her smile. "We came here to get help."

"Then you came to the right place." Kiba turned and motioned to his female companion, "By the way, this is Nagisa, my cousin."

"Cousin?" Hinata could see the resemblance as clear as day because of her tattoos and her wolf companion, but she was sure there was an explanation for her existence that he would tell her in good time. She nodded to the elder Inuzuka respectfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Hyuuga Hinata, and the man on the ground is my husband, Uzumaki Naruto."

Beneath Akamaru's rampaging form, Naruto stuck a hand out and waved it with as much strength as he could muster from such a position.

Nagisa looked the Hyuuga heiress up and down for a moment before smirking and turning to her clansman, "No wonder you had a crush on her. She's gorgeous. Way out of your league."

While trying to process the knowledge that the couple in front of him had gotten married, Kiba grimaced and made a silencing motion across his throat to his cousin, but clearly the damage was already done.

Hinata smiled sweetly at her old teammate and acted like she hadn't heard his cousin's statement, though a number of things in their shared past made much more sense, including his insistence of constantly fighting Naruto for 'practise'.

"We followed your scent here as quickly as we could," said Nagisa, ignoring her paralysed cousin beside her.

"Meaning your scouts noticed our arrival and you were sent here?" Hinata responded with a knowing look.

Nagisa ignored her comment and got straight to the point. "You mentioned you came here to get help?"

The Hyuuga kunoichi nodded quickly, "It's imperative we speak to the Kazekage as soon as possible."

"You're looking at the fastest route to Suna then," said Kiba finally, having recovered from his embarrassment. "The guards will let you through without an issue if you're with us."

He let out a low whistle that finally got Akamaru off of Naruto, to which the blonde shinobi groaned loudly before slowly pulling himself up onto his feet.

"That was…an experience," he said with a loud crack of his neck. "Should we run beside you or something?"

Nagisa ignored him and offered a hand to Hinata as her wolf companion came up beside her, "You can ride with us. Yuki and Akamaru won't mind."

"Thank you," said Hinata as she leapt up and landed on the back of the large wolf. It was strangely comfortable for an animal's back and the fur felt nice in her hands after all the desert sand around them.

Kiba stared at his cousin suspiciously as the Inuzuka elder shot him a triumphant look before he turned to the recovering blonde shinobi. He sighed and jabbed a thumb at Akamaru, "Guess you're riding with me then."

Naruto seemed to like it just as little as Kiba did, but watching Nagisa mount her wolf companion in front of his wife it was clear they had little choice in the matter. "Let's just get this over with."

Ignoring the two young men as they sorted themselves out, Nagisa reached behind her and brought Hinata's arms around her waist and motioned for her to hold on tight. Once they were ready the pair of animals launched off the desert sand with such force that she would've been thrown off if she hadn't been holding on.

Her husband, of course, went flying backwards and had to teleport forward to catch up to them.

The desert of the Land of Wind was already greeting them well.

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In the years since they had last visited the village of Sunagakure during the Chuunin Exams so long ago, the village in the sands had changed immensely. It had always been a large cluster of buildings and areas surrounded by large rock formations and a hazardous desert.

Since the war with the Quiraji started, the village had undergone dramatic changes to compensate for the shifting circumstances. The basic structure of the village remained the same, but the rock formations had been changed with Earth Element techniques that made them far more defensible.

The desert area around the village was full of traps and dangerous winds that the Inuzukas had to lead them through so that they didn't get lost or attacked by Sunagakure shinobi.

But once they had gotten through three separate checkpoints and walked through the main steps that led into the village, both Naruto and Hinata were amazed at the progress Suna had made in the few years since they'd been there. At that time they had been under both economic and military restraints following the Third Shinobi War, but now they were a thriving village that appeared to rival Konoha, though their well-trained eyes could see the defences that would spring to action at a moment's notice.

"It has been a long time," came a voice from the distance as they walked through the entrance of the village.

Both Naruto and Hinata looked around for the source, but it became apparent as a green blur shot across their view and stood in front of them with a wide grin on his face.

"Lee! You crazy bastard!" Naruto jumped forward and grabbed at his hand to shake it furiously.

The taijutsu master let out a boisterous laugh that was so frighteningly accurate that the married couple could have sworn that they were standing in front of Gai-sensei. "Naruto-kun! It has been many years since we last laid eyes on each other."

Hinata followed behind her husband and smiled at their old friend affectionately, "You are looking particularly well. We heard you have been quite active lately."

Lee let go of Naruto's hand and clapped him on the shoulder, "We'll have to speak at another time, my friends. I have to deliver a message to the border scouts before we lose the light."

Naruto glanced up at the sky for a moment before turning back to his old friend, "That's less than an hour away!"

The spandex-wearing shinobi gave him his trademark thumbs up with a grin, "I know." With that he disappeared in a similar manner to when Naruto used his teleportation technique, but the two of them knew he was just using his physical strength to propel himself at unimaginable speed.

The couple looked back outside the village in an attempt to catch the fast shinobi, but he was already long gone.

"Show off," muttered Naruto with no hint of malice in his voice. He shrugged and turned back towards the village to see two Suna shinobi standing in front of them. They didn't have their weapons out, but their expressions clearly spoke their disinterest in their presence at the village.

"Are you the ones who are going to take us to the Kazekage?" asked Naruto, wanting to talk to his friend as soon as possible.

One of the Suna shinobi glanced at the Inuzukas for a moment before turning back to their new guests. "The Kazekage is currently indisposed. He will be in a meeting until nightfall."

Naruto looked at his wife with a sigh, "Well that sucks. Wait, how did he know we were coming?"

"The same way we knew to go get you," said Kiba behind them with a smirk. "Very little happens in the Land of Wind without the sand-man's knowledge."

Nagisa's wolf companion barked out a series of sounds that made the young woman pat it affectionately and turn to her cousin, "I'll go back and complete our patrol. You should stay here and guide them through the village."

Kiba waved her off and motioned for his cousin to do just that. She barked at him in a similar manner to her companion, to which the Inuzuka heir rolled his eyes and repeated the command to Akamaru.

The white dog barked in a manner that the observers could have sworn was laughter before leaving with the female Inuzuka out of the village.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Naruto.

Hinata shrugged in response, "Maybe we could visit some of the others." She turned to the Sunagakure shinobi that had greeted them, "Are we allowed to go anywhere in the village?"

The pair of Sunagakure shinobi just scoffed and began walking back to the village, while Kiba shrugged by their side and offered to escort them. They hadn't been able to talk during the ride to the village due to travelling through a large windstorm that had since disappeared. He wanted to hear everything about what had been happening with them since they'd last met.

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While waiting for the Kazekage's meeting to finish and for him to decide whether or not to listen to their proposition, Hinata went off with Kiba to visit Ino and her daughter. They were low on time, but Naruto decided that his time was better spent visiting his friends that he hadn't seen in so much time.

And as such, he stood in front of a nice-looking door that had a plaque in the middle that brought a smirk to his face.

**Chief of Medicine Dr. Haruno**

He went to tap on the door, but it opened with a young man smiling at him. "You are Mr. Uzumaki, correct?"

Naruto chuckled at that, "Things have gotten so serious around here." He moved his head to look into the office, to see his pink-haired friend sitting behind a desk, writing furiously onto a pile of papers.

Without looking up, Sakura waved him in and signalled for her assistant to wait outside.

Stepping into her office and watching the young man close the door behind him, Naruto let out a low whistle at the office his old friend had. It was full of medical textbooks and things that he couldn't understand for the life of him what they were used for.

"Moved up in the world, haven't you?" he said, turning to look at his old teammate. She was the same age as he was, but something about Sakura felt like she was almost a decade older than he was. He'd heard that many different things had happened to her over the years, including a proposal to Rock Lee that he wouldn't have seen coming at all, but it troubled him to see very little of the old Sakura remaining.

Eventually Sakura finished her paperwork and looked up at him; a hint of a twinkle in her green eyes reminded him of his old friend before she settled back into her serious expression.

"So you finally married her, huh?"

Naruto cocked his head for a moment before bursting out laughing, "That's the first thing you say after all these years?"

A smirk appeared on the head doctor's face, "Well it's a nice ring on your finger. I would be remiss in not mentioning it."

The blonde shinobi attempted to recover from his fit of laughter when Sakura stood up from her chair, walked around her desk and embraced her old teammate in a tight hug. In the past he would have been excited by the contact, by the smell of her hair and the feel of her skin.

But they were different people now and Naruto returned the hug as an old friend would.

"It's good to see you, Naruto," she said quickly into his shoulder. "We thought you were dead."

"I told you, I can't die until I become Hokage."

Sakura pulled back from him and stared into his blue eyes with a raised eyebrow, "But the village was destroyed. There won't be another Hokage."

Naruto grinned in a manner that reminded her of the look he would get before he did something absolutely ridiculous. "Then I guess I'll live forever."

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Once they were let into the meeting hall, Naruto and Hinata talked to the Kazekage for a long time. They spoke about their experiences since they last met and where things had been going, with the Kazekage listening carefully to each detail.

After getting past their greetings, Naruto and Hinata laid out Neji's plan. It was clear that the elder Hyuuga hadn't told them everything and when Gaara pressed them on that they admitted to their own ignorance. However Naruto reassured his old friend that it was the best course of action and the greatest hope they had to ending the war.

"I cannot give you what you ask," said Gaara finally after all that had been said.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each for a moment before leaning forward with alarm in their expressions.

"Do you mind telling us more than a 'thanks for coming' answer?" asked Naruto with an annoyed look on his face. "We didn't come all this way just to come back with nothing!"

"Naruto, try and look at this from his side," said Hinata diplomatically. "He has an obligation to his people. He can't just commit shinobi because we say it's a good idea."

Gaara nodded in line with the Hyuuga kunoichi's point. "The mission you are proposing would not just require a contingent of Suna shinobi. To be successful, it would require both my presence and the best of our village."

He placed his hands together and breathed out slowly. "This village is the most defensible place in the world and we are keeping the Quiraji as occupied as we can. As sympathetic as I might be to your plight, I cannot offer you what you ask."

Naruto stared at his old friend for a full minute in silence before sighing and reaching into his jacket. He produced a letter and slid it across the table towards the Kazekage. "Neji thought you might respond this way. He told me to give you this letter."

Gaara looked down at the letter before taking it out and reading it carefully. Without hesitation he crumpled it up and placed it on top of a burning candle nearby and letting it burn into ashes.

"You can tell the Otokage that he can't blackmail his way into gaining support. The world doesn't work that way anymore."

"We didn't know what was in that letter," said Hinata quickly, but Gaara signalled that he already knew as such.

He turned to Naruto and cocked his head slightly to the left, as much emotion as he normally gave in situations such as this. "Is there something you wish to say, Naruto? I would ask you to be honest, but that is rarely an issue with you."

The blonde shinobi held a conflicted expression on his face for a long time as he struggled to find the right words to explain what he wanted to say. He never professed to be an eloquent person; he didn't even know the meaning of the word. But this was something he wanted to say properly, as befitting the situation.

Eventually he found the right words; though felt he should say them quickly before he lost them.

He leant forward and adopted the most serious expression he could muster.

"Gaara, I understand your position, but I have one question to ask you. When did you abandon hope?"

The Kazekage was a man of few words generally; he'd make it a point to say what he needed to say in as few words as necessary. However when his old friend called him on something he hadn't admitted to himself, he had no words to say.

But when he looked into himself, he realised that he didn't have an answer.

After a few minutes of silence, Naruto sighed loudly and turned to his wife, "I think we've wasted our time. Clearly they don't want to fight."

Gaara glared at him with a mixed expression, but Hinata was already trying to calm her husband down. She placed a hand over his carefully, "Naruto, you aren't being fair. He has responsibilities beyond what we could understand."

"Thank you, Hinata, but I can speak for myself," said Gaara before Naruto could say anything back. He turned to his old friend and his eyes darkened, "We are losing this war, Naruto."

"I know," said the blonde shinobi quickly. "And that's why we need your help. We're on the verge of extinction, Gaara. If we don't do this, then we might as well lay down with our necks on the blocks."

"I'm well aware of the circumstances," said the Kazekage with a hint of frustration in his voice. His guests could tell that Gaara was struggling with the decision more than he would've liked, but before they could speak anymore the three of them froze as they all sensed something was wrong.

An alarm sound thundered through the room to break the flow of conversation. Gaara shot to his feet and turned to an empty space at his side, his hesitation momentarily forgotten. "Matsuri, report!"

A young woman with short brown hair appeared out of thin air, kneeling in front of her leader. "Six groups of enemy forces have broken through the northern perimeter. General Nara has engaged the enemy and is holding his position."

The Kazekage gave his guests a look for a moment before placing his hands to his side and gathered up sand from a line of gourds in his office around him. Before he could warn them, his stream of sand shattered the window behind him.

The married couple shielded themselves from the flying glass as the Kazekage let the sand carry him out of his office and towards the battlefield. Matsuri hopped on the tail end of the sand and rode it out with him, while Naruto and Hinata recovered from the sudden change in the situation.

Putting down his hands, Naruto let out a long breath and stood up from his seat, "I guess that puts an end to negotiations."

"We should go help them," said Hinata, activating her Byakugan. "Prove that we're serious about this alliance."

"You don't think they can handle it? We're always fighting."

"Naruto…"

The blonde shinobi threw up his arms and moved towards the window, "Fine, fine. One day I'll win an argument with you."

Moving to his side, Hinata let out a soft chuckle and patted him on the shoulder affectionately, "Don't count on it, honey."

Naruto pulled out the sword he had won in the Land of Water and activated it with a flick of his hand, "Lead the way, dear."

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By the time Naruto and Hinata got to the front lines of the battle, it was clear that the Sunagakure shinobi had everything completely under control. Gaara had left the meeting in a big hurry and had left huge clusters of sand in his wake as he laid waste to the invading Quiraji soldiers.

With her Byakugan active, Hinata was able to take the two of them straight into the action, where they discovered a small group of Quiraji soldiers fighting against a group of Sunagakure shinobi being commanded by an old friend.

Nara Shikamaru blocked a sword strike from a soldier just in time to save himself from losing his head. He dug a hand into his shadow and pulled out a long blade that he drove into the soldier's stomach. It wasn't pretty, but nothing in the war had been pretty.

"Sir, we've got two unknowns coming in from the south!" yelled one of the shinobi under his command.

Shikamaru turned and grinned over his cigarette, "They aren't unknowns; they're old friends." He put his hands together and gathered his shadow around himself so that he could use it at a moment's notice. There were enough enemies around that he couldn't lower his guard, but seeing his old companions was enough to set his mind more at ease.

Though seeing Naruto taking down Quiraji soldiers with a sword made of lightning and Hinata flying around in the air protecting Sunagakure shinobi with her Jyuuken techniques was enough to remind him that things weren't as they used to be.

High in the air Gaara was taking out any Quiraji soldiers he could find and sealing up the hole in their wall that had been breached. The advantage of having the village constructed mostly with sand was that everything was under his command and even when he was absent from the village the other shinobi with sand techniques could defend their village.

Less than an hour after the battle had begun, it was over.

In the air on his sand platform, Gaara watched Matsuri finish off the last Quiraji soldier with a blade of wind before turning up and waving at him enthusiastically.

_The two of you should just get freaky and be done with it._

Gaara resisted the urge to groan, "Keep it to yourself, Shukaku."

_Gaara and Matsuri sitting in a tree…_

The Kazekage, the greatest shinobi in Sunagakure and one of the most powerful shinobi still alive, drove his fist into his stomach, hard. It was enough to make him double-over on top of his sand platform, but the monster raccoon that resided inside reeled back and kept the remainder of the song to itself.

With that situation under control, the Kazekage slowly floated down to the ground near where Naruto and Shikamaru were sorting out the after-effects of the battle. They greeted him with a courteous nod as he leapt down onto the ground.

"This won't stop until we do something serious," said Naruto, deactivating his sword and hooking it back onto his belt. "You know what the right thing to do is," he said directly to Gaara.

Gaara collected his sand back into the container on his back and looked over the battlefield. They might have won the day, but every shinobi he lost was a stab in his heart. "I can't just leave my people to their fate. I am the Kazekage and this is my village."

At his side, Shikamaru lit up a cigarette and took in a long puff, "Gaara, we'll hold the village until the last man, woman or child. If it means winning the war, you should go with them."

"How do you know our plan?" asked Naruto with a dumbfounded expression. He and Shikamaru had barely exchanged words as they'd fought on the battlefield together.

The Nara heir turned to him with a condescending look that would have made his teacher blanch in horror. "It's called information, Naruto. I knew why you were coming before you did."

The Kazekage wasn't one to demonstrate emotions, but he pulled down his Kage hat to conceal his expression. "A Kage's job is to defend his people. I can't just go off on an adventure and leave them to their fate."

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Naruto smiling at him. The blonde shinobi pointed with his finger, "Perhaps you should turn around and see for yourself."

Gaara turned slowly and even his stoic expression broke as he saw rows upon rows of Sunagakure shinobi and ANBU kneeling with their fists over their hearts. Even those that bore the wounds of the recently fought battle knelt proudly in honour of their leader.

At the front was his old Jounin instructor, Baki, looking at him with pride on his face. "We'll hold the village, Kazekage-sama. The people trust your judgement and ability to save us."

The other kneeling shinobi echoed his statement before standing up in synchronisation and saluting him proudly.

Gaara let out a long breath; there was only one thing he could do with such support from his people. It wasn't a decision he liked, but if it was for the survival of his village, he would make any sacrifice necessary, including sacrificing his own life.

He turned to his first friend and adjusted his Kage hat so that he wore fully and proudly.

"You have your army."

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Most of the shinobi that fought in the defence of Suna earlier had been Chuunin and Jounin, the mainstay of the Sunagakure army. Gaara recognised that his presence in the Land of Fire was necessary because of the power he wielded, and that he had an obligation to draw the Quiraji's attention away from his home.

But he wasn't about to leave his home undefended. With a standing force of thousands, Gaara, in consultation with the Council, was only being accompanied by less than ten percent of the working shinobi of Sunagakure.

However the vast majority of those shinobi coming with him were veterans of war, the best fighters that Suna had produced over the years, including three of the current Council members.

And every single ANBU available.

It had taken several hours of preparation to get their supplies in order for the long trip, and in the meantime Gaara was in constant consultation with his head strategists and theorists.

"We're pulling back all our long-term scouting teams," said one of the strategists. "The long range observers will remain in place, but everyone else is falling back to the village as we speak."

Gaara nodded in acceptance of the plan and turned to his chief military strategist, "I would like a straight evaluation. How long can you hold the village?"

Shikamaru put out his finished cigarette and fingered a new one in his hand, "In theory, forever. We have resources that the Quiraji simply don't, including food and supplies. Despite appearances, we aren't truly under siege. It's more of a standoff and we hold the high ground."

He flicked on his lighter and placed his cigarette at the edge of his mouth, "But every loss we suffer is one that cannot be replaced, while the Quiraji seem to have no issue expending soldiers to further their goals."

Everyone in the room knew that it was a risky venture they were undertaking, but after being on the defensive for so long it was a refreshing change to be able to go on the attack. "If none of the Four come to attack us, we shouldn't have too many issues. We can assume they'll be too occupied with your invasion to worry about us too much."

"But we must work under the assumption that they could take advantage of my absence," said Gaara, clasping his hands together on top of the round table. "This village is the most defensible place in the world and I refuse to believe that it will fall to our enemies."

He slowly stood up from his seat and placed his Kage hat back onto his head, turning to regard each strategist in turn before finally staring at his brother-in-law.

"You will hold this village. That's an order."

Each of the strategists stood up and saluted their Kage, while Shikamaru sighed and continued smoking his cigarette.

He wouldn't be able to relax for a long time yet.

As Gaara left the hall, he saw Ino standing in the corridor with a confused expression on her face. Without saying a word he motioned for her to follow him. Knowing the Kazekage was generally a man of few words, the doctor followed him to his office and waited for him to be ready as he stood behind his desk and began preparing scrolls for the journey.

"You'll be accompanying us to the Land of Fire," said Gaara with a strong tone.

"Do I have a choice in this matter?"

The Kazekage placed a pair of scrolls in a pack he had been preparing, "You do and yet you do not."

Ino shook her head with a sigh, "Why not send Sakura? She's the best doctor in the village."

"She is, and that is precisely why she is staying. Her issues in the field prevent her from assisting us, but you have extensive experience and are the best person to head up our medics."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you in this." Ino wanted to help her friends, but she had a greater obligation. "I couldn't possibly leave my daughter. She is all I have."

"You are aware that there is nowhere that can be considered safe anymore, right?"

Ino sighed and stared out of the window of his office, "Painfully aware. What are you implying?"

Gaara buckled his pack and called for an assistant to fetch it for him. "I don't have to spell it out, do I?"

It didn't take Ino long to work out what he meant and the rant that ensued was one of her best. It had anecdotes, metaphors, various tone changes and interpretive hand signals.

Gaara let her get it all out of her system without saying a word. He respected her position as a mother and as a shinobi, but as a Kage he had to give some difficult orders.

And that included asking a young mother to bring her talented daughter on a dangerous mission. He knew that she wouldn't let her daughter out of her sight and swore that she would only be surviving on the backlines where they wouldn't be threatened.

"You know that Airi isn't telepathic, right? She's just a child."

"She also has abilities that you don't even understand and would not be a burden." Gaara's tone continued to indicate that she didn't have a choice in the matter.

It was implied, but she did recognise the fact that if their mission failed in the Land of Fire, the destruction of Sunagakure wouldn't be far behind. Nowhere was truly safe and Airi's place was at her side regardless of where she went.

"I won't put my daughter into any serious danger. Suna doesn't seem to be a safe place either, and if this helps make a safer world, then I'll do it."

She hated the fact that she had to do it, but she swore that if anything happened to Airi, he would be the first person she killed.

It was a hard life, being a shinobi mother.

* * *

><p>Crossing the border from the Land of Rivers into the Land of Fire was relatively easy once they made it clear to the Quiraji soldiers patrolling the border that they meant business. With the Sunagakure ANBU and shinobi in combination with the Kazekage was more than enough to overwhelm the small number of guards that were more of a statement rather than a standing force.<p>

They didn't wait on ceremony to regard their slain enemies though. With the Kazekage at the front they moved at top speed towards the Fire Temple where they expected to find the Otogakure shinobi to be under heavy assault.

"It almost feels like we're getting the gang back together," said Kiba as they ran across the grasslands in their old home country.

"Not everyone," said Naruto with a long drawn-out sigh. He'd hoped to have Shikamaru and the others to come with them, but he understood that the defence of Suna was highly important.

Once they had crossed the border Lee had shot ahead of the group to ensure that Neji was aware that reinforcements were on their way, having made the trip to and from the Land of Fire many times. Naruto had offered to come with him, but Gaara had insisted that he accompany the main force, since his techniques were very good at preserving bodies.

"Don't take it too hard," said his wife, running at his side. She didn't need her Byakugan to be active to see the troubles on her husband's face, but she also knew that he wouldn't want to talk about it in front of the others.

Naruto smiled at her affectionately, but his eyes spoke of how bad his headaches had become.

"We're still two days away, even at this speed," said Nagisa, on top of her wolf companion. "We might be too late."

Kiba scoffed, "I'm sure Neji is sitting all nice and snug." At his side Akamaru barked in disagreement, and the look from his old teammate was enough to almost make him whimper.

"We aren't going to rescue Neji-niisan," said Hinata with a tone that Kiba barely recognised. "We're going to assist him."

The Inuzuka heir waved off her comment and focused on the woman running just ahead of him. He hated the fact that she had come with them, but the small child she carried in her arms was the main source of his concern. Ino wasn't the type to bring her child into danger without complete loss of her reason and Airi wasn't a normal child, but he saw the little girl as under his protection.

After an hour of travel, the Kazekage called for a temporary break. With soldier pills they would be able to travel days without resting, but Gaara was well aware that they would likely need to be in top fighting form when they arrived.

While munching on a stick of charred meat, Naruto rubbed at his temples sorely. He'd spent years not being affected by any kind of disease or affliction, so headaches were something completely foreign to him.

The sun had set hours before they'd entered the Land of Fire and the night was particularly cold, but that didn't stop the shinobi from being on edge and setting up guards. The Sunagakure shinobi were very quiet as they rested and prepared for the long journey that remained in front of them.

"Can I have a shower when we get there?" asked Airi to her mother with the most innocent look she could muster.

Ino smiled and continued to brush her daughter's hair affectionately, "I'm sure we can find something, dear. There might even be kids your age there."

"Like Jono?" Airi had developed what could amusingly be considered a crush on a young Suna boy that was a few years older than she was. Ino hadn't been sure how to handle it, but her adopted daughter was much smarter than she could have thought and swore that she didn't use her special ninjutsu abilities to communicate with him.

After a few minutes of quiet, Airi head almost snapped across and her pale blue eyes locked onto one of the nearby Konoha survivors.

"What is it honey, what's wrong?" asked a concerned Ino, not recognising the too-serious expression on her daughter's face.

_There's a monster in that man's head!_

Switching to her telepathy showed how she was, but Ino was quick to reassure her. "It's okay; he's in control of it. He's had the monster since he was born."

Airi shook her head so quickly that her hair seemed to move independently. _No, no! The monster is…it's claws are hurting the man! I can hear his screams!_

Now Ino knew something truly was wrong. She cradled her daughter in her arms and stood up cautiously, walking over to the married couple with a concerned look on her face.

Naruto was too preoccupied with his headache to notice her approach, but Hinata could read her expression from a mile away. She put up a hand to stop her and got up to meet the medic in front of her husband. "Is something the matter?" she asked with at a whisper.

Stroking her daughter's hair, Ino glanced at her friend's husband. "You know about my daughter's ability, right?"

Hinata nodded, she'd been told all about Airi by Kiba. She thought she was adorable and could clearly see Kurenai's influence on her child. Despite herself, she could almost feel her motherly instincts churning at the beautiful little girl.

"She says there is something wrong with Naruto," whispered Ino to her.

The Hyuuga heiress frowned and turned back to her husband, looking him over like a doctor would a patient. At first she couldn't see anything beside a regular headache that was likely caused by stress, but something didn't quite fit.

She motioned for Ino to take her daughter back and stepped forward to kneel in front of her husband. He still hadn't brought his face up to notice the discussion and didn't even notice when she placed her hands on either side of his face and her hands started to glow blue.

The moment she activated her medical technique she realised that she should have noticed it the moment he had complained of having a headache. It was a complex issue that she couldn't even begin to understand, but she knew that she couldn't just leave it to its own devices.

It was then that Naruto began to scream at the top of his lungs.

The sound drew every shinobi in the area's attention immediately and they leapt up with weapons ready to fight off any invaders that came near them.

Naruto's hands shot up to Hinata's and clutched at them so tightly his nails drew blood from her arms. Despite this, Hinata refused to move her hands from her husband's head, determined to not let him go.

"What is going on?" demanded Gaara as he arrived at the scene in a whirlwind of sand. He'd found it difficult to sleep outside of his village, but years of insomnia had made him used to not being able to sleep. However the dark rings around his eyes had already begun to resurface as clearly as they had once been.

Naruto roared out in pain and his head shot upwards, his voice changing from its usual tone to one that sounded closer to a beast. Hinata's white eyes widened as she recognised the sound and took one of her glowing hands from the side of his head and clamped it over his mouth.

"Naruto's sick," said Hinata almost dismissively.

Gaara leaned forward to look closer, "Since when does that happen?"

The two Inuzuka's bounded up to the commotion, with both holding their noses.

"What the hell is that smell?" exclaimed Kiba through his held nose. "It just came out of nowhere."

Hinata went to respond, but Naruto roared out through her silencing hand and froze up before collapsing onto the ground. His wife tried to catch him and failed, but she cradled his head and activated her Byakugan to examine him.

Nearly a dozen people behind her all spoke at once, but Hinata couldn't hear a word they were saying. With her Byakugan active she could see the destructive chakra running through her husband's system, shutting down his organs one at a time. She took her hands from his head and placed them on top of his chest.

Her medical technique was the only thing keeping his heart beating, though it was a close thing. She didn't notice when Ino lent her assistance to keep him stable, or when a passing group of Quiraji stumbled onto the Sunagakure force and attacked them with impunity.

She only cared about keeping him alive.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"This is complete crap!" said Kiba with a disgusted look on his face.

Gaara stared at the Inuzuka heir for a moment before turning back to Hinata, "I'm sorry, but that is my decision. I consider Naruto my friend, but I have a greater obligation. We don't have a choice."

After staying up the whole night, Hinata had tired rings around her eyes to match the Kazekage, but she still kept her senses as she nodded numbly. "I can't leave my husband. I'll stay here and defend him even if it costs me my life."

"We'll stay with you," said Kiba stubbornly at her side. His companion Akamaru barked out in agreement, but Hinata placed a hand on her old teammate's shoulder to dissuade him.

"You have to go with them, Kiba. They'll need your skills for tracking." Hinata turned around before he could respond and walked back to her husband's comatose body and her hands glowed with her medical technique once again. "Leave us here."

"Hinata…" muttered Kiba, but he could see that she'd made up her mind.

"We can't delay here any longer," said Nagisa beside her kinsman. "Either we leave a group to guard him, or we take him back to Suna."

"We can't risk moving him," said Ino with a long sigh. "His organs are constantly in flux; his body is literally trying to eat itself alive." She turned to look at the blonde shinobi's body, "I don't know what she's doing, but it's keeping him alive."

"Is there anything we could do to help?" asked Gaara, not wanting to just leave his friend on his own in enemy territory. "We have to keep moving, but I'm not comfortable leaving him on his own."

"You should all go," said Hinata after a few moments of silence. Her voice conveyed the seriousness of what she was saying, yet they could all hear the warning as well.

Gaara was unsure about her request, but organised his shinobi to move out regardless. They were ready within moments, having been on constant edge since the Quiraji attack.

Before anyone could comment about what she said, Hinata turned to regard them with her Byakugan blazing. "The Kyuubi's chakra is trying to take over his body. Without a seal holding it in place, it could break out at any moment. I know Naruto wouldn't want any of you to get hurt because of him."

"What about you?" asked Kiba, concerned about his old teammate's wellbeing. "You'd be right in the centre of the chaos if the Kyuubi comes out."

"I'm his wife," said Hinata stubbornly. "I'm not leaving his side."

They tried to talk her into letting them help her, but Hinata refused in a manner that was quite reminiscent of her comatose husband. Eventually they relented and admitted they didn't have any more time to spend before reaching Neji's position at the Fire Temple.

Gaara gave her a scroll that he described contained an instrument that could be used to possibly seal a Tailed Beast. It had been something he had been keeping a hold onto if Shukaku ever got out of hand, but over the past few years he had realised he no longer needed it.

After saying their goodbyes and wishing her well, the Sunagakure group moved on within the Land of Fire. Once she saw they were gone, Hinata sighed and continued her vigil over her husband.

_**You're fighting against the inevitable, little girl.**_

"Shut your mouth, fox," she spat back at the voice in her head. While she was connected to Naruto through her healing technique she was able to experience what was going on within his mind. It wasn't how she normally responded to adversity, but the situation had robbed her of her patience.

She could see her husband fighting against the monster that lay within him. All she could do was keep him alive and have faith that he would return to her.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Okay, I know the ending is a bit weird, but trust me; it'll make sense after the next chapter. The reason for that happening will become clear, and also why Hinata told the others to leave them be.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	80. Chapter 73 War Between Minds

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 73 – War Between Minds

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be flash-forwards.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

Though they had the best intentions in mind, the help that Naruto and company offered was not needed to win the battle in the Land of Fire. Neji was grateful for their arrival but disappointed that they didn't bring the Cascading Flow army with them. To compensate, Neji asked him to intervene at Suna and get Gaara to work with them. As such Naruto and Hinata left for Sunagakure and met with some old friends when they arrived. However Gaara was unwilling to give them what they needed for fear that it would leave his village vulnerable. The Quiraji attacked the village once again and they were able to fend them off, but Gaara understood the message. With a heavy heart he gave Naruto what he asked, a Sunagakure army with himself at the head. On the way to help the Otogakure shinobi, Naruto suffers a mental attack that incapacitates him and the Suna army is forced to leave him and Hinata where he fell.

***End Summary***

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><p>It always seemed to smell here, noted Naruto as he tried to find a dry patch of ground to stand on and failed miserably. The sewer that always seemed to populate his mindscape was lower than he remembered, but the dirty water still seeped through his toes in his sandals and sent shivers up his body.<p>

Naruto sighed and looked around for a way out; he had no interest in entertaining his occupant at this stage of the game. The Kyuubi had been suspiciously quiet over the past week or so, but to pull him completely in like this meant it had to be making a major play.

He felt the urge to copy Shikamaru and complain that it was bothersome, but that felt oddly out of character for him. Instead he discovered that his headache was gone and concentrated on being happy about that.

It was only when he saw ripples in the sewer that he understood what that meant.

Turning around he saw a large shadow approaching from the other side of the sewer, slowly forming into a shape he hadn't seen in a long time. Unlike the many previous times they had interacted, the Nine-Tails had regained its full form as a massive red fox with nine flowing tails behind it and a matching look in its eyes that immediately pissed Naruto off.

"What the hell am I doing here?" asked Naruto to his occupant before realising it was an inherently stupid question. If the Kyuubi was here in that form, it only meant one thing.

Well possibly two things, but he didn't like the thought of playing shougi with a fox beast ever again.

"**You should have sealed me when you had the chance,"** came the Kyuubi's rumbling voice, echoing around the sewer far more than usual. **"You will suffer for your arrogance."**

"It wasn't arrogance, it was compassion."

That seemed to surprise the Kyuubi, but it recovered quickly and continued to growl threateningly at him. **"It is time I took your body for my own and squash you like the insect you are."**

Naruto groaned loudly and rubbed at his arms sorely, "Couldn't this wait? I'm kind of in the middle of a war right now. Can't we have our 'final battle' after that? Now doesn't really work for me."

If the Kyuubi wasn't angry before, now it definitely was as it slammed its claws into the sewer floor and caused torrents of water to splash around everything. However there was something else in its monstrous expression that Naruto noticed, something he knew the Kyuubi was trying to hide.

Impatience. Impatience and fear.

"**You have no choice. You will fight, you will fail and you will die. I have no interest in fighting your pointless war."**

"It's your war too," said Naruto with a frown. "You were there at the start of it and we are cleaning up the mess that you couldn't."

The Kyuubi snarled and snapped its mouth threateningly, **"You know nothing, boy! I will not partake in this fool's errand."**

"What, you want to run away?" It was laughable considering the source. "I thought you were a hateful bastard and a murderer, but I never took you for a coward. Clearly I was wrong."

Naruto immediately regretted making that observation as the Kyuubi shot across the distance between the two of them and drove its claw into his chest, sending him crashing into a nearby sewer wall. He groaned and struggled to pick himself up, holding his side tenderly. Instinctively he'd hardened his body with physical energy, but the blow had still cracked two of his ribs, which was never pleasant. He had no memory of whether injuries suffered here translated back in reality, but it hurt like hell now and that's what mattered.

Glancing up at his foe, Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the Kyuubi bearing down on him, its mouth wide open to show rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth that begged him to enter their loving embrace.

Not wanting to risk further damaging his ribs with a teleportation right now, Naruto dug into his kunai pouch and tossed a seal-covered kunai through the gap between the Kyuubi's body and the ground far off into the distance. Just for the Kyuubi was able to bite him into little pieces, he used Hiraishin to teleport to the kunai, reaching out to grab it in mid-flight but fumbling it and letting the projectile fall to the floor.

"Damnit…Dad made it look so easy…" he muttered with a shake of his head. He leant down and picked up the Hiraishin kunai, shook off the sewer water and placed it back into his pouch before taking another moment to examine his damage. His ribs weren't as injured as he'd thought so he was confident he would be able to fight, but it certainly wasn't going to feel good.

Across from him, the Kyuubi turned and snarled in frustration at its prey escaping its grasp. Having lived inside the blonde shinobi since his birth, the Kyuubi was well aware of every trick and technique the little boy knew, but that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed at how slippery he could be.

"**You don't seem to understand the situation you are in. The man that calls himself Benkei is a destroyer of life. You have already lost this war."**

"Are you trying to warn me, or kill me?" asked Naruto with an exasperated tone.

The Kyuubi gathered up its nine tails and began beating the ground to create shockwaves that made it difficult to keep balance, **"Kill you!"** Suddenly two long arms of red chakra shot out of its chest and screamed towards Naruto at an unthinkable speed. It took every part of agility he had to dodge out of the way with a leap to the side, but before he could find his footing again another pair of chakra arms came towards him and grasped him in a firm grip.

His enemy laughed deeply and started to walk towards him as it tightened its grip on him. Naruto cried out in pain as he could feel his bone screaming out for relief, but the Kyuubi's grip was iron-tight. **"Now I will take over your body and make my own way in the world. No longer will the Kyuubi be slave to a shinobi and made to fight his wars!"**

Struggling in the chakra-based grip, Naruto grimaced before regarding the Kyuubi's hateful expression, "Oh, I wouldn't count me out just yet." He closed his eyes for a moment and gathered his spiritual energy from within himself before swirling it around his body like a whirlwind. The effect was instantaneous as the spiritual energy technique was stronger than the Kyuubi's chakra grip, causing the red mass to dissipate as Naruto dropped to the ground with his full body Kattoken swirling around him.

Temporarily off-put by his sudden escape, the Kyuubi couldn't defend itself as Naruto leapt into the air and slammed a wind-powered fist into the front of its face, sending its massive form crashing backwards in a flailing ball of limbs and tails.

Landing back on the ground, Naruto cancelled his Kattoken and placed his hands together in a handseal. It was clear the Kyuubi wasn't going to listen to him and needed a good beating, but he had to take advantage of the Tailed Beast's arrogance and underestimating him before it realised that he was quite likely fighting far above his level and took him down.

As the Kyuubi recovered and roared out at the indignity of being struck by such a small shinobi, Naruto created hundreds of Kage Bunshin behind him, filling up the sewer area with bodies until it was bursting at the seams.

Once the area behind him was filled with clones, every second Kage Bunshin put their hands together to transform into a large windmill shuriken to be held by their partners. In the sewer there had only been room for hundreds of clones, but now it was filled with hundreds of weapons ready to be thrown at the large red monster at a moment's notice.

The lead Naruto was the only one without a windmill shuriken, but he was clearly in command as he slowly raised his right arm.

Opposite the young shinobi army, the Kyuubi chuckled deeply. **"You cannot think that normal shinobi weapons can hurt me."**

A matching grin came over Naruto's face, "You're right." He dropped his arm.

In perfect synchronisation, the army of clones hurled their windmill shurikens at the Kyuubi. Many of the projectiles traced along the same lines towards their target, while the projectiles on the sides flew around to flank the Kyuubi and come at it from every angle.

Confident in its chakra-enhanced hide, the Kyuubi didn't even bother to put up its tails to defend itself, instead taking a single step towards the young shinobi to punish him for his arrogance.

It was when the first windmill shuriken buried itself halfway into the Kyuubi's shoulder that it was reminded how dangerous it was underestimate the Uzumaki heir.

Turning its sharp eyes to the projectiles flying towards it, the Kyuubi realised how Naruto had pierced through his hide; he'd infused the windmill shurikens with wind chakra to enhance its edge to the extent that it could injure it.

It turned and covered its right side with four of its tails just as a hail of windmill shurikens threatened its flank. The Kyuubi fuelled a tiny portion of its chakra into the tails so that the projectiles bounced off harmlessly and repeated the trick on its other side, but because of the sheer number of shurikens the Kage Bunshin had thrown at it the Kyuubi wasn't able to protect itself completely.

Once the air was clear of spinning blades, dozens of massive shurikens stuck out of the Kyuubi like oversized splinters, causing little more than irritation to the massive beast. But to Naruto the attack was a complete success and he and his clones were already charging forward with kunai in hand to attack the Tailed Beast en masse.

The Kyuubi let out a roar of frustration and went to pull back a claw to swipe its attackers away like the pests they were, but its limb felt too heavy to move. When it turned its large head to see what was wrong, the Kyuubi saw that the shurikens that had bounced off of his defences had turned back into their Kage Bunshin forms and were weighing down his claws and tails through weight of numbers.

The Tailed Beast bit at its own claw furiously, dispersing scores of Kage Bunshin at once, but it knew that it would take too much time to regain its full movement. Instead it turned its attention back to the horde charging towards it, feeling its anger boil to levels it didn't know shinobi were able to get it to.

Naruto allowed himself to be overtaken by the front elements of his shadow clone army as a group of clones began to form a large chain of clenched hands. He took the lead clone's hand and allowed them to swing him around like a ball and chain, not even needing to use wind chakra to enhance his speed. While spinning Naruto had an odd thought that his body didn't even seem to react to the momentum at all, clearly his Hiraishin training had given him a good resistance to such things. Through frenzied glances he could see the Kyuubi seemed to have grown a red cloud of chakra around it that had dissipated the shadow clones holding it down.

Immediately regretting his course of action, Naruto didn't have time to warn his clones not to throw him before they did exactly that. Trying his best not to scream and failing miserably, Naruto rocketed through the air between the clones and the Kyuubi, breaking through the Kyuubi's defences and through to the other side. The Tailed Beast didn't seem to even notice his approach and subsequent failure as he neared a solid wall behind the Kyuubi.

In desperation Naruto reached out with his chakra and grabbed onto the nearest Kage Bunshin he could find, using the Kamawiri no Jutsu to substitute himself with the clone just before impact. He felt the clone's pain as it dissipated against the wall, but that wasn't as bad as the judgement his clones sent him for his action.

On the other side of the Kyuubi his clones were keeping the Tailed Beast occupied with their own complex formations of attacks with wind-enhanced blades. Naruto took a moment to grin; he was proud of how independent his clones could be in combat situations. His wife had warned him that eventually they would rebel against him, to which he had reminded her of all the times they had ignored his commands and gone out for their own missions.

He turned to his enemy to see a part of the Kyuubi's red chakra cloak had dissipated slightly as it concentrated on destroying the Kage Bunshin army in front of it. His clones weren't doing any real damage to it, but they were keeping it occupied and that worked perfectly for him.

Pumping chakra through his legs to greatly enhance his speed, Naruto shot forward and leapt high into the air before landing on the middle of the Kyuubi's back. It seemed to notice his landing as it stretched its back upwards and flail itself wildly. Naruto noted with interest that the same chakra technique that allowed him to run along walls also worked on the chakra beast.

Running up the Kyuubi's back, Naruto collected chakra around his arms and formed them into sharp wind drills just beyond his fists. They were less powerful than when he used spiritual energy, but when he used chakra he had much more control over the technique and he'd learnt that at times that had its uses.

The Kyuubi tried to shake him off, but Naruto only needed a moment to get his footing before launching himself high into the air and pushing off of the ceiling to slam his wind drills into the middle of the Kyuubi's back.

Unlike the wind-enhanced shurikens that had struck it earlier, Naruto's hands that had been formed into rapidly spinning drills bored deep into the Kyuubi's hide and caused it to buckle in agony as he felt himself strike something that sounded like its spine.

The Tailed Beast went to turn to shake him off, but it was clear that every motion caused it absolute agony, so it did the only thing it could think of. All around the Kyuubi appeared small coloured balls of chakra that began to surround the original Naruto on its back. The blonde shinobi glanced up to see what the Kyuubi was doing and swore under his breath as he realised that the Kyuubi was willing to blow up both him and itself in order to defeat him.

He had no interest in such an outcome, so he cancelled his technique and used his spiritual energy technique to teleport to the remainder of his Kage Bunshin army as the Kyuubi's body began to regenerate rapidly. It lay on the ground for almost a full minute, staring at Naruto through hating eyes, unable to understand why he was just standing there, not attacking it.

Naruto watched the Kyuubi cautiously, feeling an odd sense of vulnerability in his own mindscape in front of the powerful creature. It was clear that his smaller size and greater speed gave him a distinct advantage in the battle, but he had no interest in killing the Kyuubi; if anything he suspected doing so would kill him in the process.

But in the same vein, if he wasn't striking to kill, the Kyuubi could easily take him over and do as it pleased with his body. He had no doubt that the first casualty of the Tailed Beast's subsequent rampage would be Hinata, and that wasn't acceptable under any circumstances.

He had to win, but had no idea of how to go about doing so. The Kyuubi was a creature of almost unimaginable power and chakra. While he had clearly struck a good blow against it, it had taken a not-so-insignificant amount of his strength to do so and without the Kyuubi's chakra seeping into his chakra pools for him to use, using Kage Bunshin to such an extent was surprisingly taxing.

He had to fight smart, as opposed to with his instincts. He didn't like being forced into changing tactics, but this wasn't like fighting the Quiraji. "I thought you'd be tougher than this. Clearly the stories about your attack on Konoha were greatly exaggerated."

It was a cheap taunt, but the Kyuubi took the bait with gusto with a furious roar that almost made his ears bleed and blasted enough air across the mindscape sewer to dissipate large numbers of his shadow clones.

"**You know nothing! Had I my full power you would be little more than a smudge on the wall!"**

Naruto laughed to hide his nerves, "So what, you're holding back to make it more interesting? At this rate I won't even break a sweat." He hated sounding so arrogant; it was a line he had shamelessly stolen from old-Sasuke-isms. But he had a plan and that required a certain method to proceed.

The Kyuubi seemed to be in a constant state of fury, though this was much more similar to the time before it had almost been extracted from him. Its wounds had regenerated completely and it had full mobility once again, but the Kyuubi hadn't lunged at him just yet. It was cautious of him and that played exactly into Naruto's hands.

"**When I killed your mother and father, your father took half of my chakra with him," **said the Kyuubi with a smug yet hateful look in its red eyes. **"I might only have half of my former strength, but that it MORE than enough to squash an insect like you."**

Naruto gave his deceased father a mental thank you as he began to implement the next stage of his plan. The Kyuubi began stomping towards him with its tails swirling around to collect small balls of chakra that changed colour rapidly. Naruto knew they were very dangerous and to avoid them at any cost, but he also knew that the Kyuubi wasn't going to let him get in close either by how quickly it was moving towards him and the movement of its claws.

However as the last of his Kage Bunshin got into place, Naruto knew that he didn't need to get close again either. He had other methods of fighting that only required his opponent to come into the right area.

Once the Kyuubi stepped within striking range of him and pulled back a claw to swipe at it, Naruto put his hands together in combination with his Kage Bunshin and activated a high-level technique he'd only recently developed.

Around the Tailed Beast his shadow clones stepped onto the seals they had placed on the ground and activated their handseals to form a large square of flowing chakra. With Naruto completing the connection, the Kyuubi found itself unable to proceed any further forward.

"Raiton…um…damnit I don't have a name for this one yet…" He thought about it for a moment before just shrugging and turning his attention to the Tailed Beast in front of him.

The giant Tailed Beast struggled as it beat its arms and tails against the cage of lightning chakra that had been erected around it. It didn't spark until it came into the area between seals, but when it did the field lit up with flashes of lightning that sent it flying backwards into the caged area. It roared out in frustration as it had several times before and shot several of its chakra balls towards its attacker in an attempt to take him out.

However Naruto had prepared for that as well.

Using his chakra as a springboard, Naruto launched himself up into the air to intercept the chakra balls and used his extended spiritual energy to catch them in a slingshot motion before sending them back at their creator. When he designed his main technique he'd made it so that the lightning field would only react to large masses passing through it, meaning the chakra balls flew past as if nothing was ever there.

The Kyuubi barely had time to defend itself with its tails as its own attacks slammed into its body. Since it was a creature made of chakra, the chakra blasts didn't do as much damage as they would to something made of flesh and bone like his jailor, but it still hurt him enough to preoccupy him for a short period of time.

While the Kyuubi was recovering, the Naruto clones stepped forward and compressed the lightning field, pumping as much chakra as they could into the seals to make the technique as strong as possible. Once they got close enough that they could almost jump forward and touch the Kyuubi's hide they kept their positions and waited for the Kyuubi to realise it was in a hopeless situation.

Standing on the other side of the lightning cage, Naruto was thankful that the Kyuubi had taken the bait and fallen into his trap; things could have easily gotten out of his control if it had noticed the clones moving around its flank or if it had just attacked from a distance. He was proud that it had worked though; he felt Shikamaru would have been proud of his multi-layered plan.

"Do you admit your defeat?" he asked hopefully, not wanting to draw the fight out any longer than he had to. He still wasn't sure why the Kyuubi was only now lodging its claim to his body but on, what felt like, the eve of battle he wasn't about to let himself be taken over and destroyed.

The Kyuubi struggled against the lightning walls but found itself unable to move more than a few metres in every direction; its attempts at attacking the Kage Bunshin holding the seals proving equally as fruitless. It thought about creating more chakra bombs to throw around, but with the ease in which his jailor had thrown them back it knew that wouldn't keep working.

It wasn't about to admit defeat though. **"I cannot be defeated so easily, boy. I fought the Quiraji long before you were a twinkle in your daddy's eye and I know the consequences of fighting such battles."**

"Sounds like you're scared," observed Naruto with a hint of irony in his voice. "The great and powerful Kyuubi is scared of a single man and his minions? I couldn't write stuff this good."

"**I AM NOT SCARED!" **With that, the Kyuubi disappeared in a fine red mist, leaving little trace that it had been there at all.

The Naruto clones maintaining the lightning field glanced at the original with confused looks on their faces, to which Naruto could only shrug with a similar expression. He had no idea what had happened, but he couldn't sense the Kyuubi in the nearby vicinity.

Dispersing his clones but keeping the seals on the ground in the sewer just in case, Naruto reached for his side pouch to take a soldier pill to replenish his chakra until he realised that Hinata had been carrying all the medical supplies for their trip. She insisted it was purely because she wanted to make sure they were all there, but Naruto knew it was to stop him from abusing soldier pills to do excess training. There had been times when he'd nearly overdosed on the chakra-enhancing pills and Hinata had to keep reminding him that he wasn't immortal.

As he thought of those conversations he'd had with his wife, an odd thought came to Naruto's mind.

When the Kyuubi died, it would always be resurrected at some point in the future. Why then was it so terrified of facing the Quiraji in battle? What could they do to scare something that powerful?

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Once it realised that it wasn't able to defeat Naruto in a regular fight, the Kyuubi took control of his mindscape and transported the two of them to an entirely new location.

He hadn't seen it in many years, but Naruto knew his old village when he saw it. His heart sank as he realised that the Kyuubi didn't bring him here for nostalgia.

Even as so many years, he still felt partially responsible for the village's destruction. If only he'd been there, maybe he could have helped prevent the tragedy.

The sky around him was pitch black, yet Naruto could see around the village as clearly as day. The buildings felt the same and the air tasted just the same despite the fact that it was in his mind. However when he looked at the Hokage Mountain, Naruto frowned as he saw that it had been partially destroyed by some kind of chakra blast. Glancing around the village, Naruto realised what the Kyuubi was doing.

It was destroying the village he had held so dear. Every swipe of its tail smashed apart buildings and tore down trees, while its roar was ear-piercingly loud. He was sure that the Kyuubi was replaying the events that had happened during his birth; a scene it had shown him thousands of times during the time when it had tried to torture him with horrific images.

But with a clench of his fists, Naruto remembered that this time he wasn't just an observer. He had the power to fight back and save his home.

He went to jump towards the massive fox monster, but was almost knocked off his feet by a large group of Konoha shinobi that had the exact same thoughts ass he did. Naruto steadied himself on his feet and tried to see if he could recognise any of them, but before he could get a better glimpse of them the Kyuubi's tails shot forward and slammed a nearby building so hard that it fell on top of them and killed them instantly.

Naruto gritted his teeth and reminded himself that they weren't real; they were figments of his mindscape conjured up by the Kyuubi and populated by its desire to kill shinobi.

However the battle of Konoha was not going the way Naruto had previously seen it. The Kyuubi had not been too inaccurate when showing him the battles of the past; it recognised that it had been beaten back by the Third Hokage and his forces, something that Naruto had respected greatly about the old man.

However this time, the Kyuubi was winning the battle by a significant margin.

Every fireball and weapon that was thrown at the Kyuubi was deftly blocked by one of its many tails before being quickly countered by either tail or claw. While revelling in its killing, the Kyuubi had yet to notice his presence, though it seemed to be preparing itself to fire one of its chakra balls at the Hokage Mountain.

Naruto turned with alarm, until he saw his father standing on his own face on the mountain, a kunai between his hands ready to teleport the blast. His chest swelled with pride at his father's image; he still hoped to be as strong and as great as him someday.

Just as he had been shown, the Fourth Hokage teleported the chakra blast far away from the village, sending shockwaves throughout the ground that shocked Naruto on his feet.

However what happened next was not what he recalled at all.

While recovering from teleporting such a powerful attack, the Fourth Hokage was unable to defend himself as the Kyuubi shot through the village at a speed Naruto could never image in such a large creature. In a single motion it reached forward and clasped his father in one of its claws.

Naruto called out for his father to get away, but a flash of light showed that he needn't have worried himself over the Fourth Hokage's safety.

With its prey temporarily unavailable, the Kyuubi finally turned its attention back to its occupant far away on the ground of the village.

"**Your village is pitiful, boy. See how easily it crumbles. Just as you will in the coming battle."**

Naruto snarled and clutched at his sword from his belt. He'd beaten the Kyuubi before and he would be able to do it again. No matter how big the Kyuubi made itself.

_If the Kyuubi can change things, maybe I can too. _

He turned and tried to summon up an image of his wife standing at his side.

Instead of the beautiful young Hyuuga heir, Naruto was confronted by the grinning face of the giant monster that had been trying to kill him since it had pulled him into his mindscape. When they'd fought before the Kyuubi didn't have that kind of speed at all; it was one of the advantages that he had held over the Tailed Beast that had helped his previous victory.

If the Kyuubi could maintain that kind of speed with that kind of power, there was no way he'd be able to defeat it.

The Kyuubi opened its giant mouth and leaned down to eat him in a single gulp, but before its teeth could clamp down on him a yellow flash appeared between them and shoved him out of the way. Naruto turned and watched in horror as the Kyuubi bit straight through his father's body and tore him into pieces. He couldn't believe it had happened; his father's Hiraishin surely would have allowed him to escape the attack in time.

It was just as the Kyuubi wanted. Unlike previous times when it would torment him, this illusion seemed to be fulfilling its use as an elaborate distraction, one that almost cost Naruto his life. With the horrifying speed it had displayed earlier, the Kyuubi moved its head and went to do the same thing to its first victim's son, but Naruto was able to teleport away with his own version of his father's technique.

Standing on his father's face just as the Fourth Hokage had earlier; Naruto felt his rage culminating at the frustration he'd been building up. It hadn't been obvious at first, but after the first battle it was clear that the Kyuubi wasn't just trying to mess with him. It wasn't trying to kill him either.

It was trying to take him over. And if Naruto had it right, that would involve breaking him in every manner possible.

However, that also worked both ways. Naruto had already proved that he was better than the Kyuubi as a fighter and now it was trying to change the circumstances to try and beat him down.

Without thinking, Naruto leapt off of his father's face towards the massive creature, intending on cutting it down with the Second Hokage's lightning sword. Just as the Kyuubi had increased itself in size and speed to take him down, Naruto's acceptance of the circumstances allowed him to replicate the feat on a massive scale.

His large foot crashed through a half-destroyed house as Naruto almost fell on his backside at the sudden transition. He glanced down at his giant hand to see that it was now as large as the faces on the Hokage Mountain behind him, while the shinobi beneath his feet gawked up at his giant form with expressions of awe.

The Kyuubi's expression was difficult to read when it was in its Tailed Beast form, but the small amount of fear in its eyes was enough to convince Naruto that he was already winning the psychological battle.

But that wasn't enough to stop the Kyuubi from letting out a thundering roar and collecting its tails near its jaw to summon up another chakra blast to shoot at him. It seemed to have confidence that he couldn't reach it before it fired the blast, but the Kyuubi hadn't yet learnt that underestimating him was still the biggest mistake it could make.

Teleporting himself straight in front of the Kyuubi, not caring about the destruction that his large feet caused in the knowledge that it wasn't real; Naruto ignited his lightning sword and slashed across the Kyuubi's tails. The Second Hokage's blade was able to cut through several of the tails before the Tailed Beast roared out in pain and shot its chakra blast straight into his face.

He was fast enough to dodge most of the blast, but the chakra blast still grazed the side of his face and exploded with terrible force. If he'd taken the blast full-on he knew he would have died, which he had no idea what would happen afterwards.

Because of his increased size, he only took heavy damage to his side and face, enough to send him flying into the village. His large form crashed through dozens of buildings and tore a terrible path through the already suffering village. He tried not to think of all the shinobi that would have been killed by his fall, thankful that it wasn't real.

Picking himself up, Naruto glared at the Tailed Beast with a snarl. He didn't want to think of what he looked like; it felt like half of his face was on fire. He chose to concentrate on taking out the Tailed Beast that was giving him so much grief. The Kyuubi grinned a toothy smile at him; proud that it had struck a blow against its enemy.

However its joy wasn't meant to last as Naruto shot forward and slammed his shoulder into its head. As the Kyuubi fell back with a roar of pain, he stabbed his sword into its body. Its chakra body was strong enough to stop him from piercing its heart, but his attack still did plenty of damage to the Tailed Beast.

Several of its tails shot forward and knocked him backwards, leaving the lightning sword sticking out of the monster fox like an absurd splinter. The Kyuubi reached across its chest with one of its claws and slowly pulled out the Second Hokage's sword. It took a moment to give Naruto a look that could have melted steel before crushing the hilt of the sword between its claws, deactivating it as it was thrown uselessly to a destroyed part of the village.

"Hey, that's an antique," said Naruto with a disapproving tone, despite being well aware that it wasn't the actual Raijin no Ken. He clenched his fists dramatically and began gathering spiritual energy around his body. "Enough foreplay."

Evidently the Kyuubi felt the same way as it began to gather up its chakra to fire another blast at him from the distance between the two of them. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the Tailed Beast's lack of imagination. Fighting battles require quick thinking and being able to surprise your opponent; using the same technique over and over again was just stupid.

In the knowledge that he didn't need to worry about damage to the fictional Konoha and hurting the non-existent Konoha shinobi, Naruto expanded his wind spiritual energy out like a whirlwind, ripping apart buildings and trees alike.

He recognised the irony that he was now doing the same damage as the Kyuubi had before, but his attack had also blown back the Tailed Beast and forced it to cancel its chakra blast to defend itself with its tails and claws.

The distraction was enough for Naruto to make thunderous leaps forward and harden himself with physical energy at the same time. He dodged out of the way of a single tail strike that the Kyuubi had instinctively lashed out at him with and slammed one fist after the other into the Tailed Beast's face.

The Kyuubi fell back under his barrage and tried to defend itself, but Naruto deftly ducked under lashing tails and wandering claws and continued his barrage of attacks, letting out all of his frustration and anger at the Tailed Beast in that moment.

Eventually he pulled back his fists and looked down at what he had done. The village around them had disappeared and they were back in the sewer that his normal mindscape looked like, with the Kyuubi having nearly halved in size under his attacks.

Naruto stumbled back as he realised what he'd done. He'd lost control of his emotions and tried to butcher the Kyuubi as it had tried in the past. He was horrified at what he had done, while being e

0ternally thankful that Hinata wasn't here to see him like that. /8*-*

Beneath his fists, he saw the smaller Kyuubi look up at him with real fear in its eyes for the first time. Naruto went to apologise for the brutal way he attacked it, but the Kyuubi disappeared in a red mist and his mindscape shifted once again. He bit his lip and centred himself with slow deliberate breathing and tried to figure out what he was really doing.

There was no seal holding the Kyuubi back, yet it hadn't tried to escape from his body. He knew he'd never be able to replicate his father's seal, but Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to seal the Kyuubi again.

He knew what it was like to be trapped with nobody caring about you at all. Despite all the horrible things that the Kyuubi had done to him, Naruto didn't hate the Tailed Beast.

He felt sorry for it. There was no pain greater in the world than loneliness and he figured the Kyuubi had been alone for longer than anyone.

But as long as it threatened him or the people he cared about, he would have to keep the Kyuubi in check.

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"**Why do you continue to struggle? Don't you realise you can't win this war?"**

Naruto watched as the Kyuubi appeared in front of him as a seven-foot-tall man with blazing red eyes, glaring at him intently. Its face was surprisingly tired; clearly the effort of fighting was taxing on the still-recovering Tailed Beast. However he suspected the Kyuubi was getting desperate now and that made it all the more dangerous.

"That doesn't mean we should run away," said Naruto stubbornly. "If you want to leave so much, why don't you just do that?"

The Kyuubi frowned angrily as a long red katana appeared in its hand. **"Would that I could, boy. You are the best chance I have for survival and I refuse to let you throw away my life for your meaningless conflict."**

Naruto sighed and pulled out the Second Hokage's sword, depressing the button to ignite its lightning blade. "Clearly you aren't going to listen to reason. We can't fight like this forever, Kyuubi. One of us will have to win."

The Tailed Beast in human form didn't respond, but rather shot forward and tried to cut off his head from his shoulders, but he brought up his lightning blade to block the strike effortlessly. It seemed to want to try and overpower his blade, but Naruto had no interest in playing by its rules.

Without any hesitation he let go of his blade temporarily and ducked under the sweeping blade before driving a fist into the Kyuubi's temple. He caught his sword's hilt on his foot and kicked it back up to his hand to grab it in a backwards grip and attempted to drive it into the Kyuubi's chest.

Taking a cue from its jailor, the Kyuubi used the momentum to clip Naruto's head with its foot, causing both to fall to the ground clutching at their heads painfully.

Naruto groaned and glanced up to see a red cloak of chakra appear around the Kyuubi's human form, similar to what he'd been told he'd done during his battle with Gaara during the Chuunin Exam. He knew how dangerous that form could be and jumped up to his feet before leaping backwards before the Kyuubi's chakra spiked out and attacked him.

Dropping onto all fours, the Kyuubi adopted a stance that was reminiscent of its original form with a wicked grin to match. Sticking out of its backside were three long chakra tails that flailed about like its original form would.

Naruto glanced down at the Kyuubi's feet and swore under his breath as he realised he'd left the Raijin no Ken behind. Seeing little other option, he reached into his belt and grasped three kunai per hand to hold between his fingers. He predicted that the Kyuubi would strike at him from a distance with its chakra arms and his occupant did exactly that, so Naruto was able to weave his way around the flying arms and toss his kunai along the ground between them.

No longer underestimating its occupant, the Kyuubi used bursts of chakra to destroy the kunai that he predicted Naruto would use to channel lightning towards him. During that time, Naruto began weaving his body from side to side, looking for an opening in the Kyuubi's defences. From either side of his body shot out shadow clones that began moving towards the Kyuubi at a rapid pace. He had no belief that they would be able to defeat it, but he watched it dispatch his clones with cautious eyes and absorbed the experience from his clones. It was clear the Kyuubi was far slower than it originally had been earlier in their fight, but the chakra cloak was very dangerous and would require a complex strategy to defeat.

Or a really simple strategy with overwhelming power.

"**Admit your defeat, boy!" **pleaded the Kyuubi in a manner that made it sound almost desperate. It knew he would come for it seriously now and in its weakened state it had to admit that the blonde shinobi had more power than it did at this stage, particularly with his abilities that were frighteningly similar to the Quiraji's. **"I will take your body and destroy everything you care about. Accept your defeat and lay down for your final rest."**

"Oh shut up," said Naruto impatiently. "I'm sick of hearing your stereotypical bad-guy speech. There hasn't been anything in our fight to suggest that you are winning, or that there is any chance of me running away from this battle or the war." He clenched his fists tightly and began gathering his strength once again, "I'm not going to stop hitting you until you realise that you cannot break my resolve. You will not threaten me anymore."

The Kyuubi went to taunt him as a fourth tail grew out of its rear, but held back its words as Naruto shot forward and moved to strike it with his Kattoken. With its chakra cloak enhancing its physical abilities the Kyuubi was easily able to dodge his attack by leaping to the side. However Naruto had seen this motion several times when it was fighting his clones and moved in line to catch it. He pulled back a leg and made a kicking motion towards the Kyuubi that was clearly out of range, but because of that the Kyuubi didn't bother to defend itself from his attack.

As such it wasn't prepared for him to throw out a burst of wind chakra in the shape of a kick that struck it straight in the chest, causing it to curl up defensively to recover from the damage. The chakra cloak wavered slightly as it absorbed the chakra from Naruto's attack to stifle its damage, but held steady as the Kyuubi prepared itself for its counter-attack.

Naruto wasn't about to let the Kyuubi take the pace though, shooting forward off his legs and barely missing the Kyuubi with his extended Kattoken technique as it dodged from side to side. It tried to strike back at him with its chakra arms and tails, but Naruto had so much experience fighting that style that he was able to read the movements like they were at a snail's pace. He moved the smallest distance possible to dodge the attacks and increased his speed substantially until the Kyuubi was unable to keep up with him and he began landing blows one after the other.

At first his Kattoken battered against its chakra cloak and was unable to pierce through, but every strength increased in power as Naruto poured everything he had into the Kyuubi so that it couldn't fight back at all.

Blow after blow slammed into the Kyuubi's human form until its chakra cloak broke and the ground beneath it started to crack under the barrage of Naruto's attacks. It tried to slip away, but the wide range that his spiritual energy encompassed forced it into a small curled up circle on the ground.

Naruto punched and punched and punched until he ran out of stamina, before stepping back and looking down at the broken person lying in front of him. The Kyuubi's human form lay broken and deformed, a section of its face visibly beneath chunks of earth giving him a mixture of terror and hatred.

But there was no more fight in its eyes, no ability to fight back or any intention to do so either. While he had defeated the Kyuubi through brute strength, it was clear that the Nine-Tails knew it no longer had the strength to defeat him or subjugate him. If he was going to fight the Quiraji, it had no choice but to accompany him and suffer the consequences.

It was pitiful and Naruto hated that he had to do something so vicious, but like the Kyuubi he was equally as desperate.

With both its human form and regular form beaten, the Kyuubi didn't appear to have the energy to pick itself up from the ground. Naruto hadn't just defeated it through his superior ability in battle; he knew he'd broken the Kyuubi's spirit.

It no longer had any will to resist him, but he in turn had no interest in subjugating the Tailed Beast.

If anything he felt sick that it had come this far. Clearly the Kyuubi was terrified of the upcoming war and wanted to get as far away as it possibly could, but hadn't the strength to leave him and go out on its own without being tracked down and killed by the Quiraji for the part it played in the destruction of their culture.

"**Why don't you understand that you will die? You will all die!"**

Naruto looked down at the creature with pity in his eyes, "Then we will die fighting for the people we care about. At least we'll be doing something."

The Kyuubi struggled as it brought up its head to glare at him through bright red eyes, **"You do not know what it is to die, little boy. What the Quiraji will give to you isn't death…it is destruction. There is no coming back from this battle."**

The blonde shinobi knelt down next to the Tailed Beast and shook his head, "It won't be our death but theirs. Do you want to know why I'm not afraid of the Quiraji? Because I have Hinata. I have Sasuke. I have all my friends and comrades. I trust that they will keep me safe and I will keep them safe. Because I'm not alone, I'm not afraid."

He could see the Kyuubi staring at him with a mixture of emotions in its eyes, reminding Naruto that despite its age and power it was little more than a child emotionally. It had been used, hated, abused, everything that Naruto had faced in his own life at one point or another. He had escaped that horrible life, but the Kyuubi was still stuck in that vicious cycle.

Naruto no longer had any will to fight either. He'd gone from wishing the Kyuubi gone, to wanting to help the Tailed Beast find its place in the world.

That would have to be after the war though and Naruto suspected the Tailed Beast had a part to play in it yet.

When he looked down to ask the Kyuubi whether it was willing to work with him or not, Naruto found that the Tailed Beast had disappeared once again. There were places in his mindscape that it could hide that he'd never find it, but Naruto doubted that it would stay away for long. It had almost no strength to speak of, even in his mindscape.

The Kyuubi had a decision to make and he couldn't pressure it into making a choice it didn't want to make.

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Having defeated the Kyuubi both physically and psychologically, Naruto took a moment to catch his breath and really look at the insides of his mindscape. He had no real understanding of how to manipulate and change it; much of what he had done during his battle with the Kyuubi was instinctive and when he tried to recreate them now it didn't work at all.

It was now that he'd leave his mindscape back to the real world and his wife, but for some reason that wasn't happening. Without the seal holding the Kyuubi in there was no telling what might happen next, but during their battle Naruto had figured that the Kyuubi was far too terrified to go out into the world on its own.

The shinobi world was far too hostile for creatures such as it, despite its overwhelming power. Clearly it figured its best chance at survival was within Naruto.

All at once it clicked in his mind. He'd often been considered a slow learner by the other villagers growing up, but even he wasn't that slow anymore.

Glancing up at the endless ceiling, Naruto spoke as loudly as he could. "If you've got something to say, you might as well come out with it. It not like you have anyone else to talk to."

He didn't really expect a response, but to his surprise he could hear a loud rumbling in the background.

"**We are not friends, boy. You do not command me despite your…victory."**

"Kyuubi, I'm not your enemy here. If we don't work together, I doubt either of us will survive. Now if you have any information that can help me, speak it now."

He couldn't see the Kyuubi, but Naruto could have sworn he could hear the hesitation in the surrounding silence. Eventually the Tailed Beast's voice sounded again, but the tone was just different enough to be noticeable to the young shinobi.

"**So be it…boy. There is one final piece that you need to be wary of. That's all you can expect out of me."**

An image shimmered in front of Naruto's eyes as the Kyuubi's voice thundered all around him.

"**Do you recognise this woman?"**

Naruto leered forward and stared at the robed woman, his eyes widening at the sight of her. He turned to where he assumed the Kyuubi was hiding. "Of course I do, what's your point?"

He could hear the fox's snigger before it actually sounded in his mind. **"What do you know of her?"**

"She's one of the Quiraji leaders," said Naruto quickly. He would recognise that face anywhere, though seeing her now was just as unnerving as the first time he'd seen it. "Is this what you're so scared about?"

"**I'M NOT SCARED OF ANYTHING!" **

The roar of the Kyuubi's frustration was enough to bring a grin to Naruto's face, though it was clear that something had shaken the Tailed Beast to the point that he was willing to risk everything to get away from the conflict.

With the static image in front of him, Naruto took a moment to look closer at the Quiraji leader. For a woman of such remarkable power, she had an unassuming look that betrayed how much death and destruction she had wrought over the years. She wore the pale robe that he'd always seen her in that concealed her body within, but it was very face that was the most unsettling.

Her eyes were closed as they had been the last time he'd seen her, but they still brought mixed feelings to the young shinobi. While he had only recently become aware that she was the instigator and facilitator of the destruction of Konoha, she had also brought him back to life after his training accident.

After a minute of silence, Naruto glanced around with a confused look on his face. "If you don't make your point, Kyuubi, I'll force it out of you. You know who runs the ship now."

He heard a loud sigh around him before a red mist appeared in his peripheral vision. Naruto turned to see the Kyuubi appear in a tall human form with shocking bright red hair and a pair of piercing eyes. Unlike the previous times he had seen the Kyuubi like this, there was something different about its appearance. It was somewhat similar to when the Tailed Beast told him about the Quiraji history with the shinobi, though Naruto knew that was more for self interest than anything.

The Kyuubi was different somehow; Naruto knew he no longer had anything to fear from it.

With a long robed arm, the Kyuubi indicated to the Quiraji leader.

"**She is the reason I exist."**

"I thought the Sage of the Six Paths created you. Something about taking apart the Ten-Tails or something."

The Kyuubi snorted in front of him, **"Close enough, but you don't know the truth. We were once a single creature, but the Ten-Tails came into being because of her action."**

He turned and waved a hand across Shiori's face. In front of them she began to change, slowly getting taller and her hood fell backwards to reveal a long length of oddly coloured hair and softer features than she once possessed.

Naruto couldn't understand why the Kyuubi was changing her appearance, but judging from the creature's serious expression he knew it wasn't just to mess with him.

That was an entirely different expression.

A long line appeared down her forehead, but it was the horns that protruded from her forehead that made Naruto question whether the Kyuubi had learnt a new way to mess with him.

She no longer looked anything like the Quiraji leader she had started out as.

"**Do you recognise her now?"**

Naruto sighed and threw his hands up into the air, "You know I don't. If you continue being so damn illusive, I'm not going to play nicely anymore."

The Kyuubi shot him a hateful look before moving to stand behind the woman that had once been the Quiraji leader. He placed his hands at either side of the woman's head, **"This is your ancestor, Naruto. The mother of all shinobi."**

"Kaguya…" Naruto had no idea how he knew that name, but it felt right. He leaned forward and nearly jumped back as the woman's eyes shot open. Her eyes were a pure white colour that was eerily familiar to Naruto, dispelling all doubt in his mind.

He shook his head and turned his gaze to the Kyuubi behind her, "So this is my ancestor. Nice trick, but what has this got to do with anything?"

The Kyuubi sighed and put down his hands, **"I'm seriously tempted to start attacking you again. How I lost to a deadbeat like you is beyond me."**

Naruto smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest and stepped back from the woman, "Because I'm just that good."

His occupant snarled but moved to the side of the woman and waved his hand across the air. Beside the image of the mother of shinobi appeared the image of Shiori once again. He hadn't been able to see it at first when one changed into the other, but seeing them side-by-side he finally understood what the Kyuubi was getting.

He frowned and pointed at them one at a time while staring at his occupant, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you seriously telling me that…"

The Kyuubi nodded as if it was obvious.

"But that's impossible! She must have died long before any of this happened." He could see his occupant about to say something, but Naruto could already see the connection. "But she clearly has the ability to bring people back from the…" He reached up and cradled his head, "This is making my brain hurt. How the hell is this possible?"

For once, the Kyuubi didn't have an answer for him. He waved his hands over the images to make them disappear as his expression intensified. **"There is someone coming."**

Naruto frowned and turned around before his face grew into a wide smile. He watched proudly as his young wife shot into his arms and embraced him in a rib-cracking hug. It had felt like years since he'd held her in his arms and nothing could stop him from enjoying the moment even as he could hear the Kyuubi scoffing in the background.

"How did you get here? We're in my mindscape."

Hinata pulled off him and kept their hands together tightly, "I noticed that the Kyuubi's chakra wasn't hurting you anymore and kept healing you and just…appeared here."

Naruto didn't really understand what she meant, but he was grateful for her presence here nonetheless.

He turned to the Kyuubi to ask another question about the Quiraji leader, but to his surprise the tall red haired man shook his head slightly and pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.

_There are things that others are not ready for. The shinobi world isn't prepared for Kaguya's return._

The blonde shinobi cocked his head slightly in questioning.

_Another time, boy. Just remember that she is not who you shinobi think she is. While you fight against the Quiraji leader, be wary of that woman. She will be your death. _

Despite himself, Naruto smiled and silently thanked the Kyuubi for the information. While they had been fighting he'd sensed a shift in the Tailed Beast, one that he couldn't quite explain. However it was clear that the Kyuubi no longer had any fight in it and was beginning to believe in Naruto's argument that hope wasn't lost for them.

"Can we go back now?" asked Hinata, unaware of the silent conversation between her husband and his occupant. "We've lost a lot of time from the others and the Quiraji could come at any moment."

Naruto nodded and took Hinata's shoulder in his arm, "Of course. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to everyone."

They turned to leave, but the Kyuubi stepped forward and placed a hand on Naruto to pull him back.  
><strong>"Why don't you seal me again? What guarantee do you have that I won't try and break free again?"<strong>

Naruto turned with his arm still around his wife's shoulder, "I guess it's because we're both in the same boat, both fighting the same enemy for the same reasons. Strange as it might sound, we are teammates in this conflict."

He watched the fox's expression shift as he said each word, but the Tailed Beast had no idea how to respond when it looked down to see his hand waiting in front of it.

"I know it's a bit delayed, but there it is. My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The Kyuubi hesitated as it stared at the shinobi's hand before its human form disappeared and it stood in front of him as its regular form. Extending a long red fist towards his old captor, the Kyuubi let Naruto close his fist before they touched. They both grinned at the same time; their past behind them and the future ahead of them.

"**Kurama. My name is Kurama."**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

So…I originally was going to not having the Kyuubi turn good. And to be fair, it didn't really turn good. The way I've been approaching it is similar to before this happened in the main story, though taken a bit further here.  
>What I do want to clarify is that this is not a power-up for Naruto. Remember what the Kyuubi said earlier about fighting the Quiraji. I have no intention of doing a Chakra Mode for him. That's not how his character has developed in this story. He's forged his own path with his own power.<p>

I'm hoping the battle between Naruto and the Kyuubi is up to snuff. I tried to make it an interesting group of fights, but it did get a bit one-sided after a bit. Naruto at this stage is pretty powerful and clever in battle in his own right and the Kyuubi is barely in a reasonable fighting form. I hope you enjoyed it.

And yes, there is more to the explanation at the end. You guys know me, I like to reveal things in trickles.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	81. Chapter 74 The Suspicious Retreat

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 74 – The Suspicious Retreat

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the origins of shinobi wouldn't be such a simply copy of previous mythology.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

While complaining of headaches since arriving in the Land of Fire, getting Gaara to bring a Sunagakure contingent and returning, Naruto found himself pulled back into his mindscape for what could be considered his final battle with his occupant. The Kyuubi was unwilling to explain itself initially, but it became clear that it was terrified of fighting the Quiraji and had every intention of taking over Naruto's body and fleeing. The two of them engaged in several battles across different forms, including one fought as gigantic versions of themselves in a pre-destroyed Konoha. Each time Naruto emerged triumphant and slowly he defeated the Kyuubi both physically and mentally, finally breaking the Kyuubi's will to resist completely. With Hinata keeping him alive the whole time with her medical techniques, Naruto was able to reconcile his differences with the Tailed Beast at least temporarily and forge an uneasy alliance for the coming conflict.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>It had only been an hour since he'd sent his cousin and her 'husband' to convince the Kazekage to help them, but Neji was already getting impatient to hear a result. The attacks that had been sent against their position had been few and far between besides the one that had brought the small group to them, yet Neji knew the Quiraji were planning something. His scouts had reported a large gathering of soldiers just out of sight of the Fire Temple, a force that wasn't a real threat to their dug-in position, but it would slowly whittle down their numbers until they couldn't protect their civilians and they'd be overrun by the Quiraji army.<p>

In his arm he rocked his sleeping son in his arms, the one year old having worn himself out by the tremendous act of walking for the first time. Unlike the twins who were the quietest children he'd ever seen, little Haruto was a moving terror and a handful to even the most experienced child-workers.

Glancing over to the other part of the couch, he watched as Yuko slept silently on his leg, having collapsed in a similar manner to their youngest. She'd been working herself tirelessly with the civilian population, keeping them secure and happy while also acting as a voice for the shinobi to reassure their families and deliver the bad news when one of them is killed.

He was so immensely proud of his wife, even as he reached over and pulled a thin blanket over her to cover her bare legs. The weather in the Land of Fire had taken an unexpected turn and it had been extremely hot. Being a woman who wasn't ashamed of her figure, Yuko had taken to wearing thin clothes that didn't overheat her, despite Neji's protests about her dignity.

It wasn't so much that he was old fashioned; he just liked the idea of having a monopoly on her legs. He wasn't much of a sharer after all.

A knock on his office door drew him from his staring at his beautiful wife and he activated his Byakugan so he didn't have to get up. Through his black and white vision he could see his assistants standing outside the door. The brother and sister combination were very effective at their jobs, but he wished that he could have more than five minutes with his family. He was tempted to send them away, but Kazuha held a report in his hands that Neji knew he had to read.

"Come in," he called out, thankful that both his son and his wife were deep sleepers. As the siblings entered the room he motioned for them to be quiet and present what they had come for.

Kazuha nodded his understanding and showed Neji the scroll that he was holding. The Otokage gave him a look to show that indicated that his single arm was throughly occupied and he couldn't unravel the scroll. The young man had enough dignity to silently apologise for his error, while his sister rolled her eyes.

"It says that the scouts report the Quiraji have retreated."

"I know that already, we beat them back when we defeated Shouri's beasts," said Neji with a tired expression on his face. He went to dismiss them for bringing him information he already knew, but something about Kazuha's face made him pause.

"Sir…" started his male assistant. "They've retreated from the field entirely."

The Otokage took a moment to process the information before his eyes widened at the realisation. He wanted to shoot to his feet, but the weight of his son in his arm kept him on the couch. He took a long breath and deactivated his Byakugan. "They must be up to something. Get me Sakon or Ukon, depending on who is on duty, and then Jin ten minutes afterwards."

The two siblings nodded and left the room without saying a word, recognising how serious their leader now was. They'd taken it as good news that their enemy had retreated, yet Neji's reaction to the news was something neither of them quite understood.

But as their promised, a few minutes later the door swung open and both Sakon and Ukon stepped through with hands on their hips. They spent most of their time separated these days, as opposed to years ago when they were convinced they were stronger together.

By the time they had entered his office he had carefully placed Haruto beside his sleeping wife and resumed his position behind his desk. Normally he would have woken her up and escorted her back to their sleeping quarters, but seeing how tired Yuko was he wasn't willing to move her.

"You didn't both have to come," he said as they approached his desk. "The two of you need your rest as much as anyone."

The twins looked at each for a moment before shrugging and turning back to him. "We aren't much for staying still…" said Sakon. "…or waiting around," finished Ukon. "What do you need?"

Ignoring the eerie way they finished each other's sentences, Neji placed his hand over the report from earlier, "The Quiraji have retreated from the area. I need to know why. I need one of you to go through your system and find out if the Quiraji have refocused their efforts on one of the other villages. If not, we will have to assume they are going to come back with larger numbers."

Sakon sighed and turned to his side, "We'll be back in an hour then."

"No, do it here."

The twins both gave him a suspicious look, but Neji's expression showed that he didn't have an hour to wait. They shrugged at each other and sat down in the middle of his office, crossing their legs and placing their hands in a handseal he'd never seen before. The way they gathered information through their unique technique had always been a mystery to him, but it had also been obnoxiously useful and he had been given no cause to question it.

That didn't mean he was going to wait for them to do it on their own volition.

With their eyes closed he could see the chakra swirling around inside their bodies with his reactivated Byakugan, moving in ways Neji hadn't even thought possible within a shinobi body.

After a few minutes he began to understand some of the aspects of their ability, but he was more interested in the information they were able to provide.

"Hmm…all the signals in Iwagakure have disappeared," said Sakon with a hint of fascination in his voice. "Strange that we didn't feel it."

Ukon didn't move, but Neji could see his agreement through his chakra. "Your Nara friend is not in danger. His village has yet to receive your other friends either."

"I knew that already," said Neji impatiently. "Sunagakure has its own problems to deal with at the moment. I'm concerned about the immediate problems."

A few minutes of silence later and the twins both opened their eyes at the same time. They looked up at their leader with looks that told him they both had news.

"What is it?" he asked quickly.

Ukon started first. "The Kumogakure shinobi that we infected have had a mixed reaction to the defeat of the army that had been plaguing them. There is a group that was tracking them that has been found by an old companion of yours."

It only took Neji a moment to put the information together, but he would need another time to formulate a plan around that information. For the moment he turned to the other brother and asked for his information.

"The one you had us infect and destroy his Byakugan is currently in the Land of Fire with a massive group of Kiri shinobi."

Neji frowned; he hadn't been expecting that. However he could sense the Jounin was holding back on him and ordered him to continue.

Sakon smirked at his teasing of their leader, "He's with the Mizukage. And they're in serious trouble."

"The Mizukage came here?" Neji's mind reeled at the implication, while Sakon picked up a pen and began writing down specifics. Ukon figured he should do that as well and began writing down his own information. "She must have tried the same thing we are doing…but on a smaller scale. That would explain why the Quiraji refocused their efforts onto her force. They would be easier to take down; since it's clear we aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"What would you have us do then? Let them go?" asked Ukon in his deep voice. "It would make a fine distraction while we consolidate our efforts."

Neji dismissed the idea immediately, "The Mizukage and her people are too valuable a prospect to use as bait or as a distraction. If what Naruto and Hinata told me is true, the two of us haven't truly had a dialogue yet. It's clear she understands the Quiraji threat…" he let his sentence run off as a plan formed in his mind.

They were still waiting on their scouts to return with the information he truly needed for the coming battles, but he was wary of the knowledge that they simply didn't have the power to break through the Quiraji lines and defeat their commanders on their own. As much faith as he had in Naruto and Hinata, he couldn't rely on any reinforcements coming from Sunagakure until he got confirmation that was going to happen.

He needed more pieces on the board before making his play.

Neji waited until the twins had given him all the information he required before he worked out the final details and left his wife and child in his office to find the two people who could deliver him a new ally to fight his war with.

oOoOoOo

Neither of them had been that tired from the battle a few hours ago, yet both Sasuke and Fiore felt an urge to just lie down and relax for a few minutes. However before they could, Fiore had insisted on seeing the civilians and making sure they were being treated properly by their shinobi protectors. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Otogakure shinobi; it was just that she didn't trust shinobi in general.

To her surprise, the civilians that were hiding underground had few complaints besides the fact that they missed the sunlight. The Fire Temple was originally a military stronghold before it became a temple and had extensive tunnels that easily accommodated their extensive numbers. It was clear that some kind of Doton user had extended out certain areas to allow for easier living, and they had more supplies than either of them had expected.

Despite the circumstances above ground, they seemed mostly glad that they weren't under worse circumstances. Regardless of her previous concerns, Fiore had to admit they were under good care.

When the couple emerged back to the Fire Temple where Otogakure shinobi were resting from the earlier battle, they stopped as they saw the Otokage approaching them.

Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about seeing the Hyuuga in a Kage outfit, though that had more to do with the arrogant look in his eyes that accompanied the black and white outfit. The moment after the battle had ended; Itachi had spoken to the Otokage then disappeared like he always did. It was infuriating, but Sasuke was used to it by now.

"What do you want?" he asked sharply, only to get a look from his partner that could have melted steel.

Fiore bowed her head slightly as an apology for Sasuke's rudeness, something she was getting sick of doing. "We've come to assist your efforts, wherever you need us."

Neji smiled at the young woman, grateful that he didn't just have to deal with the Uchiha shinobi alone. "Thank you, that's nice to hear. I know the two of you just got here, but we have a unique window of opportunity that I need your assistance on."

"We aren't your messengers," said Sasuke spitefully. "We came because Naruto asked us to. We're here to fight and then return to our people."

"And I'm giving you an opportunity to do just that." Neji kept his choler in check as he focused his attention on Sasuke's companion. "The two of you have the ability to move around this land in a stealthier manner than my shinobi can. If we approach things in the right manner, we can swing the war heavily into our favour."

"Sounds like fun," said Fiore with a grin. She didn't want to admit it, but she'd been antsy since her partner had done much of the fighting in the earlier battle. The interactions she'd had with the Quiraji had left a sour taste in her mouth and she was itching to cause some destruction. Glancing at her side, it was clear that Sasuke felt the same way, though he'd never admit that in front of Neji.

Neji reached into his cloak and produced a scroll that had written instructions for their mission. He handed it to Fiore initially and resisted the urge to smirk as Sasuke snatched it out of her hands and read it for himself.

"You want us to destroy this factory?" he asked with a raised eyebrow being the extent of his emotional response. "This is on the north-eastern part of the Land of Fire. At least a day away."

"I'm well aware," said Neji. "There is a Quiraji production facility there that is producing hundreds of anti-shinobi weaponry every day. They are protected by a large auxiliary force that was fuelling the war in the Land of Lightning before that ended prematurely."

"What aren't you telling us?" asked Fiore suspiciously.

Neji smirked at her question; he liked this woman more and more each second. "There is a group from Kumo that will likely cross that area in the next few days. I'd prefer them not to run into any major Quiraji resistance, if you catch my drift."

Sasuke read on past the first part of their mission to the real reason they were being sent out into the Land of Fire. It was a bold plan to be sure, but a question rose to his mind as he thought about it. "Why the two of us for this? I know you spoke about our ability to travel; we can probably fly most of the way there to save time. But neither of us are particularly diplomatic people. In fact we're notorious for not being like that at all."

"Hey, speak for yourself. I'm a great diplomat," said Fiore stubbornly.

"You have the eloquence of a fish, Fiore."

"More than you," she shot back.

"I'm not disputing that."

Neji put up a hand to try and keep them on topic, but it was clear that they didn't recognise that as an ability of his. After a few minutes they finally turned back to Neji and Sasuke repeated his question.

The Otokage had a variety of reasons for sending the two of them personally, many of which he had no intention of revealing to them personally. "Let's just say you are uniquely suited to convincing this group. If you can bring them to our position here, we have a good chance of breaking the cycle of Quiraji dominance and taking the fight to them." He smirked as he thought about it for a moment, turning to Sasuke slowly, "And let's just say…you're her type."

* * *

><p>Fiore leaned back on her wooden deck chair and sighed deeply at the setting sun in front of her. The Land of Fire had its beautiful moments if one took the time to find them; it was a crying shame that such a place had become so consumed with war. Secretly she wondered how much of it would remain once the war was all said and done, though the more pragmatic side of her questioned whether she should be a part of the shinobi's war in the first place.<p>

If it wasn't for her partner, she would still be with her mother and Cascading Flow.

Reminding herself of the man she'd spent a fair amount of time with over the past few years, Fiore leaned her head over the back of her wooden chair, "How much longer are we going to stay here?"

A tree in her view exploded into tiny splinters to review her Uchiha partner pulling back a fist and staring at it intently. He unclenched his hand and flexed his fingers as his eyes returned from their Sharingan state to their regular black. His breathing was slightly off from her perspective, but other than that it barely looked like he'd trained at all.

"Are we going to move on yet?" asked Fiore again, figuring he hadn't heard her the first time.

Sasuke put down his hand and began walking towards her, "We'll wait a few hours till its completely dark and then fly during the night. That way we can avoid detection from the Quiraji on the ground."

"We've already been here for two hours!" complained Fiore, but having known him for a reasonable amount of time she knew that Sasuke wasn't the type to admit that he needed some rest. She hadn't felt the need to train like he had so she had been bored out of her mind. "I don't know why you bothered training; you've had the technique down since Naruto taught it to you."

"He didn't…oh never mind." Sasuke walked around to her side and waited for her to extend her wood across so he could take a seat next to her. "Knowing a technique and making it combat-viable are two very different things. Only moulding chakra in my eyes while using the other things with the rest of my body requires a lot of mental control."

"Sounds like a terrible problem to have," said Fiore with no attempt to hide her sarcasm.

Sasuke shot her a dark look as she swung her feet to sit across his legs. "I'm not like you, who's only restriction is her imagination. I have to work to achieve my power."

Fiore chose not to point out the obscene amount of training she went through her entire childhood to achieve the level of control over her wood that she currently had; she doubted he would care anyway. If there was anything she'd learnt about him over the years it was that Sasuke's pride was the biggest motivator for him, even when he performed actions that were inherently unselfish. He was constantly working to improve himself for one reason or another and if he wasn't doing so then he would go out of his mind.

It wasn't so surprising when he'd offered to teach Naruto some specialised ninjutsu in exchange for his new techniques to battle the Quiraji. It had been Hinata that had shown him the aspects he was better suited for, while Naruto had more or less beaten the rest into him. Fiore hadn't thought Sasuke capable of asking someone for help like that in the past, but seeing the interactions between the old friends was like something out of folk tale.

She was lucky she wasn't the jealous type. Besides, she'd found Sasuke's friend's wife a thoroughly fascinating woman. Having watched her train she could see the power and skill the young woman possessed, yet she was entirely humble and nice to a fault.

Not that Fiore hated having time just with her partner. It was just sometimes company was nice to have around. Sasuke had a tendency to be quiet and brooding and that drove her spare.

"Who'll take first watch?" she asked after several minutes of silence between the two of them.

Her partner motioned to her with a casual gesture of his hand, "You know what they say: age before beauty."

Her response was a sharp kick to his side that caused him to fall of the wooden seat and double over in pain. Knowing that he needed rest far more than she did, Fiore flicked a hand and constructed a small covered area with her wood over him. He might drive her up the wall occasionally, but she did care about his well-being and he'd never admit to needing help.

His jab about her not needing to train had gotten to her as well, though she in turn would never admit that to him. She had a complete understanding of her ability and the limitations she had thought it had possessed.

She had no ability to mould or produce chakra, but that worked to her benefit. She didn't have to overcome years of indoctrination to utilise some of the abilities she had observed in their opponents and their new allies. She might deny it until the end of time, but Fiore had Senju blood running through her veins and given enough motivation could tap into the raw power that separated her and her mother from regular civilians.

She wanted to keep a secret from Sasuke until the necessary time though. It had been a while since she'd wowed him with something, and keeping things fresh helped keep a relationship alive.

Not that she could fully describe why she stayed with him. She just did.

* * *

><p>Once they knew they were sufficiently concealed under the cover of darkness, Sasuke and Fiore took to the sky on one of his faster hawks and flew silently for several hours towards their target. Having lived in the Land of Fire for much of his life, Sasuke was able to use the stars in the night sky to navigate reasonably well, while Fiore took note of the number of Quiraji soldier camps they passed below. It looked like there had been a massive army camped in the area not long ago, but they'd moved out in a hurry.<p>

"How much longer until we get there?" asked Fiore with a strained tone. She hated flying on his hawks, but admitted that she needed her strength for the coming battle and draining herself with her wood manipulation was just foolish.

Sasuke glanced down at the ground flying past them before reaching up and pulling back his hood to get a better view. It was nice and windy in the area, but he could see enough detail to understand where they were. They were closer to the border of the Land of Lightning than he was expecting, but by his account they were very close to the weapons facility that Neji had requested they take out.

He hated being the Otokage's soldier, but if it helped the war effort he was willing to do whatever was necessary. And some carnage would feel good right about now.

"Not long," he replied finally. "I was thinking we could do this like Ioki mountain."

Fiore stared at him like he was an idiot, "We would need at least fifty people to pull that manoeuvre off. Why not Fish of Fury?"

"There is nowhere close enough with that much water," said Sasuke with a scoff. Beneath the two of them his hawk gave out a shriek that caused him to nearly fall off the large bird of prey. Grabbing at its brown feathers and pulling the hawk upwards he swore loudly as clusters of arrows flew around them.

Fiore shook her head and grabbed her wooden staff to beat back any arrows that might come to close to hitting the two of them. Glancing down at their attackers, she was surprised to see there were over thirty archers re-notching their bows and preparing to fire again. They appeared to be standing on some kind of camouflaged platforms that she recognised as flat buildings that appeared to be set in a complex fashion.

"Sasuke…"

"I see them," said her Uchiha partner quickly, trying his best to manoeuvre their ride away from the ranged attackers. The hawk was very fast in the sky, but it only took a single arrow strike to its chest for it to burst into a cloud of smoke, sending its occupants falling to the ground. They'd learnt early on in the war against the Quiraji that summoned creatures were particularly vulnerable to anti-chakra weaponry and Sasuke knew his hawk had no choice but to return to its realm before it suffered fatal damage.

While falling to the ground, Sasuke turned to his partner with his hands stretched out in front of him, "I guess we're going with the Falling Meteor."

Manipulating her wood so that it became a platform for her to surf towards the ground on, Fiore smirked at his plan. "That'll work. Looks like the facility is mostly underground, want me to take care of the inside?"

Sasuke nodded and began summoning his spiritual energy like Hinata had shown him, while Fiore moved out of the way to avoid a group of arrows shot at her direction. While she had full control of her wood she shot down towards the edge of a nearby forest, allowing Sasuke to go about his business.

Falling to the ground, Sasuke could see a whole mesh of arrows coming towards him that threatened to turn him into a falling pincushion. He could feel the power growing within him in a similar manner to how he felt during training, but now that he was in battle he could feel his adrenaline fuelling his abilities to a far greater extent than he could have ever achieved during training.

"Seishou no Jutsu: Mokuyoku Honou!" (Spirit Technique: Bathing Flames)

From his hands two streams of bright blue flames shot down towards the enemy force below. They constantly streamed through the arrows that had been shot at him and disintegrated them instantly before bathing the Quiraji archers in super-hot flames that ignited them within their armour. The buildings that the Quiraji stood on were also ignited and burnt away to reveal long tunnels that looked to lead to an underground complex.

Once he had burnt away all the archers below him, Sasuke flipped around in the air and landed flawlessly on the ground. Small blue flames flickered on his hands before dissipating, giving his hands an ominous glow in the dark.

_Naruto's had this power for that long? No wonder he'd gotten so much stronger. If I didn't have the Sharingan, he would have beaten me at every turn when we sparred. _

He turned to see Fiore fly into one of the tunnels screaming bloody murder, causing a smile to come over his face. He was proud that he was with someone so strong that he could trust her to take care of whatever she would encounter inside. They'd only been given the necessary information on the place they needed to destroy and though he hadn't expected the Quiraji to hide the facility underground he knew they must be in the right location.

The small army of Quiraji soldiers that appeared out of the nearby forest and moved towards him with hateful looks in their eyes was enough to justify their trip. He recognised a small group of Red Warriors plus a Black Robe that appeared to be commanding the force. Under normal circumstances he would retreat and assess the situation, but with Fiore taking care of things underground he wasn't going to go anywhere.

Sasuke chuckled internally at the idea of taking a last stand. This wasn't the place for the heir to the Uchiha clan to fall. With that in mind, he clapped his hands together and pulled them apart crackling with lightning. It wasn't as if there were thousands of them facing against him.

Only a good hundred or so. Good odds for any Uchiha.

oOoOoOo

If the Quiraji soldiers inside the facility weren't aware of Fiore's infiltration of their base, they certainly were when she bashed through the double steel door at the entrance with a massive log of wood that crushed two guards underneath.

"Alright! All Quiraji pieces of trash step forward to receive your complimentary ass-whooping!"

She wasn't sure what to expect, but the reaction from the Quiraji weaponsmiths inside was about as normal as could be expected.

Inside the Quiraji facility were dozens of forges burning hot and causing the air to taste stifled and ashen, while her dramatic entrance had gotten the attention of both the well-armed guards and the weaponsmiths themselves. The forgers quickly grabbed some of the recently completed weapons and stood ready with the guards to attack her at will.

The facility looked quite expansive and there looked to be over a hundred Quiraji soldiers inside, including the weaponsmiths.

A confident smirk came over her face as her wooden staff grew into a razor-thin spinning blade similar to those used to cut down trees. She'd wanted to work on her over-reliance on her wood for a while now and in this confined space she had the perfect opportunity to experience a different style of fighting. With a short kick she grasped a pair of swords from the guards she had squashed earlier and began twirling them expertly.

The Quiraji soldiers took a moment to assess her before a large group of them charged at her with challenging roars.

Fiore turned her wooden buzzsaw on overdrive and sent it towards the forges themselves while she readied herself for some close-quarter combat. If they threatened to overwhelm her she could always switch back to her regular style, but after parrying one of the guard's blows and stabbing through a gap in his armour with her stolen blade, Fiore wasn't too worried at this stage.

Though the pair of Red Warriors making their way towards her did give her slight pause.

oOoOoOo

When Fiore emerged from the tunnels, she was expecting to find an impatient Sasuke waiting for her. She was right, as she saw the Uchiha shinobi leaning on his sword buried in the ground. However she hadn't expected the mountain of Quiraji bodies around him that looked like a bomb had struck the ground, while Sasuke looked like he'd been through hell and back keeping them from entering the tunnels she'd just come out of.

He hadn't taken any fatal wounds and he'd never admit it, but Fiore was sure he'd fall over with a soft push if she was so inclined. It was tempting just to see his reaction, but she held herself back and walked over to his side.

"You took your time," said Sasuke with his usual condescending tone. "Did you get everything done down there?"

The Cascading Flow warrior shrugged, then immediately regretted it as she felt the horrible stiffness in her shoulders. She knew that a few hours rest and she'd be back to normal, but it still hurt like hell.

The two warriors looked up at the small amount of sunlight that was appearing on the horizon. After the battle they were both exhausted, but they still had a long way to go for the next phase of their mission. Sasuke had wondered why Neji had sent them here first as opposed to saving the Mizukage and her force first, but after the battle it was obvious that clearing out this section of the Land of Fire was more important to the Hyuuga than getting a new set of allies.

He always thought Neji was a bastard, but the way he went about conducting his war was something to be respected. It was something he might have done in the past, though Sasuke had little interest in leading. He still had his own path to find.

"Should we go now?" asked Fiore while rubbing her neck sorely. "It'll probably take a day's travel to get where we need to go."

Sasuke thought about it for a moment before wiping at some of the blood from one of his wounds and running through the handseals.

"Flying? Again?" Fiore didn't bother hiding her disinterest in the idea, but stood back to let his summon appear.

She watched as a small hawk appeared flying in the air in front of them, cawing loudly at them. It wasn't large enough for them to ride on, but it was clear that flying wasn't on Sasuke's mind.

"What are we doing?" she repeated, though her partner just ignored her and stepped forward to the small hawk he'd summoned.

"You are to fly to the south-eastern forest cluster near the Veiled Lake. We'll instruct you from there."

The small hawk flapped its wings like it was clapping and shot off in that direction, far faster than its larger brethren were able to fly. If it would take them a day to fly to the Kirigakure position, Fiore reckoned that it would only take the small hawk a matter of hours to make the same trip.

Sasuke clapped his hands together before offering her one of his hands to take. "Want to visit the domain of the hawks? If we stay there for a few hours we'll be fully rested for the next fight."

"Since when have you been able to get into their domain?" asked Fiore suspiciously. "I thought the hawks were very protective of their home and didn't let shinobi in."

"Let's just say, I have a standing invitation. It's probably not a good idea to rest here, and we need to make up the distance to our next target."

"So how is going to the hawk's domain going to help us with that? How the hell are we going to get there in the first place?"

Her Uchiha partner grinned uncharacteristically and reached forward to grab her hand. "It's a trick."

Fiore grumbled incoherently at his suspicious dodging of the question, but had no time to process it as the two of them disappeared in large cloud of smoke.

From the person he'd gotten the hawk summoning scroll from, Sasuke had been told that the first time you get reverse summoned you throw up because of the transition.

He was determined not to do that when the hawks summoned him and his partner to their domain.

Despite all his preparation, he failed miserably.

* * *

><p>A Quiraji soldier slammed a long sword into the chest of the Kirigakure shinobi before being unceremoniously decapitated by a large blade strike from its side. Suigetsu took a moment to mourn his fellow shinobi before turning to the next soldier that was attacking them.<p>

"These pests just keep coming…" he said with a sigh. There was no real test of skill in this battle or those they had faced since invading the Land of Fire. The only reason they'd lost shinobi was because they'd gotten careless and underestimated the sheer number of soldiers that came after them.

Two bolts of lightning shot past him to take out a pair of Quiraji soldiers that were charging him as his red haired companion landed at his side and chuckled maniacally. "Ah, but slaughter has its own charms, does it not?"

"Maybe to you," said Suigetsu with a snarky smile. "Where are the Red Guard that the others were talking so feverishly about? How are we meant to be the Seven Swordsmen if we don't have opponents to match our skills in battle?"

"Considering we're currently the Four Swordsmen, I think we shouldn't complain about our opponents," said Ameyuri as she flicked her Kiba swords in her hands. "I believe this secures our flank, does it not?"

Suigetsu clenched his massive sword and pulled it up to lean on his shoulder, "Once we take out that contingent over there." He pointed with his free hand to a large cluster of over fifty Quiraji soldiers that were regrouping and preparing to attack the Kirigakure encampment once again.

"Bet I kill more of them than you do," said Ameyuri with a wicked toothy grin. She began to run towards the Quiraji soldiers with lightning crackling between her Kiba blades as Suigetsu sighed and followed after her with his Kubikiribouchou on his shoulder. Since recovering from his battle against the blonde shinobi that had thoroughly kicked the crap out of him, Suigetsu had focused on bulking himself up so that his oversized blade wasn't such a burden on his stamina, but it was still rather tiring to carry it around all over the place.

oOoOoOo

Chojuro grimaced as he struggled under the weight of the Quiraji strike that had been made against him. His blade had grown large with his confidence that he could defeat his foes, but the Quiraji soldier seemed to absorb the chakra output of it through its staff weapon and threatened to overwhelm him.

"Damnit…" he muttered before his muscles bulged and he was able to use enough leverage to bash his opponent back. He swiped away the Quiraji soldier's sword before leaping forward and sinking a kunai to the hilt into the soldier's neck. As he pulled back and allowed Hiramekarei to return to its regular double-hilted state, he turned to see the Mizukage easily dispatch two Quiraji soldiers that had been foolish enough to come after the Kirigakure leader.

She wiped off the lava from her lips and smiled at Chojuro for a moment before turning to one of her bodyguards, "Which area is under the most threat next?"

Ao put a hand up in a handseal for a moment before turning and pointing towards a cluster of trees at the edge of their temporary encampment, "The northern scouts have all been killed and our flank is under threat of being overwhelmed." Even without his stolen Byakugan he had exceptional sensory abilities that had guided them through much of their travels in the foreign land. "We should consider retreating back to the Land of Water, madam. We are losing too many people for this venture."

"You've made your feelings quite clear on the subject," said Mei with a stern expression on her face. She had taken a big risk in taking such a large force straight into Quiraji lands, but she was convinced that the only way to secure her village was to attack the enemy at their strongholds and defeat them. Most of her shinobi hadn't been interested in fighting the Quiraji at first, but after seeing the destroyed battleships and corpses of the soldiers that had been sent to attack their home was enough to motivate them to attack the Quiraji with just as much fury as other shinobi would have.

For over a week they destroyed one stronghold in the Land of Fire after the other, taking down small forces and trying to fight one of their main places of strength.

Then they ran afoul of a single man in a red suit that had turned shinobi against one another with a single touch, while being impervious to their chakra attacks in return. In a single battle they'd lost over fifty shinobi from friendly-fire, even when they'd captured one of the shinobi under his control the only cure was death. As quickly as he'd arrived he disappeared into thin air, furthering cementing her position that they were doing the right thing.

And now they'd come under attack by an overwhelmingly large Quiraji army that had been stationed at a nearby barracks with enough anti-shinobi expertise to legitimately threaten her forces.

Mei hated to admit it, but with the exception of her best fighters they were losing the battle. Even if they won, she wondered whether the deaths would be worth it.

She turned to Ao to order her shinobi all to fall back to her position, but when she looked at him she could see an odd look in his eye.

Before she could ask, Ao indicated to their northern flank with his hand, "There are two people attacking the Quiraji force from behind. They are laying waste to them with strange techniques that I can't sense."

"How can you sense them then? Are they similar to the Quiraji?" Mei was aware of the green-clad shinobi that had broken out of their prison a long time ago with his pink-haired partner using some kind of brute strength that hadn't required chakra. If this was someone similar to him, then that meant good things for their defence.

Ao wasn't able to respond to her question properly as a Quiraji assassin appeared in front of him and attempted to drive a short blade into his gut. The Jounin was able to twist his body enough so that the blow only glanced across his flank, while counter-attacking with a clenched fist at the same time.

The athletic assassin rolled out of the way of his counter and shot forward to attack him before he could recover his footing.

However he was intercepted by a small ball of lava that took him in the chest and burnt through his white clothing through to the other side in an instant. His flaming body fell to the ground and melted into the stone, while Ao turned and thanked the Mizukage for her assistance. He knew that she knew he could handle himself, but one didn't question their leader when they give you help.

His good eye watched as a second assassin appeared out of thin air behind Mei and pulled back a blade to slit her throat. She was too far away for him to assist with his techniques, but he was relieved to see that she didn't need his help.

Just as the blade went to drag across her throat, a hard set of scales appeared in its path, forming a collar around her neck that protected her from the killing blow. The red-haired kunoichi reached up and grabbed at the white hand that had tried to kill her and easily threw it over her shoulder onto the ground below. Forming a fist in a manner that felt far too inelegant for one such as her, she turned her hand into a scaled claw that she drove into the Quiraji assassin's chest.

Satisfied that her foe was sufficiently obliterated, she pulled back her hand and stared at the claw as it dissipated back to her normal hand. Ever since receiving the Three-Tails chakra from Yagura she had worked with the Tailed Beast constantly to try and achieve some level of skill with its abilities, and although she found its form of combat distasteful, she had to admit it was effective.

Even though the Quiraji were immune to chakra, they weren't immune to blunt objectives being shoved into their bodies. The Three-Tails chakra was unique for fighting them in that the shells and scales it formed hardened to the point of temporarily not being made of chakra, thus being immune to the Quiraji weapons.

It afforded her a good set of weapons to defend her people and her village, so Mei had few complaints so far.

"Tell me more about the northern flank," she commanded to Ao, who was running towards her with an apology for his inability to help her on his lips. "Are these mysterious people friend or foe?"

"Does it matter at this point? We need their help and they are giving it." Ao disliked the fact that they were in such a position, but he still had to think tactically if they were going to survive.

Mei let out a long breath, he was right, of course. "Which area is under the most pressure at the moment?"

Ao consulted his sensory technique for a moment before turning towards the south, "I can only feel one chakra signal from the south."

The Mizukage gritted her teeth angrily and began to move as fast as possible to where he had indicated. She had left that flank under very capable hands, yet it had devolved into a mess so quickly. She quickly yelled out orders to surrounding shinobi to reinforce their brethren and help beat back the regular soldiers, while the more experienced Kirigakure shinobi were to go after the Quiraji leaders. It had been a significant force that had hit them, meaning they must have some kind of command structure they could take down. It was likely the largest force in the area that was attacking them, which she calculated meant that if they were to win the day they would be granted a temporary reprisal from further attacks to either push forward or pull back.

Though at this stage, she was already leaning towards one course of action.

oOoOoOo

Weak. They were all so weak.

Since his defeat at the hands of the Nine-Tails container, Mangetsu had gone through several philosophical periods where he questioned his motivations, his methods and his goals. The deaths of three of his group didn't bother him as much as they would other shinobi; death was a constant part of being a shinobi. He'd sought out stronger and greater opponents to test himself and his motivations, finding little solace in battle besides the regular elation that came when he sank a blade into an opponent's flesh.

Yet when the Mizukage had proposed this invasion, Mangetsu had expected much of their opponents, the so-called shinobi-hunters. He'd expected fighters of legend, each one able to test his mettle and truly make him question why he fought.

So far, he'd been very disappointed.

Around him stood a large crowd of Quiraji soldiers, just out of his range, hovering cautiously. His fellow Kirigakure shinobi were strewn around the battlefield, their bodies ripped apart or slain under hordes of blades, with complementary Quiraji numbers to give themselves a good account of the battle.

However none of the Quiraji seemed to wish to engage him any further.

In one hand, Mangetsu held the Nuibari, the long sword twirling in the air crying out for more carnage. As the leader of the Swordsmen he could wield each of their weapons with greater efficiency than any of his subordinates could, and his single-handed throwing and manipulation of sword had reaped a terrible toll on his Quiraji foes. Dozens had fallen victim to sword blows from unimaginable angles or had their throats cut from the razor-sharp wire attached to it.

However it was his other weapon that had caused so much fear in his enemies that they didn't want anything to do with him and had focused on killing his comrades instead.

It was only a sword in name, just as many of the weapons of the Seven Swordsmen. It was as long as he was tall, with blades curving out from the hilt like a crescent moon. They were hooked at the edges and had enough edges that simply dragging it along a piece of armour was enough to rend it apart like it was bread. Not only that, but as the Quiraji had discovered when trying to outmanoeuvre him, he had the ability to move the blades around the hilt with chakra so they would clamp down on his targets at a moment's notice.

It was a double-bladed glaive that he'd had made after his defeat in Kirigakure, the first in a line of new weapons for the new version of the Swordsmen he envisioned.

His two blades were caked with fresh blood as his eyes searched for his next target, but none of the Quiraji seemed interested. He sighed and began grinding his teeth in frustration. There hadn't been any of the specialist soldiers he'd heard about to fight in his flank, but he was also disappointed in his fellow shinobi for falling to such pathetic foes.

Just being outnumbered three-to-one wasn't an excuse.

He wasn't a sensory type of shinobi by any sense of the word, but Mangetsu could practically smell the Mizukage coming towards his position with the idea of rescuing him from his peril. It offended him to his very core that she thought he needed rescuing.

Twirling his glaive and wire-controlled sword expertly, Mangetsu made a quick count of the Quiraji around him. It would take at least a minute for his 'reinforcements' to arrive and he had no intention of leaving them any enemies to fight.

It would be child's play to kill these seventy soldiers in less than a minute.

oOoOoOo

Sasuke glanced down at the Red Warrior at his feet with heavy breath. When he'd been attacking at range it had been far easier to defeat the Quiraji soldiers to the extent that the Kirigakure shinobi could take them down, but this red-armoured bastard had been faster than he'd expected and forced him into a close-range sword battle that he'd only just won. He hated to admit it, but his focus on long-range combat had left his other abilities wanting.

Despite that interruption, the intervention of him and Fiore into the battle had clearly turned it in the Kirigakure shinobi's favour. They had enough techniques between the two of them to make up the difference in numbers, with Fiore already running to another area to assist in the other flanks.

Catching his breath quickly, he glanced at the Kirigakure shinobi who were looking at him with awe. He wasn't sure why they were so surprised at his presence, but he also figured that their dramatic entrance into the fight probably helped create the image.

Before one of them could ask who he was, Sasuke centred himself and began moving to the largest chakra mass he could sense. He figured that would have to be the Mizukage; it was his job to make sure she didn't fall in battle.

oOoOoOo

Fiore slammed her staff into the chest of a Quiraji soldier to send him flying backwards and took a moment to catch her breath. They'd found the Kirigakure shinobi almost an hour ago and had been fighting ever since, but the Quiraji seemed to refuse to retreat. They'd been so close to dealing a serious blow on the Kirigakure force, but their spirit hadn't helped them from the attackers that were better at killing them than they were at killing shinobi.

The Kirigakure ANBU that fought around her made no comment at her appearance, but it was clear that they fought with greater efficiency with her at their side. By combining their water techniques and overwhelming speed, the battle began to turn in their favour as the Quiraji numbers withered.

She turned to attack the next Quiraji soldier in the mechanical manner that she'd been fighting, but instead of enemies she saw a large group of Kirigakure shinobi moving towards them to reinforce their position.

She slackened her grip on her staff and breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw Sasuke charging towards her like a knight in shining armour. It was laughable since the battle was clearly over, but she appreciated the thought.

Another ten minutes later and the battle was truly over.

The Kirigakure shinobi went about collecting their dead and recovering from the exhausting battle, while Sasuke and Fiore were spirited away with the Mizukage to explain their presence. She had voiced an interest in thanking them for their intervention, as it was clear their presence had turned the battle, but that didn't mean she was about to trust them. There was such a thing as too good a thing and this wasn't the place to become complacent.

She took them to a small encampment at the centre of the Kirigakure army and gathered her top commanders around her. She introduced her assistant, Ao, who Sasuke recognised as the one Neji had pointed out to him before they left.

"So who are the two of you?" asked Ao with a suspicious look in his eye.

"Why don't we thank them first?" asked Chojuro with an exhausted tone. "If not for them, we'd have been screwed."

At his side, a blood-covered Mangetsu stared at his subordinate with contempt, "Have some pride, Chojuro. We are Kirigakure shinobi." Unlike the other Swordsmen he only gave the young shinobi grief because he knew it would fuel him to further acts of confidence. It was a fine line to tread, however Mangetsu had spent years cultivating Chojuro and valued his presence even if he wished he had a bit more backbone.

The Mizukage put up her hands to silence her subordinates and regarded the newcomers with a cautious look in her green eyes. "For your assistance in this battle, I give my thanks. You saved many of my people's lives today."

Despite wanting to make a sarcastic remark, Sasuke kept it to himself and nodded to the middle-aged woman. "It wasn't a charitable effort. We came here to get your assistance."

Ao went to make a comment, but Mei intercepted him with a hand and stepped towards Sasuke intently. Before any of them could react, she reached forward and gently stroked the side of his face with her fingers. It was the same motion a lover might perform to their partner, yet it only caused a terrified shiver to run down Sasuke's spine. It wasn't because the action was unwarranted or anything like that.

It was the predatory look in her eyes that scared him to his core. She looked like she would eat him whole and have room for more.

However before she could do anything else, Fiore shot forward and slammed her fist into the Mizukage's face. She put enough force into it to cause the Kirigakure leader to spiral down to the ground. As she turned to give Sasuke a piece of her mind, several blades were held at her throat as Mei picked herself up from the ground.

Sasuke wasn't sure how to process what was going on, but he relaxed slightly as the Mizukage laughed deeply and pulled a hand from her face to show that she hadn't taken any damage from the Cascading Flow warrior's strike.

"I like you, girl. You have admirable spirit."

Despite the blades at her neck, Fiore still felt compelled to grab at her partner's shirt and point at him dramatically, "Stay away from him, woman. He's taken!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at her protectiveness that was so uncharacteristic of her, but he could see in her eyes it was something they would speak about in a more private environment. Mei signalled for her shinobi to put down their blades and stepped forward towards her striker.

"You said you came here for our assistance?" she asked as if nothing had happened. "While we are grateful for your help, we are currently waging our own conflict in this country."

"We have similar goals," said Sasuke quickly. "We also have an interest in removing the Quiraji from the Land of Fire."

Mei leaned forward and stared at his face for a moment before a sly smile came across her face and she understood the underlying tone of his voice. "You are an Uchiha it seems. That explains a lot."

"This is a waste of time," said Mangetsu at the side of the group. "Just take their offer and push forward, Mei." Unlike some of the other shinobi, he could recognise a fellow warrior like himself in both of the newcomers. He hadn't seen them in battle, but the way they held themselves was enough for him for the time being.

"You should treat the Mizukage with respect!" said Ao next to him, but the look on the young shinobi's face was enough to make the Jounin wonder where the Swordsman's loyalties lay.

"We have an offer of an alliance from the Otokage," said Fiore to try and change the flow of the conversation. "He is prepared a full-on attack on the Quiraji leadership and needs all the allies he can get."

Mei took in the information as she relayed it with the intelligence she had gathered on the Otogakure leader. He had once been a Konoha shinobi and had more reasons than any to strike at the Quiraji and from what she'd been told he'd orchestrated a masterful trap at the Kage Summit. Their numbers had been seriously hurt by the battle, but with their strength they had enough force to turn the tide of a battle if they worked together.

A shinobi alliance wasn't an entirely disinteresting idea at the moment. Fighting alone only went so far when you are as hard pressed as they were. The old ways weren't the only ways to win wars.

"How many of you are there?" asked Sasuke after a few minutes of silence as the Mizukage considered their proposal.

"Four hundred," said Mangetsu with a bite of his lips that wasn't quite strong enough to draw blood from his sharp teeth. "We started with over a thousand."

Sasuke kept his observation about the folly of their attack to himself and turned back to the Mizukage with his most diplomatic look, "If you are willing to join us, you'd be a welcome addition when we make our push. Your abilities are not ones that we possess, plus with the Sunagakure army we have a good chance of winning. Gaara wouldn't miss a chance like this; he'll be on the battlefield same as Neji and the rest."

The Kirigakure shinobi began talking at once, but Mei put up a single hand that silenced them all before she regarded the attractive young man. "We would have a chance, nothing more. The Otokage is young and inexperienced when it comes to matters of war; he is willing to throw away lives to achieve his goals."

"And that's different from you lot…how?" asked Fiore as she twirled her wooden staff over her shoulders and leaned back on it.

Mei smiled at the young woman and shrugged slightly, "It isn't, merely an observation of his tactics. Three Kages on the battlefield would be an unprecedented event, assuming the Kazekage decides to assist you."

"We are confident that he will," said Sasuke. "He has little choice in the matter, similar to you."

"Don't you dare speak to the Mizukage with such disrespect!" warned Ao as he clasped a hand on the young Uchiha's shoulder. The moment he made contact Sasuke spun around and grabbed his wrist before driving him into the ground and placing a hand on the back of the fallen Kirigakure Jounin's neck.

His eyes flared in their Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan form, "Don't touch me, old man. I'll speak however I please."

Across from him, Fiore groaned loudly and drove her staff into the ground in front of her, "Honestly, Sasuke, why not just stab him as well? That would certainly help our diplomatic efforts." She decided to ignore the fact that she'd done something very similar only minutes ago.

Her partner glared at her with an expression that told her she would hear about it later on in private before he turned back to the Mizukage. "What is your answer?"

Mei looked around at her shinobi for a moment before gesturing to one of her bodyguards and taking her Kage hat from his hands. She placed it on top of her red hair and straightened it so that it fit comfortably. "You have our support, Uchiha. Kirigakure will ally itself with Otogakure to see the end of this war. Don't think we will obey the Otokage though, we have our own path to take."

Sasuke shrugged as Fiore nodded their understanding of the new alliance. "That's about the same thing that the two of us are doing. If we're to survive we have to stick together."

The Mizukage took his comment in her stride as she turned to her main advisors in their invasion. "Ao, gather up our supplies and ensure everyone is prepared to move within the hour. If we are to make it to our new allies, I want us to be prepared for ambushes and enemy forces."

The older shinobi snapped a quick salute and began yelling orders at surrounding Kirigakure shinobi while Mei glanced over at the head of the Swordsmen. "Mangetsu…"

Before she could speak further, the Houzuki shinobi bared his teeth before turning away. "I will take the Swordsmen with me." Neither Sasuke nor Fiore had any idea what he was referring to, but the Mizukage seemed satisfied with his response and left him to his devices.

"Do you have a path for us to follow? An army is harder to move than two people."

Fiore reached into her pocket and produced a map to show the Mizukage the best path they had found from their current position to the Fire Temple. It would take longer to move the Kirigakure army with them than when it was just the two of them flying, but from what Mei told her it appeared as though they were a fast enough group to make the trip in a couple of days, less if they press themselves.

While his partner gave the Mizukage the necessary details for their return trip, Sasuke made his way to the Kirigakure shinobi he'd been instructed to find earlier and began giving him detailed information about their trip so far.

Ao stared at the Uchiha shinobi like a crazy person as he rattled off details about their destruction of the Quiraji facility and their arrival here. It didn't seem as though he was speaking to him personally, but rather through him. Once he was done he turned around and walked away like nothing had happened, leaving the Kirigakure shinobi both confused and annoyed.

The Kirigakure shinobi snapped to their duties as the Mizukage instructed, while several were dispatched back to the village to give their shinobi further instructions. She seriously doubted that the Quiraji would mount a large attack on Kirigakure with their attention being so focused on their own strongholds, but she wasn't about to sacrifice her own people on a gamble.

Mei recognised the value in allying herself with the Otokage and ridding them of the Quiraji once and for all. It felt like she'd only just come to realise how precarious their position truly was, but she also knew that shinobi were best when under pressure.

They would either defeat their enemy and return home as victors, or fail and be lost to history.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'm being a bit evil now with my plot devices. There are little hints that are going to start appearing in chapters that might give away little things that'll happen later on in the story. We are moving into the endgame part of the story. There is probably about…15 or so chapters left. Don't quote me on that though; this is the kind of story that evolves as it's written.

And yes, I'm well aware of how reverse-summoning works. They were summoned back by the hawk he sent out. I plan on doing a full description of the hawk domain in a future chapter, along with the tiger domain as well. Why should frogs be the only ones to get the credit?

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	82. Chapter 75 Scouting the Enemy

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 75 – Scouting the Enemy

**A/N**: A review from Vandar93 pointed out that I might have made Sasuke a wee bit powerful in the last chapter with his spiritual energy technique. I'd love to just use the excuse that 'he's a genius' and be done with that, but I'm not that lazy. When we next see the Uchiha, I'll put in a better explanation of his new abilities. Sorry about that.

**A/N2**: I also have a question of you readers. Would it have been easier to read/look through if I'd split the story into sections and put each section as its own story? I'm just looking at trends of readers and recognising that the ridiculous word count is really intimidating.

**A/N3**: Sorry about the sloppy editing in the last chapter. That's just embarrassing, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be INFILTRATION in the shinobi world. Seriously, they are ninjas. Where is the stealth?

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

After sending Naruto and Hinata off to get Sunagakure and the Kazekage's allegiance, Neji becomes suspicious over the Quiraji pulling out of the area completely. To that end he dispatched Sasuke and Fiore to investigate the intelligence he received about why they might have retreated. To that end, the couple flew to a place in the north-eastern part of the Land of Fire and demolished a Quiraji weapons facility that was hidden underground before moving on to their primary target. They arrived just in time to turn the battle in the Kirigakure shinobi's favour and proposed that they accompany them back to the Otogakure stronghold to formulate their attack plan. The Mizukage was hesitant to throw her people back into the fire, but agreed that it was for their mutual benefit and agreed to their alliance.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Though they sat as close as possible to each other, to spread their body heat as much as they could, the Otogakure shinobi could not get warm at all.<p>

It wasn't as if it was a cold night. The air was heavy and humid, but they felt no warmth come to them.

Just another terrifying night in the Land of Fire.

Zaku picked at the holes in the middle of his palms absentmindedly, a habit he'd developed to try and calm down his nerves. They'd been away from the Fire Temple for only a few days, but every moment seemed to drag itself out when you expected enemies to pop up at every corner with the express intent on gutting you and leaving you to die on the ground.

And the Quiraji hadn't been shy about it either. Earlier in the morning they had run straight into a pair of soldiers that had been taking a leak into a nearby river. Sensing an opportunity, he ordered his squad to take them down as quickly as possible, but when two of his shinobi came near them the Quiraji soldiers disappeared into thin air and the two shinobi triggered a line of explosives that made them vanish in a bright burst of light.

They'd never stood a chance.

"How long are we meant to wait here?" asked the tracker of his group impatiently. The Otogakure Chuunin was one of the Chiza clan's best trackers, but he had a mean temper and was one of the loudest shinobi Zaku had ever met.

How he made a good infiltrator was beyond him, but the man delivered at every turn so the Otogakure shinobi couldn't complain.

"Until the other group arrives," came a female voice from the other side of the group. She glared at their tracker through her scarred expression, "if you don't bring the whole Quiraji army down on our heads first, Ruka."

Zaku went to tell them to calm down, but he saw there was no need as Ruka turned away from her and she concentrated her efforts back on rubbing some heat into her bare arms. Momo always seemed to be a lot older than her thirteen years suggested and initially he'd questioned why the young girl had achieved Jounin status, but after she'd saved his life a half-dozen times in the previous days battles he stopped questioning and accepted her place in their team. She often claimed that she felt like an old lady in a little girl's body, but Zaku could tell her demeanour was just the way for her to put on a strong face to deal with all the things they'd been faced with over the past few years. Besides, her taijutsu skills put them all to shame and she had one of the highest counts of Quiraji soldiers out of the whole village.

The last surviving member of his team was a silent woman who scared the hell out of him. She was tall and lanky, while wearing a long cloak and a golden pendant that had been seared into her flesh below her neck. It was an upside-down triangle within a circle that Zaku had been told was the symbol of a long-dead cult of killing and death. She had bronze eyes and a furious expression all the time, though Zaku put that down to the fact that she'd intentionally ripped out her own tongue in reverence to her deity. There was no record of her ever having a name; the Otogakure shinobi just called her Satsu.

They made a strange group, as Zaku never pegged himself as a leader before his trip down to Sunagakure, but for what they were assigned to do they were the perfect group. Neji hadn't made a wrong turn yet when it came to mission assignment so he clearly thought Zaku was the best type for the job, but the air-user would still have preferred assignment to somewhere nice and quiet. Maybe somewhere with a beach.

"How far away are they?" he asked to Ruka quietly. He did his best to keep his voice down, but he knew that the large man would warn them before any Quiraji came anywhere near them. He was frustrating, but not stupid.

The Chiza shinobi concentrated for a moment with a hand to his temple before letting out a long breath, "A few minutes, no more. They aren't being pursued."

"Good, good," said Zaku with a nod of his head. He hated that they'd lost Wataru and Ken just in getting to their current position, but he knew that with the mission they were going on came burdened with the knowledge that not all of them might come back.

Even with their overwhelming strength as shinobi, far beyond what they may have achieved if they hadn't been at war for so long, the Quiraji had proven to be highly effective killers in a variety of ways.

There was no sound as a second group of Otogakure appeared from over a nearby rock formation, their feet stopping on the rocky ground as Zaku and the others stood up to greet them. The tall squad leader grinned when he saw who was leading the squad they'd come to escort.

Kin had always had an evil look in her eyes, regardless of whether she was in prison or in the bath, but now Zaku didn't even care that the last time they'd spoken she'd threatened to castrate him and eat his genitalia in a salad.

She just had a different way of showing affection. That's what he told himself.

Beside her stood three Otogakure shinobi that Zaku had been given an extensive report on, these were the scouts that his group had been assigned to protect.

Naru was the complete opposite of Kin, a beautiful blonde haired middle-aged shinobi that very rarely fought in the battles. Her abilities were best suited as an analyst; she had an almost precognitive ability to understand an enemy's plan and structures with the tiniest of clues. She was always a welcome presence, though Zaku would have preferred it if the man at her side hadn't accompanied her.

Ryuuhei was a coward and a craven, a tall thin man that embodied everything that an Otogakure shinobi shouldn't be. Zaku recognised that he was a very perceptive man and often saw things that others didn't, but there was a reason he had been a Genin for over twenty years, even as a mercenary in the Land of Rice Fields before joining Otogakure. He was also Naru's husband, and for the life of him Zaku couldn't understand what she saw in him.

He'd half-expected Dosu to come with Kin for their mission when they left the Fire Temple, but instead the last member of Kin's group was the current incarnation of the head of the Shiin clan. She was a young woman with a plain expression and a dead look in her eyes that made her pale skin almost look like she was a corpse. He didn't have that much information on her, as their clan had mysteries that only the Otokage was privileged enough to know. She always spoke slowly and deliberately, a trait that just made her even creepier.

The eight of them made an odd combination of abilities, but for the mission they were about to embark on, he wished they could afford to have more people. They were stretched far too thin in the area and Zaku could guess with absolute certainty that there were other groups just like theirs embarking on the same mission.

The Otokage was nothing if not thorough.

Kin gave him a short nod and motioned for her group to stand down and join the others. "You ready for this?"

Zaku chuckled weakly and handed her a power bar, "Just like old times, huh."

The long haired kunoichi gave him a suspicious look as she bit into the bar of sawdust-tasting food, "I don't know what times you're talking about. This is some crazy shit right here."

"Still regretting that you never got to sleep with me?"

Kin snorted and shouldered past him to take a seat on a clear patch of ground, "There's a better chance of me banging Dosu than you."

"Even though he's…"

"Yep."

Zaku shook his head in false disbelief. "No accounting for taste these days..."

* * *

><p>Zaku had hoped that they'd be able to reach their target without any significant Quiraji contact. As they drew closer, he began to realise that was a pipe-dream of epic proportions.<p>

They encountered a number of small Quiraji groups of soldiers that gave them little trouble; though Ryuuhei made the observation that many of them were injured and far below their normal fighting ability. His wife figured the Quiraji had little interest in soldiers that couldn't fight anymore and were throwing them at them to slow them down, but Zaku didn't want to entertain that theory.

It implied that the Quiraji already knew their goal, and that meant their lives were already forfeit. They all knew they'd have to put their lives on the line, but that didn't mean he wanted them to sacrifice themselves without proper cause.

Despite the significant time restraints that had been put on their scouting mission by the Otokage, the going was much slower than any of them would have liked. Moving through enemy territory without using chakra to avoid rousing suspicion was like struggling through thick mud, but they made no complaints as they continued to press forward towards their goal.

After a full day of moving less than half the distance they needed to go, Zaku and Kin made the decision to speed up their movement; trusting that they would be able to outrun any potential pursuers as they had done in the past. So long as they kept away from the main Quiraji outposts there were plenty of routes they hadn't covered and the Land of Fire was covered in dense forests that hid their movements expertly.

Halfway through their second day, the group emerged from the tops of a large forest and landed on the group, each of them stopping at the same time and staring at what was in front of them. Neither Zaku nor Kin had to tell them not to progress any further; they had all noticed it at the same time.

The area in front of them looked similar enough to the one they'd just come from, but there was a heavy aura on the air that had such a wrongness to it that their instincts were keeping them statue-like.

After a few seconds of staring, Zaku shook himself out of it and turned to the group they'd been escorting, "What the hell is this?"

The rest of the Otogakure shinobi snapped out of it and reverted back to their normal states, with several stepping closer to the 'wrong' area to examine it.

"It feels like I'd be crushed into tiny bits if I went in there," said Momo with a slight shiver. She stepped back towards the forest as if retreating, though she suspected they'd have to go in at some stage.

"You wouldn't," said Ryuuhei with a concerned tone. "But you'd definitely die."

"What makes you say that?" asked Ruka with a suspicious look on his face. He jabbed a thumb at the area, "It's not like the air is any different, or that its some kind of Quiraji booby-trap. It just feels a bit weird, that's all."

"Like falling," said Kin, causing the others to nod in agreement. She turned to her analyst, "What are you thinking, Naru?"

The middle-aged kunoichi held up a hand to ask for silence as she thought. A thousand scenarios ran through her head before one clicked into place and she put down her hand. She took in a deep breath before stepping forward into the area.

Her Otogakure companions called out for her to stop, but when they saw that she wasn't being injured it was clear that she wasn't in any immediate danger. However several of them did notice that she started to turn pale within seconds of entering the area and was quick about retreating back to their side. When she turned to the group to give her analysis, she looked like she'd run for four days straight without rest; her eyes were sunken and her cheeks had a blue colour like she'd been deprived of oxygen for short periods of time.

"What the hell did you do that for?" demanded Ruka furiously. "You could have alerted the Quiraji to our presence! You could have sprung their trap for all we know!"

"Calm down, Ruka," said Zaku quickly. "She wouldn't have done it if she thought that might be the case." He turned to Naru with his best 'leader' face on, "It's some kind of field, isn't it?"

The blonde kunoichi nodded tiredly as colour slowly started to come back into her cheeks, "It's a chakra-nullifying field."

"That isn't something we haven't encountered in the past," observed Shiin with no hint of emotion in her voice. "The Quiraji have been using that technology for over a year."

"No, this is something different," said Momo with a shake of her young head. She pointed to Naru dramatically, "I've was in one of those fields for over an hour during the siege of Eren Castle and I never turned out like that."

"She's right," said Naru weakly. "It's a chakra-nullifying field of ridiculous strength. I think more than a few minutes and I would have passed out."

Zaku turned to Kin with a concerned look on his face, seeing the expression on her face was enough to confirm his suspicion. "You know what's right through there, don't you?"

The black haired kunoichi nodded grimly, "Though it's a good ten kilometres further in. We'd have to assume that's what it's covering. It's the best tactical position in the country. The irony isn't lost on our enemy either it would seem."

"That's a massive area to cover though. There's no way we'd get anywhere near it."

"Efficient though. Particularly if its source is in the target area. There'd be no way a force of shinobi would be able to invade the area." Kin sighed and ran a hand through her black hair, "This throws the mission out the window."

"Not necessarily," said Ruka from the side. He motioned to the forest they'd come from earlier. "We have company."

Zaku gritted his teeth and stepped forward with his hands outstretched, "We need more information, clearly." He fuelled large amounts of chakra from his chest through his arms as several figures came into view.

There were times for subtlety and stealth. Now wasn't one of them.

Air began accumulating in the tunnels in his arms as his technique activated, "Zankuuha!"

When he'd participated in the Chuunin Exams before the world turned upside-down, Zaku had a reasonable level of control over his unique technique, but that didn't even compare to what he was able to do now.

There was a loud blasting sound from his arms, but it paled in comparison to the damage that had actually been inflicted. With a single motion of his hands, the forest was cut cleanly through like a giant scythe had been through it. The tops of the trees collapsed down to the ground and the sound was almost deafening to the Otogakure shinobi.

A wicked grin came over Zaku's face, reminding him of a time when he'd been a more wicked person before reality had come crashing into him. Within the decapitated forest were the bisected bodies of the Quiraji scouts that had come to attack them. There was nothing that could have prepared them for his attack; even with their apparent immunity to chakra they weren't able to stop simple physics.

"Bit over-the-top, isn't it?" said Kin with a smirk. "You could have just boiled them in their skins."

Zaku ignored her comment and turned to his group, "You know what to do, people."

The three of them nodded and moved towards the dying Quiraji soldiers quickly. Both Momo and Ruka leaned down beside a few survivors and started to interrogate them, while Satsu pulled out a wicked curved blade and wiped a finger across the throat of one of the dead Quiraji scouts.

Zaku tried not to wince at what she did next and failed miserably, even though he'd seen it done a number of times when he'd worked with her before.

That didn't make it any less disturbing.

After a minute both Ruka and Momo stood up and walked back to their leader, shaking their heads. The Quiraji scouts hadn't lasted long, though being cut in half wasn't exactly good for one's health.

Satsu moved to those scouts they'd interrogated, continuing her rituals in complete silence as she always did.

"Did they give you anything?" asked Kin with a raised eyebrow. Beside her Naru and Ryuuhei put their minds together to work out further information about the chakra-nullifying field.

Ruka shook his head and raised his head towards the sky, turning his perception to making sure they didn't get ambushed by a secondary Quiraji force. The enemy had made a considerable account for themselves with that kind of attack, but thankfully it seemed to be their lucky day.

Momo pushed past her large companion, "The girl didn't seem to know anything, but she was terrified that we'd come this far into their territory. I got the impression we weren't meant to get this close to the field. " She showed Zaku a small circular device that she'd picked up from the Quiraji scout. "I think this is some kind of communication device."

Zaku took it out of her hand and examined it curiously, but before he could look at it closely Shiin shot forward and snatched it out of his hands. In a quick flick she tossed it back into the forest as hard as she could.

Before he could voice a protest, Zaku and the others watched in horror as a small area around the device collapsed in on itself and disappeared into a void. In a split-second it was gone. It also took a large section of the forest with it, vanishing inside the void as if it the section had never existed in the first place.

"Wha…" started Kin with a terrified look on her face.

"Void mine," said Shiin with a slightly aggravated tone. "Extremely rare, but very powerful. I thought we'd destroyed them all."

"Evidently you missed one," said Momo angrily. She hated the fact that she'd almost gotten them all killed, though she was grateful to the Shiin clan leader for saving them. "Ignoring that, I think there is more here than just this field."

Zaku took her opinion into account as he tried to figure out the next step they had to take. He often figured himself as a warrior before a thinker, but it was when he realised that he could make decisions quickly that he remembered why he'd been given the job.

"The Otokage needs to know about this," said Ryuuhei nervously. "We should go back."

Kin shot the cowardly shinobi a judgmental glare before turning to her fellow leader, "what are you thinking? Should we go back?"

Zaku scratched at the metal on the side of his face, "He wouldn't be satisfied with just this. We have to find out how far this field goes and whether there are any breach points."

"If they are willing to put this much effort into a field this size, this must be their main base," observed Naru, stating the obvious to everyone there. "It's the only explanation."

Zaku turned and called Satsu back from her ritual, thankful that the blood-drenched kunoichi hadn't been struck by the void mine Shiin had saved them from. The tall woman wiped her mouth and bared her teeth at them in a non-threatening manner, the blood having made it look like she was wearing lipstick.

There was no trace of the Quiraji bodies he'd killed earlier.

"We'll skirt around the edges of the field, maybe we'll find an opening. If they think they can stop us from getting closer to Konoha, they're underestimating how far we're willing to go. Move out."

* * *

><p><em>What is that?<em> signalled Zaku through his hands silently.

Both Naru and Ryuuhei signalled for silence as they observed the area in front of them carefully. They'd skirted the edge of the field for half a day without any Quiraji activity before coming across a suspicious looking area that looked like it'd been built up recently. When they approached to get a closer look, they saw a huge machine that none of them recognised in front of a large barracks.

And nearly a hundred Quiraji soldiers standing guard over it.

_The field extends around the machine_, observed Kin, pulling apart a small bush to try and get a better look at it. _They look like they've been here a while_.

_We can take them_, signalled Ruka, but his idea was immediately shot down by the rest of the group. Not only did the chakra-nullifying field extend around the area they would be attacking, but they could see almost a score of red-armoured warriors with long swords at their sides and a small group of familiar-looking assassins wearing white garbs and sharpening their short blades along their arms.

It was an impressive display of power for a seemingly innocuous position, further confirming that it was something they had to pay attention to.

_Clearly the machine is helping power the field_, said Naru with a concerning look on her face. _But even something that size wouldn't be able to power a field that big. _

Her husband tapped her on the shoulder and signalled to her quickly, causing her to let out a silent ah and turn to their two leaders. _Ryuuhei says, and I agree, there has to be more machines than just this one. If Konoha is at the centre of the field, then these machines are like the barriers that keep it their territory. If we were able to destroy the machines, a strike against the Quiraji main base would be possible._

Zaku nodded slowly as he absorbed the information, while Kin was more suspicious about it. She'd been suspicious ever since the last ambush had been such a pathetic attempt on them.

_This screams 'trap' to me_, said Momo before anyone else could say it. _Clearly they want us to get this information and lead our people here_.

_That isn't for us to decide_, signalled Shiin from the other side of the group. _This is exactly what our mission states for us to do. The Otokage will know what to do._

_Let's hope so_, said Zaku, though mainly for himself. He signalled for Ryuuhei to write down everything he could see including the position of the machine before pulling the groups out of earshot of the Quiraji soldiers.

Once they were in the clear, they came to an agreement that they had to check whether there were more machines or not and where they were. It would mean their mission would take even longer than they were originally meant to be out for, but they all agreed that the information was worth the risk.

None of them spoke of the anxiety they all felt about continuing to move so close to Quiraji forces. At any moment they could come under attack; Zaku hoped that his group was prove up to the task of protecting Kin's information gatherers.

* * *

><p>Ryuuhei finished the coding of the information and handed the note to Zaku with a nod of his head.<p>

The Otogakure Jounin took it and placed it carefully into his pocket before turning to the shinobi's wife, "You don't think there are any more machines?"

Naru shook her head with her hands crossed over her chest, "Each of them were spread out the same distance apart. We're close to where we originally encountered the field, so I find it highly unlikely that there are anymore."

"What if there were more inside the field?" asked Momo with a serious expression on her small face. She placed a hand in front of her body with her fingers clenched upwards like she was holding something, "If there were five nodes powering the field, then it would make sense to have one in the middle just in case the others fail."

"They wouldn't do that dear, if they want the field to fail," said Naru grimly. "Even though they've got almost a thousand soldiers and warriors spread over the five nodes, there were other ways they could have protected the machines. They want us to come and attack them."

"This is all well and good, but if we don't move soon we're going to be in for a really bad time," said Ruka from in front of their position. He'd been quiet for the past three days as they've moved from one node to the next, but he hadn't been able to shake the fact that they were being followed.

His sensory abilities were closer to instincts than something like an Inuzuka's nose or the Otokage's eyes, but they weren't perfect either. He'd developed a sixth sense for feeling when Quiraji pursuers were nearby but he hadn't been sure of anything until they have moved away from the fifth node to decide what to do next.

"Are any of them nearby?" asked Zaku quickly, wary of the fact that they were a good day's travel from Otogakure territory and the relative safety of their allies.

Ruka glanced around the area for a moment before shaking his head, "Not that I can sense, but I'd rather not stay in one area for too long. Even if you guys are right and they did want us to get this information, I seriously doubt they'd just let us go."

"He's right," said Kin with a snarl. "They want to send us back on their terms, probably after some torturing for information."

"All we need to do is move as stealthy as possible and the Quiraji won't even know we were here," said Zaku with a confident tone.

The group began discussing their plans to return back to safe territory and hopefully get out of the rain, while Ruka moved to a higher position to see if he could get a better glimpse at the area in front of them. He couldn't sense anything, but he found that erring on the side of caution was its own wisdom.

That thinking was what got him killed.

Down at the rest of the group, Zaku glanced upwards at their side to shout out for him to come back so they could get moving. It was then that he watched helplessly as a White Assassin appeared behind the large man and, with an almost casual flick of its hands, removed his head from his shoulders. The Chiza scout's headless body stood still like a statue while his head rolled down towards his still-living companions.

The Otogakure leader roared out in fury and angled one of his hands towards the attacker, blasting it with a fine blast of air that broke through its armour at the back, killing it just as quickly as it had killed Ruka. He felt a pang of satisfaction at the kill, but kept it to himself as he realised how bad things were about to turn.

With his attack the rest of the group were immediately on alert, but so was the army of Quiraji that had been waiting patiently in the pouring rain for them to come to their position. Within moments dozens of soldiers were leaping towards them with swords and spears aimed at their throats, while White Assassins began appearing out of thin air and trying to kill them in single strokes.

It was only because of Zaku's attack that they were somewhat prepared to receive the attack, moving into a tight circle so that the White Assassins weren't able to get a flanking attack on any one individual.

As they fought back the initial attack and took a quick account of their situation, the Otogakure scouting and attacking groups began their counter attack.

Being the leaders of the two respective groups, Zaku and Kin were no strangers to working in tandem with each other and weaved their respective techniques to clearing a section of Quiraji soldiers that were preparing bows and arrows to rain down on them. Since they were both ranged attackers they left the other soldiers to their companions, trusting in them to protect them while they continued to destroy any Quiraji ranged attackers.

As a thirteen year old, Momo was used to opponents underestimating her. When the Quiraji looked like they were going to ignore her, she took personal offence to that and leapt out at the nearest soldier she could find. The young woman seemed surprised to see the little girl come at her, but was far more surprised when she ducked under her spear thrust and placed an open palm on the middle of her chest.

That was when a hole blasted out of her back and she collapsed to the ground, dead.

Momo confirmed the kill grimly before cart wheeling away from a pair of sword slashes and pushed herself back towards her attackers to collect them with her small feet in the heads. While it appeared that her attacks had no power behind them, the moment her feet made contact with her opponents they recoiled down into the ground like they'd been struck by a sledgehammer.

She was sure the Otokage would have criticised her form, but she'd never been able to please her teacher.

Shaking herself out of the thought she turned to find her next foe as her robed companion pulled out her own weapon and appeared to float towards her foes like a wraith. Satsu was staying close to both Ryuuhei and Naru since they weren't as capable of close-quarter combat as they were, but with a single scythe in hand it was clear that the cultist had no problems protecting the scouting couple.

Seeing they were covered, Shiin ran her hands rapidly through several complex handseals before activating a set of seals on her body and felt chakra pumping through her body similar to opening the chakra gates.

A large cluster of Quiraji soldiers thought to attack her as she prepared her attack, but to Shiin they looked like they were moving in slow motion. With chakra fuelling her every movement, the clan leader shot forward with a pair of kunai in her hands and stabbed and slashed her through a straight line of soldiers out to the other side of the cluster. She turned on a heel and repeated the motion five times until over twenty soldiers lay dead in a pile at her feet, their blood pooling over her sandalled feet.

The entire attack had taken less than two seconds.

Shiin breathed outwards and turned to see another group falling into line quickly to attack her just as the previous group had, clearly undeterred by her impossibly fast attack. The secret technique took a heavy toll on both her body and her chakra; any technique that manipulated time just for the user came with risks after all. However seeing the sheer amount of soldiers that were facing the seven of them she didn't see a choice in the matter.

The pale woman calmed herself down and began reactivating the seals on her body once again. It was a risk to do the secret technique of her clan more than once in a battle, but she hoped that her companions would be able to contribute in their own fashion and look after her if she fell.

"How the hell did we miss this many enemies?!" complained Ryuuhei as he held a kunai tightly in his hand defensively. Sweat poured off his head in a constant stream while he watched his wife calmly throw shuriken towards any Quiraji she could.

"That doesn't matter anymore," she said with an oddly remorseful tone in her voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. "Let's just focus on surviving, okay?"

Ryuuhei nodded with a gulp and turned to see a Quiraji soldier coming at him with an oversized sword aimed at cleaving him in two. Despite his status as a Genin, Ryuuhei was still a somewhat capable shinobi and was able to parry the blow with his kunai, though it shook him to his core to do so. The Quiraji soldier overcommitted himself and stumbled forwards, giving the craven shinobi enough time to gather his courage and drag his kunai towards the soldier's open defence and press it into the soft part of its neck.

With its neck gushing blood the Quiraji soldier fell to the ground screaming, while Ryuuhei turned to tell his wife of his victory. He was sure she'd be proud of him.

There was nothing he could do as he watched his wife being cut down by a Red Warrior effortlessly. The specialist warrior had slipped through the Quiraji ranks to target her specifically and the intelligent kunoichi had never stood a chance. Its long katana dragged along her midsection and out the other side, leaving the blonde kunoichi standing silently before it flipped around and slit her throat in a single motion.

Ryuuhei didn't even see Naru's body hit the ground as his vision turned dark red and he charged the Red Warrior with a roar of grief-stricken fury on his lips. The Quiraji specialist brought up its blade in time to deflect his initial attack, but Ryuuhei was much quicker than the Red Warrior had anticipated and its katana was quickly bashed out of its hands despite cutting the Otogakure shinobi up several times in the process.

Ryuuhei paid no attention to his wounds as he tackled the armoured warrior to the ground and stabbed it furiously in the eye with his kunai, slamming the small weapon down again and again until he was doing little except filling the Quiraji warrior's helmet with blood.

Eventually he remembered what had happened and crawled over to his wife's body, even as Satsu covered him from any Quiraji attackers that tried to finish the job on him. He gathered up her blonde hair in his arms and screamed out even though he knew that she was long gone.

On another side of the battlefield, Shiin kept her observations about what had just happened to herself and concentrated on where to attack next. There were Quiraji soldiers everywhere and the sound of water on armour was making her head hurt, but it was the knowledge that they were starting to get pushed back that was weighing on her more.

Looking past the nearest group of soldiers she noticed a Black Robe standing back from the fighting, seemingly doing little except watching the battle unfold. A vein popped in her head at the hubris being shown by the Quiraji specialist and she decided that would be her next target.

Activating only a few remaining seals, she sped up time for herself long enough to break past the Quiraji soldiers between the two of them and aimed her kunai at the Black Robe's face.

However just as she came into range of the enemy, her chakra failed her and she slowed back down to regular speed, allowing the Black Robe to pull up a hand and clench her throat as if she were a fledgling child throwing a tantrum. She tried to slash at its withered wrist with her kunai, but she found she no longer had any strength to lift her arms, or to resist at all.

Nearby as they fought back-to-back, Zaku and Kin could only watch as the Black Robe drained her of life in seconds, turning the pale shinobi into a withered husk in seconds. Shiin had been low on stamina before she'd come into contact with the Black Robe so there wasn't much to absorb, but the effect was the same nonetheless.

Seemingly unsatisfied with its meal, the Quiraji specialist discarded her body to the side and turned its attention towards the two Otogakure group leaders with a wicked look in its dead eyes.

"We can't win this battle," said Kin desperately, fighting off a sword with one of her stronger needles. She countered the attack and ended the soldier's life, but two more took his place before she could recover.

Zaku nodded in agreement and clapped his hands together loudly. Both Kin and Satsu knew what that meant and ducked to the ground, while Ryuuhei still hadn't risen from the ground with his wife's body in his arms. With air blasting through both of his arms, Zaku activated a technique he'd developed years ago in fighting multiple opponents at once. It would only work once unless he wanted to break the bones in his arms in the process, but the circumstances dictated drastic measures.

"Enjin Zankuuha!"

A ring of air blasted out all around him, knocking all of the Quiraji soldiers off their feet temporarily. It wasn't strong enough to take any of them out, but the quick-acting shinobi were able to gather together at Naru's body and tighten their defences.

"We have to leave, right now," said Momo as she landed acrobatically. "They're learning our abilities and getting harder to beat."

"We're leaving right now," said Zaku, reaching down to grab Ryuuhei by the shoulder. "Come on now."

The Genin glared up at the Otogakure leader so threateningly Zaku thought he was going to attack him next. Ryuuhei pushed away his hand and rose from the ground, his bloodied kunai glued to his hand as his other reached for a scroll in his projectile pocket.

"I'm not leaving," he said stubbornly, pulling open the scroll and tearing section of it off to attach to his body. "Get out of here while you still can."

"We're not just going to leave you!" protested Momo, but her voice failed near the end when she saw the serious expression in the normally-cowardly shinobi's face.

The Quiraji soldiers around them had recovered quickly from their attack and were already starting to regroup, but Zaku saw an opening that he'd be able to push through with his wind blasts if they left within the next two seconds.

He hated the choice he had to make, but he could see that Ryuuhei had already made the decision for them. With regret plastered across his face, he ordered the other three survivors to follow his lead as he cut a path to an open area and they moved to flee the battlefield.

Large groups of enemy soldiers moved to intercept them and were beaten back by the combination of Satsu and Momo's taijutsu. It was clear that the shinobi group were going to be able to get away, but the Quiraji didn't seem to mind so much when they still had a single target to focus their fury on. The Quiraji army converged on Ryuuhei rapidly while sections peeled off to pursue the fleeing group.

With his fallen wife's body at his feet, Ryuuhei looked angrier than any of them had ever seen before. His pale skin was pulled tightly across his face in a furious glare and his hands were running through handseals quicker than a Genin ought to be able to muster. He'd given them the order to leave them there and after throwing off his jacket it was clear to them what he planned to do. The four surviving Otogakure shinobi fled as fast as they could; holding back their emotions while holding a new respect for their normally-cowardly companion.

The Quiraji soldiers swarmed around him with their weapons falling towards him just as his final handseal activated. Blood poured from his mouth as he could feel his life fleeing his body, yet Ryuuhei mustered the strength to smirk at the Red Warrior that slowly walked towards him to claim its prize.

He waited until the Quiraji specialist was right in front of him and he knew that his companions were out of range before spitting right into the Red Warrior's face.

"See you in hell, you sons of bitches."

oOoOoOo

Less than a minute after leaving the battle the four fleeing Otogakure shinobi heard a thunderous explosion in the background that signalled the end of their companions. They didn't have time to grieve nor pay their respects to their fallen friends; as it was clear from the footsteps they heard behind them.

The Quiraji army was right behind them. And was keeping pace with them.

* * *

><p>The four of them sped through the grasslands and forests as fast they could, trying their best not to think about the half of their group they'd left behind. They hadn't been a particularly close group; half of them had only worked together with this mission, but that didn't change the fact that all four of them hated the fact that there wasn't anything they were able to do except run away.<p>

As shinobi they were fast, but they didn't need Ruka's sensory abilities to know that the Quiraji force that had survived Ryuuhei's last stand were right behind them. If they had even one minute more between the two of them they would have been able to lay down some traps and slow down their progress.

But their mission took precedence and each of them knew it.

"Do you know where you're going?!" yelled out Kin behind Zaku over the pouring rain.

Zaku turned his head back to look at her while dodging out of the way of a large tree, "It is this general direction! Why, should I stop and ask for directions?"

The long haired kunoichi swore several profanities at him and focused on conserving her strength while moving as fast as she could. In her time as the head of infiltration she hadn't experienced a mission going so wrong, but after what has been happening over the past few years she wasn't surprised.

"I think we're losing them," came Momo's voice behind the two of them. Her hair buns had soaked through and were drooping over her forehead protector and her hands were still covered in blood despite the rain. She looked nothing like the chid that she was.

Zaku nodded as he tried to reorientate himself with the surrounding environment. He wasn't lost; but he wished Ruka was with them to direct them. They'd passed through several forests that he didn't recognise, but there was the ruins of a civilian village up ahead that he vaguely recalled as being a half-day's travel from Otogakure expanded territory.

_We're not out of the woods yet._

He directed them towards the village, hoping that they'd be able to hide their presence long enough to recover their strength and make the final leg of their journey. They'd done their best to hide their trail and not use chakra, but they weren't going to be able to keep up this pace for much longer.

It was a gamble, but he didn't see how they had a choice.

"I'm so tired I could fart," said Momo with a sigh.

Her three companions all gave her a questioning stare as they entered the village exterior. Even the silent Satsu was able to judge her adequately, to which the thirteen year old just stuck her tongue out and didn't bother qualifying her statement.

The village looked like it had been abandoned for years with rubble strewn over the area. The four of them slowed down as the fatigue started to creep up on them; having been on constant alert for close to a week had worn them down.

Kin frowned and placed a hand on one of the half-destroyed building walls. She turned to Zaku, "I don't think we should stop here. Something feels wrong."

"I don't think you should be so pessimi…" Zaku's sentence ran off when he walked around the side of one of the buildings and his eyes widened in terror. He turned to warn the others, only to see their pursuers running towards them with weapons raised.

Without realising it, they'd run straight into a hidden Quiraji stronghold. In a small cluster of buildings at the centre of the ruined village were fifty soldiers that had weapons in hand the moment they arrived and were already moving towards them.

The four of them reacted immediately, with Zaku already blasting waves of air at their pursuers while the other three moved to attack the new group that had just encountered them. Momo and Satsu leapt straight into the fray despite their fatigue and began taking out soldiers left and right with their close combat abilities while Kin did her best to take out some of the ranged attackers with her pinpoint needle attacks.

However all four of them were low on stamina and with the numbers the Quiraji were throwing at them it was clear that they were going to be overwhelmed and taken down.

The only course of action they could take was to continue retreating.

Zaku called out the order and began blasting precise soundwaves at any Quiraji soldiers that came close to him; the enemies had no protection against such an attack despite its chakra-heavy nature. He moved quickly to a destroyed part of the village that hadn't been swarmed yet and watched as both Kin and Satsu broke out and joined his side.

However from the soldiers swarming around her, it was clear that their companion wasn't going to be so lucky.

Momo tried her best to fight her way out of the ambush, her small fists reaping a terrible toll on the Quiraji attackers as she broke through armour and bone at once. However the sheer weight of numbers was enough to break her stance and she was knocked unconscious by a back-handed strike from a Red Warrior's sword hilt.

At the other side of the battle, Zaku called out for her and tried to push past some of the attackers with his air blasts, but they closed ranks tightly as one of the Black Robes pursuing them absorbed the chakra of the attack to diffuse the power. The Quiraji seemed less interested in killing her than the other shinobi from their group, as two Quiraji soldiers picked her up by her arms and began to carry her away.

"We can't let them take her!" yelled out Kin, throwing a pair of needles towards the soldiers carrying her away, but the Red Warrior that had knocked her out smacked the projectiles away with its sword. It stood between her and her captured companion as if daring her to try and rescue her.

Zaku swore loudly and leapt back to defend himself from a pair of brave Quiraji soldiers. He turned to the last conscious member of his group, "Can you get her?"

The robe-wearing kunoichi stared at him through dead eyes before nodding very slowly and almost absentmindedly slashing the throat of a soldier trying to blindside her. She turned her gaze to her smaller companion being taken away unconscious and deliberately drew a short knife from within her robe.

Almost eerily wraith-like, Satsu rose up from the ground with her robe fluttered in the windy rain. The two leaders' hearts rose at the thought that she'd be able to save Momo, until they both realised at the same time that it wasn't her goal. Even with the strength they possessed, there wasn't going to be any way for them to break through to save her before the Quiraji soldiers took Momo to a White Assassin near the back that would teleport her away.

They couldn't afford to have the Quiraji capture even one of them at this stage. They all knew far too much damaging information, especially now. Besides, that was a fate worse than death; they all knew what happened to shinobi that were caught by the Quiraji.

Zaku and Kin tried not to look as they kept defending themselves from the seemingly endless waves of Quiraji that kept appearing. However they owed it to Momo to as the short knife sailed through the air and sunk into her heart, killing her instantly. The small girl's body fell limp in her kidnappers' arms, but the Otogakure shinobi had no time to grieve her loss.

"At this rate we're going to get overwhelmed!" he yelled over to Kin, though he wasn't sure the dark haired woman heard him as she unleashed a flurry of attacks on the closest soldier to her. "We have to keep retreating!"

"I'm well aware of that!" shouted Kin back. She took a moment between attacks to get a quick account of their situation.

Having been denied their prize, the Quiraji soldiers surged back towards them. There were far too many of them to take out in a pitched battle, but if the previous flight was anything to go by the Quiraji would be able to catch them without much effort. They needed time to put some distance between them and get back to Otogakure territory.

She watched Zaku blast away a small group of soldiers that had moved away from the Black Robe's area of protection before leaping back to her side.

"If I lay down a smokescreen, you should be get away if you go now," he said quickly, running his hands through a set of handseals.

"I'm not leaving you to die, you stupid man!" said Kin stubbornly, resisting the urge to smack him over the head for even suggesting it. After what they'd seen, she wasn't sure she'd be able to make it on her own; not that she'd ever admit that to him.

"I'm not going to give you a choice," said Zaku, putting his arms up to pump smoke into the enemy ranks in front of them.

However before he could, he was stopped by a hand on his wrist. He glanced to the side to see Satsu walk in front of the two of them and draw her small scythes from her robe. Both Zaku and Kin went to move to assist her, but to their surprise she reached up and pulled back her hood for the first time since they'd met her. She had long silver hair similar to the Otokage's wife and pale skin; something she had hidden from them before.

Satsu turned her head slowly and stared at Zaku for a moment before shaking her head slightly and turning back to the Quiraji soldiers moving to attack them. An explosion of chakra came from out of her as five giant scythes appeared at her side, seemingly floating in the air on chakra alone even though it looked like they were being wielded by the reapers themselves.

Zaku understood immediately what she meant and turned to grab Kin by the shoulder. Normally the needle-wielder would give him grief for the touch, but after seeing Satsu and her weapons start to carve a bloody path through the Quiraji ranks she knew what they had to do.

The human side of her didn't want to leave, but her shinobi pride demanded that they complete their mission no matter the cost.

Both of them swore at what they were forced to do and fled the battlefield in the opposite direction, moving towards the general area where the Fire Temple lay. They heard several Quiraji soldiers come after them but they didn't look back, trusting in Satsu to take care of them. The cultist easily cut down the pursuers with her floating scythes while fighting off several groups of soldiers at once. She parried and countered at every chance she got, even as she saw a Red Warrior and Black Robe approaching her angrily.

They all made such lovely sacrifices.

* * *

><p>Neither of them spoke about the shinobi they'd just lost; it was still too close for them and their pursuers were relentless. Satsu had held back the horde of Quiraji for longer than either of them had thought possible; Zaku could just imagine the cultist slaughtering the soldiers relentlessly one after the other. He just hoped her god rewarded her for her services when she joined him.<p>

After an hour of endless running the two Otogakure shinobi checked to make sure they weren't being pursued and stopped at small cave to rest from the relentless rain. It felt like the Land of Fire itself was intentionally trying to slow down their progress and assist their pursuers.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Zaku to the roof of the cave with a sigh. "If Satsu fell, they'll be right behind us. Neji has to get this information."

Kin clapped him on the shoulder in a rare moment of companionship before shattering the image when she said, "One day you're growing meet that special man and he'll give you that pair of stones you've always asked for."

Zaku was used to her banter and he could see right through her, "You're scared too, aren't you? It's okay, we'll be okay."

The dark haired kunoichi smirked, but there was no humour in her face. She motioned to the note he'd kept secure in his kunai pocket, "Is the information secure?"

He nodded and pulled it out of the pocket, "We should make a copy and both carry one. Just in case…"

Kin gritted her teeth and snatched it out of his hand, "I refuse to listen to that kind of talk. We'll both make it out of here." She quickly copied down the information about the field around Konoha and the five nodes they'd found and handed it back to him. "What kind of talk is that anyway?"

Her Otogakure companion listened for a moment before clenching his fists and turning to the opening of the cave, "Practical talk. Can you sense that?"

"Of course I can. Why do you think I've been on edge so much?"

Zaku looked back at her for a moment before coming to a silent decision and stepping out into the rain. "You should go, Kin." He didn't wait for her response as Quiraji soldiers began accumulating in large numbers across from the cave opening. It wasn't just normal soldiers either; there were over a dozen Red Warriors and a pair of Black Robes at the head of the pursuing force.

Kin snarled and stepped out to fight at his side, but Zaku turned and shot her the most serious look he had ever given her. It was then she realised that she'd underestimated her old friend.

"Go," was the last thing he said to her before turning and blasting out a gigantic wave of air into the Quiraji force that had thought had cornered them. His face was set in a grim visage as he mixed in razor-sharp wind blasts with the pure air power.

Behind him, Kin took one final glance at his back before swearing loudly and leaping over the cave ridge they'd hidden in towards the Fire Temple area. She wasn't the regretful type, but at that moment she hated Zaku for making her leave. He had to know there was no way he was coming out of there.

As she moved away from the battlefield, the rain seemed uninterested in following her, preferring to pour down on her guardian as he fought to keep the enemy off her trail.

Without looking back despite her misgivings, Kin fled as fast as her legs were able to carry her. As an Otogakure shinobi she had exceptional hearing over a massive area, though it paled in comparison to Dosu's.

For several minutes she heard Zaku give a very respectable account for himself before sheer numbers overwhelmed him and he was silenced.

She wished she hadn't heard the last thing he said. The bastard never did know when to let things go.

* * *

><p>She had been less than three hours from the borders of Otogakure territory and at her speed she should have been able to get there in half that time. But when running for your life it felt like time was slowing to a crawl and Kin wasn't able to shake the feeling that the Quiraji were right behind her.<p>

Unfortunately for her, the Quiraji were right on her tail.

Leaping down a large chasm, Kin stopped for a moment to try and get some oxygen into her muscles, feeling her heart beating six times faster than she felt like it should. Kin had dealt with near-death situations all her life; she'd almost been killed a half dozen times in Suna and only four of those were her fault.

This felt different though. Deep down, she knew she wasn't going to make it.

Her shinobi instincts told her to duck to the rocky ground and she made it a policy to obey her instincts at all costs. It saved her life as a White Assassin appeared behind her and slashed across where her body had been.

She spun around at the sound and threw two clusters of needles at her enemy, but they merely bounced off its white armour and only served to anger the Quiraji attacker further.

"Don't get too excited," said the Otogakure kunoichi with a cocky grin on her face. She jumped up on her feet, her fear temporarily suspended under the fact that her enemy currently had a face in front of her.

She jumped to the side of the follow-up strike and placed her hands on the assassin's ears. Unlike the Red Warriors he wasn't wearing a helmet, though it wouldn't have mattered either way.

Tiny soundwaves echoed through the White Assassin's head, ruptured the blood vessels in his brain, killing him instantly. Kin's teeth shook as she could feel the soundwaves moving through her body as well; she didn't have any real control over the technique.

Cutting off the chakra flow, Kin took a moment to regard her fallen foe before she remembered where she was and why he'd attacked her. She glanced up at the chasm and sighed in exasperation at the soldiers moving down towards her.

"It never ends…" she muttered as she turned around and started to run once again. Her muscles screamed out in protest, but Kin ignored them and pressed forward as fast as she could.

From memory, there was a large forest a few minutes away that she might be able to lose her pursuers and then she hoped she'd run into an Otogakure patrol to help her. She'd been sending out sound pulses at specific intervals to hope someone like Dosu could pick up her distress signals, but it had only served to drain her chakra to the point that she was circling the drain.

She was able to outrun the normal Quiraji soldiers who she'd expected would give up at some point, but just before she was able to get into woods she was blindsided by a pair of summoned hounds driving their scythed claws into her sides. She had no idea that the huntress had joined the pursuit of her, but now wasn't the time to concentrate on the little things.

The sudden pain forced her to bite down her teeth to try and move through the pain, but that caused her to bit through a part of her lip and bleed down the front of her outfit. Kin kept the scream that she wanted to let go to herself and kicked at the hounds, hoping that she'd hit them hard enough to stop them as she leapt into the woods.

Kin held a hand to her mouth as she shot through the woods as fast as her exhausted legs could carry her. She knew that her pursuers were right behind her, but the Fire Temple was surely just up ahead.

Her senses spiked at a sound behind her and she leapt to the side just in time to dodge a hail of arrows that would have pierced straight through her. She spun around with her free hand full of needles, but before she could counter-attack a White Assassin appeared out of thin air and cleaved its short blade across her.

She fell back at the attack just enough that it didn't cut her in half, but her attacking hand wasn't so lucky. The anti-shinobi blade slashed through her arm just above her wrist, going through her bone like it wasn't even there. She screamed out in pain through her remaining hand, which caused blood to spray onto the ground from her mouth through her broken teeth.

The White Assassin didn't even give her a chance to recover as it pulled back its other blade to slash her throat while stepping over her severed hand. Kin's eyes widened in fear as she saw her death coming, but she could hear the thundering voice in her head that told her she couldn't afford to die just yet.

She had to get the information to the Otokage, even if it cost her all her limbs, her throat or her life.

As the assassin's blade came towards her, she pulled up her bloody stump and batted it away to give her enough time to scramble backwards and to her feet.

The Quiraji assassin seemed almost amused by her rebellion against inevitability, but it continued to move towards her relentlessly.

_The Fire Temple area should be just over that ridge_, thought Kin as she shoved her remaining hand into her pocket and retrieved the note that contained the vital information. She knew she was staining the note with her blood, but so long as it got to one of her companions that was all that mattered.

In the corner of her eye she could see a group of Otogakure shinobi moving rapidly towards the assassin, their hands running through handseals to attack it.

She knew there was no way they'd get to it in time to save her life. She also knew that the Quiraji assassin would take her body with it with its teleportation ability, as it knew she had information vital to the war.

With her hand still in her pocket, she shoved a long needle through the note and prepared herself for the last thing she was going to do as a proud shinobi of Otogakure.

With conviction in her eyes, Kin dove forward and pulled back her hand as if to shove the needle into the assassin's eye. To preserve its life the assassin ducked underneath her blow and drove its blades into her stomach.

Kin grinned as blood continued to fall from her mouth. With her feint successful, she used the last bit of her strength to throw the needle towards the Otogakure shinobi coming towards her. With her strength expended, Kin was finally able to succumb to her injuries and rest.

oOoOoOo

Nakano called out in pain as he felt the needle sink into his shoulder. He swore loudly and went to pull it out, until he saw how deep it had gone into the muscle.

"How the hell?" he exclaimed loudly as he and his group continued to move towards the Quiraji assassin attacking their comrade. At such a distance they couldn't see how was being attacked, but they'd know the clothing anywhere and that was enough for them.

Juyo fired off a blast of noise at the assassin from a long distance away to try and distract it, but before it could hit its target the white-covered assassin disappeared into thin air, taking its prey with it.

"Damnit!" exclaimed the tracker of their group, turning her sharp eyes back to Nakano. "You alerted him to our presence with your girly screaming!"

Nakano gave her his best are-you-kidding-me look and gestured to the needle in his shoulder, "Do you not SEE THIS?"

The leader of their group stepped towards him and stared at it with amusement in her eyes. "Don't give him too much grief, Tano. It would have gotten away regardless."

Before Nakano could thank their leader for her consideration, the blonde shinobi reached forward and wrenched out the needle. Nakano cried out in pain again, but was ignored when the Otogakure shinobi saw the note that was attached to the needle. It was soaked in blood and clearly written in code, but it wasn't that that caused her eyes to widen in shock.

"We have to get this to the Otokage," she said quickly, shoving the note into her pocket.

The shinobi in her group knew better than to protest or question, though Nakano swore that he'd get back at someone for his wounded shoulder. The Otogakure patrol made for the Fire Temple at their top speed, passing through the other shinobi without saying a word.

At the top of the note, in perfect unsophisticated Japanese was a single line that any Otogakure shinobi would have recognised at something of great importance.

"Tanon wa chinmoku o yaburu."

A single note breaks the silence.

* * *

><p>Stretching out the map of the Land of Fire he'd appropriated several months ago, Neji looked over the area with a long breath. He nodded to Kazuha and watched as his young assistant leaned forward and began lightly shading in a large circle around the area that had once marked Konoha. He'd suspected that was where the Quiraji main base was, as it was the best defensible position in the entire country and justified their almost ritualistic destruction of the shinobi village in the first place.<p>

After Kazuha was done, Neji pulled up the bloody note that he'd only just received and pointed to the five sections that it indicated. With that, Kazuha made small circles to indicate the areas and then bowed as he left the room. He'd worked with the Otokage long enough to recognise when the shinobi required time to himself.

Neji bit at his lip as he stared down at the marked map. He still hadn't heard from any of his plans to acquire further allies and looking at the map and the plan that was starting to form in his head required more shinobi than he had at his disposal.

_If we didn't have to protect our civilians we could do an all-out assault…but even then we don't have the power to take on the Quiraji leaders…_

Setting up those chakra-nullifying sections was the perfect way to force him to split up his force during the attack. If he was in charge of the enemy, he'd make it so that the enemy would have to destroy all of them at once to take down the field and they'd be guarded by some of his best troops.

There was no reason to expect the Quiraji to do anything less than that, if not more.

It was vital information he'd obtained from his scouts, but he hated the fact that more people had died in the process of acquiring the information. He'd gotten to know Zaku and Kin fairly well over the past years and had appreciated the trials they had gone through to get to where they were. A part of him wondered if he'd erred in sending out the groups of scouts as he had, but Neji was forced to remind himself that this was war.

People were going to die.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'm sorry if parts of this story are getting a bit too graphic. If so, please tell me and I'll tone it down. This chapter was intentionally a lot darker than many of the others, but this is a pretty dark time in this story. I really wanted to convey the desperation necessary for the shinobi to fight this war, something I feel the main story is lacking. Admittedly some of it is for shock value, but if it's being detrimental to the story then there are other ways to go about it. Please, let me know.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	83. Chapter 76 The Arrival of Allies

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 76 – The Arrival of Allies

**A/N**: I hope this chapter helps break up the grim darkness of the story a little bit. Not just because I need a break from it, but it's good to have change occasionally.

**A/N2**: I apologise for the serious lateness of this chapter, once again. University work was piling up and I didn't get the chance to do decent writing like I normally do, most of the time it was awful. The next chapter will likely be a while away too, probably 3-4 weeks. Sorry about this. Once I get back to Australia the schedule should be back on track.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be parties like in One Piece.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

With their position in the Land of Fire still shaky at best, Neji sent out a pair of scouting teams in the hope that they'd be able to find the Quiraji main base and bring the information back to him. To that end, Zaku and Kin commanded their squads and discovered a massive chakra-nullifying field that encompassed the entirety of Konoha and the nearby area, not even allowing them to get a glimpse at the destroyed shinobi village. The field was far more powerful than any of them were able to push through, and as they traced around the edges they discovered the field was being powered by five machine nodes that were just in the edge of the field.

After marking down the information gathered, the group went to return to the Fire Temple area, but unfortunately they were ambushed at every step by Quiraji soldiers and specialists that didn't seem to want to let them leave. One by one they fell to the implacable foes, despite rending a terrible toll on the enemy force. Eventually the last person alive was Kin, who just barely got the information in Otogakure hands before succumbing to her wounds and dying.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>For the first time in what felt like forever, Neji laughed loudly and slapped his legs in pure amusement at what he'd just heard. He bounced little Hizashi on his knee affectionately before handing him to his equally amused wife and watching her take him out to have his bath.<p>

Once they left, Neji pointed at his guest dramatically, "You are not, under any circumstances, to give my son a spandex outfit. I'm serious about this."

Rock Lee laughed loudly and put up his hands defensively, "Alright, alright. But I want to, at least, give him some taijutsu training. If he just learns the Hyuuga style, he won't grow up to be youthful like us."

Neji groaned, but conceded that he would have to give his old friend that much. "I would have thought you'd have gotten here quicker, by the way. Someone with your speed should have made the trip between Suna and here in less than a day."

"I visited Gai-sensei's grave again. I felt it had been too long since my last visit."

"Did he say anything to you this time?"

Lee shrugged, "Nothing I haven't already heard. It did give me some time to think about some things though."

"Like the fact that you are married? Seriously, out of all of us, you were the last person I'd have expected to get married. How you conned her in marrying her is beyond me." Neji understood that he wasn't in much of a position to argue, as he would never have considered himself interested in relationships until he met Yuko.

"Some things can surprise us," said Lee with a surprisingly knowledgeable tone to his voice. "On a different topic, while we are talking, I've been thinking about something for a while."

"That's rare for you. Something to do with the ridiculous amount of Quiraji you've been fighting over the past few months? Word is you've been on quite the war path."

"I have my problems with the Quiraji, same as any shinobi," said Lee quietly, but Neji didn't believe him for a moment. "It's about some of the Quiraji soldiers I've been fighting recently."

Neji's white eyes darkened when he recognised what Lee was alluding to. "You've recognised some people, haven't you?"

Lee shook his head in disbelief at the implication. "Were they brainwashed or something? Some of them were good people."

The Otokage stood up from his chair and glanced out of the Fire Temple window at the patrolling Otogakure shinobi outside. "We've got some understanding on how most of it went down. Lots of civilians had issues with the shinobi villages from the start; look at the situation in the Land of Earth as the best example. Then the Quiraji come into the picture and offer to help them. We had to expect that they might turn on us at some point, we haven't exactly treated them nicely."

"But for the civilians of the world to turn on the shinobi and join the Quiraji? They fight like trained soldiers, the equivalent of lots of Chuunin!"

"It's some part of their science; we don't know how they do it. But from the soldiers we've captured…they aren't the people they were anymore."

Lee shook his head again with his arms across his chest, "I hate the fact that we are fighting against people we used to help. People we were trying to protect."

Neji echoed his sentiment before taking his seat again and placing his hands on his temporary desk, "We're losing this war, Lee. Even if we defeat the Quiraji…things can't go back to the way they were. The world has completely changed and we aren't strong enough to change it back."

"Then maybe we shouldn't try to change it back." Lee smirked at the look his old friend gave him; it brought amusement to his eyes. "I do occasionally have moments of clarity."

Neji replicated his old friend's expression, "Sometimes I forget that you have learned more than just how to beat up things during our travels." He shared a smile with Lee as he remembered some things they had gone through over the years, both together and apart.

A loud knock on the door interrupted their conversation, but before Neji could ask who it was, the door swung open and Karin stomped in with an expression on her face that could only be described as unpleasant.

"You won't believe the shi…" her sentence ran off as she realised they weren't alone in his office.

Neji sighed and indicated to her with his head, "Lee, this is my head scientist, Karin. She used to work for Orochimaru before joining us. Karin, this is Rock Lee, one of my old teammates from Konoha."

"Charmed," she said before stepping forward and pulled out a chart from her side.

"What is it, Karin?" asked Neji shortly, wishing that Karin had more social skills than she actually did.

The red haired scientist ignored his tone for a moment and glanced over at the guest in the room suspiciously, "There are things we should discuss…in private."

Neji waved off her concern, "There is nothing I would not be able to discuss with Lee. We are both survivors from Konoha and have fought countless times together. What is wrong?"

Karin continued to glare the taijutsu master for several more moments before sighing and tossing a chart onto the table in front of her leader. "We've finished our analysis of the converted shinobi recovered from the Kage Summit Battle."

"You were still working on that?" Neji glanced over the numbers on the chart before placing it back onto the table, "We've had more important things to worry about, Karin."

She shook her head quickly before pushing her glasses back on her face, "You don't understand what I mean. We couldn't work out how the Quiraji had removed the ability to use chakra from them. Eventually we gave up, and that's when we discovered that they hadn't removed the ability at all. They removed their chakra entirely. They completely drained them."

"All very interesting, but they haven't used converted shinobi since the Kage Summit," pointed out Neji with a dismissive wave.

Karin snarled and slammed a hand onto his desk, "You're not listening to me! They've been doing that to every shinobi of ours that they kill or capture! Aren't you at least curious as to what they are using that energy for?"

Neji went to say something, but now that he'd heard it from her personally, it became apparent that she was indeed right to be suspicious. Lee hopped up from his chair and placed a hand on his chin, "It generally doesn't kill the shinobi they do that to either. What would they use that much raw chakra for?"

"I have no idea, but if they could utilise it…"

Neji sighed and tapped his fist on the table, "There's nothing we can do about that now. If they bring out something new to fight us with, then we'll face it head-on. Other than that, we can only keep doing what we are doing."

Karin wasn't satisfied with his answer, but it was the best she knew she was going to get. She sighed and motioned to his stump with her hand, "The offer is still there to regenerate your hand, by the way."

"For the last time, I'm not interested," said the Otokage, glancing down at the chart once again. "Stop offering."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Lee from the side. "Maybe then you'd be better suited to getting on the front lines." He said it with amusement in his eyes, though to his credit Neji didn't bite.

"Tell my old friend what the chance of the procedure killing me," he ordered to Karin.

"Only 40 percent, now that we've gotten some more trained medical shinobi," said the red haired scientist confidently.

Neji gestured towards her, "That's why."

Rock Lee smirked back at his old friend, "Fair enough. If there's nothing else you want to talk about, I have a few things around the village to attend to."

"How far away are the Sunagakure forces?" asked Neji as his old friend turned to leave.

"They should arrive tomorrow, assuming they weren't delayed significantly."

The Otokage nodded in response and the green-clad shinobi disappeared with his trademark speed out of the room. Karin turned with amazement at how fast he moved, while Neji turned his attention back to his head scientist.

"How dangerous could this raw chakra be to us?" he asked her with a serious expression on his face.

"Are you asking me what I would do with it?"

Neji considered her question for a moment before shaking his head slowly, "I see your point."

She stared at him knowingly before walking out of his office and leaving him to contemplate what she'd brought to him. Once he knew she was gone, Neji sighed softly and glanced down at his stump.

_I couldn't replace this hand even if I wanted to. It's the most important lesson I had to learn. _

* * *

><p>Neji wasn't sure how one was meant to embrace an ally into his midst, but once word came down the grapevine that the Sunagakure contingent was coming into range; he took a deep breath and stepped out into the main Fire Temple area in his full Otokage attire.<p>

At the head of the army of masked Sunagakure ANBU shinobi was the Kazekage, similarly attired as he came up to the Otokage and gave his compatriot a short nod; as one equal to another.

"It is good to see that you were able to join us," said Neji respectfully. "We're deep in it now."

"Indeed," said Gaara back to him. His eyes looked around the Fire Temple with knowing appraisal before turning back to the Otokage. "Is there a place we can stay during this time?"

"Of course. We have accommodations for the numbers Lee gave us when he arrived ahead of you."

Gaara turned to his older brother behind him, but Kankuro was already giving out the orders to the ANBU to muster out. The Konoha shinobi that had joined them each greeted Neji as they went past and he would have liked to speak with them a bit more, but he had things he had to speak to Gaara about that couldn't wait.

"Would you like to get something to eat and drink? I have some things in my office," offered Neji.

Gaara glanced slightly upwards at his taller equal for a moment before breathing out slowly and raising a hand towards him. "I'd rather do this instead."

Neji looked down at the hand and tried to conceal his excitement as he grasped the younger Kage's hand and shook it tightly.

"Sunagakure accepts your proposal for allegiance. We will gladly work together to defeat our mutual foes. It is a great privilege to be here."

Their hands came apart and Neji caught a glance at the shinobi that had stopped doing what they doing just to watch the agreement take place.

It was a historic moment. They just hoped they would survive long enough to tell people about it.

After a few minutes of discussing a few details for the sake of appearances, the two Kages were distracted from their talks as a small hawk flew through the sky towards them. Gaara slowly drew out a line of sand cautiously, but Neji put up his hand to reassure him as the small brown hawk landed on his shoulder. In one of its talons it held a small scroll that Neji went to take off before remembering that his hand was already occupied. The Otokage motioned to Gaara with his stump, to which the Kazekage removed the scroll without comment. Once its delivery was made, the hawk bobbed its head to the two leaders and disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

Gaara read the information quickly before handing it back to the Otokage, "You have been busy, it seems."

Neji gave him a look that told him he was not sorry at all, but when he read the information a shadow of a smile appeared on his face. He gave his compatriot a nod to excuse himself, to which Gaara turned away without a word and began walking back to the Sunagakure forces that were setting themselves up.

Neji activated his Byakugan for a moment before turning it off and calling for a nearby Otogakure shinobi. The female Chuunin bounded up to him and bowed slightly in respect, "Something I can do for you, sir?"

"Gather three of your team and report to the Kazekage. You're there to keep an eye on him and his shinobi and make sure that they are given whatever they request." He gave her a look that should have been impossible with his white eyes, but the young woman understood it immediately. She smirked knowingly and disappeared off to her duties.

Knowing that his shinobi wouldn't fail him, Neji began walking to the edge of the Fire Temple area, seeing the sender of the message walking towards his stronghold.

Sasuke and Fiore walked through the Otogakure guards with their heads held up high, while the Mizukage and her four hundred Kirigakure shinobi walked behind them. They'd come to the area as quickly as they could, but they'd made sure to clean themselves up so they didn't look like they'd just lost over half their company in a few attacks. The remaining four Swordsmen stood on either side of the Mizukage as her dedicated bodyguards, while Ao walked slowly behind them.

There was no cheering or fanfare for the entrance of the Kirigakure forces into their alliance, like there had been when the Sunagakure ANBU had arrived. The grim nature of their arrival was beginning to get to the shinobi already present, and once they were settled in their designated area it really hit the Otogakure shinobi that it was really entering the end game of the war.

They weren't here to break bread and share stories. They were here to fight their mutual foe for their continued survival.

* * *

><p>The Land of Fire's weather was generally pleasant, but today was particularly cloudy and miserable. A pair of Otogakure shinobi had been stuck with the midday shift of watching the east side of the Fire Temple, while most of the other Otogakure shinobi were assisting in getting the Sunagakure and Kirigakure forces settled and rearmed.<p>

"You catch a glimpse of the Mizukage today?" asked one of the guards to his compatriot.

The other guard turned to him with a glare, "She's the leader of one of our allies. You shouldn't be talking about her like that."

His compatriot smirked and turned back to the endless forest in front of them, "That's a yes." He leaned forward over the defensive wall and stared out at a section to the far east. "Is there a patrol due back now?"

"Not for a few hours…why, what do you see?"

The guard didn't reply back for a few moments before his eyes widened and he turned to the other guard, "We need to get the Otokage."

"He's already here," came a voice behind the two guards. They turned to see the robed leader walking towards them with his hand in his pocket. "What is happening?"

The two guards saluted him quickly, before the first speaker stuttered, "We thought you were with the other Kages, sir. We weren't expecting you here."

"I am in talks with the Kazekage and Mizukage as we speak," clarified Neji quickly. "This is a Kage Bunshin. Is there a large group approaching us?"

"Ah…yes, sir. From the look of it, they appear to be shinobi."

Neji frowned and pulled a small clock from his pocket, "It's earlier than I was expecting."

"Sir?"

The Otokage put his clock back and leapt over the guards in a small burst of chakra, "Tell the other guards to open the east gate. We have more allies approaching."

The guards glanced at each other for a moment, but the Otokage's Kage Bunshin was already out of earshot. He shot through the distance rapidly before skidding to a halt in front of the approaching shinobi. He was greeted with a nod of respect by the leading shinobi, while one of them called for the others to lower their weapons.

"We thought we'd find you here," said the lead shinobi with a grim expression on his scarred face.

The Kage Bunshin of Neji nodded back quickly, "I suspected you'd be able to join us, Kakashi. You've brought friends too, it seems."

The silver-haired Jounin shrugged and gestured to the pair of shinobi at his side, "These are…"

"There's no need for introductions," said the female shinobi, stepping forward with an outstretched hand, "I've met the Otokage before."

"The Two-Tails container," noted the Otokage's clone, shaking her hand quickly. He glanced at her companion and figured from his sunglasses and tattoos that he must be the other Tailed Beast container from the same village. Walking behind the two of them were a large group of Kumogakure shinobi that looked armed to the teeth and ready for a fight, while his white eyes just made out the flying image of Kakashi's known partner in the air.

"How did you come to meet these shinobi?" he asked to Kakashi.

The old Konoha Jounin shrugged, "Just a matter of circumstance. We were following a group of Quiraji soldiers that ran into their ambush. Thankfully they decided not to kill us…"

"After the paper-user threatened to blow us all up, you mean," said Killer Bee in a surprising moment of clarity. It was enough to cause Yugito to turn to him with a raised eyebrow. "She ripped up my notebook."

"I warned you she was sensitive about her cloak," said Kakashi with a sigh.

"Anyway, after we tortured a Quiraji soldier we discovered your position here and figured it would be best for us to join forces."

"The Raikage didn't join you?" asked the clone of Neji, already knowing the answer.

From behind the pair of Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers came the sword wielding Darui who sighed loudly and rubbed at the back of his neck, "He sent us out to kill Quiraji, while he keeps a lid on the situation at the village. His exact words were: 'Help that white-eyed bastard however you can, kill as many of the Quiraji bastards for as many of us they took down, then get your asses back here.'"

"Charming," said the clone of Neji. "Well you are most certainly welcome. You're more likely to encounter Quiraji with us."

"Then take us to the real Otokage and we'll make an alliance," said Yugito knowingly. "We're here for our own reasons and no more."

Killer Bee burst out into laughter for evidently no reason. While everyone present gave him the most suspicious of looks, the Eight-Tails container pulled out his pen and began writing on the inside of his scarf.

"You had to put up with that?" asked the clone of Neji to Kakashi.

"You have no idea…" said the Konoha Jounin with a groan.

oOoOoOo

A few hours after the entrance of the Kumogakure allies, Neji was staring up at the dark night with his wife at his side when he saw an odd black shape moving rapidly against the wind. Initially he turned to tell Yuko to go back inside, but one look with his Byakugan caused him to relax his guard and tell the surrounding Otogakure to stand down.

"Something I should know about?" asked Yuko with a curious look on her face.

Neji shook his head and kissed her on the top of her head, "Just another piece of the puzzle coming back into place."

His silver-haired wife placed a hand on his chest with concern in her eyes, "You don't have to be here for everything, dear. There are plenty of competent shinobi that can handle people reporting in."

The Otokage didn't smile at her even though he appreciated her concern, "I'm the leader; I have to be here for things like this. My shinobi need to know I'm going to be here for them and am prioritising their safety."

"You already have their respect," reminded Yuko, before kissing him again and going back into their apartment. Neji watched her leave for a time with his Byakugan before sighing and turning back and watching the dark cloud descending towards him.

It took the form of a murder of cawing crows that gathered together as they came together and transformed back into their original form. The oldest Uchiha survivor cracked his neck loudly, indicating to Neji that he must have been flying for a long time, before watching up to the Otokage and nodded respectfully.

"There is a force on its…" started Itachi, but Neji stopped him quickly.

"I know," he said, rather forcefully. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that he could intimidate the demon-eyed Uchiha, but thankfully Itachi understood his tone and kept the information to himself.

He pulled back his hood and turned his head as if using his false eyes to look around, even though it was an entirely unnecessary action, "You've gathered a great many people."

"We're looking to make a push tomorrow," said Neji back. "Assuming you were successful…"

Itachi nodded with a grim expression on the part of his face that wasn't covered by his eye-cloth, "It was worse than you anticipated."

"How many?"

"Hundreds. Each could carry nearly two hundred. There were five ports in total."

Neji swore loudly and tried to work out the math in his head. "That means they've got significantly more boots on the ground than we first thought." He glanced back at the Uchiha shinobi, "Were you able to destroy them all?"

Even without eyes, Neji could tell that Itachi was giving him an are-you-kidding-me look. "They won't be leaving this land. You're taking a big risk by doing this, Hyuuga."

"Yet you agreed with my plan, Uchiha," shot back Neji.

"It will go horribly wrong for us shinobi if your plan doesn't work though. Remember you are a Kage, you hold many more lives than just your shinobi in your hands." Itachi put up a hand to stop the retort that Neji was about to fire back, recognising that the Otogakure leader was clearly tired and stressed. "Regardless, the Quiraji boats have all been destroyed. If they have more troops that are going to come to reinforce them, we won't be able to stop them."

Neji took a long breath to calm himself down and nodded grimly, "We'll face that hurdle if it comes up. For now, I am about to hold a meeting to discuss the plan we have come up with to strike at the heart of the Quiraji army."

Itachi nodded and began walking towards the mess to get himself rejuvenated before his presence was required. Neji watched him leave with a shiver; ever since he'd returned from his imprisonment in the Land of Fire, the elder Uchiha just had an eerie aura that was impossible to ignore.

The eyes certainly didn't help.

* * *

><p>Setting up the room for the meeting, Neji tried to think if there was anything he'd missed. It was pretty intimidating to consider what they were about to plan and execute, but they couldn't afford to mess this up. Their forces were all gathered as much as he could have hoped, though the missing presence of his cousin and her blonde partner was still a cause for concern.<p>

Suddenly, as if hearing his thoughts out loud, Naruto and Hinata walked into the hall and gave him a casual wave. The elder Hyuuga glared at the two of them acting like nothing had happened, as Otogakure shinobi raced around the room preparing it for the coming meeting.

"You're late," he said shortly.

Naruto turned to his wife with a grin, "I don't think he's happy to see us."

"Clearly we're intruding," said Hinata with a sly grin that caused her cousin's heart to sink. "Perhaps we should go back to Suna and get him another army to use."

Her husband nodded and turned back to the Otokage, "We'll be back in a week, depending on traffic."

Neji gritted his teeth and bit the bullet, "It's good to see you are okay. Thank you for bringing Gaara and his shinobi here."

Naruto chuckled and walked around the table to clap his old friend on the shoulder, "See? That wasn't so hard. Similar to pulling teeth, but still."

Hinata smiled and moved her hair out of her face to gently kiss her cousin on his cheek, "It's good to see you again, Neji-niisan."

Around the three of them, several of the Otogakure stifled laughs and tried to hide it from their leader, but Neji's strict gaze caught them anyway. He activated his Byakugan to emphasise his point, "Everyone out. Now."

He would have liked them to flee in fear of his retribution, but the Otogakure shinobi merely finished up their duties and left the hall while catching several amused looks from the amusing couple.

"You weren't with the Kazekage's group," said Neji once they were the only people in the hall. "I was contemplating sending a group out after you."

Naruto waved off his concern, "Just dealing with some internal stuff. We used Hiraishin to get here as soon as we could. We saw all the people you've gathered here."

"It's very impressive," added Hinata with a smile. "It's good to see everyone again."

"Still can't get used to seeing Kakashi-sensei like that though…" said Naruto. "We spent ages trying to get him to remove that damn mask…"

With his Byakugan still active, Neji could see that the leaders of the other shinobi forces were approaching the hall, as it was close to the designated time. He cut off Naruto and Hinata's reminiscing with his hand, "Well, regardless, you have come at an opportune time. We're about to have a meeting to discuss our plan to remove the Quiraji from the Land of Fire and turn the war in our favour. You're welcome to stay and contribute."

"Can we grab something to eat first?" asked Naruto while clutching at his stomach. "I haven't had ramen in AGES."

"We don't have any ramen," said Neji with a smirk.

Naruto tried not to overreact, but he started to feel weak in the knees. Before he could fall to the floor, his wife held him up by his shoulders and pulled out a cup from her pack. She showed the instant ramen to him with a knowing smile, perking him right up.

He reached up and gently kissed her on the lips, "That's why I married you. You always know what I need."

Next to the main table in the hall, Neji was trying his best to scratch his eyes out with his hand.

oOoOoOo

Once he confirmed that everyone was present, Neji called them over to the large round table in the Fire Temple hall and ordered his assistant to roll out the map for them to see. It had been a work in progress for years, with each Quiraji outpost and stronghold indicated with symbols that denoted strength and numbers, with red crossed through the ones that they had destroyed.

"Is this all the information you have on their positions?" asked the Mizukage with her eyes running over the map quickly. "You seem to think they are everywhere."

"We've been making good progress on their positions," replied Neji, waving over his other assistant to cross out the weapons facility near the Land of Lightning border. He turned to his old Uchiha companion, "Did you leave anything left?"

Sasuke shrugged and glanced over at his partner, "Did you?"

Fiore tried to count on her fingers and gave up after a few moments, turning her attention to the Otokage, "Doesn't matter, the place was wrecked. What does it matter?"

Neji nodded and looked over at his cousin and her 'husband', "Do you know what this marking means?" he asked, pointing to the centre of the map.

The married couple looked at each other for a moment before Naruto nodded slowly, "Home."

"That's right," said Neji with a sigh. He still thought of Konoha as his old home, though he'd chosen his new home at Otogakure and he had never looked back. "We have enough information to make the conclusion that the Quiraji main base is in the rumble of Konoha."

He waited a moment to let that information sink in, though from the gathered expressions it became obvious that most of them had already come to that conclusion. Not only was it symbolic of the enemy to do, it was one of the most defensible locations in the whole Land of Fire.

"What is this shaded out area around Konoha?" asked Gaara. He and Kankuro were the only Sunagakure representatives at the meeting, yet as one of the three Kages present he knew he was an equal in their eyes and felt compelled to have his voice heard.

"That, is an extremely powerful chakra nullifying field that is completely covering the Quiraji base and the old village of Konoha. There is no way to get through it with any force of shinobi in fighting condition."

At the opposite side of the table, both the Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers snorted in tandem. "You make it sound like we aren't pushing the Quiraji back at every turn," said Yugito with a scoff. "They haven't broken through any of the villages."

"Don't underestimate them," said Gaara quickly. "They've won far more battles than they've lost. We're outnumbered, outmatched and running out of time. Every day we lose more and more people."

"Nobody is disputing the danger," said Naruto diplomatically. He motioned to the group gathered in the hall, "but look at what is happening here. We have the some of the strongest shinobi from Sunagakure, Kumogakure and Otogakure. We have the survivors from Konoha and FIVE Tailed Beast containers." He turned to Neji with a confident smirk, "If this isn't an auspicious moment, I don't know what is."

The Otokage gave him a rare smile and turned back to the map, while Sasuke leaned over to his old Team 7 teammate with a raised eyebrow. "Auspicious?" he whispered quietly. "Do you know what that means?"

"Of course I do," whispered Naruto back fiercely. "I know how to use complex words!"

"Uhuh," replied Sasuke with zero faith in his old teammate. He turned his attention back to the meeting where the Mizukage was asking Neji what the dots around the chakra nullifying area were.

Neji drew everyone's attention to her question and moved several assigned pieces next to the dots, "These are the machines that are powering the chakra nullifying field. Our scouts paid dearly for this information, but we are fairly certain that these are the things we need to take out. They are heavily guarded and inside the field."

"So what, we destroy those and we win? Seems too easy," said Fiore with a frown. "If you were my enemy that would be the trap to split you apart and then the army takes you apart bit by bit."

The Otokage frowned at her boiling it down to such simple points, but nodded in agreement. "When analysing the information, we think you are correct. Since Konoha is at the centre of the field, we can assume that's where the leaders of the Quiraji are waiting for us."

Mei leaned over the table towards the map, "So we are going to spring the trap anyway? Seems dangerous."

"That's why we are all here," said Gaara coldly. "If you aren't here to risk your life, then you shouldn't be here."

The Mizukage shot her counterpart a glare before turning back to the Otokage, "I assume you have some sort of plan you want to tell us? Otherwise you wouldn't have called us all here."

Neji nodded and brought everyone's attention back to the map as he manipulated the pieces on the board. The strategy had been ironed out since he'd gotten the information, but now that he was presenting it he was trying to see if there were any holes in it.

"Our plan is this: we attack each node with a significant shinobi force and try to destroy the machines to bring down the field. Once the field is down, a strike force charges towards Konoha and takes out the Quiraji leaders. They're the ones that are winning the war for the Quiraji, and this is our one chance to take them out."

He let the others take in the information, watching their expressions with interest. It was clear that there were several that were sceptical of his plan, but they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

They had to do this.

"Who would be part of this strike team?" asked Sasuke finally, breaking the silence in the room.

"Our best fighters would have to go" said Neji, looking around the room. "I would expect my fellow Kages to accompany me on this final push." He glanced at the Kazekage and Mizukage, seeing them both nodding as if it were obvious. "I doubt I could stop my fellow Konoha shinobi from coming either."

Naruto nodded and slammed a fist into his open palm, "Damn straight. I've got an ass-whooping with Benkei's name on it."

Neji smirked as the other Konoha shinobi present echoed Naruto's sentiment. "That's what I thought. I'm sure our Tailed Beast companions would also want to get some revenge as well," he said, indicating to the Kumogakure shinobi present at the meeting.

Yugito looked at Killer Bee for a moment before coming to a decision and turning back to him, "We will join you. Shall we direct our shinobi to take out one of these nodes you spoke about?"

Neji nodded and pulled out a piece to place next to the most north eastern node, "They can take this one, closer to your village. Your group is the fastest and you can get reinforcements from your village."

"We only have our elite shinobi with us," said Yugito cautiously. "How strong are the Quiraji defences at these nodes?"

"Very strong," said Neji grimly. "We'll have to throw everything we have at them, except for those in the strike team, and those defending our position here." He turned to the Mizukage, "Would your subordinates be able to take out the node closest to your border?"

Mei considered his proposition for a time before uncrossing her arms and nodding slowly. "I will leave some shinobi here to enhance your defences as well, since some of them are defensive specialists. The Seven Swordsmen will make short work of this 'machine'."

Pre-empting the Otokage's request, Gaara motioned to the node close to the Land of Wind, "My ANBU will take care of this one." He knew that it was a dangerous mission, but with his older brother at the head he was confident they would succeed. "That leaves two nodes to your forces, Hyuuga."

Neji nodded and moved his two pieces to cover those areas, "We have a large force here, so that is within our strength." He took in a long breath, "This is what we have to do. Does anyone have anything to add?"

Beside her husband, Hinata did a mental count of those present and the ones he had mentioned being part of the strike team, before confirming her suspicion. "So the strike team will only be fifteen of us? Those of us present here, Kiba and his cousin, right?"

"Shouldn't we take some other troops with us?" asked Konan from the side of the room. "If the enemy is ready for us, then we should hit them as strong as we can."

Neji shook his head and motioned back to the map with the strategic pieces, "If the strike team can't kill the Quiraji leaders, then nobody can. We're the strongest shinobi that are left…" He left out the fact that the Raikage wasn't present; he could see that the Kumogakure shinobi wished that he was but weren't going to bring it up as a point of concern. "…and as Naruto pointed out, we have a lot of power on our side. The Quiraji aren't foes we can overwhelm with numbers." He pointed to the nodes on the map, "Besides, once they take down the field, our forces can come in and reinforce us."

They discussed the details of the mission for several hours following, with each of them agreeing that it was the only way they were going to be able to turn the war into their favour. The Kages left the meeting and gave their orders to their subordinates, while Naruto and Hinata went to tell Kiba and his cousin what they were going to do. Neji decided to talk to Ino personally, as he had no intention of having her accompany the strike team with her child in tow. His plan was to have her set up a medical facility for injured shinobi that would likely turn up as the Quiraji army turned its focus on their position.

If there was one thing he could guarantee, it was that the moment they departed for their mission, the Fire Temple would come under terrible attack. He trusted his people to be able to handle the attacks, but regardless of outcome, he knew one definite thing.

In about a week, they would either all be dead, or only some of them would be dead.

* * *

><p>After dressing his hand as was his ritual, Neji stepped out into the main area of the Fire Temple to get some fresh air before retiring to spend some time with his wife and sleeping children. He expected to see a nice clear black sky with the Otogakure scouts standing at their posts and it being a relatively quiet night.<p>

Instead, he simply stood in a complete stupor at the scene in front of him.

The lights that were normally pointed away from the Fire Temple to light up the surrounding area were directed into the main centre area. Loud music blared all around him with some obnoxious dance music that was all the rage in the civilian towns they had occasionally visited before setting up their own village. There were tables of food and drink with people from underground serving and cooking all ranges of different types of things.

But the strangest thing was all the shinobi, from Otogakure to the Konoha Survivors to the others three villagers represented, dancing and singing like they didn't have a care in the world. The shinobi that, at one point would be trying to kill each other seemed to be partying together without a care in the world.

Before he could say anything, he was blindsided by his cousin, who had seemingly changed into a long flowing light blue dress and had absolute joy in her white eyes. She reached out and grasped his arm, hauling him into the area where the other shinobi were and began dancing with him. Initially the Otokage wanted to balk her outrageous action and demand an explanation as to what was going on, but once he got a look at the relaxed looks on his shinobi's faces his brain figured it out. Despite himself, he began dancing with his cousin in a manner he hadn't thought himself capable of.

At the area where Neji had emerged, Naruto chuckled and turned to his old friend's assistant, placing a group of bills into his hand. "Thanks for sound-proofing his office. The look on his face was totally worth it."

Kazuha nodded and pocketed the bills. "Don't forget our deal."

The blonde shinobi rolled his eyes and clapped the Otogakure shinobi on the shoulder with his hand, "I was always going to keep an eye on him and make sure he comes back in one piece. Even though he'd never admit it, he and I are family." Naruto watched the normally serious Neji dancing awkwardly with his cousin with pure amusement in his eyes. "It's good to hear that you all care about him so much."

"He's the Otokage," said Kazuha matter-of-factly, but Naruto could tell how much respect and admiration the young man held for the Hyuuga leader. He didn't know all the details behind Neji's bizarre creation of the shinobi village and rise to the same level as he had once aspired to obtain, but he could admire the sheer amount of work that it would have required.

Clearly the old Neji that had tried kill him and Hinata during the Chuunin Exams in Suna was completely gone. And Naruto, for one, was glad to see the troubled Hyuuga had found his place.

"Are you going to enjoy the festivities?" came a female voice behind him. He turned to see the Otokage's wife walking towards him with a bright look in her eyes that mirrored her silver hair.

Naruto gave her a short bow in respect and nodded, "Was all this your idea?"

Yuko smiled and gestured to the dancing shinobi, "Everyone needs to let down their hair every once in a while. Even my stoic husband."

"You're certainly right. If you'll excuse me…"

"Of course," said Yuko, watching the blonde shinobi bound off towards his dark haired wife and whisk her away from her older cousin. She turned to Kazuha, "Are the borders still secure?"

"Yes madam, we've doubled the guard."

Yuko thanked him for his efforts and told him he could enjoy the party with everyone else, but the Otokage's assistant politely declined. His job was to make sure that his leader was safe, and with all these different shinobi nearby he had to keep a strict vigil.

Though those ramen noodles did smell particularly nice.

oOoOoOo

Not one for embracing fervour like his fellow shinobi, the Kazekage stood to the side of the party with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the others with interest. He had had an interesting discussion with Naruto earlier about their role in the coming battle and the blonde shinobi had left him with several thoughts to ponder, but Gaara was not one to be hasty about these types of things.

After years of working with her, he was able to sense his personal bodyguard long before she came into contact with him, but Gaara still acted like she wasn't there until Matsuri revealed herself at his side and stood with a wide smile on her young face.

"Are you enjoying the festivities, Gaara-sama?" she asked innocently, though even without looking at her he could sense her probing for information.

"They're adequate for the purpose they serve," he said dryly. At first she wasn't sure whether he was intentionally being diplomatic or not, but when he turned to her and the smallest of smirks rose on his face, she chuckled in response and leaned against the same wall beside him.

"It's nice that we get to relax a bit before tomorrow. Almost makes you forget what's going on around us."

Gaara didn't give her a response, but internally he agreed with her for the most part. The ANBU shinobi he had brought with him were the best of the best from Sunagakure, but they were also family men and women and needed downtime as much as anyone. He hated that he had to throw them into the fires of war in the knowledge that many of them would likely die, but in doing so he hoped that they'd be able to save their people from a worse fate.

In his mind, they deserved a bit of drink and dancing, even if just to distract themselves for a night. There would be plenty of serious work to be done in the morning.

"Oh, I almost forget…" muttered Matsuri, flicking a hand towards a nearby table. With her control of wind chakra that was more precise than even the Kazekage's sister would muster, she carried a bowl over to her outstretched hand and offered it to her leader. "Would you like some soup, Gaara-sama? I made it especially for you, since I know you don't like spicy foods."

Gaara slowly turned to her with the same neutral look in his eyes that he always had before turning to her offering. As soon as she'd brought it to him he could smell how delicious it was, but Gaara was also suspicious due to past experiences with Matsuri's cooking. It wasn't that she was bad; quite the opposite in fact.

"What type of soup is it?" he asked slowly keeping his tone at a steady pace.

Matsuri's eyes flickered for a moment and Gaara knew his suspicion was correct. "It's…um…ox-tail soup? Don't worry, I've tried it myself and it tastes really good. You'll like it."

"Ox-tail soup, you say?" Gaara slowly procured it from her hand and took the spoon she offered to him, taking a small sip and letting the liquid sit in mouth for a moment as an array of flavours struck him at once.

After swallowing he turned to her with the bowl and spoon in hand, "Are you making a proposal to me, Matsuri?"

The young Jounin cocked her head for a moment in feigned ignorance, "Sir? It's just soup; nothing nefarious. Honestly!"

"So the fact that ox-tail soup is a well-known aphrodisiac isn't a factor then?" Gaara made sure he wasn't using his Kage voice when speaking to her, as he shared a fairly close bond with his personal bodyguard and didn't wish for her to think he was chastising her. In truth, he was seeking something from her.

"I…uh…" Matsuri eventually gave up and threw her hands into the air with an exasperated sigh. "It's too much! I can't handle it!" She looked straight into his pale blue-green eyes for what felt like the first time since she'd seen him at the Chuunin Exams before the whole world had turned upside down. "Sir, I have feelings for you that I can't hold in anymore. We might not come back tomorrow and I don't want to…"

She tried to say more, but Gaara silenced her with a hand. He placed the bowl of soup with the spoon down on the floor beside him and crossed his arms over his chest again. "You are aware that it would be inappropriate for a superior and a subordinate to become involved, correct?"

Matsuri's eyes shot to the floor, she knew she'd blown it. "I know…sir. It's just…I can't help how I feel and I just…" She shook her head rapidly, "It's stupid of me, I know. I'm just going to go and drown my embarrassment in a bottle of sake."

She turned to leave, but Gaara reached forward and touched her shoulder to stop her. In all the time she had worked for him they had never made personal contact like that; it broke almost every protocol that existed between the two of them.

"Matsuri…" started Gaara as she turned around to look at him again with an oddly hopeful look in her dark eyes. "It is inappropriate, but that does not matter anymore. I'm not…entirely against the notion. As you know, I'm not a very emotive person…but that doesn't mean I don't feel things. Over the years I've been very impressed with you and I've come to rely on your work."

"Gaara-sama…what are you saying…"

The Kazekage did his best to keep himself calm, but something about the situation seemed to break through his usual stoic visage. "There are times when I turn to see if you are there, just for the sake of knowing that you are. I'm not against…what this is…"

Just as she was before, Gaara found himself cut off as his bodyguard threw her arms around his neck and planted her lips onto his in a passionate kiss. Gaara tried to keep his emotions steady, but as he felt her body pressed into his he could feel his heart racing to lengths it would normally only reach during the height of battle. He knew some things about this experience from books he'd read and conversations with his old friend earlier, but he couldn't think of anything while she was kissing him.

Eventually they broke apart and he felt his heart racing even faster at the longing look in her dark eyes. He considered the situation for a moment before reaching into his pouch and producing a small scroll that he handed to her quietly.

"What is this?" she asked with a confused look on her face. She knew she was probably blushing terribly and didn't care as she opened up the scroll and glanced at its contents.

"This is a list of things I'm willing to do at this stage," said Gaara matter-of-factly.

Matsuri's eyes widened at the list as she went down the items, feeling her blush deepen at the sheer number of things on the scroll. She looked up at her leader with new respect in her eyes.

"So…what would you like to do now?" asked Gaara with genuine amusement in his eyes.

Matsuri glanced around the area for a moment before unceremoniously grabbing Gaara by the strap across his shirt and dragging him away from the party. While normally the stoic Kage wouldn't be so easily moved by his subordinate, but the determination in Matsuri's eyes was strong enough to move a mountain.

With a completely different look on her face than when they'd started talking earlier, Matsuri threw her superior into an empty room and shut the door behind them, locking the door and glaring at Gaara intently.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the time on the clock and felt her chest tighten. "We've only got a short amount of time."

Gaara frowned at her sudden confidence and began to wonder what he had agreed to. He'd made sure that she was attacking one of the chakra-nullifying nodes rather than accompanying him on the final battle primarily because he feared for her life.

But things like this…he was far less sure about.

It was a weird situation to be sure, but once Matsuri approached him all thoughts of other things disappeared in favour of his interest in the woman standing in front of him.

And for once, Shukaku was keeping its comments to itself. He doubted that would last very long.

oOoOoOo

While the shinobi around them were dancing wildly to the music, drinking and laughing loudly, Naruto and Hinata slowly danced together in the very middle as if no-one else was around. The music wasn't too appropriate for slow dancing, but neither of them cared as they smiled into each other's eyes and enjoyed the quiet moment for a change. They'd been married for a while now and there were many things that didn't need to be said between the two of them. They shared many thoughts and ideas without ever needing to say a word.

But sometimes there were things that they liked to say to each other just for the sake of it.

Hinata moved one of her hands to the side of his head and whispered softly into his ear, "I love you."

Her husband grinned as he always did and kissed her on her cheek, "And I love you. Very much."

"So I was thinking…" started Hinata as Naruto took her hand into his and began dancing with her with his hand on her hips.

"What were you thinking?" he asked when he noticed her eyes staring at the ground in that amusingly cute shy way she used to be like. Hinata had become a very confident woman over the years, yet there were still times he saw the aspects of her when they were fresh Genin. It was oddly endearing.

The Hyuuga heiress hesitated for a moment before looking into her husband's gleaming blue eyes and asked the question she'd been wondering for a while now.

"After the battle is over…and we have some time…have you thought about if you wanted to have kids?"

She had expected him to recoil back or make a joke of some sort, but to her surprise he simply smiled and lightly brushed a lock of her dark blue hair over her ear. "I've been thinking about that for a while, actually. Once the Quiraji are defeated…"

She silenced him with a finger pressed over his lips, not wanting him to jinx it by saying anymore. Hinata pressed his body closer to hers and hugged him tightly, giving him a soft but affectionate kiss on the lips.

There were things they wanted to talk to their old friends about, but for the night before they embarked on their deadly mission, she only wanted to spend it with one person.

Naruto whispered a suggestion into her ear that caused a knowing smile to emerge on her lips to accompany her slight blush. She nodded in agreement and placed her hands together in a handseal same as he did and a pair of Kage Bunshin appeared at their side. They nodded to their clones and retreated to their temporary living quarters while the clone Naruto and Hinata went about being social with their friends.

Every couple needs some alone time, particularly when they don't want to face the idea that they may not get another chance.

oOoOoOo

Despite the rambunctious nature of the party, most shinobi retreated to their living quarters early in the night, choosing to rest and remind themselves of the details of their mission for the next day. The shinobi that weren't from Otogakure had been placed into their own areas so they didn't have to worry about old grudges causing friction between each other. Every shinobi had their own personal rituals to go through before embarking on the dangerous mission in front of them, even those that had been designated to remain behind and defend the Fire Temple from the seemingly inevitable counter-attack that was sure to come.

Neji had retired early from the party to spend more time with his wife and children, assuring his old friends that they would have time to speak at length on the trip between the Fire Temple and Konoha. He had an obligation to them first.

Eventually the only shinobi still around were the survivors of Konoha; the ones that were participating in the final push to their home. Naruto and Hinata sat on a couch being the insufferable couple that they were, while Sasuke sat beside his old teammate sharpening his katana absentmindedly. Kiba and Nagisa brushed their companion's furs affectionately, while Ino did her best not to get caught glimpsing at her Inuzuka ex-boyfriend. She worried about his safety in the mission as she was staying behind to receive any and all injured shinobi for the mission. Itachi spoke in hushed tones with Kakashi, telling him more details about the item that the Jounin teacher had been keeping hidden for a long time. The Uchiha elder was surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject despite having never come into contact with the doujutsu. At the back of the group, Lee continued his round of single finger push-ups with massively oversized weights on his back, determined to be as fit as possible for the fight to come.

It had been a long time since any of them had seen Konoha, even before its destruction. And now they were coming to it to bring death to the occupants of their former homeland.

The mood was sombre at best, despite the positivity that they had demonstrated earlier.

"It's kind of weird that we're all back here," said Kiba with a long sigh and a pat on Akamaru's back.

"A little bit," came Lee's voice as he hopped up on his feet stared up at the night sky mindfully. "It is a shame not everyone is coming."

Itachi glanced up from his conversation with Kakashi despite the fact that he was blind, "Even those are here in spirit. We represent those who can't."

"At the end of the day, we're all still shinobi of Konoha," added Kakashi with a nod of his head. He thought back to the people he'd lost before Konoha had been destroyed, and even after that he kept losing people. "It isn't just about us."

From the couch they were sitting on, Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other for a moment before the blonde shinobi reached into their mutual pack and pulled out two objects. He handed it to his wife without a word before placing his own back on his forehead where it belonged. The forehead protector was scratched and worn, but the leaf symbol still sad in the centre of the metal without a mark on it.

The others of the group looked at the married couple for a moment, before each reaching into their respective packs and producing their own forehead protectors to place on their heads. Even with their work at Suna, both Kiba and Nagisa still wore their leaf forehead protectors with pride, while Itachi wore his scratched out forehead protector despite the image it conveyed. Even Lee, who normally wore his leaf forehead protector on his arm, wore it on his forehead, reminding himself that now was the time to wear it proudly.

Out of everyone remaining from the party, only Fiore was alone in not wearing a forehead protector, but she had no problem with that as she wasn't a shinobi in the first place. She smiled as she saw the glint in her partner's eyes when he fixed the forehead protector he had kept safe all those years. Only she knew that underneath the metal he kept a lock of his mother's hair as a reminder of the sacrifices she had made for his sake.

At once they had changed from partying adults to shinobi ready to take their revenge on the people that had so thoroughly destroyed their lives.

Tomorrow was going to be an auspicious day.

* * *

><p>It was so early in the morning that even the sun didn't have any interest in providing much sunlight for the hours to come.<p>

Despite the dreary start to the day, the shinobi gathered in the Fire Temple area had no complaints to voice. Today was the day they were going to strike at the heart of the enemy that had so deeply affected their lives and slaughtered thousands of their days.

Today was a day they'd been waiting for years to come.

Shinobi from Otogakure stood side by side with their Sunagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure compatriots; united in common purpose. The Otogakure shinobi that were remaining behind to defend the Fire Temple had come to support the war effort with their presence, while the separate groups stood behind their respective leaders.

Mangetsu tapped at one of his sword hilts impatiently, while the remaining three Swordsmen stood at his side in front of the Kirigakure shinobi that had accompanied them to the Land of Fire. He disliked the idea of taking so many shinobi for a single mission and had negotiated to have a selection of shinobi remain at the Fire Temple to keep the area secure. He did appreciate Ao's acceptance of his leadership though, as the two of them had rarely seen eyes-to-eye.

Darui looked around at the faces of the Kumogakure hunter squads that had been placed under his command for the mission, knowing that most of them wouldn't return. He'd told the Raikage that he'd keep his brother and Yugito safe, but now it seemed like they were doing the dangerous work while they got them there. The node they had been assigned to destroy was closer to the Land of Lightning and he planned on sending a pair of shinobi to give the Raikage a report on the situation.

Looking up at the three figures on the higher platform, Kankuro's chest swelled in pride at the image of his younger brother in his full Kazekage outfit standing side by side with the Otokage and Mizukage. It was a gathering of force that had never happened in the past and he was proud to be at the head of the Sunagakure force that would be facilitating the impending victory in the war. He glanced over at the young woman at his side and stared suspiciously at her grinning face. She'd been so vocally opposed to Gaara going on his own with the rest of the middle group that he was sure she'd follow them anyway, but now she was almost too quiet.

Kankuro had a new respect for his little brother.

Unlike the other group, the Otogakure contingent that had been assigned to the closest node was led by the remaining Sound Three, having agreed to work together a final time. Their group was the smallest purely due to the fact that they had the most power combined out of their entire village.

They didn't need any more than the few they had gathered.

The other Otogakure group was the opposite, as Jin preferred to make sure that his mission would be completed and had gathered some of the best Quiraji killers for his group. His students had tried to accompany his group, but Jin had put his foot down and instructed them to defend their people.

That was the important factor right now.

At the front of the gathered shinobi were the group that was going to cut out the heart of the enemy force. The surviving Konoha shinobi had all put their leaf forehead protectors back on and stood side by side with each other. Naruto and Hinata stood with Sasuke and his brother, while Kiba stood next to his cousin Nagisa. Lee stood off to the side, readying himself to charge into battle against the people who had so ruined his wife's life, while Fiore and Konan stood beside their respective shinobi partners. Kakashi felt naked without his mask on in front of so many of his old students, but kept that to himself as he stared up at the three leaders and waited for their speech. On the other side of the group stood the two Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers, itching to get into battle for the lives lost at their village. Yugito and Killer Bee had worked together a long time and doubted it would be the last time they were going to battle against almost certain death.

The three Kages stepped forward on their platform to silence their subordinates and looked over the faces of their people. It was a deadly mission that was clearly a desperate move, but they all knew the stakes at play.

"This is it," began Neji with confidence in his booming voice. "We've all struggled and lost to get to this point, but we aren't done yet. Today we make a bold move that will shake the foundations of this country and strike fear into our foes."

He glanced down at his shinobi standing in ranks and his chest swelled with pride. "Regardless of outcome, you should know that we are proud of each and every one of you. For having the courage to stand against those who would destroy us. For standing for your families and friends. For having the strength to fight at your comrades' sides and protect each other from the fight that is to come."

His eyes traced along the new arrivals before passing over his old Team Gai companion's face. Lee had been scarred badly over the years but still had the spark of youth in his eyes that their old teacher would have been proud of.

"I…I was once a slave to what I thought was my destiny as a member of the Hyuuga Branch Family. It took a good beating from a dear friend and the smack of reality for me to realise that isn't what being a shinobi is all about."

He pulled up his single hand and slowly clenched it into a fist, "We do not live in cages like animals. We are proud shinobi and we will not let the Quiraji beat us down any longer!" He raised his fist into the air to accentuate his point and that brought a loud cheer from not just the Otogakure shinobi but also a large portion of the other village shinobi as well.

Neji planned to end it there, but that clearly wasn't going to happen as the Mizukage stepped forward and pulled back her Kage hat to add her voice to the choir.

"This alliance is proof that we can come together in defence of our people," she said in line with her compatriot Kage's earlier statements. She motioned across the shinobi army gathered in front of them with a wave of her hand, "Not only do we have the force of four shinobi villages, but the strengths of five Tailed Beasts and some of the greatest fighters our people have ever known. No enemy could possibly stand against us!"

That caused a greater cheer than Neji's speech, but Mei quickly silenced them with her hands, "That doesn't mean we should underestimate our enemy! Remember the devastation they have caused! Their existence has ruined so many people's lives, destroyed entire villages." She put up her hand in the same motion as the Otokage, "We fight for the glorious dead!"

Unlike his fellow Kages, Gaara waited for the cheering to die down before stepping forward to speak his piece. He was not a big speech giver like Neji and Mei, but his village had suffered the most out of those represented in front of him, besides the Konoha shinobi that wore the leaf symbol proudly on their foreheads once more. He knew the feeling of every shinobi that had fought the Quiraji and had suffered in war. The two Kages turned to the youngest of them and ceded the floor to him respectfully.

The Kazekage took a long breath and removed the Kage hat from his head, bowing his red-covered head for a moment before looking up at the shinobi gathered. He saw Sunagakure ANBU standing side by side with Kirigakure Swordsmen and Otogakure Jounin and Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers.

It was a proud sight for him to see.

"Our world began with hatred. We were once one people that tore ourselves apart with hatred for each other. Yet despite this, we have come together to face a common enemy. We no longer bear the hatred for each other that we once did. Just as my hatred for the world was quenched at the hands of a Tailed Beast container from another village, we have been able to put aside our past hatreds. There are no villages represented here, no differences between us. We are all shinobi!"

Unlike the previous two speeches, Gaara's speech caused every shinobi present to cheer out in pride at his words. At that moment they were one coherent force, and even though they were about to go their separate ways, they were all fighting for the same reason against the same foe.

It was a proud moment for everyone present.

In the crowd, Naruto smiled slowly and nodded at his friend's grand words. He wanted to stand at his side and clap him on the back for a job well done, but as the shinobi began to disperse to their designated groups for the attack he knew that he would see him in a little bit.

Instead he turned and placed his arm around his wife's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly and looking out over the horizon.

They were finally going home.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Yes, I shamelessly took Gaara's speech from the main story. It's so good I felt the compulsion, even though I added bits for Neji and Mei to say. Sometimes a bit of chest-beating is good before the pain starts.

The next chapter will be epic, that I promise you. It's something I've wanted to write for a while. It'll probably be quite long, but I might also split it into two chapters. It'll be fun, trust me.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	84. Chapter 77 Death in the Sands

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 77 – Death in the Sands

**A/N**: I should probably stop doing warnings about content, but after writing some things I do feel some sense of obligation. Things get pretty dark, just to warn you. I've edited out the really bad stuff I wrote, mainly because it was far too graphic. But the settings and situations are still there.

**A/N2**: I was originally writing this chapter as one big chapter, but it got WAY out of hand, so I split this battle into two chapters. It's still really long…but not obnoxiously long.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be multiple shinobi using the same summon groups. So much potential right there.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

In their relatively secure position in the Land of Fire, the Otogakure shinobi waited for the arrival of the allies that they need to break through the Quiraji barriers. As anticipated, the Kazekage arrived ahead of a contingent of three hundred Sunagakure ANBU and the Konoha survivors. After them, Sasuke and Fiore arrived with the Mizukage and her four hundred Kirigakure shinobi, joining their temporary alliance. Itachi later arrived to tell Neji that there are many more Quiraji soldiers than they'd first thought, but Neji tells him that they have to keep to their plan. He's aware that there was a Quiraji force heading towards their position, but when Kakashi and Konan arrive with a Kumogakure force he brings them all and tells them of their plan. The plan is to attack the five nodes that power the chakra-nullifying field before a strike team comprised of their best fighters to go to Konoha and take out the Quiraji leaders.

But there are things going on in the shinobi world beyond the Land of Fire.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Even on the shifting sands of the desert plains of the Land of the Wind, the stomping of armoured boots and clapping metal made a thunderous noise. The slapping of weaponry on shields, matching with the constant grunting of war marches.<p>

The village of Sunagakure was surrounded on all sides by thick walls that had been erected by the Kazekage before his departure with the hardest materials underground to protect his people. It still sat inside the cliff opening it always had, but with the Quiraji proving that the desert was not a discouraging factor, they'd decided that they required greater defences. The primary wall sat thirty feet tall and was reinforced on top of the cliffs looking down upon the village, with sand ramps that allowed easy movements to the wall edge. In addition to the primary wall, a secondary wall had been constructed a hundred metres away from the village as a buffer to enemy invasions. However in the third month of constant attacks, the Quiraji were able to break through the wall and destroy large sections of it, until the Sunagakure shinobi were forced to retreat back to the primary wall. They'd kept up attacks to the point that the Quiraji weren't able to push past the secondary wall, but all efforts to rebuild it had been halted when the Kazekage hadn't been present.

Behind the secondary wall that divided the village of Sunagakure from the encroaching desert, the shinobi watched as the Quiraji army moved into position against them. At first, it seemed like the gathered soldiers were mustering for a small scale attack as they had weathered for months now, but the Quiraji stopped just in front of the secondary wall that they'd taken from the Sunagakure shinobi several weeks ago and continued to swell in size. Unlike previous battles where they had met on the field, the Quiraji had always outnumbered the shinobi of the Land of Wind, but rarely more than three-to-one. That was clearly not the case as more and more soldiers began to appear in front of them.

At the top of the wall, Shikamaru stood in his full Sunagakure attire with a tired look in his eyes as a pair of Suna generals adjusted the defender's positions on the wall. With the Quiraji army gathered in front of them, they decided that they needed every shinobi that wasn't in the reserves for the first attack as a show of force. Just as their enemy was doing.

It soon became clear that they were outnumbered by a more significant margin than they had expected.

"They appear to have gathered a few troops," observed Baki with his usual desert humour.

Shikamaru grunted in response and crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't like the look of this. With all those troops here, I was expecting one of the Four to be present. But we've not seen anything. It feels off somehow."

"Maybe the Kazekage's movements have forced them away from the battlefield," observed one of the other generals in the group. "Or they're being cautious."

Staring down at the gathered Quiraji army, Shikamaru wasn't sure what to make of what he was seeing. There was a large gathering of specialist Quiraji troops from Red Guards to Black Robes, with a golden armoured warrior that appeared to be leading the others. "We are the ones that have to be cautious here. They've got some tricks up their sleeves they haven't revealed just yet. This isn't just a show."

"They won't break our defences," said Baki stubbornly, but even he could see that it was going to be a hard battle. "They've brought siege weapons this time. They've learned."

The Quiraji army had attacked Sunagakure, primarily with infantry and specialist troops, for months, since the terrain of the Land of Wind was not conducive to heavy machinery. However, the enemy of the shinobi had gotten inventive and were using the beasts of burden from the desert to move the siege weaponry necessary to break through the Sunagakure defences. Now, just in range of the main Sunagakure defensive walls, were large catapults and ballista capable of punching through the stone barriers, with massive beasts keeping them steady on the shifting sand floor. They weren't loaded, as it was clear they were there for show, but their presence said much for how determined the enemy was to get rid of one of the last bastions of shinobi power left in the world.

"Have there been any sightings from the other parts of the village?" asked Shikamaru to one of the nearby communications shinobi.

The Sunagakure placed his hands into a seal for a few moments before shaking his head and releasing his technique, "None reported, sir." He was listening to reports from the other communications officers through an earpiece, but his sensory technique allowed him to check the validity of the information.

The Nara clan heir bit at his lip in annoyance. His mind was racing through plans after plans, adapting to the new information as it came to him. For several seconds he made his decision and pulled out a vanilla cigar from his jacket pocket. Without saying anything he cut off the end and lit it with his lighter and took a long drag.

"Since when did you start smoking cigars?" asked a Sunagakure general at his side.

Shikamaru let the smoke sit in his mouth and savoured the taste for a few moments before breathing it out with a long sigh, "Since my wife hasn't been able to get out of the bed and stop me. Bring every shinobi from the other walls here, besides the scouts and reserves."

"Is that necessary?" asked the general, but the look from the Suna commander was enough to answer his question. He bowed in respect to him regretfully, "I'm sorry for doubting you, sir. It won't happen again." Even though the general had decades of combat experience, he had worked with the Nara shinobi long enough to recognise when he was tactically outclassed and knew the brother-in-law of the Kazekage wielded much more power than a single person should in the village.

Shikamaru ignored the general's comment as he gave the order to the communication shinobi, looking down at the Quiraji army gathered. The golden-armoured leader had started to rile up the Quiraji soldiers in a thumping cheer just in range of the shinobi defenders, clearing setting them up for a dramatic first charge. He stepped forward and pointed his bladed spear towards the village, causing an even louder cheer to thunder throughout the area.

"What is he doing?" asked Baki, confused at what they were seeing.

"Showing courage in face of the enemy," said Shikamaru with a large puff of smoke. "If we were to kill him, we would be cowards that deserve the righteous punishment they want to give us. Even at the secondary wall, he's aware that he is in range of our longest techniques."

The Quiraji leader placed his hand on the outer wall and began a chest beating cheer that was starting to make some of the Sunagakure shinobi sweat under the Land of Wind's dry heat.

"Are we just going to stand here and let them mock us?" said a clearly furious Suna shinobi bodyguard at the general's side. His knuckles were turning white within his gloves as they watching the strange scene in front of them.

Shikamaru turned to one of the ANBU that had stayed behind in defence of the village, "No, we don't. Would you be so kind as to give us an indication of what that Quiraji soldier ate for breakfast? I'm curious."

Even with the mask on, the smirk that was on the Sunagakure ANBU's face was clear, "No problem." He placed his hands together in a handseal as a small metal ball rose up in front of him. With a pushing motion with his hands he sent the ball screaming down towards the Quiraji leader, driving it into his stomach before he could react. It was a seemingly innocuous attack, but the meaning behind it was just as crushing as if it had exploded on impact.

The Quiraji leader doubled back at the impact before dropping to his knees and violently regretting what he had eaten before the battle. The image caused every Sunagakure shinobi watching to burst out in laughter, as the Quiraji cheering died down to a whisper. Several Quiraji soldiers ran forward to help their embattled leader to his feet, but the psychological damage had already been done.

"Good work," complimented Shikamaru before turning to one of the other generals. "Now we should show them how we really do warfare. The shinobi way."

The general grinned and raised his arm high into the air, "Catapults!"

Behind the main defensive wall, rows of siege weapons rolled into place and Sunagakure shinobi rolled large boulders into place. The Genin that weren't experienced enough in combat to be on the walls plastered the boulders with explosion notes before the shinobi stood near the triggers and waited for the signal to fire.

The Quiraji general in the distance had recovered from his embarrassing stint for the most part and had reached the Quiraji army lines, barking orders at his subordinates to get ready to charge. Beneath the golden helmet it was impossible to read his expression, but Shikamaru and the other Sunagakure generals weren't about to let the Quiraji dictate the pace of the battle that was to come.

He waited until he was positive they were in range, then lowered his arm and gave the order. "Fire!"

"FIRE!" yelled out the nearby Sunagakure shinobi to the catapult shinobi below.

Within seconds, dozens of massive boulders were sent flying into the air, while Sunagakure shinobi on the wall they flew over used Fuuton techniques to increase the speed and velocity of the projectiles. Shikamaru and the other generals watched as the Quiraji army moved as one and spread out their ranks to minimise the damage from the falling projectiles, despite each catapult boulder crushing several Quiraji at once. A few of the boulders were blasted away by coordinated efforts from the Black Robes accompanying the Quiraji army, but with the shinobi directing the attacks with ninjutsu the majority of them found their mark.

Once every boulder from the first wave had been fired, the Quiraji recovered quickly and began preparing for their first assault.

"Do it," commanded Shikamaru from the defensive wall. At once, fifty shinobi put up their hands and activated the explosion seals on the boulders. Within a second, almost a hundred boulders exploded in the midst of the Quiraji soldiers, killing hundreds instantly while hundreds more were covered in flames from the explosions. The devastation was horrifying to observe, but the shinobi were steeled against such an image and they had to remind themselves of the horrors the enemy had inflicted on their own people.

The momentum of the first charge was disrupted, but by doing so the Sunagakure shinobi had expended all of their large boulders and weren't going to be able to replicate the devastating volley.

"That won't stop them," warned Baki as he glanced over the Quiraji casualties. "We barely made a dent in their ranks."

"That wasn't the point," said Shikamaru knowingly. "The Quiraji had to know what kind of power is at our fingertips. Any hesitation that we have put into their minds can only help us." He leaned forward and puffed on his cigar, "What are they doing now?"

One of the Sunagakure shinobi that had been designated as their lookout focused his technique down on the enemy army, "They appear to be bringing up a large number of dogs to the front lines, sir."

"To assault the walls? That makes no sense," said one of the Sunagakure generals. "They'll just get cut down with our projectiles."

"No…it doesn't make sense…" Shikamaru wasn't sure what to make of the Quiraji move, until he saw how far away from the main wall they were and the armaments of the first few ranks of soldiers. They were armed with heavy shields that were taller and wider than they were, with longbows being held by the Quiraji soldiers behind them. It was a slow moving formation that wasn't ideal for the first wave of a siege. Yet the enemy soldiers were both confident and furious as they moved towards the shinobi village.

There were hundreds of dogs that were now at the front of the Quiraji army, barking loudly and straining against their spiked collars. The Sunagakure shinobi at the wall were similarly stumped at the move by the Quiraji army, even as they released the hounds and they charged across the desert plain towards the fortified positions of the enemy shinobi village.

It was only when the first dog ran over a specially-planted landmine and exploded into tiny pieces, that Shikamaru realised their folly. He bit through his cigar and let it fall to the ground as he turned to the general in charge of the front line defenders.

"Order everyone to shoot down the dogs, right now!" he said in a panic, but from the sounds of the explosions in the background it was clear that the damage had already been done. Of the hundreds of dogs that had been sent against the main wall protecting the shinobi village, none made it further than a stone's throw away. However, in the desert plains between the Quiraji army and the Sunagakure defenders, the dogs had triggered almost every single buried trap and mine that had been carefully and precisely planted over the previous few weeks in anticipation for an attack such as what they were suffering.

The devastating of the animals was horrifying, but Shikamaru was more disgusted by the fact that he didn't see the extremely simple counter to his traps until after it had already happened. He swore loudly and slammed his fist into a nearby stone uncharacteristically. He'd told himself constantly not to underestimate the enemy general, yet he had done just that. Now weeks of work and planning had been undone in a simple manoeuvre that he could have come up with and countered in his sleep.

"They've started advancing on the walls," came the voice of the lookout. "Their siege weapons are out of range, but near the back of their ranks there appear to be large box contraptions and ladders that are slowly being moved closer to the middle of the army."

"We can't worry about those at the moment," said Baki quickly. "They're almost in range of our longest techniques. I'm calling for our attack to begin." He didn't ask for permission from the Sunagakure advisor, he held the same position as Shikamaru did and was more than capable of commanding the shinobi. With half of his face covered by a sheet he tended to have a frightening visage even to his own shinobi, but as a general Baki had come into his own and become a rather popular figurehead among the shinobi population.

So when he called for them to use any and all ninjutsu and weapon-based techniques to attack the approaching enemy army at his discretion, the Sunagakure shinobi snapped to attention and obeyed him immediately. Within moments of giving the orders, hails of shurikens and kunai rained down on the heavy shields of the Quiraji soldiers. Most of the projectiles bounced off harmlessly, while several ricocheted into open parts of the Quiraji armour and cut deep into their skin, however barely any of them were actually fatal.

But the torrent of projectiles was unrelenting, as many of the more powerful Sunagakure shinobi were using the Shuriken Kage Bunshin technique that Shikamaru had taught them. The sheer number of projectiles they were able to summon was so loud that they were cutting apart the air itself. The technique had been one that Asuma had found in the Sarutobi family scroll after they discovered the destruction of Konoha, and Shikamaru had recovered it from the charred remains of the house they'd been living in. Shikamaru hadn't wasted time in teaching the technique to his subordinates, figuring that out of the other techniques in the scroll it was for the best to teach rather than to keep them to himself.

"Their formation isn't going to break just from projectiles," observed a Sunagakure general on the wall. "But they aren't moving that fast, or much closer to the wall. We can't maintain this forever."

Shikamaru nodded and turned back to the catapult engineers, "That's what the next stage is for." He put up a hand to ask whether they were ready and nodded in satisfaction at the responses he got. With a slow breath he turned back to the slowly approaching Quiraji force that was weathering the storm of projectiles. "I want a big line down the middle. If you can clip some of the leaders that would be nice too."

"What are you planning?" asked one of the generals next to him, but Shikamaru ignored him to light a cigarette to replace his fallen cigar.

Using a small amount of chakra to boost his voice, Shikamaru gave the order to all of the catapult crews at once. "Bolas! Fire on the centre target! Range at 400 metres, bearing 4-1-2-9."

At his word, the catapults behind the wall fired at his target. In place of the large boulders that had been fired just before, the projectiles that were screaming towards the Quiraji soldiers hiding beneath their heavy shields were quite different. Each projectile was comprised of three containers bound to each other with a heavy chain, spinning wildly before crashing into the shields of the surprised Quiraji soldiers.

Instead of the explosions that the Quiraji had been expecting, instead each container released a thick orange cloud of gas that spread in a thick line of soldiers deep into the middle of the Quiraji army.

"Would you like to do the honours?" asked Shikamaru to a nearby Sunagakure shinobi. He gave her a knowing smile and pointed his cigarette in front of her.

The Sunagakure kunoichi smirked back and put a hand to her lips to summon up a powerful burst of wind. She blew through his cigarette butt and caught the spark of flame on the end before sending it straight down into the Quiraji ranks below. She almost lost the flame on the way, but a nearby Sunagakure shinobi put his hands together and increased the size of the flame with his own chakra.

The moment the spark hit the orange gas cloud that was covering the confused Quiraji soldiers; it ignited in a furious rush of fire and ash.

Unlike the previous explosions, there was no sound when flames consumed the Quiraji soldiers in a straight line down the middle of their army. The gas that had been ignited was silent, but burned at a terrifying temperature that it cooked the soldiers within their armour and burnt through their heavy shields quickly.

The first volley had been devastating, but the second volley had broken the Quiraji soldiers' spirit. It didn't take them long before they began to quit the field, recognising when they had lost the momentum of the morning. If it had been a large-scale battle between shinobi villages, then there would have been a concession given to retrieve the dead from the battlefield for the proper rites to be given to the dead.

But the Quiraji didn't have any interest in their dead, and they had a history of desecrating the bodies of the shinobi they killed. Sunagakure wasn't in the mood to give any concessions to the Quiraji army at all. They came to bring death to the village and the shinobi were only interested in giving them that back.

The Sunagakure shinobi had spent most of their long range siege weapons to break the first charge and hadn't lost a single casualty in the process, but Shikamaru wasn't about to break out in celebration. While they'd killed almost a thousand Quiraji soldiers in the past hour alone, the real battle had yet to start. Even from those gathered against them, he could see that there were several Quiraji warriors at a nearby vantage point counting their shinobi on the walls. There were easily thirty thousand Quiraji rallied against them, though he suspected that estimate was conspicuously low.

Now would be the time when their first trick would come into play.

That was what he was worried about.

* * *

><p>Just like the previous day, the Quiraji army mustered on the battlefield just at the destroyed secondary wall with the intent on invading and destroying the village of Sunagakure.<p>

Unlike the previous day's battle, they had brought a new weapon onto the battlefield. Being pushed side-by-side with the Quiraji catapults and ballista were large boxes made of wood that were as tall as the wall they were about to assault. It was clear that they were packed to the brim with soldiers and were designed to unload the soldiers onto the walls with impunity.

There was no showboating or demonstrations of bravado at the start of the battle this time. The moment they came into range the catapults unloaded their payloads straight into the wall, while the ballista moved closer and prepared barbed bolts to pierce through the stone walls. The siege weapons of Sunagakure had been run dry for the most part, so the Quiraji siege weapons were able to fire unopposed on the Sunagakure wall. For the most part they were unable to break down the Sunagakure wall, but the projectiles that landed on top of the wall reaped a terrible toll on the Sunagakure shinobi.

The defenders of the village did their best with their ninjutsu abilities to stop the large projectiles, but even with their generals directing their efforts the Quiraji were able to march on the main wall mostly unimpeded.

As they did on every part of the wall surrounding the village. The Quiraji had concentrated their siege weaponry on the main southern wall that was the most heavily defended, but the boxes that were the main danger were spread out across all four parts of the battlefield.

To oppose the Quiraji invasion, Shikamaru and the other generals had spread out their shinobi as best they could. Out of the seven thousand Sunagakure shinobi that were currently defending the village, nearly five thousand manned the walls all around in groups dedicated to their specialisations.

Even so, Shikamaru wasn't too confident at their ability to defend the village, though he kept that thought to himself. With the Quiraji soldiers pressing forward and the boxes getting closer, he gave the order for the archers with oil-dipped arrows to fire as many as they could into the closest boxes they could strike.

His forward position that he and some of the other generals had taken was close to the southern wall that was the most heavily fortified, and that had come under the heaviest attack. The communications officer that had been assigned to them had told them that the other walls had come under attack by armies accompanied by five boxes at each wall. At the southern wall, there was over twenty.

"We won't be able to stop all of them," observed Baki grimly. "We shouldn't have used all our siege ammunition, or we should have found a way to stockpile more."

Shikamaru pulled a kunai from his pouch slowly, "We didn't have a choice. Their tactics imply arrogance and we haven't shown our hand completely yet." He gave a signal by throwing his kunai straight into the first Quiraji soldier on the ground that had come into range beside one of the boxes.

"Fire those boxes!" he called out to the Sunagakure shinobi that were able. At once dozens of shinobi activated ninjutsu techniques of various kinds and lit up the oil arrows that had been fired into the boxes, while their companions turned to deal with Quiraji soldiers that moved to mount ladders on the wall.

At once the three closest boxes to the wall lit up in towers of fire, causing a loud cheer to echo across the Sunagakure lines. Even a few of the generals that were commanding the shinobi cheered, though the Nara heir was silent as he observed the boxes collapse to the ground. He wished he had Neji or Hinata's eyes so he could get the information he needed, but with his shinobi at his side he knew that he would be able to get it eventually.

Despite the destruction of the boxes, the Quiraji continued their attack relentlessly. The golden-armoured warrior stood in the middle of the Quiraji army surrounded by a bodyguard of Red Warriors and directed the battle with, what Shikamaru assumed was, a booming voice of command. He'd been given no indication on skillful a general the enemy was, but he refused to underestimate his foe this time.

This battle felt different from the others that had been fought at Suna. Their best fighters were not present and they were diminished after months of constant fighting. If there was a time to strike at Sunagakure with all their enemy's might, it would be now.

The fact that none of the Four had shown up was also a problem for Shikamaru, though he hoped it wasn't because they weren't needed. He hoped that whatever ploy Neji and the others were planning had worked, but with the information he had to work with, Shikamaru was uneasy.

A few moments after the closest box had collapsed and crushed the beasts that were carrying it, Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw that there had been no soldiers inside. The generals at his side made the same observation and one of them turned to the communications officer to tell everyone to ignore the boxes and concentrate on the ladders that were relentlessly being mounted on the wall.

"Hold that order," said Shikamaru quickly as his eyes noticed a pair of boxes moving dangerously close to their position. During calmer times he'd discussed with the Kazekage the reason behind his ability to predict how battles would come came from his knowledge of tactics and shougi, but Gaara had offered a different opinion. He'd observed that Shikamaru had the ability to think of what he would do if he were in the enemy's position, and the Nara heir realised that his leader was completely right.

So when he predicted that only the first wave of boxes was empty, and that the two that were bearing down on their position were full to the brim with soldiers, he knew that Gaara had made a good point.

"Ready yourselves for battle," he warned, though it was clear that he didn't need to say that. There were rows of Sunagakure shinobi that were between them and the edge of the wall, but Shikamaru and Baki both pushed their way to the front to be on the front line.

It wasn't a tactically sound decision, but the moral boost their appearance had given rise to was enough to justify the risk. A quartermaster that had been attached to their group handed him a long sword, to which the Nara heir held back a chuckle at the idea and brandished it expertly. He would normally stand back and use his clan's ninjutsu to support his subordinates, but for the moment it was far more powerful to get down and bloody with his shinobi as one of the boxes came within a few metres of slamming into the wall.

He also needed his chakra for the more dangerous parts of the battle. For now, there were enemies that were determined to kill both him and his people.

And for that, he would fight until his body ran out of strength, and then he would fight some more.

oOoOoOo

The eastern wall of the village had suffered the least from the box assault that had come against the walls across the village exterior, however the sheer number of Quiraji soldiers had threatened to overwhelm the fortified position several times and with the enemy ready to begin pushing with ladders, the shinobi were almost ready to drop.

"How are our projectiles?" yelled the commander of one of the garrisons to any shinobi that might know the answer to his question. "I want numbers."

A bloody kunoichi at his side clutched her head to stop herself from bleeding out from her head wound while her other hand shot him a quick salute, "We are low on projectiles, food supplies and soldier pills, sir. The reserves have been concentrated on the other walls."

"So we're screwed," said the commander with a curse. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and went to point at a nearby shinobi to begin giving orders when he realised that his hand had come out bloody and with a clump of hair. "Damnit…"

"What are we going to do?" asked an exhausted Sunagakure shinobi nearby. "I don't have it in me to keep fighting. I can barely hold my kunai anymore."

A medical shinobi came up to the commander to tend to his wound, but he waved her off and turned to the Genin that had been running messages back and forth across the wall all morning. "Boy, what is your name?"

"Hiroi Takamura…sir. I'm in Gariyui's squad."

"Takamura, I need you to go the village, find any other Genin you can and get them to bring anything they can carry right here." The commander didn't wait for the boy to respond, turning to his other shinobi, "We're going to hold this wall even if it kills us."

"It's definitely going to kill us," said a Chuunin with an awkward laugh.

The commander resisted the urge to punch the shinobi just for the sake of it and leaned over the wall to see a large cluster of Red Warriors moving among the Quiraji ranks. The specialist troops had reaped a terrible toll on the Sunagakure shinobi without them making much of an account for themselves, but the commander knew most of that was circumstance.

"If we had a few hours rest, we'd be able to beat these bastards back." The commander knew that the enemy wasn't going to give them that time, but it was a nice thought.

A group of shinobi that had been manning the wall longer than anyone else walked up to the commander and removed their hoods in synchronisation. They revealed red tattooed faces that everyone recognised instantly. There weren't that many clans in Sunagakure in comparison to some of the other villages, but that was mainly due to the close-knit nature of the village and the willingness to share hidden techniques for the betterment of the village.

"We can distract the Quiraji for a few hours if you think it'll help," said one of the clan shinobi.

"Don't be ridiculous, you guys wouldn't last five seconds out there," shot the commander back quickly. "I know the Shioro clan is very powerful, but barely any of you have much chakra left."

"There are other means to fight a war," said another of the clan.

Before the commander could stop them, the five Shioro clan members leapt off the wall down onto the desert ground below. It was a steep drop, but with chakra they were able to land softly and press their backs to the wall behind them. The Quiraji army that was charging at the wall was less than a hundred metres away and threatened to overwhelm them in minutes.

The five of them all swiped at respective battle wounds with their thumbs before biting down on their last soldier pills. They ran through the five necessary hand seals in turn before one of their group stepped forward and placed his hand on the ground first.

"Ninpou Kuchiyose: Myoushu Kosasori!" (Summoning Technique: Great Master Scorpion)

Unlike regular summons where the animal would emerge from a cloud of white smoke, the Shioro summons simply pulled themselves out of the sand below. A massive black and red scorpion as tall as the wall behind it stood in front of its summoner, with giant pincers clapping loudly as they crushed the air between them. Its long tail dripped with green poison that sizzled on the desert floor, while its sets of eyes squared off against the Quiraji army that hesitated once it had arrived.

"You'vvvvee calllled me onccccee morrrre," said the boss summon with an alien voice.

The Shioro summoner behind the giant black and red scorpion nodded quickly, while smaller scorpions began pulling themselves out of the ground beside their leader. "Desperate times, Yuurai-sama. I know we're breaking our pact…"

"Thhhatttt matttterrrsss notttt nowww." The boss scorpion opened its claws up and drove them into the sand in front of it. As they recognised what their boss summon was about to do, the Shioro shinobi turned on their tails and began scaling the Sunagakure wall with chakra on their feet. While they left the battlefield, legions of man-sized scorpions began emerging from the sand just as they had summoned, until there were over a hundred of them standing against the now-charging Quiraji army. With the scorpions facing against them, the Quiraji had pushed their ladders back to the middle of the army and the Red Warriors that were usually manning them moved to the front to deal with the chakra-based creatures.

"She's not going to like us after this," commented one of the Shioro shinobi as they scaled the wall.

The leader of the clan that had summoned the lead creature breathed out slowly as they leapt over the top and landed on the stone floor beside their companion shinobi, "That's a risk we have to take. With that many Red Warriors against us, using any other summons would have been deadly."

They'd learnt early on in the war that when they used summoned creatures against the Quiraji specialist troops, their animal friends would get slaughtered, and unlike when defeated by shinobi, they were actually killed when the Quiraji did the deed. Upon learning that fact, the Sunagakure shinobi had sworn to their respective summoned creatures that they would only call them in under the direst of circumstances.

The boss scorpion seemed to recognise that now was one of those circumstances, as summoning her had almost killed the Shioro clan leader. He buckled and dropped to his knees just as he turned to see what was happening, with his clan members immediately moving to his aid.

With their summoners out of immediate danger, the summoned scorpion army with its leader at the head, watched their enemy with the patience of their species. The Quiraji began to converge around them, but before a single projectile could be thrown at them, the scorpions all pointed their stingers in an outward sphere as they hugged the wall.

Without waiting for the Quiraji to get into range, the scorpions unleashed a spray of poison from their tails, covering the area in a green cloud. The enemy skidded to a quick stop when they saw that it was strong enough to melt a few of the discarded weapons that were in the area, while the scorpions were immune to its effects. The cloud grew until it completely covered the scorpions and their leader.

Above the battle the shinobi watched carefully to take advantage of any openings the Quiraji offered them, but their main priority was to rest and recovery long enough to push the Quiraji back once the battle turned back to them once again.

The boss scorpion swept its giant claws through the poison cloud and dug them into the sand before aiming its stinger straight towards the Quiraji soldiers. Unlike its children, it had no interest in creating poison clouds or holding back. With a shudder through its plated body, its stinger swelled momentarily before firing a concentrated burst of chakra in the form of a dark green beam that cut a swath through the Quiraji soldiers in front of it before dissipating in the middle of the air.

Dozens of Quiraji melted in their armour from the attack, while their leaders pushed their soldiers into attacking the scorpions quickly before the boss could repeat the attack. The soldiers were hesitant to enter the poisonous cloud, but a pair of Black Robes pushed their way to the front ranks and started using their spiritual energy to dissipate the cloud.

The boss scorpion summoned up its strength to fire another beam of energy into the enemy army, but when it aimed its stinger it saw a single Red Warrior brandishing a large broadsword in front of it. With a multi-eyed glare, the boss scorpion lowered its stinger and fired its energy blast straight into the Red Warrior. For a few seconds it maintained the beam attack, but dissipated when it became clear that the chakra-based attack was being easily deflected by the Red Warrior's broadsword as if it were a volley of arrows.

It glanced around to see that her children trying to recreate the poison cloud, but the Quiraji were already pushing through and attacking them with their weapons. She had no serious issues with her children fighting and dying; it wasn't as if she didn't have legions of them in waiting. That didn't mean she wanted to ignore their plight, but she had a job to do and the Quiraji were more difficult to fight then the regular foes that she was summoned to fight.

Just as the giant scorpion had appeared on the battlefield, it drove its claws into the sand and disappeared underground just as two score Quiraji soldiers tried to charge at it from all sides. There was no movements underground even as the massive scorpion reappeared in the middle of the Quiraji army. Its claws killed clusters of soldiers at once with unbelievable strength, while it spat out globules of poison that melted them in their armour instantly.

The boss scorpion roared as it tore through the Quiraji ranks; their weapons bounced off its chitinous plate armour when they tried to avenge their comrades' deaths. It was a terrifying image to beyond to the Sunagakure shinobi on the wall, even though many of them were happy that the Quiraji soldiers had been forced to concentrate their attacks on the summoned creature and its children.

However after nearly half an hour of the giant scorpion killing dozens of soldiers with each swing and clench of its claws, eventually it became clear that the Quiraji soldiers were getting the better of the creature and a pair of Red Warriors had slashed through three of its legs and its stinger had been burnt off by one of the Black Robes.

"You have to unsummon it!" said one of the Sunagakure shinobi to the Shioro clan leader. "It's going to die!"

The statement was echoed by several of the shinobi nearby, but the summoner shook his head grimly. "She knows what she's doing. I couldn't unsummon her even if I wanted to."

He saw that there were now Quiraji soldiers that had clambered on top of the giant summoned creature and were stabbing through the gaps in its chitinous armour, while the Red Warriors were slashing through its body with their massive broadswords.

The Sunagakure shinobi at the wall could only watch at the sacrifice of the leader scorpion, their hands gripping the edges of the wall until their knuckles were white. Even when supplies and reinforcements arrived, they refused to take their eyes off the battle until it was over and the boss scorpion breathed her last before collapsing into the sand.

The Quiraji leapt off the dead summoned creature and turned their attention back to the shinobi on the wall. They'd only been distracted for less than an hour, but something in the demeanour of their enemies had changed.

When they began to charge once again with their ladders and tried to swarm the walls, they discovered that the shinobi fought back with twice the fury that they'd previously defended their village with. They were still exhausted and their numbers hadn't increased by much, but the sacrifice of the giant powerful summoned creature had inspired them and they weren't about to let that be in vain.

oOoOoOo

The team of Sunagakure shinobi landed next to the armoury and were immediately on their guard when they saw what was in front of them. When a Genin ran screaming towards a group of shinobi about to reinforce the wall, they weren't inclined to believe his ridiculous story, but now that they could see it, the team of four Jounin knew that something had gone terribly wrong.

The armoury was a small, single-story building that counted much of the munitions and weaponry that the village had stockpiled in preparation for sieges. There were several spread out across the village in concealed locations so that they didn't draw unwanted attention, and always had a pair of highly trained guards to keep them safe.

But here were the two Sunagakure guards, lying on the stone floor in pools of their own blood. They lay in front of a door that looked like it had been ripped off the hinges, and the Jounin already knew what to expect inside.

"Should…should we tell the generals?" asked the Genin who had first noticed the bodies on his seventh run of bringing water to the shinobi on the walls. He'd only recently graduated from the Academy and been given his forehead protector and had no personal combat experience.

The lead Jounin of the group shook her head and knelt down beside one of the bodyguards to examine it, "There are no defensive wounds on this body. They were ambushed."

"Teleporters?" suggested the male Jounin in the group.

"Let's hope so," said the lead Jounin grimly. "If not, we're in a bigger pile of crap than we already are."

"Why would that be a good thing?" asked the Genin meekly to the Jounin he was hiding behind.

Breathing out heavily, the lead Jounin stood back up and walked towards the open door, "Because if it's normal soldiers, that means we've been breached and nobody knows about it."

"Looks like the door was slashed apart," observed the sensory Jounin in the group. He placed a finger to the ground for a moment before nodding to their leader, "The armoury is clear."

Just as they'd suspected, inside the armoury were a pile of dead bodies that had been dragged from the places they were killed and stacked on top of each other in grotesque positions. The Genin, who had tried not to look and failed, felt his knees grow weak at the sight and before he knew it he was on the ground emptying the contents of his stomach onto the bloody stone floor of the armoury.

The Sunagakure Jounin had stronger stomachs than their younger counterpart, but that didn't lessen their disgust at what they saw. The quartermaster and armoursmith of the armoury had been quartered, by serrated blades post-mortem it looked like, while their apprentices had been bound and gagged before having their throats slashed.

The sensory Jounin swore loudly and brought up his shirt to cover his nose from the developing smell, as they'd experienced some severe desert heat over the past few weeks the bodies had already started to decompose. "They butchered them…"

"And made the younger ones watch," swore the lead Jounin. "This is monstrous."

The male Jounin of the team walked around the bodies carefully and checked the inventory before confirming their second suspicion upon arrival, "All the weapons are gone."

In the background all they could hear were the flies slowly coming into the room to continue their feast on the decomposing bodies and the violent retching of the young Genin that would never sleep soundly again.

"It must have happened overnight," concluded the sensory Jounin through his shirt. "If they found this one…"

"…then they've probably attacked the other armouries as well," finished the lead Jounin. "We have to tell the generals."

The female Jounin that hadn't commented yet on the situation walked over and yanked the male Genin onto his feet, "You have to inform command that we've lost one of our armouries, and that we're going to investigate the others. Talk to either a council member or someone from communications that can get in touch with them."

"I…I don't think I can…"

Without warning she slapped him across the face so hard that two of his teeth went flying and his mouth began to fill up with blood. "You are a shinobi of Suna! Get a grip or I will kill you where you stand for being a coward!"

He blubbered incoherently at her for a moment before turning and stumbling out of the room. He didn't look back at the team he had brought to the armoury, for fear of several things that existed in that room. In a moment he leapt away as fast as possible to find someone to tell the bad news to and hoped he didn't encounter any enemies before he was able to deliver his message.

Back in the armoury, the other Jounin in the group said nothing about her treatment of the Genin; they all knew the horrors of war and how quickly it can turn if you weren't prepared to do anything to secure victory. Part of being a Jounin was the knowledge that both you and your companions were ultimately expendable for the greater good of the village.

"Where is the nearest armoury from here?" asked the lead Jounin, breaking the silence after the Genin had left.

"Fifteen blocks south-west, near the hospital," said the sensory Jounin quietly.

"What about the bodies?" asked the male Jounin.

The lead Jounin shook her head and began walking out of the armoury, "Their troubles are already over."

oOoOoOo

A Quiraji soldier leapt up off the top of the siege ladder and roared out a battlecry before jabbing his spear at the nearby Sunagakure shinobi. The trained shinobi was able to parry the strike and stabbed at the soldier with a kunai in hand, but the civilian-turned-enemy leapt forward past the attack and headbutted the shinobi with its helmeted head. The shinobi cried out in pain as it dropped to its knees, but was quickly silenced as the soldier stabbed through his throat with his spear.

The soldier was quickly swarmed by four Sunagakure shinobi determined to avenge their fallen comrade and was thrown off the wall with the ladder it scaled, but the situation was replicated all along the western wall of Sunagakure.

"Concentrate your fire on that box," yelled a Sunagakure Jounin to his shinobi subordinates. At his command, six shinobi threw kunai with attached explosion notes towards the siege carrier that was ponderously moving towards the wall, and the subsequent explosion ripped a massive hole in the middle that brought it crashing down on its carriers.

"Sir, we haven't been able to kill the Black Robes that stand at the base of the wall," said a Chuunin to the Jounin commander. She pointed to a cluster of three Quiraji specialist troops that had been standing conspicuously close to the wall for almost ten minutes, while a large group of Quiraji soldiers protected them from outside attackers.

The Sunagakure Jounin swore and glared down at them from his vantage point, "If we had a bomb I'd drop it right on their heads…but that would break apart the wall."

"What are we going to do?"

He reached over and grabbed her by the shoulder before shoving her back into line with the other shinobi, "Get down there and kill them with your bare hands if you have to! I want them away from my wall!"

"Sir!" called out one of the sensory shinobi nearby. "There is something happening in the Quiraji lines near the secondary wall."

"There's crap happening everywhere," said the Jounin quickly. He moved over to the sensory shinobi and glanced out at the attacking enemies, "What am I looking at?"

"The Black Robes are gone!" came another voice nearby. "They're retreating back to their lines."

The Sunagakure Jounin frowned and glanced back at the wall, seeing that the report was accurate. The soldiers that had been protecting them were still there and growing in numbers, but there was a wide gap between the wall and the secondary wall, almost like a make-shift path.

While the Sunagakure shinobi threw off the Quiraji soldiers that were continuing to try and scale the wall, the Jounin's eyes widened when he saw what the Quiraji had planned and were about to execute. Seemingly out of nowhere, a giant creature had appeared under the chains of its Quiraji masters, breathing so heavily that the Jounin could almost hear it. It had a leathery hide that would have made it impossible to live in the desert, but clearly it had been brought to the Land of Wind for a singular purpose.

"Is that…a rhino?!" exclaimed one of the nearby Sunagakure shinobi. She leaned forward on the wall to get a better look and almost lost her head as a Quiraji soldier shot an arrow up at her. Her Jounin commander pulled her back by her Chuunin jacket and threw a small cluster of shuriken to take the archer in the neck and face to kill him.

"What the hell is a rhino doing here?" asked another confused shinobi nearby.

The Jounin ignored their inane questions and turned to the sensory shinobi that had alerted him, "Are there any long range attackers still on the wall?"

"Two, sir," replied the shinobi quickly. "Poi, the Fire Lancer, and Tamatsuri."

"The Longshot? Contact both of them and order them to take down that rhino, right now!"

The sensory shinobi nodded and tapped on his earpiece to try and contact them, but after a few moments he took his hand off his ear and shook his head, "Tamatsuri had one of his arms disabled while in combat with a Red Warrior and can't use his techniques."

"And Poi?" asked the Jounin commander hopefully, but he already knew what the answer would be.

"Is on the end of the wall, fighting against a group of Quiraji that had overwhelmed that outpost. Her exact response was…"

The commander put up his hand to stop the shinobi; he knew exactly what she would have said. He bit at his lip angrily as he saw the rhino had begun to build up speed as it moved through the opening in Quiraji army lines towards the wall. He glanced at the exhausted shinobi at his side for a moment before formulating a plan.

"I want any explosive materials to be used as projectiles and targeted at that creature. We have to kill it before it reaches the wall."

"The wall is strong enough to survive a single animal," said one of the Sunagakure shinobi that had been roped into the group. "Surely we should concentrate on throwing off the ladders."

The Jounin's expression darkened and he grabbed at the Chuunin's vest, "Obey my orders, or I'll throw you down the wall to fight the Quiraji soldiers with just your crappy taijutsu!"

"Hey, my taijutsu was the best of my class…" started the Chuunin, but the Jounin had already let him go and was running through a long set of handseals.

The shinobi nearby quickly went about obeying his orders, wrapping explosion notes around kunai and throwing them as hard and as accurately as they could at the charging rhino. The projectiles were easily deflected by the three Black Robes that had spread themselves along the rhino's path, using wind-based spiritual energy techniques to deflect the explosive projectiles into the nearby Quiraji soldiers. The explosions took out large clusters of soldiers as they had gathered in not-insignificant numbers, but the rhino continued to gain speed as it drew closer to the wall.

"Kill it! Kill it!" ordered the sensory shinobi, recognising the imminent danger they were now in, as they were directly above where the rhino was going to hit.

However their combined efforts continued to fail, even as the Jounin completed his technique and drew the pair of swords from his back and concentrated his chakra into them. They began to crackle with lightning, while shining so brightly it was almost blinding to the nearby Sunagakure shinobi.

As the rhino came dangerously close to the wall, the Sunagakure Jounin leapt off the wall and shot towards it with a greater speed than he was normally able to achieve, having unlocked the second gate, the Gate of Healing. His increased strength and speed allowed him to bash away the projectiles that the Quiraji soldiers shot at him and drive straight at the rhino through the air. The Black Robes tried to erect an invisible air barrier above the charging creature, but through sheer strength the Jounin was able to bash through it and get close to the rhino as it got to just under twenty metres from the wall.

With a loud roar the Sunagakure Jounin slammed his lightning-drenched swords into the rhino's head, the swords easily able to penetrate the animal's thick hide and cause it to cry out in pain. The rhino began to stumble in its charge as the life quickly drained from its body, but the Sunagakure Jounin knew he was too late. Even his best effort wasn't enough to stop the creature as its head lowered and its giant horn slammed into the weakened part of the wall.

The Kazekage's strongest materials had gone into making the wall, but with the Black Robes weakening it before it was directly struck by the large creature, even the strongest walls could fall. The Sunagakure Jounin that had killed the rhino even as it broke through the wall into the village leapt off the creature as it slid to a bloody stop inside the village before glancing back at the wall. The hole was much larger than it should have been from the animal's strike, but it was about to get worse as the supports for the wall collapsed and the section he'd just been standing on collapsed down to the ground.

Once the dust from the falling sand stones began to settle, the battlecry of the enemy sounded throughout the area and Quiraji soldiers began to swarm through the hole.

oOoOoOo

"Breach! The wall is breached!"

Shikamaru and the other generals immediately turned to the communications officer that made the declaration, their expressions demanding more information.

"The western wall has been breached, close to the Gaoma markets! The commander has been killed and Quiraji soldiers are flooding into the village."

"Son of a…" started one of the generals, while Shikamaru turned to one of his assistants quickly.

"Pull up the cloth lines to that section," he ordered before telling the communications officer to calm down and order the reserves from the centre of the village to the breach. As he went about obeying the general's order, the long wires that had been spread through the village began to unfurl to reveal large cloth lines that spread from their position at the wall to the western section.

"What are you doing?" asked Baki as Shikamaru was running through a long set of complex handseals. He was aware that the reserve force that had just been ordered to the breach should be able to fight off the Quiraji soldiers, but with the cloth lines being used he knew what the commander had in mind.

"Intervening," said Shikamaru as he finished his technique and attached his shadow to the one that had been created by the cloth line. "Someone has to command and I'm the only one that can get there quickly."

The older Sunagakure council member let out a tsk and turned away to continue commanding the defence of their part of the wall, "I'm not going to tell your wife if you die."

Shikamaru smirked grimly, "I wouldn't ask that of anyone." He placed a hand on the dark shadow that linked him to the one that stretched over the houses within the village. _Well Dad, let's see if this technique of yours actually works._ "Kagejouto no Jutsu." (Shadow Jump Technique)

As he activated the technique, the shadow that usually sat at his feet sprang up and swallowed him akin to someone falling into quicksand and being consumed instantly. In an instant, Shikamaru disappeared from the general's post and reappeared at the other side of the village, emerging from the shadow with a gasp. The transition felt like emerging from being underwater, but Shikamaru grimaced as he felt his bones struggle under the pressure of the advanced Nara technique.

"Damnit…that technique is a pain in the…" His complaint was cut off as a roaring Quiraji soldier charged up towards him and aimed a sword slash at his head. Never one for much talent in taijutsu, nevertheless Shikamaru was able to recover from the transition enough to block the strike with one kunai while driving another into the soldier's face.

The Quiraji soldier sunk to the ground as Shikamaru sighed in despair. He knew that the soldier wouldn't have been one of the original Quiraji that had travelled to their land. It was likely he had been a civilian that had lived in one of the small villages in the Land of Wind that had been turned to the Quiraji cause. Whatever traces of reasonability had left those that had joined the Quiraji army due to the machinations of their scientists, but that didn't depreciate the fact that he hated the fact that he had to fight and kill people that he might have talked with or shared tea with. Perhaps even played a relaxing game of shougi with.

Recovering from his transition and subsequent battle, Shikamaru glanced around to see Quiraji soldiers fighting in close quarter combat with Sunagakure shinobi that had fallen off the wall from the alarmingly large hole, while the Genin that had been designated as messengers and suppliers were being dragged into combats that they clearly weren't prepared for.

Despite his normally calm and relaxed demeanour, Shikamaru found himself furious at what was unfolding in front of him and began moulding large amounts of chakra in response. He placed a hand over his expanding shadow at his side, summoning up a solid form into a black bow. In front of him a pair of Sunagakure Genin were being overwhelmed by three Quiraji soldiers with swords, but Shikamaru wasn't about to let them die. He pulled at the shadowy string of his ninjutsu-created bow and rapidly shot three arrows made of solid shadow into the backs of the Quiraji soldiers, piercing through their armour and killing them instantly.

As their attackers fell to the ground, the pair of Genin looked around for their saviour before remarking at the appearance of the second most politically powerful man in the village in their part of the battle. At the distance between them, Shikamaru wasn't able to hear what they were saying, but when one of them pointed at him with fear on her face, he didn't hesitate.

Dissolving his bow into a more liquid form of shadow, the Nara heir spun around and constructed the shadow into a thick shield to block the decapitating strike from the White Assassin that had appeared behind him. As the dagger-wielder was using weapons that were able to bypass chakra-based techniques, the White Assassin's strike went through the shield with relative ease, but it was enough to deflect the strikes long enough for Shikamaru to roll away and stare at his opponent calculatingly.

He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could defeat a Quiraji specialist troop without a pre-set plan, but clearly he'd cultivated some type of reputation among the enemy army as the White Assassin glared at him for a moment before disappearing as quickly as it arrived. Shikamaru was suspicious of a follow-up attack, but none came as he heard a tirade of fighting at his side that indicated that the reserves he had ordered to the western wall had arrived.

Quiraji soldiers were still pouring through the breach, but with their concentration of the hole in the wall they'd freed up the shinobi on the wall from their ladder-based attacks and the Sunagakure shinobi on the wall began raining down projectiles on the clustered soldiers and reaped a terrible toll on their enemies.

Once he saw the Sunagakure reserves, Shikamaru turned and regarded the Quiraji soldiers that was attacking the village he'd come to love angrily.

A Jounin commander from the reserves moved to his side with a kunai in hand, "I'm surprised to see you here, Councillor Nara."

"One can't expect to lead if he won't get his hands dirty," quoted Shikamaru, taking a moment to control his breathing and re-centre himself. "How many shinobi do you have with you?"

"Five hundred, armed to the teeth," said the commander as they were joined by Chuunin and Genin alike. Most of them were support-types with a few combat monsters that had been held back specifically for instances such as the one they now faced.

"The moment there is an opening, I want engineers fixing the wall," said Shikamaru as he sunk to a crouched position and placed his hands in his thinking pose.

The Sunagakure reserve glanced at him with confusion, but when their commander ordered them to attack the Quiraji invaders; they did so with fury as they ran past the ex-Konoha shinobi and slammed into the clusters of Quiraji soldiers that were suddenly offset by the appearance of the Sunagakure reinforcements.

With his shinobi moving around him, Shikamaru was able to use the few moments of peace to formulate a plan of attack. The intelligence surrounding a group of White Assassins going around killing people within the village was concerning, but there was nothing they could do about it except reinforce their positions and prepare for the next attack. He had to concentrate his efforts here, and a plan came to him just as he wondered how to remove the Quiraji playmakers on the western front.

He stood up and watched as a pair of Sunagakure shinobi from the reserves were running up to the exhausted defenders during lulls in the chaotic melee and were distributing soldier pills and new kunai and shurikens. He nodded to himself and quickly caught up with the pair of Genin.

"I need any flash bombs that you have in stock," he asked, thanking the pair when they handed him a handful of the small round balls that would allow him to turn the tide of the battle heavily into their favour.

With a burst of chakra in his feet, Shikamaru leapt over the fighting shinobi and Quiraji soldiers onto one of the edges of the partially destroyed wall, glancing out over the edge to get an understanding of what he was dealing with. As he'd suspected, the Quiraji were converging heavily on the breach, under the guidance of three Black Robes that were directing them in battle. By his observation, there were nearly two thousand Quiraji soldiers that would be inside the village within minutes, and even their reserves wouldn't be able to push them back. They needed a way to take a minute to build a barrier where the hole was, and he hoped his plan would provide that.

He took a deep breath and calculated the distance between himself on the wall and the three Black Robes that were conveniently close together at the other side of the Quiraji horde. He pulled out three kunai from his pouch and hurled them towards the Black Robes, intentionally missing his mark and letting them land behind the Quiraji specialist troops, who were too distracted to notice the attacks that had clearly missed them.

He fingered the four flash bombs he'd been given carefully before moving one to his other hand. He would have created a Kage Bunshin to do it with the best possible timing, but every piece of chakra was vital for his plan and the technique he planned on using required every bit of his concentration. With a long breath, he hurled one flash bomb down on the Sunagakure side of the wall into the melee before turning and tossing one into the breach and the last two into the area just above the Quiraji army converging on the breach.

"BLIND!" he called out as loud as he could while covering his eyes with his arm. At his word, every Sunagakure shinobi in earshot immediately understood and replicated the move, while the Quiraji soldiers hesitated at the strange development.

That was enough time for the flash bombs to explode. With the brightness of a small sun, every Quiraji soldier on the Sunagakure side, in the breach and almost a third of those on the other side of the wall was completely blinded, including the three Black Robes that had so arrogantly underestimated Sunagakure ingenuity.

"RECOVER!" called out Shikamaru as he put his hands into a handseal of his own creation. His arm hadn't been able to block all parts of the light and his eyes stung a little bit, but he had enough sight to stretch his shadow across the battlefield as fast as he could until it stretched just past the three Quiraji specialist troops. Around him the Sunagakure shinobi uncovered their eyes and began pushing back the enemy soldiers as fast and as brutally as they could, while the enemy troops were barely able to defend themselves at the sudden blinding attack.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he activated his most recently acquired technique, one that he'd taken from two separate techniques from his father's scroll. He was sure that his father would be intrigued by his inventions and innovations on Nara techniques, but would also lament the fact that they were essentially made because of the war that had killed so many shinobi.

"Kage Samurai no Jutsu," he muttered quietly as his technique activated. (Shadow Warrior Technique)

From the edge of his shadow that had stretched from himself to the area behind the three Black Robes quickly took the form of three man-like forms, while picking up the kunai he had thrown earlier. Similar to the weapons he was able to create, they were made of solid shadow, however for the task he was using them for; he needed physical weapons that weren't entirely made of chakra.

With their eyes temporarily blinded, and their efforts concentrated on the events happening in front of them, the Black Robes had no defence as the shadow warriors drove the kunai into the backs of their necks, killing them instantly. While completing the strikes they made contact with the Quiraji specialist troops' bodies and dissipated instantly, but the damage was done as the enemy leaders crumbled to the desert floor.

At the same time, the pressure of the Sunagakure reserves and appearance of the senior-most shinobi currently in the village boosting morale had turned the battle of the breach to their favour. Within a minute all the Quiraji soldiers that had pushed into the village had been killed and several large scale uses of advanced ninjutsu techniques had thrown the enemy soldiers out of the breach as they recovered from the flash bomb attack.

Within moments of being given the order, a group of twenty shinobi from the reserves clapped their hands onto the ground and brought up a large amount of sand from the outlying area and drove it into the breach to create a makeshift wall inside the hole. Several other groups of reserves shot forward and began throwing seals onto the wall to reinforce its strength.

The retaliation of the Sunagakure army and recovery of the breach was enough to break the morale of the Quiraji army that was still recovering their eyesight, and within minutes of constant attacks from their enemies, the Quiraji soldiers were in retreat.

The battle for the western wall was over, for the time being.

Shikamaru took a moment to breathe out in relief, while Sunagakure shinobi were cheering in praise at both his intervention and their victory. After a minute he grabbed one of the Genin he had gotten the flash bombs from and acquired a soldier pill that he bit into quickly. He knew that the wide use of the soldier pill would cause serious burnout among his shinobi in the coming weeks, but they'd been given specific instructions to only do so in the direst of circumstances.

"Would you like to sit down for a moment, sir?" asked the Genin with a smile on her face.

The Nara heir chuckled in exhaustion and turned his gaze back to the other parts of the village, "I have to get back to the command post. Tell the reserve commander to leave one hundred shinobi here and everyone else to get back to their positions and await further instructions."

"He's not going to take orders from me," said the Genin with a look of shame on her face at her low status in the village ranking.

"Then tell him I sent you, and that if he doesn't do it I'll personally throw him into the next message run to the outside civilian villages."

The Genin nodded quickly and snapped him a quick salute with pride on her face, "Yes, sir!"

Shikamaru clapped her on the shoulder to show that she was doing a good job before he began running across the tops of the Sunagakure buildings back to his original position.

The day wasn't over yet.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And the war continues. I hope you guys enjoyed what I've put into this battle so far; there is another chapter to go for this particular part of the war. I know I took a few liberties with the abilities of the scorpion summons, but if slugs can heal, scorpions can fire poison beams from their stingers. That's my logic.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	85. Chapter 78 The Desperation of War

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 78 – The Desperation of War

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, shinobi in war, would fight like SHINOBI IN WAR! Where is the stealth, the trickery, the ninja-ness?

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The village of Sunagakure has come under siege by the largest Quiraji armies that have been seen in the world. Tens of thousands converged on the village with the intention of killing every man, woman and child in the village. In the first assault, the Quiraji were beaten back by overwhelming firepower from the Sunagakure siege weapons, though they were forced to empty their payloads completely. In the second wave, the Quiraji attacked the walls with large boxes that unloaded troops on the walls. On the eastern wall, the Shioro clan summoned up their boss scorpion summon to hold off the Quiraji onslaught, though the giant animal was ultimately killed on the battlefield. The western wall was breached by a clever use of a rhino to bash through the wall, however with Shikamaru and the shinobi reserves, the Quiraji were thrown out of the village and the hole was sealed up. With those parts of the village under control, Shikamaru rejoined his general compatriots.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The signal came down the shinobi ranks on the wall that the Quiraji had quit the field for the day, but the Sunagakure shinobi refused to relax until they'd gotten word from their commanders to do so. There was no telling what was or wasn't misinformation.<p>

Since their latest attempt at breaching the village had born little fruit beyond scaring the shinobi into realising the true nature of the threat, the defenders' confidence had shot up, but the bodies of their comrades were still yet to be cleared from the battlefield.

"I'm too old for this crap," said Shikamaru with a groan, rubbing at his shoulder sorely.

At his side, Baki let out a dry laugh and flexed his hands sorely, "Wait until you get to my age. Things don't really change that much, no matter what war you're fighting."

Shikamaru grunted and turned to regard a messenger shinobi that just appeared at their side. As with most of the current Sunagakure shinobi, he had a heavily bleeding wound on his forehead, but ignored it as he handed the lead advisor a piece of paper. Shikamaru read it quickly before rolling his eyes and crushing it up in his hand and shoving it into his pocket.

"Bad news?" asked Baki with a raised eyebrow of concern. They'd been getting messages all throughout the battle and they were rarely to give good information.

The Nara heir shook his head and stared out over the bloody battlefield in front of the village, "Not particularly. Evidently my wife couldn't wait. She never had much patience."

"What does that mean?"

Shikamaru pulled out a new cigar from his jacket, but during the battle it had been crushed and he threw it to the ground in frustration. "It doesn't matter. I can't leave this post at this critical stage."

A general at his side pointed past his face to the retreating Quiraji soldiers, observing that the desert winds that had been concealing the village from outside influences was beginning to part for the first time since the Quiraji had invaded the Land of Wind.

The Sunagakure shinobi kept their complaints to themselves as they saw untold numbers of Quiraji soldiers appearing to receive their retreating brethren. They'd fought themselves almost to their deaths, but the Quiraji looked to already be gearing up for another attack during the night.

It was almost suicidal to attack the shinobi village under the cover of night, since they had the advantages of stealth and speed, but if the day's battle had proved anything, it was that the Quiraji weren't above wasting lives to achieve their goals.

Shikamaru calculated that they'd only faced a third of the enemy forces, but now they were facing them all. His shinobi were bloodied and exhausted. Their numbers had dwindled one at a time during the many pushes made against their village and he wasn't sure how many more they were going to survive. They needed something to happen now; otherwise they were going to fall due to fatigue more than actual skills on the battlefield.

_If there is anything you are going to do, you'd better do it now_, he thought when thinking about the Kazekage's mission from earlier in the week. _We'll die to the last man, woman and child if we have to, but if you don't hurry, there won't be a village left for you to come back to. I'd rather not have that conversation with the ghost of my wife. _

"What are your orders, sir?" asked the communications shinobi in front of him.

"We should evacuate the non-combatants while the other sides of the village are clear," said Baki with defeat in his voice. "If they attack us during the night, we won't be able to hold them back. We don't have the manpower at the moment."

"There isn't anywhere for them to go," came another advisor's voice behind him. "They'd just hunt us down. This village is our last line of defence."

Baki glared the advisor down before turning back to Shikamaru, recognising that the young shinobi had been conspicuously quiet during the past few minutes. "What are you thinking, Shikamaru?"

"We've been thinking about this the wrong way," said Shikamaru after a few more moments of silence. He walked forward to one of the Jounin on the wall and tapped him on the shoulder. The shinobi shot him a quick salute before producing a pack of cigarettes and lighting one for the head Sunagakure general. Shikamaru thanked him and turned back to his companions, "We're shinobi. Any prolonged siege is not going to end in our favour just by our nature." He took a long drag before glancing at some of the nearby Sunagakure shinobi that were recovering from the recent battle, "We have to go back to our roots."

"Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

Shikamaru nodded and turned to the main communications shinobi, "Send work to Sakura at the hospital. Any shinobi that aren't comatose I want to be on the walls within the next two hours."

"Many of them won't survive the night if we're attacked," warned the communications shinobi, but he relayed the message nonetheless.

While that was happening, Shikamaru looked at Baki with a serious expression on his face, "Are you with me? I need to prepare a few things and you're the best wind-user we have."

Baki cracked his neck so loudly that the shinobi around him grimaced in pain, while he grinned with a scary expression, "You're becoming more and more like us every day, Nara." He disappeared quickly to gather their forces, while Shikamaru took a final drag of his cigarette and tossed it off the wall.

"Kibo, if we don't return, you are to marshal the defences and keep the people safe."

The advisor nodded grimly and crossed his arms over his chest, while the Nara heir jumped off towards the main section of the village. There wasn't very long until dark, and he had one person above everyone else to see before beginning his plan.

oOoOoOo

In her drugged-up state, it was difficult to tell how lucid she really was, but the look of joy on his wife's face was enough for Shikamaru to know that she was handling things well.

"You look tired," commented Temari with an exhausted look on her face.

Shikamaru smirked and walked over to take a seat at her bedside. Her water had broken hours before, but she wasn't fully dilated yet and was making a name for herself terrifying the nursing staff. "How's the baby doing?"

"Your child hates me, I'm convinced. One minute it wants to enter the world, another it decides to hang on for another few hours. Kill me now." Temari turned away from him for a moment before pulling back and smacking her husband upside his head with a pillow. He fell off his chair with a cry of surprise, while she laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. "That's for putting me in this situation."

"Please. It's not like I had any choice in the matter," said Shikamaru as he picked himself up from the ground. He muttered, "Troublesome woman," just to make his point, but still looked at the young woman on the bed affectionately even while cradling his head.

"You can't stay, can you?" Temari was a shinobi too, and knew the look that he was giving her and why he was visiting her rather than standing on the wall.

Shikamaru looked into her teal eyes as he took her hand into his, "If I don't go, this place won't be safe for you, or for our child. It's a pain in the ass, but we're out of options. I have to do something very troublesome."

His exhausted wife smiled and patted the top of his hands with her free hand, "Look at you, acting all heroic. It's enough to make a girl fall in love once again."

"Don't go getting soft on me now," said Shikamaru with a smirk. "You're meant to be the strong one in this marriage. I'm relying on you."

"Shika, my legs are in STIRRUPS!" she said with dramatic flailing of her arms. "I'm tired, hungry, thirsty, and being treated like an animal."

"So you're doing fine then," said Shikamaru with a tired chuckle.

"Pretty much," said Temari back with a sigh. "Are you going to be back in time for the baby to come?"

They shared a look that only a married couple could share, before Temari withdrew the question and lay back down on her bed. She smiled at him weakly before waving him away with her hand.

"I'll be back, okay? That's a promise." Shikamaru leaned forward and kissed the top of her sweaty head affectionately before turning to leave the room. "And you know me and promises."

"If you don't, I'll never forgive you." Temari glared at him to accentuate her point before turning back to staring out of her small window that faced the main part of the village.

He didn't turn back to face her, as he didn't want her to see the pained expression on his face. Instead he simply said, "I wouldn't expect you to."

Without saying another word, he left his wife to the process of giving birth and began mentally preparing himself for what he had to do. They'd argued over names and all manner of different things before the Quiraji attacked; or rather Temari argued and Shikamaru compromised. Now he just hoped that his child would have a place to come into the world in.

But first, there were Quiraji to kill.

* * *

><p>Under the cover of darkness, three groups of Sunagakure shinobi moved silently across the desert plains of the Land of Wind. The few ANBU that had remained at the village had removed their trademark masks and replaced them with the scarves that each Sunagakure shinobi on the mission wore. They were clothed in the best camouflage the village had and armed to the teeth. There was no way for the Quiraji to see their approach, even as they were preparing themselves to attack the village once again.<p>

Baki led a small group of dedicated Sunagakure wind-users to the rear of the Quiraji army encampment. There were guards and sentries posted all around the vast number of soldiers that were resting before the next day's battle, but using a specialised Sunagakure technique to hide themselves in the desert air, they moved without being noticed.

A pair of female Sunagakure shinobi signalled for the group to stop as they stood upon a small sand hill directly south of the Quiraji army. While several continued to maintain the illusionary technique, Baki motioned for the others to take their places while his hands flew through a technique he hadn't used since the Third Shinobi War. The majority of the shinobi in his group laid their hands on his shoulders and placed their other hands into handseals to begin the process of funnelling chakra into their general.

If the Kazekage was present he would have been able to complete the task on his own without using much chakra at all, but Baki didn't have the advantage of having a monster racoon living inside of him. He had to work with what he had. If the Quiraji had any chakra sensors in their scouting parties they would have likely sensed their presence the moment they'd begun their technique, but at this stage it didn't matter.

With a wicked grin that only war could bring out in him, Baki began to make a swirling motion with his hands at the desert sands between the shinobi group that had accompanied him and the Quiraji army that was their target. The Quiraji soldiers were rearming and recuperating for a new assault, and as such would not be prepared for the type of attack he was now preparing.

"Defeat this, you bastards," he muttered to the wind as the sand began to pick up pace and move in synchronisation with his hand motions. To the untrained eyes, it would have seemed as though the sands were moving in line with the wind and little else, forming into miniature whirlwinds that barely warranted a second glance in the deserts of the Land of Wind.

However, as the small whirlwinds began to collide together and rise in height and ferocity, it would have become obvious that this was no ordinary phenomena.

Baki moved his hands quicker and quicker, while the shinobi behind him pumped more and more chakra into him. Several of them began to falter at the overload, but they were held up by their companions. Now wasn't the time to get soft.

Within moments, the whirlwind had grown in size nearly twice the height of the highest building in Sunagakure. By now, the Quiraji soldiers that had been blissfully unaware of their presence had noticed the roaring winds that now raged in front of them, and the real danger that they were now in.

Sandstorms were not an uncommon occurrence in the Land of Wind; even the Quiraji, foreigners to the land, had learned how to predict and avoid the devastating bursts of nature.

But when this whirlwind turned in place and screamed towards the middle of the Quiraji encampment, they could only watch in horror as their fellow soldiers began to be pulled into the swirling vortex.

As it was a creation of chakra, the vortex could only hold the chakra-immune Quiraji soldiers for a short period of time, but the nature of the whirlwind meant that any soldiers caught inside were hurled high into the air, far more than what could be considered a safe falling distance. Even on the relatively soft desert floor, many did not survive the fall and those that did were not left in fighting condition.

Baki was only able to maintain the huge whirlwind for a short amount of time before Quiraji soldiers at either side of encamped army converged on their location. The attack had only lasted for a few minutes, but over a hundred Quiraji soldiers had been either killed or incapacitated already. Their comrades charged towards the small group of Sunagakure shinobi with fury in their eyes and weapons in hand, but before they could get close to the group, they were already fleeing into the dark depths of the Land of Wind desert.

The diversion had been a success.

oOoOoOo

Boshi stared at her brother for a moment before bursting out in cackling laughter. It had a resounding echo throughout the desert, while the shinobi around her rolled their eyes in exhaustion. She maintained her cackle for as long as she was able until her brother swiped a leg at her and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Another round of cackling commenced, as their mutual siblings rolled around on the ground at the sight. It was just another day in the life of the Jakkaru family. Hundreds of them had shown up for the battle, nearly the entire number of their extended family, though the patriarch hadn't bothered to show his face despite the call. His exact words had been, "until I hear some excellent grovelling, I ain't getting out of my cave."

He wasn't needed though, as the shinobi had clearly seen. They all hated to work with the Jakkaru family, primarily due to their inane sense of humour and obnoxious eating of small animals and children at the worst possible moments, but they also made useful allies. Providing they could be properly directed.

The loud cackling laughter continued as the two siblings continued to wrestle on the ground and snap at each other's necks, until a pair of their brothers wrenched them apart and threw them back into line with the others.

"Gods I hate working with hyenas," said one of the summoners under his breath behind the line of scavengers. "Gives me headaches for days."

"You didn't have to sign the summoning scroll," said his companion further down the line. "It's not like they forced you into it."

"Hyenas! The enemy is before you!" came the leader of the summoners' voice behind them.

One of the hyenas sniggered at the comment and whispered a word to its sister next to it, causing a new round of laughter to burst out in the ranks. They knew their orders and began to leap and bound towards their prey with every intention of causing as much chaos as they wanted, but that didn't mean they couldn't share a laugh or two.

Even with the whirlwind at the other side of the Quiraji drawing their attention away from attacking the village, even the deafest soldiers hadn't been able to put out the noise of the horde of cackling maniac beasts bearing down on them. The sound was everywhere and so high a pitch that it hurt the ears to hear, even by the Sunagakure shinobi that were directing the wind to carry the sound towards the enemy army.

Despite the bizarre army about to hit them, the Quiraji soldiers still formed into ranks and readied their weapons to receive the charge. The cackling hyenas moved much faster than the shinobi directing them, yet when they came into range of the Quiraji soldiers they didn't strike them like a horde of charging rhinos.

Instead, the leapt over shields and dodged spear thrusts to bite through necks and ankles, rolling and tumbling around on the ground with the seemingly insane ability to avoid being struck by the Quiraji weapons. The soldiers shot and stabbed as best they could at the Sunagakure hyenas that appeared as though they were having the times of their lives fighting the enemy of the shinobi, but the small creatures were too fast and too agile to be struck by such slow attacks. Even though they weren't able to kill many of the soldiers that fought against, the hyena attack was highly discouraging to the Quiraji army and many of the soldiers fell back after realising there was no point in fighting by the hyenas' rules of engagement.

oOoOoOo

With the surprise attacks on both sides of the Quiraji encampment and the enemy soldiers in relative disarray despite the Red Warriors and Black Robes doing their best to bring order back into their ranks, it took little effort for a small group of individual shinobi to infiltrate their way into the Quiraji army.

They wore the armour and outfits of the fallen shinobi that had been killed during the day's battle, while each bore a different type of Quiraji weapon at their side. The Quiraji army numbered in the tens of thousands and the specialist troops that were generally the ones to pick up the infiltrators the previous times they'd attempted to do so were spread out thin among the enemy ranks. Each individual shinobi had a specific mission to complete and wasted no time in starting as the enemy soldiers didn't suspect them of subterfuge.

Several of the infiltrators moved quickly through the ranks of the soldiers and planted explosion notes on key supply containers, while others found designated leaders of the Quiraji army and buried their blades into their backs. Every infiltrator knew that it was likely going to be a one-way trip for them, as those who'd assassinated several of the Quiraji leaders that weren't specialist troops were quickly overwhelmed and killed when the soldiers discovered they weren't just betrayers, but were shinobi in disguise.

With the Quiraji army occupied with the shinobi ambush, and many factions within the Quiraji ranks wary of each other after several obvious betrayals, it wasn't too difficult for Shikamaru to slip through the ranks as an unassuming messenger boy that the Quiraji army had been using extensively to run interference across their vast numbers. The enemy soldiers frantically moved around him while he moved silently towards a specific part of the encampment that held his mission target. The Quiraji encampment was suspiciously similar to how shinobi armies would set-up for a short siege, and during his infiltration he was able to get several key pieces of information surrounding the Quiraji invasion of Sunagakure.

The positioning of their battlements and the amount of food and water that they'd brought to the battlefield implied that they expected a swift victory; one that Shikamaru wasn't sure was entirely based on arrogance. The previous day's battle had told him that the Quiraji had little issue using their soldiers' lives to win battles, but also that they possessed a general of equal or greater tactical ingenuity than himself. That made the situation precarious at best and fatal at worst.

Shikamaru didn't like those odds at all, and that was why he was going to do this himself. He couldn't ask anyone else to make the sacrifice.

After almost half an hour of agonisingly slow progress through the Quiraji encampment, Shikamaru finally found the location he suspected his target could be found. While the majority of the enemy encampment was rough tents and sparse living as was appropriate for a campaign in the desert, the tent that stood in front of him was huge and covered in strange regalia that he'd never seen before. It was fancier than anything he'd seen from the enemy before, further reinforcing his suspicion that a new player had turned the battle against the shinobi for the first time in months.

With a long breath to calm his nerves and a final thought for his wife and unborn child, Shikamaru lifted up the main flap and entered the main tent of the enemy army.

The insides were not what he'd been expecting. He'd been expecting maps and instruments of strategy, with possibly sleeping quarters for guards and rows of weapons for quick use.

Instead, there was nothing inside. The entire area that the main tent covered was empty, not even bothering to cover the desert sand floor. Shikamaru wanted to tell himself that he was disappointed, but that wasn't quite true.

Because standing in the middle of the wide empty area was a warrior wearing armour plated in gold, staring at him with a satisfied expression on his face. Unlike on the battlefield, the Quiraji general was without his golden helm and Shikamaru got a good look at his face for the first time. He wore a battle-scarred face that could only be achieved through years of constant battle, and a harsh look in his bronze-gold eyes that told Shikamaru that his suspicions had been accurate.

The general had similar abilities to the Red Warriors he'd faced earlier in the day, and judging by the way he held himself back he was no charging berserker or stoic bodyguard. He was the grand strategist that had very nearly outthought Shikamaru earlier in the day, and his standing in front of him told the young Sunagakure commander that his infiltration had also been predicted.

"You were expecting me," he said quietly, while balling his fists slowly.

The general gave his enemy a grin that sent a shiver down the Nara shinobi's spine before he reached to his back and pulled out one of the long swords that sat there. With an almost casual flick he sent it flying towards his enemy, aiming to pierce him through the chest. Shikamaru pulled up his left hand and manipulated the shadow at his feet that extended out from the flickering torches at the sides of the empty tent and caught the long sword's hilt with a shadow arm before placing it into his right hand.

"You appeared unarmed," he said in a deep voice, one that did nothing to conceal his contempt for the young man that had come to his tent with the express intent on taking his head. "You are foolish to come here alone, boy. There is no grand victory for you shinobi here. Only death."

"I think you'll find we're resourceful enough to resist the likes of you," said Shikamaru as he ignored the strange feeling emanating from the blade he'd been seemingly gifted with. The element of surprise had been lost, and that accounted for much of his plan of attack, but Shikamaru wasn't about to turn and run with his tail between his legs, even though every fibre of his strategic brain was screaming at him that it was a terrible idea to remain such a foe that no doubt outclassed him in almost every manner.

The brain of the Quiraji army was right in front of him, and he couldn't pass up the possibility that he might get in a lucky blow and save a whole bunch of shinobi lives at the same time.

In true Sunagakure fashion, he reached into the pouch that had been stitched into his stolen outfit's cloak and removed a large vial full of a shimmering green liquid. He poured it over the edge of the Quiraji long sword, noting that it was not repelled as the chakra-based poisons they'd tested earlier on Quiraji weaponry had been.

"Are you about ready?" asked the general impatiently, pulling his other long sword from his back. It seemed like an ordinary blade, but Shikamaru could tell by the casual manner he moved it around in the air that a single stroke would be enough for him to lose his head.

Shikamaru glanced at his poisoned blade for a moment before nodding and holding it in front of him, "I guess. Still don't quite get why you're letting me attack you like this, when there are surely dozens of your guards ready to pounce on me outside at any moment."

"Call it a test of shinobi mettle," said the general with a cocky grin before slowly striding towards his shinobi enemy.

Knowing that his chakra would be useless in the area around the golden-armoured general, Shikamaru took a deep breath and charged at the Quiraji leader as fast as he could. With his left hand concealed within his cloak, he threw three kunai precisely at the general's unhelmed face. The Quiraji leader casually batted away the projectiles and watched as his young foe darted from one side to the next before stabbing at his shoulder from a troubling angle. It was a fast movement that came from an unparriable angle and would have pierced through the gap in his shoulder plate through to his chest.

The Quiraji general stepped backwards and let his foe fall in front of him. He brought up his sword to slash through the foolish young man for trying to attack him so, but to his surprise the shinobi brought up a boot to kick his sword hilt away just before his blow fell before spinning back in the air and disappearing into a dark shadow that was out of place compared to the rest of the shadows in the area.

"Clever…" said the general quietly, while his eyes tracked the shadow's movement along the ground. "It's obvious why you shinobi have avoided extinction for so long. You're good at running away." He turned his head to the side of the tent and flicked his right hand towards a shadow on the tent wall, sending a short knife straight at it.

Shikamaru emerged from the shadow and caught the knife by the hilt just before it pierced his eyes and tossed it onto the ground before completely stepping out and landing on the ground, breathing heavily. The general seemed able to sense where he was within the shadows, removing a number of attack vectors that had previously been available to him. He lowered his poisoned sword and dropped it to the ground before placing his hands into a ninjutsu handseal.

The Quiraji general scoffed and placed his sword against his shoulder, "You'd think you shinobi would learn when your tricks are futile."

Shikamaru smirked as his hands slowly went through the necessary handseals before clapping them together. "You'd be surprised what our tricks are able to achieve." He pointed his open palms towards the Quiraji general and felt a surge of chakra up his body and into the crown of his head. "Taiyouken!" (Solar Flare)

His enemy had no defence as a surge of blinding light filled the tent, causing him to swear loudly and cover his injured eyes with his free hand. Shikamaru knew his opponent would only be incapacitated for a few seconds, but that was enough for him to expend every bit of chakra he could. With the surge of light he filled the tent area with his shadow, except for the area nullified by the general, and threw out a wide circle of kunai to the edges of the shadow as they emerged as shadow warriors and took held of the bladed weapons.

At once the clones fell into the general and attempted to stab into the open parts of his armour, while Shikamaru brought out into a run and picked up his dropped sword with the intention of removing his enemy's head from his shoulders in a single stroke. It wasn't a flawless plan, but out of his hundreds of calculations it was the plan that had the greatest chance for success.

The Quiraji general put down his hand covering his eyes and gripped his long sword while his eyes remained shut. In a single second he sped up his movements to the point that he was barely a blur in his enemy's eyes, reaching out to stab and slash at the clones that had surrounded him before shooting forward and grabbing Shikamaru's wrist so strong that he forced the young shinobi to drop the sword to the ground with a cry of pain.

While in the general's grip, Shikamaru tried one last time to stab a hidden kunai into his enemy's face, but the Quiraji general moved his head so that the blade just barely scratched at his cheek, adding to the many scars already present. He smacked his head into the Nara shinobi's face as a punishment, drawing blood from his forehead and causing him to cry out in pain.

"Enough playing around," said the general, kicking away the Sunagakure commander's sword and throwing him towards the entrance of the tent. "I've had my fill."

Shikamaru glanced at the entrance for a moment before turning back to his enemy with a confused expression on his face, "You're letting me go?" Even his tactical mind couldn't understand why he would even consider doing that. Shikamaru was clearly a valuable asset to the village and while it had become clear early-on in the war that holding shinobi hostage never ended well for the Quiraji, he knew he was a high-value target and the general clearly knew that.

"Now is not the time for you to fall, little man," said the general matter-of-factly. "Only when your men can see you die, your body riddled with arrows and my blade dragging across your neck, will I allow you to die." He sheathed his long sword and directed an out-stretched hand at the Sunagakure commander, "Always remember how easily you failed here tonight."

Being a pragmatist, Shikamaru wasn't about to argue with the Quiraji general and fled the tent as quickly as his tired legs would carry him. As he moved through the camp, he noticed that he was ignored by every Quiraji soldier that he passed, even though it was frighteningly obvious that he was a shinobi. It didn't stop them from glaring at him hatefully, but it was clear that they'd been given orders not to touch him until he returned to the village walls.

The ambush on the Quiraji encampment had achieved much of what he had hoped; that much was clear from the state of the encampment. But judging from the expressions on the Sunagakure shinobi's faces as he climbed up the wall and joined his fellow general Baki at the top of the wall, it was clear that few of the ambushing shinobi had made it back home. His fellow general didn't ask about the shadow-user's mission and Shikamaru wasn't about to give any answers.

Being let go made no sense to Shikamaru, but little in this war had. He had to work with the information he was given, and for now it meant taking it as the blessing he had to see it as. The general hadn't underestimated or overestimated him.

He simply didn't care whether Shikamaru was in command of the defences or not.

Something made him very confident that he would win the battle, and that was enough for Shikamaru to be truly concerned.

As if he didn't have enough on his plate already.

oOoOoOo

Upon returning to the village wall, Shikamaru and Baki both ran back to the general outpost as quickly as they could to get an estimation of how much damage had been done to the Quiraji army during their attack. Luckily for them, the Quiraji had focused their efforts inward on their ambush and had held off their attack on the village entirely, giving the shinobi within another night of rest and rehabilitation. Their supplies were still damaged by the group of White Assassins that had been going around the village, but they had enough to feed and arm the thousands of shinobi still on active duty.

Shikamaru skidded to a halt in front of the sitting communications officer that hadn't moved in days, "Give me all the reports you've been given so far."

With his eyes closed, the generals assumed that he was concentrating on his technique, due to the heavy rings around his eyes. After a few moments of silence, Shikamaru leaned forward and waved his hand in front of the seated shinobi before sighing and standing back up. "He's asleep."

"Well wake him the hell up!" said Baki in annoyance, walking over and smacking the back of the communications officer's head painfully. It seemed an overly harsh thing to do, but after fighting as hard as they had during the night few of them had any patience left.

The communications officer jerked awake and blinked several times as he came back into consciousness. He glanced around for a moment before realising the pain in his head and cradled it quickly in his hands, breaking his handseal.

"Give the commander the reports," ordered Baki in a short tone that every shinobi in the village recognised as one where the older general wasn't going to be messed with.

"Ye…yes sir." The young shinobi took a moment to re-centre himself before remembering his job and reaching into his back pocket. He produced a small note that had a single line scribbled on that he handed to Shikamaru with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Anything village-threatening?" asked Baki at the young commander's side.

Shikamaru read the message several times before crushing it in his hand and shoving it into his pocket. "You could say that."

Baki's face dropped at his fellow council member's tone. "Did the Assassins get into the civilians? How many were killed?"

"No, no, nothing like that," said Shikamaru with a dismissive wave of his hand. He stepped towards the outer wall and glanced out at the slow rising light that indicated a new day was approaching.

"Then what is it?"

Shikamaru patted at the jacket pockets on his chest before producing a mostly crushed packet of cigarettes. He lit one quickly and breathed in the smoke with a loud sigh.

"I'm a father," he stated simply.

For a few moments there was a lull of silence, as every shinobi present was exhausted beyond belief. However they still found the energy to congratulate the new father and slap him on the back.

"Are you going to go see your baby?" asked a female general at his side with a wide smile on her face.

Shikamaru turned back to look at the village behind them before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and putting it out on the stone wall. "Yeah…I guess I should."

"Don't worry, we'll hold down the fort until you get back," said another general in support.

Shikamaru gave a few final orders to the communications officer before eying the hospital in the distance. It would take a few minutes to get there with his current chakra level, but Shikamaru thought he might check on a few things in the village before getting there. It wasn't just because as the commander of the shinobi forces he had an obligation to show his face at certain areas to try and raise moral.

But he also needed a bit of time to process the fact that he was now the proud father of a healthy baby girl. It was something he'd been preparing for ever since his wife had told him that she was having his child, but now that it had actually happened, he wasn't sure how he felt.

Also the fact that he hadn't been able to be there when she was born was weighing on his mind. Not because he didn't see the birth of his child. He was worried about the punishment that his wife would enact in the future because of the fact.

He did love her, but she scared the hell out of him.

* * *

><p>"This doesn't make any sense."<p>

A Sunagakure shinobi walked up to the Nara heir and handed him a cup of coffee while Kira, a decorated Sunagakure general, sighed loudly at his side. "You've been saying that for hours. It could just be that they are messing with your head."

Shikamaru shot him a look and gestured towards the army squaring off against them, "They've been holding the same position for hours, in the blistering heat, without making a single manoeuvre or indication that they intend to do anything except stand there and glare at us." He ground his teeth to the point that the shinobi around him could almost hear it. "It doesn't make sense!"

"They're probably just showing that they are still strong, while recovering from our attacks in the night."

The head Sunagakure advisor shook his head, "No, that isn't it. They still have the strength to attack us again." He turned to his main communications officer, "No word from the other walls? No sightings? I want some damn information!"

"Not since the last time you asked me," said the shinobi shortly.

"Are you giving me sass? That won't end well for you." Before the officer could talk back to him, the Nara heir put up a hand in apology. He sipped the drink that was handed to him and blanched visibly at the taste, "This is absolutely terrible, we call this coffee?"

"We haven't had coffee beans for weeks," said Baki at his side.

Shikamaru moved the cup in front of the Sunagakure general, "Then what the hell am I drinking?"

"You don't want to know."

The ex-Konoha shinobi grimaced and took another sip, "You're probably right. So what are we going to do about this? If we weren't in a desert, I'd be worried about sappers tunnelling under the walls, but that just can't be the case."

"Why not?" asked one of the Chuunin that had been assigned to guard their forward position.

Shikamaru pointed down to the ground beneath the wall, "Because the village was built on the shifting sands of the desert, that's why. Unless they can reinforce tunnels as they create them, which would take some kind of technology beyond anything we've seen, they won't be getting into the village that way."

Just as he finished his statement, the ground beneath their feet began to shake violently. None of the shinobi reacted to the tremors; earthquakes in the Land of Wind were hardly anything special. The timing was conspicuous, but the Sunagakure shinobi were not concerned. They'd been staring at their Quiraji enemies for hours, waiting for them to make a move.

However, after fifteen minutes of the earth around them continuing to shake rather violently, the Sunagakure shinobi began to suspect that something was wrong.

Shikamaru turned to Baki with a worrying look on his face, "Is there something I should know?"

"I don't have any more information than you do," said the Sunagakure general, while bracing himself on the stone wall. "This has never happened before."

"That means there is something we need to worry about." Shikamaru clasped a hand on his communications officer, "If you can give me anything, I would love you forever. I'll even retract the eight death-threats I've given you in the past two hours."

"It's difficult to maintain the technique with the ground shaking like this," said the shinobi. "You'd think a family of sand worms were tunnelling around and making a mess of the place," he added with a scoff.

Shikamaru glanced over at the Quiraji soldiers that had decided to quit the battlefield once the earthquake started before his mind clicked and he shot back to the officer. "What was that? Say it again."

"I…said it's difficult to…"

"Not that! The other thing. About sand worms."

"You've never heard of sand worms?" asked Kira with a raised eyebrow above his three scars. "How long have you been living in the Land of Wind?"

A look from the young commander was enough for him to shake his head and give an explanation, "They're massive worms that live under the desert, though most think they are legends. Think giant sand eels, but with lots of teeth. They're docile though, it's not like they'd ever come near civilization. They tend to be terrified of people."

It took Shikamaru only a few moments before he put all the pieces together and his heart sank as he turned back to look at the village proper. "This is going to get really bad…"

oOoOoOo

Ami placed the large piece of fruit into her basket and thanked the vendor with a warm smile, "It is good to see you still out here, Baa-sama."

The elderly woman who was in charge of the stall shook her head and placed the coins that she'd been paid into her till. "I've been through many wars, little young. Baa hasn't missed a single day yet."

"What about the curfew?" asked the young girl with concern on her face. While the village was under siege, they'd been given a strict curfew on when they could walk around the village, so as to not get in the way of the shinobi. "Aren't you worried about sanctions?"

The fruit vendor snorted and picked up an apple from her cart that was about to fall onto the ground. They'd been experiencing an oddly long earthquake for the past ten minutes or so, but while they were able the civilians of Sunagakure were trying to go about their daily business. "You should get on home though, dear. I'm sure your parents are worried about you."

The young girl nodded and turned to walk down the sandy alley that led to her house, but was forced to steady herself on a nearby wall as the earthquake suddenly got more intense to the extent that it threatened to knock her off her feet. She glanced back at the fruit vendor to see if Baa was okay, and it was the last thing she ever saw.

The ground around the fruit vendor and extending over to Ami's position near one of the building walls was hurled high into the air. A circle of teeth emerged from underneath the ground that had been thrown and revealed itself as a horrific sand worm that burst up into the air with a terrifying roar. Its dark grey skin seemed to absorb the sun's rays that were beating down on it as it rose taller than the building it had partially destroyed upon emerging from the ground. The young girl that had gotten in its path was killed instantly by the impact, while it fully hurled itself out of the ground and into the plaza that contained a small number of civilians that were still out during the day.

The civilians of Sunagakure that witnessed this began to scream in terror, even as the sand worm slid towards them and began to use its giant maw for something other than burrowing through the tough sand beneath the village.

The civilians behind the creature that hadn't caught its attention breathed out a sigh of relief and went to find some of the shinobi of the village to come and deal with the creature; however it became clear that the creature's appearance wasn't random. When sand worms travelled through the ground the spines on their skin caused the sand to harden so that they could use the tunnel to move around between their nests. In many parts of the desert there were huge spanning tunnel networks that covered nearly the entire desert, just for the giant desert creatures.

This unique ability made them the perfect sappers that the enemy needed. Just after the sand worm began its controlled rampage in the middle of the village, loud clashes of metal could be heard from within the tunnel opening. Before the civilians could come anywhere near any of the Sunagakure shinobi that lined the walls, they were ambushed by a large group of rampaging Quiraji warriors that emerged from the sand worm's tunnel.

From the single tunnel, over a hundred Quiraji soldiers poured into the village and began slaughtering any and all civilians they could find. Once the streets were empty of targets, the Quiraji began to flood the nearby buildings as they sensed the whimpering civilian's minor uses of chakra to try and alert the nearby shinobi to the attack.

The first shinobi that were on the scene were a group of Sunagakure Genin that had been collecting supplies and moving them from one section of the village to another. It was menial work for shinobi, but they had their orders and took their jobs very seriously.

But when the enemy invaded the village through the means of a giant monster, they sensed their time had come and collectively agreed to join the battle and fight the good fight. While the sand worm began to chew its way back into the ground to make a new tunnel underneath the village, a single Black Robe emerged from the tunnel and began looking around the village with a faraway look in his eyes.

The Genin saw their chance and leapt down from their high position to stand in front of the Quiraji specialist soldier, with their kunai in their hands. "The shinobi of Suna are here to stop you, evil devil!" said one of the Genin with his chest puffed out proudly. "We're going to defeat you here and now!"

The other Genin echoed the declaration, while the Black Robe only barely seemed to notice their existence. His blank eyes moved over them dispassionately, even as the Sunagakure Genin began a wild charge towards the seemingly vulnerable opponent.

With a dismissive wave of his hand, the Black Robe sent a cone of white lightning made of spiritual energy that pierced straight through the charging Genin and into the buildings behind them, leaving a heavy set of burn marks as evidence of his attack. The Sunagakure Genin were killed instantly, falling to the ground as smouldering corpses while their murderer watched the oversized creature that had facilitated their invasion disappear completely into the ground once again. The beastmasters had warned the other Quiraji soldiers that their control over the large sentient creatures was tentative at best, but the Black Robe would have preferred the creature continue its warpath for at least a few more minutes. As a distraction it was a poor tool.

Such as it was, he and the other Quiraji soldiers that had come through the tunnel into the village would have to deal with the clusters of Sunagakure shinobi that were converging on their location. Without a word, he recalled the Quiraji soldiers that were slaughtering civilians within their homes and ordered them to form a tight circle of defence around him. The Black Robes were not the military leaders that the Red Warriors had been designed for, but they were devastating weapons if given enough time to build up their strength.

It only took a few minutes to complete his plan. The Sunagakure shinobi had attacked the Quiraji soldiers with a fury that only shinobi could muster against their hated foe, while none had been able to get to the Black Robe to stop him. His guardians fell in droves to the superior numbers of the enemy village shinobi and over ten shinobi moved to attack him with a variety of bladed weapons that no doubt would be able to pierce through any defences he'd be able to quickly muster.

So in true Quiraji fashion, he surrounded himself with spiritual energy in the form of fiery energy and exploded the air around him in a massive pillar of fire that reached high above the village and slammed into both him and the surrounding area. Any Quiraji soldiers that had survived the battle were incinerated instantly with their shinobi foes and over a dozen small buildings that still contained civilians that were trying to hide from the battle.

Within minutes of their arrival, the Quiraji invaders had killed over a hundred shinobi and three times as many civilians in spectacular fashion. The fire pillar burnt so hot that Shikamaru and the other generals that had been trying to race their way to the location were forced to hold back to not get caught in the blast. Once it died down they moved in to see if there were any survivors, but it was immediately clear that it wasn't the case.

The fact that there wasn't a burnt-out husk of a sand worm worried Shikamaru immensely and his fears were realised when the earpiece he had taken from the communications officer once again was full of reports of seismic activity underneath the village. He quickly gave orders for the Sunagakure shinobi that had accompanied them to close up their formations as he leapt up to the nearest roof that gave him the best vantage point.

The Sunagakure commander and lead advisor to the Kazekage watched in horror as over a dozen sand worms hurled themselves into view with spirals of teeth and terrifying roars to boot. Shikamaru was used to seeing horrible things and preparing plans of counter-attack to win battles.

Watching his village being attacked so brazenly, in the face of all the defences he had erected and tried to hold the enemy back with, was enough to damage even Shikamaru's strong spirit. Seeing the commander momentarily dispirited was worrying for the other generals, but the emergence of the hordes of Quiraji soldiers from within the sand worm tunnels was enough to snap them all back to reality.

With precise movements that bordered on perfect synchronisation, the Sunagakure shinobi crashed down upon the invaders like a tidal wave. The powerful ninjutsu users targeted the sand worms before they could damage the buildings they emerged nearby and hurt the civilians that were inevitably inside. The defensive plan for the village hadn't taken into account the ability for the Quiraji to attack from the centre of the village, and as such the civilians were particularly vulnerable to such an attack.

Even as the sand worms were blasted apart by explosive notes and ninjutsu and the Quiraji soldiers were slaughtered from a distance with hails of projectiles, the people of Sunagakure suffered.

The shinobi that had previously defended the walls from outsider attack now converged on the middle of their home to protect it from invaders they couldn't have anticipated. The creatures that had created the problem in the first place were slow and cumbersome; easy prey for the quick and nimble Sunagakure shinobi. However, the Quiraji soldiers had gotten quite proficient at fighting their shinobi enemies and proved themselves to be worthy of the effort it took to take them down.

At the height of the day's battle, over three thousand Sunagakure shinobi engaged with thousands of Quiraji soldiers that rampaged their way throughout the centre of the village. It was not a battle the enemy had any intention of winning, but in the eyes of the generals and the commander that still blamed himself for what had happened; it was clear who the real winner of the day's fighting was.

Shikamaru only hoped that they'd be able to recover from their losses and turn the battle back into their favour. It seemed like every time they gained an advantage over their Quiraji foes, the enemy came back with double the trickery and killed hundreds of shinobi on a whim.

How could he fight against a foe that is so easily able to counter his strategies?

oOoOoOo

The attack on the inside had finally been defeated and the tunnels that had led into the village had all been filled in as quickly as the Sunagakure shinobi could, but the damage had been done. There was no real way to count how many civilians of the refugees had been killed before the shinobi had turned their attention inward to defend their village, but Shikamaru low-balled the estimate at easily a third of the overall population.

If the Quiraji had attacked the walls at the same time as the creatures had led them into the village, it would have fallen. There wasn't a shinobi in the village that didn't know that.

The fact that they had held back was the most confusing part to the Sunagakure commander. The Quiraji had thrown a large number of troops into their surprise attack, but he suspected there had to easily have been another ten thousand that could have attacked the southern wall.

He and the surviving generals gathered on their outpost on the southern wall and began to look for signs of an impending Quiraji attack. For hours they stood and watched the empty desert sands shift in front of them with no sign whatsoever of the enemy. Several of the group hypothesised that they might have decided to leave the village to lick its wounds, but Shikamaru didn't believe that for a second.

He'd come face to face with the enemy general and had seen the determination and ruthlessness in his eyes. This fight wasn't over by any stretch of the imagination.

The morale in the village was at an all-time low, even more so than when their Kazekage had gone missing for so many years and they'd been forced to instate a new one in his stead. At the start of the invasion, they'd had over seven thousand shinobi able to fight the Quiraji attackers. Now, Shikamaru estimated there were less than three thousand, with most of those either being support types from the reserves or injured.

"Sir, I have a report from one of the scouts," said a shinobi that just appeared at his side. She nodded in respect to him and handed him a small piece of paper that held the report. When the Quiraji hadn't attacked in the morning, Shikamaru had sent out every scout that was able to run into the field to gather intelligence on the enemy army. He thanked her and opened up the paper quickly.

"What does it say?" asked Baki, who had just arrived at the outpost after reorganising the reserves.

Shikamaru crushed the note in his hand slowly, "Something that cannot be true." He tapped on the communications officer's shoulder in front of him, "Get me patched in to any of the scouts in the field. I want two different levels of confirmation."

The communications officer nodded and placed a hand to his ear for a few moments before turning back to the young commander, "I have Mako from the Ninth and Kiriko from the Twenty-Fourth."

"Hand me the communicator," ordered Shikamaru quickly, taking the earpiece from him quickly and placing it into his own ear. "This is General Nara. I want confirmation of the numbers you are seeing and the positions. Authorization code: Kankurou's warpaint is actually make-up."

He waited as the two shinobi in the field gave him their reports; his eyes widening as they confirmed what the previous report had indicated. He resisted the urge to sink to his knees as he handed the earpiece back to the communications officer.

"What is it?" repeated Baki, recognising the look of alarm in the younger shinobi's face.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and pulled out a pair of binoculars from his pack before handing them to his fellow general. "Take a look. They should come into view in a few moments."

Just as Shikamaru said, after a minute it became clear that the Quiraji hadn't retreated from the battlefield at all. Legions of Quiraji troops began to make their way towards the secondary wall, armed to the teeth with swords, spears and bows alike. They were directed by multiple groups of Red Warriors and Black Robes, far more than previously encountered in battle.

After a few minutes it became clear that the number of soldiers that the Quiraji had thrown at them over the past few days was barely a fraction of the force that was gathered against them now. From the reports by the scouts that were now retreating back to the village on Shikamaru's orders, the force was over one hundred thousand strong, and that was just the soldiers that they'd been able to count.

From every shinobi's perspective that was on the wall, one thing was clear.

Shikamaru's mind raced with ways to stymie the horde that seemed to have made camp outside the secondary wall, but every solution that he could come up with involved resources that were no longer at his disposal. Even with all his strategies and all his brainpower, Shikamaru couldn't come up with anything that might save them from such numbers.

Even he couldn't fight against inevitability.

* * *

><p>The enemy had held their far away position from the first wall and had given no indication that they were in any rush to attack the village again despite the demoralising display of numbers and power.<p>

For the few moments they had in the reprieve, the generals of Sunagakure gathered in the main council building and considered their next move. However, after a few minutes of analysing the information at hand, one thing had become frighteningly apparent.

"We're going to lose the battle, aren't we?"

Shikamaru sighed and put out his cigarette in the glass tray in front of him. "Too many things have gone against us. We were never prepared to defend ourselves against this many enemies. Over one hundred thousand…it's a ridiculous number to even contemplate."

"Nevertheless, we can't just lay down and let our village be overrun," said Kira stubbornly, slamming his fist onto the stone table. "Our families are here; our children! They won't spare them if they break through the wall."

"We'll have to evacuate the non-combatants," said Baki near the head of the meeting. "Something we should have done at the start."

"It wouldn't have made the battle go any better," said Shikamaru quickly. He'd been the one to deny the request to do just that when the Quiraji had first appeared and he stood by his decision even if it had since backfired. "They would have just turned around and killed them first, then come back for us. If anything, now is the only time we'll have to get them somewhere safe."

One of the remaining female generals snorted loudly and threw the war pieces that were on the map in the middle of the table into a pile, "There isn't anywhere that is safe left in the world. Suna was meant to be that, and they didn't seem to break much of a sweat defeating us."

"We bled them. That accounts for something." Baki turned to Shikamaru, "Where do you think our people might be safe?" He knew it was a big ask of the Nara shinobi to resolve the problem, but nobody else was presenting any ideas of merit.

Shikamaru motioned to the female general at his side with his hand, "Ruki is correct, there really isn't anywhere that is truly safe. The Quiraji will hunt them down eventually, but maybe we can delay that for a little while. At least until the Kazekage and the others finish their mission to kill the Quiraji leadership. Maybe then we can recover." He reached across the table and pulled up a map over the one of Suna that had been gathering dust for quite a while. "If they move quickly enough, they should be able to get through the Country of Rain and into the Land of Earth. The mercenary group that is the main power in that region has no love for Quiraji or shinobi alike. It's our best bet for a place that hasn't been touched by the Quiraji just yet. It's not as if we can ask any of the other village's for aid, we'd just be bringing the enemy to their doorstep."

He waited for someone to tell him that the idea was ridiculous, but it was clear that nobody else had any ideas that were much better. With that in mind, Shikamaru began to draw up the details of the plan. "The Genin and some of the more injured Jounin should accompany the civilians out of the rear part of the wall. They'll want to move slowly, but we can't afford that." He nodded to the general to his left, "General Kira, you're to take charge of the refugee process and evacuation. Once you are satisfied that everyone that is going to leave has, you are to protect them with your lives. They are the lifeblood of Sunagakure."

_You don't need to tell us that_, thought the general to himself. "There will be those you won't want to leave," he said out loud to the young commander.

"That is their choice," said Shikamaru darkly. He hated the idea of leaving innocent people behind, but now wasn't the time to be squeamish. People were going to die, that fact wasn't going to change.

He turned to Baki and pulled the Sunagakure map back out on top of the table, pointing to the southern wall with his finger, "Any defenders that are willing to give the people the time necessary to evacuate should be concentrated here. You and I will command the defences, and do our best to delay the Quiraji as long as we can. If necessary, we can lay traps throughout the village after the civilians have left to discourage them from pursuing them." He knew that he was making a big assumption that the older general would want to stay in the village, but one that he knew was most likely an accurate one.

Baki acknowledged that the young man's plan was the best they had and shared a knowing look with the other generals at the table. He got a round of nods in consensus before turning back to the young Nara commander. "Shikamaru, I can handle the defence of my home. You should leave too."

"That's just nonsense," dismissed the Sunagakure commander with a wave of his hand. "This is my home just as much as it is yours. Hell, I have a wife and now a child here. Sunagakure is my home just as much as Konoha was."

"It's precisely because of those two that you should go," said Kira at his side sharply. "None of us here could forgive ourselves if a baby of Sunagakure were to die before it was able to walk or talk and enjoy life."

"Besides, someone has to go and tell the Kazekage," said General Ruki at his other side. She breathed out slowly and clenched her fists tightly, "Gaara-sama would track us down in the afterlife if he discovered that we'd let his sister and niece die in battle. You're the best one to do so, being his brother-in-law, and they might need you for the battle too."

The other generals nodded in agreement at the frightening prospect, while Baki watched the conversation with silent interest. He recalled a not-so-distant time when Gaara was a name that instilled fear and terror in the people of Sunagakure. Now they spoke about him with such reverence when he wasn't even present, it was a heart-warming thing to see.

He just wished the circumstances were better to have given rise to such respect and admiration.

The elder Sunagakure general waved over two ANBU shinobi that had designated themselves as bodyguards to the generals in their leader's absence and gestured to the Nara commander. "A small group of you should be able to slip through the Quiraji lines into the Land of Fire and make contact with the Kazekage and his team. Particularly with the devastation I'm sure he's left in his wake."

Shikamaru bit at his lip in frustration; this wasn't how he'd thought this would go down. It was practically a mutiny. "I told him to go, Baki. I told him we would keep them safe."

The tattooed Jounin reached forward and clapped him on the shoulder as he used to do with his Genin students before he taught the Kazekage's children that had become the leaders of the village. "This is what we must do. Part of being a Sunagakure shinobi is accepting the path that you are walking on and fighting the battles that you can. So long as one of us remains, the village is not dead. You understand that better than any of us here."

Shikamaru instinctively felt for the mark that he'd had tattooed on his body years ago before slowly dropping his arms and accepting that there was nothing he could do. He didn't have a death wish, or any great urge to lose his life on the wall, but he felt like he was abandoning his people in their direst hour.

"Come, Commander Nara," said one of the ANBU that now stood behind him. "We won't have long to get to the hospital and pick up the Kazekage's sister and niece."

"Temari…and my daughter…" Things were becoming clearer in Shikamaru's head. He concentrated his thoughts on those two things and everything else began to fall into place. He now knew what he had to do.

In a rare moment of comradery, Shikamaru extended a hand towards his fellow council member. Baki took his hand and shook it firmly, admiring the new look of conviction in the young man's eyes.

"Fight well, live well, die well, my friend," said the Sunagakure commander with his chest puffed out.

Baki stared at him for a moment before smirking and releasing the young man's hand, "There can be no doubt. You are a Sunagakure shinobi, through and through."

"A lazy pain-in-the-ass Sunagakure shinobi," added Kira with a boisterous laugh at his side.

Shikamaru took one final look at his fellow generals before nodding and leaving the room without another word.

In Sunagakure, there was no meaning in saying goodbye to one another.

oOoOoOo

As he knew time was short before the Quiraji commenced their final attack on the village and the time to leave the village safely would pass, Shikamaru wasted no time in moving through the shadows with his clan's technique to the hospital. He'd made a career of thinking on his feet, but there wasn't anything he could think of on the way to tell Temari to convince her to come with him. He still hated the idea of leaving the ship before it sank, but he knew that the other generals were right.

Someone had to tell Gaara what had happened, and he wasn't about to let his wife and child die with the village. At his side were two of the few remaining ANBU shinobi that had refused his constant efforts to tell them to be with their families and his requests for their names. They'd caught up with him frighteningly quickly and refused to leave his side as he refused into the madness that was the hospital emergency room.

There had been a steady stream of shinobi coming in for treatment and being sent back on the wall since the invasion had begun, but the past few days had turned it into a screaming tarpit of shinobi that had been grievously wounded in battle and frantic medical shinobi and nurses that were trying to heal those that could still fight given a few moments of medical care.

It took him several minutes just to get to the stairs, even with his ANBU bodyguards shoving people out of the way and demanding they let him through. The word had gone throughout the village that they were to either evacuate with the shinobi that would lead them to another hiding place or stay and fight the Quiraji until their last breath. That order had only caused the chaos in the village to intensify; as even the most strong-willed Sunagakure shinobi knew that even to escape the village was to only delay the inevitable.

Shikamaru bolted up the stairs until he reached the floor that Temari had been moved to, and nearly bowled over a pair of nurses that were trying to move an elderly patient across rooms. He stammered a quick apology and turned to see the room numbers down the corridor. To his surprise, he saw a suspiciously calm Sakura standing near a window with a chart in her hands like nothing was happening.

She slowly turned to look at him and lowered her chart, "Nowhere safe left in the world, is there?"

Shikamaru never thought of himself as knowledgeable in psychology, or of having any real understanding in how people deal with things beyond his immediate control, but one look into the young woman's faded green eyes and Shikamaru understood why she was so calm.

She was a doctor, and all she'd been doing over the past few weeks was keeping people alive so they could die at a more convenient time. Coupled with her inability to fight due to her capture, torture and brainwashing at the hands of the enemy, he barely understood how she was walking around with any hope in her at all. Until he realised the truth.

She didn't have any real hope left in her. She knew she was going to die with the rest of the village.

"I'm here to get Temari and go to the Kazekage to tell him what happened here," he said quickly, hoping she understood that there was no other way for him to act.

The pink haired woman nodded slowly and indicated to the furthest room in the corridor, "We moved her to room 523 because she was making life difficult for the nurses."

Shikamaru walked up to her and gently grabbed her shoulder in a rare moment of understanding between the two of them. He'd barely had much interaction with the head doctor of the village, even when they'd travelled together as survivors of the destruction of Konoha, but at the moment he didn't see her as an ex-Konoha shinobi as he had once been. She was a member of Sunagakure.

"You should come with me, Sakura. I'm going to where Lee is. Your husband."

For a moment he wasn't sure she'd heard him, but a light shone through her green eyes and she gave him a harsh look that he recalled her often sending in Naruto's direction before they'd been separated.

"I'm well aware of where my husband is and what he is doing." She placed a hand to her eyes as if to rub the exhaustion away with her fingers before staring back out at the village that had become utter chaos. "I can't leave these people. I'm a healer and there are people here that need medicine. There's work to be done here yet."

Shikamaru let his arm drop off her shoulder to his side; clearly he'd misread her. She wasn't deciding to stay because she'd lost hope.

"You'll die…you know that." He tried to keep his voice low to avoid panicking any of the hospital staff or patients that might overhear them, but at this stage he suspected everyone in Sunagakure knew what was happening.

Sakura gave him a half-smile that was heartbreaking to see before turning back to the window that overlooked the village. "Maybe that will set things right."

One of the ANBU that had come with him tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder as a reminder that they didn't have time to waste here. The Sunagakure commander waved off his council and told them to go to the room ahead of him, while he gave his old friend one final look.

There was a faraway look in Sakura's eyes now, combined with a relaxed posture and accepting manner. He knew there would be no way for him to be able to talk her out of staying. The only reason he wasn't doing the same was because of Temari and their child, and the knowledge that somebody had to tell Gaara that the village had been lost.

He didn't say goodbye to her, even though Shikamaru knew he'd never see Sakura alive again. Rather, he gave her a slight tap on the arm as his way of telling her that he understood, and moved past her to collect the woman he loved and the little girl they'd just brought into the world.

He was fighting this war for them, and their safety mattered more to him at that moment.

oOoOoOo

The two ANBU shinobi waited in the doorway as Shikamaru explained the situation to his recovering wife, even as she held their newly born daughter in her arms and was listening to him intently. The usually frightening-looking Temari looked like she'd ridden through hell and back just as hard as any shinobi that had fought in the previous few days, but even in her current state Shikamaru had to admit she was an amazing woman.

Once he finished explaining he waited for the inevitable argument that they couldn't abandon the village and they should go with the refugees of the village rather than embark on some mad crusade to tell her younger brother that they'd lost his village in the few days that he hadn't been there to protect it.

But Temari had made it a habit of surprising him over the years, and today she was laying it on one after the other. Pressing their daughter into her chest affectionately, she nodded slowly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, "Okay."

"I know you don't want to go but I really think…wait…are you agreeing with me?" Shikamaru knew that his wife wasn't as stereotypically tsundere as the others in the village painted her as, but she was usually pretty damn close. He couldn't help himself. "This is a big moment for me."

"Yes, we're all very proud," said the blonde kunoichi with an exhausted smirk. Childbirth had not agreed with her under any capacity, but with her daughter sleeping soundlessly in her arms she wasn't about to be bedridden and allow their enemy to come in and slaughter them.

However, she wasn't as strong as she would have liked, and the moment she began to waver her husband shot forward and grabbed her around the waist to steady her. She held on to her daughter with both of her hands and continued to rock her in the hope that she didn't wake up.

"Motherhood agrees with you," said Shikamaru into her ear with a wide smile. Even despite the death and destruction that was about to come down on the village, and the knowledge that they likely wouldn't make the long journey to the Land of Fire, he could still find some joy in the moment.

Temari laughed softly and kissed him gently on the cheek, "Thanks, Shika. And before you ask, I trust your judgement. If you say this is what we have to do, then we'll do it."

The Nara heir stared blankly at her for a few moments before shaking himself out of his amazement and turning to the ANBU that had accompanied him, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather be with your families? Last chance."

Temari glanced over at her husband with a raised eyebrow. "Shika, this is Hyoji and Mekatora. They don't have families to go to. Didn't you know that?"

"No…no, I didn't." Shikamaru helped her walk over to the doorway. "I'm sorry…" he muttered as they walked past the ANBU shinobi. The pair of Sunagakure shinobi glanced at each other for a moment through their animal masks before nodding to each other and walking out of the room to accompany the couple on their journey.

"You know, we should really come up with a name for our little girl," said Temari as she began to recover her strength down the flights of stairs towards the hospital entrance. "And we aren't calling her Raikou." (Lightning)

"Whatever happened to you agreeing with me?" asked Shikamaru with a sigh. He thought that was a great name for either a boy or a girl. Either that or Kaki. (Fire)

Temari tapped his arm to indicate that she could walk on her own as they came to the end of the stairs and one of the ANBU opened the door for them to walk through. "Yeah, that time is over." She kept her daughter close to her chest and her husband at her side as they walked out of the hospital unmolested by the other residents of the hospital and began to make their way to one of the exits to the rear of the village.

The Quiraji had yet to attack the village en mass as they expected, but it was clear from the battle formations Shikamaru had seen earlier that they had no intention of trying to attack every wall at once anymore. They would strike the front wall with a devastating force that would quickly overwhelm the defenders that had valiantly chosen to remain behind before flooding into the village intending on killing anyone they came across.

He just hoped that enough people would be able to get out in time before that happened. He knew the Sunagakure people were as stubborn as anyone, but the war against the Quiraji was no longer one of large armies clashing on dusty battlefields. It would be a war of attrition and guerrilla warfare.

The moment he told the Kazekage what had happened to the village and had secured Temari and his daughter safety, Shikamaru had every intention of coming back and throwing out the Quiraji invaders that were about to destroy the home he'd come to love.

Preferably with violence and his fellow ex-Konoha shinobi.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so, the village of Sunagakure falls. The ending of this chapter was originally going to be much darker, and more ambiguous, but I prefer it this way.

I'm open to any suggestions on names for Shikamaru and Temari's baby girl. Feel free to leave a review with a suggestion or recommendation.

I know Sakura wasn't featured in this battle that much at all, but that is entirely intentional on my part. Remember she is terrified of fighting at the moment because of her time as Iceheart, but that doesn't mean she will be ignored. She was also one that decided to remain in the village. I'm not going to spoil the plans I have, but there will a whole chapter dedicated to her journey in the very near future, the nature of which will become clear eventually. Just…trust me on this.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	86. Chapter 79 Bring Down the Field

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 79 – Bring Down the Field

**A/N**: In response to a guest review, the character of Iceheart was purely my own creation. The concept of it was something I'd wanted to do in some other stories and the name was just something I randomly came up with.

**A/N2**: I know this chapter is long and could probably have been split into three battles, but I like having my chapters in a particular order. I hope this makes up for the delay.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, main characters would lose battles. Muhahaha.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The war in Sunagakure continued on as bloody as it had begun. Initially the Sunagakure shinobi had won several victories over the Quiraji forces, but when it became clear that the Quiraji were going to attack them relentlessly, the generals devised a new plan of defence. Attack. During the night they conducted a multi-tiered ambush on the encampment of the Quiraji army, killing a large number of soldiers and destroying several supply caches. However, when Shikamaru went to assassinate the enemy general, his move was anticipated and he was sent back with his tail between his legs and his life still in his own hands. The following day the Quiraji made no serious movements to attack the village from the front, but instead used the native giant sand worms to tunnel underneath the village and emerge inside. This attack killed a large number of civilians and low-rank shinobi before it was defeated, leaving the Sunagakure army demoralised. The next day the Quiraji reinforcements arrived, showing the defenders that they'd only faced a third of the real Quiraji army. Realising they couldn't win this battle with twice their numbers, the Sunagakure generals began an evacuation of their civilians and decided on a group to remain behind to keep the enemy at bay. Against his wishes, Shikamaru was given the task of going to tell the Kazekage in the Land of Fire what had become of the village and its people. With him, he took his wife and Kazekage's older sister, Temari, and their newborn daughter.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The main strike team waited as long as necessary for the other groups to move out towards their positions before leaving the relative safety of the Fire Temple to the closest edge of the chakra-nullifying field to their target. Though they were a hastily-gathered alliance of shinobi from a variety of villages, the shinobi in the strike team were able to move quickly and speak to each other respectfully. The three Kages kept their own counsel, while the Konoha survivors discussed among themselves what they had been doing since they last spoke to each other. The pair of Tailed Beast containers from Kumogakure kept mainly to themselves, though Naruto still found the Eight-Tails container an amusing person and spoke to him at length, while Hinata spent what time she could speaking to her old friends.<p>

None of them spoke at length about what they would face in the Quiraji stronghold, besides sharing information about the Four that would undoubtly face off against them. None of them had experience fighting about Benkei, with only Naruto having the privilege to speak with the enigmatic Quiraji leader, yet they all knew that he was their main target.

Their mission was vitally important, yet they could not yet begin it. The chakra-nullifying field was still up. They had to wait until one of the other groups destroyed one of the nodes and brought it down.

Now they had to wait.

* * *

><p>The Kirigakure shinobi moved silently across the Land of Fire plains, keeping their mission at the forefront of their minds. Many in the two hundred Kirigakure shinobi ranks disliked the idea of taking orders from another village's leader, particularly one as young and inexperienced as the Otokage, but the Mizukage had spoken to them before they'd left and reassured them that the survival of their village depended on the success of the mission. She had convinced them to fight at their best and they would do just that.<p>

The four surviving members of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure were less convinced, but they had been given leadership of the mission and vowed to complete it to the best of their ability. Chojuro had argued that he should be at the Mizukage's side, as he hated the fact that she was the only Kirigakure shinobi participating in the strike team. However Ao, who was accompanying them as an advisor and sensory-type shinobi, had reminded him that the Mizukage could take care of herself, and the other villages didn't have anything to gain by assassinating her at this stage.

They all had a common enemy.

It had taken them a fair amount of time to swing around the Quiraji chakra-nullifying field to the area marked on the map they'd been given. There had been no designated time frame for them to complete their mission, but the other groups of shinobi attacking the other nodes had been given the same mission. By the size and scope of the field, the Kages had calculated that the field should fail if any one of the machine nodes should be destroyed.

It hadn't been said, but it was almost a competition to see which village's group can take out their targets before the others. The old ways were still in place, even in the state of all-out war.

Their node was closer to the border to the Land of Water than the other nodes and the Kirigakure shinobi had to travel a further distance to their target. The other groups departed at the same time, yet the field remained as they approached the target area. The Kirigakure leaders hadn't expected it to be down before they arrived, but it did tell them that it was likely that the resistance at the nodes were strong.

The forward elements of the Kirigakure force called for them to stop, and the Swordsmen leaders moved to the front to check on what had happened. The Kirigakure shinobi at the front acknowledged their presence and moved away to reveal why they'd stopped the column.

They'd been given no information on what their target looked like, or the numbers of enemies they would face, but as they looked at the field in front of them, it was plainly obvious.

The chakra-nullifying field could still be felt in the surrounding area, yet the Kirigakure could see a small lake within it and a large number of Quiraji soldiers standing in front in ranks with weapons in hand. There were 200 shinobi that had accompanied the Mizukage to the Land of Fire, each of which were some of the best fighters in their village. The Quiraji soldiers numbered just as many as them, with no specialist troops in their normal ranks. Many of the Kirigakure shinobi scoffed at the showing, as regular Quiraji soldiers were hardly a match for them, but the leaders of the force weren't about to underestimate their enemy.

At the front of the Quiraji army stood a single man that was both obviously the leader of the defenders, and a thoroughly dangerous-looking foe. He wore a simple black set of clothing with a long cape that touched to the bottom of the ground. His face was chiselled and almost impossibly symmetrical, yet each of the four Swordsmen present could see it was because he'd never taken a blow before.

And that wasn't due to a lack of battle, just by his stance and the hilt of a blade hidden beneath his cape.

They knew their target.

Mangetsu turned and gave Ao a single nod, conveying the message that they had their own battle to face and the rest of the Quiraji force was theirs to defeat. The sensory-type began to give out orders, while each of the four slowly pulled out their respective blades. The Quiraji army sat within the chakra-nullifying field and didn't demonstrate any interest in moving out of its protective field.

Just behind the Quiraji soldiers was the reason for their march on the location, the node that was powering a part of the chakra-nullifying field stopping the main strike team from getting to the Quiraji base.

The machine was comprised of three small pyramids in a triangle formation pointing towards a single pillar that sat in the centre of the formation. Runes ran along the sides of the pillar and glowed with an ominous light blue colour, while long wires threaded between it and the pyramids before threading down into the ground.

They'd brought special explosive material that didn't require chakra to activate, as the node was far inside the field and previous experiments had shown that any chakra-based attacks that began outside the field and delved inside simply failed as if all the power disappeared from them.

They weren't sure how long they'd be able to fight with taijutsu and weapons within the field before collapsing, but that's why the Swordsmen were there. The only blade between the four of them that required chakra to use was Chojuro's Hiramekarei, and by its nature it would retain the shape that it formed into before they entered the field regardless of the loss of chakra.

At the head of the Kirigakure forces apart from the Swordsmen, Ao stared at the enemies gathered in front of them with an unimpressed eye before turning to his shinobi and giving the order to attack.

The initial charge through the edge between normal air and the field was fast and furious; the Kirigakure shinobi still looking to avenge their fallen comrades from previous battles. They didn't even feel the draining effects of the field initially, though each of them knew that they wouldn't have access to their chakra at all for the fight. The pair of shinobi that held the explosive materials in their backpacks kept themselves out of the field and out of the battle, while Ao waited for a moment before charging forward with his shinobi.

The Quiraji soldiers didn't even budge at the charge. To an observant person they must have appeared cocky and arrogant within their technology-based advantage, but the Swordsmen that had held themselves back momentarily could see that that wasn't the case at all.

The only Quiraji that responded to the brazen and confident charge of the large number of Kirigakure shinobi was the single man at the front of their force with a serene look on his face. He appeared unintimidated by the display, even taking a moment to crouch down to the ground and grab a small handful of dirt to cover the palms of his hands before standing back up and placing a slow hand on the hilt of the sword concealed under his cape.

Both Mangetsu and Ameyuri noticed it at once, while Suigetsu and Chojuro were questioning why they weren't joining their countrymen in the charge.

"He needs to pull back right now…" started Ameyuri with her hands already on her swords, but Mangetsu shook his head even as he stepped forward to do the same.

"It's too late. He's already started." Just as the Swordsmen leader stepped into the field with his companions, the Quiraji leader made his move.

In a single step forward, he drew his sword from his belt and made a quick count of shinobi that were charging towards him. He pulled out a long blade that seemed to be twice as long as his body and watched as three shinobi tried to attack him with short swords that they'd been issued by the Otokage.

With no real demonstration of speed, the Quiraji leader moved his head the minimum distance necessary to avoid the blow to his face before stepping aside the slashing blow and almost gently dragging his long sword across the arm and body of the third shinobi. Still in that single motion, he spun around and manipulated his blade with unparalleled skill to remove the heads from their shoulders.

The three shinobi dropped to the ground, dead, while the Quiraji leader turned his attention to the next group of charging enemies. The front group, having seen their companions so easily butchered, roared out in anger and charged at him with the intention of removing him from the battle.

Mangetsu snarled and flicked his double-bladed glaive into place before giving the order for the four of them to attack. They were a fair distance between the edges of the field and where the battle was taking place and it would take a few moments for them to reach that position without chakra to increase their speed. Their view of the battle was blocked by the converging Kirigakure shinobi on the Quiraji leader, but by the time they reached the battle, it was already over.

The Quiraji leader was neither fast nor particularly strong. The Kirigakure shinobi were faster and several of those with larger weapons had clearly shown they were able to overpower the man. Yet despite that, by the time the Four Swordsmen had made their way through the lines of the now retreating Kirigakure shinobi.

In piles around the area they were fighting in, were the bodies of the Kirigakure shinobi that had found themselves at the wrong end of the Quiraji leader's sword. The man himself stood in front of his trophies without a single scratch on him, barely appearing as though he'd broken a sweat.

"He's unstoppable…" said one of the Kirigakure shinobi behind the Swordsmen, with several of her companions nodding in agreement.

Ao pushed his way to the front and tried to order them back into the fight, as the Quiraji soldiers hadn't even moved from their ranks. However, Mangetsu countermanded that order and pulled Nuibari into his other hand. He turned to Ao and gave him a look before turning back to the Quiraji leader and standing in front of his three companions.

The Mizukage's advisor got the message and gave the orders for the surviving Kirigakure shinobi to circle around the designated battlefield and attack the Quiraji soldiers that had simply been waiting behind. With their leader seemingly uninterested in engaging the other Kirigakure shinobi further, the Quiraji soldiers drew their weapons and began to march towards the enemies that were moving towards them.

In the centre of the chakra-nullifying field stood the Quiraji leader, facing off against the Four Swordsmen of Kirigakure. He turned his long sword and planted it into the ground before placing his hand on his chest and spreading the fingers outwards in a slight bow.

"What, now he wants to be respectable?" scoffed Suigetsu, hefting his giant sword off his shoulder onto the ground with a loud thud.

"He has been fighting respectably," observed Ameyuri with a disgusted snarl. "We just haven't been giving him a decent enough fight."

"He certainly knows how to handle that blade," said Chojuro in a rare moment of confidence. Normally he preferred to guard the Mizukage and fight battles that weren't as brutal as this, but before this battle Mangetsu had convinced him to take a pill that had vaporised any traces of fear and hesitation in his mind. It had several serious side-effects, but Chojuro was willing to take the risk if it gave them a chance to end the war. To that end, Hiramekarei had taken the form of a long hooked sword that was designed to fight against other sword-fighters and was the form that Chojuro had the most skill with.

Mangetsu stepped closer to the Quiraji leader and lowered his blade temporarily, which was the closest he was going to get to giving his opponent a show of respect. "What is your name, Quiraji? We of the Land of Water prefer to know the names of the wielders of weapons as powerful as yours."

He didn't expect a response, but to his surprise the Quiraji leader responded with a single line in a soft voice that betrayed the butchery he had just committed. "I am Muramusa."

"We should be cautious," warned Ameyuri behind her leader, but she knew she was just telling him what he already knew. She'd never seen Mangetsu so tense before, even after the Nine-Tails container had defeated him in battle. That scared her, which was also a first.

There were no more words to be shared between the five of them, as the distance between the two groups slowly decreased. The Four Swordsmen approached Muramusa cautiously, while the Quiraji leader picked his ridiculously long sword from the ground and clutched it in a single hand. Its reach was far greater than any of the weapons they wielded with the exception of Mangetsu's Nuibari and judging by the types of wounds inflicted on the piles of Kirigakure shinobi bodies it was clear that he was both fluid and flawless in his movements with the otherwise oversized weapon.

The battle around them had already commenced by the time they'd moved to attack him.

Muramusa watched as the four shinobi circled around him, holding their weapons expertly. Unlike the previous opponents he faced, he knew these were not such easy prey, though he cared little for butchery. The prospect of fighting such opponents was thrilling, despite his over-arching mission.

The Swordsmen continued to circle him cautiously, yet Mangetsu thought his enemy's eyes weren't entirely focused on them. Muramusa turned his head slightly as he caught the Mizukage's advisor shielding two shinobi from Quiraji soldier attacks. It didn't take a strategic genius to understand what that meant.

Muramusa placed a hand on sword's hilt and turned his sword towards his targets. The Swordsmen each seemed to realise his intent and closed in on him instantly, but they were a millisecond too late. In a burst of physical energy that came through the tip of his sword, Muramusa cut down the two shinobi from the side with a slash that tore them apart in a move that they'd seen Red Warriors do in the past. Ao had tried to get in between the strike and block it with a kunai, but he was woefully slow in comparison to Muramusa's air strike.

However, unlike in those instances, these shinobi were carrying explosive materials in their backpacks that had been brought for the destruction of the machine in front of them. The slash caused enough of a spark to ignite the materials.

The resulting pair of explosions knocked many of the fighters in the battle off their feet and even the Swordsmen were rocked by it, even though they continued their attack on the Quiraji leader.

Ao and the twenty shinobi around him never stood a chance.

Without losing a step, Muramusa brought up his long blade to block Suigetsu's giant sword that tried to cut him in half. As previously shown, his strength wasn't a match for the young Houzuki shinobi's and was already being pressured as Chojuro came up to his side and swung Hiramekarei to cleave off his head. The Quiraji leader dropped his weight so that Suigetsu lost his footing forward before being slammed in the face with the hilt of his long blade. The resulting misstep caused the fiery Kirigakure shinobi to stumble into Chojuro and send them both crashing backwards while Muramusa stepped away and reassessed the situation.

He still had the time to dodge the flying Nuibari that barely missed his eyes by a millimetre.

Mangetsu pulled back his flying blade with his gauntleted hand and watched as their opponent waited a moment before jumping up into the air and slashing down with his blade into the shoulder of the stealthy Ameyuri that had tried to strike from his blind spot with her twin blades.

The kunoichi snarled at the wound and tried to slash upwards to catch him off-guard, but the Quiraji leader blocked the blow with his own blade and landed without injury a short distance away. The slash in her shoulder was deep and bleeding heavily, but Ameyuri was used to worse and stood up without showing her pain.

"This guy is good…" said Suigetsu with an aura of fury about admitting that. "I can't pull out my full strength in here...I can't get as fast as I need to be."

"I'm feeling it too," said Ameyuri as she came to her companion's side. "It's this damn field. We're at a disadvantage in here."

Mangetsu pulled Nuibari into his hand and glanced around the battlefield. While the shinobi had suffered significant losses at the start, they were pushing the Quiraji soldiers back fairly well. The shinobi weren't as strong as they thought they might have been, however Kirigakure shinobi were adaptable and were inspired by the Swordsmen attacks on the Quiraji leader.

_Even if we kill everyone here, we don't have the means to destroy the machine,_ thought Mangetsu to himself. _We should scrub the mission…_ He considered it for a moment before shaking off the idea and re-centring his stare at their opponent. Mangetsu wasn't a particularly vengeful type, but the fact that their opponent was such a good swordsman just ate at his pride.

They'd kill this one, and then re-evaluate the mission.

"We aren't going anywhere," said Chojuro defiantly. The pill he had taken was now reaching critical mass and he could feel his blood pumping through his veins so much that he thought he was going to explode. "He's good, but he's not that good."

Mangetsu could appreciate the show of confidence by his subordinate, but he knew he wasn't entirely correct. Any swordsman worth his salt could recognise when he was outmatched in a fight.

That didn't mean they couldn't win. Just that it would be more difficult than simply beating him by sheer skill.

"How do we do this, boss?" asked Ameyuri quietly.

Mangetsu already had a plan in mind, but explaining it in detail would take too much time.

Besides, he doubted his younger brother would agree with it.

With his glaive in hand, Mangetsu gave a pair of hand signals to the other Swordsmen and shoved his brother in the shoulder. Their opponent seemed perfectly willing to wait until they made their move, even though he seemed perfectly capable at attacking them at range.

Suigetsu understood the plan and gripped his Kubikiribouchou tightly with both hands. His strength was being drained by the field significantly, but his own stubbornness kept him in check as he began to move from side to side towards their enemy. While his speed wasn't as high as he would have liked, he was still an expert swordsman and knew the ways to attack an opponent with a long blade.

Muramusa noticed the other shinobi moving around the sides in an obvious manoeuvre that he could take the time to ignore as he saw the Houzuki brothers running towards him. The one with the large sword seemed intent to give him another contest of strength, but it was the older brother that seemed to be the more dangerous.

The Quiraji leader was a cautious fighter, but he wasn't about to let his shinobi opponents dictate the battle.

In a short motion he sheathed his long sword into the scabbard beneath his cape and turned his attention to the shinobi charging at his right flank with the oddly hooked blue sword. As a Red Warrior he had all the physical abilities of his fellow specialists, however on a much more powerful scale. Chojuro was a gifted swordsman and knew danger when he saw it, pulling back his approach enough to dodge any long range attack that could come his way.

So when the Quiraji leader used an Iaido technique to slice apart the air between the two of them, he was able to bring up Hiramekarei to block some of the damage while moving out of the way of the rest of the strike.

It only took off an ear and slashed up his side and legs.

Chojuro crumpled to the floor with a roar of pain, but the distraction proved effective as Ameyuri and Suigetsu closed in on their opponent, while Mangetsu waited for his chance.

At once, the two younger Swordsmen tried to attack their opponent with their blades. Suigetsu used his large blade in a sweeping motion, while Ameyuri leapt high and hurled one of her blades at her opponent before gripping her other blade and trying to bring it down into the area between his neck and spine.

Their opponent was skilful enough to jump up from Suigetsu's blade and use it as a lever to kick away one of Ameyuri's Kiba blades before using a hand to catch her other blade as she tried to strike at him. While generally that wouldn't be a good idea with a blade that had curved sections to prevent such a movement, Muramusa simply turned the blade away and dropped down onto the ground while giving Suigetsu an unrighteous boot to the face.

He landed on his back foot and drew his blade just in time for Mangetsu to appear from his younger brother's shadow and slammed his glaive into the blocking long sword of the Quiraji leader. The Swordsman leader snarled a toothy grin at his opponent and attempted to clasp down on his foe's sword with one of the hooks before pushing the other blade into his opponent's face.

Under most circumstances it would be a perfect move, with nowhere to dodge or parry the Quiraji leader seemed caught in the Kirigakure shinobi's trap.

But Muramusa's long thin sword had advantages that other blades did not and he was able to turn his blade with a kick of his foot to push Mangetsu's swinging glaive blade away. The Kirigakure shinobi wasn't about to be dissuaded by such a simple trick and pressed his glaive back into the blocking sword of the Quiraji leader.

With his other hand he tried to manipulate the Nuibari's razor-sharp thread around to strike at behind the Quiraji leader while keeping his main weapon occupied with his glaive; however Mangetsu's opponent was far too skilled to be caught by such a simple trap. With a gauntleted hand, Muramusa reached back while keeping Mangetsu at bay with a single hand, taking the wire directly into his palm. He twisted his grip to catch the flying blade easily before dropping it to the ground. Flipping his grip on his massive long sword, the Quiraji leader kicked at the back of his weapon to push Mangetsu off balance before taking advantage of the opening to smash his foot into Nuibari's blade on the ground.

Recovering quickly, the Swordsmen leader snarled at the blatant destruction of a Kirigakure relic and slashed with his double-bladed glaive wildly, but his opponent simply stepped back and continued to observe him with a cold emotionless stare.

It was at that moment that Ameyuri and Suigetsu came up from behind quicker than the Quiraji leader had anticipated. Mangetsu was strong enough that he wasn't able to just simply drop everything to defend himself from his other attackers without the Kirigakure shinobi taking advantage of the situation.

So he did what any master-level swordsman would. He reached forward and slammed his forehead into Mangetsu's face to send him back long enough to turn around to deal with his other attackers. Ameyuri was the quicker of the attackers and with her dual blades was able to bite into the flank of the Quiraji leader with a burst of blood. Her eyes glinted at her success, however it was short lived as her blades seemed to stick in the leader's flank and he reached up to place his hand in the centre of her chest.

A part of Ringo's mind wanted to give him a piece of her mind for touching her without her consent, but she never got the chance to voice her protest. A burst of physical energy shot through her body and blasted her into the dirt, fracturing over a dozen of her ribs and bruising her to the extent that she wasn't sure she'd ever be pretty again.

She was wrong, but that wasn't important at the moment.

While Ameyuri was sent out of the battle, Suigetsu's large blade was slower and much more deadly to their Quiraji opponent. His Kubikiribouchou began to bite through the thin long blade that tried and failed to block his attack and Suigetsu could already see his older brother picking himself up and preparing his glaive for a follow-up attack, bringing a grin to his face.

However just as their victory was assured, the Quiraji leader showed he still had some bite left in him.

Stepping into the blade of the Kubikiribouchou with his body hardened by physical energy to limit the damage being done to him, Muramusa reached forward and clasped his free hand on the centre of Suigetsu's face.

It was only for a moment, but through the Quiraji leader's fingers Suigetsu could have sworn he saw his brother giving him a mournful look that was so uncharacteristic of the cold Mangetsu he'd grown up with it was almost enough to make him throw up in disgust.

_A strange time to get sentimental_, he thought with a quiet scoff to himself. _Maybe he's starting to crack._

Just as Mangetsu's glaive came up behind Muramusa and slammed right through his back and out the front, killing him in a bloody mess, the Quiraji leaders hand on Suigetsu's face pulsed with physical energy.

The youngest of the Houzuki brothers never stood a chance. His body crumpled to the ground to leave such a mess that even his older brother that had avenged him couldn't bear to look at him. Had they been able to use chakra, the battle would have been over long before.

But now he was dead, as was their foe. That part of the mission was over.

Muramusa lay dead at his feet, yet Mangetsu was not happy with his kill. His younger brother was dead, though that wasn't why Mangetsu was upset. The Houzuki brothers weren't that attached to each other, his younger brother had made it clear to him that he would kill him to take over leadership of the Swordsmen at some point. But it was the fact that they'd almost been defeated by a swordsman of greater skill than himself was highly insulting to his efforts. Beside him, Ameyuri and Chojuro limped up to him with their blades hanging at their sides.

"Is he dead?" asked Chojuro meekly, his previous confidence having been shattered by the fight.

Mangetsu didn't reply even as Ameyuri kicked the side of the Red Warrior commander and nodded to her ally to confirm the kill. The Swordsmen leader looked over at the battle being waged between the Quiraji soldiers and the rapidly diminishing Kirigakure shinobi ranks. They'd been in the chakra-nullifying field far longer than they had originally planned and it was becoming clear that their shinobi were far outmatched with their chakra draining rapidly and their strength failing.

"Call the retreat…" he muttered to the other two. The Nuibari was broken into pieces onto the floor and his glaive was becoming impossibly heavy in his hand. Their shinobi were falling by the score, and the Quiraji soldiers seemed to be undeterred by the death of their commander. There were still dozens of Quiraji soldiers between him and the node, with Mangetsu unsure of whether he had the strength to bring the explosive materials through that many enemies.

He wasn't about to lose his life in such a pathetic piece of land. It wasn't worth it; there was no glory in this.

Chojuro looked up at his leader with an exhausted look in his young eyes, "Where will we go?"

The other Swordsmen gave the call to retreat, while Mangetsu folded up his glaive and began moving backwards out of the field. "It isn't that far to the border of the Land of Water. We can call for reinforcements and attack the node with greater numbers."

"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" asked Ameyuri with a defiant glare in her eyes.

Mangetsu didn't respond as they left the field and the surviving shinobi retreated with them, but she already knew his answer. If the Mizukage didn't survive the mission to take out the Quiraji leaders, then leadership of the village would fall to him, and Mangetsu was painfully aware of that. Because of the nature of the field, he was placing his bet on one of the other teams to take it down instead of them.

Enough Kirigakure shinobi had died in the relatively short battle. They had shed enough blood.

With a loud call, the Kirigakure force gathered their strength and fled the battlefield. The Quiraji soldiers, wary of a trap, remained within their chakra-nullifying field, triumphant. They knew the shinobi would not be coming back.

* * *

><p>The mood in the Otogakure shinobi ranks was sombre, even as they felt confident that they would be able to complete their mission. The number of shinobi were few, as the majority of the Otogakure shinobi had stayed behind to protect their people and a small group had departed on their mission to attack a different location.<p>

However Jin had taught many of the shinobi that followed behind him now and they were confident that he would keep them safe. He always played down his own abilities, but it was a well-known fact among their village that he was stronger than any shinobi in the village except for the Otokage.

As they came to the location that they'd been directed to, Jin called for them to close up their ranks and be on the lookout for any ambushes. They could sense the chakra-nullifying field in front of them, sitting in the middle of the forest they had just entered. The sensory shinobi that had accompanied them described the field as a giant dome of purple energy that made them ill just observing it. The node they were charged with destroying was the closest to the Fire Temple than the others, so they hadn't taken the time to experiment with the field, but that didn't matter now. Their group was specialised for long-distance combat and the two shinobi at Jin's side were holding the materials necessary to destroy the machine within the field.

They progressed through the forest slowly, wary of any Quiraji soldiers that could be hiding in the trees. Jin doubted that they would be attacked at this stage, as they were outside of the field and had an advantage in combat, but he had a bad feeling in his gut. The forest began to widen out and there was a large open plain that looked like it had been burnt out from the inside out, with their target sitting directly in the centre. The plain area was just inside the chakra-nullifying field and the shinobi at the front skidded to a halt just before entering it, waiting for their commander to assess the situation.

The machine they'd come here to destroy was a bulky block of metal and stone, with large spires pointing towards the sky. Beneath the spires were thick glass panels that showed numbers and equations none of them could understand, while there were large pipes that dug into the ground behind it. The machine was the size of a house, and bulkier again by half.

Jin was very grateful they'd thought to bring proper explosive materials for this mission. None of the shinobi in his ranks, including himself, had techniques that could be used to destroy something that big from outside the field, and he knew that barely any of them could fight properly within it.

However despite the obvious positioning of the node and the open nature of the plains within the forest, Jin and the other shinobi couldn't see any soldiers designated to protect it.

"What do you make of this, sir?" asked one of the shinobi at his side that was carrying the explosive materials in her backpack.

Jin frowned and slowly drew a kunai from his pouch. He held it back for a moment before tossing it as far into the field as he could. It made it a few dozen metres before it was struck down by an unseen projectile that dropped to the ground at its side.

The Otogakure leader waited a moment, testing to see whether his theory was correct. After a few moments, just as he predicted, a single arrow came screaming towards him with a spinning bladed tip that looked wicked enough to pierce through him regardless of armour.

However the firer clearly didn't account for the fact that he wasn't inside the chakra-nullifying field and had full access to all of his abilities. It was little trouble to step aside with a small burst of chakra through his legs to accelerate his movements before reaching forward and grabbing the shaft of the arrow with relative ease.

"Sir?" asked one of the shinobi under his command.

Jin turned to her with a grin and dropped the arrow to the ground after examining it for a moment. "The enemy is so predictable at times." He turned his head and motioned with a single hand to a group of shinobi coming into line with him. "Mortars! Fire on my command!"

In formation the group of thirty Otogakure specialists pulled out long cannons from their backs while their partners loaded in shells and began running through sets of handseals. It only took them a moment before they each activated their ninjutsus and drove their hands into the backs of each of the cannons.

"Fire!" called out Jin quickly, pointing in the direction that the arrow had been fired in. His voice was quickly drowned out by the explosive sounds of the mortar teams firing large fiery shells straight into the chakra-nullifying field. They didn't have any control over the shells once they entered the field, but the techniques only required the initial blasts to be controlled. As it went, the shells exploded inside the field to the exact effect that Jin was looking for.

The screaming was concerning to him as he disliked the deaths of anyone, even the enemy. But he swallowed his disgust and ordered the mortars to reload as the shroud concealing the Quiraji defenders that had been waiting for them. From the writhing front ranks of Quiraji soldiers that burned under the speciality molten materials they'd been stuck with, it was clear they hadn't considered the fact that shinobi had long since developed the ability to strike at long distance with necessary relying on chakra entirely.

A mistake they kept making in the war.

Before he ordered a second volley, Jin noticed there was a single figure that was trying to help the burning Quiraji soldiers that looked to be the leader of the enemy force. She was clad in segmented blood red armour that was indicative of her position as one of the Quiraji specialist warriors; however it was the weapon on her back that truly interested Jin. It was a long bow that was curved and spiked at the edges, made of what appeared to be pure bone. Beside it sat a quiver full of arrows of different types and shapes, with some bearing similarities to the arrow shot earlier.

_An archer leader…how troublesome._

Jin went to motion for a second volley, but hesitated when he saw her turn around and saw her face for the first time. She wore a short head of bright red hair and a striking face to match, but with a pair of eyes that sent an odd thought through his head.

There was something about her that reminded him of his wife. That wasn't an unsettling thought at all.

She seemed to notice him and acknowledge his existence before unshouldering her bow and pulling out a single arrow from her quiver. At first it appeared as though she was going to fire at him again, but Jin recognised her intent and stepped back to warn his shinobi.

He never got the chance to give a defensive order, as she shot the arrow at the mortar teams beside him ten times faster than she'd fired the previous arrow. Unlike before, this one split into dozens of tiny splinters that seemed to have minds of their own as they screamed into the necks of every shinobi that had been involved in the process of firing mortars.

With the exception of Jin, who now stood in the middle of a cluster of bodies. He watched as a wicked grin emerged on her face, breaking any familiarity he might have had with the young woman.

"You've come a long way to die, shinobi!" came her voice across the battlefield. Her voice lacked the youth her face portrayed and did nothing to conceal the contempt she clearly held for her enemies.

One of the more impatient shinobi among Jin's ranks stepped forward with a stamp of his foot, "We've no intention of dying here, you Quiraji wh…" The shinobi found it difficult to finish his insult with a two-foot long arrow stuck in his throat.

Inside the chakra-nullifying field, the female Quiraji leader put down her bow and laughed mockingly at his expression before turning her attention back to Jin. "As I was saying, there is no victory for you here."

"We'll see about that," muttered Jin to himself before turning and motioning to the shinobi under his command. He recognised her proficiency at long range and knew that they were at somewhat of a disadvantage even outside of the field so long as she was in play. He brought two of his commanders to his side, "I want defensive teams pushing towards her, keeping her distracted. The rest of us will circle around and attack the soldiers. If we take out their legs, they cannot hope to resist us."

The pair of Otogakure Jounin nodded their compliance and began issuing orders, while Jin kept a wary eye on the pair of shinobi at the back of their ranks. The machine they had to destroy looked like a monstrous creation and he was grateful they'd had the forethought to bring along enough explosive material to blow a hole in a small city. However he hated the fact that he had been forced to give it to his shinobi to carry and it clearly made them vulnerable. Turning back to the Quiraji leader, he hoped that she wouldn't catch on to their presence.

Otherwise, everything they did here would be for naught.

They prepared themselves at the edge of the field to enter and begin the battle with the Quiraji defenders, as the enemy seemed content to sit and wait for them to approach at their own pace. Normally Jin would be highly suspicious of such a lack of movement, but something in the female Red Warrior's expression told him that she was extremely arrogant and entirely confident of her ensuring victory.

Standing at the front of his shinobi, Jin knew he wouldn't have to give formation orders to his subordinates. Every single shinobi knew their place in their force and had already taken their appropriate places. Without the ability to use ninjutsu within the field, Jin and the other Otogakure shinobi had gotten inventive.

At the front of their force stood a line of strong Otogakure Chuunin that bore massive steel shields that were a size again bigger than they were. These shields interlocked with each other and were impervious to almost any standard Quiraji projectile. As he gave the order to advance, the shield-bearers hefted their shields with their drug-fuelled arms and began marching forward at a quick pace; the only clear gaps in their formation were at their feet.

On the Quiraji side of the battlefield, the Quiraji leader who called herself Vikas eyed the shinobi formation with clear disgust. "Hiding in their shells like turtles. How predictable." She motioned with a wave of her arm, "Archers! Give them a volley!"

At her word, hundreds of arrows filled the air between the two armies and slammed into the fronts of the Otogakure shinobi shields to no effect. Several clusters of arrows had tried to fly over the shields into the shinobi ranks behind, however they merely fell down uselessly in front of the shields as they struck a wall of pumping air that was created by several Otogakure shinobi operating large air machines that they'd began constructing once they had arrived.

It was a strange form of warfare, but Jin wasn't one to argue with the weapons division. Their contraptions were keeping his shinobi alive, for the time being, even as they pushed into the chakra-nullifying field and began to feel the terrible draining effects on their systems. It felt like every part of them was being pushed and prodded from within their own skin; their blood seemed to want to boil and their systems began to fight themselves to maintain control. It was both draining and disheartening, as Jin tried to calculate how long they could stay and fight with reasonable proficiency.

He gave them little more than twenty minutes. Then people would start dropping from exhaustion.

Vikas watched the first volley fail with an appraising eye that had been born through patient hunting. Clearly her opponents were no fools and weren't about to let her dictate the flow of battle. She reached into her quiver and produced a single bulbous-tipped arrow that she threaded into her bow as she gave her second order.

"Fire on my target."

She released her unique arrow and watched as her subordinates followed suit with a storm of arrows directed at the same shield-bearer she had fired at. They followed behind the faster arrow and waited for it to take effect.

The Otogakure shinobi closed up their formation and stubbornly held their shields strongly against the Quiraji projectile assault. Vikas' arrow didn't spin as they expected it to, but instead it struck the centre of one of the shields with a soft thud. It seemed to be an ineffective shot, but the bulbous tip had bit slightly into the steel shield and that was all the projectile needed to do its duty.

As the other arrows came flying towards the single target, the arrow seemed to bounce back before slamming back into the shield with a thunderous clash. Unlike the previous strike, this was powerful enough to shatter the Otogakure shinobi's shield into thousands of metal chunks and send the bearer rocketing backwards. He knocked dozens of shinobi behind him off their feet, including several of the air machine operators, and was only halted by a combined effort of shinobi at the back that were trying to protect the pair of shinobi with the explosive materials in their backpacks.

However, before they could recover from the knockdown effect, the storm of arrows slammed into the ranks of fallen shinobi between the shields, killing dozens instantly. Many had only just entered the chakra-nullifying field and tried to bring up instinctive ninjutsu techniques to save themselves, only to be denied their own abilities within the enemy's battleground.

At the head of the army behind the shield-wall, Jin swore loudly and barked an order for the shield-bearers to close the gap and quicken their pace. Through a small mirror-based telescope he could see the satisfaction on the enemy leader's face as she started to draw another bulbous-tipped arrow to repeat her success.

Drawing a kunai from his belt, he barked out the next order of the formation. "Break off! Spread out formations! Crossbows and assassins to the front!" They weren't as close as he would have liked to enact this part of the battle, but he wasn't about to let her fire another one of those devastating volleys without response.

At his command, the shield-bearers broke their formation and began charging forward individually with their shields protecting themselves, while the second rank of Otogakure shinobi shot forward and pulled up the crossbows that were already preloaded with small explosives that didn't require chakra to ignite. Even as the Quiraji archers tried to fire a quick volley against the now-exposed Otogakure shinobi, they were shot straight in the stomachs by the Otogakure projectiles that exploded on impact, taking over small groups of Quiraji soldiers at once.

At the detonation of the crossbow bolts, the shinobi in Jin's force cheered loudly and charged towards their enemies with weapons in hand. The Quiraji soldiers were quick to recover and fire back on the charging force before drawing their own close quarter weapons and meeting their foes on the battlefield directly.

The Quiraji leader was furious at the change in circumstances and let loose her second arrow at the nearest shield-bearer and didn't even watch as it mutilated both the shinobi and several of those around him. She ran across the front of her army's battlelines, trying to knock down and deflect any projectiles that threatened her soldiers, while firing back at the attackers with vengeful fury. The shinobi were inventive enough to have brought so many different types of weapons to the battlefield, but Vikas noticed that their formations and movements had obvious patterns to them.

There were groups of shinobi that seemed bent on protecting their general from any possible attacks, but there was a similar, less-obvious formation near the rear of the shinobi force. She had excellent eyesight and the shinobi were rushing themselves to try and spend as little time as they needed to in the chakra-nullifying field.

Threading a new arrow into her bone bow, Vikas motioned for her soldiers to come forward to assist her as she fired it straight at Jin's exposed side across the battlefield. The Otogakure general noticed the projectile coming towards him at the last moment and turned himself so that it only struck him in the shoulder rather than in the liver as she had aimed. The arrow was spiked and bit into his flesh enough to cause him to drop to his knees in pain, but luckily for Jin one of his bodyguards noticed his plight and transposed themselves between him and the Quiraji leader, taking the arrow that had been fired to capitalise on his fall.

Jin roared in pain as he wrenched the spiked arrow out of his shoulder in a single motion, feeling his shoulder rapidly going numb as blood poured down his front and side. He saw his bodyguard fall and noticed the cocky look on Vikas' face as she seemed to enjoy his suffering while their armies clashed. The injury seemed to compound the draining effect of the field, yet Jin still stood on his feet and ignored the medic that had come to his side at the word of his injury.

The Quiraji leader seemed about to fire a follow-up arrow straight at him, but at the last moment she turned the end of her bow and fired at another part of his force.

Jin tried to call out a warning as he recognised what her new target was, but knew it was too late as her arrow spun violently into the group of shinobi that were guarding the shinobi in the back, splitting into tiny metal chunks that butchered whole groups of shinobi at once. It was only a small piece of metal that pierced through one of their backpacks, but that was all that was needed for the materials within to explode.

The Otogakure shinobi had to shield themselves from the blast, as did many of the Quiraji soldiers as their mission went up in flames. Jin had argued that carrying such volatile materials in simple backpacks was going to be a hindrance and he hated being proven correct, but that meant they had to re-evaluate their mission.

They were already in close quarter combat with the Quiraji force, and despite their losses were pushing the enemy back with their ferocity and determination. Vikas was the only untouchable one, easy able to dodge and weave her way around any physical attacks and retaliate with pinpoint arrows to gaps in armour or even using her own fists when necessary, as she was a Red Warrior as much as her brethren.

But there was something else that Jin noticed, as she leapt around the battlefield. Whenever one of her soldiers was in trouble, she would come to their side and take revenge on their attackers before sending them back to recover. She did this constantly along the battlefield, to the extent that Jin almost found himself respecting her as a leader.

Pulling a new kunai from his pouch, Jin steeled himself for the next charge and stared at his target. It wasn't going to stop him from killing her, but it would be an interesting thought for after the battle, assuming he survived the next few minutes. With his bodyguards at his side, he began to charge at the Quiraji leader intently, while their forces continued to butcher each other.

Vikas seemed to notice his charge with little concern, firing off a quick pair of arrows to take out the front two shinobi that were guarding him. Jin deflected one of her next arrows with his kunai and closed the distance between them quickly, causing her to snarl and draw another arrow in her bow.

The last of his bodyguards dove in front of the path of her arrow, as Jin powered forward as fast as he could, intent on cutting the head off of the snake. His strength was rapidly being drained by both the field and his shoulder wound, but Jin ignored his own fatigue and pushed forward.

With a burst of speed as the last bit of strength ran through his legs, Jin dove at the nearest Quiraji soldier that had been unfortunate enough to drift into their battlefield, pulling up his kunai to end his enemy's life before he even realised he was in danger.

Vikas' eyes widened at the sudden change in focus and shot forward to intercept him, her aim ruined as she overtook the shinobi from the side and dove in between the two of them with a new arrow notched in her bone bow.

However before her shot could land, Jin dropped to the floor so that the arrow skimmed the top of his head. His eyes shifted from the Quiraji soldier back to his original target, and Vikas realised her mistake. By moving to intercept his attack on her subordinate, she had removed the one advantage she'd had over the Otogakure shinobi: distance.

From his lower position, it took little effort for Jin to spring himself forward as Vikas rapidly tried to notch another arrow. He bashed away her weapon with a small burst of physical energy that he'd been saving for such an opening before spinning around and slashing through the small gap at her throat.

The look on the Quiraji leader's face was a mixture of surprise and fury, but the expression Jin wore was one of neither. As the Quiraji archer fell to the ground he knelt down and drove his kunai into her throat once again just to make sure, while one of his subordinates can up beside him and killed the Quiraji soldier that he'd used as a distraction. With a nod to her leader, the Otogakure shinobi rejoined the fight; with their leader dead the Quiraji were slowly being pushed back and being overwhelmed by the Otogakure force.

Jin slowly pulled his kunai from the Quiraji leader's throat and wiped it on her shirt with a remorseful look on his face. It had taken everything and more to take down the Quiraji leader, but the way she'd gone out was enough to gain his respect and more. He hated that he'd had to use such a trick to finish their battle, and that her end had been so anti-climactic, but what's done is done and he wasn't about to get sentimental over an enemy.

Standing up from the ground slowly, his eyes tracked along the battlefield and analysed the situation. They'd been in the chakra-nullifying field for longer than he would have liked and even he was starting to feel the debilitating effects to the extent that he knew he couldn't stay in much longer. The battle had turned in their favour and the few Quiraji soldiers that had remained were being cut down ruthlessly by the surviving Otogakure shinobi. Their losses had been significant, but the battle was essentially won.

However, the node still stood in front of them, its spires pointing up towards the sky defiantly. They had no way of destroying the machine without the explosive materials and Jin was at a loss of what to do. His shinobi couldn't stay in the field much longer without risking serious harm to their chakra systems, despite training for this type of scenario, but they needed time to analyse the problem and find a solution.

Assuming that Quiraji reinforcements didn't come bearing down on them and cut them to ribbons. Jin didn't like their position at all, despite winning the battle.

He shook his head and moved towards the nearest living Quiraji soldier that was within his reach.

One step at a time.

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><p>Long before they saw the machine powering part of the chakra-nullifying field, the Sunagakure force could feel it in their bones. They'd been given a particular task by their leader, in lieu of standing at his side on the battlefield. For the ANBU shinobi, it was a difficult mission to undertake, but one they would complete to the best of their ability.<p>

Kankuro just wished Matsuri would shut up for five seconds so he could think straight.

"The node lies ahead," warned one of the Sunagakure ANBU that had gone ahead of the force.

The puppet-user nodded in acknowledgement of the information and fingered one of the scrolls on his belt nervously. They had no information on what they might face at the node, but with the number of shinobi he had, Kankuro wasn't too worried. There was no way the Quiraji could anticipate that they'd hit all five nodes at once, or that they'd send this much of their force to do the job.

Still, he didn't like going in blind.

The node was nestled at the front of a small section of forest that was entirely surrounded by the chakra-nullifying field. Even though there was no visual representation of it, each shinobi in the Sunagakure ranks could feel the inherent 'wrongness' that it portrayed. The machine itself was a large monstrosity; a circling sphere with lightning rods that kept it afloat and producing the power necessary to power the field.

However it wasn't the node that unsettled the Sunagakure shinobi truly. The only enemy they could see standing within the chakra-nullifying field was a cloaked figure that stood hunched in front of the large machine. It was difficult to get a proper look at the Quiraji enemy from such a distance, but Kankuro wasn't about to send the ANBU into the field without some kind of information.

Unlike previous times he had commanded shinobi into the field, Kankuro knew that he didn't actually have any real authority over the Sunagakure ANBU that had accompanied him. They were split into their four-man teams and had true autonomy in the field. He knew he didn't really need to give them orders; in fact it was likely they would advise him due to their collective overwhelming experience.

They all came to the same conclusion as Kankuro and halted just before the chakra-nullifying field, while the fastest of them came to the front and readied long swords. It was clear to all on the battlefield that the single enemy was a Black Robe and that required a certain type of tactic.

When they'd first encountered the Quiraji specialists, they lost a large number of shinobi figuring out what their abilities were and how to defeat them. To them, the Black Robes were the least dangerous to them because of their fragility to physical attacks.

So it wasn't with arrogance that a large number of ANBU entered the field with their weapons unholstered and charging with full strength straight at their single opponent. Kankuro and many of their group remained outside of the field to watch the battle unfold, with the heads of the groups making sure they all knew why they were there.

The ANBU within the field moved quickly towards their target, who was too far away for those outside of the field to get a proper view.

However, what unfolded was as clear as day to them.

Over thirty ANBU converged on the single Black Robe with their weapons in hand, stabbing and slashing straight through the area it stood in. However, none of the blows struck their intended target.

Instead, they seemed to strike against an invisible barrier that caused them to bounce back with no damage visible.

It was at that point that they saw that the Black Robe they were attacking was actually an old woman with pasty withered skin and pitch black eyes. She raised her head from within her black hood and cracked a wide toothless grin at the Sunagakure ANBU that had retreated a few steps at their failed attacks.

"Well, well. Children come to the fire, like water to a pan. Air blows through the sky and earth calls for your doom." She ended her rant with an ear-piercing cackle that was not as unsettling as the wild expression on her old face.

One of the ANBU that had attacked her turned to her companion with a cocked head to match her expression underneath her mask, "Is she serious?"

"Just concentrate on attacking, Kokori," replied her companion quickly.

They never got the chance to attack again, as the ground around them erupted upwards and hurled every ANBU shinobi around her high into the air. The earth slammed them up before dropping back down to the normal ground level to the same motions as the old woman Black Robe's hands motioned.

Without chakra to assist them, none of the Sunagakure ANBU were able to survive their long falls.

The watching Sunagakure ANBU outside the field could only watch in horror at the relative ease at which their companions had been killed. While they were usually calm and collected even in the heat of battle, there was something about that that brought out their inner fury.

Even before Kankuro could give the order to charge, a majority of the ANBU present charged into the field. They moved more cautiously than their previous brethren, but they also worked in groups to hurl large numbers of projectiles at their opponent. The clusters of kunai and shuriken followed the same pattern as the blade strikes from before, bouncing harmlessly off the invisible shields that seemed to simmer for a moment before disappearing once again.

It was becoming increasingly evident that her barriers were impervious to attack, so several groups of ANBU decided to move around the dangerous area towards the machine behind her. They weren't specifically designated to destroy it, but it didn't hurt to get some information on what they were dealing with while the other shinobi distracted her.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no." The old woman turned her back on the Sunagakure shinobi fighting uselessly against her front barriers and rose a single finger towards the ANBU moving towards the machine. "Baba won't let you do that, young rabbits. Baba will get what Baba wants to get!"

With a thunderous sound, a single bolt of lightning shot out of her finger. It slammed into the back of one of the ANBU before arcing to the nearest objects it could find: the other Sunagakure shinobi in front of it.

In a single moment, she killed four groups of elite ANBU shinobi, without blinking an eye. She turned back to her original attackers and grinned once again in her unsettling way. "Does the wrath of Baba frighten you, children? Because I can tone it down if you'd like. Nobody likes a cranky old lady…especially when she muddles her lyrics!"

Sensing the danger, the Sunagakure shinobi began leaping back out of the field as fast as they could as large globules of water began slamming down into the ground, clearly trying to capture them in domes and drown them as they'd seen Black Robes do before. The attack patterns were erratic and unpredictable, as the crazy Quiraji leader seemed more interested in her own madness rather than properly killing her enemies.

It was beneficial enough for many of them to get out in time, even as Kankuro pulled out one of his first puppets and shot it into the field with a burst of chakra to cover their retreat. It only required a single burst to make the distance between his position just outside the chakra-nullifying field and he didn't need to control it once it entered the field.

The puppet sprayed a cloud of smoke cover over the retreating Sunagakure ANBU, before bursting into a mass of green poison around the Quiraji leader herself.

Kankuro knew that the poison probably wouldn't be able pierce the barriers, but he hoped it would be enough to panic their enemy so they could formulate a plan of renewed attack.

After a few moments all the Sunagakure ANBU that were able to get out had retreated, leaving Kankuro with a force that had been cut by a quarter in barely ten minutes of battle. Normally the puppet-master would consider retreating to make a better focused attack with greater numbers, but they had neither the time nor the numbers. He found himself clenching his fists in frustration and tried to calm himself to get a grip on the situation.

The Quiraji leader that seemed to call herself Baba's cackle continued to echo through the battlefield as the Sunagakure shinobi recovered from her latest attack just out of the chakra-nullifying field. Her barriers had proven impenetrable to any of the attacks and weapons they had thrown at her and the diversity and deadliness of her elemental attacks told all of the Sunagakure ANBU that this wasn't a fight that was in their favour.

Matsuri hovered just inside the chakra-nullifying field, testing the limits of her strength while trying to assess if their enemy had taken any damage from their attacks so far.

"You shinobi always crack me up! I might just have a pumpkin feast in your honour!"

The Kazekage's bodyguard groaned at the rambling dialogue and watched her waving hands carefully. She didn't have the spiritual energy techniques that the Kazekage's friend had shown himself capable of, so she couldn't see a way to penetrate the invisible barriers that seemed to protect the mad woman in all directions. After practicing heavily on the road, Matsuri thought she might be able to push through with some physical energy, now that she'd been in the field a reasonable amount of time.

But before she could make a move, she was pulled back by one of her ANBU allies just out of the field. "What the hell are you doing?" she snarled as she turned around to confront the Sunagakure shinobi; however she held her breath when she saw the serious nature of the puppeteer's expression.

"You think you can keep her occupied for a time?" asked Kankuro to her quickly.

"What do you think I've been doing all this time?" Matsuri brandished her short blade and tapped the sides of her shoes habitually. "What do you have planned?"

Kankuro felt in his side pouch and drew two small grey balls to fiddle with in his hand, "That barrier is too strong to be forced through. We have to think about this from another angle."

Matsuri had no real notion what he meant, but she was anxious to get this fight over and stop her companions from getting killed by someone who sounded awfully similar to her grandmother. She gave him a quick nod of compliance and pointed to two female ANBU nearby that she recognised. They gave no indication of their acknowledgement, but as she moved into the chakra-nullifying field with increasing speed they followed her by her flanks, moving faster and faster as they pushed their muscles to their limits. The remainder of the Sunagakure ANBU remained outside of the field, wary of the inevitable retaliatory attacks but also ready to provide support for their companions.

While the Quiraji leader turned her attention to the three kunoichi approaching her, Kankuro took in a deep breath and unshouldered the large scroll on his back. With a single hand he attached chakra strings to the small three-armed puppet that emerged. He placed the initial two balls into the first hand and watched his distraction for a reasonable opening.

"Haha! Stupid shinobi can't find the pickle in the field of daisies." Baba initially kept her mad expression before cocking her head and suddenly turning serious. Underneath her heavy robes she rose a withered arm and opened up her palm towards them. "Little flies should burn."

A burst of flames erupted upwards from where the Sunagakure ANBU were charging towards her, but their instincts were good enough to dodge the flames and circle around to continue their rapid approach. Her attack missing didn't seem to irritate or frustrate the Quiraji leader; rather she seemed mildly amused by her escaping prey. Her hand followed their trajectory and continued to cause large bursts of fire to erupt from within the ground, just barely missing the fast-moving shinobi.

However her shots were getting more accurate and the ANBU were being drained by the field just enough that even though they nearly reached her they weren't too sure they would be able to return.

However Kankuro only needed them as a distraction, as his puppet hurled the two grey balls far into the field. With precision that only a puppet-master such as himself could master, they landed just in front of the Sunagakure kunoichi as they approached Baba.

The balls exploded into a thick cloud of smoke that covered them in a veil that caused the Quiraji leader to lose track of them momentarily. In obvious annoyance she flexed out both her hands and lit up the battlefield with lightning that struck down one of the ANBU kunoichi that wasn't quick enough to leap over the wide spread attack. Matsuri and her companion kept themselves within the expansive smoke cloud and waited for their moment, but weren't too sure what they were waiting for.

Outside the field, Kankuro's puppet hurled the next cluster of balls into the battlefield, right at where he knew Matsuri and the other ANBU kunoichi would be. These were small green balls that weren't designed to explode on impact with the ground, but rather a speciality of Kankuro's that every ANBU in service to the Kazekage knew very well. The moment they pierced through the smoke cloud they knew what he had in mind, with the female ANBU catching the four balls in her hands and turning to her companion with a grim expression on her face.

Even through the smoke cloud, Matsuri could see her companion's face well enough to understand what she had in mind. Sunagakure shinobi weren't in the notion of self-sacrifice often, but they knew that if they had any chance of getting the field down then they had to take these kinds of risks.

With a heavy heart, she ran out of the smoke field and drew her blade with a threatening roar at the Quiraji leader. The old woman momentarily shifted her attention to the young kunoichi and sent a whip of water that shot out and gripped her by the neck. Matsuri gasped and dropped to her knees as she tried to grab at the water tendril, but her hands simply pass through without affecting it. She could feel her life draining away from her with nothing she could do about it, but through the corner of her eye she could see the other ANBU kunoichi charge at Baba's blind spot with the balls that had been gifted to her in her hands.

The Quiraji leader wasn't entirely unaware of what was happening and turned her attention to her other attacker with an amused expression on her wrinkled face. She waited until the kunoichi was just close enough to slam into her shield and glared at her with her dark eyes.

The Sunagakure ANBU burst into flames and dropped to her knees with a scream of agony as her mask melted into her face and her body followed with. However, just before her life completely vanished, her hand tossed the green balls at the old lady. Confident in her barriers holding, Baba ignored the objects and turned her attention back to her other prey.

It was at that moment that the green balls exploded on the barriers into small grasping hands that reached out and clasped onto the ethereal space that seemed to block all attacks striking against the Quiraji leader. As they made contact they began to fizzle and burn with an acidic smell until there was only a fine green mist remaining.

Baba seemed not to notice what had happened at her barrier and concentrated her efforts on squeezing the life from Matsuri's body. She cackled and muttered to herself while Matsuri tried to cut off the water tendril with her short blade and jump away, only to be knocked down and strangled again by a new one. Unlike her companions, the Quiraji leader seemed to be amusing herself by torturing the young kunoichi, which would prove to be her downfall.

Just as he had before, Kankuro used his puppet outside of the field to hurl a final cluster of objects into the field, directly at the crazy female Black Robe. Unlike before, they didn't bounce off a barrier and instead dropped at her feet with a soft thud on the grass. One of her barriers had been melted away by his previous attack and she was too distracted to erect it again, giving the puppet-master enough of an opening to finally strike at her directly.

There was little special about the small black balls that had landed at her feet. They were a simple enough mixture, with small fuses attached that quickly burnt down into the balls and ignited the powder within.

Baba finally noticed them at the fizzling sound and glanced down at them with an amused expression that dropped once she realised what had happened.

"Well that's not very fair…"

The small area around the mad Quiraji leader exploded in a spectacular fireball that was initially contained by the barriers that were still erected, however once the Quiraji leader breathed her last breath they collapsed and the fire spread quickly around the battlefield.

Matsuri gasped loudly and clasped her throat tenderly as the water tendril that was killing her fell away into the ground. She saw the flames approaching her and struggled to her feet to stumble away, only to be hefted to her feet by a pair of Sunagakure ANBU that had entered the field as back-up and carried away to relative safety.

The remaining Sunagakure ANBU watched as the Quiraji leader burned, while Kankuro turned to the ANBU that was their mechanical expert. With no other opposition to speak of, he wanted them to complete their mission as soon as possible, in case they needed to assist one of the other teams at another node.

While the ANBU shinobi moved quickly through the field towards the strange-looking machine, the others relaxed themselves and began checking their weapons. Kankuro went to order one of the medics to check Matsuri, but stopped himself when he saw they were already there. Several of their group had entered the field to begin the retrieval their fallen comrades.

The battle seemed finished, but Kankuro couldn't help but wonder if there was something they had missed. The Quiraji had made it a habit to underestimate them for years now, but this just seemed insulting. Their opponent had certainly been well-suited to slaughtering them and had done a good job before she'd been taken down.

But that didn't dissuade his feeling that something was off. He turned to ask for a report from one of the sensory ANBU at his side and nearly got decapitated by a swinging sword. It was only be reflex that he hurled the puppet he'd used to kill Baba into his attacker as he fell to the ground with a surprised look on his face.

Frantically looking around the area, he saw that he wasn't the only one that had been attacked. Seemingly out of nowhere, hundreds of Quiraji soldiers had laid into the Sunagakure force and attacked them with rapid fury. There was a large contingent of Red Warriors that had started to lay into a group of unsuspecting ANBU that never stood a chance.

With a loud snarl, Kankuro pulled back his hand and manipulated his fingers to pull up his puppet to attack the Quiraji soldier that had tried to decapitate him. With his chakra available it was child's play to destroy the soldier, but its presence along with the rest of the ambushers was highly suspicious to the Kazekage's older brother.

Why would they attack them in their place of strength?

It was only when he realised that many of the further out ANBU were nowhere to be seen from his point of view. They'd spread out in the area once they'd seen their opponent, as they were by nature a cautious group, but they never reported back.

_They'd be taking us out one-by-one. We fell right into their trap. _

Kankuro swore under his breath and unrolled the pair of scrolls at his side. The mechanic was already in the field and hopefully working to disable the machine, which meant that they had a new mission.

The node had to be disabled, and that meant they had to fight harder than they had against the Quiraji leader. He attached the strings to his pair of puppets and turned his attention to the closest Quiraji soldier he could find.

They were heavily outnumbered, and by the number of Red Warriors he suspected they were outmatched too.

But they were Sunagakure shinobi. They'd find a way.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out; I was travelling around the States and didn't have much time to write. Now that I'm back home I'll be doing my best to accelerate my writing schedule, but I can't make any promises at this stage.

I know I seem to make a habit of killing off secondary/tertiary characters, but trust me when I saw I don't just do it because I feel like it. Everything I do in this story has a purpose and drives the story forward. There is a writing saying that most writers abide to: every line in a story should either be describing something, or advancing the plot.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	87. Chapter 80 The Faces of the Quiraji

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 80 – The Faces of the Quiraji

**A/N**: My most sincere apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I've both been sick and stuck with work, so I haven't had a chance to do much writing. It's somewhat of a chaotic time right now, but I'll still be doing my best to get these chapters out when I can.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the reader would know who the final villain is during the final battle. It wouldn't change every week.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The main strike team awaits the fall of the chakra-nullifying field to begin their final assault on the Quiraji main base.

The first team to attack their target was the force from Kirigakure, led by the surviving members of the Seven Swordsmen. Initially the battle did not fare well and Suigetsu and many Kirigakure shinobi were killed. Their mission failed.

The next team to attack their node was one of the Otogakure forces led by Jin. They confronted an archer of conflicting natures and were ultimately victorious in their battle, but lost the materials necessary to destroy the node. Their mission failed.

The third team to attack a chakra-nullifying node was led by Kankuro and a force of Sunagakure ANBU. They came in contact with a crazy old woman who seemed impervious to attack, who was able to butcher large numbers of their force at once. After a clever manoeuvre they defeated her and got their mechanic to the machine to take it down. However, that was when a Quiraji ambush struck them out of nowhere. Their mission wasn't directly a failure, but the mechanic has yet to bring down the machine.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Darui wasn't an enthusiastic shinobi under many circumstances. If given the choice, he would have preferred to stay at the Raikage's side, where he belonged. The only reason he had accompanied the Tailed Beast containers was because A had no faith in his brother's ability to stay on point.<p>

Yet here he was at the head of the majority of their pursuer shinobi, leading a mission to destroy a machine that could potentially put an end to the war without the Raikage even knowing.

It was altogether far too troublesome.

In front of him ran two of Yugito's personal hunters. He knew better than to ask whether they were close or not, as he'd discovered they didn't like the fact that they had to answer to him rather than their mistress. However, they were very good at what they did and they'd been able to make good time skirting around the edges of chakra-nullifying field towards their designated target.

Despite what the orders from the 'Otokage' might have been, Darui had sent their fastest runner to Kumogakure to tell the village what was happening and the details of their plan. Normally he would be concerned about the runner being intercepted by Quiraji forces, but Darui figured that the enemy had enough on their mind and their armies had to be focusing on their movements here rather than in the rest of the shinobi world.

Though a part of him suspected that if there was ever a time to attack the villages en masse, it would be now. Even with their numbers, their village was still vulnerable from the previous invasion.

Shaking himself out of such thoughts, Darui continued to move forward at the head of his force. They'd reached the area of the Land of Fire that many of them had become familiar with before it had become a no-go zone, becoming less forest-heavy and more grasslands. Many of them had completed missions on these patches of earth, yet now they were here trying to save the Land that wasn't even theirs.

"It's up ahead," called out one of the hunters at the front. "We can sense the field extending out around a section that is concealed from us."

Darui nodded and waved a hand signal for them to take their formations. They'd been preparing for Quiraji ambushes for the past few hours, yet none had come against them. He figured that the enemy was holding their forces for the node powering the field, and as their target came into view he saw his guess had been correct.

The machine node looked like a long slanted triangle that sat in the middle of a grassy field, though the shinobi couldn't make out any of the details as ranks and ranks of Quiraji soldiers stood in front of it. They seemed to notice the Kumogakure force's presence with obvious interest, but as they sat within the chakra-nullifying field they demonstrated no interest at all in coming out to greet their enemies.

If that was all they had to deal with, Darui wouldn't have been too concerned about their chances. Even without chakra, he figured that each of his shinobi was worth at least five Quiraji soldiers in battle, meaning that they easily outnumbered their opponents.

But nothing is ever that easy.

Standing outside of the chakra-nullifying field was a single figure in a dark cloak, designating him as one of the Quiraji specialists. He looked to be skin and bones with little else on him, but unlike many of the previous Black Robes they'd fought, he was surprisingly young.

His force stopped out of range of the single Black Robe, wary of the enemy's trickery. The days of Kumogakure shinobi underestimating their opponents was long past, and it wasn't as if they were so constricted by time that they couldn't afford to be cautious.

"Wait here for my signal," said Darui to his second-in-command before stepping out of line towards the Quiraji specialist. He wanted to get a closer look at their opponent before giving the order to attack, and a part of him was very curious as to why their opponent was standing outside of the chakra-nullifying field, where the shinobi were at their most powerful.

The young Black Robe noticed his approach with a skittish jump, turning to face him with terrified look on his face. "Oh my! You nearly scared the life out of me." He seemed to struggle to breathe at the fright, but calmed himself down and smiled awkwardly at the confused shinobi. "Are…are you here to attack us?"

Darui gave the Black Robe a tired stare, "We didn't come all this way to have tea and biscuits with you. We came to take you out and destroy your machine."

"Ah…well that's…unfortunate." The Black Robe seemed to be shaking with nerves as he talked to the much taller shinobi and the look on his face told the Kumogakure Jounin that he was quite the craven.

"Are you the leader here?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh…yes. Shen was given command by Lord Benkei. He has many great things in mind for Shen, but Shen isn't sure that he is up to the job."

Darui groaned and stepped forward, "This is a waste of time." The Black Robe appeared terrified of him, but didn't take a step back as Darui came closer with his hands clenched together. His opponent was closer than Darui would have expected for a Black Robe that surely specialised in long range combat. While outside of the field, Darui had no issues moulding a reasonable amount of chakra within his arms.

In a motion that was faster than a gust of wind, Darui swung his large blade from his back into the side of the Black Robe. He'd hoped to catch the Quiraji leader off-guard and cut him down before he could use any of his strange abilities, as they were wont to do.

However, before his blow could fall, the expression on Shen's face turned from terror to fury. His cheeks tightened and eyes changed their gaze as he brought up a hand to intercept the attack. Darui's blade bounced off an invisible force that appeared to surround the Quiraji leader's hand, as Shen turned his terrible expression to his shinobi foe.

"Now you face the true wrath of the Quiraji!" he spat with hatred in his voice. The startling shift in his expression and voice was only matched by his change in personality. He slashed across Darui with his other hand as if mimicking his enemy's strike, but Darui used a burst of chakra through his legs to pull back his blade and jump back several dozen feet. Just as he fell back, he could see the air being sliced apart as if it were being cut by a blade similar to his.

The moment Darui went out of range, the Quiraji leader's expression changed back to the original version he'd seen, and the Black Robe once again seemed pitiful. "Oh…how come you're all the way over there? I'm not complaining…but still…feels a bit rude…"

"What is with this guy?" asked one of the confused Kumogakure shinobi behind Darui. They hadn't seen the slash that had caused him to fall back, but the fact that the Raikage's right hand was treating the enemy cautiously was enough to cause them to be on their guard.

"He's in range of our techniques, we should just get him," said another with a confident grunt.

A large cluster of Kumogakure shinobi voiced their agreement and began to run through handseals to activate long-range ninjutsu. Darui sheathed his blade and placed his hands together in a complex handseal, as he could see that perhaps if they combined their attacks they would be able to overwhelm the Black Robe before he could attack them back. The manner in which he'd attacked him was concerning, but with the amount of strength and firepower they had at their disposal he still held confidence that they could win the battle.

The Quiraji soldiers that were standing in front of the machine node still hadn't moved an inch.

Shen took a backwards step as he stared in fear at the power being gathered ahead of him, a large part of him wanted to turn and flee the battle before they could attack him. However, he never got the chance as the shinobi began to activate their techniques at the same time.

Dozens of hunter Jounin activated bolts of lightning that they sent straight at the Black Robe leader, while others sent hails of chakra-enhanced projectiles. Darui pushed his hands out at the front of the line: "Ranton: Laser Circus!" (Storm Release)

A halo of bright energy gathered around his hands before exploding outwards in dozens of beams that weaved around the other attacks that were being fired at the Quiraji leader, taking their energy and adding it into his own attack before sending it straight at Shen.

It seemed like the Quiraji leader had no defence against the storm of attacks, but through a small gap in which he could see the enemy, Darui realised that they'd made the one mistake they'd sworn they wouldn't.

They'd underestimated their enemy's power.

As the chakra-based beams and lightning struck against the air in front of Shen, his expression changed back to his furious visage and he weaved his hands in front of his body as if collecting the attacks into his palms. As he did so, the chakra disappeared from the attacks and they withered to nothing before they could strike directly at him, while the projectiles that had been fuelled by chakra fell away to the ground at his feet.

Shen looked at the shinobi that had attacked his with a furious anger on his face as he flexed his fingers menacingly before driving them towards his opponents at a great distance. Darui and some of the more perceptive shinobi in their ranks tried to shout out a warning, but there was no time for the shinobi to get out of the way.

Shooting out of the Quiraji leader's fingers were beams of dark spiritual energy that leapt towards the shinobi at far greater speeds than they'd been originally fired. Darui could only watch in horror as a corrupted version of his own attack came screamed towards him and laid into his own ranks with terrible accuracy. While chakra-based attacks had precision and control, attacks based purely on spiritual energy had power that shinobi couldn't possibly hope to achieve. There were some shinobi at the front that had enough speed to avoid taking critical damage from Shen's retaliatory attacks, but many were not fast enough and took the dark beams directly in the chests, killing them instantly.

The Quiraji leader's attacks had only targeted the front line of shinobi, however only three out of the forty that had been standing at the front of Kumogakure force remained standing.

Darui was kneeling down on one knee with a hole in his side larger than his fist.

Any regular shinobi force would see such devastating losses and would immediately break, falling back from the battlefield after seeing such a display from such a powerful opponent. However, the Kumogakure pursuit force was no regular force of shinobi; they were the students of the Two-Tails container and some of the most powerful shinobi in all of Kumogakure.

Naturally, they charged their opponent with loud roars of fury, with their bladed weapons in hand. If ninjutsu techniques couldn't work and could be turned against them, then they would charge forward and cut him down to size.

Darui struggled to keep himself upright on his knee, coughing blood onto his leg as he tried to cover the hole in his side with his hands, but they just came back sticky with blood and he could already feel himself falling into unconsciousness.

The single medical-nin that had accompanied the Kumogakure pursuit force leapt to his side and placed his glowing blue hands to his leader's wound. It didn't take a medic of his experience to see that the Quiraji leader's attack had seriously devastated Darui's body; the attack had punctured several of his vital organs, including almost completely destroying his liver.

"This is…" He struggled to find the words to tell Darui that there was no way anyone could heal this kind of wound under battlefield conditions, let alone in a hospital back in the village.

Darui glanced over at him for a moment before grimacing at the look he was being given and pulled forward his sword to steady himself on the ground. "Oh well. Now's as good a…place as any…to die." Despite his wound and his failing strength, Darui pushed himself up and began to hobble towards the battle. The medic protested and tried to pull the leader away, but a single glare from Darui told the medic to stay away, lest he was cut down for getting in his way. The medic swore at his leader's stubbornness and walked behind him, trying his best to heal as much of the damage as he could to give Darui a little bit more time as he made his way forward.

As shinobi came down upon him like rain on a field of grass, Shen's persona kept static in his furious psychotic rage, dodging and twirling away from each of the shinobi attacks. He was no Red Warrior however, and relied on his abilities to protect himself as he began to absorb physical energy from the strikes that battered at his invisible barrier. His robe was being cut and torn by slashes of kunai and sword, yet Shen himself remained uninjured. More and more Kumogakure shinobi piled on and mounted attack after attack on him until Shen judged that there were enough shinobi for him to begin his counter-attack.

With a deafening roar, he stomped his small feet into the ground and threw his hands up into the air. As his movements stopped, nearly a dozen Kumogakure shinobi saw their opportunity and drove their weapons into his body. The Quiraji leader was impaled by swords and kunai alike, while several short blades stuck in his neck; a killing blow for any normal enemy.

Shen ignored the strikes as if they were mere fleas and flared open his hands as if he was calling down the wrath of the heavens onto the shinobi attacking him. As he did so, an unbelievable force of physical energy slammed down into the large number of Kumogakure shinobi that had surrounded him. In an instant, over thirty Kumogakure shinobi dropped to the ground like they'd been stomped down into the dirt. They're bones were crushed into dust and none in a twenty metre radius was able to survive the strike.

With his foes destroyed for the moment, Shen's expression softened and he glanced down at the piles of crushed bodies with a look of fear on his face. "Oh my! What has happened here?"

The surviving Kumogakure shinobi pulled back their charge towards the Quiraji leader and turned to see Darui still stumbling towards Shen with murderous purpose in his eyes. Several of them asked for orders; recognising that their foe wasn't one that they could defeat through conventional means. However, blood had begun to pool in Darui's head and he couldn't hear anything except a loud ringing that was deafening. His mind was stuck in a haze and all he could do was concentrate his blurry gaze on the robed young man that had killed him and his companions; his hate was all that drove him forward anymore. The medic that had been healing him had remained with the other Kumogakure shinobi, wary of the fact that he was getting closer to the enemy leader with the knowledge that he was already dead.

Without a leader to give them orders, after seeing so many of their comrades dead for little respite, the Kumogakure shinobi force's moral broke and they knew they weren't going to be able to defeat their foe. With that in mind, the surviving cluster of shinobi turned and fled in the direction that their home village was in. They'd sent a runner to ask for reinforcements, but even with greater numbers they couldn't see a way they'd be able to break through to destroy that machine node.

Through his blurry vision, Darui could see the wounds that had been inflicted on Shen when he'd crushed the Kumogakure shinobi were already beginning to smoke and close themselves up. He snarled and released his hand from his side, knowing that he only had a few minutes before his wounds made him immobile and he would be cut down by the now-cheering Quiraji soldiers.

Shen seemed to be still terrified of his approach, despite the damage that he'd been able to do to their ranks, making Darui wonder what kind of messed up personality issues the Quiraji leader had.

Clutching his cleaver-blade in a single hand, Darui used the last ounce of his strength to heft the blade up and tried to bring it down onto the middle of the enemy leader, though he couldn't put much more force in it than a small child could.

As the craven he was, Shen stumbled back and fell over in the wake of Darui's last desperate attack, holding up his arms in a vain attempt to protect himself from the weak attack.

However, it was never meant to be. Darui's blade dropped to the grass as his strength failed him. He looked down to see a pair of short blades sticking out of his chest. He didn't have the strength to see the White Assassin that had teleported behind him and ended his life, but that didn't matter as the Quiraji specialist withdrew the blades and reached up to snap his neck with their powerful arms.

His body fell to the floor with a sickly thud as the White Assassin regarded Shen with contempt in his eyes before teleporting back to the Quiraji ranks within the chakra-nullifying field. The Quiraji soldiers were still cheering at the death of the shinobi leader, but the other Kumogakure shinobi were too far away to hear them.

The battle for this node was over.

* * *

><p>Though they called themselves the Sound Four, and they were known in the shinobi world as a very dangerous shinobi team, Jirobou, Tayuya, Sakon and Ukon had a tendency to not get along at all.<p>

Only the brothers didn't fight with each other as they travelled along the road towards the machine node that they'd been tasked with destroying. They hadn't worked together as a team since the establishment of Otogakure by the Otokage and the death of Kidoumaru, and as such their teamwork was very rusty.

"We're going the wrong f**king way!" yelled Tayuya, her red hair flaring up in the wind that had accompanied the light rain they were running through.

Jirobou stabbed at the wet map in his hands with his finger, "No, we're not. It's over this ridge, through this forest and in this field. That's what the map says."

The musical kunoichi scoffed at his assertion, "What the hell would you know? Can you actually see anything through those fat eyes of yours?"

At her side, Sakon laughed loudly at the notion, while his brother ran silently beside him without making a comment. Out of the two of them, Ukon was the more serious one, but they'd each been given command of the mission equally.

None of them knew why Neji had done it that way, and each of them resented the fact that the others were there.

While Jirobou did his best to convince Tayuya that she stank like a bear's backside and would make a nice love pet for a Quiraji general, the Otogakure shinobi that had been designated to assist them ran behind them at a distance that allowed them to avoid the wrath of the warring Sound Four.

Despite Tayuya's protests that they were going the wrong way, the army moved along their original route until they emerged from a small forest. In front of them expanded out a wide field of grass that looked like it had been prepared just to have the machine node in place.

The sensory shinobi in the group seemed perplexed by what they could see, even though there was a large Quiraji force standing in front of them, seemingly waiting for their arrival. The node they'd come to destroy was smaller than they'd been expecting; it was a spherical device that looked to have a number of lights within its steel frame. The thing that puzzled the sensory shinobi was that the chakra-nullifying field that they'd expected to fight in barely encompassed the machine node itself, with none of the Quiraji soldiers able to actually stand within the field's protection.

As such, the Otogakure shinobi would be able to fight at full strength.

"Well this is a bit sad," said Sakon with a smirk.

Jirobou stuffed the map into his pouch and poked out his tongue at Tayuya before turning his attention to the Quiraji soldiers in front of them. "Finally, a battle in our favour."

"Don't underestimate them," warned Ukon in his gravelly voice. "They've been waiting for us, they must have known we were coming."

Tayuya snarled her frustration at her larger companion and turned her attention to the shinobi under their command. "Get into line! The Otokage wants this field down and that's what we're here to do!"

The Otogakure shinobi jumped to obey her command, each of them wary of the knowledge that she was still the head of interrogation for their village and would gladly torture any of those that disappointed her in battle.

"I'm not seeing a leader," observed Sakon with a disappointed tone. "Shouldn't there be some great Quiraji general that we can crush beneath our feet and break their spirit?" He turned and demanded one of the sensory shinobi tell him which of the Quiraji soldiers standing against them was the strongest.

There were only one hundred Otogakure shinobi that had accompanied the Sound Four, as most of their village had elected to remain behind to defend the Fire Temple from the inevitable Quiraji counter-attack to their invasion, while another group had accompanied Jin to destroy one of the other machine nodes. Because of this, they were significantly outnumbered by the Quiraji force, nearly three-to-one.

It was good odds for any Otogakure shinobi, especially with the lack of Quiraji specialist troops that they could see.

The Quiraji soldiers they had come to fight seemed to be ready to embrace them, having notched arrows in their bows and formed into military ranks that were impressive to see. However, the Otogakure shinobi had full access to their chakra abilities, and as such the Quiraji force didn't scare them too much.

Despite their haste in wanting to engage the enemy in battle, the Sound Four knew that they still had to take their foe seriously. As such, Ukon called for one of their shinobi to come to the front and fire a warning shot into the enemy ranks; to show the Quiraji the extent of their abilities.

The young man nodded with pride at being chosen and ran through a long set of handseals as he stepped in front of their ranks to the ground between the armies. The technique he was planning to use would disable many of the Quiraji soldiers in front of him with a burst of directed sound that would mess with their perceptions.

He smirked as he saw that none of the Quiraji soldiers had come forward to intercept him; clearly they didn't see him as much of a threat.

His hands clapped together and he gathered his chakra into his larynx to begin his technique.

And in a blink, his hands were cut from his wrists in a single flash of metal. He looked up to see a woman clad in a white cloak and a dead expression in her eyes standing in front of him, though she seemed to be covered in a strange red hue. He only got a moment to look at her before she brought up one of the two twin-blades that sat on the top of her wrists and removed his head from his shoulders, letting his body fall to the ground and fountain in blood while she collected her white cloak and teleported in a flash.

The Otogakure shinobi watched this unfold in disbelief. The White Assassins they had encountered so far had been constrained by the same physical issues that Uzumaki Naruto had. Yet this female Quiraji specialist had just teleported twice in less than five seconds, clearly breaking that known constraint.

"I guess the leader has shown herself," said Jirobou with a squint, trying to get a better look at the White Assassin deep in the Quiraji ranks. "Did anyone catch the name of the shinobi she killed?"

The other Sound Four members shrugged in response; none of them really knew any of their subordinates names that had accompanied them to the battlefield.

"It doesn't matter," said Ukon roughly. "We now know what we are facing."

His brother nodded in agreement while cracking his knuckles loudly, "We'll take out her troops and then concentrate on taking her down. If we keep our ranks tight, she'll struggle to find a footing to catch us off-guard."

"It won't be that easy," warned Jirobou, but nevertheless he gave the order for their shinobi to form up and clapped his hands together to begin moulding chakra.

The Quiraji soldiers seemed more interested in fighting them now that their leader had revealed herself, though the White Assassin showed no concern for her troops' well-being at all. Once she was able, she disappeared into the air as her kind tended to.

The Otogakure force that had accompanied the Sound Four wasn't a green force, but rather was mostly comprised of veterans of the war with the Quiraji. So when they saw that she had teleported away, each of them tightened up their ranks and prepared themselves to receive her inevitable attacks while the Quiraji roared out a challenge and charged at them.

The Sound Four glanced at each other for a moment before both Sakon and Ukon clenched their fists and charged headlong into the Quiraji ranks. Tayuya rolled her eyes and pulled her new flute to her lips, blowing air through the instrument to create an upbeat melody that seemed entirely out of character for her. The music flowed throughout the battlefield into the ears of every shinobi in range, while Jirobou slammed his hands into the ground to create a mighty earthquake that shook the ground terribly.

Just as he'd predicted, the Quiraji leader appeared behind him with the intention of cutting him down as he shook the earth with his Earth Element ninjutsu. A single shift in the music that was playing throughout the battlefield told Jirobou that Tayuya had seen her appear behind him. That allowed him to shift the chakra of his technique and create a massive earth pillar behind himself that shot high up into the sky, preventing the White Assassin from attacking him. Just as she saw that her approach had failed, the White Assassin disappeared once again as Sakon and Ukon slammed into the Quiraji soldier ranks with over twenty Otogakure shinobi at their side.

When they'd been under the effect of the Cursed Seal, the brothers had possessed extremely potent strength and regenerative abilities, but it required them to share a body for most of the time as their chakra reserves struggled to handle the load. However, since being freed from that time by the Otokage, both of the brothers had mastered their abilities to the point that they were far more powerful now than they ever were under the Cursed Seal. They moved in perfect synchronisation as they always had, being able to read each other's movements without even needing to see them, so when one brother moved to attack one soldier with a chakra-infused fist on one side, the other brother leapt over his back and kicked out at one of the enemy soldiers that was trying to attack his back.

While working together, Sakon and Ukon were a whirlwind of destruction, taking out clusters of soldiers at once without even being touched by their weapons.

The other Otogakure shinobi were no slouches in combat either, particularly with their ability to use their full selection of taijutsu with their chakra rather than just being restricted to just their own physical abilities. Several fell under sheer weight of numbers of Quiraji soldier attacks, but once they were reinforced by their companions the Otogakure shinobi fought with an eerie precision that shouldn't have been possible under regular circumstances.

But these were hardly regular circumstances.

Protected on all sides by a shield unit of defensive shinobi, Tayuya used her music to accomplish two vital tasks. She had no capacity to place the Quiraji under genjutsu effects, as they were immune to such things. Instead, she used her music to inform their ranks where and when the White Assassin leader appeared so they at least stood a chance against her surprise attacks. The Quiraji leader still claimed a terrible toll on their ranks as each time she appeared in a gap she took down two or three shinobi before disappearing during their counter-attack.

The second thing that Tayuya was controlling was their shinobi's strengths and movements. By flooding their minds with her chakra-infused music, she was able to mostly override their wills and make them fight as one singular unit that lived and breathed in each moment. The Otogakure force moved with a precise rhythm that changed depending on Tayuya's tune, and she kept a close eye on the battle so that she could change at a moment's notice.

The last of the Sound Four concentrated his efforts on trying to trap the White Assassin leader. He could almost see a pattern in the way that she would appear within their ranks, use her twin blades to cut into the weak points of the closest shinobi she could find before disappearing back to the same position at the back of the Quiraji ranks.

To that end, he clapped his hands together and wrenched two large chunks of earth out of the ground to hold like giant balls in his hands. He waited until the timing was just right and hurled them one after the other at the exact location that the White Assassin teleported to. She seemed to notice the danger immediately and turned to face it with the same silent gaze she'd worn since the start of the battle.

She tapped her wrist blades together to form a cross in front of her before leaping forward and slashing at the rock that had been sent to crush her. Two lines appeared on the outside before the projectile fell into four pieces and she turned to see who had attacked her.

It was then she saw the second rock coming screaming towards her, while she still floated in the air. It seemed to surprise her for a moment as she considered bringing her blades up to replicate her previous attack before changing her mind and shifting her position in the air with her feet pointed at the rock. As it hit her she used it as a springboard and disappeared in a flash, as the timing on her teleportation activated at the same time. Jirobou snarled at his failure and dropped his hands to the ground to create a thick earthen barrier that surrounded him on all sides, tight enough to deny her contact with him directly. Within his barrier he braced his arms for impact, and ducked just he felt a pair of slashes come against his barrier where his head had been.

The top of the barrier collapsed inwards as he saw that she'd tried to decapitate him with her first teleportation, and was already on top of the cut with her blades poised to slash down into his exposed back. However, she disappeared back into the air as a flurry of kunai and shuriken came in from the side.

Jirobou dropped his barrier to see who had saved him, nodding his thanks to the pair of Otogakure shinobi that had thrown the projectiles. His gratitude only lasted a moment however before he saw her appear behind them and stab her wrist blades into the backs of their necks. She seemed to give him a look that said _'what are you going to do about it'_ before disappearing once again.

Within the melee between the Quiraji soldiers and Otogakure shinobi, the advantage had clearly turned to the shinobi's favour. Sakon and Ukon had taken out nearly a third of the enemy force on their own and Tayuya's music commands had reaped a terrible toll on the Quiraji force. The White Assassin leader was keeping the shinobi from truly overpowering the Quiraji soldiers, as each shinobi she removed from the battle was far more vital than her soldiers were. Given enough time, she could probably take out the entire shinobi force, but not before they killed every Quiraji soldier in front of them and destroyed the machine node.

She knew what she had to do. Without a word she disappeared back into the air.

Tayuya kept an eye on the battlefield while she changed the tune of her music to suit the fighting. It was dreary work; she hated using this type of technique, but if it was necessary to win the battle than she'd do her duty. The Otogakure head of interrogation noticed a strange absence on the battlefield and tried to find the source, only to see that half of her bodyguard had already been killed by the Quiraji leader. With her flute in hand, she changed to a more upbeat tempo and jumped back just as a blade threatened to cut the flute in her hands in half.

The female White Assassin disappeared as soon as she'd appeared, but unlike previous time she didn't retreat with her second teleportation. Instead, she teleported behind the retreating Tayuya and made a downward slash with one of her wrist blades. One of Tayuya's guards tried to jump in between them, but only succeeded in pushing her slightly out of the way of the blow. Instead of cleaving her head in two like it would have, the strike simply claimed one of her ears.

Tayuya dropped to her knees with a scream that was more piercing than her music, her flute discarded on the ground nearby. Her remaining guards tried to attack the White Assassin while she couldn't teleport away, but the Quiraji specialist quickly overwhelmed them and cut them down above their ward. She turned down to finish the job on the injured Otogakure kunoichi, but saw Jirobou stampeding towards her with large rock fists that could crush her in a single blow.

The White Assassin let out a huff and stepped over Tayuya before slashing down at the ground to slice Tayuya's flute in two. As Jirobou came into range she disappeared into the air, causing him to stumble down towards the ground.

"Damnit!" shouted Jirobou as he steadied himself and dropped the rocks from his fists. It was a rarity for him to swear, but the situation seemed to warrant it as the White Assassin leader appeared back in the melee to slaughter their shinobi. He turned back to Tayuya to see that one of her ears had been completely cleaved off.

Despite the situation and despite the severity of the injury, Jirobou couldn't help himself. He placed his hands on his stomach and let out a booming laugh, one that ran through his entire body. The irony of her injury was absolutely priceless and not even the evil look she gave him could stop him. Eventually Jirobou ran out of breath and he held his cheeks in pain; it was too much. He knelt down in front of her and offered her a hand up.

"You're a f**king asshole," said Tayuya slowly. Because of how messed up her hearing was with only one ear, her voice came out quite nasal.

That was enough to send Jirobou over the edge and onto the ground in a fit of laughter. Tayuya tried to yell profanities at him, but upon hearing herself she promptly covered her mouth in embarrassment while her other hand covered her missing ear to try and stop the constant flow of blood.

With Tayuya both injured and preoccupied, the shinobi force lost their massive advantage over the Quiraji force and the weight of numbers began to take its toll on the shinobi force. They still continued to lay into the Quiraji soldiers with ninjutsu and taijutsu alike, but the Quiraji were getting better at fighting them by the minute and there were only so many places that Sakon and Ukon could be at once.

Through the confusion, the White Assassin reaped a terrible toll on their force, taking out shinobi after shinobi with little reprisal. She even managed to get in a few hits against the brothers before they wised up to her act and fought back-to-back to prevent her taking advantage of their blind spots. They both knew if the situation got really bad they could merge bodies and fight more effectively that way, but it had been a very long time since they'd done that, and neither particularly relished the idea at the moment.

They knew they had to take out the Quiraji leader, otherwise she'd just cut them down one at a time. The two of them barked out orders for their shinobi to fight more defensively as they ran towards the seemingly incapacitated Tayuya and the recovering Jirobou. The large man appeared to have recovered from his fit of laughter and was now helping Tayuya to her feet, while the female kunoichi hurled slurred profanities at both him and anyone that tried to come close.

"Tayuya! We need the music again!" yelled out Sakon as they ran towards the two of them.

The Otogakure kunoichi glared at him hatefully, but the look in the Sound Four member's eyes was enough to guess what he had in mind. With a loud swear she swung around her pack and pulled out her secondary instrument: a long clarinet. Even with her hearing messed up as it was, Tayuya knew music like she knew her own body. She began to play a mournful tune that perked up the Otogakure shinobi immediately while the brothers quickly signalled their plan to Jirobou. They didn't need to communicate between each other, as they knew what each was thinking about, but Jirobou was needed for their plan.

Both Sakon and Ukon reached their Sound Four companions and bit their respective thumbs before swiping it onto their palms and jumping back to create some distance from each other on the battlefield. "Kuchiyose: Rashoumon!"

At once they drove their hands into the ground, causing a massive gate with a demonic visage on its doors to appear at each of their feet. The pair of gates were a short distance between each of the faces, and the brothers jumped back behind their respective gates and prepared themselves.

Tayuya continued to play her clarinet without paying attention to what was happening around her, barely even noticing that Jirobou had disappeared from her side.

As she'd suspected, the Quiraji leader returned to finish the job. The White Assassin appeared in her blind side and didn't waste any time in stabbing her in the side with one of her wrist blades. Tayuya snarled in pain and dropped her clarinet to try and swing an arm at her enemy, but the White Assassin simply planted a boot to her chest and knocked her down to her knees.

In between the Rashoumon gates, the female Quiraji leader stared down at the Otogakure head of interrogation with both hatred and contempt in her dull eyes. She glanced down at her opponent's discarded instrument before regarding her scarred face with a hint of amusement in a smirk. Before Tayuya could do anything to defend herself, the White Assassin flicked her wrist blade at her face and removed her other ear from the side of her head.

The scream that came from Tayuya's mouth dwarfed any sound she'd ever made before as both of her hands shot up to the sides of her head. The pain was so intense that if she didn't so thoroughly hate everything she would have passed out by now. Her face dropped to the grass as she continued to scream, but because she couldn't hear herself she wasn't aware that she was no longer producing any sound from her mouth. Her throat had already run dry.

Satisfied with the result of her work, the White Assassin turned to see if there was a new target for her wet blades.

It was then that Jirobou's hands shot up from underneath the ground and clasped at her ankles tightly. Not one to see if she could escape from such a grip, Jirobou wrenched himself out of the ground and slammed her down to her waist within the hole he'd dug with his earth technique before closing it onto her body as tightly as he could. The chakra seemed to dissipate as it came into contact with her body, but as he pulled himself out of the ground and looked down at her to see her struggling to pull herself up he knew that he'd finally been able to trap the slippery Assassin.

He only had a second to shoot forward, scoop up the agonised Tayuya in his large arms and dive out of the way as the pair of Rashoumon gates came slamming into each other. Both Sakon and Ukon had pushed almost all their chakra into their arms to deliver a single powerful punch that could move such massive gates along the ground to crash into each other with a thunderous clap.

The Quiraji leader just happened to be caught in between the demonic faces of the Rashoumon gates and was squished into nothingness. Jirobou dropped Tayuya to the ground and turned to see if their trap had worked. The brothers Sakon and Ukon both held their hands up in anticipation for a retaliation attack from the Quiraji leader, as now with most of their strength spent would have been the perfect opportunity to take one of them down.

After nearly twenty seconds, it became apparent that no such attack was forthcoming. The enemy was dead and buried.

With their foe finally dead at their feet, the Sound Four turned their attention to the machine they'd come here to destroy. Their shinobi were still engaging the Quiraji soldiers and were pushing them back as well as they could. Tayuya still had her hands on the sides of her head and was screaming silently in pain, but the other Sound Four simply ignored her. It wasn't because they wanted to focus on the job more than helping her.

It was mainly that they felt she needed to suffer for a little bit. Tayuya had a tendency to irritate them incessantly, so their sympathy was at an all-time low.

"So how are we going to destroy this thing?" asked Ukon.

Sakon turned to their larger companion and motioned with his head, "You reckon you could take care of it?"

Jirobou considered the proposition for a moment before sighing and stepping back out of the chakra-nullifying field. "Only if you get a medic over to Tayuya. She's suffered enough for one day."

"If we must…" muttered Ukon begrudgingly. He made his way over to the screaming Sound Four member and looked down at her with contempt in his eyes. It wasn't that he really disliked the kunoichi; none of them were that hateful towards each other.

They were just bad people, and it was really funny.

She looked up at him with what appeared to be pity, but it didn't last long before Ukon's fist came crashing down on her head to knock her out. If he were so inclined, he could have shared some of his chakra with her to help regenerate her ears, but Ukon was in no mood for sharing. He rarely was.

As the chakra-nullifying field only extended a short distance from the node powering it, Jirobou found himself still within a good range of the machine as he began collecting massive amounts of chakra within himself. He clapped his hands to push it to the brink before shoving his hands into the rocky ground beneath his feet.

With a loud grunt of exertion, the ground began to give and he wrenched up a huge boulder that was so oversized it looked like he shouldn't be able to hold it up. His hands struggled under the weight and beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead, but Jirobou fuelled more chakra through his body and took a back step to centre himself.

Seeing what he was trying to do, a group of Quiraji soldiers broke off from the main battle with the Otogakure shinobi and moved as fast as they could to intercept him before he could attack the node. However, Sakon and Ukon rolled their eyes at the annoyance and stepped between Jirobou and the soldiers, clenching their fists tightly.

"You got the left, Ukon?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

While they took care of his attackers, Jirobou hefted the boulder backwards and aimed himself at the machine node. He had no real clue whether it would be strong enough to destroy the machine, but it didn't hurt to try.

With a loud grunt, he hurled the boulder straight into the chakra-nullifying field. The chakra that surrounded it dissipated once it entered the field, but the force and angle of his throw carried it until it slammed into the middle of the machine. The boulder was easily twice the size of the machine itself, and the angle caused it to break through the steel barrier and forced its way through.

It only took a moment before it hit a sensitive part of the machinery and there was a loud fizzling sound in the air. They didn't have any sensory shinobi with them anymore, as they'd been killed in the fighting, but clearly they'd made an impact on the field as the Quiraji soldiers immediately broke and fled the battlefield as quickly as they could.

The Otogakure shinobi battling them weren't about to let their enemies get away from them, cutting them down with projectiles and sword strikes as they fled. They had no reason to be merciful.

"Is that it?" asked Sakon with a raised eyebrow, looking over to his brother.

Ukon shrugged and looked down at the unconscious Tayuya he'd knocked out. Without her hands to cover the sides of her head, she had begun bleeding quite badly. If they didn't get her healed in time, she would probably die. "Get someone to take her back to the Fire Temple. It wouldn't look good for the Sound Four to become the Sound Three."

"Fair enough," said Sakon. He looked over at the rest of the battlefield, seeing that they'd completely routed the Quiraji soldiers that had come against them. The silent White Assassin that had attacked them was still crushed in between their Rashoumon gates, but neither brother wanted to take them down to check. They both liked the idea of the gates standing there as a testament to the battle.

While they began reorganising their shinobi to return to the Fire Temple, the remaining Sound leaders made their way over the remnants of the machine node and began destroying it piece by piece.

It didn't hurt to be thorough.

* * *

><p>Neji's eyes perked up as the rest of the group noticed the same thing he just did.<p>

"The field is down."

The others in the strike team gave their own confirmations and got up from their relaxed positions. They'd been waited for a reasonable amount of time and were as prepared as they were ever going to be for this battle.

No other word was spoken between them as representatives from every shinobi village still fighting and the Konoha survivors took their first step into Quiraji territory. The chakra-nullifying field had given no visual indication of its failure, but the fact that both Neji and Hinata could now use their Byakugan to investigate the area without pain and blindness told them that the field had indeed completely fallen.

However, they had no indication of whether it was permanent or not. They had to move as quickly as possible and resolve the final conflict with the Quiraji leadership before the field came back up. Otherwise, they would be trapped within the field, with the best Quiraji fighters at their backs. Not a good position to be in.

The distance between their original position outside the field to the crater that used to contain Konoha was less than an hour at a reasonable pace, but with the adult Hyuugas at the forefront the group moved much quicker, as they could tell that there were no Quiraji soldiers between them and the edge of their destroyed home. They kept the information they could see through their black and white vision to themselves, as everyone would be seeing it in short time.

Within twenty minutes of moving through forests that evoked powerful memories in the Konoha survivors that were at the front of the group, they began to see a strange spire that seemed to stand in the middle of where Konoha once stood. The walls of the village had long since been destroyed and the path that normally separated it from the main road in that area of the Land of Fire had already started to be overgrown with brush and weeds, as if the forest itself was trying to reclaim the area for its own.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this…" muttered Kiba as they started to come to the forest's edge. At his side, Akamaru barked out a comment that he chose to ignore, while his cousin, Nagisa, looked over at him for a moment with a slight nod of her head. The Inuzuka heirs could tell the smells around their old home had changed drastically, to the extent that it almost hurt their noses to be in the area.

"How close are we?" asked the Kazekage as he ran by his old friend's side.

Naruto turned to his wife with a raised eyebrow, to which she gave him a small smile that had a hint of awkward sadness that only a husband could see. He turned back to Gaara, "Not that long. Hinata says it's all clear between here and Konoha."

The rest of the group heard his statement and accelerated their pace, with both Rock Lee and Yugito holding themselves back from going at their full speed, knowing that the strike team had to stick together. While moving as quickly as they could, they had to reserve as much strength as they could.

"We're coming up on the ruins of Konoha," warned Neji quietly. "Keep your wits about you. This isn't home anymore."

"We're well aware of that," said Sasuke at a low growl. He wasn't normally one for emotion, but coming back to the place that he used to despise had brought out things in him he hadn't been prepared for. At his side, he knew his older brother didn't need eyes to see his discomfort, though even one so stoic as Itachi was affected by the target area of their mission.

After all, the last time the elder Uchiha had been in the village, he'd slaughtered his own family for his younger brother's sake.

"We'll get through this okay," said the young woman at Sasuke's side, squeezing his shoulder gently. Under normal circumstances, he would give her grief for acting soft in a time that didn't require it, but something about the setting set his nerves on edge. And that itself was troubling.

"I've not visited Konoha since the end of the Third War," said Mei with her hands slowly clenching into chakra-infused fists. "I don't expect the same reception."

The group began to slow as the forest started to open up, even though they knew there weren't any soldiers they couldn't be certain there weren't Quiraji traps designed to demoralise and disable them.

A few minutes later, the area that once contained Konoha came into view.

The spire that they'd seen earlier was attached to the top of a small building that looked entirely alien in the area. The crater that had been created when the village had been destroyed hadn't changed in the years since, with the building the only indication that there was life in the area.

There was no evidence of the previous village's existence. Even the mighty faces that once sat on the Hokage Mountain were nowhere to be found.

It was an appropriate battlefield for their liberation from the Quiraji invaders.

The strike team didn't have any specific hand signals or structure of command, but each shinobi present considered themselves as important as each other in the grand scheme of the final battle. It was because of that that each of them took the first step into the crater of Konoha, to approach the Quiraji structure and confront their enemies directly.

The moment they stepped over the threshold, the top of the spire began to open up in reaction. It folded outwards like a flower blooming in the sun. Before any of them could react, a single object shot up through the air like it'd been fired out of a cannon.

The shinobi strike team froze at the sight and several of them started to prepare their defences, but it became obvious that the object had no interest in their presence. It rocketed up high into the sky with a silver gleam before shattering in the sky far out of view. It split off into thousands of different shards that seemed to have minds of their own as they flew far away from the middle of the Land of Fire.

"Signal flare?" observed Konan with a raised eyebrow.

At her side, Kakashi looked up at the strange phenomena for a moment before shrugging, "Hard to tell. If they are signalling for their forces to converge on our location, then we're low on time."

Hinata tried to follow some of the projectiles' progress with her Byakugan, but they passed out of even her long range vision, with most of the projectiles looking like they were aimed at other parts of the country outside the Land of Fire.

"This ain't a good omen," commented Killer Bee as he fixed his sunglasses to adjust for the light.

"We have to move forward. The Quiraji leaders must be inside that building," said Neji. "It's the only place my Byakugan can't penetrate."

"Then that's our target," said Naruto with a confident nod. He was grateful they had the opportunity to finally strike at their enemy directly.

Rock Lee nodded his agreement with his Konoha companion as he started to stretch his legs habitually. "The lack of a smaller field is concerning though, is it not? Wouldn't it make sense for them to put us at a disadvantage?"

"Let's just get this over with," muttered an impatient Sasuke. He placed his hands together into a handseal and began moulding a large amount of chakra in his stomach.

Before he could complete his technique, Itachi reached over and grabbed his hands with one of his, cancelling the technique. "Don't be hasty, Sasuke. The enemy has yet to reveal itself."

"They're coming out," said Hinata, cancelling her Byakugan to prevent the waste of chakra and the injury to her eyes. She hadn't been able to see inside the building, which was enough to tell her who was inside.

As she said it, the large double door that sat at the centre of the small building began to creak open slowly. The strike team had come within a shuriken throw of the building's entrance, yet none of them was willing to fire a shot until their enemy revealed themselves.

Several silhouettes began to emerge from within the Quiraji building. They appeared to be in no rush to greet their attackers, but that was because they knew that the shinobi's presence here showed how desperate they had become.

"All of them at once, eh?" observed Rock Lee with a sickeningly loud crack of his neck. "This ought to be an interesting fight."

"But only them," said Neji with a frustrating tone of voice. "The leader still remains within."

"One step at a time," said Gaara as the top of his gourd popped off and a line of sand began to circle around him. "They were clearly waiting for us."

The silhouettes came into focus and the shinobi strike team saw the figures that had been sent against them. The final battle had yet to begin and the enemy had already revealed the majority of their hand.

The Four had come.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

The next chapter will be a Bonus Chapter, and it's one that I hope you enjoy, even though it's quite dark and depressing. After that, there are ten chapters left, and then a final Bonus Chapter before the end of the story. I'm trying my best to get it done by the end of the year, and I hope you'll all stay with me until that end and continue to enjoy my story.

These chapters will probably be out every two weeks, judging by my current writing schedule. I'm doing my best not to 'rush' things, as I don't want to just skip to the conclusion. There will be resolutions to everything in the story, fear not. If there is some obscure thing you think I might forget, please don't hesitate to comment about it. With a story this long, sometimes there are things even I can't keep track of.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	88. Bonus Chapter 8 If We Lose

**The Wanderers**

Bonus Chapter 8 – If We Lose

**A/N**: Even though the main series seems to be coming to an end, this story won't until it's finished. Including this chapter, there are 12 chapters to go. Just wanted to clarify that.

**A/N2**: Remember people, this is a Bonus Chapter. While it is very relevant to the story, it isn't entirely…true. Rather, this chapter is more of a 'What If?' scenario. Some food for thought. It might happen. I'm that kind of twisted writer, remember. These characters are only acting this way because the bad guys won the 'final' battle.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the bad guys would win. Just for a change in tempo.

* * *

><p>Her prey was fast. Too fast for any regular beast to catch.<p>

But the beasts under her command were no regular beasts, and they were bred specifically to catch the prey that she was currently chasing. Atop a massive tiger that had a spiked chain around its neck that was larger than most of the soldiers that rode on their own beasts at her side, Shouri looked over the darkening landscape.

There was less than an hour before the sun set and they would lose the light, yet the indications from her beast told her that they'd closed in on their prey quickly. It had been weeks in the making, but her hunt was almost over.

On the horizon, a single dot moved away from her force as quickly as it could, knowing what would happen if they to overtake it.

But it wasn't moving fast enough. She pushed up a hand towards the darkening sky and a convocation of black-tipped eagles shrieked into the air from nowhere in particular, circling around the Quiraji hunting force before obeying her commands.

The eagles shot through the air much faster than her beasts on the ground were able to close the distance to their target quicker than they would have. At her command, the eagles swooped down on their target and tried to claw at him with their talons. Even at his speed, he wasn't able to ignore the eagles attacking him, forcing him to halt his frantic pace and fight back against the birds of prey. His arms and legs were as fast as blurs striking back against the eagles.

With her distraction in place, the hunter pushed her beasts faster and closed the distance between her group and her target rapidly. Within moments they were upon him, even as he finished off the eagles and turned to face his pursuers.

"No more running for you, little man," said the hunter with a wicked grin on her face. "We've got you."

Her target moved to flee again, but her beast riders moved around instantly to circle him, forcing him to clench his fists and consider fighting his way out. The Quiraji soldiers trained their bows on him, but their hands were shaking at the thought of facing him in battle. Despite their leader at their side, he'd killed more of them than any shinobi that had fought in the war and had a tendency to be somewhat brutal about it.

However, the hunter wasn't going to let him kill anymore of her soldiers. She'd come to take his head, and that's exactly what she was going to take. Leaping off her oversized tiger onto the ground, the Quiraji leader put away her bow and picked up the spear that had been strapped to its side.

"For you to come so far, with your injuries, is mightily impressive. But you're at the end of your road now."

The target glared at her through hateful black eyes, even as blood was still running from wounds in his shoulders and he silently snarled at her.

Shouri smirked and twirled her spear threateningly in front of her, "Oh that's right, I forgot about that. My brother can be so brutal when he gets on a roll."

Her target didn't seem to want to hear any more of her taunting, placing his fist down on the ground in front of him. The fact that he was still standing was a testament to how stubborn he really was, as one of his legs was barely holding him up due to the bone sticking out just below his knee. He'd built up a reputation as a dangerous foe that even the Quiraji leaders couldn't properly pin them.

But months of fighting and relentless pursuit had slowed him down considerably, and with little energy left in his tank, the Konoha Green Beast had finally been cornered.

As any good hunter knew, it was when a beast was cornered that it was the most dangerous.

Physical energy exploded outwards from Rock Lee as he pushed his body beyond what it should have been able to reach and prepared himself to attack Shouri with everything he could muster.

But Shouri was a hunter and not a fool. While she approached the shinobi cautiously with her spear ready to make the single strike necessary, her other hand made small motions at the ground.

Just as Rock Lee sprung forward on his remaining good leg, a pair of burrowing creatures sprung out of the ground and dug their claws into his legs, forcing him down flat to the ground. He struggled and kicked at the creatures with his broken leg, ignoring the pain and trying to take them down.

Not one to waste time on wounded prey, Shouri leapt forward and drove her spear directly at Lee's back. He had the instinct to turn himself as much as he could so that the spear only grazed his side, but coming up from behind the hunter was the tiger she'd rode in on shot forward and slammed its front paws onto the back of his neck.

Even with his inexhaustible stamina and strength, Rock Lee wasn't able to fight against inevitability. He struggled again, but once the tiger dugs its claws into him he stopped for fear that it would pierce through his spine. Shouri pulled her spear out of his side and dug it into the ground before kneeling down beside his head.

"This isn't a death to be ashamed of. It is honourable to be taken down by a hunter of my calibre."

Slowly she drew a long knife from her belt and showed it to him, taking in the hateful stare that he gave her before taking her deserved kill.

This was the moment she lived for. This was what it was like to be a hunter.

But now there were less interesting prey to hunt down. It was almost enough to get bored and consider other lines of work.

But she was Quiraji. There was only the slaughter that was to come.

* * *

><p>Where once they numbered in the hundreds of thousands, now the ranks of shinobi survivors numbered less than two hundred, a testament to the thoroughness of the Quiraji hunters over the past few years.<p>

The last remnants of shinobi resistance hid from the Quiraji forces by keeping mostly to themselves in underground bunkers, suppressing their chakra-based abilities in the hope that the enemy wouldn't be able to find them. They fought back where they could, but it was akin to the last fall of a bird with its wings clipped.

Their strength was spent and their future was short.

The rebellion had been on the move to keep ahead of the Quiraji that were determined to exterminate them, but with their numbers and families they were often forced to spend time re-supplying and recuperating before moving on.

At this time, the rebellion headquarters were underground in the Land of Lightning, deep underneath a great mountain that had once been linked to the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Kumogakure had long since been destroyed, but many of their secrets remained and the rebellion used those secrets to continue to be a thorn in the Quiraji's side.

Despite their hidden location and desperation to keep a low profile, the shinobi sentries kept a close eye on the surrounding area for any hint of Quiraji scouts or armed forces. Their numbers were few, but they were as vigilant as they had ever been, for many of their families lived within the Kumogakure bunker that housed the resistance.

So when Tokugawa approached the mountain, the bearer of grim news, he had to give them a sign that he wasn't an enemy. He made camp just within line-of-sight of the mountain and used specific smoke signals to indicate that he was a returning scout. The next morning he approached one of the secret entrances and submitted himself to inspection before being waved through to the Jounin that was in charge of processing any intelligence they had gathered.

It didn't take long for him to convince the Jounin commander that his information needed to be told to their leader directly, as he'd travelled all the way from the Land of Wind and refused to rest until he delivered his information. Under heavy guard he was led through the tunnels underneath the mountain, passing a number of armouries and training areas where the youngest of their ranks were learning how to resist the enemy. Their desperation had become clear once they'd been forced to train young children in their ways to help hold back the Quiraji, but even a young scout like Tokugawa could see that it was a futile effort.

His guards kept their comments to themselves about his appearance, escorting him directly to the war room where the leader of their rebellion was planning their next move. They announced his arrival and took their positions at either side of the door, keeping their hands close to their weapons at all times. Though they knew Tokugawa personally and didn't believe that he would betray them, the times forced them to be distrustful of their own people.

But beyond that, they knew they had to protect their leader's life. Without their leader, the rebellion would have been crushed long ago.

Tokugawa snapped off a quick salute to the rebellion leader and waited for her to turn her attention towards him.

Leaning over a war table with her hands covered in bandages, was the leader of the rebellion and one of the most powerful shinobi that still remained in the world. She wore a long black and white robe that was weathered and covered in blood stains that refused to be washed out, while her dark blue hair was cut short and roughed behind her face. Her hands moved quickly over the figures that represented Quiraji strongholds in the shinobi lands, before letting out a sigh of frustration and looking up at her visitor.

Even though he'd been working for her since the rebellion started, Tokugawa still found it unnerving to look at the rebellion leader in the face. Though the rest of her form was scarred and cut from years of constant battle, the rebellion leader's face still held the soft beauty that had been the subject of many admirers before the war had turned so heavily against them.

However, her white eyes betrayed no false honesty as they glanced directly at him. They spoke only of anger and hatred that threatened to be unleashed at the slightest provocation.

Hyuuga Hinata said nothing for several moments, examining Tokugawa with intense scrutiny before motioning him forward. As he approached the war table, she reclined back into the stone chair that had been set at the table, feeling its cold stone on her pale skin through her thin robe. It wasn't designed to be comfortable or practical. It was a chair that was a constant reminder of the need for her not to get complacent or soft.

After a while she cut off her eye contact and crossed her legs underneath her robe. "Speak your piece, Tokugawa."

The young scout snapped out of his fear of the leader and nodded quickly, "Of course. Sorry. I have word from the Land of Wind. Sabaku no Gaara and the last Sunagakure shinobi have fallen to the enemy."

Hinata absorbed the information with no obvious reaction on her face. It seemed that she didn't care that the last real bastion of shinobi power had been destroyed, but after working with the rebellion leader for a reasonable amount of time, Tokugawa knew the real reason for her lack of obvious emotion.

She'd already resigned herself to defeat. The rebellion's existence was to just go out in a reasonable blaze of glory, or to survive as long as possible before inevitability came for them. The Hyuuga survivor kept her own counsel on their long-term plans, but few in the rebellion truly believed that she even had a long-term plan.

Uncrossing her legs slowly, Hinata leaned forward and considered the information she'd just been given. Her white eyes made their way back to the scout's face and she could see how uncomfortable her scrutiny was making him.

She didn't care. He held no importance in her eyes. Without a word, she motioned with her hand for him to leave her before dismissing her guards in a similar manner. Hinata kept to herself so that she could remain an enigmatic figure in the rebellion, but also for her own sake.

Once the room was bare except for her, Hinata sighed softly and stood up from her chair to lean over the war table once again. In a slow deliberate motion she reached over to the figurine that represented the ex-Kazekage and his force and removed it from the map. She shook her head and placed it in the small box that contained similar-looking figurines. As it was now, there was only a single shinobi figurine that remained on the map, while the rest was covered in models that represented Quiraji strongholds and army forces. It spelled out a bleak picture, but one that she had already come to expect.

"The sphere just continues to shrink," she said to the empty room. "How long before the noose comes around our neck?"

"_You know the answer to that already."_

Hinata shook her head and gave an angry stare to the figure standing in the corner of the room. "I don't have time for this. The Quiraji will learn of our location eventually. We have to be ready."

"_You will come to my side eventually, love. Why delay the inevitable?"_

It was with words like that that she knew that the figure wasn't real. He was just a figment of her grief.

One that was becoming more convincing by the day.

A knock on the door by one of her guards drew her back to the reality of the room, to which Hinata moved to the other side of the table and called for them to enter. The two armoured shinobi bowed their respect to their leader before the leftmost shinobi stepped forward. "There is a person approaching the mountain that hasn't given the proper approach signals."

Hinata's eyes narrowed slightly, "Why hasn't this person been taken out yet? We have protocol."

The two guards glanced at each other for a moment before the first guard continued, "When confronted by our shinobi, she claimed direct knowledge of you and your position. She requested to speak to you specifically."

The rebellion leader's constant frown deepened and she brought up a single hand into a handseal. Deep within the mountain bunker there was less risk of detection by Quiraji forces, so they had the capacity to use chakra-based techniques so long as they didn't maintain it for too long. With that mind, she activated her Byakugan and stared through the black and white vision towards the mountain entrance. She could see the rebellion survivors each preparing themselves for the unknown future that continued to linger ahead of them, but pushed through that to look at the mountain scouts that had confronted the unknown figure.

Even with her veins popping out the sides of her face with her Byakugan active, Hinata couldn't help but let her eyes widen at the image she saw. The female figure that had approached the entrance was surrounded by four shinobi rebels that had their hands on their weapons and continued to demand that she identify herself properly.

"Who is it, Hyuuga-sama?" asked one of her guards in the war room.

While keeping her eyes on the commotion outside, Hinata kept her emotions in check with a deep breath. "I thought she was dead…"

"Madam?"

Hinata cancelled her Byakugan and turned her back to her guards, "Give the scouts permission for her to enter. Bring her to my chamber as quickly as possible."

"What about the inspection process, madam? That'll take at least thirty minutes."

The rebellion leader glanced backwards at her guard and gave him a look that gave him a cold chill throughout his body. He didn't doubt for a moment that she could have smeared him against the wall without a second thought if he questioned her once more.

"You have your orders," she said at a threatening tone before moving her attention back to the war table. The guards behind her had to take long breaths to calm themselves before rushing to comply with her command.

After giving the order to a scout that rushed out to the mountain entrance to escort the female figure into the bunker, the two guards glanced at each other with trepidation in their eyes.

"She's getting worse, isn't she?" said one of the guards with a dark tone in his voice.

The other guard nodded grimly, "Every day. There may be a time that staying with her isn't the safest place to be."

"Don't kid yourself. Even here, we aren't safe. There's nowhere safe left for us in the world."

The first guard had to agree with his companion as they awaited the stranger that they were to escort to the rebellion leader's private quarters.

Hinata's room would normally be a reasonably sparse affair, as her personality didn't lend itself towards overburdening herself with possessions, but many things had changed over the years. The rebellion leader found herself glancing over the small things she'd kept all these years.

On the peg that used to hold her robe, now held a dusty cloak of white and faded blue. In the centre sat the fan symbol that the wearer had once worn so proudly, splattered with his blood from the battle that had taken his life. It had been recovered when their bodies had been displayed as a warning to other shinobi, though she didn't have the heart to wash the blood off.

Sitting pegged against one of the rock walls were a pair of bladed gauntlets that had once belonged to the female Tailed Beast container from the very village that once built the bunker they now inhabited. In desperate times Hinata had been forced to wield the poisoned gauntlets herself in battle, but now the blades were blunted and useless. They suited the wall as well as anything else she possessed.

On a study table pressed against the opposite wall to the door sat a stone tablet that read a long list of ancient names. They each held the same last name, and there had been four names scratched in at the end with a kunai that she had performed herself. There had been times when she'd considered scratching her own name into the tablet and committing herself to a final fight, but the more stubborn side of her kept that insanity at bay.

At least, for now.

The final memento that she kept stored in her private chambers sat on a wooden table beside the head of her sleeping mat. On top of the table sat a pair of items that was all she had left of him: a cracked forehead protector with a leaf symbol etched into it, and a broken sword hilt that no longer held the energy blade that had served him so well in battle. She hated that it was all she had left, but Hinata also knew that any more reminders and she might go mad with fury and hatred.

The visions weren't helping.

She didn't need to wait for the knock on the door, spinning on her heel to open up the entrance to see a person she never thought she'd see again. She looked like she'd walked through hell and back, yet still had the presence of mind to fix her blonde hair in a long ponytail that still had the fine polish it always seemed to.

Despite how badly she wanted to embrace her old friend in a hug, Hinata couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead she took her in by the shoulder and forced a smile onto her face, "I thought you were dead, my old friend. How is it that you came here?"

The last Yamanaka shinobi left in the world looked at her for a moment before taking up her offer to enter her chamber. Her hands sat within black gloves that many shinobi had started to wear as representing their grief over their lost comrades, and a single look into Ino's face told the rebellion leader that she'd suffered just as much as any of them had.

"It…has been a long time," said Ino slowly. Her voice sounded more gravelly than Hinata remembered, but she dismissed it for the fact that she finally had someone from their generation she could speak to.

Hinata frowned at her friend's tone, but offered her a seat on a chair at her study table. "Would you like some refreshments? The shinobi at the entrance said you gave them quite a fright. We're a bit jumpy here."

"That wasn't my intention." Ino glanced around the room with slow deliberation, her hands not leaving her knees for a moment. "You have some familiar items in your room."

"Yes…I know." Hinata clasped her hands together and sat down on the other chair opposite the blonde kunoichi. "Ino, everyone thought you were dead. No one survived the destruction of the Fire Temple, we were sure of it."

Ino bit at her lip, as if to imply she wasn't sure herself. "That was…a long time ago."

The rebellion leader looked over her old friend, noticing a number of scars that seemed to poke out of the edges of her clothes. They looked like they were several years old, though Hinata wasn't going to judge her on those. She had similar scars, though not as many on her body. "Ino…how did you know we were here? You've been gone from the world without a trace for years."

"There was a small shinobi group in the Land of Water that spoke about your rebellion. They had information that they thought you could use, so I offered to bring it to you." Ino spoke in a low tone, without any of the inflections that she used to use when speaking. To Hinata, it sounded like all the life had been beaten out of her and all that was left was an empty shell.

The comparison was frightening to see.

But what she said peaked her interest, and for the moment she was the rebellion leader before old Konoha friends. "What information was so important that you were willing to risk your life with that kind of journey through Quiraji-occupied territory to come here? If it hadn't of been you, I would've ordered the guards to kill you on the spot. We can't be too careful these days."

"There are rumblings that there are some problems with the Quiraji leadership. Apparently some of the leaders aren't happy with the way that things have been progressing over the past few years."

Hinata's mind began to unravel the information she'd been given, processing it in the way that only a leader could. It had some particularly devastating consequences for their struggle against the Quiraji, and opened up a number of retaliation possibilities for their rebellion. It sounded almost too good to be true.

Despite the source, Hinata had reason to suspect what she was being told. Something didn't sit right with her.

She tried to think of how to phrase her next question, but she knew that the time for pleasantries had long since passed. With a heavy heart, she asked the one question that she needed an answer to.

"Ino…what happened to Airi?"

For a moment the blonde kunoichi seemed to freeze in place, like nothing in her body was responding to her commands. Then she shook herself out of it and glanced at Hinata's feet, unable to look her in the face.

"I…I don't…who was that?"

With a grim expression on her face, Hinata stood up from her chair and walked over to the despondent kunoichi. Praying that she was wrong, the rebellion leader placed a hand on Ino's chin, bringing her face up to bear. "Look me in the eyes, Ino."

She didn't get the chance to confirm her suspicion or not, as the moment she brought up Ino's face, the blonde kunoichi snapped to attention and shot up from her chair. Hinata jumped back at the motion and then gasped in pain as she looked down to see a long knife sticking out of her stomach. She swore loudly and grasped it with one of her hands before wrenching it out of her stomach with a cry of pain. Blood started to pour out of her stomach freely, even though she put pressure on it with her hand and tried to heal the wound using chakra.

"Why, Ino? Why?" She wasn't sure why she was asking, she knew the answer already. It should have been obvious from the beginning, but Hinata had let her feelings get in the way of her judgement.

Not willing to let her target recover in front of her, Ino reached for the table and picked up the lamp that sat there. With a step forward faster than the rebellion leader could react to, she slammed the piece of furniture into the side of the Hyuuga clan leader's head. There was no anger in her expression as did watched her old companion collapse to the ground in a mess of dark blue hair and blood, nor any other emotion displayed on her face.

There was nothing at all.

Hinata lay on the ground wracked with pain; the blow to her head had thrown off her concentration and likely given her a concussion, so she found it difficult to maintain her medical technique on her stomach. Under normal circumstances she would have been able to dodge the blow to her head with little effort, but Hinata had seen Ino's face and had hesitated for just a moment.

That moment had cost her, and now she was lying on her back, bleeding from both her stomach and her head. Her mind tried to process the situation, make an assessment and react to it, but everything felt like she was wandering through a fog. Old memories and new faces bombarded her mind as she struggled to stay conscious.

Her attacker glanced around the room again for another weapon before looking down at the floor to see the bloody knife she'd driven into Hinata's stomach in those first few moments. She leaned down to pick it up to finish her target, but she wasn't able to bring it up as if it was stuck in the ground. Looking down, she saw that her target's hand clamped around hers in a death grip that was covered in blood. Using Ino's arm as leverage, Hinata dragged herself up to her feet and pulled back her other hand. Blood was running down the side of her face and her dark blue hair had begun to clump from the wound, but Hinata's eyes spoke nothing of her fatigue.

She only exuded fury and hate.

With the blow to her head hindering her concentration, Hinata didn't have the precision to mould chakra to use her Hyuuga taijutsu techniques against her old friend.

But she didn't need it, as she slammed her hand into the centre of Ino's chest. The force, combined with her concentration of physical energy sent the Yamanaka kunoichi flying into the back of the wall, breaking the stand that held the Uchiha cloak. There were two snaps that Hinata heard, one of whom made her heart break at the sound. She knew what she had to do, but that didn't mean she liked it.

She stepped forward to finish it, but Ino's eyes snapped to attention and she swung her fists at Hinata wildly. With her years of fighting experience, Hinata was able to avoid the strikes easily, while stepping forward and driving her own hands into her friend's chest. She didn't want to make her friend suffer anymore than she had to.

But she wasn't going to hesitate anymore either. Ino had clearly been sent to kill her and Hinata wasn't going to stand for that. She hated to see her friend being used in such a way.

However, Ino wasn't about to let her end it right there and then. While her attacks had missed the rebellion leader's head, on the return her hands glowed with a familiar-looking blue that made Hinata recognise that she had erred. Ino's hands dragged along her neck and quickly made their way towards her midsection, forcing Hinata to leap back before she could do any serious damage to her.

Her hand shot to her throat as she felt the muscles that had been cut by Ino's chakra scalpel, messing with her chakra system. She'd forgotten that shinobi under his control retained their abilities; meaning that at any point Ino could flood the room with water and kill them both. Without ful access to her chakra, there wasn't too much that Hinata would be able to do about that.

It seemed that her blonde attacker had thought the same thing she had, as Ino placed her hands together and began running through handseals in a frighteningly quick manner. There was a struggle within her green eyes, but Hinata knew that Ino couldn't truly fight against his control. She looked around for a second before noticing that their struggle had knocked off one of the blunted gauntlets from the wall and it was in arm's reach.

She moved quickly to her side and scooped up the Tailed Beast container's gauntlet and hurled it straight at Ino's head. It wasn't meant to cause any damage, but it succeeded in causing the Yamanaka kunoichi to move her head to avoid the blow, staggering the speed at which she could form handseals.

In that moment, Hinata shot forward and grasped the wrists of her attacker tightly. With her knowledge of Ino's abilities and strengths, she knew that without her hands she wasn't as significant a threat.

She still wasn't able to mould chakra to do what she wanted to do cleanly. So she filled her hands with physical energy and crushed them completely.

Being under the enemy's control didn't prevent the shinobi from feeling pain. Ino's shriek of pain was deafening in the small chamber, but Hinata pushed through the sound to pick up the knife that her old friend had buried in her stomach earlier. Not wanting to waste any further strength on techniques, Hinata took no pleasure in shoving the knife straight into Ino's chest. She pressed down hard with both hands to press it through her rib cage, but the knife wasn't long enough to reach the blonde kunoichi's heart.

However, it was enough to drop Ino to the ground, unable to do anything except stare at her target with a hateful look that belonged to a face that wasn't truly hers anymore.

While Ino lay bleeding out on the ground, Hinata moved over her and placed her hands around her throat, watching the life fade away from her. She didn't need to know why Ino had attacked her, or why she had been so confused before stabbing her with the knife.

Within the blonde kunoichi's green eyes, Hinata could see the flashes of red that she knew had to be there. The implications of that single colour's presence were far and wide in number, but one thing stayed at the forefront of Hinata's mind.

There was only one cure for that man's control.

With physical energy flowing through her hands, Hinata took no pleasure in the action that she had to do. Despite the hatred and anger that she felt in that moment, it was still her friend beneath her hands, her friend that she'd once laughed with and played with her little girl.

Hinata did not hesitate for a moment. Her hands acted like a vice and crushed the last surviving Yamanaka shinobi's throat into dust. Ino only lasted a few moments, choking on her own blood before dying under her friend's sorrowful gaze. During that time, the red colour in her eyes became more prominent until the very end, when Hinata could no longer see her friend in those eyes at all.

She could only see the man that had sent her to kill her. The Ino that she'd known had died years ago at the desecration of the Fire Temple.

The several injuries that she'd accumulated over the few minutes of battle struck her once again and Hinata wavered on her knees before turning to hear the guards outside, banging on the door, demanding to know what was going on. She hadn't seen her do it, but the assassin had sealed the door with some manner of technique in the moments after she'd shut the door behind her, but only now she could hear them.

With almost a casual gesture, she sent a small force of spiritual energy towards the door to blow it open. It sapped more of her strength than she would have suspected, but Hinata didn't really care too much.

She had something she had to confirm. Her concentration had returned to the point that she was able to use chakra again, but before she could give an explanation she had to know.

With her once-friend dead at her feet and her guards bursting in to help far too late, Hinata took in a deep breath and moulded the chakra necessary to activate her family doujutsu. Through her black and white vision, she did her best to not concentrate on any specific point, but push out the large perspective as far as she could.

Eventually she came to a point where she couldn't go any further, but before she could regroup and push it further, a sharp pain struck her eyes and she forced herself to cancel the technique. In her regular vision she looked down to see a pair of medical shinobi treating her various wounds, which stung far more than she would have thought it should. Hinata could hear one of the shinobi mentioning something about poison on the knife that had pierced her stomach, but her mind was already trying to process the information that she'd seen before her doujutsu had cut out.

"How long…until you finish?" she asked between heavy breaths, realising that the healing process was taking a lot out of her.

One of the medical shinobi healing her stomach looked up at her with an unsure look, "It's hard to say, madam. It's not closing up the way it should and it's playing havoc with your chakra system."

"_That means too long, Hinata," _came the image standing on her bed mat.

The Hyuuga leader bit her lip and turned to one of the guards making sure that Ino was truly dead. "We need to…be prepared. Code black, full alert."

The guard frowned for a moment, as if he hadn't quite heard her correctly. "Madam? Are…are you sure?" He didn't have to wait for an answer to his question, as the look in Hinata's eyes was all he needed to know. Despite the humid temperature that sat underneath the mountain, he felt a cold chill spike up his arms and over his shoulders, before turning to his fellow guard with terror in his eyes.

The two of them hurried out of the room to prepare their forces as quickly as possible, while Hinata started to move out of her chamber towards the war room.

"Madam, if you don't stay still, we won't be able to heal you properly," complained one of the medics that had sealed the cut on her head and was doing his best to wipe the blood from her face.

"Do what you can, but don't interrupt my work," said Hinata, ignoring their protests as she dragged herself towards the war room. She left Ino's body to sit in her chamber for the moment, while everyone else readied themselves in accordance with her earlier command.

Once she reached the war room, she noticed that the young scout Tokugawa was standing around with a look of confusion on his face. While she was dragging her medical shinobi along with her, it was clear that she'd been in a dangerous fight, but the scout seemed more worried about the shinobi that were now running around, arming themselves and speaking to their families.

"What is going on, madam? Why is everyone running around like the end of the world has come?"

"The leader has enacted code black, son," said one of the older medical shinobi, while he scrunched up a bloody rag and tossed it into a nearby trash container. "Don't you know what that means?"

Tokugawa shrugged in a way that only someone of his age could pull off, "What does that mean?"

Hinata leaned on the table that had the map spread out on it, feeling her strength returning to her and the sharpness of her vision had begun to return in earnest. She glanced over at the young scout and gave him the most accurate description of their situation that she could possibly say.

"They found us."

oOoOoOo

The previous times they'd been discovered by the Quiraji, it was usually a single squad of scouts or a mobile column of troops, never more than fifty troops at once. The shinobi rebellion force would take out every shinobi without prejudice before picking up everything they had and moving as far away from the location as possible. It had kept them safe for the past years, though each time they lost people that were impossible to replace.

This was not one of those times. Under the cover of darkness, groups of White Assassins teleported to selected locations where the shinobi scouts were positioned, while Red Warriors escorted Black Robes towards the entrances. Behind the specialist troops came the common Quiraji soldiers, whose job it was to clean up what the specialists ignored. When the Black Robes reached the entrances they each fired the same cloud of green smoke into the openings, while the Red Warriors protected them from the shinobi that the White Assassins missed.

This wasn't an accidental discovery or half-hearted attack. The Quiraji had come to finish the job they had started a long time ago.

The moment she saw through her Byakugan that the Quiraji were flooding the bunker with poisonous gas Hinata ordered everyone to get out of the bunker as quickly as they could. She knew it would likely deliver them into the waiting blades of the Quiraji at every entrance that they weren't flooding with gas, but they would last longer outside of the bunker than they would within.

Ignoring the protests of the medical shinobi, who complained that the poison from Ino's knife would continue to spread through her body if she moved too much, Hinata ordered them to evacuate with everyone else and charged as quickly as she could to the nearest entrance. Her hands were still covered in blood and her anger was beginning to peak again as she crashed into the closest Black Robe she could find, holding her breath to stop as much of the poisonous gas as she could.

She knew it was probably invading her system regardless and shortening her life-span considerably, but she didn't care.

She'd seen a blank area in her Byakugan sight and that was her target. Nothing else mattered.

A pair of Red Warriors tried to attack her with long blades, but Hinata parried the blades by hitting the flats of the blades with her hands before shooting across the battlefield faster than they could follow.

As she covered ground quickly towards her target, Hinata kept an eye on her forces and her heart sank at the sheer number of people she was losing in the battle. The Quiraji had come in force, and the rebellion had been undermanned since its inception. They'd been fighting against the inevitable for too long and didn't have the strength to stop an enemy as thorough as the Quiraji.

She cancelled her doujutsu and focused her regular vision on the tall man that was leading the Quiraji attack. Every attack that she'd led against the Quiraji had been with him in mind as her target, but he'd avoided her at every turn, mocking her as she went.

But now here he stood, almost inviting her to come at him.

She was going to take the bait and tear him apart. Her anger at him was so great that she couldn't even think about anything except her vendetta against him. The fact that innocent shinobi were being slaughtered no longer factored into her mind.

As she came into range, she cut her speed and stood at mid range from her target, clenching her fists angrily and glaring at him intently. In the years since she'd last fought him, he hadn't changed at all, though most of the time she'd fought people under his control.

This was the man that had sent Ino to her death. She wouldn't leave the battlefield unless it was with his head in her hands.

Sensou stepped forward in his red plate armour and a wicked smile spread across his twisted face. "I guess that present I sent you wasn't able to finish the job. Did you like it? I wanted to make it particularly personal. She was feisty at first. But they all submit eventually."

Hinata's eyes blazed at his words, though she recognised he was baiting her into attacking him without thought for her own safety. Without her leadership, the rebellion would crumble with little resistance. Even though she had no real faith in their ability to fight back any more, she was the cornerstone of shinobi power that remained in the world.

Seeing that she wasn't going to leap at that, Sensou revised his approach and took a step towards her with his arms open. "How does it feel, knowing that you had to kill yet another person that you cared about? Did you enjoy the feeling of her life fading beneath your feet? Perhaps you are closer to being one of us than you thought."

At that, Hinata's mind snapped and she let out a roar of fury that spoke of the years of anguish that had been building within her. Her body exploded with wind spiritual energy and she shot forward towards her hated enemy at top speed. Even with her superior vision granted to her from her Byakugan, Hinata could only see the red of her enemy's armour and the arrogant expression on his face.

She was determined to remove his head from his shoulders and pound his body into dust until her hands were soaked in blood. Nothing else would satisfy her any more.

In a way, she was glad that she was the only one of their old group that remained. That way none of them had to see what she'd been forced to become.

With her body covered in spiritual energy, Hinata sped towards her foe, not even noticing the other Quiraji leaders that were approaching the battlefield. Her spiritual energy collected around her fists in a wild flurry of blades until they formed into long drills, easily able to pierce through any force she threw herself at. She didn't care that the technique was doing serious damage to her arms; she wasn't in the proper state of mind to cover herself in physical energy to offset the damage.

She only cared about offense.

Within seconds she got into range of the Quiraji leader, who still hadn't moved from his unguarded position. He didn't seem worried about her attack in the slightest, even as she skidded to a halt in front of him and shot one of her hands forward with the intention of gutting him where he stood.

Sensou still didn't react. He seemed content to let her kill him.

Despite the high speed of her attack, Hinata's strike never reached its intended target. Just as her blow looked to pierce through Sensou's body, a large shape came out of her flank and slammed itself into her, driving her into the ground to the side of her target. The sudden attack caused Hinata's spiritual energy to spiral out of control, cutting up both her attacker and herself at the same time.

When she came out of her blood haze to pick herself up from the ground, Hinata noticed the large beast that had attacked her. It had been torn up badly from her Kattoken attack, but it was clearly one of the oversized beasts that had been hunting down her shinobi one after the other. She turned her head to see a woman clad in gold and white armour walking towards her with an arrow notched in her exquisitely adorned bow.

The rebellion leader leapt to her feet as the Quiraji leader shot the arrow straight at her. Hinata instantly covered herself in a cloak of spiritual energy and parried the arrow so that it flew past the side of her head.

At the appearance of a second foe, Hinata recovered her mind and refocused herself. She'd forgotten both herself and her own style of fighting, and it had nearly gotten her killed. Despite the fact that she was now facing two Quiraji leaders, Hinata took a moment to calm herself before sliding into her Hyuuga-style form and staring down her opponents.

"You should have killed her when you had the chance," chastised Shouri as she notched a new arrow into her bow and brought up a pair of massive panthers to her side.

Sensou snorted and placed his hands on his side as he turned to face their opponent, "Where would be the fun in that? I prefer it when they take themselves out."

Hinata wasn't able to use her Byakugan to fight, as she'd learnt many years ago that seeing the Quiraji leaders through her black and white vision caused her serious pain, but she didn't need her 360 degree vision to know that the shinobi she'd gathered at their mountain bunker were being slaughtered by waves after waves of Quiraji soldiers. All the preparations and safeguards they put into place for such an attack had failed purely because of the sheer amount of strength the Quiraji had brought against them.

With her own techniques, Hinata knew that she could likely escape the battlefield to fight another day, but the Hyuuga kunoichi refused to even entertain such a possibility. There was no value in being the last shinobi, doomed to be hunted down and slaughtered like a wild animal.

This was the time and the place. She would make her stand here.

She knew she couldn't save her people. With such opponents facing against her, she would be taken down and killed the moment she turned her back on them.

While she couldn't save them, she could avenge them. That was her mission now.

"She looks focused," said Sensou with no lack of amusement in his voice. "So determined."

Shouri ignored her compatriot and watched their shinobi enemy carefully; she was wary of the previous time they had fought. The furious look in her white eyes was still there, but it had a focus that made her dangerous.

Hinata shifted her weight onto her front foot and prepared herself to attack her two opponents at once. The beast-master wasn't very strong in close combat, and Sensou was only dangerous once he built up a rhythm with his weaponry. In that knowledge, Hinata, as a close-combat specialist, had an advantage that she wasn't about to not take advantage of.

Yet her instincts told her it wasn't the right time to attack. Her instincts were proven correct as a bolt of water screamed through the air towards her back. In a movement that looked more like a dance than a taijutsu manoeuvre, Hinata spun around and collected the water attacking her in a sliding motion with her own spiritual energy before directing it at the person that had attacked her with it.

The water splashed against an invisible barrier and fell to the ground as the attacker was revealed. He still wore the heavy set of black robes that she recognised, but his appearance was much more youthful than the last time she had fought him.

That could only mean that he'd been very busy before coming to face her with his companions. By turning her back to confront him, Hinata had left herself open to attack by both Sensou and Shouri.

The panthers tried to flank her, while Shouri shot her arrow directly into the area between her shoulders. While that was happening, Sensou shot forward with a long blade that would have skewered a wild beast. As she knew those attacks were coming, Hinata kept her white eyes on Kyoukou in front of her. He seemed to be gathered his energy for a blast attack, looking to sandwich her between the attacks.

She was no fool though. Hinata knew that she only had one avenue of movement available to her. With a culmination of chakra in her feet, she leapt up as high as she could, easily clearly two dozen metres off the ground. Seeing his target disappear from his sight, Sensou stopped himself from completing his attack, while Shouri's panthers nearly crashed into each other before they were struck by Kyoukou blast of fire that had been aimed at consuming the rebellion leader.

While in the air, Hinata used the moment to re-adjust her position and prepare her descent for a direct attack at the red-armoured warrior that had taunted her earlier. With enough force and momentum she knew she'd be able to get through his defences, and he likely still underestimated her despite all these years.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was all she had. Her injuries and fatigue had started to pile up and she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to fight at her full speed and strength. While she had that advantage, she swore she would at least take him out.

Once she landed back on the ground, just to the side of the burning panthers, Hinata pumped as much strength into her legs and shot towards Sensou with her hands poised in spears to pierce through his armour. Her opponent seemed surprised by her ferocity, but still brought his sword up to bear and seemed in the perfect position to counter her attack.

He never got the chance to attack her as a powerful force moved through the air and slammed into the rebellion leader, sending Hinata spiralling into a nearby rock formation. She crashed through them and felt several of her bones crack and break at the impact, far more powerful than any of her previous opponents could have produced.

With blood once again running down her soft features, Hinata could see through her eyes a large figure striding towards her, shirtless and without scar. Blazing black eyes regarded her with cold determination and hate that she couldn't hope to match.

"_He's come for you, my love."_

Hinata blinked and saw the vision once again, standing between her and the large man that had blasted her away. It looked different this time, younger than when she last saw him. He wore the same youthful smile that had first drawn her to him; he even wore the same outfit he had at that time.

The image was waved away as the Quiraji leader stepped forward and motioned with his hand to wrench her to her feet with his ability, putting pressure on her from all sides to prevent her from moving.

"You are too brazen with your attacks," he said with a forceful tone. "Even if she is a broken shinobi with nothing left to live for, you shouldn't underestimate her."

"We weren't underestimating her," said Sensou with annoyance clear in his voice. "She just surprised us, is all."

"Everything is under control, Father," said Shouri slowly, putting down her bow.

Kyoukou made no comment as he walked towards their leader and turned his attention to their enemy. Walking behind Benkei without making a sound was the last of the Four, her feet shifting underneath her pale cloak that left a trail of dead grass and rocks behind her. She had not participated in the battle at all; her existence was to stay at his side and nothing more.

She was a weapon that was no longer necessary.

"You won't ever get us all," spat Hinata with as much vitriol as she could muster. "You'll never win."

Benkei released his control and used enough force to bring her to her knees, "We already have. You are the last of your kind."

Hinata tried to stand to her feet, but Benkei slammed down his fist and she felt the crushing force slamming her down into the ground again. Blood had started to trickle down the front of her face and it didn't take a medical shinobi of her abilities to realise that she didn't have long to live.

"Why do you continue to resist us?" asked Benkei with legitimate confusion in his voice. "Everyone you know or cared about is dead. Your world has disappeared and can never return. Yet you seem to want to stand and fight against the inevitable."

Struggling under the pressure that his spiritual energy put her under, Hinata spat a globule of blood onto the ground and coughed painfully. "So long…as I draw breath…I swear I will never give up."

"Should we kill her, sir?" asked Shouri, pulling back an arrow in her steel bow and aiming it at the Hyuuga clan leader's head.

Benkei waved away her bow with his arm and knelt down next to the defeated kunoichi, grabbing her chin with his large hand and bringing up her broken face so he could see it with his own eyes. "Why do you persist?"

Through heavy breathing and blood filling up her throat, Hinata stared defiantly into the dead eyes of the Quiraji leader and said the only thing that mattered to her at this point in her life.

"Because that's my way of the ninja."

Upon saying that, she spat a large amount of blood into the Quiraji leader's face and hurled herself up to her feet. She didn't have much strength left to fight with, but her statement hadn't been made in vain. With a kick of physical energy in her legs, she leapt over Benkei's head and landed directly in front of Sensou, who seemed just as surprised as the others at her defiance. Despite that, he still reached out to place his mark on her to place her under his control, but Hinata was too fast for his hand to catch.

In a fluid motion that would have made her father beam with pride, Hinata weaved her way around his hands and placed both of her hands on the centre of his armour plate. Pumping as much physical energy into her hands as she could muster, Hinata glared at the Quiraji leader through her white eyes with burning hatred. "This is for Neji-niisan, you son of a bitch."

Using chakra, Hinata would have been able to shut down all of her opponent's chakra points from this distance. However, as the Quiraji leader didn't have chakra points for her to attack, Hinata would instead use physical energy in a surgical manner.

In less than a second, her physical energy invaded Sensou's body through his armour and shredded his insides. The Quiraji leader was barely a shell by the time Hinata was finished with him, though it took the vast majority of her remaining energy to accomplish the deed.

In that moment of attack, an arrow pierced through the back of her shoulder as Shouri drew another arrow, while Kyoukou reached forward to suck the life from her with a single touch. Hinata didn't make a sound at her injury, using the momentum to turn around and look at Benkei as he advanced towards her, wiping her blood from his face. The Quiraji leader called down his subordinates and stepped forward to take care of her himself.

With an arrow lodged in her shoulder and her energy drained from killing Sensou, Hinata wasn't a significant threat to him. Benkei had come to finish the last of the shinobi rebellion with his own fists, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Knowing that she was already dead, Hinata did the only thing she could think of. With a roar of fury she charged forward with all the energy that remained in her body, praying that she could get a single shot in.

The Quiraji leader pushed out a hand to send a wave of pressure to crush the young woman, but Hinata's flexibility and speed allowed her to slip past his attack and stab a hand towards his muscular face. She didn't have enough physical energy to use a powerful technique, but she had enough strength left to make a sharp blade with a spear-hand strike aimed at Benkei's throat. Should it hit, she knew that she'd be able to seriously injure the Quiraji leader, perhaps even kill him.

Benkei moved his head out of the way of the strike like it was nothing, though not quickly enough to completely avoid her attack. A small cut appeared at the side of his neck as he reached out and clutched her side with one of his hands, slamming her back down into the ground. It was only a light cut, barely deep enough to draw blood.

But it was enough to enrage the Quiraji leader, to the point that he wasn't going to give her any final words.

Without a hint of ceremony or mercy, Benkei crushed Hinata into the ground with the full force of his strength, putting an end to the shinobi rebellion once and for all.

Stepping away from the body, Benkei looked out over the soldiers that were cleaning up the shinobi corpses with the stare of a conqueror. He felt at his neck with a hand for a moment before glancing down to see a single drop of blood on his hand. He scoffed at the notion and turned back to his subordinates.

Kyoukou nudged the kunoichi's body with his foot, regretting the fact that he hadn't been able to destroy her himself. "What should we do with the body?"

"Leave it for the worms," said Benkei with a triumphant nod. "The time of shinobi is over."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Again, just to avoid any confusion, this is a 'hypothetical' chapter. This hasn't necessarily happened, nor will it necessarily happen. Unless they lose. I'm a bit of a stinker in that way, aren't I? I do what I can.

Please don't hate me for making Hinata that way for this Bonus Chapter. I've wanted to explore the 'troubled' leader idea for quite a while now and she gave me the perfect opportunity to give it a go. If I had more space I would have explored it further, but this is just a Bonus Chapter. I hope I conveyed her troubles properly without doing a disservice to her character, while still making the scenario interesting to read. It was interesting to write her as an angry troubled person. Not that I want to continue writing her this way, I prefer Hinata in the rest of my story.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	89. Chapter 81 Our Ideological Differences

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 81 – Our Ideological Differences

**A/N**: I'd like to thank everyone that has read my story and left a review for me. I never thought I'd get anywhere close to 700 reviews and I've really learnt a lot from them.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the enemy's motivations would make sense.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The battle for the chakra-nullifying field continues. Darui led a contingent of Kumogakure hunters in an attempt to destroy their designated node. However, they faced a very unusual Black Robe leader by the name of Shen. He seemed to have multiple personalities and also seemed to be impervious to harm, while being able to absorb and send back their chakra-based attacks. Darui's own Laser Circus took down a large number of his own shinobi, before the Kumogakure leader died in a vain attempt to take out the Quiraji leader. With the slaughter of their comrades, the Kumogakure shinobi retreated back to their home village, having failed their mission.

The final node that came under attack was found by the surviving Sound Four and their contingent of Otogakure shinobi. Despite having zero teamwork outside of battle, the Sound Four worked in tandem to take the battle directly to the Quiraji, taking out a large number of soldiers with the only real casualties coming from the White Assassin that led the enemy soldiers. Eventually it became clear they had to remove her from the equation and they made a trap with Tayuya as the bait to crush the Quiraji leader between two Rashoumon gates. The Otogakure kunoichi had both of her ears cut off by the White Assassin in the process, but Jirobou was able to destroy the node, thus bringing down the chakra-nullifying field.

With the field down, the strike team moved in on the ruins of Konoha cautiously, but with haste. As they approached a strange projectile was fired into the sky before splitting off into thousands of different directions, however they couldn't do anything except dismiss it as a signal flare for the final battle to happen. Neji knew his people at the Fire Temple would likely come under attack, but he pressed on with the survivors of Konoha and representatives of every surviving shinobi village, the Mizukage and Kazekage at his side.

As they came into the battlefield, the doors of the single building opened and the Four emerged to greet them.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The woods were silent. There were no sounds of birds or animals, no sound of running water from the nearby river that led into the Land of Rivers to the west. The air seemed to press in from every side.<p>

That was the first time they came.

In setting up their defences at the Fire Temple, the Otokage had ensured that there was no blind side that the enemy could exploit and hundreds of traps that would make any enemy force hesitate before attacking their makeshift home en masse.

The Quiraji came anyway. Ranks upon ranks of Quiraji soldiers flooded the open fields that surrounded the Fire Temple, pressing the defenders with siege weapons and specialist warriors. They had the numbers and the strength to overrun the defensive positions, yet the shinobi defenders held.

However, many hours after the first attacks had come there was a change in the battle.

The Quiraji force had retreated for the time, while the defenders caught their breath, removed their dead and resupplied themselves to fight again once they returned. The defence was a compilation of shinobi from the four villages that had come together in the Land of Fire, from the primary Otogakure force that defended their civilians, to the ANBU that had accompanied the Kazekage and had been tasked to remain behind by Kankuro. It also included a fair number of Kirigakure shinobi that were deemed unnecessary by the Swordsmen when they'd left to destroy the Quiraji node, and also a small contingent of Kumogakure shinobi that were too injured to accompany Darui on his mission.

There was also a single Konoha survivor in the defence and she was ready to tear her hair out with stress.

Ino breathed out heavily and called for the next patient as the stream of injured shinobi continued to pour in. The medical shinobi of Otogakure were more combat-orientated rather than actual medicine shinobi, so she'd been given the monumental task of delegating each patient according to their needs and the doctors that could look after them. Many of the shinobi that came in to see her suffered from loss of chakra or exhaustion, to which she used a marker to put a circle on them and send them to the younger shinobi that could administer food and water and proper rest before they went back onto the defensive line.

But then there were the shinobi that had come into contact with the Quiraji specialists and had either suffered grievous injuries or severe poisoning from the enemy's weapons. Those she had the duty of marking a cross on them and giving them to the shinobi that would keep them comfortable.

It was a horrible job, but it stopped them from being overwhelmed, and allowed her to concentrate her efforts on the people she could actually save. She wasn't sure when the last time she'd slept was, or when she would get the chance, but by the sounds of battle outside the designated medical building, she didn't believe that they would get any rest anytime soon.

While many of the leaders of Otogakure had left the Fire Temple to either strike at the machine node or scout through the area to ensure that they didn't get blind-sided by Quiraji forces, leading the defence of the area fell to Dosu. He hadn't been sure whether the Otokage's decision to leave him in charge of the defence had been the right decision, but the moment the Quiraji had attacked the Fire Temple he had rallied the multi-village force and used their weaponry to repel the attackers both ruthlessly and efficiently. His confidence in his leadership abilities grew, even though he was still a relatively soft-spoken shinobi that only ever needed to say things once for them to get done.

That was until they saw the objects flying through the sky, late in the day. There were hundreds of them that screamed through the sky at a break-neck pace, flying far over the Fire Temple area with a burning trail behind them. As there had been a lull in the fighting, the shinobi took a moment to look at the objects with morbid fascination, though they all knew that it couldn't mean anything good.

However, the Quiraji soldiers that had temporarily pulled back from the fighting reacted to the projectiles very differently. They cheered and roared at the sight of them before retreating back into the forests around the Fire Temple, seemingly satisfied that they had fought enough for one day.

At the head of the exhausted line of shinobi defenders, Dosu watched the retreat with his good eye suspiciously, wary of the false hope that it may instil. He asked one of the Kumogakure hunter shinobi to get a reading on the situation, to which the kunoichi replied that the Quiraji appeared to have retreated from all points and were not showing any sign of coming back for the next little while.

It all seemed too convenient to him. The enemy had the numbers and the strength to overwhelm them, and should have already done so. It wasn't just the strength of their defence that had held them back, it felt like there was some underlying plot that had yet to reveal itself.

He didn't want to, but Dosu knew he'd probably need to have a conversation with the head of their scientific division. She had a penchant for pulling miracle technologies out of her rear-end and he could really use something like that at this stage.

He just hated her attitude. It was tiring even at the best of times.

Back in the medical building, Ino got the word that the fighting had stopped temporarily, and the flow of injured had stopped. She breathed out a sigh of relief, thankful that she'd only needed to mark a few crosses from the last push and could take a breather before going to treat some of the injured that still stood a chance of recovery.

An orderly came up to her and offered her a water bottle and a headache pill, without her having to ask. Ino proclaimed to him that she loved him for all eternity and sent him off to look after the other doctors while she took a seat on a nearby bench. She took a long draught from her water bottle and glanced up at the ceiling with her eyes wide, trying her best to stay away.

Maybe coming to the Fire Temple hadn't been the best idea in the world. She'd never been more tired in her life and she felt like she was sending more shinobi to their deaths than saving them.

"_Mummy?"_

Ino's head perked up at the young female voice in her head, forcing herself more awake and sitting up properly, _"What is it, honey? Are you okay?"_ She didn't have the telepathic ability that her adoptive daughter had, but she knew that Airi could hear her thoughts as clearly as if she did.

"_Mummy there are voices in the walls."_ Her daughter's voice didn't sound distressed or concerned, rather it sounded like curiosity than anything else.

"_That's okay honey; you're probably just hearing the other Otogakure civilians in the other underground areas. Shouldn't you be asleep by now?"_

She could almost hear her daughter shaking her head stubbornly; though not for the reason she would have initially thought. _"It's not like that, Mummy; I know where the other people are. These voices sound…empty. And they keep moving around in the walls."_

Ino was ready to dismiss her daughter's senses as just her imagination, but something about the tone of voice that she was using told the exhausted doctor that something wasn't right. The timing of her sensing an odd change in the underground areas and the withdrawal of the Quiraji forces felt too suspicious to her.

One of the Otogakure shinobi defenders ran past her, looking like he was looking for someone in particular. Despite her exhaustion, Ino wrenched herself up and followed after him, asking him whether they'd had any word from the underground civilians. He could only say that they hadn't heard anything for hours now, and how that was odd, but he was too busy to help her further.

Ino knew she was probably grasping at straws, but she couldn't help feel like something had gone terribly wrong and her daughter had picked up on it just as it was happening.

Then the thought occurred to her.

The Otogakure civilian population lived beneath the Fire Temple in an underground area that had been carved out specifically for them. All of the shinobi defenders that had been designated to guard them had been brought up to the top to defend against the Quiraji attackers, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

If she was the enemy general, she would use the lull in combat to infiltrate into the shinobi civilian ranks and slaughter their main reason for defending the area. It would destroy their moral and they would collapse in on themselves, thus not presenting much of a threat to the Quiraji invaders.

It was a theory that sounded far too likely for her liking. She'd left her daughter in the care of a group of Otogakure mothers in the underground complex. She was right in the line of fire.

Gritting her teeth, Ino made a decision and sped out of the medical building as fast as she could. If they'd been infiltrated, she needed to keep her daughter safe. It sounded selfish, but at that moment she didn't care about anything else.

Ino wasn't an idiot though; she knew that she was both exhausted and out-of-practice in combat situations. She knew she would need back-up, otherwise even if she found Quiraji infiltrators she wouldn't be able to take them all down. With the level of authority she had been given by Neji and the other Kages, as the highest level doctor in the Fire Temple, it wasn't difficult for her to convince a small group of random shinobi to accompany her down into the underground complex, under the orders that they were to help her discover whether the civilians were still safe or not.

With her squad at her heel, Ino ran through the underground tunnels as fast as her legs could carry her. She hadn't heard from her daughter for a while, but she knew that she hadn't been attacked by the Quiraji infiltrators just yet. It was just a feeling she had; a mother's intuition.

Turning a stone corner, she skidded to a halt and pulled back, putting up her arm to stop her squad of shinobi from going out into the corridor. She moved her head slightly out to get a better glimpse before pulling back and reaching into the pack at her belt.

The shinobi with her knew better than to ask why she had stopped, though her signal for silence told them that they should follow her lead. She pulled out a pair of green vials from her pack and showed them to her shinobi before making an obvious motion of holding her breath. The other shinobi nodded and did the same while Ino moved to the corner's edge and hurled the vials down the corridor.

They waited until they heard the glass of the vials shatter and the choking sounds of their enemies, but only when Ino gave them the signal did they move into the corridor. Lying on the floor was a group of groaning Quiraji soldiers, struggling and grasping at their throats as the green cloud that had enveloped them quickly dissipated. Without waiting for an order, the mixture of shinobi shot forward and killed the gasping Quiraji soldiers without mercy, still holding their breaths before moving further down the corridor. Only when Ino gave the all-clear signal did they take another breath, while Ino got her bearings.

"_Airi, honey, if you can hear me, I need to know where the bad people are."_ She didn't have the abilities that her daughter did, but she was hoping that she was listening in and would be able to hear her. The civilians underground were spread out and she wasn't too sure which section she was in. It was clear that the Quiraji had infiltrated into the Fire Temple and that their intention was the slaughter of their civilians, but if her squad could collapse whatever tunnel they'd come in by then they could stop the slaughter before it got too much for them to handle.

She only received silence.

After a few moments Ino swore loudly and turned to the Otogakure shinobi in her accompanying squad, "Where is the closest exit for the civilians? The one for if the Temple gets overrun."

The Otogakure kunoichi's eyes narrowed at the implication of an outsider correctly guessing their evacuation protocol, but she swallowed her distrust and indicated to the right-most corridor. "There is a single path that leads far away towards the edge of the forest, hidden by a rock formation on the outside. That is the only way into the underground network; we collapsed every other tunnel."

"Then that's where they're coming from," concluded one of the Kirigakure medical shinobi that had come with Ino.

"Not necessarily," warned Ino, "but it's as good a place as any to start. Keep tight together and expect the enemy at every turn."

The shinobi voiced their compliance and followed the blonde doctor as they moved quickly through the corridors of the underground complex. The battle above raged between the invading Quiraji soldiers and the shinobi defenders, but they couldn't think about their comrades fighting and dying above them. They had been given orders to protect the Otogakure civilians at all costs by their leaders and saw them as representing their own people. If they lost their families, then winning the war would have little meaning.

oOoOoOo

When they'd arrived at the civilian living area that led directly into the escape tunnel, the shinobi had steeled themselves for a gruesome scene.

However, when they ran into the open area and saw that all the civilians appeared to be untouched and confused at their sudden appearance, they each breathed out a sigh of relief. Ino asked a young man in dirty clothing whether there had been any Quiraji soldiers in the area, to which he could only shrug and turn back to his friends.

"They mustn't have come through this way," said the Sunagakure ANBU in the squad. "We should check the other areas quickly."

"_That doesn't make sense,"_ thought Ino while looking around the open area. It was clear that the clustered civilians had been living there for some time, but there were too many things about it that didn't make sense. _"They had a clear way into the civilian areas from that tunnel and that group of soldiers didn't look like they'd fought anyone on their way in. They hadn't been expecting us."_

With her mind unsure about the situation, Ino placed her hands into her family's handseal and concentrated her senses on expanding out over the entire area. Her Yamanaka techniques had been woefully under-practised with her work as a medical shinobi and her more aggressive ninjutsu, but Ino still knew how to examine people with the abilities her father had taught her before his death.

"Is something wrong?" asked the Kirigakure shinobi at her side, recognising that the Yamanaka kunoichi wasn't satisfied with what they'd found.

The other shinobi hesitated at his question and stepped back from the civilians, who seemed to have all stopped what they were doing and noticed the shinobi's presence fully. It took her a moment, but the Otogakure kunoichi in the squad noticed something particularly odd and found her hand drifting towards the kunai in her pouch.

"Where are the children?"

Ino's eyes snapped open and she cancelled her sensory technique when she realised the information she had gathered couldn't be disputed. Her green eyes scanned the room in horror as she saw many of the civilians approaching them with more caution than would have been warranted. She shifted her handseal and shouted a warning to the shinobi that had accompanied her.

"They're not ours…"

At that, the civilians within the underground complex hurled themselves at the shinobi squad, pulling knifes and blades out of concealed locations, looking to overwhelm them before they could defend themselves.

If Ino's senses hadn't picked up on the distinct lack of chakra within the area, they would have succeeded. She jumped back from a sweeping sword strike from the young man that she'd talked to earlier, still running through handseals and accumulating chakra. Her companion shinobi quickly moved to defend themselves, recognising the civilians for what they really were and retaliating quickly.

The Otogakure kunoichi in their ranks was the only one of them not to take a backwards step and instead hurled herself into the enemies with a roar of grief-stricken fury. In her hands were a pair of curved kunai laced with a poison that had been designed by their scientists to attack Quiraji systems directly with the lightest touch. They were both corrosive and only required her to touch the Quiraji soldiers' skin with them to enact the effect.

She slammed them into the enemy's chests as far as she could, feeling the sprays of blood and gore on her face before turning her furious visage onto her next victim. She'd hadn't said it, but the rest of the squad knew why she had gone on such a rampage.

Her family had been in this area.

Ino slammed her hands on the ground and activated her technique: "Suiton: Mizubousou!" (Water Element: Rampaging Water). Upon activation, a pair of water tendrils emerged from the ground and swept into the ranks of disguised civilians, knocking many of them off their feet and giving the shinobi ground a moment of breathing space. She already had her hands ready to complete another water technique, but the Sunagakure ANBU in her squad moved in front of her with his sword in hand and shook his head.

"Conserve your chakra, Yamanaka. We can handle this rabble."

The Kirigakure shinobi in their group scoffed at the notion and stepped to his side, "I wouldn't go so far as to call them rabble. More like cattle to the slaughter."

"Arrogance is a fine trait, when applied properly," lectured the Sunagakure ANBU, though there was a hint of amusement beneath his mask.

"_Mummy?"_

Ino shot up to her feet at the sound in her head and tried to concentrate on its source. Her sensory abilities weren't very accurate underneath so much rock and stone, but that didn't mean she couldn't communicate back. She tried her best to ask where she was in her thoughts.

"_Mummy, the bad people are coming! I can hear them in the walls. They move in the shadows! It's so scary!" _

The Yamanaka kunoichi bit at her lip in frustration; she still didn't have a location on her daughter or what kind of force was moving towards her. "The other civilians might still be alive," she said to the two shinobi in front of her. "This is just a distraction force."

"I think we're sufficiently distracted," said the Sunagakure ANBU, leaping forward to slash at one of the disguised civilians before jumping back from the retaliation strike and steadying himself. He indicated to their Otogakure companion, who was fighting in the middle of the enemy force like it was her last stand, stabbing and kicking with such force that even overwhelming numbers didn't faze her.

The Kirigakure shinobi cracked his neck loudly as he activated a water technique and blasted away a group of five disguised civilians with a ball of water. "You should go, Yamanaka. We can handle this lot."

If she'd had the time, Ino would have argued that her place was at their side, but with time against them and the Quiraji force moving towards the other civilians she didn't have that luxury. She took a single moment to look at the battle before turning on her heel and speeding down the opening at their backs as fast as she could. It was a different entrance than the one they'd come through, so she hoped it led to one of the other civilian areas that must've been connected to the one she had just left.

While their blonde companion fled to help the other civilians, the oddly matched pair of shinobi glanced at each other for a fleeting moment before turning their attentions to the mob in front of them. The numbers were absurdly against their favour, but that had never troubled them in the past.

"Care to place a wager?" asked the Kirigakure shinobi while running through handseals quickly.

"We're encouraged not to make bets in Sunagakure," said the ANBU in a stern tone, flicking his sword at a pair of charging civilians and sending them flying away with a slash of wind chakra that cut them to shreds. "But I think both of us would lose to her," he added, indicating to their female companion in the thick of the enemy.

"You aren't wrong there," observed the Kirigakure medical shinobi with a frown. "Should we go to her side?"

"Something tells me she can't tell friend from foe anymore."

His companion from the Land of Water again couldn't find fault in what he was saying. He turned his attention back to the disguised civilians that were brandishing long swords and clapped his hands together powerfully. "Let's get this done then."

oOoOoOo

"_Airi, you will have to give me directions,"_ thought Ino, hoping that her daughter could hear her. She'd run through two separate civilian living areas and found them completely desolate of life. There hadn't been any signs of battle, or anything else for that matter. If the Quiraji were doing what she thought they were, they had likely come through the same area just before.

She was so distracted by the thought of her daughter being caught up in an attack that she almost stumbled into a Quiraji ambush that had been set up in one of the corridors between living areas. As she crossed one of the stone thresholds she triggered a trip wire that made a loud buzzing sound throughout the corridor. She barely had time to run through handseals before a large group of armed Quiraji soldiers flooded into the corridor from nearby and roared out a challenge at her before charging.

Before she'd taken in Airi, Ino would have claimed that she was a better combatant than she was a medical shinobi. She hadn't been a particularly ruthless fighter, but she knew how to get the job done.

That was just a memory now that her daughter was in danger.

Ino didn't waste a second in cancelling her ninjutsu technique and reached into her medical pack at her belt. She drew a single red vial and hurled it at her charging foes like she would a shuriken. From the speed of their charge and the small size of the vial, the front pair of Quiraji soldiers weren't able to stop it crashing against the front of their armour and unleashing the chemicals within. It was a specialty medicine that had been designed to dissolve metallic materials within a patient's body within seconds from a single drop, though it required a medical shinobi's control to maintain as, like any good medicine, it was derived from a natural poison.

Ino didn't exercise any control over the virulent medicine. It ate through the metal of their armour in an instant before burning its way through the metallic elements of their bodies before leaping to the nearest metal object it could devour: the other Quiraji soldiers. The struggle only lasted moments before all of the ambushing soldiers were screaming as they were devoured by the chemical. It was an ugly death, but Ino didn't have the time to consider mercy.

Not that she would have.

Placing a hand on the ground a safe distance away, she sent a thin cover of water over the flailing Quiraji soldiers on the ground, just enough for her to gather chakra on her feet and run along the side of the wall with a decent run-up to leap over the bodies. She could have commanded the chemical not to attack the metal on her instead, but that required a level of concentration and chakra that she didn't have to spare right now.

Turning a quick corner, she could see an opening. It was faint, but she could hear the sound of people talking. And children screaming.

Ino didn't hesitate. She didn't even slow down, speeding into the civilian living area and taking in everything she could in an instant. The stink of death was already in the air and she could see a large number of civilians had already been killed and stripped of their clothing. To her disgust, she could groups of Quiraji soldiers piling up the bodies into groups and covering them in some type of material would that likely masked the smell.

They were committed to their actions, and they would have to pay for their brutality.

"_Mummy! You came!"_ Airi's voice sounded both surprised and hopeful; it didn't take Ino long to sense her presence at the back of the remaining Otogakure survivors with the other children they were trying to save. The Quiraji didn't look like they were in a huge rush to slaughter them all, though there were five White Assassins that were summarily executing them one at a time without prejudice.

Having made a loud entrance from tripping over the sentry wire, the Quiraji had turned to see her arrival, though most of them dismissed her presence and went back to their work. A group of twenty armoured Quiraji soldiers led by one of the White Assassins approached her slowly, clearing not seeing her as significant enough of a threat.

In her current condition, they weren't wrong either. She had more than enough chakra, but the presence of the Quiraji specialists spelt her death, as she had no means of defeating White Assassins on her own. Even her medicines that she could use as projectiles would be easily avoided by their teleportation abilities.

Feeling desperate, Ino quickly popped a pair of soldier pills into her mouth and crunched down on them with the edge of her thumb before swiping it on the middle of her palm and running through handseals and backing away from the approaching Quiraji force.

If she couldn't handle them, she knew some people that might.

Pumping every tiny bit of chakra from her body into the technique, Ino dropped to the ground and slammed both her hands onto the stone. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Normally she was able to regulate the amount of chakra that her summoning technique required, but as the cloud of smoke appeared in front of her, Ino almost fell unconscious instantly at the strength that was sapped from her with the activation of the technique. She'd been hoping to summon one of the more powerful creatures under her contract, but the creature that appeared was nothing like she had been expecting.

A bipedal tiger in shimmering silver armour stepped out of the smoke in a long stride, intercepting the Quiraji soldiers who were just as surprised as her at his appearance. Faster than the Quiraji soldiers could react to, it brought up a single bladed gauntlet and swatted three of them into the nearby wall like they were flies. The White Assassin disappeared into thin air and reappeared in the tiger's blind spot, its blades posed to drive them into the gap between its armour and the fur of the back of its neck.

But the tiger wasn't about to fall for such a trick. If he turned around to face his attacker he would have taken the blow across his neck. Instead, the tiger pulled up its arm and slammed its elbow backwards, shattering the face of the White Assassin with the elbow-blade of its plated armour. It didn't even bother to check whether or not the Quiraji specialist was dead or not, turning its attention to its summoner.

"Good evening, mistress," he said with a smirk on his scarred tiger face.

Ino blinked quickly as the smoke cleared and it became clear that he'd killed the Quiraji attackers with little effort. "I…wasn't expecting it to be you."

The tiger with eight stripes on his shoulder pads barked out a laugh and turned around to look at the other Quiraji soldiers that had turned their attention towards his presence. "Special request sent down the ranks. I was the first one available." He slashed his bladed gauntlets together to cause a bright spark in front of him. "I will cut a line through them so you can reach your daughter."

Ino struggled to her feet and looked at the White Assassins that were executing the civilians faster now that her tiger summon had appeared. "We have to stop them; those are people's families over there."

The tiger summon called Hachi considered the problem for a moment before nodding his acknowledgement and stepped forward. "Won't be a problem. Get ready to move." He gave her a moment to catch her breath and draw a weapon while the Quiraji soldiers charged towards them with their weapons raised.

Once he confirmed that she was ready to move, Hachi put his hands out to his side and placed his front foot in front of him. The moment the first elements of the Quiraji soldiers came into range, he turned and spun like a top. With his bladed gauntlets at the edges, the Quiraji soldiers were torn apart by his whirlwind attack. This didn't last long though, as the Quiraji soldiers wised up and stepped out of his range, waiting for him to slow down for their chance to counter-attack.

But Hachi wasn't going to let that happen. His centuries of experience had taught him many different ways of attacking and that included many old shinobi techniques. While he spun like a top, he opened two of the chakra gates within his body and felt the overwhelming flood of chakra move through his body. In a flash he leapt up into the air and hurled himself at the White Assassins at the other side of the open room. He moved so quickly that there was an after-image of him still spinning on the ground, keeping the Quiraji fighters distracted long enough for him to get to them and commence his attack.

Two of them were caught at the ends of his blades as he crashed down into their ranks, before pulling out his gauntlets and leaping at the remaining White Assassins. They tried to teleport away, but Hachi had seen this movement before and knew that it was just an accelerated movement through the air faster than the eye can catch. Using his improved speed, Hachi cut a path through the air and slashed through their bodies like they were paper. The battle only lasted a moment before the bipedal tiger stood up from the corpses of his foes and stared at the remaining Quiraji soldiers with a bloody grin on his face.

Ino didn't even have to recover her strength and participate in the battle. The Quiraji soldiers recognised that they were way out of their league and tried to run down the path nearby her that led into the area they thought was still controlled by their forces, but Hachi cut them down without prejudice and within moments they were alone with the Otogakure civilians.

Many of them had been killed, but that didn't stop the surviving civilians from breathing out a collective sigh of relief and rushing towards the Yamanaka kunoichi and her summoned creature with words of thanks and praise.

Ino tried to be humble and push through the crowd to get where her daughter was, but the mob wasn't being very conducive to her needs. The large tiger that had done all the damage was also surrounded, but he wasn't so physically constrained. With the battle temporarily over, he gave his summoner an awkward wave before disappearing back to his own realm in a cloud of grey smoke. He never did like being the centre of attention.

"Please let me through!" yelled Ino after a few moments. "I appreciate that you are grateful, but I'm going to start stabbing people if you don't let me SEE MY DAUGHTER!"

At that, the Otogakure civilians stepped back awkwardly, while Ino glanced around quickly for the little being that had been the centre of her life for the past few years. It wasn't long before she was tackled at her knees by a tiny little girl that looked up at her with pure innocence in her eyes. Ino held her breath for a moment as she realised her daughter was safe in her hands before dropping down to her knees and hugging her adoptive daughter as tightly as she could.

"Why are you crying, Mummy?" asked Airi through her mother's blonde hair.

Ino laughed and picked up her daughter from the ground, holding her in her arms like she weighed nothing. "I…I don't even know. I'm just glad you are okay." Her mind seemed to keep trying to consider the battle above the underground complex, but she wasn't able to concentrate properly. Her relief was overpowering everything else.

"I'm not going to leave you again."

oOoOoOo

Dosu stepped out of the science building feeling like he'd just had a prostate examination and hadn't even been given the grace of dinner beforehand.

Karin had been unresponsive and dismissive of his requests initially, reminding him constantly that he had no authority to dictate where she and her team applied their specialities. He'd had every intention of beating her into submission, but once he mentioned the objects that had flown over the Fire Temple towards the outlying regions outside of the Land of Fire, Karin had gotten suspiciously quiet. She was silent for a long time before she turned to her scientists and began barking orders at them with such a fury he thought that someone must have lit a fire under her behind. He asked once again for any assistance she could give the defenders, but her response had been the same as before, with a single caveat that had been haunting to hear.

"_That's what they used the energy for. They weren't able to stop them. We can't save them anymore." "We're on our own."_

Having not been able to secure any additional help, the Otogakure leader stepped back into the defensive line and asked for a status report from the nearest shinobi. A Kirigakure shinobi that had yet to leave the battlements told him that the Quiraji had been absent from the battlefield for over an hour now, but they had gotten reports of some fighting in the underground tunnels. Without waiting for orders, they'd sent several groups of high-level shinobi down into the underground complex to investigate.

Dosu absorbed the knowledge and nodded his agreement that they had taken the best course of action without his explicit instructions being necessary. He thanked the foreign shinobi for his report and knelt down at the edge of one of the battlements and closed his eyes. It was difficult to concentrate with all the extra noise around him; the mixtures of shinobi sharpening kunai and shurikens, the impatient tapping of defenders waiting for an enemy to reappear, the moans of pain from the injured patients waiting for treatment in the medical building.

But Dosu was a master of patience and he was able to finally zone everything out close to him and fuel his chakra into his ears to extend his hearing range far beyond into the forests surrounding the Fire Temple. There were no animal sounds that he could hear beyond the worms in the earth and the insects in the trees, and the nearby river sounded like it had lost a lot of mass over the past few days as it was not flowing with the same ferocity it once had.

But there was only one group of sounds he was listening for, and Dosu had finally found them. Even at such a distance between locations, he was able to clearly hear the discussions being held in the Quiraji encampments within the forest. The Quiraji soldiers didn't appear to speak much, though brainwashed civilians rarely had much to say except to reiterate Quiraji rhetoric and spout their hatred for shinobi, but it was in the specialist Quiraji troops that he was able to gather information from.

After a few minutes he cancelled the technique and opened his eyes. Without realising it, beads of sweat had broken out between his bandages and the weight of what he had heard felt like a noose around his neck.

"What did you hear?" asked a nearby Otogakure scout, recognising that his leader had been eavesdropping on the enemy camp.

Dosu wasn't a man easily scared or bothered. He'd witnessed the horrors of Orochimaru, he'd suffered under the curse of Kabuto, he'd even had the majority of his face burnt by an abusive father that he'd later been forced to kill.

But that was nothing compared to what he'd just heard. He couldn't just take it at face value, but it made a sick kind of sense. From a military perspective it was genius, but Dosu was thoroughly disgusted by the very idea of it, assuming he wasn't being fed false information. It could only be one thing.

An ultimate solution. One that guaranteed the extinction of their race.

"Sir?" asked the Otogakure shinobi again, unsettled by the fact that the usually taciturn shinobi was slow to respond to his request.

Dosu tried to re-centre himself and concentrate on the moment, taking slow breaths and even using his sound amplifier to play soothing music into his ears.

None of it worked. He knew he'd just have to power through it and deal with things as they came.  
>Clenching his fists together within his gauntlets, Dosu gave the order for the defenders to once again gather at the battlements and ready themselves for battle.<p>

The Quiraji were coming back. They had a job to finish.

* * *

><p>They each encountered them separately before, both in combat and as the objects of fear and hatred.<p>

But now that the Quiraji Four were assembled in front of them, it became clear to the invading shinobi that the enemy was out for the final fight. None of them seemed to notice the shinobi power arrayed against them, rather they were more interested in walking out of the small building and taking up positions between the building and the assembled shinobi.

Shouri had discarded her hunter's garb that she'd worn during her campaign to cleanse the last elements of shinobi from the Land of Fire and now wore similar attire to her male predecessor. She came decked out in flashy white armour that looked like it had never seen the chaos of battle, polished to an almost blinding shine. Her armour was adorned with hunter's trophies and golden trinkets, but it was the spiked golden crown atop her head that stood out the most. She looked completely out of sorts with her get-up compared to the other Quiraji leaders, but the adorned bow at her back and the piercing look in her golden eyes showed that she was just as deadly as ever, even without any of her beasts at her side.

Sensou had discarded the business suit that he'd worn in so many of his encounters and now wore the same bloody red armour that his predecessor had worn, refitted to his more masculine build. It still bore many of the dents and scratches that Rock Lee had caused, though Sensou can fixed the spikes and it looked every bit as terrifying as it had when the female Sensou had worn it. His bright red eyes spoke of his amusement surrounding the current situation, while his hands hovered just above a pair of sword hilts sitting at his sides. As usual his hands were bare and every shinobi there knew what his real strengths lay.

Kyoukou appeared to be exhausted by the whole ordeal, shuffling his feet through his heavy black robes. He looked more and more skeletal with every appearance, yet his elderly face looked the liveliest out of the Four. As with every encounter the shinobi had had with him, the other Quiraji leaders maintained their distance and even the rocks beneath his feet seemed to want nothing to do with his presence. Unlike his younger brethren, he wore no weapons on his person, but his enemies knew that he needed no such weaponry. His entire existence was a threat.

Shikyo remained a mystery as she took her place on the right-most part of the soon-to-be battlefield. Her presence was a cause of both concern and confusion, as many of the shinobi arrayed against them had had mixed experiences with her. However, the survivors of both Konoha and Amegakure knew exactly how dangerous she was and didn't take her seemingly innocuous appearance for granted. She wore a light pale robe and had the appearance of a young woman, but they knew what she really was. A reaper.

The shinobi strike force spread out at the appearance of the Four, not sure whether the Quiraji leaders were going to straight out attack them out of spite, or wait for them to dedicate to their own destruction. They had discussed and shared the various abilities of the Quiraji leaders that they suspected they would face, anticipating that the Quiraji would bring the best of their military force to bear.

However, they had not discussed any specific battle plans or strategies. Some of the greatest shinobi strength had been gathered in a single place to face their foes head on. Many of them had fought together before and knew each others' strengths and weaknesses, but many of them also bore grudges against the individual Quiraji leaders that wouldn't be satisfied unless they were to take them into their own hands and make them pay.

"So they're all here, huh?" observed Sasuke with his brother and partner at his side.

"Not all of them," corrected Itachi quietly. His glowing eyes had dimmed considerably since arriving at the devastated corpse of Konoha, but he still could sense the surroundings as well as his sighted comrades. "He still hasn't shown himself yet."

Naruto's hand drifted to the sword at his belt while eyeing their opponents carefully, "He'll come out eventually. He's just waiting for the right moment."

"We should take advantage of his absence while we can," said Gaara, moving his hand towards his head to remove his Kage hat in preparation for battle. "They're underestimating us."

"On the contrary, young man," came a deep voice from behind the Quiraji Four. A large silhouette walked slowly out of the small building, coming into view with the departing sunlight. Accompanying him was a low scratching sound that was revealed to be a stone chair that he dragged behind him in a single hand. "We do not entertain the possibility of your victory."

The silhouette revealed a large man taller than any of the shinobi assembled against him by a full head, wearing only a simple pair of leather breeches and a rope around his waist. His chest was bare and covered in tattoos that clearly defined the muscles and scars that he bore proudly. His head was fully shaved, giving him a monk-like appearance, matching his outfit. But despite his casual manner, his eyes were completely alien. They were completely void of life and colour as a pure white. But unlike the pair of Hyuuga shinobi that stood beside their allies against him, his eyes spoke only of the malice and hatred that he bore for their kind, even though he maintained a professional demeanour.

He was Benkei. The enemy that had set everything in motion. He had led the Quiraji in the invasion of the shinobi country, brought about the destruction of nearly every shinobi village and had brainwashed a large portion of the civilian population against their guardians.

He was why they had risked everything to come into Quiraji territory and attack them on their own terrain on the ashes of Konoha. The shinobi were convinced that if they removed the head from the beast, the rest would fall into place.

Benkei didn't seem to be concerned about their presence at all. As he dragged his stone chair in front of him and sat down on it, he seemed content to simply wait.

"He certainly has the look of a butcher," observed Yugito dryly, her occupant echoing her sentiment within her.

"Looks can be deceiving," said Kakashi a short distance away. He blinked several times to make sure that they'd been placed in properly before breathing out slowly and opening the eyes that weren't his for the first time. It had been a gift similar to that of his old friend, though the chakra output and visual prowess was on a completely different scale. He could see everything as an entity of chakra, from the shinobi around him to the stones on the ground and the trees that surrounded the battlefield. Everything except for the Quiraji leaders that stood in front of him. He instead saw them as an absence of chakra; Benkei in particular looked more like an endless void than anything else.

The other shinobi in the strike force already knew his intention to wield the Rinnegan, though only he and Konan knew that it would likely be his death. He hadn't told his old students, but he was prepared to use the technique that had killed their friend and brought his companion back to life.

"You seem awfully confident for someone on the back foot," said Neji with a confident step. "Even now your armies collapse against our defences and you won't survive the day."

Benkei didn't need to give the Otokage the look of disdain that he was warranted; rather he motioned to his subordinates gathered in front of him. "Be wary, young shinobi. While we have already beaten you, don't think that we have left anything to chance. Your blood will run through these stones soon enough."

"Enough of this talking," said Rock Lee, flexing his hands impatiently. "Let's just get this over with."

Naruto stepped forward to his side despite knowing that they shouldn't be hasty, "I've got your back."

Before anyone could say otherwise, the pair of ex-Konoha shinobi shot forward, intending to strike at the Quiraji leader while he looked unprepared to defend himself.

The two of them moved to run between the gaps between the Four Quiraji leaders, but both Sensou and Kyoukou put their hands up to ward them away.

"Getting ahead of yourselves, aren't we now?" said Kyoukou with no hint of amusement in his voice.

Sensou's other hand drifted to one of the swords at his belt at his side, "Don't think you can just skip to Father. If you turn your backs on us, we will cut you down without even breaking a sweat."

Naruto considered his threat for a moment before nodding to Lee and moving back to his wife's side. The appearance of Benkei had thrown them off, but they knew that they'd have to deal with the Four before they could even touch the Quiraji lord. While three of the Four had been rather vocal and obvious about their intentions to fight against them, Shikyo hadn't moved or made a sound since emerging from the building.

Even as Kakashi and Konan moved towards her with the intention of fighting her, she didn't even acknowledge their existence. Having heard the details about her abilities, he would have expected her to at least notice what was happening around her.

But then again, he also remembered that she'd saved his life years ago, she'd revived Yagura and the Three-Tails and he'd heard Lee talking about how she'd saved him as well. The Kyuubi had told him that she was the real danger in this battle and the mother of all shinobi, but Naruto couldn't wrap his head around the current situation.

Was she an ally or was she an enemy? He had no indication either way.

"_**Tell them to back off!"**_

The Kyuubi's voice in his head was frighteningly loud, but Naruto was already on the move to intercept the pair of Jounin from attacking Shikyo. "Wait! Kakashi-sensei! Hold on!"

The Konoha Jounin hesitated as he heard his old student's voice behind him, though it didn't last long as he saw Konan collected a large storm of paper around her with the intention of striking her hated enemy with as much force as she could. In that moment, he knew that Konan wouldn't survive the encounter.

He didn't have the range to pull her back with his arms, but the desire to pull her back resonated in the pair of eyes he'd just put in. Without really activating the technique, his Rinnegan used the Banshou Ten'in technique and used attractive gravity force to pull Konan back into him. He had the presence of mind to catch her with his hands while the papers flying around her followed behind, though Konan was already shooting him a black look.

"Why are we holding back?" he asked Naruto quickly, though he didn't really want to fight Shikyo at all. The last encounter hadn't ended in their favour and he couldn't stand to see her die in the same way as she did before.

Naruto asked the same question to his occupant and the Kyuubi responded by bringing itself to the front of his consciousness and taking over his mouth.

"**That woman is both friend and foe to us. She is currently struggling between her inherent nature to protect the shinobi and the control that Benkei has placed on her. If you attack her, one side will win and we will all perish."**

Naruto shook his head to cancel out the Kyuubi's control, unaware that the Tailed Beast was able to do that. "He's right. We can't afford to be hasty right now. Let's take out the other guys and then worry about her."

Kakashi smiled proudly at his old student, reminding himself that this had once been the young man that had dived headfirst into the One Tails without caring about himself or having a plan. Konan didn't struggle in his arms, recognising that while her hatred for the Quiraji leader was at its peak, she could recognise that he was speaking sense.

The other shinobi repositioned themselves near the other three Quiraji leaders, but before they could formulate a plan of attack, they could all hear a slow clapping coming from Benkei sitting behind them. He didn't have the expression of amusement, but it was clear by his mocking clapping that the shinobi's flailing about was amusing to him. "That's not a bad story, boy. Clearly you've brought some of the Sage's pets to the battle. We crushed them then and we'll crush them now."

Within both Yugito and Killer Bee, their Tailed Beasts rumbled fiercely, begging their containers to let them at their hated foe, while Shukaku within Gaara simply laughed it off. Even though he didn't have a visual on the Kyuubi within himself, Naruto could almost feel the Nine-Tails shrinking backwards within his subconscious. Despite what the powerful beast said, it was terrified of the Quiraji leader.

That was a very concerning thought.

"You seem to know much about my dear Shikyo," continued Benkei with a casual wave towards the pale robed woman. "But do you know who she really is? The answer might surprise you."

Naruto glanced at the other shinobi in the group for a moment, before catching the slightest nod from the Otokage. He stepped forward and opened up his arms as if to invite a response, "We know you're using the body of the mother of shinobi to do your bidding. For someone who hates shinobi so much, you have an odd choice for a subordinate."

"Ah, that's where you are wrong, boy," said Benkei dramatically. "On the contrary, she belonged to us long before she ever belonged to the shinobi."

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Kiba impatiently, not understanding anything about what was going on. Naruto had kept Kaguya's identity to himself until just then, but every shinobi there knew who she was. "She's been dead for centuries."

"She never died, she just disappeared," came Gaara's voice out of nowhere. He placed a hand to his forehead and listened to his occupant for a moment before turning to the other shinobi. "Her seal broke only a few years after she was sealed, but the Sage of the Six Paths never found her again."

"So the Sage's pets remember that time, do they?" Benkei threaded his fingers together and leaned forward on his stone chair, "We returned to reclaim what was ours before the empire completely fell. Her punishment wasn't going to be alleviated by the embrace of death."

"Okay, now I'm just as confused as Kiba," said Rock Lee while scratching his head. "Why aren't we attacking them? They're right there."

"Don't be hasty," warned the Mizukage. "The Three-Tails tells me that there is something going on here we don't understand yet. Information is a shinobi's lifeblood."

"It's not as if he's going to spill his master plan," said Nagisa on top of her white wolf companion.

"On the contrary, I have no master plan whatsoever," said Benkei in response. "You've already lost; you just don't know it yet. Shikyo's existence is merely another nail in your coffin."

"What aren't you telling us?" demanded Kakashi at the side of the shinobi group. He'd been concentrating his Rinnegan gaze on the Quiraji leader for some time, but still couldn't get a read on him.

"Oh gods, he's going to start monologuing," complained Naruto with his face in his hand. "Why does every bad guy have to monologue…"

His wife placed an understanding hand on his shoulder, "It isn't for us, dear. Just let him talk."

"You shinobi believe that Kaguya's life started when she consumed the devilish fruit that spawned chakra and the birth of her two shinobi children that ended up being betrayed by her," started Benkei, well aware that he was only extending the time between his speech and the commencement of fighting. "However, you always seem to forget the fact that she had children before she became corrupted."

"You've got to be joking…" sighed Naruto, but Benkei ignored him and continued.

"We were the ones with power, the ones with strength that was uncorrupted by some mystical fruit that our mother decided she needed to consume. After her younger sons sealed her and turned their attention to us, we fought back and built our empire in spite of their strength. While we hated Kaguya, she was a power in our world and now she works for us, killing those that she had both loved and hated at the same time."

He pushed his hand towards the silent Shikyo and made a claw with his fingers as if crushing the air around her, "She may struggle for now, but it doesn't matter. Your deaths have been assured and it will be at the hands of your betters."

There was a long silence that came across the battlefield after Benkei finished talking. He'd reclined back on his stone chair and seemed more interested in letting his children fight his battles for him rather than participating himself and they were more than happy to do so.

His shinobi opponents were surprised at the fact that the disembodied form of Kaguya, the mother of shinobi, was not only standing in front of them, but also had a connection to the Quiraji that had so thoroughly slaughtered them before.

It didn't change their mission though. They still had to take him and his people down, though that now included the powerful mother of shinobi that was apparently immune to death.

With the knowledge of Shikyo's presence and the danger she posed, the gathered shinobi looked at the other three Quiraji leaders intently. They appeared ready to fight, as they'd spread themselves out evenly across the front of the battlefield, seemingly unconcerned with leaving their leader open to attack.

The shinobi strike force didn't say a word to each other as they moved to fight the respective foes. Several of them moved towards the elderly Quiraji leader, two of whom were determined to enact vengeance for actions he had done. Both Sasuke and Itachi knew that he'd taken their mother from them, while Fiore was determined to stay by her partner's side and fight against the Black Robe leader as she had before. Her wood was itching for a rematch and she knew that her abilities would be pivotal to defeating Kyoukou. However, they weren't the only ones that would fight against him, as the Kazekage stepped in line and unplugged one of the gourds at his side. He had no particular gripe against the Black Robe leader, but he sensed that his abilities would be best suited against their foe.

With Shikyo out of the equation for the moment, Kakashi and Konan moved their attention to the beast-master foe standing against them. They were joined by Kiba and Nagisa and their respective canine companions, recognising that to defeat a hunter they would require true beasts to appear. They'd intended to fight against her from the start, having been chased and hunted by the Quiraji leader many times in the past.

The married couple in the shinobi strike force spoke several hushed words to each other before the blonde shinobi kissed his wife on the forehead and moved towards his old Jounin teacher to stand against Shouri. He'd been hunted by her during his foray into the Land of Fire and had been at the receiving end of her bow several times, but he had a good reason for fighting at Kakashi's side rather than his wife's.

He was well aware what her enemy's abilities were. There was not a scenario where he could bring himself to do that. She felt the same way and knew that she should stand against a different foe.

Hinata watched her husband for only a moment before turning and standing at her older cousin's side.

The Otokage was always going to fight against Sensou. Not only did he demand revenge for the destruction of his village at the Red Warrior leader's hands, but he knew that Sensou was the most dangerous out of the three of them if things went his way. Neji wasn't about to take risks with the battle that was going to determine their fate. With his cousin at his side, he felt confident they would find a way through his defences.

But they weren't the only shinobi in the group that were determined to face the Quiraji leader. Rock Lee had killed the previous incarnation of Sensou and wasn't about to let up the opportunity to collect the set slip from his fingers.

The Mizukage also stood against Sensou, as the blood of her murdered shinobi at the hands of their comrades under his control called for vengeance. Not only that, but she could hear the voice of the Three-Tails in her head, calling for her to attack its ancient foe. She wasn't sure of the details, but the turtle seemed confident in her ability to fight against the Quiraji leader.

Not ones to be left out of the battle, the Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers joined their fellow container as the behest of their occupants. In the knowledge of his abilities, they both knew that if they changed to their Tailed Beast forms they'd probably be immune to his control, but failing that they were some of the fastest shinobi in the group and wouldn't get caught by him.

Benkei made a discouraging snort at their taking up positions against three of his children. He would have preferred that Shikyo wasn't fighting against his control at that moment, but he knew the capabilities of his subordinates. They would not fail him at this stage.

But even if they did, it didn't matter in the end. He had witnessed the strength of the shinobi.

He was yet to see a true threat.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I know the final battle didn't quite start yet, but I wanted to show what was happening at the Fire Temple and give some explanation about who they're fighting before they actually started. The next few chapters will be the individual battles with each of the Quiraji leaders, as you'll find out.

I know the stuff with Kaguya feels a bit weird, and that's mostly intentional. We've got a fair bit of fight to go, I'm not going to reveal everything at once.

Now that we're getting closer to the end of the story, I was thinking of doing a chapter after the final Bonus Chapter at the end as a compilation of writing tips and tricks and advice that I've learned over writing this story. Would that be something you'd be interested in reading? Please let me know.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	90. Chapter 82 Trial of Conquest

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 82 – Trial of Conquest

**A/N**: Just a small point, these three battles all happen at the same time, but will be in separate chapters.

**A/N2**: Due to popular demand, I will be writing an extra 100th chapter as a Writing Tips and Tricks chapter. It'll come out at the same time as the last chapter of the story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Animal Path of Pain would have been more creative.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

While the shinobi strike force moved against the Quiraji leaders into the now-broken chakra-nullifying field, the defenders of the Fire Temple struggled with the weight of numbers and strength that the regular Quiraji army brought against them. During a lull in the fighting, Ino is warned about 'voices in the walls' by her daughter and she discovers a large cluster of Quiraji infiltrators slaughtering the civilians. She used her summon technique to take them out, but the battle continued to rage above with Dosu marshalling the defence.

Within the ashes of Konoha, the Quiraji leaders revealed themselves. The Four stood against the shinobi strike leader, and not long after Benkei showed himself to the shinobi and took a seat to watch the battles. When some of them went to attack Shikyo, Naruto called them back with a warning from his Tailed-Beast, and Benkei revealed that she is embodiment of the mother of shinobi, Kaguya, through which they shared a heritage. She struggles against his control and was currently not a threat, so the shinobi concentrated their efforts on the other three Quiraji leaders.

The battles for their lives had begun.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The Quiraji leader took notice of the five shinobi that had segmented themselves off to face with a long stare. She recognised many of them as prey that had escaped her grasp in the past, though none more so than the blonde haired shinobi that had destroyed many of their vital buildings while avoiding her beasts.<p>

If she could put an arrow through his chest and mount his head on a spike, it would be a good afternoon.

"Do we have a plan of attack?" asked Nagisa at a low growl, her white partner beneath her standing on her front paws ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Her question sounded like it was directed to the group, but she was really asking Kakashi if he had a plan, her habit of deferring to him was still well in place.

Kakashi considered their situation for a moment, taking into account the abilities of the shinobi at his side. He was grateful that Naruto had joined them, as the blonde shinobi had an explosive tendency to surprise the Quiraji that would be vital, but the Inuzukas' presence was also important considering their opponent. It didn't take him long to formulate a plan, but much of what he could think about depended on how their opponent attacked.

"We shouldn't just wait for her to attack, we need to go on the offensive," said Kiba as chakra poured out of his body. He fell into his Four Legs Technique easily, with Akamaru standing at his side growling loudly.

The others could find little fault with his logic and prepared themselves to attack the Quiraji leader, but hesitated when they saw Shouri walking towards them with her arms spread out wide on either side, like she was embracing her old companions.

"You are confident in yourselves. This is good." She took another step forward and bowed to her opponents, showing respect with her body even as a cruel smile sat on her face that spoke to her true intentions. "But you would do well to remember the main principle of conquest."

"And what is that?" asked Kakashi at a distance, keeping his Rinnegan eyes fixed on the dark area that was their opponent. He was getting used to seeing her that way and could feel the eyes flooding his mind with the knowledge that Nagato had left him.

Shouri's smile widened as she gracefully moved an armoured gauntlet over the rocky ground in front of her. "It is by the tip of the spear that the wall crumbles to dust."

She didn't give them a chance to decode the meaning behind her words, as the ground beneath her hand rumbled and ruptured upwards like a mini-volcano. A gigantic rhino clad in black-plated armour and a single scythed horn lurched out of the opening and thundered towards the cluster of shinobi at a break-neck pace. It moved faster than a creature of its size should have been able to and the sheer shock of its appearance was enough to put the shinobi off for a moment.

The rhino was large enough that only the Inuzukas' had the speed to get out of the way as they dived out of the way, while Konan was already separating herself into paper form to diffuse the damage and Kakashi was trying to fuel chakra to his eyes to repel the giant beast.

However, there was no need for them to defend themselves from the beast.

Just as its scythed horn tried to sweep over the area in front of Kakashi, it suddenly stopped in its tracks like it had struck an invisible wall. Standing in front of it with his hands firmly clasped around its horn, was a fired up Naruto, having teleported in front of them and taken the blow head on. His feet dug into the ground and his arms pulsed with physical energy as the giant creature struggled against his implacable strength.

Naruto knew he could only maintain his hold for a few moments before physics overcame him, but he wasn't about to wait for that to happen. Shifting his weight onto his back foot and adjusting his grip, the blonde shinobi stared into the rhino's dead eyes for a moment before letting out a loud grunt of exertion.

And with a single motion, he hurled the Quiraji rhino over the shinobi group that had chosen to fight the female Quiraji leader, forcing it to land on its back with a loud crash that sent a shockwave around the nearby area.

Naruto readied himself to jump on top of the rhino and deliver the finishing blow, but he saw that he didn't have to when two whirlwinds of claws slammed directly into the middle of the rhino's chest, spraying blood across the battlefield. Unlike shinobi summoned creatures, the Quiraji ones were made of flesh and bone and only disappeared at their master's discretion, not when they were taken out.

Kiba and Akamaru appeared on top of the rhino in a triumphant pose, while Naruto pouted and stuck out his lip at them. "Show offs. I could have done that."

Behind them, Kakashi shook his head and turned to his partner, "Their generation has far too much energy."

Konan smirked and began to recollect herself from her scattered form. Her eyes hadn't left the Quiraji leader even with the appearance of the creature. "That isn't the only card she has to play," she warned softly.

Her partner went to ask where Nagisa had disappeared to, but then he remembered how her abilities worked and kept it to himself. "We should move together before she pulls something like that again. I don't want Naruto to overexert himself just to try to show up Kiba, and vice-versa."

"A sound plan," came Shouri's voice from her position across the battlefield. "But you've forgotten some of the other principles of being a conqueror." In a single fluid motion faster than any regular soldier could have managed, she unshouldered her bow and strung a finely-tipped arrow before firing it straight at the Akatsuki survivor.

Konan's shinobi instincts caused her to automatically disperse into a cloud of paper, a natural defence that had yet her safe in battle for many years. The arrow appeared to pass through a gap between sheets, but as she hadn't completely dissipated she gasped loudly and dropped to her knees as the paper parts of her reassembled quickly into her. She clutched at her side, feeling a scrap at her side as the arrow had torn through part of her robe, though it was only a glancing blow.

Her partner went to help her, but Konan was already on her feet and testing her legs to ensure that Shouri's attack hadn't done any serious damage, so he turned his attention back to their attacker.

The Quiraji leader's smirk grew as she lowered her bow, "First blood."

Her triumphant look seemed out of place for the insignificant wound she had inflicted, but she was already stepped back and drawing another arrow from her quiver. She seemed undeterred by the fact that both Naruto and Kiba were now speeding towards her, their eyes blazing and their intentions clear.

"There is one final principle of being a conqueror that you should be aware of," lectured Shouri, though it was clear that the shinobi didn't care about her lesson. She waited for the right time before diving to the side just as Nagisa appeared from her blind spot with a bladed gauntlet ready to tear her apart. The Inuzuka's blow just barely missed the shimmering white armour of the Quiraji leader, though Nagisa was already on the rebound and moving to strike at Shouri while she picked herself up from her dive. However, she saw that the Quiraji leader was already aiming her arrow directly at her chest. Even with her speed, there was no way she would be able to dodge in time to avoid it.

Luckily for Nagisa, she had her wolf companion by her side even through her shadow-movement technique. Yuki didn't hesitate for a moment in hurling itself into the Quiraji leader's body, ruining her shot as the arrow sped off into the distance. Nagisa used the opportunity to leap backwards as far as she could and prepare herself for another assault. She hoped that Yuki would be able to do the same as the large wolf barrelled over Shouri and landed on all fours, snarling loudly at the fallen golden warrior. It saw an opening to go for her throat and took it, its mouth wide open and ready to clamp down on the seemingly vulnerable hunter.

Being tackled by a large creature such as Yuki had caused Shouri to lose her grip on her bow, which she knew if they'd seen it her siblings would never let her live down. The wolf bearing down on her didn't concern her in the slightest; it was hardly the first time she'd been caught off her guard with one of her prey.

It didn't mean she was vulnerable. She was just very pissed off.

Without her bow, Shouri didn't have many ranged abilities that didn't extend to her summoning abilities, but that didn't mean she was vulnerable in close quarters. She just had to re-evaluate her combat strategy.

As Yuki bore down on her, Shouri placed out a hand as if denying the large wolf out of sheer stubbornness. The creature fell into her with a loud snarl, but before its jaws could clamp around her face, Shouri spun around its flank and appeared behind it, flicking her hands like she'd just washed them. It was an instant movement, but that was all she needed as she slid a long knife back into her belt. It glistened a deep red for only a moment before it disappeared into its sheath.

Nagisa knew she should go and see whether her suspicions were true, but she could smell it from her far-off position. She closed her eyes so she didn't have to see her companion fall, though she still heard the death howl as Yuki collapsed into the ground in a pile of blood.

She was calm under pressure by nature and the death of someone close to her was nothing unusual, so Nagisa had the battle-sense to make her way to her cousin's side and take several deep breaths to calm herself down. Her Inuzuka techniques required her to be calm and controlled, rather than enraged.

That didn't mean she wasn't furious. Instead of a red fury, she felt cold ice in her veins. It was what made her dangerous.

"As I was saying…" said Shouri as she cracked her neck loudly and turned her attention to the two male shinobi approaching her with the large white dog at their side. "…one final principle."

"Nothing gives a damn!" yelled Kiba as he sped past his cousin with his hands ready to tear at their enemy.

"The principle…" continued the Quiraji leader, ignoring the Inuzuka and putting her hands out in front of her. "…of never fighting without an army at your back."

Despite his fast approach, Naruto was able to recognise what she was referring to and skidded to a halt to stop himself from over-extending. He went to shout a warning to his old companion, but Kiba and Akamaru were already committed to their line of attack. They knew that their normal chakra attacks wouldn't work against her with her personal chakra-nullifying field around her, but that didn't mean they had no hope. Kiba had thought about the problem a lot during the travel between the Fire Temple and Konoha, and he'd come to one grand conclusion.

Momentum was everything.

He came into range just as his chakra failed him within her chakra-nullifying field, but the sheer amount of speed both he and Akamaru had created was enough to maintain his attack vector towards the Quiraji leader. In his hands, Kiba wore a pair of long bladed claws that he pointed towards his target in a single thrust, knowing that with the amount of momentum he had accumulated he would spear straight through her. At the other side, Akamaru had leapt to her front and had opened his mouth wide; preparing to bite through her vulnerable neck once Kiba had struck her.

It was a good plan, one that might have worked had their opponent not been Shouri.

Instead of striking the Quiraji leader, Kiba's trajectory was thrown off as a cluster of beasts lurched out of the ground in front of him, throwing their bodies into him and sending him spiralling into the air. Akamaru had enough foresight to slow himself down and leap out of the way just as the same thing was about to happen to him, but he wasn't about to get away fast enough and several creatures that looked like horse-sized armadillos drove their horns into his side.

Kiba snarled as he spun through the air before noticing that he had his ability to mould chakra back, now that he was no longer in range of the Quiraji leader. Using the momentum of his flight, he spun himself in rhythm with his fall and turned himself into a Tsuuga whirlwind, bouncing off the ground and slamming his clawed front into the creatures that had attacked Akamaru.

The suddenness of his attack sent the creatures flying and gave them enough room to retreat backwards as fast as they had approached, but a horde of summoned creatures was already hot on their tracks.

While they fled, their three fighting companions stepped forward and prepared their own techniques to give the retreating combatants enough time to reach them. Naruto created a pair of Kage Bunshin and shot them forward with a wind element technique, the pair of them holding large amounts of explosion notes between them, aiming themselves at the large animals that towered over Kiba and Akamaru as they ran. Konan spun a large quantity of paper sheets above her in a large disc and hurled it like a chakram around the pair of retreating fighters, tearing apart entire groups of twisted animals that fell into its path as sharply as if it had been made out of steel. She felt a strange twinge in her side as she manipulated the paper circle with her hands to protect Kiba and Akamaru, but ignored it as it required concentration to keep the paper sheets so tightly packed together.

Kakashi's eyes flicked as he tried to think of a technique to help Kiba and Akamaru get back to them and his body reached before he could come up with a plan. One of his hands shot up and faced the two of them while a strange gravitation force spiralled out from his hand. The pressure seemed to grab hold of them and wrench them towards Kakashi at a monstrously quick pace, easily closing the distance faster than either of them could have anticipated. Kakashi's eyes cancelled the technique just before they slammed into him and the silver-haired Jounin had the instinct to step out of the way as both Kiba and Akamaru spiralled back onto their feet and shot the Konoha Jounin a suspicious pair of looks.

"Don't look at me," said Kakashi quickly. "I have no idea how I did that."

"Well…just warn us next time," replied Kiba with a begrudgingly thankful tone. "She summoned up so many at once."

Naruto put up a handseal and exploded his Kage Bunshin, ripping apart a large hole in the animal horde that had pursued Kiba and Akamaru. "She does that. When I was running from her, she sent thousands of dogs after me. Sometimes at night I still hear the howling."

"That's because Hinata sometimes makes those sounds just to mess with you," said Kiba with a sly grin.

"She does?!" Naruto could hardly believe it and turned to look at his white-eyed wife as she fought against Sensou in close quarter combat with the Otokage at her side. "I can't believe it!"

"He's just having a go at you, Naruto," said Kakashi, hiding a smirk behind a serious expression.

The blonde shinobi shot back at the Inuzuka shinobi to see Kiba burst out laughing, but before he could give him a piece of his mind, he instinctively teleports away as an arrow screamed into the area he had been standing in.

Shouri let out a tsk and lowered her bow as she saw that the blonde shinobi had been able to evade her killing blow. He'd done that the last time she'd encountered him and had a habit of being difficult to pin down.

That was what the army of beasts in front of her was for.

It was a chaotic mess of various creatures both oversized and armed to the teeth that protruded from their frothing mouths. Legions of armoured animals like the ones that slammed into Kiba before ran at the front of the army, ready to absorb whatever attacks the shinobi could throw at them. At the sides were packs of huge wolves with claws able to cut through armour with ease and a number of large cat creatures such as lions and tigers flanked their positions, ready to pounce. But the majority of Shouri's army was comprised of creatures as large as rhinos and as fast as cheetahs.

And more appeared by the moment with little effort required on Shouri's part. It only took a few moments before they were outnumbered by over fifty-to-one.

Not one to just leave things at that, Shouri took a backwards step before leaping up into the air. Beneath her feet emerged a huge eagle covered in grey and white feathers, screeching loudly into the air as she landed on its back before taking her soaring into the air.

The shinobi facing her watched as the Quiraji leader took to the skies, assuming that she would take up a high position and rain arrows down on them from above while they were being attacked by the horde of beasts.

It was only moments before the horde of beasts came close to the five shinobi and Akamaru, even with their longer range attacks reaping a terrible toll on the animal force. They had been standing together a reasonable distance apart, with Nagisa appearing behind them and wearing her combat-face on in the face of her partner's death.

When the animal army hit them, they hit them hard. Their shinobi abilities still worked on the beasts and they were able to avoid many of the attacks that came against them by moving quickly backwards and to the sides. However, this forced them apart as the animal horde flooded the battlefield and tried to swarm around them.

Naruto immediately surrounded himself with physical energy and began bashing his way through the animals that came close to him. Some of them got close enough to strike at him, but they bounced off his defences and were quickly taken care of by the quick Uzumaki shinobi. This was his way of conserving energy while trying to gauge whether he could reach Shouri up in the sky.

Kiba and Akamaru moved to the same location, not by coincidence, and were already conversing on whether they should do their combined technique and use their three-headed wolf form to take out huge clusters of beasts at once. Kiba was all for the idea, but Akamaru had to remind him that a bigger form meant a bigger target for Shouri to fire at and that they'd experienced what happened when they got struck by her arrows.

They hurt like hell. He had no interest in going through that again.

Saving that plan for another time, Kiba flicked a soldier pill to his partner before consuming one of his own and took a long breath to calm himself before waiting for the first beasts to come into range. There were an awful number of them though. Even with his confidence, he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to fight against so many. If this were a normal battlefield, the sensible thing would be to retreat and then strike back from a place of strength.

But that wasn't an option. Kiba would just have to fight his way out and then some.

Kakashi was no stranger to fighting on his own, particularly against unfavourable odds. He had once fought against a hundred Snow shinobi in order to rescue their princess from her uncle. It had been while retreating and he never killed any of them, but that was just for him to know.

_Shinobi Rule Number 37: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story._

While he had his old teammate's Sharingan, Kakashi had copies hundreds of techniques. He was said to have copied a thousand techniques, though he'd stopped counting somewhere in the eight hundreds.

With Nagato's Rinnegan in place, Kakashi had a wealth of techniques available at his disposal, so many that he wasn't even sure where to begin. He'd heard tales about the Rinnegan's ability to produce all forms of chakra, but having it at his fingertips with his experience was something else entirely.

It was like he was a god. If Kakashi didn't know that he had such a limited chakra pool he could understand how corrupting such power could be.

As he wasn't about to become a megalomaniac, Kakashi put his hands together and moulded a reasonable amount of chakra. He wasn't sure which element to use, but since he'd never used it before he was curious what it would be like using a wind technique. His Rinnegan responded to his wish like it had sentience and a large gale of swirling wind blades erupted around him. It only lasted for a moment, but even that was enough to hurl dozens of beasts into the air and give him time to catch his breath.

But only for a second before he was swarmed once again.

Konan wasn't one to fight in close quarters. It wasn't that she wasn't proficient at it; she'd regularly proved herself during their war against Hanzo in underground combat that left little breathing room between combatants.

But when their opponent was in the air and seemingly immune to chakra-attacks, Konan could recognise that her remaining on the ground was not a feasible option. She spread out her hands and covered herself in a large collection of paper sheets, manipulating them so they formed into large wings at her shoulders. In a single flap of her paper wings, Konan launched herself into the air as the area she had been standing in was swarmed by marauding beasts.

Up in the air, Shouri drew a line on the rising Akatsuki kunoichi, pulling back a barbed arrow to finish the job she'd started at the beginning of the battle. She pulled back the arrow, but before she could fire it an orange blur appeared in front of her. Shouri knew exactly what it meant and without a word of command her eagle mount dropped straight down before pulling back up behind where it was initially flying.

Naruto turned around from where he'd line-of-sight teleported to and swore under his breath as he saw that she'd already escaped from me. He pulled back a fist and tried to send a blast of wind chakra at her, mostly for the sake of it, but it failed as it came into her chakra-nullifying field. He noticed that the Quiraji leader didn't even pay him any attention as she trained her bow back on the rising angel that was preparing to face her.

Falling to the ground, Naruto knew that he was still in the five-second period that restricted his line-of-sight teleportation ability, meaning that the ground would be coming up awfully fast.

Without thinking, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a seal-wrapped kunai he'd prepared early, tossing it towards the ground. It landed in a group of beasts that swarmed around it instantly, making it a somewhat undesirable place to teleport to.

That wasn't about to stop Naruto though. As he fell towards the ground, he decided that it was better to fall into chaos than it was to fall into solid ground. With that in mind, he clapped his hands together and covered himself in a thin layer of lightning chakra, a trick he'd learned on the road while speaking to the Eight-Tails container at length about lightning.

Naruto used his father's Hiraishin technique to teleport to his kunai on the ground, and at the same time he exploded the lightning armour outwards, electrocuting everything around him and creating a gap in the beasts' ranks.

Of course, Naruto also got electrocuted by the attack. He knew he hadn't gotten it down perfectly, but having experienced it for himself, he almost felt sorry for all the Quiraji soldiers he'd struck with lightning during the war.

Almost.

Now that she was in the air, Konan wasn't too sure how she should go about attacking the Quiraji leader. She could guarantee she had greater manoeuvrability than the enemy's eagle, but that meant nothing if she took another arrow. The wound on her side had started to burn, even though it had just been a surface wound. She suspected it had something to do with the arrow, but Konan didn't exactly have the time to examine it and have it dressed.

Instead of worrying about it, Konan summoned up a cluster of paper sheets and fired off a large number of paper shurikens at the flying Quiraji leader. Shouri made no effort to dodge the attacks, knowing that they would fail before they could strike her. She drew an arrow in her bow and aimed it straight at Konan's chest. Unlike the arrows she had fired before, this one would cross the distance instantly. It was a kill shot.

She released the arrow and watched it fly straight and true. It struck Konan right in the middle of her chest, just as she planned and went straight through to the other side.

But there was no blood. That was the first sign that she knew that something was wrong.

With her wings supporting her, Konan glanced down to make sure her paper form technique had held despite the Quiraji leader's arrow. When she'd seen that she was going to get hit by the arrow, she exchanged herself completely with paper sheets and made a large hole in her chest area so that the arrow wouldn't touch any of the paper sheets. If there was anything she had learned from the start of the battle, it was that it didn't hurt to be careful.

As the hole closed up and she reformed, she re-evaluated her battle strategy and constructed two long lines of paper to form into tendrils. She could already see the calm Quiraji leader string another arrow into her bow, but not before Konan would be able to retaliate. She flung the tendrils at the Quiraji leader, but this time at the ends she had attached large quantities of explosion notes that detonated just before they reached her chakra-nullifying field.

The force of the explosions was enough to shake Shouri on her eagle mount and spoil her shot, though there was no clear damage once the smoke cleared.

However, Konan had gotten the confirmation she had needed. Explosion notes were able to produce their explosions only with chakra, yet if they detonated before they were nullified then they were effective.

And Konan had plenty of explosion notes at her disposal. It didn't take much chakra to detonate them, which the Akatsuki member knew was an important factor in this battle. She doubted she'd be able to win the battle on her own against such a dangerous foe, but she wasn't just going to wait for the people on the ground to win the war against the beast army and then help her.

She had her own war to fight.

On the ground, Nagisa slashed back and forth with chakra-infused shadowy claws, reaping a terrible toll on the beasts that came near her. She bore several injuries from the sheer number of beasts that surrounded her, but it was her rapidly declining chakra levels that truly concerned her.

That didn't mean she was going to slow down her attacks, as it was clear that the various creatures attacking her had every intention of not relenting until they were all vanquished. Not only that, but more creatures emerged from the ground beneath Shouri's eagle by the moment.

Nagisa's abilities weren't designed for prolonged combat. She was first and foremost an assassin, and her main target was beyond her reach. All she could do was defend herself until an opportunity arose, or one of the others was able to make a break to her position.

Swooping around the battlefield on her flying mount, Shouri took her eyes off her flying opposition for a moment to get a view of the battle beneath. She could see her army of beasts struggling against the four shinobi on the ground, but she knew that they were only there to present her openings.

There was one available to her right now.

Ducking under a sweeping claw from a corrupted lion, Nagisa stepped forward and buried a claw into its stomach before spinning around and defending herself from a pair of wolves that were determined to sheer her face off with their teeth. She slipped into the shadows for a split second to appear behind the beasts and cut them down in a single motion. It cost her chakra that she couldn't afford to lose, but the Inuzuka kunoichi had enough soldier pills in her pack for an emergency situation.

She turned to face her next opponents, and that's when she felt an impact in her chest. The beasts around her continued to swarm, but they appeared to be moving towards her in slow motion. She looked down to see a feathered shaft protruding from her chest.

A frown came over her face slowly. She hadn't felt any pain.

One of the beasts behind her clamped its teeth into her shoulder, but she didn't feel any pain from that either. It felt like she was moving through water as she dropped her shoulder and shoved one of her chakra claws into its face, spraying blood over her front.

She felt two more impacts in her chest and she looked down to see two holes in her chest from spiral shots that had passed straight through her.

She felt the pain from those.

Despite all her strength and stubbornness, Nagisa couldn't bring herself to remain standing on the battlefield any longer. Her legs caved out from under her and she landed on her knees. The constant stream of beasts converged on her rapidly, while the hovering Quiraji leader drew a final arrow in her bow and aimed down at the ground once again.

A short distance away, Kiba spun himself out of a Tsuuga whirlwind and saw his cousin on her knees with an arrow sticking out of her chest. His eyes widened and he shouted her name, but he could see that there was no way he'd be able to reach her before the cluster of deadly beasts overwhelmed her. Through a small gap between the Quiraji creatures, he locked eyes with the animalistic kunoichi and he had a final silent moment with his last living relative.

Nagisa smiled as she was swarmed by Shouri's beasts and ripped apart by a flurry of claws and teeth.

oOoOoOo

Even though he was fighting with multiple ninjutsu techniques at once with his Rinnegan taking up a large portion of his chakra and concentration, Kakashi still felt his old companion fall and another piece of his heart died. He wanted to fight his way through to her body so he could give her the respect she deserved, but Kakashi knew that the exact opportunity Shouri would be looking for.

He held in his grief and funnelled that frustration into the repelling technique that his Rinnegan offered to him. The gravity push slammed away every beast in a sphere around him, giving him enough time to speed through a set of handseals and aim at the flying eagle above the battlefield.

"Raijuu: Hatori no Jutsu!" (Lightning Beast Flying Technique)

Out of his extended hand shot a large bird made of pure lightning that flew high up into the air and sped towards Shouri and her mount. The Quiraji leader gave no indication that his attack meant anything to her and readjusted her bow to take aim at the flying Konan nearby rather than bother defending herself against his attack. As the lightning bird slammed itself into the underside of the Quiraji mount, the chakra within the attack dissipated completely and it disappeared as if it had never existed.

Down on the ground, Kakashi swore silently and turned his attention back to the horde of beasts that had recovered from his gravity push and were moving towards him once again. He had to check whether her chakra-nullifying field extended entirely over the eagle and whether he could take it out from a distance and get her on the ground where more than Konan could attack her, but clearly that wasn't an option available to them.

He hoped whatever Naruto was shouted would work, as the blonde shinobi seemed to be using his Kage Bunshin to great effect in distracting the beasts so he could come up with a plan. Kakashi took in a slow breath and clapped his hands together to activate an earth technique.

The battle had to go on.

oOoOoOo

Naruto had discussed it with his occupant, who had been conspicuously helpful in their exchange, and he'd come up with a plan. It was an insane Naruto-type of plan, but if they could pull it off then they'd be in a great position to attack the elusive Quiraji leader and deal her a serious blow.

But he needed everything to be in place, and the horde of beasts that kept coming at them was keeping them separated from each other and that would be their deaths.

While his clones fought against the charging combination of bizarre creatures, Naruto glanced over at his old Inuzuka companion, seeing that Kiba and Akamaru had broken out of a cluster of charging beasts and were recovering as they tried to move quickly around the battlefield towards where their partner had fallen.

He saw an opening and teleported himself with his wind spiritual energy next to Kiba's side, causing the ex-Konoha shinobi to nearly attack him out of sheer instinct.

"The hell are you doing?!" shouted Kiba as he turned to face the beasts that had been pursuing him.

"When you see an opening, I need you guys to attack!" shouted Naruto back, clenching his fists as he tossed two kunai at either side of a large group of lions and tigers that were coming towards them. He clapped his hands together and a large barrier of lightning erupted between them just as the cluster of beasts came into range. Kiba lowered his fists when he saw their pursuers were momentarily taken care of and turned to ask Naruto what the hell he was talking about, but the blond shinobi was already running over to where Kakashi was fighting.

"Do you know what he meant?" asked Kiba to his canine companion.

Akamaru barked at Kiba shortly before transforming himself into a clone of his partner and charging towards a cluster of dogs that offended his sensibilities. His Inuzuka companion considered Akamaru's point for a second before conceding that he might be correct and charged in after him.

They'd be ready, even if they had no idea what they were going to be ready for.

After Naruto explained himself to his old teacher, Kakashi wasn't sure whether he should be impressed or horrified. They fought back-to-back against the larger beasts that seemed to be more interested in them than any of the others on the battlefield.

"Can you get it to her?" asked Naruto as he stepped back from a lion that he'd electrocuted.

Kakashi held the kunai with the seal wrapped around it tightly, recalling similar words being spoken by Naruto's father during the Third Shinobi War. For a moment he could have sworn it was Minato giving him the order rather than his old student.

The silver-haired shinobi nodded with a proud smile, "Not a problem." He watched the blonde Tailed Beast container smile in response before disappearing in a flash, further cementing Kakashi's image of the Fourth Hokage in his eyes.

oOoOoOo

Naruto appeared at one of the few permanent Hiraishin seals on the battlefield, holding up his arms to defend himself from any possible attacks that might come his way. He nearly had his head taken off by a swinging sword as the flash red of Sensou attempted to attack him, but the sword was blocked away by a spinning Hinata who took a moment as her cousin blasted back the Quiraji leader and kept him occupied.

"What are you doing here?" asked the Hyuuga kunoichi, using the lull to catch her breath.

Naruto grinned as he always did and gently kissed his wife on the cheek, moving a strand of her blue hair from in front of her face behind her ear. "Just taking a moment to enjoy the little things." He didn't have to say anything; she could read the look in his eyes as easily as she could when they'd first started dating.

She sighed and nodded, smiling back at him, but Naruto was already gone.

"If you are quite finished!" came Neji's voice a short distance away, his hands turning into blurs of motion as he fought back a flurry of sword attacks from their opponent.

His younger cousin shouted back an apology and sped after him, her white eyes once again focusing on the Quiraji leader they had dedicated themselves to defeating.

She hoped he was wrong. She'd forgive him if it happened, but in the same vein she didn't want to make that choice.

oOoOoOo

Kakashi waited for a break in the fighting before shouting a warning to his partner up in the air and tossing the kunai towards her. Konan heard the shout just in time for the kunai coming up towards her face, causing her to reach out and grasp it with an extended paper hand upwards and bring it towards her chest. She kept her amber eyes on the floating Shouri and brought up a wall of paper to disguise her movements as an arrow came screaming towards her. It came through the wall like it wasn't there, but Konan was no longer there.

"What am I meant to do with this?" she shouted down to him as a frustrated Shouri flew through the wall of paper and looked for the Akatsuki kunoichi angrily. She created a paper clone to distract the Quiraji leader and balked at how difficult it was to extract the chakra from her body. The pain in her side was getting worse by the minute; she wasn't sure she could feel her left leg anymore, but that made little difference while she was in the air.

Back on the ground, Kakashi gave her a quick set of hand signals and shouted up to see whether she got the idea. Konan had only seen the last two, but she got the general idea and signalled back her affirmation of the plan. She took the kunai and placed it at the front of her robe in a wrap of paper before watching her enemy tear apart her paper clone with her eagle before turning her attention to her.

Shouri was getting impatient. She could use that to her advantage.

Konan made a direct beeline for the flying Shouri, using her paper wings expertly to bank and move on the wind to avoid the constant firing of arrows at her. She'd been feeling her strength failing her since she'd taken to the air, but the Akatsuki member had suffered far worse in the past and powered through it with sheer stubbornness and the knowledge that she couldn't afford to fail.

The Quiraji leader appeared even more frustrated by her inability to hit the flying kunoichi, despite the fact that each arrow came closer and closer to striking her. She seemed determined to get close to her, which she suspected had something to do with the paper slip that the man on the ground had thrown up to her, but she had to know that her techniques and explosives didn't work within a short range of her.

It made no sense for her to charge her, but Shouri wasn't about to try and find out what her plan was. She rummaged around in her half-full quiver for a moment before drawing an arrow that had a split head, drawing it in her bow quickly. She adjusted her aim for the eagle flying beneath her feet and fired it directly at her opponent. The arrow sped at the flying angel rapidly, but Konan had seen these types of attacks too much to get struck by them again, dropping her altitude and then using a large flap of her paper wings to shoot back up towards Shouri's position in the air.

However, she only stayed in the air for a moment before the arrow that had been fired at her split into two came back around at an impossible angle to pierce into her back. Konan cried out in pain for a moment before dropping towards the ground in a cloud of paper sheets.

Shouri grinned triumphantly and turned her attention to the shinobi fighting her beasts on the ground. That was when the real form of Konan appeared before her and used her wings to drop onto the back of her eagle, even as her paper wings dissipated when she entered Shouri's sphere of chakra-nullification. She pulled back a hand with a kunai and dug it into the opening between Shouri's neck and shoulder armour plates.

The Quiraji leader bent forward in shock before spinning around to kick at the attacker behind her, sending Konan flying backwards while she pulled the kunai out of her neck in a small spray of blood.

"Damn woman and her shinobi tricks." Shouri looked at the bloody kunai for a moment before discarding it off her mount, "All that for a little pinprick. Worthless."

"It wasn't worthless," came a male voice in front of her. The Quiraji leader looked up to see Naruto flying towards her, having waited for Konan to be close enough while being outside of her chakra-nullifying field to Hiraishin to the seal Kakashi had thrown up to her.

With his fist covered in his Kattoken, Naruto slammed it into her face as hard as he could. The combination of his momentum from his Hiraishin and the spiritual energy vortex surrounding his fist struck her with such force that her eagle died instantly and she was sent torpedoing down to the ground.

Recovering her wings with a burst of chakra, Konan swooped forward and caught the now-falling blonde shinobi in her arms, asking whether he wanted her to take him down to the ground. Naruto thanked her for the assistance and told her to do something that just sounded ridiculous.

As Shouri struck the ground, she could feel several of her limbs splinter and crack with the impact, even with her armour absorbing the majority of the damage. The young shinobi had struck her face with some type of spiritual energy similar to what her older brother could perform, cutting up her face to the extent that she knew her carefully chiselled physique would never look the same again.

She glanced around for her bow, seeing that it had fallen a short distance away from her. It looked like the string had broken during the attack, but restringing a bow in moments was second-nature to a hunter such as her. She got up from the ground and dragged herself over to her battered weapon, dragging her left leg as she felt that many of the bones had been crushed by the impact of her fall.

That was when Kakashi broke his way out of the pack of beasts that were pressuring him and shot towards her at his highest speed. He knew that none of his ninjutsu abilities would work against her, but he also could see that she was struggling to recover from Naruto's attack. Even without chakra, he could still be fast and dangerous at close range.

As he ran forward his hands sped through handseals and he used an Earth technique to hurl rocks from his feet straight into the struggling Quiraji leader while he drew two kunai and shot forward even faster. Shouri sensed his attack and turned around to defend herself, though she mistakenly thought that the field around her would stop the flying rocks and took several glancing blows on her shoulders and chest as the rocks' momentum compensated from the lack of chakra.

As she recovered she tracked the speeding shinobi coming towards her with her eyes, seeing that she wasn't going to be able to reach her weapon before he came into close range. The strikes to her shoulders had hurt her arms to the extent that it was more difficult to raise them, so she doubted she'd be able to use her hunting knife as efficiently as she had before. So she did the only thing available to her.

When he came into range, she brought up a hand and four large creatures emerged from the ground to slam their bodies into the charging shinobi. Kakashi caught their attack with his Rinnegan eyes and he could feel himself being wrenched away by a wind technique that the doujutsu seemed to do on its own. The creatures only struck at air as Kakashi was blown around the side of Shouri in a single gust of wind. The movement was a little unsettling for Kakashi as he still wasn't used to the Rinnegan's techniques, but he still caught his footing and moved into close range with the Quiraji leader.

Shouri still had the ability to duck and weave away from his kunai strikes, but Kakashi was only stalling for time as his Rinnegan eyes tracked the movements of the people around him. He made a downward slash with one of his kunai, forcing Shouri to jump backwards to avoid having her face split in two. As she did, Kakashi flicked both the kunai at her from difficult angles, causing her to bring up her arms to defend herself. He silently wondered why she hadn't summoned any more creatures to defend herself, but then he realised that while she was preoccupied she wasn't able to perform her technique.

But that information wasn't necessary anymore.

Kakashi took a jump back and put his hands up towards his face, activating a low-rank Raiton ability that he'd used to great effect in the past. Shouri was foolish enough to look at his strange pose and that cost her as a blinding light emanated from the silver-haired shinobi; her chakra-nullifying field offered her no protection from his lightning technique.

The Jounin then did the very sensible thing of getting out of the way by jumping backwards as far as he could. While Shouri clutched at her eyes painfully, she had left herself vulnerable.

From both sides came the spinning Tsuugas of Kiba and Akamaru, streaming towards her as fast as they could. She could hear them coming towards her, but the spinning made her unable to pinpoint their locations without her eyes. Their Tsuuga whirlwinds reached her sphere of influence and the chakra portion of the techniques cancelled out, but it got the pair of them close enough with enough momentum to get through her defences.

Akamaru in his normal form lurched himself forward from his spinning motion and clamped his teeth into the Quiraji leader's arm, biting through the white armour and into her flesh. As he did this, his companion shot forward and snarled triumphantly as he shoved his clawed gauntlet into the tiny gap behind her elbow, holding it tightly as she instinctively struggled against both of their grips. They knew eventually she would use her beasts to throw them off, but they only needed to hold her for a moment.

That was when Naruto came screaming down from above, having been thrown down by Konan at his request. He had both his hands together in a diver position and was concentrating his hardest to keep his trajectory with wind chakra so that he hit where the others were holding her. As he came into view he covered his forearms in as much spiritual energy as he thought they could handle, forming a long drill that was aimed straight at Shouri's exposed neck.

The Quiraji leader still hadn't recovered from Kakashi's blinding attack, but she could hear the wicked slashing of the air around the blonde shinobi above her. Shouri's instincts screamed at her to get out of the way, but her arms refused to budge under Kiba and Akamaru's restraints. She did the only thing she could think of, to flare out as much physical energy as her body could produce. It exploded out of her like a shockwave, knocking both of her captors off their feet and pulling their blades and teeth from her arms, though they left terrible wounds in their wake.

Shouri recovered her footing from the effort and looked up to prepare herself for Naruto coming down towards her.

But the sky was empty.

The Quiraji leader looked down back at eye-level, wondering what had happened as she saw Kiba and Akamaru creating some distance away from her.

That was when Naruto struck her with his Kattoken straight in the back. The spiritual energy-based technique ate through her armour as if it wasn't even there before biting into her back and ripping apart her body in a torrent of wind.

Even with her specialty armour, her physical energy defences and her innate ability to dodge attacks, Shouri had no defence against the sheer force that Naruto brought against her.

Not one to let Naruto take all the glory, Kiba shot forward and shoved his claws into her stomach ruthlessly. He had no mercy for her, particularly after seeing his cousin go down to her beasts. He knew she was already gone and he had to get revenge for that.

It felt good, watching the life fade from her eyes as they killed her. He could see her turning her head despite their attacks and reach out a pleading arm towards the image of Benkei, but the Quiraji leader seemed entirely ignorant of her fate.

Shouri died silently, under the weapons of her apparent prey. The hunter and conqueror had failed.

oOoOoOo

With their summoner dead, the Quiraji beasts faded into nothingness as the anchor keeping them there had lost power over them. Both Konan and Kakashi took a moment to make sure that none of them were still around before dropping their guards through sheer exhaustion. Naruto and Kiba looked down at the mutilated corpse of the Quiraji leader for a moment before sharing a look and both kicking the fallen hunter unceremoniously in the body.

"Reckon she's gone?" asked Kiba tentatively, wary of the Quiraji's ability to surprise them out of nowhere.

Naruto glanced around the battlefield for a moment, "Her beasts are gone, I think it's a safe bet." He didn't ask about the Inuzuka's cousin, they both knew that Nagisa had gone down during the rush of beasts and hadn't survived. "We should go to the others, they might need our help."

Even with blood running through his fur, Akamaru still had the strength to bark a few times before buckling slightly at his own exhaustion.

"Akamaru's right," said Kiba with a snarl. "We're mostly tapped out. That last attack took nearly everything from us, and the others don't look like they're doing much better."

Naruto flexed his hands to test his strength before turning to the older shinobi. He hadn't expended as much strength as the others in the battle purely because of how much stamina he had, but he could see that Kiba was right. Kakashi didn't have much chakra left just by how heavily he was breathing.

The Akatsuki member hadn't been able to keep herself up as her legs gave out beneath her. As she fell, Kakashi leapt forward and caught her in his arms, though the effort brought him to the ground as well.

It hadn't looked like she'd taken any blow that would have brought her to her knees, but as he held her tightly he could see the wound that she'd taken at the start of the battle had festered and turned a sickly purple colour.

Poison. He should have suspected it from the start, given Shouri's triumphant look after she'd struck her with it. He had a working knowledge of medical techniques, but he had neither the chakra nor the expertise to treat her wound, and judging by the fading look in her amber eyes she didn't have much time left.

She was a stoic and serious person, but Konan could recognise a moment to smile when she saw it. "Guess it's now my turn to go. Took longer than I thought."

"Giving up, are we?" said Kakashi with a matching smile, though there was no amusement in his expression. "I've never known you to stop at a half-done job."

The Amegakure kunoichi scoffed and tried to push herself up, but she no strength left in her body. It was a strange feeling, something that she vaguely recalled from a previous time but this time it hurt.

It hurt like hell this time.

Kiba and Akamaru made their way across the battlefield to the body of their fallen clan member and her animal companion. She'd given a costly toll for her life, killing dozens of twisted creatures before she'd been overwhelmed and finally killed.

It had been a last stand worthy of an Inuzuka. He was sure his mother would have said the same thing; even with the apparent issues the two of had shared.

At his side, Akamaru gave a soft howl and nudged the body of the dark haired Inuzuka. Kiba nodded grimly and knelt down beside her. He knew that the battle was far from over, but during the temporary lull he had to take a moment to say farewell.

She'd been the only family he'd had for a long time, and even then they'd rarely seen eye-to-eye. The last conversation they'd shared that hadn't related to the war had been when he and Ino had broken up, and they had argued as they often did.

Part of him thought that she didn't deserve to die that way, but the part of him that knew that it was exactly what she would have expected. She'd told him many times that she'd been prepared to die when she'd fallen over that glacier all those years ago and once you take that step you cannot ever take it back.

Her death was worthy of respect. That was how he would choose to remember her.

Konan coughed painfully and clutched at Kakashi's arms tightly. "It's okay, Kakashi. Someone has to go and keep Yahiko and Nagato under control."

"I'm sure they'll be very angry that you're coming to them. Nagato will be very annoyed with me," said Kakashi grimly. "I made him a promise, after all."

She still had the strength to give him a doubtful look, even if it only lasted for a moment. "You have the Rinnegan, Kakashi. I know you."

It had to go unsaid. She knew that the gifted eyes would eventually kill her partner, just as it had her childhood friend. She'd kept her silence when he'd revealed that Nagato had given them to him, but now she wished she'd destroyed them when she'd had the chance.

Kakashi went to say something, but his partner reached up slowly and felt at her partner's face with her hand, "Don't even think about bringing me back. I'll never forgive you if you do."

Even with his Rinnegan eyes, Kakashi couldn't help but let a few tears fall down his face and he nodded his reluctant agreement and clasped her hand into his. The paper-user didn't last long after that; within moments the life left her eyes and she lay dead in his arms.

Kakashi knew that he didn't time to mourn her properly, but he couldn't seem to get up off his feet and let her go. His relationship with the purple haired kunoichi had been both complex and simple over the years, yet he hated the fact that he'd lost yet another important person in his life.

It seemed to be his destiny to watch everyone die before he did.

Naruto jogged up to his former teacher, seeing that neither of them had moved since the end of the battle. He saw that Konan was in a bad way and knelt down beside them, "Is she going to be okay?"

Kakashi glanced over at the blonde shinobi and hesitated before grimacing and shaking his head slightly. "You should go help the others, Naruto, while you have the strength. Kiba and I will join you once we have recovered."

The Uzumaki recognised the sense in his old teacher's words and got back onto his feet with a sigh. He looked over at the other battles being fought, but before he got a proper look he noticed something important.

There was an opening. It was only small, but he didn't even seem to notice them.

Naruto had a shot and he was taking it. He drew his sword slowly and activated it before disappearing into the air.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And so one of the Quiraji leaders falls. The fight against Shouri was meant to be over-the-top, as an appetiser for the rest of the final battles. I hope this lived up to your expectations, both with the fight, the conclusion and the unfortunate deaths of Nagisa and Konan. This is the final battle, people are going to die. I just hope I did them justice.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	91. Chapter 83 Trial of Famine

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 83 – Trial of Famine

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be a technique like the consumption from Baccano!

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

Having split up from the rest of the strike force, Kiba, Akamaru, Nagisa, Kakashi, Konan and Naruto faced off against the Quiraji leader, Shouri. At first, Shouri took a long shot that glanced off of Konan despite her paper-form, but the shinobi quickly recovered and moved against her. That was when Shouri summoned up an army of beasts at her command and took off into the air. Konan shot off after her in the air, while the other shinobi fought the beasts on the ground. While being swarmed by animals on the ground, Nagisa was killed by a number of arrows in her chest before being overwhelmed by the beasts. After a daring plan by Naruto, Shouri is knocked off her eagle and sent into the ground, where a combination of all four of them eventually took her down. She died without Benkei even noticing she had been in trouble. Despite their victory, Konan collapsed due to the wound in her side and eventually died because of the poison. She made Kakashi promise not to bring her back before dying in his arms.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>Seeing his younger siblings engage their shinobi foes in combat was enough to make Kyoukou sigh in exhaustion and regard the four shinobi that had come to face him. He was disappointed that only four of them had moved against him, since they must have known that he was the most dangerous out of the three of them that were fighting right now.<p>

He pulled up a heavy robed arm and stared at his skeletal hand with morbid fascination. The process seemed to be getting quicker and quicker, though since he'd arrived on the continent his primary diet had changed significantly.

Tastier to be sure. But less nutritious.

"You've fought him before?" asked Gaara as he pulled his Kage hat from his head and placed it on his back. "I only know select things about Black Robes."

"I'm going to be the one to kill him," said Sasuke shortly. Short currents of lightning sparked around him as his anger continued to rise. "Nobody else is to deny me that."

"Are you going to tell him to calm down?" asked Fiore to his older brother, though she agreed with her partner that the Quiraji leader needed to be put down.

To her surprise, Itachi shook his head, causing his fiery eyes to leave a small trail of smoke in their wake. "Kyoukou killed our mother. He dies."

Fiore gave him a questioning look before glancing back at her partner. She'd seen Sasuke in many different moods from melancholic to amused, or at least as much as he could. This was the first time she'd really seen him murderous.

In a strange way, he'd never looked more appealing to her.

Fiore kept that comment to herself and pulled her wood up to a long staff and stood by his side to stare at their enemy. She'd fought him before, in the depths of the Land of Fire when they'd rescued Sasuke's older brother from enemy hands and destroyed one of the biggest facilities. Kyoukou had fled the battle upon seeing a demonstration of her abilities, but Fiore wasn't about to assume that he was wary of her. She knew that he'd not even demonstrated a tenth of his abilities, unlike the other two Quiraji leaders were pretty well documented.

But the real danger from Kyoukou was his ability to drain the life out of people in an instant. It had been that that had killed Mikoto in front of her son and was likely the reason that he always kept his distance. Fiore suspected he was weak in close quarters, but she wasn't about to test that out of the gate. They had to approach him cautiously, so as to not get blasted away by some unknown technique.

Though she doubted Sasuke would be able to hold back. He wasn't brash like Naruto had shown himself to be, but he also had a history of making rash decisions in the heat of the moment.

She wasn't about to babysit Sasuke though. He could take care of himself. Fiore was there to ensure that their mission was a success and the Quiraji were defeated.

And for her own sake as well. She was just as wrapped up in the shinobi affairs as they were now.

Seeing that they weren't going to attack him brazenly, Kyoukou took a moment to breathe in a long breath of stale air through his withered lungs before pulling both his hands forward. Seeing that the Kazekage had lined up against him, he had something special in mind.

His enemies' eyes widened as a pair of Sunagakure shinobi appeared in his hands, their heads nestled in his skeletal hands. Gaara recognised his subordinates instantly, seeing that they were in a precarious position. His hands hovered at two of his gourds, ready to fire off a cluster of sand projectiles in an instant.

Kyoukou's dark eyes locked with the One-Tails container's and Gaara immediately knew that there wasn't anything he could do to save his people. "Now you get to experience hell."

With that, he began to drain the life from the pair of Sunagakure shinobi through his hands. Their skin withered and began to rot, while the energy passed to Kyoukou. As liveliness departed from them, life began to bloom within the Quiraji leader. His skeletal limbs filled out and began to colour once again, while his facial features took the form of a young man barely out of his twenties.

Within seconds, Kyoukou had completed the process and dropped the lifeless corpses of the Sunagakure shinobi to the ground.

Gaara wasn't the type of person to get angry at enemies, even when they did things that rightly deserved it. He'd seen terrible things happen to both himself and the people he cared about, but those paled in comparison to what he felt right now.

The Kazekage forgot his position. He forgot the work he'd done in suppressing his murderous origins.

An explosion of sand emerged from the large gourd that sat beneath his Kage hat and shot through the air towards the man that had so violated his people. It was formed with some of the hardest minerals he'd collected from Sunagakure and had enough force to crush through a stone wall without ever slowing down.

The now-youthful Kyoukou stepped forward and slashed his hands in the air at the sand missiles that were speeding towards him. He then continued to walk forward without a care in the world.

The sand fell apart onto the ground long before it came into his chakra-nullifying field, as if it had been smashed apart by blasts of pure air. He looked over to the enemies standing against him and made similar motions with his hands towards them.

Both Sasuke and Fiore leapt to the sides instinctively, not wanted to take the same attack that their ally's sand had, while Itachi dispersed himself into a murder of crows and took to the air.

Gaara took to the air as well on a platform of sand, but instead of moving to avoid the wind strikes that came his way, he pushed straight towards the Quiraji leader. The spiritual energy wind blades struck him in the chest and the face and bit through the layers of sand that covered his body. They took large chunks out of it, but Gaara ignored it and continued to push through.

Seeing that the Kazekage wasn't going to be stopped by just that, Kyoukou pulled back his hands towards his chest. At his command, a column of fire exploded out from him, the sheer force of it hurled Gaara back a significant distance, stopping his momentum.

"You have to calm yourself, Gaara!" came Itachi's voice from his collection of crows in the air. "He's just baiting you!"

The Kazekage recovered quickly on his sand platform and hovered in the air while staring at the column of fire. His dark eyes shifted to his occupant's for a moment before changing back as Shukaku refused his request. Without his knowing, a whirlwind of sand had erupted around him and was already threatening to cover the battlefield.

_**REMEMBER THE LESSONS YOU LEARNT.**_

The One-Tails' voice was deafening within his head, but it was the only way that Gaara was able to hear him. In that moment, Gaara remembered the words that his old friend had told him after defeating him at the end of the Chuunin Exams in Suna. Initially he had thought that the blonde shinobi was just making it up as he went along, but over the years Gaara had recognised the wisdom in what he had said to him.

"_I understand the pain you're going through. The hatred. The anger. But I have people that I care about and that is I keep fighting. If I fight for the people I care about, all that pain and anger washes away. If you find people like that, it makes you powerful."_

He'd said those words just before beating Gaara nearly to death and saving both his friends and the Kazekage's entire village from his wrath.

Remembering Naruto's words was enough to bring Gaara out of his emotional state, though his occupant kept up the sand whirlwind on general principle. He recognised how dangerous his initial approach had been and how lucky he was to still be alive, considering the amount of damage glancing hits from his wind strikes had done to him.

They still had to close the distance between their group and the Quiraji leader. If the opening salvo had proven anything, it was that Kyoukou ruled the long distance battle by far, as the only person in their group that had long distance attacks that could really harm him was Sasuke, who by nature was a more close-combat orientated fighter.

Gaara didn't like the situation, he didn't like that their enemy had so brazenly killed his people with such disregard for their status and he didn't like that he was so readily agreeing with his occupant on so many different subjects. Shukaku rarely made sense, but he couldn't find fault in the tactics he was feeding him.

It would require some experimentation, but Gaara suspected he would be able to make his attacks work against the Quiraji leader, given enough time to work it out. He still had a whirlwind of sand at his disposal and that would be the beginning of their attack.

He gave no warning to his three allies as he thinned out the sand in the whirlwind and sent it directly at the Quiraji leader. It became a dust storm rapidly, covering their section of the battlefield while he floated down towards the ground to consult with his allies.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Fiore as she covered her face with the top of her shirt.

"No, this is good," observed Itachi, his face unwavering in the dust storm. "He won't be able to take away all the chakra from this technique and we'll be able to get in close to him." He turned to his younger brother, "Sasuke, could you take him out if you got close enough?"

"With pleasure," said the young Uchiha with a quick nod, drawing his sword and running a hand along its edge. "He's weak in close-combat, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't think you're going in without me," said his partner quickly. Her wood floated around her waiting for her command, while she stepped back to his side. "I know how he fights better than anyone."

Itachi expected his younger brother to give her a piece of his mind at that, but to his hidden surprise Sasuke simply acknowledged her statement with a pat on the shoulder and they both turned to where they assumed Kyoukou was standing. It was a testament to the state of their relationship, as Itachi understood it. Sasuke saw her not as his woman, but as his equal.

It was touching to see. He only hoped they both survived the battle so they could enjoy the calmer stages of their lives. In a way, he saw the revitalisation of the Uchiha clan in their connection.

Though he still wasn't sold on the idea that the clan should be resurrected. A history of blood, violence and hatred wasn't something he wanted to see repeated. He hoped that Sasuke had the chance to prove him wrong, but Itachi was a pragmatist and also tried to consider the alternatives.

But first, they had to defeat their foe. That required them to close the distance.

"I will cover you from the skies," said Gaara as he lifted off on his sand platform and entered the higher areas of the dust storm. He had no need to shield himself from the sand, as he had several layers of it covering him already and could sense everything happening within the sand due to Shukaku's influence. He controlled the battlefield and would be able to direct it without ever opening his eyes.

Kyoukou looked around in the middle of the dust storm flying around him with a mixture of fascination and disappointment. It was an impress display of ingenuity to manufacture a cloud of sand that was both irritating to stand in and difficult to move around in, yet it failed in doing anything to him beside obscuring his vision slightly. The chakra that bonded the sand to its swirling movements failed as soon as it came into his chakra-nullifying field, yet the momentum of the wind pushing it kept it going until it passed through the field and reformed back into the storm.

Kyoukou's field did little to stop the storm from flowing around him, and that was an irritation all on its own. Heavy robes with bare skin were not a good combination when facing a storm of sand.

And he wasn't the most patient Quiraji leader at the moment. Once his hunger was up, he was the worst out of all of them when it came to getting the job done carefully.

He wasn't able to see where his target were, but that mattered little to him. He knelt down to the stony ground and placed his hands on the ground. He was a Black Robe after all and this was the exact range that he specialised at. If they were going to try to close the distance to him, they were going to suffer for that arrogance.

Gaara concentrated on controlling the dust storm with his sand abilities, flying high in the air so that he wasn't in danger of being struck by their enemy while he kept it going. He planned to open up as much of the storm as necessary for his three allies to get close to their enemy, while continuing to obscure Kyoukou's view. It required a huge mental effort when all he wanted to do was attack the Quiraji leader with all his strength.

Sasuke, Fiore and Itachi knew that through the dust storm they couldn't approach Kyoukou's static position together, as that would leave them vulnerable to large attacks when they were clumped together.

Itachi's eyes were able to locate Kyoukou's hidden position and he communicated this to his two allies quickly before moving to the left side of the dust storm in his crow form and prepared his own plan of attack. His chakra attacks were mostly meaningless against their enemy, but he had enough mundane weapons and speed that he felt that if he could get close he could do some damage.

Like Gaara, Fiore also took to the air on her wooden platform, though she hated the fact that it felt like the swirling sand storm was getting in her clothes in ways that would be an absolute nightmare to deal with. Out of all of them, she knew she probably had the best shot at taking out Kyoukou and was already figuring out how she would attack him. Her wood offered her a wealth of possibilities.

Sasuke didn't have a plan of attack. He was going to get close to their enemy and bury his sword in his chest.

They started their attack with bursts of energy towards where they knew their enemy was. The moment they started running was when the spiritual energy attacks started to come flying at them.

While flying through the torrent of sand, Fiore's instincts were screaming at her that she was in danger, even though she didn't have the sensory abilities that her partner and his older brother did. She only had experience on her side.

That was the one thing that saved her as a massive chunk of earth came screaming across the air and nearly removed her from on top of her wooden platform. Initially she pulled back under the fear that he had already located her flying position, but through the dust storm she could see similar projectiles flying through the air around her. It was only after seeing half a dozen of those that she realised that he didn't truly know where she was at all.

He was simply hurling chunks of spiritual-energy-based rocks up in the air, hoping that one of them would hit either her or the Kazekage controlling the storm.

That meant so long as she kept her eyes focused and made sweeping motions on top of her wooden platform, she doubted that such attacks would be able to hit her. But she wasn't going to take any risks and kept an arm up to try and keep the sand out of her eyes while flying through the air. She doubted that Kyoukou would move too much in this dust storm, but judging by the sheer number of projectiles he was hurling into the air she figuring that was taking up all his concentration.

Though the air did feel like it was getting hotter. That made the sand she was flying through even more uncomfortable, but the reason for that became clear as her view started to become obscured by a massive red image that came screaming towards her.

Fiore's eyes widened at what she saw and immediately angled her wood platform to take her as high as possible, but the fire storm that had been aimed at her was far too large for her to escape. The Cascading Flow warrior saw this and at that last moment covered herself in a cocoon of wood as she plummeted to the ground through the fire storm. The wood caught fire instantly and began to burn through to her inside, but she struck the ground long before it could burn through.

She cried out in pain and clutched at one of her shoulders as she felt it pull out of its socket, but it was the pain in her legs that was really concerning. She could feel her wood burning around her and her heart broke at the fact that she'd been forced to sacrifice it to save her own life.

Outside of her wooden cocoon, Fiore had happened to land near where Itachi was defending himself from the hails of fire balls that Kyoukou had been sending out through the dust storm. He'd been making slow progress towards the Quiraji leader, but every time he dodged or defended himself he lost chakra, so he knew they were still at a disadvantage. He also knew that the only reason they'd been able to make progress at all was because of the Kazekage's cover, so he was grateful that Gaara was still able to maintain it.

When the wooden cocoon crashed down nearby, he initially thought it was one of the chunks of earth that had been flying through the air, but once he extended his senses around it he saw that Sasuke's partner was inside the flaming wreckage and was hurt. He instantly ran through a short number of handseals before drenching the fallen cocoon in water, dousing the fire quickly. Itachi watched as Fiore pulled herself out of the wreckage and thanked him for his assistance before screaming out as she shoved her shoulder back into its socket.

"Do you need healing?" asked Itachi, as he had copied a number of medical techniques when he'd had his Sharingan.

However, she simply shook her head and took a long breath before tapping her legs to make sure she could still walk. Without missing a step, she recovered her wood from its ashen form back to her original wood platform. She knew what her mistake had been and would not repeat it again as she took to the air once again.

Itachi watched her leave through his fake eyes and didn't hide how impressed he was. She was a tough woman, far more than many of the men that he'd worked with over the years. Sasuke definitely had his hands full with her.

But he couldn't afford to distract himself with thoughts of his brother's partner and her tenacity. Itachi had only started to grasp a pattern in Kyoukou's attacks and had calculated an attack vector before the Quiraji leader had hurled a massive fire storm into the air then changed his attacks completely.

If his assumption about the Black Robe's personality was correct, Itachi already knew what attacks would be coming next. Sensing the danger, Itachi dispersed into his cloud of crows once again just as the hair on the back of his neck began to rise. He took to the air just in time to avoid the tendrils of lightning that shot along the ground. They seemed to be completely random, but also contained within the dust storm as Itachi's crows ignored the dust in their eyes and spread out to try and get a glimpse of the Quiraji leader. He spent more and more in his crow form these days, those it was only because it offered him sight similar to that which he had lost when he'd been blinded by his own techniques. It was different from the complex chakra sight he usually had, but it was also more reliable as he could actually get a view of the Quiraji leader, rather than just seeing the absence of him.

While both his partner and his brother had taken to the sky, Sasuke had chosen a simpler approach to charge towards the Quiraji leader along the ground. He'd been able to defend himself from the fire balls and chunks of earth easily enough with his sword, but when he'd heard the crackling sounds of lightning coming towards him, Sasuke decided that now was an appropriate time to test out his defensive abilities.

The mental concentration the combination of techniques required was immense, but through his Sharingan and his manipulation of spiritual energy separate from his eyes, Sasuke was able to master his defensive techniques as the tendrils of lightning crashed along the ground towards him.

Around him emerged a purple skeleton that completely surrounded him with its large bones before forming into a large shield in front of him. It was strong enough to repel any chakra attack that would have come against him, but Sasuke knew that his enemy was stronger than that. In response, he covered his defensive technique with lightning spiritual energy, an effort that immediately brought about a stabbing pain in his head, but not so much that he had to cancel the technique.

Kyoukou's lightning tendrils crashed against his defence and dispersed around him, giving Sasuke a wide enough berth to push forward through the dust storm towards his target. He broke out in a quick run, knowing that he would only be able to maintain the combination for a short period of time before it drained his energy completely and his charge would become meaningless.

Within the dust storm, Kyoukou changed up his method of attack once again, but he hadn't heard any cries of grief or pain that would have resulted from his attacks. The dust storm was obscuring everything.

Venting his frustration at the lack of obvious results from his attacks, Kyoukou decided to turn his attention to the dust storm that had only been raging for a few minutes but had essentially blinded him for that duration and gotten sand all through his robes. He stretched out his arms for a moment before beginning to make swirling motions in the opposite direction to the dust storm. For anyone else it would have required a monumental expenditure of energy to disperse it, but he was the mightiest of the Black Robes. It required little more than an afterthought.

Once he entered his own wind spiritual energy into the dust storm around him, the sheer amount of power that he had expended negated the Kazekage's control and spun all the sand off into the air. The battlefield was almost instantly cleared as he took a quick account of his enemies.

The first thing he did was send a secondary blast of wind into the flying Kage with enough energy to rip him apart if it struck. However, Gaara's sand platform was quick enough to dive out of the way; he only lost a few strands of his red hair as he dodged closer towards the ground.

Back on the ground, Kyoukou saw the pair of Uchiha shinobi charging towards his position, seemingly unscathed by his hails of projectiles earlier. Turning his body towards them, he began to produce massive balls of fire that put their attacks to shame, firing them off rapidly in their attack vectors.

Both Sasuke and Itachi were agile enough to dodge the spiritual energy attacks, but the angles of the attacks did slow them down substantially. It seemed like Kyoukou was actually fearful of them getting in close, but the moment Sasuke took the risk that he could make it through he almost lost an ear to a flying wind blade that had been hidden in the shadow of one of the fire strikes.

"We have to approach him cautiously," warned Itachi as he put his hands together to bring up a defensive wall of water to stop one of the fire balls from getting through to him. "We might be able to punch through together."

Sasuke frowned at his brother's ability to use water techniques to defend himself and resolves to repel the next fire ball with one of his own, but his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan that he'd activated earlier caught a figure moving against their enemy's blind spot. He saw her plan immediately and changed his plan of defence, launching himself as high into the air as he could jump before firing off a trio of fire balls down towards the Quiraji leader.

Kyoukou was forced to defend himself with the fire balls he was firing back, easily overwhelming the chakra of the younger shinobi's attacks.

But the distraction was a success as his Cascading Flow partner had already dropped to the ground and was manipulating her wood to attack him.

Fiore covered her hands with her wood in the forms of spiked gauntlets and shot forward to enter close quarter combat with the Quiraji leader. The lead-up to getting into range had been some of the most difficult dodging she'd ever had to do in her life, but now that she was here she was confident that she'd be able to land several crushing blows on Kyoukou and bring him down a notch before the others came into range to assist her.

It had worked during their short fight at the bottom of the laboratory; there was no reason to suggest that it wouldn't now.

The Cascading Flow warrior didn't realise how wrong she was until she threw her first punch.

She was correct in her assumption that Kyoukou was not a close combat fighter. He saw no value in it and his abilities were not conducive to fighting an opponent directly in front of him.

But Kyoukou had learnt from their previous encounter. He recognised that the warrior was not a shinobi that was weakened in his presence, nor felt any fear at the threat of having her life consumed by him. That made her dangerous and he'd adjusted his fighting tactics the moment he had let her come close to him.

Just as the wooden gauntlet threatened to strike him the shoulder, Kyoukou flicked a bolt of spiritual-energy-powered lightning directly at the centre of her wood. Normally wood was too strong an insulator to conduct electricity, but the amount of power the Quiraji leader had fuelled into the strike caused the resins and water within the wood to explode on Fiore's hands.

The Cascading Flow warrior screamed out in pain and dropped to her knees, while splinters of wood showered the air around her. The shock of the strike had burnt her hands so badly that she wanted to cut them off, but she wasn't going to be afforded the luxury.

Taking advantage of her vulnerability, Kyoukou shifted around and reached out to drain the life from her. Civilians like her didn't have the same taste as shinobi did, but he wasn't able to resist the meal that had presented itself on a platter. He wasn't going to savour her; he was going to devour her. It would only take seconds.

However, he pulled back his hands at the last moment as a lance of fire came screaming across the battlefield and shot through the area between him and his prey. If it had been made of chakra he would have just ignored it and eaten the young woman's life-force. But Kyoukou's senses told him that it was made from spiritual energy and actually posed a threat to him.

Sasuke roared out a challenge as he fired another lance of fire at the Quiraji leader, watching it be dispersed by a small shield of water as he approached the two of them. It gave him enough of an opening to reach out and grab Fiore by the collar of her shirt, throwing her backwards as far as he could while he started to slash at Kyoukou with his sword.

Unlike the Cascading Flow warrior, Sasuke had both speed and ferocity on his side and was pushing the Quiraji leader back while his older brother picked Fiore back up on her feet. His sword strikes were diverted and parried by wind barriers that Kyoukou had erected around himself, but from the slow degeneration on the Quiraji leader's face he could tell that his enemy was struggling.

"Are you okay?" asked Itachi as Fiore tried to shake herself out of it. The dark haired girl looked around the battlefield for a moment, trying to get her bearings. "Sasuke is holding him back, for now."

"I'm…I'm okay," said Fiore as she flexed her burnt hands tenderly. They were a much darker colour than the rest of her arms now, but the pain had already started to subside. She'd always had a high tolerance to injury, likely due to her heritage, but Fiore was more concerned about the wooden splinters that had embedded themselves in her arms. Her control over the element still existed and she was able to pull them out one-at-a-time, but only at great pain to herself.

Seeing that she was taking care of herself for the moment, Itachi surged forward to join his brother in battle, while the Kazekage flew high in the air and aimed spears of sand to throw down at the Quiraji leader during a lull in the battle.

Itachi had neither the ability to use spiritual or physical energy nor the inclination to learn, so he recognised that his attacking options against the Quiraji leader were few and far between. With his demonic chakra-based eyes he was able to see the energy in everything on the battlefield in a wild spectrum of colours that his normal eyes would never have been able to perceive, but he was blind to the Quiraji's presence. It was only by his absence that Itachi was able to know where he was and what he was doing, though his other senses had also been heightened to greater levels.

The elder Uchiha's hands sped through handseals and dropped a pair of seals on the rocky ground as he charged towards his brother fighting against the Quiraji leader. At his activation, a pair of water torrents came surging past him and obeyed his directions. With precise control he sent them just above his brother, who sensed Itachi's plan and jumped back from his furious assault long enough for his brother's water to crash down on top of the Quiraji leader.

Kyoukou hadn't taken any damage despite the intensity of the water blasts, as the chakra controlling them failed when it entered his chakra-nullifying field, but it succeeding in drenching the Quiraji leader substantially.

The Black Robe leader looked down at his outfit and sighed, wiping the water from his hair before shaking his arms to try and dry them. "Seriously? That's just sad. What does that accomplish?"

From a short distance away, Itachi responded with a silent look through his green glowing eyes, staring at his enemy intently. He hoped that his plan worked, though he had already worked on a contingency with his hands hidden in his cloak.

"It's just a set-up," came Sasuke's voice to the side of the Quiraji leader. Kyoukou turned around to see the younger Uchiha's sword flying towards him at breakneck speed, having been thrown from short range.

Kyoukou had many forms of defence, from his complete mastery of spiritual energy techniques to his consumption skills that could remove the energy from almost anything that had life within in.

He simply side-stepped the flying sword and reached out to grab the hilt in an impressive display of physical ability. Still dripping wet from Itachi's water torrent, he brought up the sword and examined the material with the eye of an expert. The hilt had been changed and the markings had been forged over, but it the blade was definitely made from Quiraji metalwork.

A stolen relic fighting against its old masters. The irony was almost enough to make the Black Robe leader laugh.

His senses pulled him to the side as several concentrated spikes of sand came crashing down from the floating shinobi leader above him, driving themselves deep into the stony ground despite their chakra being nullified by his field. The red haired boy had learnt quickly how to combat against his field and was already taking advantage of his absent-mindedness.

Kyoukou directed his free hand towards the flying sand platform almost dismissively, creating a large boulder from the ground beneath him and hurling it straight into the Kazekage. Gaara's sand shield automatically came around his platform to defend him, but was only barely able to diffuse the power before it crashed through his platform and struck him directly.

His sand curved around to pick him up and take him out of range, while he attempted to repair his sand armour and gauge how much chakra he had wasted. The fact that the Quiraji leader had avoided his sand strikes rather than ignoring them meant he was on the right path, but it was dangerous to come within range.

Reminding himself that he was fighting more than one person at the same time, Kyoukou turned his attention back to the young Uchiha that had so graciously gifted him the sword and frowned as he saw him standing still with his hands balled together and sweating heavily. It was only when he reached out with his senses that he realised his error in ignoring him for that short period of time to retaliate against the Kazekage.

Sasuke collected all the spiritual energy he thought he could control and pushed out his hands towards the Quiraji leader like he was trying to catch a ball. "Seishou no Jutsu: Raikou Taihou!" (Spirit Technique: Lightning Cannon)

A regular chakra lightning strike would have been easily enough to deflect or dodge, as the energy output wouldn't have been enough to warrant a serious reaction.

Kyoukou never even got the chance to react as the bolt of lightning exploded out from the Uchiha shinobi's hands and connected with the sword he held in his hand. The electricity conducted through his withering body instantly through the water that hung from his heavy robe, frying him within his own skin.

Both Sasuke and Itachi moved forward to take advantage of the strike, but neither were as fast as the speeding bullet that was their Cascading Flow ally. Fiore had never been able to control more than one piece of her wood at the same time, as it required too much mental strength in order to give adequate commands to the energy within the wood. Whenever her wood had been split, she would meld them back together into a single piece that she had complete control over.

But the brazen destruction of her wood earlier had broken something in her mind and in that moment she charged with a cluster of wood shards hovering above her head. While Kyoukou recovered from her partner's unexpected attack, she took advantage of his vulnerability and got into very-close range and threw her hands forward towards him.

The wooden shards extended into long spears and pierced right through the Quiraji leader's defences like they weren't even there to strike straight into his chest. A dozen holes appeared in Kyoukou's body as the wood pierced through to the other side of him and flew back to Fiore to form into a single large wooden gauntlet that she smashed into the struggling Quiraji leader's face.

It was a devastating combination that laid Kyoukou on his back, with holes through his body and a crushed face. If he was any other opponent he would have been killed at the first attack, but Fiore wasn't about to believe that it had been enough to take him out.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye Sasuke running up to her with the intention of recovering his sword and finishing the job, while his brother kept his distance and maintained his demon-like gaze on the body of the Black Robe leader. Gaara was still recovering from the attack that had struck him, but it looked like the battle was about to be over.

Fiore pulled back her gauntlet to slam it down into Kyoukou's body on the ground, while Sasuke had lightning crackling around him as he picked up his sword that had been discarded when his partner had knocked their enemy off his feet. It was a combination attack that would secure victory for their side and seriously hurt the Quiraji war effort.

Neither of them was particularly surprised when Kyoukou climbed back to his feet and blasted a column of air straight into the Cascading Flow warrior. Fiore got her wood around to her front in time to block the strike, but the force of it still sent her flying.

Sasuke ignored his partner's plight and swept his sword up to remove Kyoukou's hands in a single strike, recognising that their enemy's abilities were linked to his hands. He had the speed to complete his attack long before Kyoukou would be able to direct his hands towards him, he didn't even have the time to create spiritual energy to enhance his attack.

His sword struck down, but instead of slicing through flesh it bounced off of an invisible barrier that he'd encountered earlier. Sasuke snarled and shifted his grip to change the trajectory of his sword strike, but he knew he had over-extended his hand. The Quiraji leader seemed to have aged decades in the moments between Fiore's attack and his presence now, but his wounds had disappeared in place of his youth.

A knowing frown came over Kyoukou's face as his hands flexed two fingers towards the young Uchiha. At his command, two small lances of fire shot down from behind Sasuke and shot into the backs of his calves, forcing the Konoha shinobi to his knees in a cry of pain. Kyoukou took a moment to kick away his sword and sent follow-up blasts of spiritual energy-based fire at his other three opponents before regarding the injured shinobi before him.

Sasuke looked up from his kneeling position and saw that Kyoukou had closed the distance between them in an instant, standing over him with his hand pressing against Sasuke's face. As he was in range of the Quiraji leader's chakra-nullifying field, Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan cancelled out and turned back to his regular black.

In that moment, he saw the depth of the emptiness in his enemy's eyes. Where the converted shinobi the Quiraji once used had eyes full of rage, Kyoukou didn't have any emotion in his eyes whatsoever. Not even hunger.

"Like mother like child," said the Quiraji leader with a triumphant smirk. His face had continued to wither as the battle had continued as the lack of sustenance took its toll on him, but Kyoukou no longer had that issue.

A short distance away, Fiore struggled to pick herself up from her feet while her wood sat further away from her. She glanced up to see Sasuke at the mercy of their enemy and cried out his name. Putting out her hand, she summoned her wood towards her and leapt up to sprint towards him, but she knew that she would be far too late. It would only take a moment and her partner would be lost to her.

Gaara was still trying to fly back to the main battle area on his platform of sand, but even with a whirlwind of sand at his back there was no way he'd be able to save the young Uchiha in time.

Sasuke tried to get up and fight off his enemy, but with Kyoukou's hand on his forehead his muscles refused his commands. Even his vaunted confidence wasn't responding to his demands.

"I'm going to enjoy this," said Kyoukou as he started to drain his young prey.

It was the strangest pain Sasuke had ever experienced. It didn't hurt like a cut or a burn. Instead it felt like his heart was being wrenched out of his chest and his very essence being stolen from within him. Kyoukou began to regain his youth once again from the young man, noticing that the Uchiha shinobi had an oddly large reservoir of energy for him to consume. He certainly made a fine meal.

Sasuke knew he was dying, but strangely he didn't want to fight it anymore. He just wanted to let it happen. For it to be over.

The end never came for him.

Out of nowhere, the Quiraji leader's prey was blasted backwards by a torrent of water from the side, sending him flying off to the side. As Kyoukou looked up to see what had robbed him of his meal, Sasuke's older brother buried a kunai in the side of his neck. Itachi was a student of human biology and knew that he'd pierced an artery in the Quiraji leader's neck, a sure-hit kill.

Despite the blade in his neck, Kyoukou let out a long sigh and brought up on of his hands to hold the Uchiha shinobi's hand that was clutching the kunai. "Boy, you clearly do not understand the inevitability of life."

He brought up his other hand and placed it on the side of Itachi's face, as if he were caressing his cheek. Being in such close proximity to the Black Robe leader had drained his green eyes of their chakra and they sat as dull black orbs in place of where his eyes used to be, robbing Itachi of the ability to see his enemy.

"Brother!" Sasuke recovered from his rescue and tried to run over to save his last living family member, but the draining effect from Kyoukou had robbed him of his strength and over a decade of his life. He cried out uncharacteristically as he saw his brother suffering the same fate as their mother had, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

Life departed the elder Uchiha rapidly, but Itachi barely managed to turn his head towards the screaming shinobi. He had no eyes to get one final look at his precious younger brother, but he had just enough time to give him one final message. There were so many things he wanted to tell Sasuke, but he only had the strength for the one thing he knew he had to say.

"Forgive me…Sasuke."

The younger Uchiha watched in horror as the life completely drained from his brother and passed to their enemy, leaving Itachi a withered skeletal husk. His body dropped to the ground with a dull thud, bouncing for a moment before shattering into dust, leaving only his robes and a collection of dusty bones.

The laughter of Kyoukou was drowned out by the cry of anguish from Itachi's younger brother, who was regaining his strength with every moment to try and get to his brother, even though he knew he was already gone. The Quiraji leader revelled in his despair, though the energy he had taken from the older shinobi was barely more than the amount he had taken from the younger shinobi.

There was something strange about that, but Kyoukou wasn't one to complain about a lacklustre meal when he'd only had an appetiser.

He turned his attention to the now-older Uchiha shinobi, wanting to complete the set. He frowned and stepped to side as Sasuke hurled two bolts of spiritual energy lightning at him. They were too slow to hit him directly, but he was more surprised at the speed of the shinobi's recovery. He could clearly see the hatred on the dark-haired man's face, matching the new lines that he'd brought about on his expression while he continued to charge towards him covered in spiritual energy.

It would be almost too easy to just step forward and consume him next. That was the key flaw within their foes; their attachment to each other was laughable.

He stepped forward with his arms open, taunting the Uchiha survivor to strike at him in close range. Despite being a highly intelligent fighter, Sasuke's grief blinded him to the realities of battle and his eyes flickered back to their bright red Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan state. Around him a purple skeletal figure began to emerge, covered in a thick flame that seemed to mirror his movements as he moved in to take a strike at Kyoukou.

Just as he was about to fall for the Quiraji leader's obvious trap, Sasuke was swept off his feet by a tendril of sand that plucked him out of his purple warrior form and flung him back into the position where his partner was waiting to catch him. Fiore received Sasuke in her arms with a grunt of exertion and put him back on his feet. Sasuke was in no state to be denied his revenge and turned his red eyes to his partner with a look of ultimate fury and hatred.

That was when Fiore slammed a fist into the side of his face, laying him into the ground. While she dealt with him, Gaara used a large quantity of sand from his gourd to form sharp projectiles to hurl down at the Quiraji leader. He'd finally gotten the ratio of sand-to-chakra right and landed several hits as Kyoukou scrambled to get his spiritual energy defences back up. He'd intentionally lowered them to bait Sasuke and that was now being used against him.

"You do not freak out in the middle of a fight!" yelled Fiore down to her fallen partner. "You do not charge off without backup!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and slowly picked himself up from the ground before spitting a globule of blood onto the ground. She'd hit him so hard that he felt like she'd really tried to take his head off, but when he looked into her purple eyes his anger and hatred seemed to just drift away.

She wasn't looking at him with anger. She wasn't looking at him with love either.

Fiore was telling him that he still had a battle to fight. She knew him well enough to know that words would not reach his ears, but silence could speak volumes. The time for grieving was not now.

Sasuke didn't like it, but she was right. He leaned on his knee for support before standing up and wiping his mouth free of blood. "Thanks…Fiore." He pulled back a fist and slammed it straight into her face, repeating exactly what she had done to him. He didn't give her fallen form a second look as he began gathering his strength and walking back towards the embattled Quiraji leader.

His Cascading Flow partner grinned as she clutched at her jaw and leapt back up to her feet. They'd fought each other many times in the past, but that was the first time she believed he wasn't holding back anymore. He was out for the final fight and that dulled the pain in her cheek quickly. She didn't even feel the need to give him grief for striking her. If anything, she appreciated his honesty.

For now, they had a battle to win.

Gaara dodged out of the way of a flying fireball and gathered a small amount of concentrated sand in a spinning chakram before sending it down towards the Quiraji leader. It had enough stone materials in it that he knew it would maintain its shape through the chakra-nullifying field, and Kyoukou knew that too as he hurled up a wall of fire to repel the attack.

However, that meant that his vision was obscured for the few moments until his fire wall came down. In those moments, both Sasuke and Fiore shot around the sides for a repeat of their combination attack from earlier. Taking repeated attacks from the Kazekage had drained much of Kyoukou's energy and his reaction to their attack was much slower than it had been earlier.

Both Fiore's wooden gauntlet and Sasuke's sword covered in spiritual energy lightning slammed into either side of the Quiraji leader, drawing large amounts of blood and crushing a large number of bones in the process. The pair of warriors didn't wait around to see if their attacks had been truly effective, with Fiore jumping away a short distance while Sasuke leapt back much further and gauged how much energy he had for another lightning strike straight into their foe.

Kyoukou groaned as he struggled to stay on his feet, his body aging rapidly as his wounds healed once again. It was becoming clear that he was running out of energy to repeat the trick, but his three opponents also knew that there was no way to tell if he had the ability to bring in more sacrifices to consume.

They had to take him out while he was vulnerable. Otherwise this battle would go on until they ran out of energy and he consumed them.

Seeing an opening, Fiore shot around the back of their Quiraji opponent and hurled her wood gauntlet at his back. At her command, the wood split open like a flower around Kyoukou's back to clasp on tighter than glue. The Quiraji leader tried to throw it off, but Fiore forced it to drive him to the ground and created two large wooden hands that moved towards his face. As both of her allies were still a short distance away, Fiore say an opportunity to finish the battle in that moment.

The wooden hands clasped at either side of the Quiraji leader's mouth and wrenched it open while he tried to get to his knees. Kyoukou was already using physical energy to fight against it, but for the moment he was at their mercy.

At his distance away, Gaara recognised the opportunity that Fiore had created for them and pulled out one of his pre-prepared gourds, collecting a line of speciality minerals and sending them at the Quiraji leader in a long line.

"Uchiha! Light the sand up!"

Sasuke glanced up to see what the Kazekage was shouting about, noticing a line of red and gold sand moving past him towards their enemy. He considered using Amaterasu to light the line of sand, but he reconsidering and sped through a set of hand seals before jumping towards it and clicking his fingers.

The line of sand ignited in a line of bright orange flames and covered the distance between them and their opponent in an instant. The fiery projectiles slammed into the open mouth of Kyoukou before he could react. Fiore was quick to withdraw her wood from the Quiraji foe before he could break it apart, but she'd already done what was needed.

The Black Robe leader flailed around and hurled around large balls of spiritual energy-based fire all around him, while clutching at his throat with his withered hands. The shinobi could see the orange colour through the pale skin of his neck, clearing burning through his throat rapidly.

The momentum of the line of shooting sand had broken through his chakra-nullifying field and the fire that Sasuke had lit the minerals with had only been ignited with chakra, it wasn't based on the energy type.

Kyoukou knew that it wasn't enough to kill him, but it burnt like nothing he had experienced before and he wasn't able to concentrate on defending himself until he dealt with his internal damage. If one of them was in range he'd try to consume them, but he couldn't sense any of them in range.

Gaara put away his specialty gourd and created as much sand as he could muster around him as he sensed the final stage of the battle finishing. He powered himself forward with the assistance of some additional chakra from Shukaku, while looking to see his companions doing similar things.

Fiore had reconstituted her wooden staff into a sharp trident, while Sasuke had drawn his sword once again and had run a hand along its edge to cover it in a spiritual lightning current. They closed the distance to the Quiraji leader in an instant, dodging away from the wind slashes that Kyoukou was instinctively trying to throw around him while he attempted to put out the fire within his own body.

Fiore buried her wooden trident in Kyoukou's back through his heavy black robes at the same time as Sasuke ducked under his sweeping arms and slashed his throat so strongly that he almost decapitated the Quiraji leader.

However, that wasn't enough to kill the Black Robe leader as he used the instant they attacked him to begin consuming their energy in a sphere around him. Both Sasuke and Fiore were forced to leap backwards to avoid it with their weapons in hand, but they both lost several months of their lives in that instant.

Kyoukou was already beginning to heal, using his hands to hold his neck in place. "You cannot…stop the…inevitable."

He noticed the charging Kazekage with a mild amount of concern in his eyes, until he noticed that Gaara didn't have any sand travelling with him. The Quiraji leader concentrated on healing himself, trusting in his chakra-nullifying field to protect him for the few moments necessary.

The One-Tails container halted just out of the field and pushed his hands towards Kyoukou before dropping them down towards the ground.

Kyoukou had only a moment to glance up towards the sky before he let go of his neck and sighed in exhaustion. "Well, now that's just annoying…"

In that moment, a mountain of sand crashed down on top of him, as the tightly packed sand buried him. The chakra that bound it together came apart, but Gaara had gathered enough heavy materials during his charge that the sheer weight of it was enough to crush every bone in Kyoukou's body and bury him.

Not one to believe his opponent beaten just at that, Sasuke lit the mountain of sand with black flames from his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and watched it burn. His partner moved around the burning pile and stood by his side, panting softly as her wooden trident hung from her hand.

"I think he's dead, Sasuke."

The Uchiha heir frowned and held his sword so tightly that his knuckles had begun to turn white, "I'm not going to move until I'm sure that he's burnt to ashes."

Fiore went to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, until she realised that that wasn't what he needed at that moment. He had to watch the man that killed his brother and mother die. Only then would he have some measure of peace.

"We might not have that luxury," observed Gaara dryly as he motioned to the other battles around them. The bodies of animals on one side of the battlefield was troubling to see, though it was clear that battle was already over, but the other battle was still raging on.

While Sasuke continued to stare at the black flames burning through the sand pile, Fiore looked over at what the Kazekage had indicated to.

The demise of Kyoukou had drawn the attention of the main Quiraji leader, who had drawn his gaze away from the immobile Shikyo and was now staring directly at them with his cold black eyes. She wasn't the type to get intimidated easily, but the way he seemed to just stare through her was just unsettling.

"He's not wrong," she said slowly. "This isn't over by a long shot." She stepped into her partner's line-of-sight, but saw that she didn't have to say anything further.

Sasuke had processed the death of his older brother and was wearing his battle face once again. He turned on his heel and faced down the Quiraji leader with a fearless look in his regular black eyes.

"We'll have to wait for the others before we attack. This isn't the kind of battle we can win on our own," warned Gaara as he stepped in line with the others of his group. He had confirmation that their foe was dead by the fact that he once again able to manipulate the sand that he'd used to crush the Quiraji leader.

He hadn't even needed to use his other minerals that he'd brought to the battle. Those he reserved for the one man whose death would see the end of the war.

Benkei was the real reason for their struggles. They definitely weren't finished yet.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Yes, I killed Itachi. I hated that I had to do it, but damnit he had to go out in a way befitting his character. Considering what he's been through in the story, I wanted to give him the send-off I felt he deserved. Itachi was interesting to write in this story, since I changed his background a little bit and his interactions with the characters. But yes, I hope you guys don't hate me too much for that. If he wasn't sacrificing himself for Sasuke, how else would he go out?

Now, just in case there is a concern over the interaction between Sasuke and Fiore, I would like to remind you guys that their relationship is one of equals. Fiore is not a tsundere-type; she struck him because it was the one-sure way to bring him back to reality. He struck her back, not out of anger or abuse, but rather as a sign of understanding. I hope this comes across, as I certainly don't support abuse.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	92. Chapter 84 Trial of War

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 84 – Trial of War

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the Hyuuga would have been explored more.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

Having split from the rest of the strike force, Sasuke, Itachi, Fiore and Gaara squared off against the Quiraji Black Robe leader, Kyoukou. At the very start of the battle, Kyoukou brought out two Sunagakure shinobi that he consumed instantly, enraging the Kazekage and almost baiting Gaara into an attack that would have ended his life. Only by his occupant's reminding him of previous lessons did Gaara regain himself. He created a huge dust storm with his sand to cover their part of the battlefield and the other three fighters began charging towards their enemy through the storm. Kyoukou fired off spiritual energy attacks one after the other, but even after injuring Fiore he didn't achieve anything from his attacks. After dispelling the dust storm, Kyoukou fought against the combatants expertly, eventually driving Sasuke to his knees and consumed over a decade and a half of his life before Itachi got between them and took the blow for him. Itachi died with a smile on his lips and his demise gave the others the opening they needed to take out the Quiraji leader. As Kyoukou died, the main Quiraji leader turned his attention towards his killers, recognising that another of his children had been taken out.

***End Summary***

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><p>With three of the enemy leader facing them at the same time, the strike force had been forced to split up to fight against their respective foes. While their comrades took care of Shouri and Kyoukou, five of the shinobi had moved to face off against the warmonger Sensou. Only Mei had fought with the Red Warrior leader personally, but Neji had more than enough reasons to hate him and fight him with everything he had. The two Kages were a formidable force apart, but in combination with Hinata and Lee's support they would present a serious challenge to the Quiraji leader.<p>

However, they weren't the only ones standing against Sensou. The pair of Kumogakure Tailed Beast containers had also joined their ranks, not wanting to be left out in the battle. Killer Bee made a comment that they would be better served by taking out Shikyo while she was vulnerable, but Yugito reminded him of the warning that Naruto had given them, as it had been repeated by their own occupants.

They had to focus their attentions on the opponent in front of them. He was all that mattered at this stage.

Sensou placed his hands on the hilts of his swords and scanned the faces of the six shinobi standing opposite him. A part of him was proud of the fact that out of the three of them he had the most powerful shinobi and the largest number dedicating themselves to fighting him, but that only mattered when he won and they all lay dead at his feet.

Not that he had much intention of doing much fighting on his own. That wasn't how he operated.

"We have to be careful of his control technique," warned Neji quickly, before any of them charged forward. "A single touch and you'll be fighting for him rather than with us."

"Does that extend to us?" asked Yugito Nii, indicating to her fellow Kumogakure shinobi. "I doubt he has the power to control a Tailed Beast."

"He ain't got the stones to take control of our bones," rapped Killer Bee in a dramatic pose. Despite having accustomed herself to his rap, Yugito was still forced to plant her hand in her face at his terrible rhyme.

Rock Lee flexed his bandaged hands slowly as he accumulated physical energy in his legs, "We currently outnumber him. If we all attack at once, we might be able to take him out before he is able to use his ability."

"That's too risky," said Hinata with her hands in a handseal. "We're better off attacking from range and gauging his physical abilities before moving in for the final strike."

"She's right," said Neji with a confident nod of his head. "Unlike the previous Sensou, he doesn't have the metal manipulation or any ranged techniques as far as we know. If we don't lose our cool, we should be able to win without casualties."

The Mizukage had to admit she was impressed with the cool calculation under the heat of the moment of the two Hyuugas. "That's a good plan. The Hyuuga girl and I will attack from afar while you guys close the distance and work out his abilities." She turned her head towards Hinata with an apologetic smile, "Am I correct in my assumption about your skills?"

If she were younger, Hinata was sure that the attention paid to her by the older woman would have intimidated her greatly and she would have struggled to respond. But years of dealing with the harsh realities of the world had steeled her resolve significantly and she created a swirling whirlwind of water directly in front of her while simultaneously adding wind blades into the mixture in response.

"A woman after my own heart," said Mei as she responded with her own water technique, creating a massive dragon of water out of the stone ground and directing it towards their enemy. As it roared towards him, Hinata sent her whirlwind of water at him as well from above to come crashing down on top of him.

Sensou glanced up at the water attacks through his piercing red eyes before taking a slow breath and moving back a single step. He placed his hands on the hilt of one of his swords and aimed himself at the ninjutsu abilities flying towards him. The Mizukage's technique would dissipate once it came into his chakra-nullifying field, but it would still drench him in water and he had no interest in fighting in soaking armour. The Hyuuga's technique was the concerning factor though, as his senses told him that the chakra-based water hid a large number of spiritual energy blades that would actually be able to strike him and potentially harm him.

Sensou found himself fascinated by her ability to use spiritual energy in a similar manner to his older brother, Kyoukou. It was nothing to worry about ultimately, but a curious development nonetheless.

Once they came within a few dozen metres he drew his sword, made a slash into the air and sheathed it at his side again in a single fluid motion. The exertion of physical energy through the blade was enough to slice apart both the Mizukage's water dragon and Hinata's whirlwind, though that was only because it had been so perfectly aimed at their centres.

He heard a crackle of sound at his side that drew his attention as he completed his iai technique. At his side, a large number of lightning bolts were flying towards him much faster than he could possibly dodge, but they dissipated without touching him once they entered his chakra-nullifying field. Behind the electrical blue lights was the tall dark-skinned man that had produced the terrible rhyme beforehand. He didn't seem deterred by the fact that his lightning techniques were completely ineffective as he continued to hurl lightning at him through dramatic punching motions.

It looked ridiculous to Sensou, since the lightning kept dissipating at his field. He was half tempted to make his way over to the Tailed Beast container and show him how a Red Warrior fought, but he resisted the urge as he saw more interested prey coming towards him.

The Otokage had been smart enough to keep his distance and was observing his movements carefully. He didn't doubt that the young man would be able to find some pattern to his techniques and would be able to exploit it at some point, but Sensou had no intention of giving him the opportunity to discover it.

He watched carefully as the last two shinobi of the group charged forward at such a high speed they were barely blurs at the sides of his vision. Rock Lee was only moving at about half of his maximum speed, while the Two-Tails container had covered herself in her occupant's chakra to dramatically increase her speed so that she was at a similar speed to her green-clad companion. They moved from side to side before easily jumping over the Red Warrior leader and charged towards him in his blind spots. Lee's fists were steeled with physical energy while Yugito's hands clenched her gauntlets as her chakra movements slowed down slightly but nowhere near enough to stop her momentum.

It was a well-coordinated attack to strike at a seemingly vulnerable position. Neither of them expected him to be able to dodge their attacks, but when Sensou disappeared completely from the battlefield they were left standing where he had been with confused looks on their faces.

Neji watched his disappearance with a deep frown on his face. He'd seen it before when the leaders had fled unfavourable battlefields. But this wasn't that situation at all.

"He'll be coming back," warned Hinata at his side as she began collecting water around her once again.

Her cousin nodded in agreement and went to shout a warning to their companions, but he saw it was already too late as the air split apart behind the two of them and a pair of bare hands stretched out towards their bare necks.

Rock Lee's battle-hardened instincts warned him of the danger and he dodged to the side just in time, but Yugito's similar movement pushed her in the wrong direction. Sensou's fingers barely brushed against the side of her cheek beneath a strand of her blonde. The touch caused her to freeze up on the spot, giving the Quiraji leader enough time to re-emerge into their area and stand behind her with a knowing smirk on his face. He reached forward and took her in a lover's embrace before any of them could stop him.

They each wanted to charge forward to see if they could stop him before she fell under his control, but even Killer Bee had the sense to pull back and hold in his emotions momentarily as Sensou stepped back from the blonde kunoichi to examine her.

"What do we do now?" asked Hinata as she cancelled her water technique and conserved her chakra.

"I've seen this before," said Mei quietly. "There is only one way to stop her."

The four of them each looked over at Killer Bee, who had dropped his hands and was watching Yugito's movements carefully through his sunglasses. Inside him the Eight-Tails was raging in fury, but it had yet to process in his mind. Yugito and he had had a complex relationship over the years they'd worked together, but to see her submit to the enemy without so much as a fight made it seem all the less real to him.

But that was only until the Two-Tails container turned around and looked straight at him. She was still the same Yugito in appearance for the most part, but her eyes had taken on a red sheen that told him that nothing of her remained within. She remained silent as her puppet master let out a low laugh and took several steps back while gesturing for her to go forth and destroy them.

Her focus did not deviate from her Kumogakure compatriot. Yugito's legs initially moved forward one step at a time like she was robotic, but it wasn't long before she regained her shinobi movements and shot forward at the speed she showed earlier.

Killer Bee immediately understood the situation. She wasn't the type of person to let up or be merciful in battle, and now that he was the target of her fury he could see what would happen if the two of them were to fight while surrounded by their companions. There was only one thing he could do.

The Eight-Tails container turned around and began running towards one of the edges of the Konoha crater, knowing that if there was anything resembling Yugito in the woman chasing him, she would follow him and try to take him down first.

"She's going after Bee!" said an alarmed Hinata as she moved to intercept her, but she was pulled back by the Otokage with a shake of his head.

"We'll take care of him," said the Mizukage at their side, answering her unasked question. The red-haired leader motioned to Rock Lee and pointed to where the Eight-Tails had run to. "The two of you keep him occupied until we get back."

Neji let go of his cousin and turned to Lee with a serious expression on his face, "You'll have to kill her, you know that, right?"

Lee gave no indication that he had that intention, but he acknowledged the advice nonetheless and ran off after the two Kumogakure shinobi with the Mizukage at their side.

In a few moments the pair of Hyuugas were left alone on their section of the battlefield, with Sensou standing a reasonable distance away with a smug look on his face.

"Leave them be, Hinata. If we all go to face her then we'll be doing exactly what he wants."

The Hyuuga kunoichi stared at her cousin for a moment before conceding the wisdom of what he was saying and turning her white eyes back to their main opponent. While he was controlling Yugito, there was little danger of them being taken under his wing, meaning at that moment he was more vulnerable than before.

Now was the time to strike.

oOoOoOo

Killer Bee had chosen a battlefield to confront his fellow Tailed Beast container and two of his companions had sworn to help him.

That left the pair of Hyuuga shinobi to fight against the Quiraji leader. Sensou had hoped that taking control of a powerful Tailed Beast like Yugito Nii would occupy all of his opponents, but both Neji and Hinata were close combat specialists and were better served trying to kill the Quiraji leader.

"It's been a long time since we've fought side-by-side," said Neji as he stepped forward towards the waiting Red Warrior leader.

Hinata smiled softly as she moved a strand of dark blue hair out of her face and took up a Hyuuga taijutsu stance. "We've both changed quite a lot since then, Neji-niisan."

"I told you not to call me that," said the Otokage back at her, but he knew he was wasting his breath. Unlike his cousin, Neji didn't have mastery of physical and spiritual energy separately. However, he was a Kage, and that lent him to a significant amount of power beyond just being a taijutsu master in his own right.

Neither of them activated their Byakugan, as it was pointless while the enemy had a chakra-nullifying field around him. They moved together without losing a step towards their enemy, who seemed annoyed at their presence near him as opposed to the epic battle that was happening nearby. In response, he drew the pair of silver swords from his side and started to weave them in front of his body with a fluid grace that spoke volumes to his opponents on how skilful he was with his blades.

He wasn't just going to let his puppet do all the fighting. Sensou was the Quiraji aspect of war after all.

Hinata reached him first, her hands flaring with spiritual energy as she moved to strike at his chest. She assumed that he was faster than he let on and was proven correct as his silver swords came up to defend himself, striking at her hands. His accuracy was scary as they threatened to cut straight through her hands, but Hinata's arms were covered in a swirling wind energy that bent his blades away from her skin at the last second.

Sensou's motions didn't slow down as he continued to try and power his way through her defences, but he could only keep this up for a moment before the Otokage approached him from the side. With a single arm without a weapon, Sensou didn't think that the male Hyuuga shinobi would be much of a challenge, but he couldn't even see his arm as he fought in perfect synchronisation with his cousin. With his analytical gaze, Sensou could have sworn they were twins as their strikes were almost simultaneous and were progressively getting faster as they struck. His swords were being mainly used to parry and block attacks; he was amazed at the fact that they were so good at attacking that they were avoiding the edges of his blades.

Sensou snarled as he was being pushed back by their attacks, pumping his arms with physical energy and trying his best to press forward. He focused his aggression on the weaker of the two in his eyes, temporarily focusing his swords into a single thrust towards the Otokage's chest. He timed it perfectly for Neji's back-step with his strike, knowing that the shinobi's defences would require chakra that wasn't at his disposal in such close range.

To his surprise, the Otokage shifted his weight and took the strike in his side. The silver blades easily bit through his robes and tore through his skin, but Neji ignored the wound and reached forward with a strange object in his hand.

"You forgot…I'm the Otokage."

With that, he clamped a black device onto the side of the Quiraji leader's head, directly over his ear. It dug into his skin with a stinging sensation, but that wasn't even the beginning of the attack. A blast of concentrated sound thundered into his ear, giving his eardrum a single moment of continued existence before it exploded within his head. The speakers of the device continued to vibrate at the side of his head before the Quiraji leader reached up and tore it off with a cry of pain that he'd never produced before. The rupturing of his eardrum had caused him to bleed pretty significantly in his head and he had to dedicate spiritual energy to try and stop the bleeding, but his opponents weren't going to let him take the time to do so.

The Hyuuga kunoichi shot forward and drove a hand into his chest with a serious amount of spiritual energy in her strike. It wasn't successful in injuring him, but the force was enough to bend his armour inwards and send him flying back before she turned her attention temporarily to healing her cousin's wound.

"What are you doing?" asked Neji as his wound had forced him to take a knee. He hadn't realised the attack to his side had seriously messed up his liver, but he was glad that he'd been able to strike a significant blow on their enemy.

"I don't need a Byakugan to see how hurt you are. I'm not going to let you die so that we can win this fight." Hinata saw resistance in her cousin's eyes and shouted it down with a determined look of her own while her hands glowed a healing blue on his side. It didn't take long to stop the more serious damage from causing any further harm, but she knew they didn't have time to fully heal him before their enemy recovered and moved to attack them again. She wasn't arrogant enough to believe that she could defeat Sensou on her own; knowing that her cousin had been preparing for this fight for a significant amount of time and likely had more devices in his arsenal.

She finished healing the more grievous aspects of his wound and helped him to his feet before turning her white eyes to their opponent. Though Sensou stared at them with pure hatred and fury in his red eyes, she couldn't help feeling that he was distracted by something.

The other battle between their companions raged on behind them with a combination of deafening sounds and shockwaves, but that wasn't what she was observing in their enemy.

Perhaps it was difficult to control someone like a Tailed Beast container and fight with them at the same time. If that was the case, then this was probably their best chance to take him down, before someone won the other battle. Like everyone else there, she knew there was no cure for the Quiraji's control over Yugito, but removing the controller from the equation certainly wouldn't hurt.

With a wordless agreement on battle strategy between them, the Hyuuga shinobi charged forward to engage their enemy once again.

oOoOoOo

Killer Bee had tried to draw Yugito away from the Quiraji leader in the hopes that it would weaken his hold on her and give the Two-Tails container a chance to throw off his control. He knew that there was no way he'd be able to outrun her and had been relying on his occupant to move his body out of the way of her attacks as he fled.

Even with the Eight-Tails' assistance, her claws cut at his back and shoulders without prejudice, drawing enough blood to force the Kumogakure shinobi to slow down and keep to the confines of the crater that had once been Konoha. He'd hoped to get further out in case he needed to change form, but clearly that wasn't going to be the case as he turned around to see Yugito's furious face bearing down on him.

Bee wasn't an emotional person; part of being in control of his Tailed Beast was maintaining an aura of calm and not taking life too seriously. But seeing the woman that he'd come to respect and admire look at him with such disgust and hatred in her eyes was enough to break his shield of emotion.

He was pissed off. He refused to believe that there was no way to save her even as she pulled back a claw in an attempt to cut his throat.

But before he could defend himself, the Two-Tails container was smashed out of the way by a flying kick in her side by the green-clad shinobi that had moved with them. The force of his kick was enough to send her away a significant distance, and even though she was now their enemy he resented the young shinobi immensely in that moment and had to resist the urge to reach out and attack him on general principle.

Coming up behind Rock Lee was the Mizukage who spat a globule of lava straight at the Two-Tails container, forcing Yugito to jump backwards to avoid the burning shot as it struck the ground beneath her feet. Mei came up to Killer Bee's side with one hand at her mouth ready to fire another shot, "Give us the rundown on what we need to watch out for."

Straightening himself out, Bee answered her straight, without any rhythm or rhyme to his words. There was a time and place for that and now wasn't it. "She's fast and experienced. If we let her set the pace, we'll never catch her."

"I believe I can keep up with her," said the ex-Konoha shinobi in front of them confidently. He reached down to his leg warmers and tapped them with chakra-covered hands, reducing the weight to a more reasonable amount before stepping back into his stance. "Anything specific to be careful of?"

The Eight-Tails container went to respond, but his eyes were drawn to their opponent as Yugito had dropped to the ground on all-fours and chakra was exploding out of her at an exponential rate. The hair tie holding back her blonde hair ripped apart as the air around her began to blow upwards like a typhoon.

"You should worry about that," said Killer Bee dryly as a blue flame enveloped her body and she began to grow in size. Her body merged with the flames as black script moved along and took the form of a huge cat-like monster.

The Mizukage blasted out a ball of lava from her mouth that struck the monstrous form of Yugito as it grew, but the orange and red liquid was simply absorbed by the blue flames. Mei brought down her hands and frowned at the result of her attack, "That's disappointing."

Stepping backwards to avoid the residual flames from the Tailed Beast container, Rock Lee had to admit he was impressed. "That's…going to make things difficult. I'm not big on hitting things that are on fire."

Despite the severity of the situation, Mei couldn't resist the urge to wink at the green-clad shinobi, "I'll keep you covered, dear." She didn't even need to weave handseals as a whirlpool of water appeared at her feet. It was only a paltry amount of chakra to create, though she doubted that it was going to be as easy as dousing the flames with water techniques.

Yugito finished her transformation and slammed her fiery blue cat paws into the ground with a deafening roar. Her Tailed Beast form was one of the smallest among the chakra beasts, but it still towered over everything else on the battlefield. Its one yellow eye and green eye scanned the battlefield quickly before refocusing on the three shinobi that dared oppose it.

From his seated position at the back of the various battlefields, Benkei watched the transformation unfold with fascination. He had faced the Two-Tails in combat before and almost killed it with his bare hands, but now it fought under his child's command. The irony was rather delicious and he would enjoy watching her kill her comrades. Or they would kill her. It didn't really matter to him.

The Two-Tails let out a thundering roar as a challenge to her opponents and began bounding forward to fight them. The Mizukage collected a vast amount of water around her body before sending it as a crashing wave into the path of the marauding monster, but the water evaporated the moment it struck her blue-flamed form and barely slowed her down as Yugito seemed hell bent on charging at her old companion first.

Rock Lee decided to take a risk and leapt high into the sky to slam his foot into one of her exposed eyes, but the Two-Tails' speed was much higher than he had anticipated such a large creature to have and brought up a fiery claw to bat him away. Lee's agility in the air allowed him to anticipate the blow and avoid the worst of the damage, but he was still sent flying off into the distance.

The Two-Tails reached her target within moments and pounced on the area that her dark-skinned companion was standing in. In her monster-form she easily dwarfed the large man and her claws looked like they would crush him with almost no resistance given.

Killer Bee looked up at the roaring beast and bit at his lip momentarily. He'd only fought with Yugito in this form a handful of times, but he knew every technique available to her and how powerful she was as a Tailed Beast.

There was only one thing to do.

As her claws came down on him, Killer Bee swapped places with his occupant and allowed the Eight-Tails to do his part. In an instant the shinobi Killer Bee was no longer standing on the battlefield, but instead he became the ox-octopus beast that he'd worked with for so many decades. While the Two-Tails had dwarfed the shinobi, the Eight-Tails towered over the fiery monster and caught her claws in his own muscular hands.

The blue flames burnt through the skin on his Tailed Beast form, but the Eight-Tails' responded with a deafening roar and moved his head closer to the Two-Tails'. He gathered a massive amount of chakra in front of his mouth and prepared to fire a Beast Bomb straight into her face. It wouldn't be enough to kill the Two-Tails, but it would definitely put her on notice.

He never got to fire the bomb as the Two-Tails brought up her back claws in a backward flip and kicked at the arms holding her. The clash of force was enough to send a shockwave over their area of the battlefield, battering away both the Mizukage and a returned Lee away from the battling beasts, but it also caused the Eight-Tails to temporarily let go of her claws in a roar of pain.

The Two-Tails bounded away from the larger creature and dived around behind it with a triumphant roar. Bee's Tailed Beast turned around as its various tails slammed into the ground in an attempt to ignore the burning pain in his hands. It was furious at the smaller monster's ability to get away from his grip, but that had always been how Yugito had fought.

Retreat and then return at a stronger position.

The Eight-Tails was a ponderous beast and struggled to keep up with the high speed of its smaller compatriot as the Two-Tails continued to circle around him. His two shinobi companions moved into positions around the sides of the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Mei knew that she would be able to break through the fiery form of their enemy with the right concentration of water, but that would require time to work out and too much chakra than she was willing to waste on an enemy that wasn't a Quiraji. Lee, on the other hand, suspected that he might be able to do some damage by opening the gates, but that would leave him vulnerable afterwards and unable to fight properly against their real enemies.

They would try to assist as much as they could, but for the moment they were only observers to the battle.

As the Two-Tails moved around his sides in a stalking pattern, it unleashed a torrent of flames from its mouth, engulfing the Eight-Tails in a cloud of blue flames. The larger Tailed Beast did its best to beat away the flames by waving its tails around to create wind vacuums, but it still burnt terribly. It tried to reach out and grab the quicker creature with its hands, but Yugito's monstrous body was too agile to be caught by such lumbering hands.

For all its movement and fire breathing, the Two-Tails wasn't able to do any serious harm to the Eight-Tails, but that wasn't going to stop it from trying. Under the directive of its master, it suddenly changed its movement vector and charged straight towards the ox-octopus. The divergence in strategy threw the Eight-Tails for a loop and left him vulnerable as the Two-Tails jumped into his defences and bit down with its fiery teeth into its neck. The blue flames surrounding it burnt into the Eight-Tails body and lit the entire beast on fire, but it was quickly being extinguished by large waves of water from the nearby Mizukage.

While the Eight-Tails roared out in pain and tried to pull off the smaller beast with its hands, disregarded the burning of its body, Rock Lee jumped over one of its octopus tails and leapt next to its head to pull back a fist. He aimed the physical energy ability straight into the centre of the Two-Tails head and punched the air with such force that it temporarily pulled out the monster's teeth out of its prey's neck.

The moment of relief was enough for the Eight-Tails to take advantage of as its hands wrapped around the Two-Tails body and squeezed as hard as he could to ensure that it wasn't going to get away. It pumped chakra throughout its body to try and stop the pain as it leaned forward and smashed its head into its target's face.

The Two-Tails let out a roar of pain and tried to writhe out of its grip, but the Eight-Tails wasn't going to let it go this time. It tried to fire a small Beast Bomb straight into its ox-head, but the Eight-Tails slammed its head down into it again and caused the blast to strike at the ground beneath them instead. The shockwave from the blast blew away the Mizukage from her standing position and she slammed her side into a nearby rock formation that had been carved up from the monsters' battle, while Rock Lee maintained an aerial position with his physical energy technique of kicking at the air. He waited to see if there was another opportunity to assist in the battle, but it became clear that he was no longer needed.

"**You have to do it, Bee,"** said the Eight-Tails as it held its fellow beast in its hands. **"It's not her anymore."**

There was no response from his jailer except for a roar of fury and anguish. He hesitated for a moment before twisting his hands outwards and pulling them down as hard as he could. Even a Tailed Beast as strong as the Two-Tails couldn't hold up against its stronger counterpart and after a few seconds there was a sickening crunch that was followed by a soft whimper as the blue flames began to dissipate along the Tailed Beast's body. It began to shrink back down to size in the Eight-Tails hands, falling back down until it retook the Kumogakure kunoichi form that it had started as.

Killer Bee slowly fell down towards the ground as he forced his own Tailed Beast back into its jail cell and returned to his regular form. Once he was standing back on the ground in his own feet he looked down at the broken shinobi in his arms, remarking on how light Yugito had gotten since he'd last carried her anywhere.

Her eyes were shut and she looked almost peaceful from the face up. He hated that he'd been forced to harm her so, but it had become clear early on that there was no other way to stop her. He wasn't about to weep over her demise; he respected Yugito as a fellow shinobi and Tailed Beast container but that was the extent of their relationship.

But he was furious at what he'd been forced to do and had every intention of turning his wrath to those that had been the ones to truly kill her.

He was going to give her the last rites though. It was the least she deserved.

oOoOoOo

As the Two-Tails container died on the opposite side of their section of the battlefield, the pair of Hyuugas were ignorant of her fate as they continued to push Sensou back with their taijutsu. For all their skill after their initial attacks, they'd barely been able to strike him more than a few times and there was no evidence that they'd done any damage to him beyond his damaged hearing from the Otokage's strange device. The main problem was because they were so cautious to avoid making physical contact with his skin with their own that neither of them had been able to take advantage of their full techniques. They weren't entirely confident that he wasn't able to control more than one person at once and he wasn't about to dissuade their hesitation.

Sensou had also been struggling against his opponents, but for very different reasons. It took a degree of concentration to control a being of such power such as Yugito Nii, but now that burden had been relieved.

But the Hyuugas did not know that. He had a twisted plan in mind, but it would require a sacrifice on his part.

The Otokage ducked underneath a sword strike at his head and snaked his hand through to try and remove a piece of his armour, knowing that his chakra-based taijutsu had no chance of actually piercing through his defences. However, as it had been before he was unable to complete his offensive as Sensou's other sword swept along his front and barely missed taking off his other arm to complete the task that his predecessor had started.

Seeing her cousin fall back momentarily gave Hinata an opportunity for attack as she moved into the Quiraji leader's side and struck out with a blade of spiritual energy at her fingertips. She had seen him dodge such attack vectors with almost no effort and was already preparing herself to attack him during his dodge.

But unlike before, Sensou made no motion to dodge her strike. He pressed forward and took a hard blow to his side from her spiritual energy, but it wasn't enough to kill him.

It was enough to get him close enough to embrace the Hyuuga kunoichi though. All he required was a single touch.

Neji had prepared himself for many things to happen in this final battle. He knew that people were going to die and that he would likely share their fate. He knew that there was a chance he would have to make the sacrifice to ensure the survival of his family and his village, something he would do in a heartbeat.

He never thought he'd have to witness his cousin's demise.

Hinata's body went rigid for a moment before she balanced herself on the ground and slowly turned to face her former ally. Her normally gentle and calm expression had been replaced with one of cruel malice and unspeakable hatred aimed directly at the other survivor of their clan.

Neji's blood ran cold at the realisation of what had happened. Sensou had taken a step back from his new thrall and seemed more interested in watching them fight each other rather than team up to finish off the Otokage.

His cousin's eyes activated into their Byakugan state as her puppet master stepped out of range, the full white colour spoiled by blood red veins that went from her temples into her irises. They looked like they'd invaded into her mind, which Neji took to seeing as Sensou's claws getting into her mind.

With despair at the forefront of his emotions, the Otokage brought up his hand and activated his own doujutsu to see the explosion of chakra within his new opponent.

The sheer amount she was able to mould was staggering, it was even more than he would have thought possible in someone that wasn't a Tailed Beast container. He observed that it was likely due to constant training with Naruto, but that wasn't the truly frightening thing about her. Hinata had always had a very fine control over her strength and had always used the minimal amount of chakra to achieve the greatest results with the least amount of serious injury.

That would not be the case here. Under Sensou's control, she would come at him with the intent to kill and would do everything in her considerable power to achieve that goal.

If he didn't come at her with the same energy, Neji knew he would not last more than a few minutes. The past battle with Sensou with her at his side had proven as much.

There was no cure for the Quiraji leader's control over her. They had tried to break it in the past, but nothing had any effect on those that he enthralled. Either she would kill him, or he would be forced to kill her.

That was their enemy's power. He'd been doing it since he awoke during Naruto's raid into the Land of Fire.

If he survived this coming fight, Neji swore he would mount the smirking Red Warrior's head on a spike.

But for now, he had to deal with his cousin, who was already charging towards him at great speed. Her Byakugan had been activated and seemed to be infected by the blood red colour of their enemy's armour, though for a moment he could have sworn that he saw a glimmer of the real Hinata in those red and white eyes. But that didn't last long as the cold hatred of the Quiraji re-emerged and he couldn't see her as his family anymore.

Without saying a word, Hinata's hands became a blur as she charged into him. It was a basic Jyuuken attack vector that anyone with a working knowledge of taijutsu would have been able to defend against. But Hinata's energy was overpowering and Neji's senses were slow to react as she closed the distance between them and started to attack him.

He brought his single arm to defend himself as he realised that she wasn't just attacking his chakra points like a normal Jyuuken fighter would.

She was aiming for his vital points with spiritual energy at her fingertips. She was aiming to kill him.

oOoOoOo

Watching his puppet fight against the leader of the shinobi force was absolutely priceless for Sensou. A part of him wished he had a cold drink and a chair to sit down in, but this was the heat of battle and such luxuries were for other times.

It did bother him how much effort it took to maintain his control over the dark haired woman though. While controlling the Tailed Beast container earlier had been a case of overwhelming her personality with his own and turning her into a silent thrall slaved to his will. It had required a significant amount of power, but once he'd broken through it was simple to control her through the Tailed Beast within her.

The Hyuuga woman on the other hand, was a mixture of strong personality and will. Dominating her initially had been easy, as nobody expects what his technique does to them. But keeping her under his control was an exercise of frustration, as the Hyuuga's inner personality constantly battling against him and threatening to take back control of her body.

If he had time she would have been a fascinating shinobi to examine and enthral like they had done with Iceheart, but for now she made an excellent puppet to fight against the Otokage.

It was the other shinobi that were recovering from their monster battle that now drew his attention. The big one that had done most of the fighting appeared to be both injured and exhausted; he wouldn't present that much of a threat at this stage of the fight. If he had the chance to recover he could be difficult to manage, but hopefully by that stage his puppet will have killed her target and would be able to attack her other companions as well.

If he could get her to attack her husband, that would be perfect.

The other two shinobi, the woman and the ridiculous-looking young man, had already recovered from their battle with their monster companion and had seen that he was no longer under attack from their companions. He relished the look on despair on the younger shinobi's face as he saw his puppet attacking the Hyuuga clan head with such killer intent in her eyes.

But his amusement only lasted for a few moments before the two of them began moving towards him. They knew they couldn't get in the middle of the melee being fought between the clansmen and it had been impossible to hide the injury he had taken during the process of converting Hinata to his control. With the amount of spiritual energy she had pumped into him, Sensou was finding it difficult to walk in the same manner as he had before and his injured side had affected his arms as well too.

He measured the distance between himself and the approaching shinobi and brought over his two swords in preparation to receive them. He'd hold them back until his puppet was finished, then he'd unleash her on them. That should give him enough time to fix the wound in his side and re-join the battle.

Sensou didn't even see Lee's attack until the balled fist slammed into his face. The ex-Konoha shinobi had crossed the distance in the blink of an eye and attacked the Quiraji leader with such force that he almost injured his fist with his own attack. Sensou had covered himself with physical energy in preparation for their approach and took little damage from the actual attack.

But the force was enough to put him on his back foot and loosen his grip on his swords as he fell back. In a spinning motion, Lee kicked at one of his swords and sent it flying away before driving his foot into the side of Sensou's head with as much force as he could. The pain of connecting with a solid defence wasn't enough to warrant concern for the taijutsu master at that stage, but he knew it would accumulate if he didn't end the battle quickly.

The Quiraji leader swore loudly at the strike and swung his sword blindly at him, striking only at air as Lee flipped backwards and slowly took up his regular taijutsu stance. Sensou glanced around for his sword for only a moment before realising that he hadn't seen the woman's approach since Lee attacked him. He turned back to see the red-haired woman appear in front of him with a monstrous arm attached to her shoulder, one that looked like it belonged to a monster rather than a middle-aged woman. It appeared to be made of chakra, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying as a huge explosion of water appeared at the back of her monstrous arm to give it enough force to pierce through his chakra-nullifying field.

The monstrous arm disappeared as its chakra failed, but in its place she held the sword she had picked up from the ground and shoved it into the gap in his armour that had been opened up by Hinata with her attack. Sensou roared in pain and swiped at her with his other sword, taking off a snip of her hair as the Mizukage fell back like her companion.

"He's a tough bastard," she commented as they watched him wrench the sword out of his side and disintegrated it into metal chunks that fell to the ground. The arm connected to the side she'd attacked hung uselessly from Sensou's body, while he held up his sword and stared at them with pure hatred in his eyes.

"His previous incarnation was stronger," said Lee, wiping off a few beads of sweat from his brow. "I'm worried about Neji though."

"He's a Kage, he can handle his cousin," said the Mizukage as she placed her hands together into a handseal.

Rock Lee wasn't so sure about that as the pair of Hyuugas battled nearby. He'd fought with Neji as much as anyone and knew most of his newer abilities as well. There was a good reason why the Hyuuga clan head was on the level of one of the most powerful shinobi in their society.

He could also see why Neji wasn't fighting the way he normally would. It had been difficult enough to see Killer Bee fighting against his companion, Yugito.

And they didn't have the history that Neji and Hinata did.

oOoOoOo

When he'd tried to kill Hinata during the Chuunin Exams in Suna, Neji had only required two minutes of taijutsu fighting before he had her on her back and was pulling back his hand to deliver the death strike. That had been after he had knocked away the foolish blonde shinobi trying to protect her that had eventually become her husband and he knew that if it hadn't been for Lee's intervention their history would have ended in that single moment of hatred.

These two minutes of fighting was entirely different. Neji had come prepared to fight the Quiraji and had armed himself appropriately. That included a number of devices similar to the one he had used earlier and a few last resorts that he was saving for the inevitable conflict with Benkei. He hadn't come prepared to fight a fellow shinobi and certainly not someone like his cousin.

He'd always been her superior when it came to the Hyuuga taijutsu Jyuuken style and even their years apart hadn't changed that factor. The penalty of only having one arm would have moved it to a more even conflict, but that was only if they were using their Byakugan and their family techniques.

But as they fought in close quarter combat at a speed that would have surprised any spectator, his opponent's chakra spiked sporadically as she used elemental ninjutsu against him.

Every time he parried a Jyuuken strike it was followed up with a wind slash by her other hand that always barely missed removing his head from his shoulders. There was no hesitation in her offensive abilities; she'd even summoned a huge wall of water at one point in an attempt to drown him. He'd been able to avoid the wall altogether, but had a reasonably deep cut in his shoulder as punishment for his movement as she hurled wind blades one after the other at a distance.

Under Sensou's control, Hinata was neither conserving her chakra nor was she truly defending herself against his attacks. Neji hated the fact that he was instinctively holding back, as he didn't want to harm his cousin any more than he wanted to harm his own wife, but after these first two minutes of fighting he knew that if he kept fighting like that she was going to kill him.

"I'm sorry Hinata…" His white eyes momentarily shifted to where her husband was fighting and felt a heavy burden fall on his chest. Naruto would never forgive him.

He wouldn't forgive himself either.

With his heart steeled for the reality that was in front of him, Neji took a long breath and closed his fist. He wasn't going to fight like she was family anymore.

Hinata leapt over a nearby crashed rock formation in a reckless charge towards him, but was blasted back by a vacuum wave attack from her cousin. Neji leapt after her and slammed a pair of fingers into her neck. His Jyuuken attack missed her chakra points by barely a millimetre, but Neji's attack was only intended to demonstrate to himself that he had the resolve to fight her seriously.

Hinata took several steps back before pulling back her hands and forming a large pair of chakra lions at each end. She swept her hands down at his body, but Neji was too fast for those attacks to strike. It was only on the back-step that he realised that her taijutsu attacks were only a diversion.

Through his Byakugan he noticed a pair of her Kage Bunshin coming at him from the sides. Even though they were clones, they had enough spiritual energy to cut him in half as they attacked, while the original Hinata charged forward again with her lion fists, intent on attacking him at the same time.

Her timing was perfect, there was no way he would be able to avoid the attack by dodging.

With an explosion of chakra from his chakra points, Neji spun like a top and parried the attacks in a single motion. "Kaiten!"

The two clones immediately dispersed upon contact with the large blue chakra field, while the Hyuuga kunoichi had the chance to avoid it by jumping backwards.

She did no such thing. Hinata tried to power her way through his defence. Even with her spiritual energy strength, Hinata had no chance of getting through his Kaiten. She took a significant amount of damage before Neji cancelled his defensive technique and concentrated his Byakugan to see how much damage had been done.

Even with her injured limbs and bones, Hinata continued to press towards him with a scary persistence. Her hands spun through handseals before activating her ninjutsu and firing off a torrent of water bolts straight at him.

Neji wasn't about to waste chakra on another Kaiten, but with his Byakugan he could see only one path through the bolts without having to use chakra to defend himself.

Forward.

With his single hand in a handseal, Neji gathered chakra in his larynx and let out a piercing cry in the form of a sound wave straight at her. As the Otokage he had the knowledge and ability of every technique that was used by his shinobi, giving him a wide range of techniques at his disposal. The sound wave struck Hinata front on and caused her to drop to her knees as a wave of nausea overcame her. It was a disabling ability that left the enemy vulnerable to a killing blow.

Neji was in range within moments, but when he pulled back his hand to strike at her heart, he hesitated. She might be under the control of their mortal enemies; she might be looking at him with eyes full of hatred. But she was his cousin, a fellow survivor of Konoha and the only family he had beyond his wife and children.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill her.

That moment of hesitation cost him dearly as Hinata recovered from his sound attack and pushed forward into his defences in an instant. He tried to defend himself with a chakra-covered arm, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Hinata's hands battered away his single arm and pushed into close quarters before she blasted him down to the ground with a wind-based Hyuuga palm technique. The Otokage's back slammed into the ground and before he could recover back onto his feet, his cousin leapt onto his chest and drove a kunai straight into his hand to pin it to the ground.

Neji bit back a cry of pain and tried to kick her off, but Hinata didn't budge as her hands were a blur along the front of his chest, closing dozens of chakra points in an instant. As he saw his death in her lifeless white eyes, Neji remarked at how strange it felt to suffer the effects of his own techniques. It was like having no control over his own muscles, as if he was a prisoner in his own body.

There was nothing he could do as one of Hinata's hands began to glow blue and move towards his neck. His eyes widened as he saw what she was going to do, but there was nothing he could do to stop her.

The Hyuuga heiress began cutting.

oOoOoOo

Despite their battle with the Two-Tails and her container, both Rock Lee and the Mizukage still had plenty of strength to challenge the Quiraji leader in a close quarter fight. Lee's incredible speed and strength was easily pushing back the Red Warrior leader, while Mei observed their enemy's movements and calculated a strategy of attack in combination with him. Killer Bee was still recovering from the final part of his battle with Yugito and knew he couldn't assist them until he recovered from his wounds, as they all knew that another Tailed Beast container under Sensou's control would spell the end for them. Mei kept her distance to prevent that from happening with her; though from the looks of things they were out of time to save the Otokage from his younger clansman.

"You can never defeat me," taunted Sensou as he levelled his sword in front of him. The green-clad shinobi was lightning-quick and practically a ghost when he moved in to attack him, but Sensou would never admit that he was on the back-foot.

A rare confident smirk came across Lee's face as a thick mist emerged from the Mizukage around the pair of them. "That's what every genius says, until someone like me defeats them." Mei's mist penetrated through the Quiraji leader's chakra-nullifying field and obscured his vision, making it seem like his two shinobi opponents vanished into thin air.

If he were fighting normally Sensou would have been able to blow the mist away with spiritual energy, but it was taking far too much of his concentration to control the Hyuuga kunoichi that he wasn't able to fully commit to the battle at hand.

For several seconds there was no response from his shinobi opponents. Sensou wondered if that was because they were afraid of his counter-attack, but soon it became clear that that wasn't the case at all.

They were hunting him.

He felt the explosion of physical energy long before the blow struck him, but even the forewarning gave him no chance for defence. Rock Lee shot forward with the speed of a meteor, spinning in the air to deliver a punishing kick to the Quiraji leader's chest. The blow was enough to send him flying, but Lee was already behind him and levelled a kick in the centre of his back, sending him up into the air.

Sensou felt his bones creak within his armour at the strikes, but he was given no respite as he saw his green-clad foe appear above him as he soared through the mist into the sky.

His skin had a red hue to it and in combination with his outfit there appeared to be a green glow surrounding the ex-Konoha shinobi. Sensou wondered what that could be for just a moment before Lee's hand and foot slammed down into his head and rocketed him back down to the ground.

Even with his physical energy defences up, Sensou was just another victim to physics as his body shattered within his armour once he struck the ground.

Rock Lee landed beside the deceased Quiraji leader as the mist slowly cleared and took a moment to make sure he was dead by driving his foot into his skull. It felt overly brutal, but Lee wasn't about to take any chances with their enemy.

The second life departed the Quiraji leader's body, the control he had exerted on Hinata was broken and she was once again the master of her own master. The Hyuuga kunoichi snapped back to consciousness and looked down to see what she was doing. Her hands were drenched in blood and had been glowing the blue colour that denoted the use of medical ninjutsu, but the real horror that she saw was that her victim had been none other than her cousin, Neji. In the few minutes she'd been attacking him; she had disabled most of his chakra points, disabled his remaining arm and gotten three-quarters of the way through slicing open his throat with a chakra scalpel.

She didn't need her Byakugan to see the life slowly draining from Neji's white eyes, but the others had saved her just in time to prevent her completing the job. Without wasting a heartbeat, she brought over her other hand and began using medical ninjutsu once again. However, instead of cutting his throat, she was now concentrating on healing it back together.

"I'm so sorry, Neji-niisan. It…it wasn't me…I couldn't stop myself."

She continued to apologise as she tried to heal him, watching as life began to emerge back into the Otokage's expression.

* * *

><p>When his first child had been taken down, Benkei had paid no attention to her demise. Shouri had a tendency to die once every few decades and it brought out little emotion in the Quiraji leader. He noticed the blonde shinobi that had played a part in her death appear behind him with some type of shinobi-bade, hoping to catch him off-guard.<p>

The lightning blade fell towards the back of his neck, a killing blow. It struck against his skin and refused to penetrate further. Naruto held the strike for only a moment before leaping backwards at the obvious danger of holding such a close position to the Quiraji leader. Benkei hadn't even moved a muscle in defence of his attack, but Naruto recognised physical energy-based defences when he saw them.

He landed back where Kiba and Kakashi were recovering, turning to see how the other battles had faired. The giant dust storm in the middle of the battlefield had long since subsided and the three of them watched as the combination attack took down the second Quiraji leader. Naruto wasn't sure, but he could have sworn Sasuke's face had aged in a weird way, but he was sure that was just his imagination. At the other edge, he saw the survivors of the last battle picking themselves up and turning their attention to the Quiraji leader. Naruto felt a flood of relief when he saw Hinata walking with the rest of them, her hands healing a wound on her cousin's throat. He tried to wave at her to get her attention, but she seemed too preoccupied to notice him at that moment.

With his three children dead, Benkei took a slow breath and got up from his chair. His fourth subordinate continued to struggle against his control, but so long as she was alive he didn't mind that so much.

He watched as the shinobi survivors moved together into a single group, recuperating from their battles and turning their attention to him. They were wary of Shikyo's silent presence at his side, but most of their attention was placed upon him.

"It would appear that you are now ready to face your fate," he said in a low booming voice. "Were my children not enough to satisfy your appetites?"

"You knew they would lose," said Kakashi with a harsh look in his circular eyes. He resented the fact that Benkei had clearly thrown the three Quiraji leaders at them with the understanding that they would lose. They'd reaped a significant toll on the shinobi forces, as he noticed Itachi's absence at his brother's side and it had been difficult to miss the monster battle that had marked the end of the Two-Tails container.

Benkei made a sweeping motion with his hands, "Thinning the herd. I wanted to end your kind's existence with my own two hands, rather than at the hands of my people."

"We aren't the last of the shinobi," came Gaara's voice as his hands hovered over his sand gourds threateningly. "My village still stands, as does Kumogakure and Kirigakure."

The black voids that sat in the Quiraji leader's eye sockets turned to the young red-haired leader and were matched by a knowing smirk. "Are they? I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Gaara wanted to immediately reaffirm his village defiance of the Quiraji leader's attempts to destroy his home, but something about the confidence in Benkei's face caused him to hesitate. Despite this, the Mizukage wasn't about to not say anything about her own village's stand against the Quiraji.

"You can't kill us all, butcher. So long as one shinobi breathes, we will fight you."

Benkei's smirk grew at her assertion, "I believe you. However, besides the paltry defence at the shinobi temple nearby and the scattered forces that took down our field, you are all that is left of your race. Today is the day I cut the head off the beast and close the history books on your miserable existence."

"What the hell is he talking about?" asked a confused Kiba to his allies. "Why does it sound like he's already won?"

"That's just bad guy posturing," replied Naruto quickly. "He's trying to scare us off."

"I don't think that's it," came his wife's voice as they joined their allies in front of the Quiraji leader. She placed a hand on Naruto's arm to answer his silent question about her condition before turning her white gaze to her old teammate. "There is no lie or falsehood in his expression."

"What the hell has he done?" said a furious Killer Bee, still wearing his cracked sunglasses on his face. He could hear the Eight-Tails raging inside his head at the fact that they'd been forced to kill their ally and friend, only matched by Bee's own rage and grief at the circumstances. "The Raikage will come and crush him if we fail."

"We should send the injured back to the Fire Temple," said Mei quietly. She could see that several of their group were barely standing due to chakra overuse; she herself had several cracked ribs and suspected she was bleeding internally as well.

"It's too late for that," said Neji as he tested his newly-healed throat. His voice had a hoarse tone to it that he didn't recognise, but now wasn't the time to bemoan his own injuries. "No-one is leaving unless we have his head."

"Well said, young shinobi," said Benkei with an emotionless chuckle. "I will enjoy tearing you apart, piece-by-piece."

"Tell us what you meant when you said we were the last shinobi?" asked Kakashi, trying to get the Quiraji leader to keep talking so they could recover more from their battles.

Benkei wasn't about to fall to such a simple trick, but he also didn't want to keep it to himself. The beauty and ingenuity had to be shared. He wanted to see the despair in their eyes before he laid into them with his own hands.

"What did you think those objects in the sky were when you approached us?"

With that, he told them the fate of the shinobi.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I was really close to killing Neji in this chapter. Unfortunately this is a case of me liking a character too much to kill him, and working him into the rest of the story so I could continue writing him. It's not as if he's had an easy road; he's had his arm chopped off and his throat slit, but he's a tough bastard in this story. A few spikes through the chest wouldn't kill him here.

The Tailed Beast battle was going to be longer, but this chapter started to get really long anyway and I had to keep to a reasonable length. It's mainly the consequences of that battle that really mattered anyway.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	93. Chapter 85 The Day the Bombs Fell

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 85 – The Day the Bombs Fell

**A/N**: As the title likely suggests, this is not a particularly pleasant chapter. Consider this the more realistic aspects of war that the main story never really explored.

**A/N2**: So Naruto is coming to an end. It seems both too soon and not able to come soon enough. Doesn't feel like enough time to finish everything that is going on, but such is life I suppose. This story will be finishing just after that, assuming my schedule is conducive to that.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, lots and lots of people would already be dead.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

Having split from the rest of the strike force, Neji, Hinata, Mei, Rock Lee, Yugito and Killer Bee moved to fight against the hated enemy Sensou. At the start it looked like they'd be able to overwhelm him in the first few seconds, but Sensou tricked them and took control of Yugito and her Tailed Beast. Under Sensou's commands, Yugito went straight for her fellow Kumogakure companion and they moved to another part of the battlefield with the Mizukage and Lee to assist them while Neji and Hinata fought against Sensou directly.

Eventually Yugito was defeated and killed by Killer Bee, but moments after her death Sensou took control of Hinata and turned her on the Otokage. While they fought, Rock Lee and Mei turned on the Quiraji leader and were finally able to kill him, just as Hinata was about to finish killing Neji. The death of Sensou relinquished his control of the Hyuuga kunoichi and she was able to save her cousin's life with her healing techniques.

With the main three Quiraji leaders dead, Benkei turned his attention away from the silent Shikyo and to the shinobi survivors. He remarked at the futility of their struggle and how he would enjoy ending their race with his own hands. Upon their questioning his confidence, Benkei told them about their folly when they'd approached the final battlefield.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>There are many days that are remembered in shinobi history.<p>

The day the rebellion against the Quiraji Empire succeeded in toppling a tyrant and sent them across the sea.

The day the Sage of the Six Paths fought against the Ten-Tails and defeated it.

The day Senju Hashirama signed a peace treaty with Uchiha Madara and founded the village known as Konoha, setting up a system that would eventually revolutionise the shinobi world.

Today was one of the days that would be remembered above all others and would hurl the shinobi world into anarchy and chaos.

Today was the day the bombs fell.

* * *

><p>In the shinobi continent there were no civilian villages that had been unaffected by the invasion of the Quiraji and the shinobi resistance. There were no villages in the land of Fire that hadn't been assimilated into the Quiraji army and many in the surrounding countries were beginning to lean away from their shinobi allies and towards the ever-growing enemy presence in the hopes for mercy and peace.<p>

But there were also villages that had very little to do with the war. They were mere spectators to the greater conflict, satisfied to live out their lives in the hope that the fighting would never reach their borders.

In these villages and many others around the continent were a variety of people. Old men fishing on small boats, children playing in forests, young women and men going about their daily lives. Some had had family members or friends leave for shinobi villages after they had discovered an ability to mould chakra, while others that had discovered the same ability had chosen to remain behind and live a more peaceful life. Others were shinobi that had long since retired from the fighting lives and left the villages in the hope of a quiet ending to their lives, or even shinobi that had had bad dealings with their villages and were on the run.

The day started with relatively clear skies in most of the shinobi continent. The Land of Lightning looked to have the threat of rain, while the Land of Water had the same foggy weather it had been dealing with for the past five decades. The villages in those places were used to these patterns and paid them no heed as they went about their lives.

But slowly the skies of the shinobi continent began to fill with objects, projecting from the middle that was the Land of Fire. Each object was cylindrical in form and a dull colour of silver, speeding through the air faster than any projectile known to the shinobi world. They moved with uncanny precision and determination, making tiny adjustments according to an internal equation and aimed themselves at their intended targets.

The shinobi continent was a very large continent. The shinobi villages had been large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, while the smaller villages that numbered in the hundreds held thousands of civilians and other types of people. It was continent of over a million people and varied from place to place on where each of them lived.

There were thousands of objects that littered the sky that day. Each one had been fired from the single projectile from the Quiraji base in the crater of Konoha with one express mission calculated in.

The projectiles began to strike the ground in an organised pattern around known living areas such as civilian villages and housing areas. Each impact came with a shockwave that produced no sound, nor fire or explosion. Instead, each object projected a wide blue pulse of energy that pierced through wood and stone over a massive area, easily enveloping the surrounding areas around the target.

While going about their daily lives, the civilians in the villages nearby the initial impact sites could do nothing as the blue pulse crashed through their living areas and through their bodies. It made no impact on the structures around them, nor did it scar the terrain or do any harm to any animals in the area.

Most civilians didn't even notice the pulse until after it had moved through them. Some felt an odd tingling in the tips of their fingers, but otherwise there was no adverse effect at all. Many of those civilians struck simply shrugged it off as something to not be concerned about and continued on doing whatever they had been doing before the bombs had fallen.

But that was only those civilians who didn't have the ability or capacity to produce chakra.

Men, women, children, old people and all. Those that had the potential to be shinobi but had either chosen a different path, had retired from shinobi life or had been trying to hide their original shinobi roots reacted very differently when the Quiraji blue pulse struck through their bodies.

It passed through them like it did everyone else around them, but the effect was completely different. Inside their bodies the energy created by the pulse impacted their chakra network and invaded it like a virus. In an instant, it closed off every chakra point that the body had before devouring every piece of chakra within the target's body before sending a fatal inner pulse of energy towards the heart and the brain of the victim. Those people who had chakra or the ability to produce chakra had their hearts stop and the receptors in their brain cease to function at the same time.

It was a painless death. A merciful death.

But death, nonetheless.

The first volley of objects had struck the most outlying villages that littered the edges of the shinobi continent, purging those that the enemy wanted to destroy. Some villages lost one or two people, while others lost entire generations of people that had had the potential to become shinobi but were too young to join one of the ailing shinobi villages. But all civilians that couldn't ever be shinobi were unaffected.

Tens of thousands of people died in an instant.

That was only the fastest objects striking at the most distant targets. There were still thousands more that had yet to strike.

* * *

><p>The village of Kumogakure had been preparing for war since it had devastated their village in the weeks before. Its shinobi had been trained in specialist techniques to help combat the Quiraji threat and after recovering from the invasion they had begun to fortify their mountainous village. Large barricades with spikes lined the single entrance to the village and trained shinobi manned them day and night. Siege weaponry had been created to sit on the shinobi towers erected on top of housing complexes.<p>

Any enemy that tried to attack Kumogakure again would find themselves facing a fortress that would bleed and bludgeon them before the hammer blow would fall in the form of the shinobi within that were always ready to hurl themselves into battle at a moment's notice.

They were prepared for almost everything. The Raikage had made sure that he wasn't going to make the same mistakes twice.

The Kumogakure leader was in one of the training grounds today, working with the Genin of the village. He normally disliked training such young shinobi as he was not a man known for his patience, but this group had shown particular promise and he knew that eventually they would be sent to the frontlines. He wasn't going to do that to them without giving them the appropriate weapons.

They had suffered a lot of casualties in the previous battles and he needed everyone to be at their best. With both of their Tailed Beast containers in the wind, A was not comfortable with how they were progressing so far. He had banked on Yugito retrieving his wayward brother and bringing him back to reinforce their position, but the Raikage was starting to think that the Quiraji weren't going to come back for them before they defeated the other villages. Kumogakure was hurt, but they weren't crippled.

That meant that they might need to expand themselves out into the shinobi world once again and get an understanding of the landscape. They'd been turtled up in their village for too long.

While the Raikage was showing a prospective student the basics of creating lightning chakra, his secretary jumped up to the training ground and knelt in front of him with her hand clutching a report.

A instructed the student to practice on his own as he walked over to Mabui and put out his hand for her to give him the report. It contained a plethora of useless information, but the Raikage knew that it was the information that wasn't present that worried him.

"Why the hell has there been no word from Yugito? She's meant to be the reliable one."

"I don't know, sir," said Mabui as she stood back up. "But she wouldn't be holding back unless she had a good reason."

"She better have one," rumbled the large shinobi with his usual angry tone. "Some of our best shinobi went with her. I don't like having so many assets outside of our controlled areas."

He went to give her a command to mobilise a small squad of hunters to track down the tracker shinobi, but he didn't get the chance as a loud siren sounded throughout the village. It had been a new system they had put into place to warn against impending attacks, involving Mabui's younger sister at a Kumogakure outpost hidden among the mountains close to the Land of Fire border. She would pen a message and send it to one of the shinobi in the alarm tower and that would sound the siren that now echoed throughout the village.

The people of Kumogakure knew what it meant; they had done enough drills to know where they had to go. The civilians and non-combatants flooded the streets to find the entrance ways to the tunnel complexes within the mountains that had been dug to protect them from enemy attack. While this happened, the shinobi in the village moved quickly to the front of the village to fight off any potential invaders.

A told the students to get to their posts and told Mabui to give him whatever information she could garner from the sounding of the siren.

With a hand to the receiver in her ear, Mabui relayed what she told, letting the Raikage interpret it for himself. "Several objects…moving towards the village…initial observation is that they are explosive devices fired by the enemy at long distance."

The Raikage absorbed the information like a good leader and was already on the move to the entrance. If there was no army to face then they would require a different strategy of defence.

Mabui didn't follow the Raikage, as she knew she had other duties to attend to while the village's strongest shinobi moved to defend him home. The voice in her receiver said that the objects would come into sight within a few minutes, but by then all of their civilians and non-combatants would be within the mountains and out of the way for any explosives that may be dropped on the village.

She figured this was just the first volley, but the Kumogakure kunoichi put that out of her mind and went about all the administrative commands that the Raikage required her to do during such a situation.

The Raikage landed at the entrance to his village in a flash, surprising the younger shinobi in the area for a moment before they snapped quick salutes to him and asked for their orders. A glanced at the battlements for a moment before indicating to the siege weapons nearby. "Get people on those bolt throwers. We've got some kind of projectiles coming in and if any of them strike at the village I'll tan the hide of the shinobi that missed them."

It was an empty threat for the most part, but the tone of the Raikage's voice was more than enough to get the shinobi onto the siege weapons and prepared for the enemy objects to come into view.

Now they waited. That was the hardest part of defending a battlement, waiting for the enemy to come into range, to bring what they could to the battlefield.

But they didn't have to wait very long. Before they had the chance to get nervous, a small cluster of silvery objects came flying through the air towards their general area. From the more observant shinobi's eyes they didn't look they were going to strike the village itself, but would rather strike at some of the mountains that stood within the village's borders.

The Raikage was quite to dissuade their lack of concern however, as he knew that if they were indeed explosives and they struck against the mountains then their village would be covered in rubble and they'd never recover from it.

With a single word, he gave the order for them to shoot them down.

At once the sky was filled with a hail of shinobi projectiles, ninjutsu long range abilities and the bolts from the Kumogakure siege weapons. The Quiraji objects were obscured from sight momentarily upon the commencement of the barrage, with the Raikage adding his own bolts of lightning up to the sky. With his senses extended to the edges of his elemental attacks, A could feel the objects immunity to chakra-based attacks through his arms, but he could see that their metallic projectiles were doing good work at moving the objects away from their original trajectories. The bolts from the bolt throwers were not the most accurate weapons in the world, but two of them were able to pierce through the objects and force them to fall towards the ground in front of the village.

The Raikage and the shinobi on the battlements continued their barrage onto the remaining Quiraji objects still flying towards the village while the pair of projectiles struck by the bolt throwers struck the ground long before they could get into range of the village.

They still exploded their blue chakra pulse outwards though. If they had struck their intended targets they would have blanketed the village completely, but instead their pulses only struck at the most forward posted shinobi concentrating on the remaining projectiles.

Those shinobi struck died instantly, but their demises passed unnoticed by their companions as the Raikage had leapt high up into the air covered by his lightning armour and slammed a fist into the middle of one of the silvery objects. He was confident in his ability to absorb any explosion with his armour; he'd once been thrown into a volcano by his father and had only survived because of his lightning armour.

The object did not explode like he was expecting it to though. It instead extended out a blue pulse that struck through the Raikage and collapsed down into hundreds of shinobi below him.

A didn't get the chance to get one final look at his home or his people. His body gave out on him and his lightning armour disappeared with a flash before his body fell back to the ground. Each shinobi at the battlements and those manning the siege weapons behind them suffered the same fate as their companions, the defence of their village not enough to save their lives.

The remaining Quiraji objects struck at their intended targets without being impeded. At first the village of Kumogakure looked like it had only suffered catastrophic losses at the entrance, but moments afterwards the whole area was covered by a cloud of blue pulses that penetrated through every building and tunnel in the area, ruthlessly hunting down those that had thought themselves able to hide against the Quiraji's wrath.

Their preparations and training had all come to naught in that single moment of slaughter. The village of Kumogakure had fallen.

* * *

><p>Hujo stabbed a kunai straight into the middle of the map and glared at the group in front of him with his bright bronze eyes. "This isn't good enough. Where are the people from Tori?"<p>

One of the kunoichi at the other side of the table shook her head quickly, "That base is gone, nearly a week ago. Nobody survived."

The shinobi leader swore loudly and reached forward to pull his kunai out of the table, "This is a shambles. We don't have the numbers…or the weaponry…or the means."

"What choice do we have?" asked Yakiru with a solemn expression on his face. He reached up and tugged at his forehead protector, "We have an obligation to the village."

Hujo scoffed and felt at the edge of his kunai with his finger, "The village is long gone. We're fighting a war on too many fronts."

"What about the Tsuchikage? They announced his execution date as a few days from now."

The resistance leader shook his head and walked to the entrance of their war room. In their underground complex that they'd wrestled off a small Cascading Flow strike force, they had carved out an area for living quarters that was full of their injured being treated by the one medical shinobi that had been lucky enough to be away when Iwagakure fell. Beside that area he could see the large living area that was doubling as the armoury and training areas. He and his shinobi had been on patrol when the rebellion had struck their village and it had only been Hujo's command to hold back that had kept them alive.

They'd heard that the rebellion had been sparing many of the shinobi they had captured, but none of them really believed it. They had done terrible things to their civilians in the past, which had caused the problem in the first place. Hujo had seen it coming for a long time and wasn't very surprised that they had been slaughtered.

It was nothing less than they deserved. The only reason he was fighting was because it was all he knew.

"How many shinobi do we have?" asked Yakiru at his side. His second-in-command had been sceptical about their position but had been the biggest advocate for the attack they were currently planning. According to the information they had, there weren't that many Cascading Flow warriors surrounding their old village and it was open to be retaken.

Hujo wasn't too sure, but he didn't have any other choice. They had almost no moral and no direction with the capture of their leader and he was a poor substitute. He was the oldest and most experienced shinobi in their resistance and he was only twenty-one. He was also barely a Chuunin.

In the armoury and training area he saw the two hundred shinobi that weren't out of commission training and sharpening their weaponry. Most were Genin that had been undergoing the Iwagakure version of their Chuunin Exams, none of which they expected to actually pass as most of the quality Genin had already been battlefield-promoted in the war against the rebellion and had lost their lives.

It was a paltry force, but it was all they had.

With a heavy heart, he turned to his second-in-command and gave him the answer that he actually wanted to know, rather than the question he asked. "We move in two days."

Yakiru nodded grimly and began giving orders to the rest of the people in the war room while Hujo began walking into the living quarters to check on the status of their injured. If they could bring even half of them back into their force they might have a chance of at least putting up a good fight.

If they could take out the hated Elika, then all's the better.

Almost ten minutes after giving the order for mobilisation of their remaining force, the Quiraji bombs struck at the nearby areas with a silent shockwave. From within the rebellion underground complex the Iwagakure shinobi survivors couldn't do anything as the blue pulse moved through their ranks with uncompromising prejudice.

One-by-one they fell to the ground, as dead as the rest of their village. Hujo would have been horrified to see his shinobi coming to such an end, but he felt the same effects as the younger shinobi in their rebellion had. His heart stopped and the flow of chakra disappeared in an instant, taking from him the thing that had set him apart from the village he had come from.

If he'd had time to think about it, he would have thought it a fitting end. To their enemy's credit, it didn't hurt at all.

In an instant, it was over and they were dead.

Stepping back from his training post, the lone survivor of the massacre looked over at the slumped bodies with a dumb-founded expression on his face. There hadn't been any sounds except for the soft thuds of bodies striking the floor. He'd seen the blue pulse go through the area and pass right through him with barely a tickle, yet it seemed to have killed everybody around him.

He shrugged and sheathed the sword he was training with into his belt. He stretched out his neck to take a short count of the bodies, but after a few minutes it was clear that none of the Iwagakure shinobi had survived the attack.

"I guess I should report this then…" he said as he reached up and removed his stolen forehead protector. "There's a month's worth of work down the drain."

The Cascading Flow spy sighed as he began collecting whatever information was left to gather. He'd been preparing to send information to Elika about the impending attack, as this was the last known gathering of Iwagakure shinobi to resist them, but now it felt pointless.

Something told him that wasn't one of their attacks though. Elika was a cold heartless leader and had orchestrated the biggest war in the Land of Earth's history. But this just wasn't her style. If anything, he'd expected her to send him the order to assassinate the resistance leader just before their attack came, which he had assumed he would have to do anyway.

After less than an hour, the Cascading Flow spy left the underground resistance and began the long trek back to the Cascading Flow main base at the ruins of Iwagakure. He guessed that now that the resistance was dead they would no longer need to remain there, but he wasn't a decision-maker and it wasn't his plan to ask.

He was just a spy.

* * *

><p>The sun was heavy on their faces while they worked in the fields, but there was a nice mildew in the air that cooled them down and left them able to work as long as the sun was in the sky. The civilian farmers led simple lives away from the conflict raging around them, wilfully ignorant of the people that were dying to try and keep them safe from enemies that had no interest in taking their war out on them.<p>

Placing his rake into the ground with a slow breath, the last surviving Akimichi shinobi wiped at his forehead with the top of his shirt and looked over at the other workers. Many of them were packing up for the day, as they'd been tilling a new field for over a week now and weren't in a particularly big rush to finish it.

"You going back soon?" asked one of the young workers to Chouji. "Can you tell Kiki that we need to do another trench closer to the well?"

"I'll get Misa to talk to her," replied Chouji with a smile. The amount they had accomplished in the time he'd been there was impressive and they had been set up to be self-sustaining for quite a while now, but there was always more to do. There were quite a few things he had been thinking about while working in the fields today that he wanted to talk to her about.

"You'll get a chance right now," came a young female voice at his side. Chouji looked over at where the young girl was indicating to see the only other adult in the village coming towards the field with a small bag in her hands.

Her presence brought a massive smile over the ex-Konoha shinobi and he left his rake behind as he walked up to greet her. She'd been slowly growing out her brown hair since they'd started living together and Chouji thought it made her look even more beautiful than before.

"More seeds?" he asked as she placed an arm around his side and planted a gentle kiss on the swirl mark on his cheek.

His young wife nodded and handed them to him with a wide smile, "I thought we could make a little pumpkin patch."

Chouji smiled back and went to say something about her reading his mind, but something drew his attention towards the sky and the words were lost in his throat. In the corner of the sky he saw something moving towards them at a great speed. He may not have the ability to use the chakra inside his body, but most of his shinobi instincts were still intact and they were screaming at him.

"Misa…get everyone inside their houses."

His young wife cocked her head to the side and turned to see what he was so concerned about. "Chouji…"

The Akimichi shinobi turned to the few young people still in the field and shouted at them to get back to their homes as quickly as they could and stay there until otherwise. His advice had saved the village numerous times and they weren't about to stop listening to him now. They gathered their tools and moved quickly back to the living areas of the village while their leader took his wife by the hand and told her to go back to their house.

"Is it…" Misa couldn't quite voice her concern, but the look in her husband's eyes gave her the answer. She bit at her lips nervously and tugged at his shirt, "Come with me, Chouji. We'll be safe in the house."

Chouji smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. It was a lingering kiss, one that they hadn't shared in quite a while. He pulled back and looked into her blue eyes with the most loving look he could. "I will always love you. You know that right?"

"Chouji, you're scaring me."

He smiled sadly and indicated to their house in the distance, "I'll be in right after you."

She wasn't happy with it, but she repeats his statement of affection and runs back to their house. Chouji watches to make sure she gets there before turning his attention back to the object flying in the sky. It was now only a few moments from passing over the village; by Chouji's reckoning it would likely strike some distance away at a nearby mountainous region.

Something about it told him that it would still strike at their village. There wasn't going to be anything he could do about it. With a heavy sigh he moved to the middle of the field he was working in and sat down with his hands on his knees.

For a split second he could have sworn he could see his father sitting opposite him, smiling at him affectionately. Chouji grinned at the thought and watched the projectile crash into the mountainside. There was no explosion of any description, but Chouji doubted that would be all.

He'd led a good life. Chouji had been eternally grateful for the luck he'd had since being separated from his Konoha companions. It was a shame he never got the chance to see how Shikamaru and Ino had turned out over the years, but with Misa he had been happy.

If he had one regret, it was that he never got to have the children that he and his wife often spoke about having. Perhaps he was being fatalistic, but it would have been nice to see how they could have grown up.

He didn't know what was about to happen, but Chouji was where he wanted to be. He closed his eyes and waited for it to come.

Nothing happened.

* * *

><p>Without their esteemed leader, the village of Kirigakure was on high alert for any and all enemy activity in the area. Even in the areas of the Land of Water that had been under Quiraji control were under their dutiful eyes and the strongest sensory shinobi were extending their senses across the border to the Land of Fire in the hope of finding the Mizukage and her shinobi on their way back.<p>

"I've got a hit!" cried out one of the young shinobi in the command centre of Kirigakure. Her Jounin commanders crowded around her as she changed her handseal and narrowed her long distance senses.

One of her commanders knelt down in front of her, "Report!"

"A small group of chakra signals moving towards the Land of Fire border. North-west, near the Ioa River."

"Friendly?"

"They're chakra signals, how couldn't they be friendly?" snapped another sensory shinobi, frustrated that his colleague had found something that he could still not see.

The female sensory shinobi ignored her companions comment and answered her commander's question as accurately as she could. "It appears so. I'm getting a small number of Kirigakure chakra signals…twenty-thr…twenty-seven in total."

"The Mizukage?"

She hesitated for a moment, searching through the signals to try and find the chakra that she knew as well as she did herself. "I…I can't sense the Mizukage. But she might be further inland with another group."

"I can't sense her either," confirmed another of the sensory shinobi. "But the leader of the Swordsmen is with this group."

"Mangetsu?" The Jounin commanders conferred among themselves for a moment before making a collective decision and turning to one of their other sensory shinobi. "Give the order to Kohana's squads to meet them at the border. They should be the closest group in range."

The sensory shinobi nodded in acknowledgement and began conveying their orders, while the original shinobi continued to give detailed information about the approaching shinobi.

They knew that the Swordsmen wouldn't have returned to the Land of Water unless something had gone wrong with their invasion of the Land of Fire.

oOoOoOo

After their victory and defeat at the Quiraji chakra node, the Kirigakure strike force had been in no particular hurry to get back to their village. Some in their group had voiced an interest to return to the Fire Temple to reconnect with the shinobi that had remained behind to defend the area, but Mangetsu had taken command and had already made the decision to get reinforcements.

"I think we're coming up on the Land of Water," said Chojuro as they ran along the grasslands of the Land of Fire. "We're running on rags, Mangetsu."

The Swordsman leader shot the younger shinobi a glare and extended his senses outwards in front of them. He was no proper sensory shinobi, but his instincts had told him of something coming towards them at a rapid pace. "I know that, Chojuro, keep your opinions to yourself. Someone approaches us."

The female Swordsman at his side bared her teeth and drifted her hands towards the swords sheathed at her belt. "If they want a fight, I'll gladly give them one."

"Collar yourself, Ameyuri," snapped Mangetsu quickly. "They don't appear to be enemies."

Besides the three surviving Swordsmen, there were twenty-four Kirigakure shinobi that followed behind them, a short distance behind the specialist shinobi. As the border between the lands came up in front of them, the other group emerged from a thick mist that they knew was not a natural phenomenon. A large group of twenty Kirigakure shinobi stepped into view and relaxed their combative postures when they saw that they were faced with the appearances of their comrades.

The Swordsmen leader was the only one not to relax in their presence, but that was his nature as the leader of the Kirigakure scout group leader approached him with the standard greeting.

"You're late," said Kohana with a smirk on her face.

Mangetsu bared his sharp teeth at her as his way of smiling in response, but before he could say anything they all sensed something coming towards them.

The Kirigakure scout group all stared up into the sky as they saw a cluster of objects flying out of the Land of Fire towards their homeland. It was obvious from the outset that they had been fired by the Quiraji as an attack on their people, but none of them knew what the nature of the objects were.

"Something doesn't feel right about this…" said Ameyuri with a single back step. She wasn't known for fear in either battle or in regular life, but everything about her was screaming to go back to where they had just been fighting. She couldn't explain it even to herself, but something told her that the land they had been in the process of leaving was about to be safer than their home.

Mangetsu had the same instinct and put up his arms to stop his group from proceeding further. "Kohana…come over to our side."

The Kirigakure scout leader frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, "You don't think that…"

"Do it you stupid woman!" roared Mangetsu as he turned around and began running back into the Land of Fire. The shinobi behind him were not sure of what had come over him, but when a shinobi of Mangetsu's stature gave them a reason to be concerned, they didn't question him or hesitate.

They ran directly behind him as fast as they could. They didn't even look at the objects flying above them and spreading out around their homeland.

Out of the twenty-seven Kirigakure shinobi from the strike force and the twenty shinobi from the scout force, only fifteen made it over the border before one of the objects struck the ground and exploded its blue pulse of energy outwards towards them.

A further five shinobi from the scout force made it over the line when the blue pulse reached them and pierced through the bodies of their lagging companions. Those Kirigakure shinobi that had crossed over the border of the Land of Fire were exempt from the Quiraji's final weapon's fury, but their companions suffered no such reprieve.

The surviving Kirigakure shinobi did not look back at their fallen comrades for a long time. It was only when the number of objects in the sky reduced to none that they turned back and started to make their way back to the border. The three Swordsmen and the scout leader had survived the bombing, but they had no idea what had happened to their homeland. Mangetsu was hesitant to go immediately to Kirigakure, but many of the survivors in his midst had families in their village and couldn't be held back any longer.

It would be almost a day before they crossed over the ocean and made their way into the place that had been their home.

By then, it was far too late.

oOoOoOo

The village of Kirigakure was eerily silent. The people that had once populated the great village lay on the ground in their homes and the streets in an eternal sleep, their lives ended without a voice being heard in protest. The waters of the rivers that ran through the village continued to flow regardless of their master's demise and the birds of the sky tried to fill the sky with songs once again but their voices were paltry in comparison to the past.

Walking down one of the main streets of the silent village was a pair of small children, a young boy and girl, siblings by circumstance. They had watched their parents collapse after the strange blue pulse had passed through them, unable to say any last words as they struck the ground silently. They had found each other as they wandered the streets and their youth had forced them together in the hope of finding someone that could help them.

Everyone seemed to be sleeping and they couldn't wake them up. For young children that had already felt the pang of grief at being told they couldn't be shinobi when they grew up, their struggle had only just begun.

They were the last children of a dead village.

* * *

><p>The Land of Fire wasn't all bad, even despite the war and genocide that was occurring throughout the land. After completing her part in the liberation of Kirigakure, the Seven-Tails flew through the air with a loud buzzing before landing at the top of a large tree overlooking a lush area that had been untouched so far in the devastation of the shinobi continent.<p>

"**This is as good a place as any,"** said the large creature as it slowly fell towards the ground. Its armoured shell fell apart and transformed back into its container, who flipped around in the air and landed on the ground with a soft touch, like she'd been floating down gently.

Fu flicked her head back to get some of the green strands of hair out of her eyes and glanced around where her occupant had taken her. It was a beautiful valley with a small pool of water within a surrounding area of lush bush. She'd lived in the wild for longer than she had been in her old village and Fu was glad that places like this still existed. She took a moment to take in the view, drinking in the smells and tastes with a long breath.

"_Didn't you need to do something?"_

Fu thought about it for a moment before her body relented at her and she remembered why they had touched down in the first place. She scampered off to a concealed area and relieved herself before washing her hands in the water pool and taking her pack off her back. She couldn't see any fruits or edible plants in the nearby area, but Fu had been able to wrangle a small amount of goods from a nearby civilian village; the elderly man had taken quite a liking to her and had given her some food in the hope that she would stay around and be a match for his son. Fu thought he was a charming man, but his son had none of his charm and she had left as quickly as was polite.

Biting into a large apple, Fu unhooked her shoes and kicked them off to the side and rested her feet in the pool. She didn't lead a particularly complex life, but it was one that kept her away from conflict and that suited her just fine.

The lack of human contact sometimes got to her though. She had needs as much as the next person.

She rubbed at the back of her neck for a moment before frowning and looking up towards the sky. There was a strange buzzing in the air, faint at first but getting louder by the second. With her connection to her occupant Fu had an enhanced sense of hearing, but this was something she was sure she was going to hear regardless.

"What do you think that is?" she asked to her occupant inside of her.

"_I can't tell. It's blocked to me."_

Fu frowned and slowly got to her feet. She was an instinctive person by nature and something about the sound was irritating her. With a trickle of chakra from her occupant, a pair of insectoid wings grew from her back and she took to the air with her bare feet dangling beneath her. In a few moments she was high above the tree line, feeling the soft breeze against her legs with a soft sound of pleasure.

The sound was getting closer and closer but she couldn't see anything in the open skies. "Must just be my imagination…" She began to drop back to the ground, but her occupant screamed at her to wait.

"_Something is coming towards us!" _

Fu squinted her eyes to get a better look and put her hand on her forehead, but still there was nothing. There were two civilian villages in view off in the distance and she could almost see the people inside going about their daily lives. It was a nice view from her distance position, but Fu wasn't able to concentrate on it as the source of the buzzing sound made itself apparent in quick fashion.

A small metallic object flew through the air at a breakneck pace, against the wind in a straight line towards her aerial position. Fu extended her senses out to get a reading on it but just as Choumei had said earlier she couldn't sense anything.

Using her wings to adjust her aerial position, Fu glanced back at where she estimated the object would strike. Her green eyes widened when she saw that it would strike right between the middle of the two villages in the area. She had no idea what the object was, but it was clear that it wasn't friendly or had good intentions.

She didn't know what she was meant to do. She appreciated the affection she had received from the civilians in one of the towns, but had long since steeled herself to becoming too attached to anyone except for herself.

But as quickly as that thought came she swallowed it and faced the facts of her situation. She was human and couldn't just leave those people to their fate.

She was a part of this world. That gave her only one option.

With a loud swear word that her master had taught her, Fu grew a second pair of wings beneath her original pair and shot after the flying object. With two sets of wings buzzing loudly at her back, her speed doubled and she closed the distance between herself and the flying object rapidly. She bit her lip and pumped her body with chakra to further increase her speed. Her body resisted the speed increases with starving muscles, but Fu ignored them and pushed forward until she came into range. The flying object was long and cylindrical on the outside, with symbols running along the side and a variety of wires sticking out of the top. She'd never seen anything like it before, but she suspected that she knew what its intention was.

With a single burst of speed she clutched onto it with her hands and felt the cold steel on her fingers. It was probably less than ten seconds away from moving towards the ground, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Fu reached forward and grabbed at the group of wires before wrenching them out with a triumphant roar. There was no response from the object, which she took as a good sign as she strained to change its trajectory.

Without a word of protest, the Seven-Tails within her gave her the strength necessary as her hands clutched at the sides and she started to pull it up from its intended path. It strained her young muscles and drained her chakra to do so, but bit by bit she pulled the object up until it was directed straight towards the sky.

Within seconds both Fu and the object were moving towards the clouds at such a speed that she could no longer see the villages beneath her.

"_Let it go, Fu!"_

The Seven-Tails container did just that and let her body fall to the ground with her wings staying still. She felt good that she had been able to spare the villages whatever fate would have befallen them, but a part of her was a little bit sad that nobody would know what she had done.

At that moment, the object detonated with a wide blue pulse that covered the sky. It struck through the Seven-Tails container instantly, but just barely missed striking the civilian villages far below her.

Her chakra network failed and the beast within her gave out a cry of anguish as its life disappeared in a flash, but despite her own death approaching Fu couldn't help but keep a small smile on her face.

Nobody would know what she did. Perhaps that was the best way for her to go. As someone who had hated and been hated around the world, Fu hadn't wanted to die. But this wasn't a bad way to do it.

With her smile persisting on her face, the wings on her back disappeared and she fell down towards the ground.

Nobody was there to see her fall, but there would be those that found her body and discovered how she had saved them. In another life she was the Seven-Tails container, the hated monster from the Village of Waterfalls.

But when she died, she was known as Fu, the woman that had sacrificed her own life to save those that would have otherwise hated her.

* * *

><p>The sea was particularly rough that day.<p>

Standing on the deck of the large galley he had bribed his way onto, the Five-Tails container watched as the deck hands struggled to hold onto the rigging as waves of seawater came crashing onto the deck of the ship. In his red steam armour, Han was immobile despite the wild rocking of the ship, his dark eyes fixed upon the landscape that was slowly pulling away from them.

It had not been a decision he had taken lightly, but Han had felt that he had expended all of his interests in the shinobi continent. The gaining power of the Quiraji and the fall of many shinobi villages, including his own during his short absence told him that the time of the shinobi had come to an end.

He didn't care. Shinobi were the ones that had forced the Tailed Beast inside him as a young child to turn him into a weapon and then turned on him the moment he was no longer useful. The Five-Tails had consumed him for decades before he had finally wrestled back control and suppressed the monster's personality with his own. He had finally won the freedom of his own mind, but Han knew that he was already broken.

It didn't matter anymore. The Tsuchikage was likely dead, the Four-Tails container was dead at his own hand and Han still had his strength and his work. Whatever happened to the shinobi now was no longer his concern.

The rest of the world was his playground now. His work had suffered a minor setback during his imprisonment, but since they'd been foolish enough to let him free he would continue his work until the end came for him, however that might occur.

"You're going to get swallowed by the sea if you keep gawking like that," came a gruff voice behind him. Han turned around just a little bit slower than would have been expected, looking down to see the captain of the galley standing on the steps of the ship behind him. "It'd be a shame to lose you to the waves after you paid such good money for your voyage."

Han did not like this woman. She was too confident in his presence, too free about her person. He could see in her eyes that she had been broken and put back together in the past, but the fact that she had become stronger for it irritated him. He wanted to begin his work with her, to create a symphony of screams from her throat and absorb the agony moment by moment.

But he resisted the urge and kept it to himself. For all his knowledge and power, Han had no means of traversing the ocean without the ship and the crew to work it. He had no interest in placating her and stepped past her up towards the living quarters, "Where is our first port of harbour?"

The self-titled Pirate Queen frowned at his disrespect but kept her observations to herself as she barked a series of orders at the young deck hands before turning back to her passenger, "The Isle of Raindrops in the Southern Seas. At least a month, assuming the waters are calm, which at this stage isn't looking too likely." She reached out to grab a rope as the ship rocked heavily from side to side, looking to her passenger to see him immobile on the deck, as if his armoured boots were nailed to the wood.

Han took in the information about their first destination with silent interest. The mapping of the ocean beyond the shinobi continent was almost non-existent, but that was one of the reasons he had left.

There was a whole world for him to explore. New measures to discover and sciences to observe.

Glancing back at the small shinobi continent that he would never see again, he saw a small object in the distance strike the ground and emit a large blue pulse of energy that covered every part of the land before quickly dissipating. The port they had left seemed to be a flurry of activity, but they were too far away to see what effect the pulse would have had on them.

He heard the ship's captain make a comment about someone she used to know, but Han paid her no heed. With his hand in his vest, he opened the door to the cabin he had bought with money earned with blood and closed it behind him. The bed would be wasted as he had not slept since regaining himself, but there was a small desk attached to the wall that would serve him well. He wasn't going to risk exposure by experimenting on the crew, but any additional passengers that they took on would be interesting to examine.

Behind his armoured mask, Han couldn't resist the urge to lick his lips in anticipation.

The future was full of potential.

* * *

><p>Even without the final Quiraji strike, the village of Sunagakure was already in the process of being conquered. The Quiraji army had broken through the massive sand walls that had contained the shinobi village through strength of siege weaponry and weight of numbers, though the Sunagakure shinobi that had chosen to remain behind hadn't slacked off on the defence of their home.<p>

Each shinobi that was finally killed by the Quiraji took out many enemies with them and the Quiraji army suffered for every metre they took from the village. Many of the civilians had been evacuated from the village and had moved up north towards the Land of Earth, but many of the Sunagakure civilians had also chosen to remain behind and fight for their home. Some of those were family members of fighting shinobi and had the ability to use chakra, though not on the same scale as their shinobi brethren.

The Quiraji made no distinction between shinobi with forehead protectors on their heads and the civilians that tried to fight against them with makeshift weapons. They had been given orders to purge the village and weren't going to stop until that goal was completed.

The Sunagakure generals had already fallen. Baki and the others had sacrificed themselves in a suicidal charge into the centre of the Quiraji army, taking out a significant amount of enemies before being pulled down through sheer weight of numbers.

But the real turnaround for the invasion of Sunagakure was not when the Quiraji soldiers flooded through the village and began their slaughter. It was when a pair of objects appeared in the sky and aimed themselves towards the centre of the village.

While fighting against the Quiraji invaders the Sunagakure shinobi paid little attention to the objects being aimed at their village, figuring that they were probably just projectiles fired from the Quiraji army and they had bigger, more immediate concerns.

They were both correct and incorrect.

When the Quiraji soldiers and specialist warriors saw the pair of objects flying down towards the village, they let out a collective cheer and stepped back for a moment from their individual battles. The Sunagakure shinobi hesitated for a moment at the sudden lull in fighting, but only for a second before jumping back into the fray to try and defend their homes.

The first bomb struck near the entrance of the village and extended its blue pulse across the battlefield outside of the village and around the areas where small skirmishes were being fought with clusters of two or three shinobi at once. The pulse from the first object would have covered the entire village on its own, but a second object slammed into the Kazekage's office tower and exploded outwards to overlap with the first pulse.

The shinobi fighting against the Quiraji invaders had no defence against the Quiraji bombs. While many fought in close quarters with their enemies, the pulse moved through their bodies and took them down before their enemies could. The Quiraji soldiers stopped fighting the moment the blue pulses drenched the village, as they all knew what is meant and they all just watched as their target was conquered for them.

The battle for Sunagakure was over. The Quiraji could have won the battle without even setting foot on the Sunagakure lands, but that wasn't how the enemy worked.

A few minutes after the bombs had completed their bloody work the Quiraji soldiers began their work of destroying the village anew. The shinobi resistance had been swept away in a single blow, but their job wasn't done until there was no trace left of the shinobi presence in the world.

Some shinobi civilians had survived the pulses as they hadn't had the capacity to produce chakra, but unlike in different areas of the world the Quiraji soldiers in Sunagakure had been given explicit orders.

Nobody was to survive the battle.

While the enemy completed their conquest of the shinobi village, there was one person that had survived the bomb pulses as neither a shinobi nor a civilian. Her struggle had only just begun.

* * *

><p>Moving across the countryside with a newborn is generally a very bad idea. Travelling with a mother who had recently given birth and a warrior that had almost entirely exhausted himself in battle before fleeing made it even worse.<p>

But the knowledge that their enemies were likely right behind them, or that they were moving towards even more dangerous place was more conducive to their speed.

"We've been running for hours," said Temari through heavy breathing. "How far behind us are they?"

Her pony-tailed husband shrugged as he ran by her side, his hands wavering near the weapons at his side as they had been since they'd left her home village as it had been invaded. "I'm not a sensory type, so I can't tell. But after that scout group, I doubt they know where we are going."

An hour after they'd fled Sunagakure they'd stumbled into a wandering Quiraji patrol that had suffered a number of losses during the Kazekage's rampage across the border. Having seen a young couple with a baby in hand, they had sensed an opportunity to take revenge for their fallen brethren.

Temari had wanted to fight, but she was the one that held their child in a sling close to her chest and knew that she couldn't put herself in danger for her daughter's sake. Shikamaru and the two ANBU shinobi that had chosen to accompany them had engaged the sizable force. The battle had been short, but bloody. Shikamaru had spent a lot of his chakra in the battle and took out as many of the enemy soldiers as he could, but he hadn't been able to prevent the ANBU shinobi from being taken down by the Red Warrior leader of the scout group. Using poison gas that he'd hoped to save for a later battle he'd been able to avenge them, but once the battle was over they were left on their own to flee towards the Land of Fire border.

They were getting closer now, but both of them were on their last legs. Shikamaru's strength was only being maintained with their decreased number of soldier pills, while his wife seemed to be moving through stubborn refusal alone. Under normal circumstances he would have tried to find a place for them to rest and recover, as she had only just recently given birth, but they couldn't guarantee that they weren't being pursued at that very moment.

They had to get to the Fire Temple. That required them to cross over the border into Quiraji-controlled lands and hope that they would be able to find the Kazekage to tell him the fate of their village.

But that was a long journey and they were both exhausted. They hadn't talked about it, but eventually they would need to rest, which would bring about all sorts of other challenges.

"What about Yoshino? Like my mother?"

Temari rocked her baby in her arms as they ran, trying her best to keep it asleep by running in the same manner without jarring her too much. "Sounds too passive. I want our daughter to have a fiery name, since I'm sure she'll be like me."

"Gods save me if she is," said Shikamaru with a groan. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm only going to have daughters? It's far too troublesome to be so surrounded by women."

The blonde Sunagakure Jounin grinned at him and Shikamaru could feel his worries disappearing in that image. She was a pain in the ass to deal with, but in moments like those he was reminded why he married the crazy woman in the first place.

Though the adorable bundle in her arms certainly didn't hurt her cause.

They moved over the grasslands of the Land of Rivers as quickly as their legs could take them, eating what food they had managed to gather before leaving while on the move and making sure that their daughter was healthy considering her recent emergence into the world.

For the first time in hours, Shikamaru and Temari slowly down slightly as they both noticed a strange collection of objects coming towards them in the sky. From their view on the ground it appeared as though they were flying like stones thrown from catapults, but Shikamaru's eyes noticed that the objects were course-correcting as they flew, telling him that there was nothing natural about them at all.

"Shika…"

"I see them." He considered their options for a moment, but there were really no options available to them. He counted at least a dozen objects coming towards their area alone, but from his observations he also calculated that none of them would strike directly at them.

It was pretty clear from where they were coming from what they were. It didn't take a shinobi of Shikamaru's intellect to realise that the Quiraji had launched their final attack on the shinobi population. He didn't think they were explosives, as there was enough evidence to show that the Quiraji didn't want collateral damage to the civilian populations that weren't directly associated with shinobi.

But they certainly weren't friendly to the three of them.

"What do we do?" asked Temari as they increased their speed once again. The objects began flying over their heads with an eerie silence, tearing through the air at a frightening pace.

Shikamaru bit at the tip of his thumb as he thought. They couldn't turn back for multiple reasons, but he also couldn't think of anywhere they could run to that would be safe.

And then there was their mission to consider. The Kazekage had to be told what happened to Sunagakure, though judging from some of the directions that the flying objects were going, both of them figured that at least one would strike near the village.

"We have to keep going," he said finally. "If the people from Neji's village are still in the Fire Temple, it's probably the best bet that they are holding them back and will give us a moment to get an understanding of the situation."

Temari didn't say anything in response, which he'd learnt was her way of agreeing with his decision. She didn't mention that they would eventually need to stop so that she could feed their daughter, as they hadn't brought any bottled milk with them. She was sure he knew that.

Shikamaru breathed through his teeth and started looking for places for them to catch their breath; they weren't far from the border to the Land of Fire now. They'd made fairly good time considering they were both exhausted and had a newborn with them, but he doubted they could keep up their pace much longer.

But there was something that was really bothering him. After the initial cluster of objects that had flown over them, there was one that had lagged behind and had looked like it was slowly angling towards the ground. His eyes tried to calculate where it would land, but it was difficult to do so without looking back behind them.

"Is that one going to hit nearby?" asked Temari at his side, seemingly having read his mind. "Are we going to make it?"

"We'll make it," said Shikamaru in a rare moment of stubbornness. He reached into a small bag on his belt and pulled out the last soldier pill that he had. Not even needing to think about it, he flicked it over to his wife and motioned for her to eat it. Temari glared at him for a moment, seeing through his gesture, but she still swallowed it and felt her chakra levels increase and her fatigue drop slightly.

They continued to run. After almost ten minutes they continued to run until the landscape began to change and the border to the Land of Fire came into view. It was almost an entire day's journey from the border to the Fire Temple, but seeing the border was a relief of its own merit.

In that moment, the lagging flying object that had long since flown over them struck the ground a short distance away behind them. It barely made a sound, but the impact on the ground was felt by the two shinobi and began to explode its blue pulse outwards towards their backs.

Feeling the object strike the ground and explode behind them, Shikamaru knew that they weren't going to make it. He had no reason to believe that the line denoting the Land of Fire would be safe at all, but he reminded his almost hysterical wife that they had to keep going.

But they weren't going to make it.

Taking a glance at Temari's determined expression and the innocent face cradled in a sling on her chest, Shikamaru knew what he had to do. He was a man, a husband and a father. He knew what he had to do.

With all the chakra he had left in his body and more, he created a massive shadow at his feet and pushed it to his side to catch at the shadow at Temari's feet. In that moment his shadow leapt up off the ground with her and their child in a shadowy cocoon that hurled them hundreds of metres forward in an instant. It took everything out of him and more, but he saw that the two of them had landed safety long past the invisible line that denoted the Land of Fire. His legs began to falter underneath him as the exertion had taken more than his body had been willing to give, but strangely he wasn't so concerned about himself anymore.

In the distance, he saw his wife turn around to stare at him with a furious question in her eyes. He grinned at her and opened his mouth to tell her to keep running, but the blonde kunoichi with their daughter in her arms had already turned back around and was powering forward with a speed he hadn't seen in her in a long time.

In that moment with her blonde hair trailing behind her, Shikamaru burnt the image of her into his eyes. He'd never considered her a particularly beautiful woman in the past; she'd always been very striking, which held its own appeal.

Now she was beautiful. He couldn't deny that for a second longer.

As he thought about his hope that their daughter inherited his wife's looks rather than his, the blue pulse struck through his back and stopped just in front of his body. He took it as an amusing irony that if he hadn't spent his energy sending her forward so far and they'd moved together, he might have avoided the blast, but there was nothing to do about it now.

Shikamaru had a single thought as his body collapsed to the ground and his life faded away. One of the last conversations he'd had with his father had been one before they'd left for the Chuunin Exams in Sunagakure. He'd expressed his disinterest in the whole process and his father had in turn expressed concern over his son's motivations in life. Shikaku had then given his son the one piece of advice that only now did he really understand what he was talking about. Even now, he could have sworn he could see the spectre of his scar-faced father standing in front of him, giving him the same sarcastic that his son had adopted.

_We might live in troublesome times with difficult choices to make, but that can never excuse inaction. Once we find something worth fighting for, it becomes the simplest thing to lay down your life. That's what being a man is about._

At least, that's how Shikamaru liked to remember that final interaction. Wondering what his father will say when he sees him again, Shikamaru hit the ground with a smirk on his face and a satisfied look in his eyes.

Fleeing further into the Land of Fire, Temari held her daughter close to her chest and begged her legs for more energy as she gritted her teeth painfully. Try as she might to remain strong, she couldn't help the tears from slowly dripping down her face and onto the top of her daughter's head. To her eternal relief, the little baby had been asleep for the majority of the escape and hadn't seen her mother in such a disturbed state.

"I'll never forgive that bastard…" she said through her tears, knowing that he was gone. She told him time and time again that she didn't want any heroics from him, but their marriage had always been full of surprises.

Temari kept running. It was all she could do.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

I'm not expecting many people to 'enjoy' this chapter. This has been in the works for a long time and was always going to happen in the story. I wanted there to be an enemy has an 'almost won' scenario going into the final battle and this was the most devastating thing I could think of. I came very close to killing Temari and their child at the end, but it would have broken my heart to do it so I kept them alive.

For clarification, here is a list of named characters and villages that were killed in this devastation:

The Raikage, Mabui, Fu and Nara Shikamaru, Baki.

Kumogakure, Kirigakure and Sunagakure, the Iwagakure resistance and various smaller villages with shinobi inside them.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	94. Chapter 86 The Demon Within

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 86 – The Demon Within

**A/N**: In a strange way, I'm kind of happy that the first review for the previous chapter was as strongly worded as it was. As a writer I don't expect to please everyone, but I also don't like to disappoint either. Judging from how this story starts, is it really that surprising that something like last chapter could happen? I didn't do it just to mess with people; it was planned from the start. I'm sorry if you don't want to read my story after that chapter; that is certainly your prerogative. I'm happy that people are so invested in my story; it makes me feel like I've made a real connection with you guys.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

While the shinobi strike force fights against the Quiraji leaders, the rest of the shinobi world has suffered its own horrifying defeat at the hands of the Quiraji without even raising a hand in defiance. As the strike force entered the crater a Quiraji projectile was shot up into the sky and scattered into thousands of objects that spread to every part of the shinobi continent outside of the Land of Fire. The bombs fell to the ground despite some shinobi resistance and spread out blue pulses of energy that killed anyone with the ability or capacity to produce chakra. They died painless deaths, but they died nonetheless. The bombs did nothing to the civilians of the shinobi world. The villages of Kumogakure and Kirigakure were wiped out by the bombs, while Sunagakure was already in the process of being invaded by the Quiraji and is about to suffer the same fate. The Seven-Tails container saved a pair of villages from their fate by sacrificing herself to destroy one of the bombs and the Five-Tails container escaped the continent on a ship before the bombs fell. The remaining resistance force in the Land of Earth was killed. Shikamaru made the ultimate sacrifice to hurl his wife and their child over the border to the Land of Fire before dying. Everyone in the Land of Fire, the defenders at the Fire Temple and the survivors of the battles for the chakra nodes survived the slaughter, but no-one else did.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The blue pulse of death had flooded the village of Sunagakure with relenting fury, taking out civilian shinobi and fighters alike. There was not a single part of the village that was spared its wrath, even as the shinobi within were being slaughtered by the Quiraji invaders. If it hadn't happened the village still would have fallen, though the small groups of Sunagakure shinobi that fought with ambush tactics and desperate techniques would have brought the battle out for days.<p>

In a single sweep of genocide, the war for Sunagakure was over. The few civilians that had been spared had only moments to remark on their fates before the Quiraji soldiers fell into them and cut them down when they stood.

Within the Sunagakure hospital, patients that had been barely hanging on were given the silence of death, though not for the lack of trying by the one remaining doctor that had survived. As chief of medicine at the hospital, Haruno Sakura had given herself over to the treatment of those patients that only her extensive medical knowledge would be able to save. She hadn't had the ability to use medical ninjutsu since her rescue by her fiancé, but with her former training by Shizune and her study of medical journals she knew more than enough of medicine and surgery to be the most qualified person in the entire hospital to keep people alive.

Moments after the blue pulse had flowed through her place of business, all of her patients had died. While the invasion was going on she had thrown herself into her work and ignored the business of the outside village, not thinking about how much she wanted to throw herself out there and get it over and done with.

Since her return to her friends and Sunagakure, Sakura had struggled with the overwhelming urge to kill herself for what she had done. Her time as a Quiraji assassin weighed on her mind constantly and gave her many sleepless nights. She had medicated herself into enough of a state that she was able to work, but she had been consumed by her own mind long ago.

Her fiancé knew all of this. Rock Lee's presence in her life had been the one thing that had kept her going; it had been the reason she had proposed to him and promised to be with him regardless of what happened in the war.

But when the Quiraji had broken through to the village, her resistance had broken and she had accepted her fate as inevitable. She had occupied herself with saving those she could before they came for her, but even now the patients under her care had all died in an instant.

For almost an hour she tried to revive a variety of the patients in the Intensive Care Ward, but it was clear that their systems had fought and won against them and none of them could be saved. Sakura tried to get a hold of the various nurses and doctors that had decided to remain behind when the call for evacuation had come, but they too had suffered the same fate as their patients, their bodies lining the corridors and rooms with an eerie silence.

The only sound she could hear were the machines in the rooms informing her that none of the patients were still breathing. The buzzing sounds from the various machines had merged into a singular reminder of her failure to keep them alive and haunted Sakura as she dragged herself away from her deceased patients back to her office.

She didn't know what to do. The blue pulse that had killed everyone else should have killed her, but she hadn't felt anything as it had passed through her. Like the others she had seen the objects fall into the village, the one that had crashed through the Kazekage's tower had made a particularly large crashing sound before silently spreading out its wave of death throughout the village.

Stepping into her office, Sakura tried to keep herself from hyperventilating at the situation unfolding in front of her. Reaching into her pocket with her hands shaking with sweat, she produced a small white pill that she swallowed quickly, grabbing at a bottle of water and downing half of it in a series of large gulps. The medication took effect fairly quickly and her body became her own once again. Her mind ran through every scenario she could think of, processing the information she knew and accounting for that which she didn't know.

There was no evidence to suggest that the attacks here had been an isolated incident. As much faith as she had in the people in the Land of Fire fighting for their freedom from the Quiraji invaders, she couldn't shake the terrifying feeling that she was alone in the world once again.

She remembered those times as Iceheart. It had been through psychological therapy that she had begun to remember the feelings and emotions that had been at the centre of her being as that creature.

Even now, she did not feel like a shinobi. She didn't have chakra or the ability to produce it, but she wasn't a civilian either. She didn't know what she was.

But as much as she wanted to lie down and accept her due, a part of her resisted that urge. She'd not considered herself a stubborn person by nature, but while she wanted to die she also wanted to live. She was stuck between two conflicting mentalities.

Regardless of her decision that was still to be made, Sakura knew that she couldn't stay here. The hospital was an obvious building full of people from every angle of the village and she was surprised that the Quiraji hadn't already come to clean up the mess that was the hospital's occupants.

Sakura didn't want to leave the bodies here without doing something about it, but she couldn't stay just to be slaughtered. She had to resist, she had to do something.

She didn't want to fight. She wasn't sure she could fight. But she had to. There was no other way to survive, even if she didn't think she deserved to.

Shaking herself back into reality, Sakura quickly packed a small bag of all the medications she would need for herself, plus a few vials of special materials that she could use to defend herself. She opened a draw and drew one of the kunai that she had kept there from her shinobi days. Even without the ability to use chakra, she still knew all the techniques and abilities she'd once had. If it came to it, she would do what she had to.

A loud explosion rocked the building and nearly knocked her off her feet. Sakura didn't need to look out the window to see that the Quiraji had blown up the entrance to the hospital and were likely flooding in to finish off whatever civilians might have survived their attack. She couldn't stay here anymore.

There was no easy way out of the hospital without running into the soldiers that were probably flooding the corridors as she was thinking about it. Having packed what she could, Sakura wrapped herself in a large black cloak that had been hanging in her office as a legacy from her medical teacher.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Sakura took a long run up and leapt through the open window from her office into the burning village below. It was a three storey drop into a hard stone floor, but that wasn't the half of her problems.

It was the soldiers that were resting just around the corner that had seen her leap. They would be on her the moment she landed.

oOoOoOo

Sakura rolled as she fell to the ground, trying to keep as much impact off her ankles as possible. If she'd been able to use chakra it wouldn't have even bothered her, but as she was the landing sent shockwaves of pain up her legs as she felt her muscles struggle against the effort. She stood up out of her roll clutching the kunai she'd taken from her desk, not sure whether she'd be able to use it or not.

The soldiers that had been resting nearby picked themselves up from their seated positions and stared at her with obvious hatred in their eyes. There were four of them that looked like they'd been in some heavy fighting before the bombs had fallen, as two of them looked to be carrying injuries, but Sakura could tell that they hadn't had their fill.

She glanced around the area to check for any avenues of escape, but the only corridors that were available to her were too far away for her to reach. She wasn't fast enough to get away from the soldiers. She had to fight.

One of the Quiraji soldiers stepped forward with an unsheathed sword while the others walked behind him and drawing their own weapons. It was clear by their movements that they thought she was just another civilian that wasn't able to resist them.

Clutching her kunai tightly for fear of dropping it, Sakura tried not to think about how she hadn't fought a single battle since being rescued by her fiancé. She still knew all the tenants of battle and taijutsu moves that didn't require chakra to perform. But she wouldn't know how it would go until she actually fought.

The other soldiers seemed happy to stand back and let their companion attack her first. He appeared surprised by her lack of fear at his approach, but he wasn't about to give her a reprieve. They had their orders after all.

"Shame to kill her," said one of the soldiers behind him. "She's a pretty one."

The attacker raised his sword in front of the pink-haired doctor and brought it down towards her neck.

Sakura had no choice but to step forward and attack him directly with her kunai. She exploited his disinterest in really attacking her properly and moved her kunai up to slash his throat in a single motion.

She couldn't do it. Her weapon hovered just in front of her enemy's throat while her hands shook with her hesitation. In the corner of her eyes she could see a single familiar figure that struck a dagger of fear into her heart; it was because of her presence that she couldn't go through with her attack.

The Quiraji soldier was initially surprised at her sudden movement, but he was a soldier and wasn't about to let a mere civilian get the better of him. His sword was too long to be useful at such close range, but he still had a hand available to him. He reached up to grab at her attacking wrist, stopping her kunai from attacking him even though it was clear she didn't want to really hurt him. With that taken care of, he pulled back his head before crashing it down into the young woman's face.

The impact almost broke Sakura's nose at the same time as sending her down to the ground. She dropped her kunai and clutched at her face with both her hands, while the other soldiers walked towards their companion.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" asked one of them with a disapproving look on his face.

"We have our orders," said another, drawing his own blade from his side. "No survivors."

The soldiers nodded in approval and also stepped towards her, while the original attacker looked down at the ex-shinobi with appraising eyes. She had had a chance to kill him but hadn't taken it. Those movements were clearly shinobi-like, but down on the ground she didn't look like a threat at all.

_This is what I deserve_, thought Sakura as she struggled to stand back up on her feet. Her nose wasn't broken but the head butt had shocked her and forced her to re-evaluate what she was doing.

Inside her mind, she could feel herself shaking her head in disbelief. _I can't die here if Lee survived. I couldn't do that to him._

But she didn't want to kill anyone either. That part of her life was long over, she despised the part of her that had so easily embraced her own bloodlust. There had to be a way of surviving without killing the soldiers who probably deserved death as much as she did.

The soldier that had attacked her earlier moved to cut her down once ahead, while his companions moved to either side of her so she had nowhere to escape. If she tried to move to the sides or backwards, she would be killed without much effort, so Sakura knew that she had only one way to go.

Without any further hesitation, Sakura sprung forward in a burst of energy and tackled her first attacker down to the ground. She felt a hard strike against her chin as he tried to bring up an armoured hand to defend himself, but her momentum was enough to knock him down with her landing on top of him. Before he or his companions could react, Sakura placed a hand on one side of his head before slamming her other arm's elbow into his temple. The strength of her attack was enough to knock him out instantly, but not enough to kill him.

Before she could recover back onto her feet, Sakura felt a sharp stabbing pain in her side. She didn't need to see to know that it had pierced into her liver. Despite the overwhelming pain, she rolled to the other side and put pressure on her wound immediately. She bared her teeth and tried to ignore it as the three Quiraji soldiers descended onto her quickly to avenge their unconscious comrade.

Sakura had no way of moving out of the way of the swords falling down in cutting motions, so she was forced to reach over with her spare hand and grab the fallen soldier's sword to defend herself. She slashed across her own body to parry the strikes before snaking her blade forward and cutting at the wrist of one of the soldiers. Her blow was enough to cause them to pull back and clutch at their hand painfully, though they still kept a tight grip on their blade. The other two soldiers hesitated for a moment at how quickly she had struck back at them, which was enough for her to get back to her feet and hold her sword in front of her menacingly.

Feeling at her side with her covered hand, Sakura determined that her liver had been spared any serious damage and she brought it up to hold her stolen sword with two hands. She tried to put on a serious face as she stared down her three opponents, but it was obvious to them that she was hurting as she was still unsteady on her feet from the previous blow to her head.

The Quiraji soldiers now saw her as a threat from the resistance she was displaying. They stood in a staggered formation and prepared to attack her all at once. The soldier with an injured wrist changed his sword arm and moved forward to claim his revenge first, meeting Sakura's blade with his own in a clash of strength.

Shifting the angle of her blade quickly, Sakura took a bold step forward and slammed the hilt of her sword into the centre of his forehead. The strike was enough to draw blood and send him stumbling backwards while she moved to fight against the other two soldiers. They leapt forward and slashed at her from both sides at once. Her sword grip didn't allow her to parry these attacks and without chakra she wasn't fast enough to dodge out of the way completely. The only recourse available to her was to lean a shoulder into one of the sword slashes and hold her sword blade along her body to block the other strike.

She bit back a cry of pain as the Quiraji soldier's sword slashed through the muscles in her arm, but she had been able to block the other attack and that gave her an opportunity to strike back. She tried to slash forward with her sword at the Quiraji soldier, but he was smart enough to jump back out of the way. His companion that she'd struck in the head moved to re-join the combat, though he was bleeding heavily from his forehead.

Sakura knew she was going to lose this battle if she kept fighting like this. She had been cut in both her side and her shoulder, plus her vision was still blurry from the first attack. Two swords shot forward to cut her head from her shoulders, but she was no longer there.

Having dropped to the ground, abandoning her stolen sword, Sakura reached into her pack and produced a pair of small vials that she smashed together in her hands. The two liquids combined to produce a large grey cloud of chemicals that covered their small battlefield instantly. Her hands stung at the small shards of glass but she ignored the pain in a rush to grab at one of the pills from her pack. As she fell back out of the grey cloud she popped it into her mouth and hoped that it was the right one to counterattack the effects of the cloud.

After ten seconds of no ill effect, Sakura figured that she was safe as she watched the shadows of the Quiraji soldiers fall to the ground unconscious. She hadn't wanted to use that last resort so quickly after leaving the hospital, but she also couldn't bring herself to fight the enemy soldiers to their death.

Regardless of what the image standing off to the side of the battlefield was demanding her to do. She knew it wasn't really there, but its presence was more troubling than any part of that battle.

She couldn't sense whether there were any other soldiers in the area, but the grey cloud was already rising to the height of the surrounding buildings and the hospital behind her, so she knew that other soldiers would come to investigate.

Wrapping herself up in Shizune's black cloak, Sakura looked for the closest building that looked like it had already been searched for a place to heal her wounds and get herself back to a reasonable level of health. She had some anaesthetic and a fair amount of bandages, but the wound in her shoulder was deep and each step sent shockwaves of pain up her sides from the cut there.

She wouldn't be able to move much until those problems were taken care of. She hadn't lamented the loss of her chakra for a long time, but now that she was on her own in a hostile environment with serious wounds, she wished she had the ability to simply place her hands over her wounds and heal them with blue energy.

"Stop staring at me," muttered the Sunagakure doctor to the familiar-looking image as she ran past it into a nearby corridor of buildings. It was a gamble on whether she would run into more soldiers or not, but Sakura had to take that chance.

That's what she had to do to survive.

* * *

><p>The nights in the desert were cold and harsh.<p>

Even in the village of Sunagakure that was built to keep the cold out at night, many buildings would have small contained fires going throughout the night to keep what warmth they could from escaping.

Huddled in the rubble of a building that had been destroyed by a Quiraji siege engine, Sakura clutched her old teacher's cloak around her shoulders and tried to keep her body from freezing up. The winds of the ruins of Sunagakure were relentless, cutting to the bone and threatening to clatter her teeth and reveal her position to the enemy.

While she tried to keep herself alive without any fire, Sakura watched as patrols of Quiraji soldiers went through the village with ruthless precision. By the way they were walking around it was clear that any resistance that had survived the devastating blue pulse of death had been wiped out by the enemy in quick order. They had won the battle in a single sweeping attack and weren't even aware of her survival.

Sakura's mind and body were only focused on her current survival. She knew that any large motions during the night might cause a piece of rubble to dislodge and reveal her existence to the strolling soldiers nearby, but if she kept still she might freeze to death.

"So what do you think we'll do now?"

The young doctor's head snapped over to the sound of voices behind her, though she didn't breathe out a sigh of relief when she saw that there was a solid wall between her and the Quiraji soldiers on the other side. Any sound could give away her position to them.

"Probably get recalled to the Land of Fire. The fighting there isn't done yet."

_The Land of Fire didn't get hit? Maybe Lee is safe then!_

"Surely it will be by the time our groups are sent over there. The master and the Four are all there. Could you think of anyone that could stop that much power?"

"You're probably right. After the bombings I doubt the shinobi have any spirit left in them to fight anyway."

Sakura felt like it was something she should have gotten angry at hearing, but instead it only made her incredibly sad. If the other lands had been hit by the same bombs, hundreds of thousands were dead. It was the worst thing she could possibly conceive, yet she had no anger in her body. No hate.

Only despair.

In her darkest times, Sakura couldn't help but slip into her memories that had been coming back to her over the years. She could see her hallucination glared at her from the other side of the ruined building she had taken up hiding in, which triggered the one memory that she had wished she had forgotten.

It came to her so strongly that she forgot for a time that it was a memory. It was only due to luck that the Quiraji soldiers patrolling nearby had little interest in searching every single building for civilians that might have survived the bombing. It was assumed that they would be found eventually due to their occupancy of the village and sheer numbers present.

The fact that there was still one person alive in Sunagakure was barely even a factor to them.

* * *

><p>***Flashback***<p>

_***Just after Separation***_

Sakura couldn't move. Her body had been hurled through the void and felt like it had been torn apart and put back together. She had blacked out after the transition and had woken up without the ability to move. Her eyes worked perfectly fine and when she glanced down at her arms and legs she saw that she wasn't restrained in any way. She tried to make her muscles move, but nothing seemed to respond to her commands.

It took her a few moments to realise that the strange feeling she had in her limbs was because the nerves that connected them to her brain had been cut. She'd been immobilised in such a way that even if she had the strength to resist, she wouldn't have been able to move.

At that moment Sakura saw that she was in a dark room with no distinctive markings on it. She had been laid down on a cold slab table and left to her own devices by some unknown force, but that wasn't the most worrying thing.

All along her body were tubes that had been surgically implanted into key parts of her body. They hadn't bothered to remove her clothes when they had done this, wherever a tube was held in by her body there was an appropriately sized hole that had been cut out of her shinobi clothes. The tubes made a soft sucking sound at specific intervals and appeared to contain a greyish blue liquid that it was draining from her body.

Sakura realised, in absolute horror, that her lifeblood was being drained out of her as she watched it happen. Her mouth opened to scream, but it refused to open. She had been instinctively breathing through her nose to keep herself alive, but there were no stitches or material that was keeping it shut. It just refused to open. Without any other recourse, Sakura screamed with her eyes for hours as she watched herself die one bit at a time.

Time seems to pass at an agonisingly slow pace within the room, but eventually a light shone onto her face. Its sudden brightness was enough to hurt her eyes and she forced them shut, but only for a moment as she heard a large object being wheeled into her room followed by a single set of footsteps. Not really wanting to see her torturer, Sakura reluctantly opened her eyes and regarded her new acquaintance. Pushing a wheeled table into the room was a tall woman in a clean white apron and a set of loose-fitting clothing that was the same blood red colour as her hair. She seemed to be silently whistling a tune to herself and counting the objects on top of the table with one of her hands, ignoring her patient for the moment.

Once she stopped the table next to the pink-haired shinobi however, a pair of blood red eyes snapped to attention and stared directly into hers. If she'd had the ability to open her mouth, Sakura would have spat into the woman's face on general principle; the look of both contempt and fascination that she gave her was so infuriating it made her feel even more helpless than her disabilities did.

"Ah, awake are you?" The woman checked the watch on her wrist, "And before schedule? My, but you are full of surprises." Her voice had the illusion of calm and control, but it concealed nothing of the malice she clearly bore for the young kunoichi. Sakura was sure that if the woman had the interest to, she would cut her throat and not even think twice about it.

And judging by the implements that sat atop the table she had just wheeled in, that might just be what she intended to do.

The red-haired woman gave her a humourless smile and pulled out a pair of plastic gloves from a box on the table and put them on with deliberate motions to show how little she cared for Sakura's suffering. She stepped towards her prisoner and traced a single finger along the front of her body until she met the first tube that had been inserted directly between her breasts.

"I suppose the anaesthetic will wear off fairly soon. I would have preferred not to use any at all, but previous patients have…well…died from the pain of the implementation process. With you, we're trying to be a bit more careful."

Sakura tried to move her head and open her mouth to speak, but her muscles continued to refuse to respond to her, though she did get an amused reaction from her captor.

"Oh, don't mind that. It'll wear off once I'm done with you." She wrapped her hand around the tube in Sakura's chest, "These lovely things will remove your taint and then you can finally start to serve your true masters."

The Konoha shinobi had no idea what this woman was talking about, but she had no interest in serving anyone, let alone as the result of torture. Sakura had considered herself a proud shinobi, despite recognising her own inadequacies throughout their wanderings around the world. She had worked hard to prove her strengths to both her friends and to herself.

This much was nothing. She would find a way to escape and take the fight to the woman who seemed so confident in her own safety that she didn't bother to restrain Sakura beyond the nerve-severing.

With a defiant look in her eyes, she attempted to mould chakra in one of her chakra points. She had such fine control that she was able to do so at such a fine level that it would have been almost undetectable. Sakura figured that if she could build up chakra within her chakra network, then she could heal her nerves from the inside and then surprise the red-haired woman in an instant. She had no means of determining whether she was the only one that was suffering this fate, but if the others had been captured by these people then she had the obligation to help them.

She might be the only one that could.

However, the moment she attempted to mould chakra, her body reacted in a violent manner, as the multiple tubes that were stuck in her began to vibrant as they sucked out huge amounts of the greyish blue liquid into the large container placed on the floor beside her.

Her captor laughed and patted her on the stomach like she was a piece of meat about to be thrown onto the stove. "You shinobi are so predictable. The moment you are in trouble you fall back on that one thing you never had a right to." Her red eyes traced along the tubes as they sucked the lifeblood from her prisoner, "At this rate it'll only be a few hours to go."

Looking back at the kunoichi's blazing eyes; the red-haired woman answered the question that she could clearly see she wanted to know the answer to. "Until your precious chakra is no longer yours. That is the easy part, my dear. I have great plans for you, so mighty that you are. You will become my champion, a shinobi designed to kill shinobi."

She reached over to her table and picked a scalpel, sterilising it with a cloth before leaning over the terrified shinobi's face. "But before that can happen, I must remake you. You will break. You will be torn apart and put back together. This will happen over and over again until you no longer exist. Then we shall see if my little experiment is deserving of the gifts I am willing to give her."

She moved her other hand to the side of Sakura's face and caressed it like a mother would an injured child. The touch was enough to send a horrified chill down Sakura's spine as she recognised what was going to happen next. She'd studied torture-resistance techniques and had believed herself able to withstand a reasonable minimum required before she could be rescued or killed. But now that she was confronted with it, Sakura found that what confidence she had was non-existent. She was terrified, horrified and unable to express it in any reasonable manner. She knew that she had likely soiled herself with the confrontation, but her senses told her nothing of what was happening below her neckline.

"Do not fear, my child," began her captor as she placed a pair of fingers to the side of Sakura's mouth. "I am not so cruel as to deny you your voice for so long."

In the same instant she repaired the nerves she had damaged to keep her mouth shut, while beginning her first cut with her scalpel.

Sakura's first sound was a high-pitched scream for as long as she had breath. This continued until her voice was hoarse and dry, with no water or sustenance to maintain it.

The woman seemed to revel in her agony as she began the process of 'remaking' her. As she had promised, the anaesthetic had worn off and Sakura felt every cut and burn that was inflicted upon her. She was torn apart and put back together again, long after the tubes had sucked her chakra dry and been removed from her body.

For three weeks the woman she would come to know as Sensou would come into her room and break her. Initially Sakura had tried to defy her torture through sheer stubborn willpower, but that did not last long as her captor was a master at her craft and was able to bring out pain in her that she'd never known existed in a person.

Sakura did not know what kept her from submitting for those three weeks. After the first few nights she had begun to hallucinate, seeing images of Sasuke mocking her obvious weakness. He had been followed by hallucinations of Naruto, saying that she had let them down and gotten everyone killed. She knew they were false, but Sakura's heart broke upon hearing those words spoken by people she had so respected. Those products of her pain-riddled mind did more damage to her psyche than her captor's torture ever could.

After a week she began to be visited by images of Rock Lee, but he never said a word to her, despite her pleadings. He simply stared at her, unblinking and lifeless.

She held out for as long as her mind could and more, but Sakura was only human. Her body had been pumped full of foreign materials and drained of everything that she had been born with. She felt like she was lying on the cold slab as a prisoner in a body that only wore the face she'd once had. Her spirit was trapped within a foreign shell and was eventually supressed entirely.

When Sensou asked for her submission at the end of the twenty-second night, she complied. Using her newfound strength, she stood up from the cold slab that had been her home for three weeks before bending the knee in front of her new master. The Quiraji leader seemed satisfied at her submission and directed her to another room that contained several instruments that she was now to use. She was fitted with a helmet to constantly feed her information and allow her to track chakra signals while sending the data back to her master.

She was given a name, a squad and a mission. Haruno Sakura no longer existed.

She was Iceheart.

***End Flashback***

* * *

><p>The night was quiet after Sakura pulled herself back from the harsh reality of her memories and she remained unmolested by the Quiraji patrols. From the conversations she overheard around the ruined building, she knew that there wouldn't be anyone else left alive in the village. No shinobi would have survived the bombs and the civilians had been mopped up by the sheer number of Quiraji soldiers scouring the village. There had to be at least forty-thousand soldiers throughout the large village, but the more disturbing news was that they had already started to send soldiers after the civilians that had fled to the north. There was no way to tell whether they had survived the bombs, but they wouldn't stand a chance if the Quiraji army caught up with them.<p>

Sakura didn't know what to do. Her wounds were as healed as they were going to be without any more supplies or another doctor to operate on her. She hadn't gotten any rest during the night and had taken more of the pills in her pack, but she still had no idea what she was doing.

There was no way she would be able to get out of the village. The building she was hiding in was closer to the centre of the village than the hospital had been. With her injuries she doubted she would be able to maintain a reasonable level of stealth to escape their net of patrols. She might be able to outlast them within the village, as she knew many of the secret pathways that had been built for the war that she doubted the Quiraji would be able to find easily.

But if she was discovered, she wasn't going to be able to kill any of them. The previous battle had confirmed for her that she just didn't have it in her, despite what they had done or were planning to do.

Regardless of whatever tricks her mind played on her. Sakura was not going to change the person she had decided to become. She couldn't bear the thought of taking another life.

But she definitely knew she couldn't stay in the ruined building any longer. The sun had risen and light was beginning to shine into one of the gaps of the building that had been demolished by a boulder shot by the Quiraji siege engines. She wouldn't be able to hide in there any longer.

If she had any chance of getting out of the village and making it to her fiancé in the Land of Fire, she would have to risk making it to one of the tunnels that the civilians had used to evacuate. She didn't know every entrance that likely existed, but there were at least four that she knew of near the destroyed Kage building. However, that was Quiraji-central.

She also knew of another entrance, one close to the eastern wall. It was a dangerous journey under enemy occupation, but she didn't have a choice.

Sakura waited until a nearby patrol of Quiraji soldiers slowly made their way around the ruined building before covering herself in her black cloak and used some of the mud on the ground to cover her pink hair. It wouldn't be too much of a disguise, but if she stuck to the shadows she might be able to get further than if she hadn't done it.

With a long silent breath, Sakura aimed herself at the nearest building shadow that was still covered from the rising sun's light and bolted out into the streets of Sunagakure. Her side protested at her movements, but she ignored it as she slammed into the wall of the building and planted herself inside the shadows.

There were no soldiers in the gaps between buildings for now, so Sakura decided that she was momentarily safe. She had to keep making small victories like this until she got to her goal. That was how she would be able to survive, one step at a time.

She glanced around the next building she could reach with as little time in the open as possible, taking a moment to steel herself before jumping out as fast as she could.

She didn't even see the projectile that smacked into the back of her head and knocked her unconscious. A pair of Red Warriors leapt down from the roof next to her body and glanced at each other for a moment.

"What should we do with her?"

The more senior of the two considered the fallen doctor for a moment before coming to the decision. "Take her to the square and execute her. She's the last."

Sakura had no means of resisting the Red Warrior that picked her up from the ground like she weighed nothing and held her over his shoulder as he walked to her designated execution block.

oOoOoOo

***Flashback***

_***Unknown time***_

Shouri stepped back from her with a scowl on his face, turning to his older sister to demonstrate his displeasure, "You have given this one too much power, Sensou. Father would not have wanted it done this way."

"I don't answer to you," spat back the scientist. "She is my creation and mine alone. Since she's been active, she had killed more of her former brethren than any of us combined. She is our tool and nothing more."

Iceheart stood perfectly still in front of her master and her Quiraji sibling, silent and subordinate without a command to do anything else. Through her mask she could see the varying powers of the two powerful beings in front of her fluctuate, but made no comment or observation about them. It was not her place to have independent thought or reason. She was exactly what her master had called her and there was no part of her that could process it any other way. She had no joy or sorrow in her body, only the call to obey any command given to her.

Shouri crossed his arms over his chest while maintaining his disapproving expression, "I understand the necessity for your experiments and that you've perfected the technique, but why this one in particular? She is no general or anyone special in particular. She's just a shell."

His older sister grinned malevolently and stepped to the side of her creation to lay a hand on Iceheart's shoulder, "On the contrary, she is my perfection. Incapable of disobedience and fully capable of killing any of her former comrades that she comes across. She proved to be a most fortuitous gift that you sent me."

"It's not as if I picked her out specifically," said Shouri back to her. "You needed a subject, I gave you one. But you gave her too much of our power. If she were to turn…"

"She can't and won't," clarified Sensou quickly. She reached up to trace a finger around the side of the heavy mask that sat on Iceheart's head. "If I told her to carve out her own heart and hand it to us, she would do it without question. I broke her and she is my creature alone. You asked for a weapon to help you win the war, I made one for you."

That was as far as her memory went, but there was something that her old master had underestimated about her. She hadn't broken Sakura completely. Only a miniscule part of the ex-Konoha kunoichi remained in the shell of her new body, but it existed regardless.

She wasn't gaining strength though. She was just surviving and watching helplessly.

***End Flashback***

oOoOoOo

Sakura's vision slowly came back to her as she was being dragged along the open ground at the centre of the conquered Sunagakure. The Red Warrior that had been carrying her earlier was standing a short distance away, shouting some words to the Quiraji soldiers that threw her to the ground like a ragdoll.

Her head throbbed painfully and she wasn't sure whether this was real or just another creation of her increasingly broken mind. Around her there was a large crowd of Quiraji soldiers that had gathered to witness the end of the resistance.

The Quiraji soldiers threw her to the ground in the middle of the cheering circle of soldiers and one of them stepped back while the Red Warrior completed his speech and turned his fiery gaze towards the downtrodden doctor.

A soldier behind her brought down a steel gauntlet on the back of her head, forcing her to the ground on her knees in a submissive pose before stepping back to allow its commander to have the pleasure of taking her life.

On her knees, Sakura could only watch as the Red Warrior slowly stepped towards her while drawing a sword from its side. More Quiraji soldiers had gathered around them as he walked towards her, seemingly happy to watch the execution of the last survivor of Sunagakure.

The blow to her head had caused her vision to become fuzzy and unfocused, while she felt like she was going through a river of memories at the same moment as she was watching her own execution. She remembered the sensation of squeezing the life out of Kurenai's body; the satisfaction as the young woman had tried to trap her in a genjutsu to save her child but failed as the look of absolute betrayal sat in her eyes. It had not pleased her to kill the retired kunoichi but she had taken pride in her work, even if now it revolted her. She remembered the tender touch of her fiancé for the first time since he'd returned from one of his missions to the Land of Fire, that single moment pulling her from her depressed stupor for the hundredth time after her release from Quiraji control.

She remembered the spark of emotion she had felt when she had stabbed her sword through the throat of a resisting Shino, admiring his tenacity and unwillingness to give up. The emotion had been immediately squashed under the overwhelming power of her master and she had put her heeled boot through the young shinobi's head just to prove to Sensou that she was still her creature, but the feeling had persisted in her mind and reminded her of something she had long since forgotten.

Sakura glanced up at the Red Warrior coming towards her to see that the scene appeared to have frozen in place. Her eyes widened with terror, though not because of the scowling expression on her executioner's face, but rather from the image of the person standing beside him.

It was her. Or at least, what she had once been.

The image of Iceheart, complete with mask and overwhelming physical presence cocked her head slightly at the downtrodden shinobi. Her eyes blazed a fiery ice blue beneath the orbed sockets of the mask and Sakura could feel the contempt and judgement pouring out from the hallucination.

She had denied it for a long time, but she had known all along that Iceheart had not disappeared completely when she had regained control over her body. She had persisted, just as Sakura had, gaining power and reminding Sakura of what she had once been.

Sakura was the intruder, not her. Silently, the image told her of a truth that she had tried to forget.

She had forfeited the rights to her body during those nights of torture. Her mind was still her own, but the being known as Iceheart was as much a part of her as if she'd been born with it. The power gifted to her by the Quiraji leader persisted in her body with only the right request necessary to access it. She knew what that request was, but had denied it for so long.

The image of Iceheart stepped forward and reached out a hand to the fallen woman.

Sakura knew she couldn't deny it any longer. The shinobi side of her had not existed for many years now and the doctor façade that she had created for herself had been a means of coping and little more.

There was no denying it any longer.

With a heart heavy with regret, Sakura reached out and took Iceheart's hand.

The Red Warrior that had moved his sword to execute her stopped his blow and looked down with disbelief. The young doctor had regained her footing despite the soldier behind her trying to hold her shoulders down.

She had also driven her bare hand through his chest out to the other side. Her hand was fixed as a bloody claw as she pulled it back, turned around quicker than any of the observers could react and snapped the neck of the soldier behind her. The two Quiraji warriors fell to the ground almost at the same time as Sakura's unblinking eyes regarded the gathered soldiers around her. Her green eyes had adopted a light blue circle around them and the look of uncertainty and hesitation was gone.

With slow deliberation, Sakura placed her bloody hand on her face, holding it long enough to leave an imprint before lowering it back down to her side. Around her she calculated that there were more than fifty Quiraji soldiers that had gathered there to witness her execution.

It would be an adequate start.

With her Quiraji-given powers fully under her control, Sakura tore the moisture out of the air with a sweeping motion of her hands before sending it straight at the heads of every Quiraji soldier in view. The spiritual energy-infused water clamped onto their heads like a parasite and resisted their efforts to through it off. There was no defence to her technique, within minutes the Quiraji soldiers collapsed onto the ground. If she had still been Sakura, the head doctor of Sunagakure, she would have removed her technique and let them remain unconscious.

She wasn't that person anymore. She watched with passive observation as the Quiraji soldiers died, choking on the water she had torn out from the air around her. Once her eyes recognised that none of them had a pulse remaining, she pulled the water from their heads and collected it in one of her hands as a large floating orb.

She could hear a group of Quiraji soldiers approaching the area with shouts of confusion and anger as they suspected what she had done. There was no amusement or anger at their approach in her mind.

Only the cold fury of hatred.

Through the bloody glaze of the Quiraji blood over her eyes, Sakura waited until the group of five Quiraji soldiers witnessed the carnage she had wrought before solidifying the water orb above her hand and sending it flying towards them at breakneck speed. Within seconds they lay on the ground with their heads caved in from her attacks and she let the water fall to the ground in a bloody pool around the bodies.

Now she had to seek out her next targets. There were tens of thousands of soldiers destroying and looting the shinobi village.

And she had all day.

oOoOoOo

Moving through the areas between ruined buildings, Sakura's eyes were fixed on finding new targets for her wrath. After a few minutes of looking she found two Black Robes by themselves in front of the school, having a discussion over something she couldn't quite hear. Their backs were turned to her, but only temporarily before she made her presence felt by slamming a fist into the side of a nearby wall, sending it crashing down into bits with a burst of physical energy.

The two Quiraji specialists flipped around and regarded her with fascination before moving to attack her without missing a beat. One of them flung a large ball of spiritual energy-based fire at her, while the other flicked his hands to send a pair of wind blades behind the ball of fire. It was a good combination attack that had killed many Sunagakure shinobi before the bombs had fallen.

Sakura watched the attacks approach her until they were almost about to hit her. Then she vanished in a blur of instant motion.

The Black Robes took a step back at the same time, unsure of whether she had been consumed by their attacks or if they had missed her. Their dark eyes looked around with confusion written on their faces, but it only lasted a moment before the pink-haired doctor reappeared in front of them and she placed out her hands towards their chests in claw-like poses.

The human body is comprised of about sixty per cent water. With her hands controlling the spiritual energy within the Black Robes' bodies, Sakura tore that water out of the Quiraji specialities by every orifice that it could escape out of.

It was not a painless process. Even battle-hardened veterans like the Black Robes screamed like little children as much of their essence was tore out of them, leaving them as dry husks without a drop of moisture left in their bodies. Sakura held the bloody globes of water between her hands for a moment before dropping it back onto the dead Quiraji specialists and turning on her heel away from them.

Gathering in a small group opposite her was a cluster of Quiraji soldiers that seemed horrified at what they had just seen. She wore the image of a shinobi, but some of the older soldiers were startled by the image of the bloody-faced pink-haired woman that had the same look in her eyes that her old master had once worn.

Despite her mostly emotionless state, a grim smile grew across her face. She could taste the Red Warrior's blood on her lips from her bloody handprint and it gave her a ghastly appearance that she relished.

In a burst of physical energy she shot forward with her fists clenched tightly. The Quiraji soldiers struggled to get their weapons out from their sheaths as she appeared in their midst. She slammed a fist into the side of one of the soldiers, smashing every rib in that side of his body and shattering his liver. In the same motion she flipped on her other hand on the ground and drove one of her heeled feet into the head of another soldier. Her strike shattered his jaw and sent him flying away while Sakura leapt back onto her feet. One of her hands shot out and clasped over the face of another soldier before clenching inwards and allowing her to spin around to kick out at the remaining two soldiers.

The battle lasted three seconds. Sakura gave them a total of five seconds of life following it before finishing them off on the ground with fists and feet heavy with physical energy.

She continued on her way like nothing had happened. This scenario would continue to repeat throughout the day.

oOoOoOo

After several hours of slaughtering small groups of Quiraji patrols, the enemy army finally wised up to the fact that there was a force in the village that was not friendly to them and began gathering large forces to try and hunt her down.

But they made the incorrect assumption that they were the predators and she was the prey. Sakura was grateful that the Quiraji had gathered in larger numbers. It made her work easier and more interesting.

After her massacre in the execution square, Sakura had made her way back towards the hospital she had previously escaped from. With a sphere of water she had taken out of the bodies of Quiraji soldiers, Sakura went through the hospital floor by floor, room by room, executing every soldiers that had walked in. After she'd cleaned up in there she leapt from roof to roof until she reached the main entrance to Sunagakure that the Quiraji army had flooded in through.

There was a large gathering of Quiraji soldiers beneath her, but Sakura wasn't interested in them anymore. Standing with his sword drawn was a Red Warrior adorned in golden armour that exuded command and power. He had to be the general of the Quiraji army.

She would enjoy tearing him apart.

The general noticed her presence without a twinge of fear in his eyes, using his sword to wave off the hundreds of Quiraji soldiers that had gathered around him. It was a clear challenge to the ex-shinobi to come down and fight him fairly, one on one.

Kneeling on the roof of the Sunagakure building, Sakura cocked her head slightly at the challenge before standing up on her feet and placing her hands at her sides. Her body exploded out with spiritual energy and the ground began to shake uncontrollably beneath her building.

The Quiraji soldiers on the ground looked around for the cause of the shaking, while the general's hands began to shake in response to what he could see that his men could not.

After a few seconds of rumbling, a pair of huge waves of water came crashing through the gaps between buildings into the gathered Quiraji soldiers, following the motions of Sakura's hands as she sent it through the army in an instant and pushing it out to the other side. Using her hands to control its movements, she purposefully avoided the area the Quiraji general was standing in, so that he could do nothing except watch as his soldiers were crushed beneath waves of water before being washed out of the village.

Within moments the Quiraji general was all alone on his single patch of dry land in the Sunagakure village entrance way. Sakura leapt off of her building in a single bound and landed opposite him with a graceful flip. She rose eerily slowly to stand up fully and glared at him through green and red eyes.

"You are just a monster of our making, girl," he said with obvious fury in her voice. "I'll put you down and avenge my soldiers right now."

Sakura didn't say anything in return. She watched as the Quiraji general roared out a challenge and charged towards her with his sword swinging expertly towards her. He was both fast and powerful from his approach and she could feel his influence that would have stopped any chakra-based attacks from harming him. If she used her water-based spiritual energy she could take him out from afar with little effort, but there would be no meaning to such a victory.

Using her physical energy to increase her speed to the equivalent of her fiancé's, Sakura ducked under the expertly-timed slash and grabbed at his sword arm with both her hands. She twisted it hard enough to break apart the armour surrounding it and snap every bone in his arm before yanking on it, hard.

The Quiraji general's arm came off with a violent pop, sending a spray of blood all over his opponent that was only matched by the ungodly scream of agony that followed suit.

Sakura tossed his now-detached arm to the ground and shifted the beautifully-crafted sword into one of her hands before lowering her stance and sweeping it across the general's thighs from the side. Her hands were pumped full of physical energy and made mincemeat of his armour and flesh as it came out on the other side in two more sprays of blood as the Quiraji was sent flailing to the ground.

There was very little of Sakura that wasn't covered in blood at this point, though she disliked the sword's feel in her hands and tossed it away to join the growing pile of limbs.

The Quiraji general screamed and begged at her treatment of him, but Sakura had no time to waste on the flailing of one that was already dead. Stepping over the stumps that were all that was attached to the bottom half of his body; she reached up a foot over his remaining attached limb before slamming it down just above his elbow. The arm dislodged and was sent flying, while the Quiraji general nearly passed out from the pain and immediate loss of blood.

Not one to waste time, the young doctor reached across the quartered Quiraji general and pulled of his chest plate in a single motion, exposing his brown shirt and chest beneath. Making a claw with her right hand, Sakura shoved it into his chest and felt his heart slowly stop before crushing it beneath her fingers and pulling her hand out of his chest.

More Quiraji soldiers had come to investigate the massive waves of water she had used earlier and had witnessed her brutal quartering and slaughter of their general with almost no effort involved. With her body drenched in blood and her hands itching for more, Sakura stood up and slowly turned around to regard them with a twisted smile on her face.

It was good to be back.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

So, Sakura basically has become Batman. I hope this part of the story was conveyed well, as I've wanted to do this with her for a long time. This is going on at about the same time as the 'final battle'.

Next chapter will be the commencement of the final battle with Benkei. I won't issue any warnings about the content of those chapters, but just remember what I'm like.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	95. Chapter 87 Fighting Against Order

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 87 – Fighting Against Order

**A/N**: In regards to the movie stuff coming out and hints towards one pairing over another, I'm not counting my chickens until they've hatched. Whether it happens or not we'll just have to wait and see. Remember, it won't be the end of the world if it's ambiguous.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the final fight would be closer to a fist fight.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

After the bombs fell on Sunagakure, the only survivor that could possibly resist the Quiraji invasion of the shinobi village was the young head doctor who was still struggling with her own suicidal thoughts. In her manner of trying to escape the hospital she accumulated some injuries that threatened to expose her to the Quiraji invaders. Gathering her courage she took a risk to try and escape the village but was captured and sent to her execution. At that time, she finally accepted that she could not deny the being that shared her body and embraced her inner demon. She became Iceheart.

Once she accepted that part of herself, Sakura stopped her non-killing pact and slaughtered every Quiraji soldier that she came across. Eventually she came across the Quiraji general and brutally quartered him and crushed his heart in her hands. She then turned her attention back to the Quiraji soldiers remaining in Sunagakure and made it her mission to kill them all.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>"Bullshit," said the Otokage with his arms crossed over his chest.<p>

Not one to share in his choice of words, nevertheless Gaara had to agree with his compatriot, "Even if you had that kind of intention, you wouldn't have the means."

Kakashi gritted his teeth as he processed the information the Quiraji leader had just given them. It was highly likely that he was bluffing to try and destroy their morale and divide them. But it was just as likely that he was telling the truth. As far as he knew, Benkei had not lied to them yet and didn't strike him as the kind of man that had any need to.

The others were almost firmly in the Otokage's mode of thinking, but none of them could shake the suspicion that he was telling the truth. They were all deeply troubled by the news, but they also knew there wasn't anything they could do about it at this stage.

Mei was torn at the news. On one hand, she had her dedication to the cause here and knew her place was on this battlefield. But on the other hand, she couldn't just leave her village to die if he was telling the truth. She almost turned to leave the battlefield, until a hand pressed at her shoulder to keep her there. She turned to see Rock Lee shake his head slightly. Without a word she nodded in response and turned back to the battlefield.

Throughout his tale, the Quiraji leader had maintained his cocky smile and had kept his gaze squared firmly on the surviving shinobi in front of him. Now that they knew the fate of their people, he spared a moment to look at his subordinate who hadn't moved since she'd emerged from the building with her companions. She still hadn't responded to his commands for her to kill the shinobi, but it no longer mattered. Her presence was all he required.

Benkei uncrossed his arms and slowly flexed his hands, "No more talking is necessary. Now is the time for you to die."

The shinobi strike force looked at each other for a moment before each stepping forward to confront him. Some like Kakashi and Kiba were low on chakra and still needed more time before they could engage him properly in battle, but most of the others were itching for their chance to finish the battle once and for all.

The Quiraji leader opened his arms and offered his opponents the first chance to strike at him. Most of the shinobi strike force knew better than to go for a pre-emptive strike when the enemy was prepared for it, but those with long range attacks saw no reason not to take their chance. Kiba hurled himself towards the Quiraji leader and created a whirlwind of fire that he shot towards his foe, while at the same time Mei complemented his attack with a shot of magma from her mouth.

The two fire-based attacks drenched the Quiraji leader rapidly, as Benkei made no motion to dodge the attacks at all. After a few seconds they fell to the ground as they failed to penetrate through to their enemy.

Benkei looked down at the pool of magma and flickering flames at his feet, rolling his eyes and reaching into a pocket in his pants. "You are so predictable, using your useless power against me."

"Chakra doesn't work at all," warned Naruto to the others, but they all already knew that from their battles with the other Quiraji leaders. It was clear that there was a chakra-nullifying field around Benkei, but they all frowned as they saw the Quiraji leader produce a small black device from his pocket.

Holding the device in his hand for a moment, Benkei took a short breath and crushed it between his fingers with little effort. With that, the chakra-nullifying field protecting him faded and disappeared with only a discarded chunk of metal as evidence of its existence. The Quiraji leader cracked his neck as a demonstration that he was now ready to fight and clenched his fists. "Now your little attacks can get through. I have no need for such assistance."

The shinobi facing him looked at each other for a moment, not sure whether they could believe what they had seen. Unlike before, none of them were going to waste this opportunity. At once, the enemies of the Quiraji present sent their attacks straight at their foe.

Sasuke, Kakashi, Killer Bee and Naruto all sent bolts of chakra-based lightning, while Mei and Hinata collectively created a cascade of water to crash into their foe. Kiba attempted his fire trick once again while Akamaru recovered from their battle; while Gaara created a spike of the densest sand he could make and hurled it straight at Benkei. Neji placed a hand next to his mouth and sent a pulse of deafening sound towards their opponent and Fiore, drawing on the knowledge that she could control more than one piece of her wood at once, created a blade that spun towards Benkei at breakneck speed.

Even the non-chakra using Lee kicked up a storm with his high-speed techniques and sent a blast of air to enhance the speed of the other techniques being directed at their enemy.

It was a devastating combination of attacks that would have taken out any normal foe. Many of the attacks blended together and formed into larger attacks on their way towards their foe, while those with greater control moved around the non-complimentary attacks and used better vectors to attack their foe. Without his chakra-nullification protection, Benkei would surely be severely harmed by their combination.

Moments before the whirlwind of various attacks struck him, Benkei took a wide side-step that covered over a score of metres and watched as every attack sailed past him harmlessly. He slowly turned his head towards the shinobi and his expression darkened. "I am not a moron, though. Don't think it'll be that easy."

While the shinobi recovered for a second volley of their combination attack, the Quiraji leader decided he was not going to wait around for them anymore. With a small burst of physical energy that cracked the ground beneath his feet, Benkei shot forward at such a high speed that he was in the midst of the shinobi strike force before they knew what hit them.

His first target was the Tailed Beast that had presented itself earlier in the battle. Benkei was the ultimate pragmatist and recognised the rapid recovery and obvious grudge on the Kumogakure Tailed Beast container's face. Killer Bee was able to read his movements, since he was used to fighting high speed opponents like the Raikage, but after the battle with Yugito his body was sluggish to respond and he was only able to sway backwards to avoid the full extent of the Quiraji leader's strike.

Instead of his fist striking the Eight-Tails container's forehead, Benkei's fist struck the underside of his chin. The blow had enough force to crush his spine in a single strike, but Killer Bee's sway had diffused enough of the power that it only broke several of the bones in his face and sent him flying into the ground hundreds of metres away. Killer Bee was unconscious the moment the shock of the strike hit him and the Eight-Tails inside him attempted to wrap him in a protective cocoon of chakra to soften the blow, saving his life as the back of his head struck against the hard rocks of the crater of Konoha.

The others of the strike force had barely blinked and one of their group was already down. They had no time to check whether Killer Bee was still alive or not as the Quiraji leader quickly turned his attention to the others around him.

The fastest of their group was the first to get to him, slamming a green-clad leg into the side of Quiraji leader's shoulder. Benkei moved an arm in an attempt to catch Lee's leg in the action, but the taijutsu master flipped around in the air and landed on his hands on the ground before kicking both his feet into the underside of Benkei's chin. However, unlike his blow to the Eight-Tails container, this attack had no effect on Benkei as his physical defence was more than capable of taking such an attack.

Benkei's eyes twitched at the attack and Rock Lee disappeared in a flash before the Quiraji leader could counter-attack him, landing softly a short distance away with a drawn-out breath.

"His defences are strong…" observed the taijutsu master as the others took up defensive stances around the enemy. There were too many of them in their group to all attack him in close combat at once, but not all of them were close-combat orientated. Benkei had not shown any interest in fighting at range so the long-ranged types moved to the back of their hastily acquired formation while the close-quarter fighters steeled themselves and moved to the front lines.

It wasn't a bad formation by any means. Benkei could see that they were certainly taking him seriously, particularly after seeing him take out one of the most powerful shinobi in their group in a single blow. Killer Bee was seriously drained and distracted, but that didn't detract from the severity of his defeat.

Benkei let the shadow of a grin appear on his face before adopted an emotionless expression once again. He was starting to enjoy this battle.

The first shinobi that moved to strike back at him were the former Team Seven members that were present at the battlefield of their old home. Naruto clapped his hands to cover them with the swirling spiritual energy of his Kattoken, while Sasuke's Eternal Sharingan eyes flared and a large purple warrior appeared around him drawing a massive bow aimed directly at their foe. While his students prepared their attacks, Kakashi used the knowledge of the Rinnegan to enhance his old abilities and ran through handseals so quickly they barely looked like he'd made them before creating a dog made entirely of lightning and sending it flying through the air the same time Sasuke released his chakra arrow at the Quiraji leader. While they attacked at range, Naruto shot forward with his teleportation ability and appeared to the side of the Quiraji leader and pulled back an arm to strike at Benkei directly.

The Quiraji leader saw the rapid-fire attacks flying towards him with fascination, seeing that even he wouldn't be able to dodge those without effort. To resolve that issue, he created a barrier of physical energy at his side to defend from Naruto's attack before reaching out with his large hands to mimic the act of grabbing the blonde shinobi by the arm. He knew it was dangerous to touch him directly while his Kattoken swirled around him, but with his ability he had no need to do so as he picked up the ex-Konoha shinobi at range and flung him into the path of his comrades' attacks. Naruto was within his time frame that prevented him from line-of-sight teleporting again and he didn't want to waste his Hiraishin teleports so early in the fight. To defend himself he extended his Kattoken entirely around his body and braced himself to take the attacks.

Seeing that their attacks were about to hit their ally, Kakashi used a burst of chakra through his Rinnegan and dispersed the attacks in a pulse of gravity that sent Naruto flying away, but saving him from Benkei's follow-up attack, which was to slam his fist into the ex-Konoha shinobi's chest.

While the others moved to attack Benkei at the same time, Hinata sped around the battlefield at her top speed and held out her hands to catch her husband before he struck the ground. Naruto had enough presence of mind to cancel his defensive technique before he harmed his wife, but the impact was enough to send both of them to their knees.

While the married couple recovered their footing, Benkei was attacked on all sides by a combination of close-combat attacks by Kiba, Neji and Rock Lee. His arms became a flurry as he defended and parried their close-combat attacks while simultaneously striking out with furious physical energy and beating them back. Kiba fought side by side with Akamaru and was beaten back every time he tried to claw his way into the Quiraji leader's defences, coping a dangerous blow to his side that nearly broke his ribs in a single blow. Neji was still recovering chakra from his near-death experience at the hands of his cousin, but he was still a taijutsu genius and was able to duck under Benkei's counterattacks to try and strike at him directly. With Rock Lee taking up most of Benkei's attention with his rapid-fire techniques that gained in speed and power with each moment, Neji took advantage of Benkei's distraction and created a single blade of chakra into his remaining hand. Moving like a leaf swaying in the wind, Neji moved between the attacking Rock Lee and Benkei and drove his spear-hand technique straight into his throat. The strike was so quick and sudden that Benkei didn't have enough time to dodge the attack or completely block it with physical energy. He had no chakra for Neji to disrupt with his Hyuuga technique, but the strike was strong enough to draw a small cut of blood along the rough skin of the Quiraji leader.

Benkei roared out at the attack and brought up his hands to crush the Otokage's head between them, but Neji was already slipping back out of range and taking up his stance again. To make up for losing the target that had drawn first blood on him, Benkei turned his attention to his two other close-combat opponents and increased his speed so that he fought at the same pace that Lee did. In an instant he kicked out at Akamaru and sent him flying before driving a fist into the side of Kiba, breaking the ribs he had missed earlier. Rock Lee tried to counter his speed by striking directly at Benkei's head, but the Quiraji leader powered his way through it and drove his head straight into the face of the taijutsu master. Even with his body twisting out of the way to diffuse the power, Rock Lee still felt his nose and cheeks break under the overwhelming power that forced him to retreat temporarily.

Benkei snarled and turned his attention to the kneeling Inuzuka that was trying to get back up with his shattered ribs inside his body. He could feel spikes of sand raining down on top of him from the Kazekage failing to penetrate his armour of physical energy, but when he reached forward to end the young shinobi's life he was denied as a large wooden hand reached forward and scooped up the Inuzuka and his companion before hurling them back towards the relative safety of the long-range shinobi's ranks.

Fiore recovered her wood as Kiba stuttered a quick thanks and turned to see how hurt his animal companion was. She hadn't joined in with the close-combat fighters as she recognised the danger the Quiraji leader posed at such close range, but after all those attacks the most they had done was a tiny scratch on his neck at close range that looked like it had already healed. "This guy is monstrous," she muttered as she formed her wood into a long pole.

"He isn't unbeatable," said Sasuke at her side as his Susanoo blazed brightly around him. "His movements are rigid when he is impatient. Even without chakra, I think I can read him with my Sharingan."

The Quiraji leader turned and stared his empty black eyes directly at the last surviving Uchiha. Even after steeling himself for battle, Sasuke couldn't hide the shiver that ran through his body at the unsightly gaze he was receiving. His Sharingan eyes looked away as his Susanoo slowly fell away as Sasuke realised that it would likely be no defence if their opponent were to attack him directly. It would be better to save energy for attacking.

However, he was hardly alone in this battle. While the Quiraji leader had turned his attention away from them, the Mizukage and Kazekage had consulted on a plan and had moved into position to attack him. Gaara landed on the ground and clutched his hands into the stony ground, while Mei placed a ring of her fingers around her lips and began blowing a large cloud of mist that encompassed the whole area that Benkei was standing on.

The others in the group immediately took several large steps backwards as the mist spread out over a reasonable area before stopping under the Mizukage's control. While the mists she normally used were a light blue colour that clouded the sky at the same time, the mist she had covered Benkei with was completely white and so dense that the person inside wouldn't be able to see more than a few feet in front of them.

Standing in the dense mist, Benkei waited for a moment before realising that it was no ordinary mist. Lifting up his arms, he looked at the tanned scars on his skin to see small wisps of smoke emerging from him. It sizzled and burned as the acidic properties of the mist ate through his physical armour and into his skin. The pain was pleasant at first, almost an amusing tickling as the object of shinobi struggle, but after a few moments it became clear that it was more dangerous than he first thought.

Taking a step towards one of the edges of the dense mist, Benkei felt a sharp tugging on his legs. The Quiraji leader looked down to see tendrils of sand clutching at his ankles, swarming up towards him.

An effective strategy, he observed analytically. Keep him stationary and let the acidic mist burn him into a liquid paste. The shinobi were learning.

Benkei kicked off the sand grips with little effort and launched himself towards one edge of the Mizukage's mist. The acid had begun to burn through to his muscles, but his spiritual energy was enough to keep it from doing any serious damage though his arms and the rest of his body's physical energy armour hadn't been penetrated by the time he left the mist.

The first person he saw upon his emergence was the controller of the sand that had tried to keep him steady. The Kazekage had taken to the ground to try and grip his legs with his sand, which left him particularly vulnerable to counter-attack. He was guarded on either side by the taijutsu master and the last Konoha Jounin, but Benkei simply swiped his hands towards them. The force of his physical energy technique was enough to send both Rock Lee and Kakashi flying, though they suffered little damage as they recovered their footing a fair distance away.

Seeing their enemy approach, Gaara pulled his hands towards his body and created two waves of cascading sand that slammed into the sides of his opponent. It was enough sand to crush an army of soldiers without a second thought, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop the Quiraji leader. Benkei continued to step forward like he was walking through a soft breeze before reaching out a hand to grip the Kazekage with an invisible hand. A short distance between the two of them, Benkei stared into the young man's pale eyes for a moment just to take in his last gaze before closing his fist and crushing him with overwhelming power.

The Kazekage's body was obliterated in an instant.

Benkei released his grip and watched it fall to the ground, frowning as he saw that there had been no blood. The Kazekage's body held its form for a moment before collapsing into a small collection of various coloured sand on the ground. The Quiraji leader grinded his teeth in frustration and turned to see where Gaara had reconstituted himself, but instead he saw Naruto and Kiba flying towards him with their techniques ready to attack him. Their timing was flawless and Benkei wasn't in a mood to make the necessary movements to dodge the complex attacks.

As Kiba in his three-headed wolf form spun a whirlwind of flames on one side and Naruto with his Kattoken drills on the other, Benkei grounded his legs and clapped his hands together in a manner reminiscence of his shinobi opponents. As the two ex-Konoha shinobi's attacks slammed into the air directly in front of him, they clashed into an insanely strong physical barrier that Benkei had erected in front of himself. Kiba took more damage than he could have dealt by slamming into the barrier, but using his momentum he was able to twist away just before Benkei moved to counter attack him.

Naruto decided he wasn't going to back down from the Quiraji leader's attacks even though he knew he couldn't penetrate through from the front. Switching his energy to a more physical-based defence, he braced himself and watched as Benkei pulled back a fist and threw it at his fast so fast that he could barely see it.

He caught the punch in both his hands in such a way that it diffused the power throughout his body. The Quiraji leader's fist was so large that it took both hands just to stop it, but even with his legs braced into the ground Naruto could feel his muscles screaming out in protest at the weight being pressed into him.

But he had stopped Benkei's attack without taking any real damage. It had taken significant effort and no small amount of physical energy, but he had shown that the Quiraji leader wasn't so overwhelmingly powerful.

In that moment of triumph, Naruto forgot one of the primary lessons of battle.

Never take your eyes off of the enemy's hands for a second.

Benkei's other hand crashed into the side of Naruto's head so quickly it knocked him out without even a hint of protest from his defences. The strike was strong enough to break his grip on the other hand and send him flying through the air. The only reason he survived the attack at all was because he had coated himself in physical energy, but Benkei's punch was still enough to do serious damage to the ex-Konoha shinobi.

Both Kakashi and Hinata were there to catch Naruto as he fell and without losing stride his Hyuuga wife began healing him and trying to bring him back to consciousness. The others knew he was in good hands and concentrated their efforts on fighting the Quiraji leader, wary of repeating the mistakes they kept making.

However, Benkei was in the same mindset. He saw that his enemies were taking more cautious stances and that allowed him to take an account of the situation. The mist he had been standing in earlier was dangerous; it was definitely something he wanted to avoid. The best way of doing that would be to go after the source.

With that in mind, Benkei turned his attention to the red haired Mizukage near the back of the enemy formation and powered towards her at his top speed. Most of the shinobi between them smartly got out of the way, though the pair of Sasuke and Fiore both prepared attacks and timed themselves to attack Benkei when the opportunity arose.

The Quiraji leader batted away the Uchiha's spiritual energy lightning blade with a wave of his arm and drove a shoulder straight through the spike of wood that Fiore had aimed at him. Despite his physical energy armour the spike still bit into his shoulder, but Benkei ignored the minor inconvenience and dove straight towards his intended target.

Not one to allow herself to be so easily attacked, Mei placed her hands together and spewed a wave of lava from her mouth directly while a trio of tails began to emerge from her back. She didn't have much control over the Tailed Beast that had been recently placed under her care, but the Three-Tails was surprisingly conducive to her attempts to utilise its power. She could already feel the force of an extremely powerful water technique building within her chakra network and wanting to explode out at the enemy trying to kill her.

Benkei wasn't about to give her to opportunity to do so. Through sheer force of strength he barged through her lava defence and reached forward to clutch her hands into one of his large hands. Without a moment of hesitation he crushed the bones in her hands with a single vice grip before levelling a heavy punch directly at her face.

Mei ignored the unbelievable pain in her hands as she watched his fist approach her, but before it could contact the beast inside of her could wait no longer and pushed its chakra through her mouth to spout a single blast of water directly into the Quiraji leader's face.

The blast was enough to knock Benkei off his feet and a short distance away from the Mizukage, though Mei had no strength to follow-up on her attack as she looked down at her hands to see them mangled and crushed with bones sticking out of her flesh in horrific ways. It was enough to make her throw up what she had eaten prior to the battle, but she had no time to pity herself as the Tailed Beast within her pumped chakra through her body and began setting the bones and pushing them back into her skin. It was an excruciating process that would undoubtedly leave terrible scars, but it would also allow her to re-join the battle if necessary. Though how much chakra she would have to fight with was debatable at this stage.

Seeing the Quiraji leader temporarily knocked off his feet was an opportunity that the shinobi strike force couldn't not take advantage of. Sasuke and Fiore both turned around to attack him once again, but they were overtaken by the surviving members of Team Gai as the fastest shinobi in the current world and the Otokage attacked in the same formation they hadn't used in over half a decade.

Rock Lee swung his legs around like a fulcrum and drove the side of his heel into the head of the Quiraji leader, though not enough to penetrate through Benkei's defences. Even though he had been surprised by the Mizukage's sudden defence and wasn't quite back on his feet, Benkei was hardly defenceless and moved up an arm to grab at the speedy shinobi's leg to stop his momentum. However, his arm was blown away by a wave of air from the Otokage's palm and that gave Rock Lee enough time to open Five Gates in moments and shift his movements in the air and gather his strength into a single overwhelming blow. Before Benkei could muster further defences, he slammed his heavy leg straight down into the middle of chest with a loud roar, "Hitori Omote Renge!"

The blow was so strong that its force went through the Quiraji leader's body into the ground beneath, sending cracks that echoed the accompanying shockwave. While part of Benkei's chest caved in from Rock Lee's attack, the Quiraji leader coughed a small amount of blood onto his weighted leg and grimaced painfully.

Not one to claim early victory, the taijutsu master leapt off of his quarry and landed unsteadily, noticing that he had put so much strength into that one blow that the blowback from opening the Gates was far more than in previous times he had attempted them. It wasn't as bad as when he'd opened nearly all of them to save Sakura, but it still hurt like hell.

Neji shot forward to take advantage of his old companion's attack and try to finish the job, but from his position on the ground Benkei slammed a clenched fist into the ground to create a small crater with a clear demonstration of frustration as he leapt to his feet and clutched at his chest carefully. There was a large bruise forming where Rock Lee's foot had struck him and even without his Byakugan active Neji suspected that he'd probably broken a few bones in the attack. Considering it was an attack heavy enough to destroy a building, Neji was impressed at the Quiraji leader's resilience.

But Benkei was not amused as he reached up and wiped the blood from his lips. His face flashed anger for a moment before re-adjusting back to normal and taking a deep breath to show that he was uninjured from the taijutsu master's attack. He would never say it out aloud, but he was impressed with the show that the shinobi strike force was putting on. They were resourceful and clever, with several of them using Quiraji-like attacks that were actually a threat to him.

The time for testing their abilities was now over. He had enough of an understanding of their individual abilities that he had to acknowledge they were strong and worthy of killing.

Benkei glanced over at the immobile Shikyo that hadn't made a single reaction to the battle so far for a moment before turning back to the shinobi that seemed determined to resist him. "Your struggle is meaningless. I am immortal and my reign has been endless. Your little Sage and his pets could not defeat me and you will fare no better."

He would now fight seriously.

The shinobi strike force was collectively concerned about his statements, particularly when he had looked at the only other Quiraji combatant in the area. Shikyo's presence was troubling to say the least; particularly with the knowledge that she could kill any of them with a single touch should she choose to join the fight at any moment. Naruto and Hinata had tried to keep an eye on her throughout the battle so far for any indication that the enemy had made any headway on bringing her into the battle, but there hadn't been any changes whatsoever. It didn't look like she was waiting though.

Rather, she was fighting an internal battle that couldn't be interfered with. If the Kyuubi was to be trusted, they had to let her fight her battle. After they had taken out Benkei they could deal with Shikyo.

Benkei turned his head to choose his first target, but he could see that the shinobi strike force was already moving to attack him. The blonde shinobi that he had swatted aside earlier had been healed by the young dark-haired girl and charged towards him with the lightning blade in his hand, the others holding back as if he would be able to solve their problems by himself.

A foolish notion. He pulled back a fist to blow his foe away, but held back when he saw the blonde shinobi splitting himself off into a large number of clones of himself as he charged forward. Within moments there were almost a hundred of the ex-Konoha shinobi, each wielding the Second Hokage's sword. They surrounded the Quiraji leader quickly and moved in to attack him at once.

He had seen the technique before; it was something shinobi would do to gain experience before attacking themselves, or was used as a distraction while they attacked from a blind spot.

Benkei had no interest in such an attack. He clapped his hands together in an explosive shockwave of physical energy, blasting away the clones of Naruto in a single wave. The shadow clones dispersed into small clouds of smoke, while the original Naruto that had charged forward with the rest of them was blown away far enough that he smacked into his old teacher's stomach, sending them both sprawling onto the ground.

Several of the shinobi strike force leapt at him, with the main combatants of Fiore, Rock Lee and Sasuke moving to attack him directly. Benkei shot past them in a burst of speed and aimed himself at the long-range fighters in their formation. His hands reached out with physical energy to attack the pair of Kages that had attacked him earlier, clutching at the Kazekage's body on his newly created sand platform while swiping at the Mizukage's body directly.

Gaara's sand reached forward to try and block his attack, but he could still feel the tight grip of the energy around his body from the Quiraji leader. Sensing that he would be easily crushed if he let Benkei finish his attack, Gaara allowed the Tailed Beast within him to assist him. Shukaku shot out a pair of monster claws in a circle around him, breaking off the Quiraji leader's ranged grip through sheer force before shooting a blast of sand in a follow-up defence. Benkei didn't even dodge the sand, letting it fall away from his defences.

The Mizukage wasn't as fast with her defence, having concentrated on recovering her energy as her hands fixed themselves. She was sent flying to the side, but was slowed down as Hinata gathered a small amount of water and slowed her fall. The young Hyuuga took a moment to check on her husband's condition and with seeing Naruto picking himself up and charging back into the fray, she turned her attention to Mei and asked whether she could help with her healing.

With the two Kages temporarily out of the way, Benkei turned back to the three shinobi that had attacked him and unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of middle-distance attacks with physical energy. Rock Lee was able to dodge out of the most of them, while Sasuke and Fiore quickly huddled behind a defensive shell of her wood. The bursts of physical energy battered at her shell powerfully, cracking the wood and sending showers of splinters in the area around them. But her defences held up against his barrage and allowed them to occupy Benkei's mind for a few moments.

This gave Neji the time required to prepare his attack at a short distance away, but before the Otokage could attack the Quiraji leader he saw Naruto teleport to the rear of the Quiraji leader and pull back a Kattoken arm to drive into Benkei's back. He tried to shout out a warning to the brash blonde shinobi that it was too dangerous to attack alone, but he was too late.

At the same time as Naruto tried to drive his drilling attack into Benkei's back, the Quiraji leader turned to deal with him, seemingly having eyes in the back of his head. The Kattoken strike glanced across the Quiraji leader's back and skimmed harmlessly off, but before Naruto could lead into his next attack his opponent struck out at him.

Benkei's large hands reached out and grabbed at Naruto's arms tightly. Naruto tried to use his Hiraishin to teleport away, but the Quiraji leader's touch blocked his chakra from moulding properly within his body. In response, Naruto coated himself with physical energy and waited until his internal clock would allow him to line-of-sight teleport away again.

Benkei wasn't going to give him that time. He was done playing around.

In a single squeeze of his hands, Benkei crushed the bones and muscles in Naruto's arms. The cry of sheer agony was like music to his ears as he dropped the crippled blonde shinobi down to the ground. He looked over the battlefield to see the look of absolute disbelief and horror on the other shinobi's faces, but most of all he could see the despairing look on the young girl that had healed him earlier.

With a cruel smile on his face, Benkei pulled up his foot and drove it straight down into the ex-Konoha shinobi's neck. Even with his defences, Naruto had no means of surviving the attack completely and his windpipe was crushed along with most of his chest. His mind was full of images of pain and misery, but the final thing he heard before his eyes closed for the final time was the sounds of the Tailed Beast inside him raging against his weakness and trying its best to flee the inevitable.

Every person present processed Naruto's demise differently, but only two people truly reacted to it. While emerging from behind his partner's wood shell, Sasuke had watched his friend's final moments with growing hatred in his red eyes. His mind glazed over and the fury he had once held bottled inside of himself emerged in that single moment directed at the person that dared to harm someone Sasuke didn't want to admit he was close to. A huge purple warrior emerged around him, larger and stronger than he'd ever summoned before and he charged towards the triumphant Quiraji leader with a cry of outrage.

Hinata's mind wasn't able to process what just happened. One moment she had made sure that Naruto had recovered from his attack and had turned her attention away and the next moment he was gone. She blinked several times, as if trying to deny what her white eyes were clearly showing her.

Then she screamed.

Ignoring the rational part of his brain that told him attacking by himself was a stupid move to make; Sasuke hurled himself towards the Quiraji leader with his sword pointed at his heart, using his Susanoo as both protection and a means of accelerating his movements.

The Quiraji leader took in the young girl's scream of anguish with a mixture of relish and regret. He felt like he had wasted an opportunity to get a more interesting fight out of the young man, but he also recognised that he was an actual threat to him and needed to be neutralised.

He turned around to see the last Uchiha flying towards him with the clear intent of avenging his fallen comrade. Benkei recognised him as another dangerous one of the shinobi strike force, as his black eyes could clearly see the spiritual energy gathered around Sasuke's sword in the form of a lance made of lightning. His control over the force was impressive; Benkei wasn't sure whether his physical defences would stand up to such a powerful attack.

But with such a straight attack and his energy entirely focused on attacking, Sasuke wasn't expecting his opponent to simply disappear into the void and let him attack through the area that he no longer occupied. Sasuke skidded to the ground and looked around frantically for his target, while his partner recovered her wood into its weapon-form and began running towards him to support him.

That was when Benkei appeared out of the air behind him and stabbed his arm through Sasuke's back to stick out of his front. The Uchiha's Susanoo provided no defence to the straightforward physical energy strike and Sasuke wasn't given the grace of a final thought as his body caved in and he dropped to the ground in a large pool of blood.

Benkei looked down at his blood soaked arm, staring at the liquid dripping down onto the ground with fascination for a moment before leaning down to the ground and wiping it on the cloak of the shinobi he had just killed. It had been too easy to take him out; clearly they were less effective when their comrades were killed.

An amusing weakness, though nothing he hadn't seen before.

Fiore charged towards him with the express intent of recovering her partner's body, tears flowing freely down her face. Benkei turned away from her and began walking back towards where he had killed the first shinobi, curious as to how the others were handling it. Fiore ignored him and dropped straight down to Sasuke's body, ignoring every principle of battle as her anger and grief towards her partner rose to the surface.

With the others in the shinobi strike force, something clicked in Hinata's mind and her eyes glazed over as her voice had run out a long time ago. She picked herself up from the ground and stared directly at the Quiraji leader with her Byakugan blazing directly forward.

With the last part of her voice, Hinata screamed out a bloody cry and threw herself towards the man who had taken everything from her.

oOoOoOo

While the other shinobi tried to process the events that had just occurred so rapidly, the one woman so deeply affected by it took matters into her own hands. Her roar of anguish had been heard throughout the outlying areas as she closed the distance towards the triumphant-looking Quiraji leader with her hands covered in spiritual energy.

Benkei smirked as he saw his next target bringing herself into the slaughter, reaching out a hand to crush her from a distance. At the direct angle she was charging him at it wouldn't take much effort to squash her out of existence.

As he closed his fist around the area she was standing in, the young kunoichi disappeared from his sight. With the rage in her eyes, he hadn't thought her capable of tactical manoeuvres, but it was hardly anything special. He turned to the side to see the Hyuuga heiress close to him in an attempt to unleash her grief upon him.

It would be too easy to bat away her attack and crush her with his bare hands. He opened his hands and prepared to receive her attacks, but hesitated when he noticed something off about the young kunoichi's hateful gaze.

He figured it out just as the woman in front of him disappeared into a small cloud of smoke. He felt a sharp pain in his side as he turned to see Hinata driving a bladed hand into his flesh. Her spiritual energy strike had completely bypassed his defences as she had seen that he hadn't maintained them that well on his opposite side. With fury and hatred fuelling her actions, Hinata slammed in one strike after the other into his exposed side, covering herself with blood as she tried to bore her way through the Quiraji leader from one side to the other.

Benkei roared out in clear pain and swept over his arm to drive the point of his elbow into her head in an attempt to make her back off. The angle was not favourable to the Quiraji leader but he put in enough strength that he would have been able to crack the Hyuuga kunoichi's skull open.

Even in her enraged state, Hinata's Byakugan gave her the information necessary to warn her that an attack was coming. However she had no interest in dodging away and ridding herself of the opportunity to cause more damage to the hateful person that had taken away the love of her life. Without any instruction on her part, a part of water tendrils emerged from the ground and slashed directly at the Quiraji leader's face. Even with all his experience and battle training, Benkei instinctively moved his hands to protect his face.

In that moment, Hinata summoned up a large amount of spiritual energy into her hands and shoved them so hard into Benkei's side that she could feel his ribs breaking at the impact. It was a brutal move that would've been more appropriate coming from her deceased husband, but Hinata no longer cared about technique or finesse.

She would slaughter this manner no matter what the cost. Even if it took everything had and destroyed her body, he would die by her hands.

And anyone trying to stop her would suffer a similar fate.

Benkei's face contorted in pain at Hinata's attack as he realised that while she was enraged to the point of insanity, she was still a skilled fighter and capable of advanced fighting techniques. He grinded his teeth through the pain and summoned a wave of spiritual energy around him to throw her off his flank. The blast was enough to send Hinata flying back a score of metres and give the Quiraji leader a moment to recover, but that was all he got.

The moment her feet landed on the ground, Hinata was already launching herself back at her enemy. At her sides, groups of water tendrils sprung up from the ground and lashed out at Benkei directly, following their master's unconscious desire to see him harmed while Hinata's hands flared up with wind spiritual energy and formed into long blades to pierce through his armour.

"Shouldn't we be helping her?" said Rock Lee a fair distance away with the other shinobi strike force survivors. He had despaired when he had seen Naruto and Sasuke fall, but like everyone else his heart had broken when Hinata's cry of anguish had sounded throughout the battlefield.

None of them had moved to attack Benkei since she had charged. Some of them had been so shocked at the sudden killings of two of their strongest fighters and close friends, while others like Mei and Kiba were still in the process of recovering from the previous parts of the battle to have any effective means of assisting her.

At the taijutsu master's side, the Otokage shook his head grimly while glancing over at the fallen blonde shinobi's body. Naruto's corpse was not a pretty sight and he hated that his cousin had been forced to watch helplessly as he had been killed by the enemy that had also killed her father and her sister. Neji understood her pain well, but he also knew that there was no way they could help her in her current state.

"We cannot help her," said Gaara while Neji was still trying to find the words to say exactly that. The Kazekage had recovered a reasonable level of chakra through Shukaku's assistance during the break, but he was no fool and could see what the Hyuuga kunoichi was doing. "She would just as likely attack one of us as the enemy. Her grief has blinded her."

"We can't just stand here and let her throw herself away," said Kiba as he struggled to his feet. At his side, Akamaru barked softly in agreement, but neither of them was in much of a condition to fight.

Neji activated his Byakugan and watched his cousin hurl herself at Benkei without a hint of self-preservation or restraint. She was giving off so much power in those moments that it was difficult to distinguish between his cousin and Benkei while they swirled around each other, trying to attack and kill one another. In his black and white vision, it hurt his eyes a lot to look at Benkei as he had the appearance of a black void that sucked in all the energy around him, but it hurt equally to see Hinata the way she currently was.

Her energy output was tearing her body apart. At a cellular level he could see the damage she was doing to herself in her mad quest to avenge her husband.

He couldn't deny her that, no matter how much he wanted his cousin to survive this battle. She had a right to her grief and her anger and would never forgive him if he took that away from her.

Besides, the more bastard-like aspects of Neji had observed that she was pushing back the Quiraji leader and dealing more damage than they had been able to do all at once. She might be able to give them an opportunity to finish the battle once and for all, and for the sake of their race he had to let her fight.

But he wasn't going to let her die. The moment he saw that she was at a disadvantage he would leap in to help her and they would take down Benkei at once.

Benkei snarled as the agile girl ducked and dodged away from his heavy strikes like she was in the middle of a trance. Her furious gaze coupled with the red look in her pure white eyes hadn't changed, but the method of attacked had shifted when he had tried to strike out against her once again. She continued to gather water around her in a constantly rising whirlwind while accumulating spiritual energy within her.

He was no fool as he continued to try and attack the moving kunoichi. She had accumulated more energy than his children would have been able to accomplish and more than he would have thought a shinobi capable of doing, though it was not something he considered a significant threat to him.

Nevertheless, he had to take her out before she actually hurt him. If the previous part of their battle had shown anything it was that given enough opportunity she could get through his defences. His side was still recovering from her furious attack and the insolence she showed just increased the amount that he wanted to tear her apart.

Other than that though, he was enjoying himself quite thoroughly. Benkei was glad that the shinobi were putting up a fight. It would make his victory the sweeter.

Clenching his fists tightly, Benkei abandoned the mid-range fight and closed the distance between himself and the young kunoichi in an instant, gathering his physical energy for a wide-range attack that she wouldn't be able to avoid.

As if sensing his intent, Hinata stopped her dancing motions and stretched out her hands to her sides. The water she had been gathering around her stopped flowing and froze in position around her arms while the young Hyuuga glared hatefully at her approaching target.

She had no intention of dodging or parrying. They would trade blows and she would kill him. It wouldn't sate her, but it was a good start.

Hinata powered out all the energy she had contained plus more that her body couldn't handle, uncaring over her fate after the next minute. Benkei hurled a fist at her directly with a blast of physical energy, intending to blast her away and deal with her counter-attack, assuming that the kunoichi would try to avoid his attack and then fall prey to his follow-up.

But Hinata stood her ground and watched his attack vector with her Byakugan to get the best angle for her own attack. The huge amounts of water she had created moved to her back and began to swirl into a single concentrated sphere, while wind energy formed around her hands to create a single large blade of pure spiritual energy. She waited until Benkei was almost in range to strike her and activated her technique.

Even in her enraged state, Hinata was capable of high-level strategies and complex thinking in order to achieve her goal. But in this one exchange, she didn't care about any of that. The water sphere begin her exploded with such force that it hurled the Hyuuga heiress towards her enemy at an even faster speed than he was approaching her with. She threw out her arms and pointed her wind blade straight at his chest.

Benkei's strike landed first, cracking the air around Hinata and slammed into her with enough force to break every bone in her body.

But the critical damage was avoided as Hinata's wind blade sheered straight through his strike and into his body itself. Her muscles tore at the impact and she could feel her body breaking apart from the Quiraji leader's attack, but she didn't care about any of that.

Benkei froze in the air with blood falling from his mouth as he looked down to see the young girl's arms elbow-deep in his body. Her blade had cut through his defences like they weren't even there and had shredded apart nearly every vital organ in his body.

He couldn't hide how impressed he was. The pain was excruciating and he doubted he had more than a few seconds of life left, but someone this little girl's resistance had broken through and inflicted this much damage on him.

It was a fair start.

The two of them fell to the ground with a quiet thud; Benkei's eyes closing as his life left him rapidly, but even with her partially broken body Hinata had no intention of stopping her attack. She withdrew her arms from his chest and covered her fists in physical energy before mounting the deceased Quiraji leader's body and pulling back her fists.

The remainder of the shinobi strike force ran towards her quickly as they watched in horror while the usually calm and gentle Hinata pounded her fists into the dead flesh of the Quiraji leader's face. She laid blow after heavy blow into his head, pounding every inch of her hatred and grief into him. Every strike sent shockwaves into the ground beneath while simultaneous tearing up her muscles and cracking her knuckles painfully.

By the time Neji, Kiba and Rock Lee reached her to pull her off of his corpse Hinata was only pounding tiny chunks of flesh into other chunks of flesh. She squirmed for a moment in their tight grip, screaming for them to let her go before her eyes glazed over and she slumped in their arms.

Benkei was as dead as dead could be. It had cost Naruto and Sasuke their lives, but they had won.

oOoOoOo

The battlefield was a mixture of order and chaos. The Quiraji leader lay dead on the ground, torn apart by his attacker's grief-fuelled fury, with each of the shinobi present recognising that he was long gone from the battle. With his death, the end of the war could be assured, though they still recognised that if he had spoken the truth about the attacks launched at their arrival then it was possible that they had merely won a pyrrhic victory.

Yet despite their victory over their hated foes, none of the shinobi present felt like celebrating. The one non-shinobi in the group knelt beside the fallen body of her partner, silent tears falling from her eyes as she couldn't lift her head to regard anyone else in the area.

In contrast, the grief and anguish of the woman that had the won the battle for them was clear for all to see. Hinata held her husband's body in her arms and screamed out to the sky, raging at the fates that had robbed her of her love. She had run out of tears in the moments she had fought Benkei to his demise, but her eyes were still red and trying to produce more as she maintained her tight grip on him. The other shinobi in the group felt her pain as a sharp dagger through their hearts, even those that hadn't had such a connection with the blonde shinobi. Neji knew that he should go over to his cousin and give her the comfort she clearly needed, but the Otokage didn't have the heart to approach her. He had liked the blonde shinobi enough to respect his relationship with her, but the pain in her howls of anguish hurt him far more than Naruto's death had.

But the one shinobi that felt the two shinobi's deaths more acutely than anyone except for their partners was the last surviving Jounin of Konoha. Kakashi hadn't been able to do anything to stop the Quiraji leader's rampage and his spirit had broken upon seeing his students crushed underfoot like they were nothing. He had loved Naruto and Sasuke like they had been his children, not that he'd ever told them that, and now they were gone like everyone else in his life. His father, Obito, Rin, the Fourth, Gai, Konan…he was the only one left. If Benkei was to be believed, it was likely that Sakura was also dead.

Kakashi couldn't accept it. He wouldn't accept it. This was not how he was going to let things happen.

He had the power to change that. It was going to kill him anyway and he had suspected that he might need to at some point during this battle.

Kakashi made his decision as he moved his hands into a handseal. His gifted eyes gave him the knowledge and flooded his body with all the chakra he could give and more. It was within his power to bring them back and, for a last act as a shinobi and as a teacher, he didn't think it would be half-bad.

As the doujutsu activated, he could feel his own body tearing apart at the power that should never have been his. A demonic figure tore out of the ground with a thundering shockwave and stopped at three times the height of its summoner. It wore the face of the King of Hell surrounded by purple fire; its appearance was enough to shock the other shinobi and prepare themselves for another battle, but Kakashi's expression told them that it posed no danger for them. As life left his body, a pair of blue lights emerged from within the depths of the demonic figure's mouth before shooting out across the battlefield to enter the fallen bodies of his students.

Life began to flower within the pair of Konoha shinobi once again, beginning with a single heartbeat, followed by another, and then another. Eventually they were able to take a breath and they both gasped out at once like they had been underwater for hours and had finally been able to come back to the surface.

Hinata couldn't believe what she was seeing as her husband began to stir in her arms. All grief and fury vanished in the moment that she felt his heart beat for the first time since Benkei had crushed it under his foot. Her hands glowed a healing blue and she pulled him back to her until his eyes flicked open and he took the long gasp that brought him back into the world. The Hyuuga heiress could not embrace her husband quick enough or tight enough, to the confusion and struggle of her blonde partner.

Unlike Hinata, Fiore watched her partner's revival with a mixture of relief and surprised anger that he had worried her so much. While Sasuke breathed his first since his death, she reached out to touch his chest just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The hole that would have killed a wild boar had been healed the moment the blue light had enveloped him and besides the hole in his shirt there was no evidence that he had been injured at all.

Sasuke blinked his eyes rapidly and turned to see his strong, prideful partner looking down at him with obvious tears running down her face. In a rare display of affection, without a word he reached over to her with his hand and gently wiped away the tears. He smiled at her in a way that she had never seen before and said the softest thing he could. "Hey you."

Fiore shook her head and laughed, wiping away the rest of her tears and taking his hand into her own, helping him up onto his feet. "You're an asshole, you know that?"

"Oh, I definitely know," said Sasuke, wavering on his feet for a moment before looking around to see if what he remembered had actually happened. He saw Naruto struggling to get to his feet as well, but it was the demonic figure falling back down into the ground besides Kakashi that really woke him up from his stupor. "What happened?"

Kakashi tried to use his Rinnegan to maintain the technique, as there were others he knew he should try and revive. He'd promised not to bring Konan back and would honour that pledge, but the others like Itachi, Nagisa and Yugito had every right to come back to life.

But his body didn't have the energy to bring anyone else back. The Rinnegan had taken everything he had and was now collecting its final due.

He couldn't do any more. His life was coming to an end now that he had made the necessary sacrifice for his students. It was a good way to go, he figured. Now he could join his fallen friends and his partner. Hopefully Konan and the others would forgive him.

But his graceful death was denied to him.

As the demonic figure that had brought Naruto and Sasuke back to life disappeared into the ground with a plume of purple flame, Kakashi felt a pair of large hands clasp on either side of his face. He was given the gift of a final look at his students up and walking around before the hands turned quickly and snapped his neck.

The last Konoha Jounin collapsed to the ground, his eyelids closing over his gifted eyes. His murderer stepped over his body and cracked his neck loudly as smoke smouldered along the hundreds of wounds that had been inflicted on his body.

The Quiraji leader looked over the shocked faces of his shinobi enemies, drinking in their confusion and anger at his treatment of one of their own. He hadn't wanted the shinobi that had worn the Sage's eyes to repeat his revival trick again and had adhered to his own declaration at the start of the battle.

"I told you that you would all die by my hands. You cannot kill inevitability."

He began to move towards his shinobi opponents once again.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Now, I know that seems like an ass-pull, but it's so very not. There have been enough hints and lead-up to the final bit of this chapter that I hope it didn't come off that way. He isn't unbeatable, as I hope this chapter showed. But he's not easy either. Benkei is here to do his business.

It is really hard to write an action scene with one opponent against eleven. I completely understand why manga and such reduce the numbers so quickly. It's an absolute mess otherwise. The problem is that you want to give every character their part in the fight, and sometimes that just isn't possible.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	96. Chapter 88 Embracing the Chaos

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 88 – Embracing the Chaos

**A/N**: So Naruto is over, at least the main story is. I won't put my impressions over the ending here, since this is my story and they are somewhat unrelated. Suffice to say, not bad.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, limb damage wouldn't be easily repairable.

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><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

With three of the Four destroyed, the Quiraji leader Benkei has finally entered the fray. As the leader of the enemy, he is able to use physical and spiritual energy to their full potential, able to attack at mid-range and close combat with overwhelming power. At first he knocks out Killer Bee with a crushing head butt before getting attacked by the others. He trades blows back and forth with the shinobi strike force, succeeding in doing significant physical damage to some of them, such as internal damage to Kiba and breaking the Mizukage's hands. However the real fight begun when they were able to do some damage to Benkei and he decided to fight seriously. Seemingly out of nowhere, when Naruto tried to flank him on his own, the Quiraji leader crushed his limbs before killing with a devastating stomp. This nearly broke the shinobi's moral and made Sasuke charge forward wildly to try and avenge his friend. Upon seeing this, Benkei was able to capitalise on the situation and kill the last Uchiha at the same time. As Fiore broke down at the sight of her partner's demise, Hinata's mind snapped and she charged the Quiraji leader in a wild grief-fuelled fury. Uncaring about the damage being done to her body, Hinata was able to land several devastating blows to Benkei before surprising him with a single strike that killed him. After this, the shinobi strike force figured the battle to be over, but Kakashi wasn't willing to leave his old students to rot in their graves. With his Rinnegan he revived the two of them, but he nearly ran out of chakra in the process as he turned to revive the others that had fallen in the battle. As he did this, Benkei suddenly came back to life and killed the last Konoha Jounin before regarding the surviving shinobi strike force to begin the battle once again.

***End Summary***

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><p>For almost a full minute, there was an odd silence as the shinobi strike force tried to process what had just happened. Naruto and Sasuke were still recovering from their sudden revival at the sides of their respective partners, their bodies piecing themselves back together from the after-effects of the Rinnegan's energy transfer. But one of the first things they saw upon re-emerging into life was the death of the man that had sacrificed himself to bring them back and had been the closest thing to a father either of them had known since becoming shinobi.<p>

Benkei's sudden revival had sent shockwaves throughout the shinobi force, but none more so than the three Kages that were present. Gaara had watched his movements as he'd moved behind the last Konoha Jounin and snapped his neck without any way of stopping him, still trying to process how he could have survived the horrifying barrage of attacks that Naruto's wife had laid into him. The Quiraji leader had taunted them with the threat that he was immortal and they couldn't kill him, but seeing it as a reality was something entirely different. For the first time since the start of their battle, the Kazekage felt true despair in his heart. If they couldn't kill the Quiraji leader, there was no hope for his village.

The Mizukage's reaction to Benkei's revival was one of frustration and anger, particularly at his treatment of a man that had done such a noble act and then had been tragically cut short before he could bring back the others. She didn't understand how Kakashi had done it, but seeing the complete reversal of the Hyuuga's girl's personality from grief-stricken to absolute relief was something she hadn't expected. She was glad that the two young men had come back, particularly since she suspected it was with their abilities that they'd be able to win this fight, but if their enemy could come back to life what could they really do.

Neji's reaction was the most controlled out of the shinobi strike force, though that was only because he was already trying to work out how it had happened. He had taken his eyes off of the disembowelled body of the Quiraji leader for only a few seconds and in that time Benkei had gotten back up, healed his wounds, travelled across the battlefield to get behind the shinobi reviving Naruto and Sasuke and kill him efficiently with little effort involved. It was a troubling puzzle, but unlike the Kazekage and Mizukage, he was not about to despair just yet. He was analytical to a fault and could see that even though there was no evidence of the wounds that Hinata had inflicted on him on the Quiraji leader's body, there was a sign of mental strain that Benkei was trying to hide in his eyes. His revival had taken a toll on him, however small, and that gave Neji hope that they could be victorious.

Though he wasn't sure what the cost would be to achieve victory. He couldn't watch Hinata lose her husband again, or any of the others. They had to fight together just to survive, beyond their fight with the Quiraji leader.

Eventually given the room to breathe, Naruto looked at his wife's face with a confusion look on his own face, "Hinata…are you okay? What…what happened?"

For a few moments Hinata didn't have the words to respond to him, still unbelieving that he had come back to her. It was clear by the look in his eyes that Naruto didn't remember his own death at all and she wasn't about to relive that experience. Instead they both turned to see Kakashi's body lying on the ground at an awkward angle, striking a spear of despair straight into their hearts. Naruto's stomach sank as he knew that the Konoha Jounin was clearly gone, something that he had never thought possible. Kakashi had always been a constant in their travels, someone too powerful to kill but also humble enough to love like the father he hadn't gotten the chance to know.

The blonde shinobi leapt to his feet and went to charge at the Quiraji leader that had killed Kakashi, but he was held back by his young wife, desperate to stop him from blindly going in and getting himself killed again. "You can't, Naruto! You aren't strong enough yet!"

"But I can't just…"

Hinata wrenched him back with the remainder of her strength, "I will not lose you again! You will stay by my side until you are ready to fight again!" Her battle with Benkei had sapped the vast majority of her chakra and strength, but she wasn't going to let him go for anything. She turned him around and stared straight into his eyes with her activated Byakugan. Her husband went to protest, but knew that he'd never be able to win an argument with her when she was like that. He could feel his strength returning by the second but she was, as usual, correct about him not being able to fight at this stage. He sighed and shook his head before turning around to glare angrily at the Quiraji leader.

Benkei looked down at his chest as he stepped over the body of his latest victim, noticing that his revival had healed all of wounds and brought him back to full strength. He clenched his fists and unclenched them, feeling his strength respond as it usually did.

For a first death, it hadn't been too bad. He'd had worse.

His dark eyes immediately dropped onto the young woman that had killed him, but he felt no anger towards her. A modicum of respect perhaps, as he would not have thought her capable of such strength, but her assault on him had left her with barely enough energy to stay on her feet. She was no longer a factor in the battle and beneath his concern.

The two shinobi that had been revived were recovering, though it was clear from the positioning of the other members of the shinobi strike force that they would not let him get to them first. He would have to go through the others first. With an emotionless expression on his face, the Quiraji leader began walking towards his enemies once again.

"Is this guy seriously immortal?" complained Kiba as he shook his head in disbelief. "Why don't we get anything cool like that?"

"Kiba, you can turn into a giant wolf and create giant fire whirlwinds," said Rock Lee in a rare example of sarcasm from the taijutsu master. "Some of us can fly."

The last Inuzuka scoffed and tried to ignore the sniggering of Akamaru at his side and tried to work out how much chakra he had left. The Quiraji leader had given him quite a beating and he wasn't really confident in going back into the battle, but neither were many of their group. The only ones that seemed mostly unbothered by the battle so far were Neji, the woman who had come with Sasuke and Rock Lee. It hadn't been an easy battle, and yet even killing the enemy hadn't stopped him.

"We need to keep him occupied," said Sasuke as he stood up on his feet, supported by Fiore's arms. He hated the fact that he was so weak, but considering what he had gone through he wasn't surprised at all. "If I have a few minutes, I'll be able to get back into it."

Seeing that he was back on his feet, Fiore released him and stood at his side with her wood ready to defend both of them from the approaching Quiraji leader, "It just wouldn't be a fight if you weren't complaining about being left out. Next thing you know you'll be asking to wear my shirts again."

Sasuke held back the comment he wanted to say due to the fact that they had company, but secretly he was grateful that she was at his side, he wasn't used to feeling so helpless for a while. He didn't need his Sharingan to see that quite a few of them were fairly low on chakra and needed rest just as much as he did.

The others seemed to notice that too, as the Otokage and Kazekage stepped forward and began strategizing quickly between the two of them. They both agreed that not all of them could attack him at once with their current strength levels, but Benkei wasn't going to just let them rest up to attack him at full strength once again. After deciding on a course of action, Gaara stepped forward with his hands over a pair of gourds at his belt while Neji turned his back for a moment to regard the rest of the shinobi strike force. In that moment he was the absolute embodiment of a shinobi leader.

"Mei, you and the others need to rest while the Kazekage and I keep him back. We have a few things we need to work out and then you guys can come in and deliver the hammer blow."

The Mizukage would usually frown at being told what to do by a younger man, but she recognised the strength of his plan and she knew that with her hands still putting themselves back together the Three-Tails' chakra she was only a liability for now. She nodded her acknowledgement of his plan and smiled at the Inuzuka shinobi standing nearby, "Think you can keep us safe for a little while, young man?"

Having a more mature woman appeal to his stubborn side was more than enough for Kiba to nod quickly in agreement, with Fiore pitching in her own support that she would use her abilities to defend them until they saw an opening to re-join the battle.

Before the others could comment, Neji turned to Rock Lee with his voice still using the same tone that he would use with his subordinates, "Lee, take Naruto and Hinata and get Kakashi's body. It should put you on the other side of the battle too; once Naruto is healed you and he need to attack with all your strength."

Rock Lee nodded quickly, recognising the fact that he was only doing that because it was clear that Naruto needed a bit of closure as well as time to recover, and Hinata wouldn't leave his side no matter what. The taijutsu master turned to the married couple and began walking them around the sides of the battlefield, with neither of them making a comment on where they were going.

With that worked out for the moment, the Otokage and Kazekage stepped closer to the approaching Quiraji leader and readied themselves for battle once again. Benkei had watched the interactions with disinterest, uncaring for how the shinobi went about their business. Seeing the two young men approach him on their own was a development worth noting, but it didn't matter in the end.

"If he breaks through us, we're going to lose people," said Gaara as sand tendrils began to swirl around his body.

Neji flicked his single wrist to pull back his sleeve and looked over the approaching Quiraji leader, "We were always going to lose people, Kazekage. We may have already lost everything, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't fight."

"You are far too cynical, Hyuuga. I refuse to believe that my village has been destroyed like he said. If we lose hope, we'll have already lost the battle."

The Otokage scoffed and stepped in front of his compatriot, "Now who is the naïve one?"

With that said the two of them moved forward while Benkei charged them with his fists raised to smash them apart quickly.

oOoOoOo

Neji watched the Quiraji leader carefully as he countered the Kazekage's sand projectiles. The first few minutes of their fighting the Quiraji leader had been a continuous exchange of attacks from both sides, with neither Benkei nor the attacking Kages able to land any more than a glancing blow. The Quiraji leader appeared to be pulling his punches as he re-adjusted to the battlefield, while the Otokage and Kazekage primarily preserved their chakra and focused on buffeting him back. Neji had blasted the Quiraji leader back with a vacuum palm form his remaining hand, circumventing his defences but not doing any damage, while Gaara lashed out at him with a variety of sand attacks one after the other so that Benkei couldn't retaliate.

His movements were tight and efficient, yet he didn't seem as fast as he had been before. He wondered whether it was due to an inherent weakness after his revival, or if it was a ploy to get him to assume he was weaker. It didn't matter ultimately, as the Otokage had no intention of underestimating him.

Activating his Byakugan to get a better image of the area around him, Neji dived back into the fray just as Gaara pulled back his rampaging tendrils of sand to defend himself from a spiritual energy attack from Benkei's fist.

Using chakra to make his movements as fast as possible, Neji shot towards Benkei's defences with his hand held in a handseal to concentrate his chakra before adopting his Hyuuga-style taijutsu. The Quiraji leader acknowledged his renewed assault with a swipe of his arm, sending a wave of spiritual energy to knock him out of the air. In response, Neji launched himself up into the air and hurled a small object from his pouch at the large man.

Benkei had the presence of mind to destroy the object from afar rather than catch it with his bare hands, but as the object exploded upon contact with his physical energy a hail of shrapnel fell down around him, bouncing off his physical armour shell. It also produced a small smoke screen that the Otokage used to momentarily conceal his movements. Benkei snarled at the young shinobi and took a large leap backwards, trying to avoid whatever attack might be coming his way.

However, that led him straight towards the flying Kazekage who had recovered from his defensive movements and was ready to attack the Quiraji leader once again. Stretching out his own hand, Gaara created a replica claw to that of his Tailed Beast occupant from the sand around him and reached out to hold Benkei in his grasp. The Quiraji leader turned and drove a fist into the sand claw, destroying it instantly, but it was enough of a distraction for Neji to appear behind him and activate his technique after clamping a small black device on the left side of Benkei's head over his ear before reaching out to place his surviving hand at the other side of the Quiraji leader's head.

"Otogakure Ninjutsu Ougi: Otoshougeki!" (Hidden Sound Special Technique: Sound Crash)

Invisible to the naked eye, two sets of sound waves vibrated at an incredible pace between Neji's hand and the device, passing through the Quiraji leader's head between them at a devastating strength. It was too high-pitched for normal human ears to hear, but when it was so densely concentrated in such a small area, the effect was instantaneous.

Benkei roared out in pain and tried to swipe at the shinobi leader, but his movements were sluggish and unfocused, instead sending of a wave of physical energy directly around him that missed Neji altogether. Blood dripped from his ears as he clutched them painfully with his hands, but all he could feel was a stinging sound that made his brain feel like it had been sent directly into the centre of a lightning storm.

Seeing their enemy's temporary disability, Gaara took the advantage given to him and wrapped a large amount of sand around the Quiraji leader's lower half, clutching it as hard as he possibly could. It wasn't enough to break Benkei's physical armour, but it was dense enough to stop him moving for a few moments. The Kazekage looked up at his companion to see Neji stepped up behind their mutual foe and produce a long length of wire. He looked to want to garrotte the Quiraji leader, but Gaara was dubious as to how effective such a weapon would be with only one hand controlling it.

His fears were for naught, however, as Neji expertly stringed the wire around the writhing Benkei's neck and tied it off with his fingers before pulling tightly and threading his blue chakra through it.

The Quiraji leader felt the wire against his neck and moved one of his big hands to try and remove it, but he wasn't able to fit his fingers between the wire while Neji pulled back on it tightly. He dropped to his knees under the pressure and tried to punch backwards at the Otokage, but Neji's Byakugan allowed him to see the attacks coming and move his head the minimum distance to avoid them.

The chakra he was running through the speciality wire that he held tightly in his hand allowed it to vibrate at a ultra-fast pace, similar to those used in the large scale weapons currently being employed to defend the Fire Temple from the Quiraji invaders. As powerful as Benkei's physical armour was, it wasn't able to stand up to the constantly changing movements and sharpness of the Otokage's wire and eventually broke down around the Quiraji leader's neck. After a few seconds of struggling, Neji planted his foot into the centre of Benkei's back and pulled back on the wire with all of his strength.

Benkei's neck resisted for a moment before the vibrating wire removed his head from his shoulders and sent Neji crashing to the ground behind him. The Quiraji leader's head landed a short distance away from him, while blood fountained out of his body that was contained within Gaara's sand. It was a gruesome scene, but one that came with a profound sense of relief.

The others of the shinobi strike force slowly made their way to their section of the battlefield, seeing that the Quiraji leader had fallen once again. Gaara pulled away his sand and did his best to wipe off the blood that had drenched it, while Neji looked down at the head of the Quiraji leader with nothing but contempt. He snarled and kicked at it unceremoniously, taking it further away from its body.

"That's one way to do it," said Kiba with an impressed smile. "Messed up, but effective."

"Didn't think you had it in you," said Sasuke as he stared at the collapsed Quiraji leader's body.

The Mizukage nodded her approval to her fellow leader, but wasn't able to shake the uneasy feeling coursing through her body. Her hands had almost fully recovered from Benkei's attack, but the sheer amount of power that had exuded from him at the time had scarred her deeply and left a harsh impression that she doubted she would forget anytime soon. "Are we sure he is really dead?"

As the only animal present, Akamaru felt the need to bark out his response to her with full authority, though he still relied on his partner to translate for him. Kiba grinned and jabbed a finger at Benkei's head, "He's right, if that ain't dead enough for you, then what is?"

"He recovered from Hinata's attacks within five minutes," said Gaara grimly as he landed on the ground from his sand platform. He was more fatigued than he would have expected, though the constant battling was not conducive to someone who didn't have much stamina like he did.

"There is an easy way to make sure he's dead," said the only non-shinobi in their strike force, removing herself from Sasuke's side and clutching her wooden staff in her hands. She shifted it into a long spike and stepped over the Quiraji leader's head before driving it straight down into his forehead. The wood pierced through with no resistance and kept it stuck to the ground.

"Seems pretty dead to me," said Kiba again. He was feeling a bit frustrated that he hadn't been very useful in the final fight, but now that the enemy was surely dead he was more concerned about other things to do with the war. "What's our next step?"

Back at the scene that held Kakashi's body, Naruto and Hinata looked over to see that their enemy had been beaten once again, though neither of them were particularly convinced. Rock Lee had removed himself from the battle while trying to think of a better way of forcing his way through the Quiraji leader's defences, but like the two of them he wasn't so convinced the battle was over either. The body sitting at their feet was more than enough proof that the enemy had more tricks up his sleeve and all three sets of their eyes drifted towards the immobile Shikyo near the small building's entrance. She didn't seem to register that her master had been killed once again, but a small flicker of life seemed to appear in her normally-lifeless eyes for a split second before returning back to their regular black.

Naruto didn't need the Kyuubi to shout out a warning as he felt a terrible shiver up the back of his neck at the same time as it happened. He turned and shouted as loud as he could for the others to get away from the area, but it appeared that they already knew as the group on that side of the battlefield had already leapt back a fair distance from the Quiraji leader's body.

Gaara brought up a wall of thick sand to protect them from any potential counter-attack, while Neji kept his white eyes fixed on Shikyo. It had only been for a moment, but he had seen the transference of energy on such a tiny scale that if he hadn't been looking for it he wouldn't have noticed it at all. It travelled out of the Quiraji leader like it was being drained, floated in the air across the battlefield before landing square in the middle of the fallen foe's bloody chest.

While blocked by Gaara's sand, most of the shinobi strike force wasn't able to witness what happened next, but with his Byakugan Neji was able to see everything, while the other three shinobi near Kakashi's body had the full view to the horrifying spectacle.

The Quiraji leader's body jerked awkwardly like a jolt of electricity had been sent throughout its nerves. It didn't move for a second before the legs and arms began to move as if a puppeteer were controlling it from above. Since his heart had stopped the blood had begun to slow from the gaping hole where his head used to be, but upon standing back on its feet the blood began to flow freely once again. Benkei's body turned around and aimed itself at where his head had been spiked to the ground by Fiore's wood, stretching out a hand as if summoning it from its funeral stake.

The head shimmered for a moment like it was a mirage in the desert before disappearing into the air and leaving the wooden stake standing in the stone with nothing to show why it had been placed there. Within seconds the shimmering image passed across the air and placed itself atop the Quiraji leader's shoulders, revealing itself to be Benkei's head, newly reattached to his body. The wounds and scars that he had accumulated from the previous battle smoked for several moments as they healed themselves and within seconds he appeared as strong and healthy as he had been when he had walked out of the building to greet them.

Benkei had been revived, once again.

oOoOoOo

The Quiraji leader was not satisfied with the current run of events. The last significant battle he had fought against the hated shinobi had been the last gasp of the shinobi nation trying to contain them and destroy them on the Quiraji continent. That had been a battle on an epic scale with the shinobi leader, the self-titled Sage of the Six-Paths and the Nine Tailed Beasts at his side, against Benkei and his Four children, newly created in his desperation to save his race. That battle had been extremely one-sided, as the massive chakra beasts had no defence against their immunity to their attacks and abilities, and Benkei had personally taken down the shinobi leader with his own hands.

But these shinobi were different. Years of fighting against his forces and his children had given them experience fighting against their abilities, enough to actually threaten him if he didn't have his trump card on hand. Several of them had the abilities he had personally created, while the others like the shinobi leaders had abilities that were a threat to him without the chakra-nullifying field he had destroyed.

It was frustrating, but also fascinating. The last gasp of a race flailing against inevitability.

"Is there nothing we can do?" asked a bewildered Naruto a fair distance away, shaking his head at what they had just seen. "Even after getting his head cut off he just keeps coming."

"He is certainly tougher than he first appeared," said Rock Lee, tapping his legs to adjust the weight on his ankles. "We need to keep on our toes; otherwise he'll grind us down."

Hinata shook her head the same way her husband did, "If he can survive what I did to him, then maybe there isn't much we can really do."

Naruto turned back to look at her with a raised eyebrow, "What did you do?"

Suddenly realising that her husband hadn't been present during her rampage and that she'd just admitted to remembering everything that she had done to the Quiraji leader in that time, Hinata blushed terribly for the first time in a long time. "I…uh…"

Seeing her discomfort, Rock Lee cut in quickly, "She took Benkei out when you fell, Naruto. You should be proud of her."

The blonde shinobi smiled warmly at his wife and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, "I always have been."

Hinata resisted the urge to wrap her arms around him at that moment, recognising there was a time and a place for everything. She gave him a look with her white eyes that told him she would discuss it at length in a more private setting later on, before turning her attention back to the Quiraji leader. He had so far ignored her after his first revival, but she figured that was likely because she was in no condition to contribute any further to the fight. She was using her chakra to repair her internal damage as quickly as she could, but once she was done with that she knew she wouldn't be able to fight anymore.

Though a part of her was a little relieved at the notion. She had already killed the Quiraji leader once and didn't relish reliving that experience again. The grief of the loss of Naruto was still too close to her, even with his return to life. She drew a long breath and went to tell him that he should re-join the fight with the others, but Naruto's eyes glazed over in a way she recognised as his way of indicating that he was talking to his occupant.

Seeing that they were okay, Rock Lee powered back into the fight to join the other combatants. The Quiraji leader seemed to be analysing their presence after his revival and was unwilling to engage them at that time. He landed at the side of his old teammate and glanced over a question at the Otokage.

Neji put up his hand to signal him to wait, his white eyes still fixed on Shikyo a short distance away. He couldn't quite figure out how the transfer of energy was being done, but he was sure that it involved the Quiraji leader's inability to move. If they could take her out, then he figured they would finally be able to kill Benkei permanently, but as the Nine-Tails had warned them, the moment they attacked her she would turn on them and from the information they had on Shikyo she was invulnerable to any type of attack as well.

Sensing the same thing as the Hyuuga leader, Sasuke turned his Sharingan back on and placed his hands into a handseal, "Perhaps if we seal him he won't revive again."

"It's not as if sealing something as powerful as him is easy," said Gaara dryly. "I doubt we have a way to keep him still long enough to do something like that anyway." He turned to his fellow Kage with tired look in his eyes, "What are you thinking?"

Neji bit at the corner of his lip and deactivated his Byakugan, "We should concentrate on Benkei for the moment. He's not invincible, though I doubt I can use the same trick twice. We have to be careful, or he'll wear us down and that'll be the end of us."

The Mizukage gave him a sly smirk, "Speak for yourself, young man. If it weren't for the Three-Tails I'd be running on fumes."

"Maybe we can buy you guys some time to recover," said Lee as pulled out a pair of nunchaku from his belt. He turned to the other speedster in the group, "Can you and Akamaru keep up with me?"

Kiba barked an insult at the taijutsu master in canine speech and patted his large companion on his white head, "Let's see if you can keep up with us!" He put his hands into a handseal and leapt onto Akamaru's back before the two of them disappeared into a large cloud of grey smoke. At the same time, Lee aimed himself at the Quiraji leader and launched himself forward at close to his top speed. The others were loath to let them fight on their own, but they weren't stamina freaks and needed a few moments to catch their breaths, primarily to avoid Benkei taking advantage of their exhaustion.

As the pair of shinobi and canine charged towards the Quiraji leader, Benkei decided that he was done fighting with just his fists for the moment. He didn't have any large pockets in his pants, but even so he flicked his hand and produced a ball of pure steel that he moved and manipulated into a long sword in a manner very similar to what his child used to do. He grasped the hilt with one of his large hands and waited for the fast shinobi to come at him.

Rock Lee and Kiba were a little wary of the weapon Benkei had produced, but they knew they needed to give the others time to recover and they also couldn't defend either, as they were both attacking types. Rock Lee's nunchaku spun around in his hand and he moved around the battlefield as fast as his legs could reasonably carry him with the intention of attacking his sword hand directly. He lashed out with his weapon from an awkward angle, but the Quiraji leader stepped back and avoided the blow while bringing down the edge of his sword towards Rock Lee's head. The taijutsu master was too fast to be caught by such a motion, but the movements the Quiraji leader was demonstrating showed him that he hadn't lost much movement at all despite being killed twice. He created some distance between the two of them as he sensed a large attack coming from behind him, where Kiba and Akamaru had created a spinning whirlwind that slammed into Benkei directly. Since his previous assaults on the Quiraji leader had failed, Kiba had adjusted the amount of power both he and Akamaru contributed to the technique.

Benkei's physical energy armour held as he took the spinning attack head-on, but the momentum slamming into him constantly from the last Inuzuka didn't allow him to bring up his sword to attack the wild shinobi and canine. He snarled and took a step back to try and redirect the whirlwind, but Kiba had learnt from his past mistakes and cancelled his spinning technique to hang suspended in the air. He bared his teeth viciously and slashed across the Quiraji leader's face with his claws. Even with his physical energy armour up, Benkei wasn't able to protect his eyes from the attack. Kiba's claws tore at one of his eyes and left it useless, while Akamaru moved around the side to try and bite at their enemy's liver.

In a fit of rage at having one of his eyes clawed out, Benkei let out a burst of spiritual energy that sent Kiba flying back, straight into the area where Rock Lee was about to charge back into the fight, before turning with his good eye and swinging his sword around to drive it into the white dog's body.

Akamaru let out a loud yelp as the blade glanced off the top of his body before retreating back to its master. Kiba landed on his feet quickly and saw Akamaru running towards him with a bloody streak running from the top of his body, feeling his own anger rising at the treatment of his closest friend. He watched Rock Lee charge past him and made sure that Akamaru was okay before charging back in as well. He could already see the smoke rising from their enemy's eye socket that told him that Benkei was healing the damage he had done, but with the two of them he was hoping they would be able to continue to keep him occupied in close range combat.

Seeing the two of them charge towards him again, Benkei changed his strategy of attack and held his sword in both hands and slashed in a downwards motion directly towards the shinobi that had slashed his eye apart. The weapon amplified his physical energy and cut apart the air between him and the shinobi, making a loud sucking sound as the air tried to fill in the gaps from his strike. Rock Lee was able to dive out of the way of the slash with the suspicion that he had done what he had, but Kiba wasn't fast enough.

His strength faded quickly as Kiba stopped his charge and felt at his chest with his hands, looking down to see them covered in blood. There was no pain for some reason, but there wasn't anything else either. He tried to look back at his white companion running towards him, unsure why Akamaru was yelling at him so much, but his eyes were already starting to glaze over and he fell onto the ground face-first. Akamaru reached his friend within moments and pushed at his body with his nose, but it was clear from the amount of blood flowing from his chest and the dead look in the last Inuzuka's expression that he was already gone.

Rock Lee's heart sank at the image of his friend being cut down so easily, but he couldn't stop his assault as he saw Benkei moving to replicate his slash towards the shinobi strike force recovering nearby. He spun his nunchaku quickly and hurled it towards the Quiraji leader's sword hand, striking it hard enough to dissuade his enemy from ignoring him as he charged forward and unleashed a barrage of taijutsu attacks in extreme close range.

Every blow carried the full weight of his strength and he moved as fast as his limbs could possibly carry him, far quicker than even Benkei could dodge. He landed several heavy blows to the Quiraji leader's chest and arms, while dodging his sword strikes and punches that he knew would probably kill him in a single blow. Rock Lee knew he wasn't going to be able to sustain this assault for long as it sapped his strength something shocking, but he also knew that his blows were getting through to the enemy as Benkei's movements were becoming increasingly agitated and sloppy.

After dodging a long stab from his enemy's sword, Rock Lee rolled along the ground to attack the back of his legs, but was stopped when he saw a white blur charge faster than even he could have moved knock Benkei off his feet and onto the ground. It opened up a white mouth of teeth and sank them straight down into his neck.

Rock Lee rolled backwards and leapt to his feet to see Akamaru standing on the chest of the Quiraji leader trying to rip his neck out. He could only watch as Benkei reached up with his free hand and clenched the canine by his head, as Akamaru's teeth hadn't been able to penetrate the physical energy armour that was around the usually vulnerable neck area. He held the dog in place for only a moment before driving his metal sword straight through his body and out the other side, spraying his body with blood and tossing his aside like a doll. The last of the Inuzuka had died around the same time as his life-long friend had, but there was no time to grieve for the two of them as Benkei stood back up on his feet and turned his gaze towards his other opponent.

Without waiting for even a moment to let Rock Lee process the deaths of his old friends, Benkei reached up his sword and slashed towards him with a powerful strike. The taijutsu master knew he had the speed to avoid the attack, but he saw he didn't have to as a wall of sand reached up in front of him and took the strike directly. Rock Lee looked over to see the Kazekage, Fiore and Sasuke charging towards their mutual foe. The last Uchiha breathed a wide torrent of fire pumped with spiritual energy directly at the Quiraji leader, while Fiore dropped down to Kiba to check whether what they suspected was true. Gaara gave Rock Lee a quick nod to make sure that he was okay before directing his sand flow towards their enemy.

Benkei stepped back several times under the assault and consolidated his position while he came under attack from the four enemy combatants. Rock Lee and Fiore attacked him at close range, him with his recovered nunchaku and her with her spiked wooden gauntlets on her hands. While they kept his attention, Sasuke preserved his chakra and waited for an opening to attack with spiritual energy lightning attacks and Gaara attacked with sand tendrils like he had before with the assistance of Shukaku's chakra.

As the shinobi strike force attacked Benkei, the Quiraji leader moved around their attacks like he was a stream of water moving around the rocks in its path. Rock Lee's ultra-fast taijutsu movements and nunchaku strikes missed by bare millimetres, while the others were avoided quickly by Benkei's efficient movements that his large body didn't appear like it should be able of making. He was on the defensive, but he didn't look like he was in trouble as his injured eye continued to repair itself and his movements were becoming sharper.

Jumping back from his close-quarter fight with Benkei for a moment, leaving Fiore to occupy their enemy, Rock Lee landed beside the Kazekage, "Can you bind him, like you did before? With enough power behind my strike, I might be able to finish him."

The young shinobi leader nodded and dropped down to his knees to clench his hands tightly into the ground, while Rock Lee jumped back into the fight. Benkei swept his sword across Fiore's body, but was only barely able to glance her flank as her wood came up to defend her. In that moment a bolt of lightning came flying over her shoulder and slammed into the centre of the Quiraji leader's chest.

Sasuke's strike was just strong enough to force Benkei off his feet, but that was all Gaara needed to grasp at his legs with a huge claw of sand from underneath the ground.

It could only hold the Quiraji leader for a few moments, as Benkei had already seen this technique and was already slashing it apart with his sword. But that was all the time the attacking force needed to attack.

Fiore split off her wooden defence and sent hard spikes of wood directly into Benkei's legs, while Sasuke leapt forward to try and bury his sword into his chest. At the same time, Rock Lee leapt high into the air and spun like a rock falling down a hill, kicking at the air to increase his speed tenfold before bringing the back of his foot down onto the top of the Quiraji leader's head. The momentum and the culmination of Rock Lee's physical energy was enough to shatter Benkei's spine and kill him instantly, dropping him to the ground. The shinobi strike force wasted no time in driving as many of their attacks and weapons into his body as possible.

While this all happened, Neji watched the battle carefully with his Byakugan activated. He saw the life disappear from the void that represented the large Quiraji leader with interest, yet he could also see the lowering of his allies' chakra at their attacks. They all knew that it wouldn't be enough to fully kill the Quiraji leader, but there wasn't anything else they could do at this stage.

The first two times it had taken Benkei a few minutes to be revived. The Otokage watched carefully as there was a clear transference of energy between the immobile Shikyo at the other side of the battlefield and Benkei's body, pulling it back together and restoring life to it. It was clear to him now that she was the key to his apparent immortality, but there wasn't too much he could do as Benkei's body wrenched itself out of the sand holding it down and sent out a shockwave of spiritual energy that batted back the four opponents that had worked together to kill him. The Quiraji leader's eyes slowly flickered back to life and he first looked down at the ground to see his discarded sword broken in two, thanks to Fiore's efforts, but he had little interest in using it again.

His black eyes turned to the one that had killed him, seeing that Rock Lee was struggling to stay on his feet after the expenditure of effort it had taken to attack him. He made no motion to hesitate as he reached out a hand and used spiritual energy to grasp at the taijutsu master's legs tightly from the distance between them. Rock Lee tried to struggle out of his phantom grip, but before he could get away Benkei squeezed down as hard as he could, crushing the ex-Konoha shinobi's legs instantly.

Rock Lee screamed out in pain and flopped down to the ground as Benkei released his legs, holding his shattered legs with his hands while trying not to faint at the sight of bones sticking out of his bloody skin and the ripples of pain that felt like thy would last forever. He had no means to defend himself as Benkei moved to crush his head next, however he was saved when Neji shot forward and blasted the Quiraji leader back with a vacuum palm attack while the Kazekage lifted Rock Lee off the ground with his sand and placed him a fair distance away from the battlefield.

They had no means of healing his injury quickly enough for him to contribute to the battle any longer, particularly since their own healer, Hinata, was dangerously low on chakra to begin with, so Rock Lee knew that if he was going to survive he had to do it on his own. He picked up a nearby broken rock and placed it between his teeth, biting down as hard as he could as he reached down to start pushing his bones back into his legs. The pain was almost unimaginable, but he was able to endure it because he had already been through worse. But he was out of this fight now, and that wasn't an insignificant fact.

The remainder of the shinobi strike force kept their distance from the Quiraji leader, wary of what he might do next. Sasuke and Fiore stood side-by-side and watched him carefully; the last Uchiha noticed that the Quiraji leader's movements were extremely angular and tight, though they were slowly moving back to his normal movements. The Otokage and Kazekage battered Benkei with constant attacks so that his recovery was slowed, while the Mizukage shot forward herself and began collecting water around herself as her hands were healed and she was able to re-enter the battle.

Benkei began to recover quickly and he began fighting back against his opponents once again, having sent another one of their number out of the battle. The odds were moving back into his favour once again, though for the moment he had his sights set on two of the shinobi that had been out of the battle for a while, presumably coming up with a plan and recovering their energies. While fighting off the shinobi leaders, Benkei suddenly turned on his heel and shot towards the still Naruto and Hinata with a great speed.

Seeing that her husband was still occupied with his internal conversation, Hinata moved to his front to intercept him, putting up her hands into her Hyuuga stance despite her lack of energy to fight. She would protect him with her life, as he had done for her.

Benkei raised a fist with the intention of bashing her out of the way like the insect that she was, while the others of the shinobi strike force moved to try and intercept him but they knew they weren't going to reach him in time.

A flying arm covered in lightning appeared in front of her and slammed into the neck of the Quiraji leader, with the full momentum of a charging herd of rhinos. A loud voice shouted out "Lariat!" as the Quiraji leader was sent flying off into the distance, the strike haven bitten through his physical energy armour in that moment, while the Eight-Tails container stepped back onto the ground and struck an amused pose in front of the defending Hyuuga heiress.

"Bee…" said a surprised Hinata, having steeled herself for taking the Quiraji leader's attack wasn't sure how to process his sudden defeat, though through her Byakugan she could see that Benkei was already picking himself up from the ground and moving back into the battlefield.

Killer Bee turned and grinned at her for a moment before charging back at the enemy that had knocked him out before, eager to get revenge for having left him out of the battle for so long.

Quietly thanking their friend for his assistance, Hinata stepped back to Naruto's side and waited for him to return, while the others of the shinobi strike force banded together with Killer Bee and attacked the Quiraji leader once again.

The battle was far from over yet.

oOoOoOo

Within Naruto's mindscape, he could see that the Kyuubi had redecorated since they had come to their agreement to fight together against their mutual foe. The sewer was gone and had been replaced with an oasis that expanded all around him. There were palm trees and open skies above him, yet the temperature was pleasantly warm rather than scorching hot.

Naruto liked it, but he would never tell his occupant that. He didn't want to inflate the creature's ego too much.

He turned his attention to the small open room to his side, where it looked to be where the creature had been living. It had a large feathered bed that could hold nearly five people, though far too small for its beast-form. Along the side of one of the walls were a number of scratched-out photos of shinobi that Naruto didn't recognise, though his stomach dropped as he saw a photo of himself at the end with a dagger stabbed into where his forehead was.

Clearly the Kyuubi was occupying its time by mentally hating him, as it still hadn't forgiven him for old grudges suffered. Naruto had wondered whether there would really be able to be peace between them, though he certainly knew that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

But for now, he had a few questions for the Nine-Tails, ones that couldn't wait.

"**Why have you come here?"**

Naruto turned around to see the Kyuubi standing behind him in its beast form, overbearing in both presence and appearance as its demonic eyes stared down at him. The big tails waved in synchronisation with the warm winds that blew around them, seemingly ready to threaten him if he were to attack. Even with its strength and presence, it clearly feared the young blonde shinobi, particularly after the last battle they had fought.

"I need you to tell me what you're keeping from me," said Naruto quickly, wanting to get back to the fight as fast as he could.

The Kyuubi's oversized head cocked to the side, **"You presume to know me?"**

Naruto rolled his eyes and tapped his fist on the edge of the Nine-Tails paw, "I'm not an idiot, Kurama. I've lived with you for my whole life."

The Tailed Beast's eyes squinted at his almost casual use of his name, but he made no comment on it at that stage. **"Boy, last night you had a dream where you were covered in custard and Sasu…"**

His jailer's hands shot to his ears immediately and he cringed heavily, "Don't remind me! It's bad enough that I had to go through it."

"**Is that why you were that…aggressive with your mate afterwards? She seemed to quite enjoy that."**

"Were…were you watching us?" Naruto took a step back to show his shock; he did not like the idea of the Kyuubi seeing everything he did with his wife. "You're a big pervert!"

The Kyuubi snorted loudly, **"Says you. She is quite flexible…"**

"Enough! I don't want to hear it!" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and glared up at his occupant, "Tell me what you kept from me earlier."

"**I have no idea what you are talking about."** The Nine-Tails was in no mood for discussion, particularly after its jailer had only just been revived with the Sage's doujutsu. He would never tell the blonde shinobi, but his revival had saved its life, as if he'd been dead much longer the Kyuubi's chakra would have tried to escape to be reconstituted elsewhere and would have been destroyed by the Quiraji leader. He had felt the terrifying gaze of the large man fall on him when he had killed Naruto the first time, something that he had specifically warned him against.

The blonde shinobi sighed and uncrossed his arms, trying to give his occupant the impression that he was trying to be more open and friendly, "Kurama, I don't exactly have much time."

"**Time runs differently in the mindscape, you know that."**

"It's a metaphor damnit!" Naruto shook his head as a way to try and calm himself down. "When you warned us about Shikyo, I could sense that you were keeping something to yourself. We need your help in this battle, Kurama. Otherwise, we might lose."

The Kyuubi glared at his occupant for a few moments, trying to get a reading on the blonde shinobi's intentions. Naruto was honest almost to a fault and it didn't sense any dishonesty now. With a heavy sigh, it disappeared into a red mist. After a few seconds it reappeared in a humanoid form, still towering over his occupant but now by only a few feet. It waved a hand and summoned a pair of chairs for them to sit on, taking its seat and indicating for Naruto to do the same.

"I wasn't lying earlier," it started as Naruto sat down opposite it. "That Shikyo is the shell that contains the essence of Kaguya, the mother of all shinobi."

"I didn't think you were," clarified Naruto as he leaned back in his chair. "But something tells me you had an idea that you didn't want to share because it was a bit crazy."

The Kyuubi chuckled, a deep throaty sound that was more ominous than it should have been. "That's a big presumption, boy. I don't have a plan, or idea or anything."

"But you also want to see Benkei…" started Naruto.

"…obliterated," finished the Kyuubi. "We thought we had killed him once, but his use of Kaguya had prevented us from our total victory and instead turned it into our absolute defeat. We only survived at the whims of our enemies…"

Naruto nodded in turn as he heard the Kyuubi recount the fight it had shared with the Quiraji leader. It seemed so long ago to him, but the Nine-Tails appeared to remember it as if it had only happened a few days earlier. While it spoke he wondered what kind of properties the mindscape truly held and whether the Kyuubi might have been replaying that battle again and again to try and find the Quiraji leader's weakness. The mindscape allowed for almost anything, limited only to the user's imagination, as a by-product of the seal that had been used by his father to seal the Tailed Beast inside him in the first place.

A seal that Naruto knew most of the properties of. An idea slowly formed in his mind as the Kyuubi finished its tale and asked Naruto what he was thinking.

"If we were able to destroy Benkei's influence on Kaguya, do you think he would lose his immortality?" It seemed an obvious question, but Naruto was trying to get at a deeper idea.

The Kyuubi shrugged its large shoulders and leaned its feet on a nearby table, tucking its blood red kimono around its ankles, "Probably, but it's not as if you could…" It hesitated for a moment as it realised what its jailer was getting at. "…you can't possibly mean…"

Naruto grinned as he usually did when he thought of a wicked plan, "Can we do it? I know it's risky…"

"It's damn near suicidal is what it is. Are you so willing to rush blindly back into your own death? You'd let your mate fight your battles for you?"

Its jailor dismissed its last comment with a wave of his hand, "Hinata can take care of herself. I have no intention of dying again. It was unpleasant enough the first time."

The Kyuubi glared at him for several moments, trying to work out whether it should dissuade him from his current path or praise him for his idea. Eventually it caved to its own amusement and barked out a loud laugh while slapping its legs. "Damnit, if you aren't amusing boy. You might be a fresh bowl of crazy, but maybe that's just what we need."

Naruto's grin widened at the Kyuubi's endorsement, it was nice to be able to speak to the Tailed Beast without the hateful undertones that were usually layered into their conversations. "So it's doable then? What do I need?"

Taking its feet off the nearby table, the Kyuubi stood up and looked down at its occupant. It was a risky move, one that would likely backfire, but it doubted the Quiraji would expect it.

"First of all, you need more chakra. That's including my own, by the way. We need enough to power through the Quiraji shell."

Naruto nodded and stood up from his own seat, "Thanks for your help in this, Kurama. You are a good ally."

"Watch yourself, boy. If you keep talking like that, we might become friends."

"Now that's crazy talk."

oOoOoOo

Naruto woke up from his journey into his mindscape and immediately leaned across to kiss his guardian wife on the cheek. With a quick wink he told her everything she needed to know before moving as quickly as he could towards the others. He could see most of them had engaged Benkei in battle once again, including a revived Killer Bee, who he had thought was out for the count from that devastating head butt earlier, though it despaired his soul to see the bodies of Kiba and Akamaru on the battlefield. He knew that it would have crushed Hinata to see them fall, but she had stayed by his side despite that, perhaps because she was barely standing as it was. If he had the ability to transfer his own chakra to her without threatening the plan he and the Kyuubi had concocted he would have, but that wasn't an option.

It didn't take him long to reach the others, though getting through to his target would be much more difficult. Having recovered as much as he had, his old Team Seven partner had avoided battle for the most part, but upon seeing Naruto moving towards them Sasuke immediately moved to attack the rampaging Quiraji leader.

Seeing that, Naruto teleported in front of him and stopped him with a hand, "Sasuke, I need your help."

The Uchiha shinobi frowned at being stopped by his rival, but something about Naruto's tone made him stop from pushing past him. "We're in the middle of something, Naruto, if you haven't noticed."

Not one to be dissuaded, Naruto motioned towards the immobile Shikyo a fair distance away near the small building that had been conspicuously untouched in the battle so far. "The Kyuubi and I came up with a plan that might stop him from reviving. It's risky, but it's the only chance we've got."

Sasuke gave him a suspicious look as he saw Fiore charge back at the Quiraji leader that had batted her away earlier, "Then go for your life. I'm going to go and burn Benkei down to his bones for what he did to Kakashi."

Naruto took note that he wouldn't have expected such a reaction from his old teammate, as he'd only ever seen him and their old Jounin instructor fighting rather than getting alone. He supposed that he probably had a similar feeling towards Kakashi that Naruto did, and that was something they could probably talk about after the battle, assuming they survived. For now though, he needed his help and they didn't have much time, otherwise more people might end up like Kiba.

"We need your chakra, Sasuke. Something about the two lines of the Sage…or something. Just come with me!"

Sasuke was able to avoid the reaching hand of Naruto just in time, but it was clear that he wasn't going to let up. He groaned loudly, "Fine, fine! What are we doing?"

His old teammate grinned and the two of them ran as fast as they could towards the immobile Shikyo. While they moved, Naruto gave Sasuke the cliff notes of their plan. Most of the details came from the Tailed Beast within him, but Naruto wasn't as slow as he sometimes put on, he understood the vast majority of what they needed to do. In the few moments they took to get to the other Quiraji leader, the Uchiha shinobi added his own comments to the plan that made even the Kyuubi consider whether or not it would work. Regardless, he recognised that they didn't have a huge number of options any longer.

The two of them slowed to a walk towards the immobile Quiraji leader, trying not to show how uncomfortable they were with the fact that they had to do what they were about to do. The Kyuubi had reassured Naruto that the plan to enter her mindscape would work, but Naruto was loath to trust the Tailed Beast completely after what it had done to him in the past. However, at the rate they were fighting Benkei and the accumulated damage the shinobi strike force had accrued, in combination with the Quiraji leader's apparent immortality, it was clear that they would eventually lose this battle.

Even if Sasuke's observation was correct and the several deaths they had inflicted on him were slowing his movements and potentially damaging his spirit, they wouldn't last.

"This is a stupid idea," said Sasuke as they stopped in front of the pale-robed woman. "The Nine-Tails is surely leading us on."

Fumbling his hand around his pocket, Naruto felt a cold metal against his fingers. His mind flashed back to the last time he had spoken to the old man that had assisted them in the Quiraji continent, remembering the words that Magnus had spoken to him.

"Just because something can't die…doesn't mean it cannot be destroyed."

Sasuke turned to his friend with a confused look on his face, "What?"

Naruto produce the long jagged knife that seemed to be as dull as the blades of grass that once sat on the ground they now stood on. "Just something an old friend said. I think I'm meant to use this."

The last Uchiha frowned and brought up his hand, covered in lightning chakra as their old teacher's signature technique, "I think mine's sharper."

"_**Follow the old man's advice, Naruto."**_

"The Kyuubi is right; we have to do this the right way." Naruto grasped the dagger on the hilt and stepped into close range with the woman that had destroyed their village. With the knowledge that the Nine-Tails had given him about her true nature, Naruto could now see the similarities between the Quiraji leader and the mother of all shinobi. She was shorter, without the specialist eyes and horns, but the general face shape was the same. Her body was practically skeletal within the pale robe that she wore, making it look like she had sat in a dusty room for a few centuries before arriving at the battlefield.

However, it was obvious from the power emanating from her that the 'good' side of her was losing the internal battle. Neji's observation about the power transference between Shikyo and Benkei was likely contributing to that factor and Naruto and Sasuke couldn't disagree with him now that they were this close. They had both died recently and had no interest in repeating the process, though they had no memory of the experience. The knowledge that if she was to turn, she would only need to reach out and they would instantly die weighed heavily on their minds.

"Grab my shoulder, Sasuke."

"Do I have to?"

Naruto sighed and pulled up his hand to show his friend the ring on his finger, "Sasuke, I'm a happily married man and you're a little girl. Do what I say." He could see the stubborn streak in the Uchiha's face, but they didn't have time to waste.

Sasuke groaned loudly and swore at the pain-in-the-ass method of enacting their plan of attack before reaching out and placing his hand tentatively on the blonde shinobi's shoulder. He could feel the chakra flow of the Kyuubi immediately upon contacting Naruto's body, far more than it had been when they had fought before. The Nine-Tails had clearly recovered from its near-death experience and was willing to work with them for the duration of the battle to help kill their mutual foe.

"So, now what?"

The ex-Konoha shinobi turned to his friend with a mischievous look on his face that he hadn't worn in years, "Why Sasuke, you could at least buy me dinner first…"

The last Uchiha wrenched his hand back with a furious look in his Eternal Sharingan eyes, "I knew it! You're such a damn loser!"

Naruto let out a loud cackle and suddenly turned serious as he gripped the dagger's hilt and looked at the Quiraji leader. Sasuke sighed and grasped his friend's shoulder again, swearing that he would get him back for making fun of him. The Nine-Tails' chakra flowed from Naruto into his body at a slow trickle, linking the two of them together through their chakra. He still wasn't sure about the idea, but it wasn't as if they had anything better to try at this stage. He nodded to Naruto that he was ready.

With a long breath, Naruto prepared himself and buried the dagger into the middle of Shikyo's front, below her neck. The two ex-Konoha shinobi gasped as the Nine-Tails' chakra thundered between them and flowed through the dagger into the Quiraji leader's body. Their feet planted into the ground and their eyes glazed over upon the contact.

Having mostly recovered from her battle earlier, though her chakra levels were still dangerously low, Hinata moved into stand behind her husband and Sasuke, her hands up defensively with her white eyes fixed on the battle being fought. If Benkei turned his attention towards them she doubted she would be able to hold them off for long, but there wasn't much else she could currently do in the fight.

The others of the shinobi strike force looked at the two of them risking their lives for a moment, respecting their decision before returning to the fight.

The battle was still yet to be won.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

See, things are looking up. I only killed off two people in this chapter. I'm just kidding, obviously. The battle is still ongoing, but maybe the shinobi have a chance now. Who knows? I mean, I do, but where is the fun in that?

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	97. Chapter 89 Trial of Death

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 89 – Trial of Death

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would have given one of Naruto's children bright red hair.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

After his revival from being killed at the hands of Hinata, Benkei's first action was to kill Kakashi and stop the potential revival of the others he and his children had already slain. Having been forced to recover from the constant battle, most of the shinobi strike force kept their distance from the Quiraji leader, while the Otokage and Kazekage conducted their own attack against him. Neji was able to kill Benkei with his special weaponry, but the Quiraji leader just revived once again. In the second battle after this, he was engaged by Rock Lee and Kiba in a high speed battle while he wielded a long sword. However, the battle cost Kiba and Akamaru their lives before the rest of the shinobi strike force came in to assist and Rock Lee was able to crush Benkei's spine and kill him once again. This time, the Quiraji leader's revival was faster than the other times and he wasted no time in reaching out to crush Rock Lee's legs into paste before being re-engaged in battle once again. When he turned to attack the weak Hinata and Naruto, he was intercepted by a recovered Killer Bee and kept occupied by the rest of the shinobi strike force. Inside his mindscape, Naruto and the Kyuubi came up with a plan to try and stop the Quiraji leader's revival, returning to the battlefield and grabbing Sasuke to assist them before moving to Shikyo and entering her mindscape.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>The transition from reality to the mindscape was not a pleasant one for either Naruto or Sasuke. The Kyuubi used their chakra and its own to force its way into the body of Shikyo and sink its claws into her mind. The Quiraji leader's defences were concentrated on her external body and not her mind, but Shikyo's brain still fought against them with all its might.<p>

The Kyuubi pushed through and deposited its cargo within her mindscape just as its chakra ran out and it was forced to withdraw back into its jail to preserve its own life. It would never tell Naruto the risks it had taken to do the thing it had just done, or how close it had come to losing them several times.

As such, the pair of ex-Konoha shinobi were deposited into the mindscape of the Quiraji leader head first, landing on a strange landscape after a few seconds of falling. Sasuke landed on his feet with an expertly timed flip, even taking a moment to strike a minor pose. Naruto landed on the ground by his shoulders, but had enough time to roll and stand up like nothing had happened. He shook his head to readjust himself and looked around to see where they had landed.

Unlike the times he had spent in his own mindscape, the area within Shikyo's mind was highly detailed and lush; Naruto figured it had been drawn from someone's memories at one point or another, probably the Quiraji leader's experiences.

They stood on a plateau of stone, looking over a broad lush jungle that expanded out as far as they could see. It had a mixture of rainforest trees and large hills of grasslands with a variety of animals going about their daily lives, oblivious to the surrounding conflicts. Off into the distance were several massive stone structures that looked ancient even before they were constructed and on the plateau they were standing on there were several animalistic statues that neither of them recognised.

"Where are we?" asked Sasuke as he reached forward to touch one of the statues. "This doesn't look like anywhere I know."

Naruto glanced around for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "No clue. This is a mindscape though, so take everything you see in here with a grain of salt."

Sasuke gave no indication that he heard what his friend said, but regardless he turned back to him and crossed his arms over his chest. In that moment of downtime, Naruto got a good look at what the battle had done to his old friend.

"Out of curiosity, do you know what you look like right now?"

The last Uchiha frowned, not liking the tone Naruto was using, "If you're talking about the energy that Kyoukou stole from me, yes, I am aware."

Naruto put up his hands pre-emptively to show that he wasn't trying to insult him, "I'm just saying, you look like you aged a bit, that's all."

Sasuke glared at him for a few seconds before realising that after the death of Kyoukou he hadn't had the chance to get a proper look at himself. Considering it for a moment, he put up his hands and created a normal Bunshin, one that barely took any chakra at all. The image appeared in front of him and turned around so he could get a proper look at himself. After Naruto's comments he was expecting the worst, but instead he saw that, while he had indeed aged, it wasn't as bad as he would have thought. His hair had gotten a bit longer and he had a few more lines on his face than he had beforehand, but otherwise he just looked like he was in his mid-thirties. He was a little disappointed that he didn't have the grooves on the side of his face that had clearly defined his brother and father, but other than that he wasn't too worried.

With a wave of his hand he dismissed the Bunshin and turned back around to look at the edge of the plateau, "So, we are here now. What are we looking for?"

Naruto shrugged again, "No idea, the Kyuubi has gone dark. I guess we look for Shikyo? She's the reason we're here after all."

"How much time do we have?" asked Sasuke as the two of them jumped off of the stone plateau to the jungle below. "I don't like the idea of leaving the others to fight Benkei on their own."

"It's hard to say, the way time works in mindscapes is weird. We could spend five minutes in here and it would be a year outside, or it could be weeks in here and minutes outside."

"So you have no idea, is that what you are saying?"

The two of them landed on a part of the grasslands and began running towards the entrance of the nearby jungle. Naruto smirked at his friend as they ran, "Just like old times."

"We don't have old times, Naruto. We just have the time before Konoha got destroyed and that's it."

His blonde friend pouted as they moved into the tree line and were struck by a sudden shift in humidity and found themselves completely surrounded by the jungle. They moved through the jungle quickly, seeing no difference from one area to the next as they moved as quickly as they could. Neither of them liked the idea of spending any more time in enemy territory than they needed to, but after nearly an hour of fruitless searching in the jungle it became clear that merely searching wasn't going to be enough.

Eventually Sasuke lost his patience and stopped at the base of one of the larger trees inside the jungle, reaching over his shoulder to pull off one of the large bugs that had attached itself to his shirt, "This is pointless. We aren't going to find anything at this rate."

Naruto stopped at a nearby stump and looked up at his friend, agreeing that they were getting nowhere fast. He thought about it for a moment before pointing up to the top of the tree above Sasuke, "Why don't you go up there and scout the area with your Sharingan? I can cover more ground with my clones and then we can compare notes."

Sasuke had to admit it was a reasonable plan, giving his friend a nod and taking a large leap up to the nearest branch of the tree while Naruto put his hands together and created an army of Kage Bunshin with the standing order of searching for anyone they could find.

At the top of the tree, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked around the area carefully. It was strange seeing the trees and brush with his red eyes as opposed to when he had seen similar objects in normal space. Every object in the world had a measure of energy that he was able to see to a small extent, though nowhere near the amount that a Byakugan-user was able to see.

But here in the mindscape, there was almost a conspicuous lack of energy within the environment that he could see. It was clearly full of life as his regular eyes could see, but there was no resemblance of chakra potential at all in anything he could see.

Was this set in a time before chakra was founded? It would make sense if it were taken from the memories of the woman who had given birth to chakra in the first place.

_Wasn't there a story about a tree with her?_

Sasuke was trying to remember what his brother had told his about that legend, but the thought of his brother was like a dagger in his chest. He and his brother had come to an understanding that one or both of them might not survive the battle, but he hadn't expected Itachi to die for him like he had. It ate at his chest to think of those final moments, but Sasuke shook himself out of it and continued his search. Seeing that there was clearly nothing of interest in the jungle, Sasuke broadened his search to the surrounding areas, concentrating more on the stone structures to the north of his current position. There were several trees that were taller than the one he stood on, but he had enough of a vantage point to see most of what he needed to. It gave him enough information to make at least one major observation.

This place was much larger than they initially thought. Off in the distance he could see an expansive desert and a foggy mountain to the south that looked more like an active volcano.

It made no geographical sense, but Sasuke had to remind himself that they were within a specific mind's reality and many different rules probably applied. His chakra flow within his body felt the same as when he'd been fighting Benkei earlier, though something told him that he shouldn't waste chakra in this mindscape.

After a few more minutes, Sasuke figured that he wasn't going to find their target by conducting wide sweeps with his Sharingan; there was just too much space to cover. Instead, he decided that, if it were him, he would shackle their target in a secure location that would have some significance to him.

Looking at the closer areas, Sasuke noticed that the stone structures had a strange draw to them, like large pyramids that were more detailed than the others things he had seen.

That was very suspicious to the last Uchiha. He pulsed chakra to his eyes and activated his Eternal Sharingan, concentrating his gaze more at the base of the stone structures that reminded him of strange pyramids. It didn't take long for him to realise that he was on the money as a tiny trace of blue energy emerged on a noticeable trail. He focused his attention on the trail and saw that it led to a small figure of bright blue energy deep into the ground beneath one of the stone structures.

That had to be their target.

Sasuke made sure that he was right before turning his attention back to the ground and dropping to where the original Naruto was standing. "Naruto, I think I found something."

The blonde shinobi ignored him for a moment, his eyes closed as he was giving direct orders to the clones he had spread throughout the jungle. He whispered silently as Sasuke could see he was absorbing a lot of information from his clones at once.

"Naruto, I know where we have to go."

After a few more seconds Naruto's eyes opened and he looked over to his old friend with a hint of exhaustion on his face. He hadn't realised how difficult it would be to maintain that many clones within the mindscape in comparison to back in the real world. He shook himself out of it and regarded Sasuke's red eyes with his own, "We have a bigger problem."

"What is it? What did you find?"

Naruto's eyes moved to the side and he motioned with his hand for him to take his shoulder, as they had when they'd entered the mindscape. He concentrated on one of the seals and activated his Hiraishin technique with Sasuke coming with him.

"I found Benkei."

oOoOoOo

When they arrived at the area Naruto's clones had marked, Naruto and Sasuke were thrust into battle at the edge of the jungle, with clones flying all over the place. The two of them moved apart as a clone was sent flying towards them at a screaming pace, just barely missing them before colliding with one of the entrance trees in a small cloud of smoke before translating its information directly to the original.

Naruto grinded his teeth as the information continued to flood into his mind, from the moment the outer edges of his clone force had encountered the enemy to now when he had taken out nearly a hundred of them with little effort involved.

The Quiraji leader's image was similar to that they knew from the outside; a large overbearing man with pitch black eyes with no irises and power dripping from the area he occupied. However, he appeared to be a few feet taller than both of them remembered, and as he dispatched the charging Naruto clones with almost a dismissive set of gestures with his hands. The physical energy techniques were destroying the clones with complete ease, despite their speed and tactics they had adopted from attacking the Quiraji leader so much.

"How is he here?" asked Sasuke, hesitating to rush into battle with someone who shouldn't even be even be here. "I thought you said this is Shikyo's mindscape."

"It is," said Naruto, wincing as he said a group of his clones crushed into the ground with a dropped hand from the Quiraji leader, feeling their pain as they collided into the stones and exploded into clouds of smoke. "Remember, he took control of her a long time ago. It's probably some kind of representation of him of some sort."

"Like an avatar? That's a pain in the ass."

"Maybe, maybe not." Naruto fingered his sword cautiously as the last of his clones threw themselves at the Quiraji leader and were brushed aside. "If he's controlling her, perhaps taking him down here will solve our problems and get us out of here at the same time."

"Sounds like wishful thinking," said Sasuke as he charged forward with his sword covered in spiritual-energy lightning. The avatar of Benkei noticed him charging with disinterest, not even recognising the young shinobi that his real form had killed before in the real world. His dark eyes stared at his sword for a moment before flicking his hands up and creating a barrier made of spiritual energy directly in front of him. The Uchiha's blade slammed into the front of the barrier directly, piercing through further than the Quiraji leader may have anticipated, but he wasn't able to break through completely.

But the distraction was long enough for Naruto to line-of-sight teleport to Benkei's side and move to stab him straight in the liver with his lightning blade. The Quiraji leader moved instantly backwards and slammed his elbow into the blonde shinobi's face before his strike could land. Naruto clenched at his face as he stumbled back, before grinning and disappearing into a cloud of grey smoke while the real Naruto appeared above him with his Kattoken activated and ready to strike at his exposed head.

At the same time, Sasuke broke through the spiritual energy barrier due to Benkei's distraction and the proper application of his own spiritual energy through his sword and positioned himself to slash at the Quiraji leader avatar's front.

Benkei had several options of dealing with the two young shinobi's combined attack, but he decided that the simplest way was to muscle his way out of the situation. Dropping a knee, he slammed one of his fists straight into the ground to send out a wave of physical energy to repulse everything around him. The wave sent the two shinobi flying away in different directions, while Benkei stood back up and clenched his fists slowly. He made no sound as they recovered their footing and regarded him cautiously from a distance.

"Got a plan in mind?" shouted Naruto from the other side of their enemy.

Sasuke stared at the avatar of Benkei for a moment with his Eternal Sharingan while his mind formulated a plan. He saw an increase in power in the Quiraji leader, more so than when he'd just fought him before entering the mindscape. It was likely that any potential weakness being revived had incurred on Benkei did not exist in this version of him. That would make things much more difficult, as they had been clearly overmatched at that time. Though he might not know some of the cleverer shinobi tactics they had used late in the war.

"How about the one we used to stop the Tailed Beast in Suna?" he called back.

Naruto tried to react properly to the suggestion and failed miserably. He gave Sasuke his best impression of every time the Uchiha would call him a moron, "Sasuke, we had half a village for that plan, plus Kakashi-sensei and a bunch of siege engines!"

"I'm not saying it'll be easy…" said Sasuke as their enemy turned his dark gaze to his and pulled back his fist to attack him. A wave of physical energy shot towards him at a frightening pace, but he could read the movements with his Sharingan and move the minimum distance to avoid the strike. He could feel the air pulsing with power near his face, strong enough to send a shiver down even his battle-hardened spine. "…but it's simple enough, is it not?"

Thumbing off his lightning sword and placing it back on his belt, Naruto sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, I suppose so." He leapt back nearly fifty metres and placed his hands into his old handseal, concentrating his chakra as densely as he could.

While Naruto prepared that part of the plan, Sasuke waved his sword defensively in front of himself while Benkei stepped forward to deal with him personally. The Quiraji leader took a few ominous steps before disappearing in a blur of movement. Without chakra in his body, Sasuke wasn't able to completely follow his movements with his Eternal Sharingan, but his battle instincts were still able to save him as the avatar of Benkei appeared directly in front of him and tried to squash his head between his large hands. The small shockwave of physical energy would have obliterated his head regardless of whatever defence Sasuke would have constructed, so instead the ex-Konoha shinobi ducked as far down as possible and moved forward into the Quiraji leader's body to slash across his lower body with his sword.

As his sword nearly touched Benkei's skin, the Quiraji leader moved around much faster than Sasuke would have expected and slammed his knee into the back of the Uchiha shinobi, sending him flying away.

The blow wasn't enough to break bones or do any serious damage to Sasuke, but it still hurt like hell and sent shockwaves of pain up his back as he spun around in the air and glared at the Quiraji leader with his red eyes. With a pulse of chakra to his eyes, he ignited Benkei's arms with the black flames of Amaterasu while placing his hands into a handseal and moulding large amounts of chakra through his arms.

The avatar of Benkei looked down at his burning arms, noting that even though it was a chakra-based attack it still burnt like regular flames. He took in a large breath and blew the black flames off his arms with a powerful blast of wind spiritual energy, brushing them off like they were simple dust mites. He looked up to see a pair of lightning bolts flying towards him from the shinobi he'd sent flying, forcing him to move the minimum distance so that they struck the ground behind him rather than him directly. He looked up with a slight frown, reaching out with one of his hands to try and grasp the last Uchiha with his extended physical energy technique and crush him between his fingers.

However, before he could complete his grip of the dark-haired shinobi, he felt two impacts on his back that disrupted his technique. There was a small cloud of smoke behind him that seemed to result from the impact strikes, but when he turned to see what had hit him he was blindsided by a flying projectile that slammed into the side of his face and sent him stumbling backwards.

Near the tree line of the jungle, a group of blonde-haired clones stood in a long line across the flank, preparing for the next wave of attacks. The original Naruto created a new clone and placed it at the edge of the line, nodding to the ones at the end for them to proceed. With flawless execution, the clones of Naruto held each other's feet with their hands as the final clone grabbed the newly created one by the hands and they began to swing around faster and faster like a sling. The original Naruto aimed it through careful timing as the line of clones released their shinobi missile straight at the stumbling Quiraji leader.

It was a smaller version of how they had defeated the rampaging Shukaku when Gaara had lost control during the Suna Chuunin Exams, but just as effective now as it was then. Benkei was able to dodge out of the way of the flying missile just in time, but two more quickly followed suit from similar formations nearby, flying towards the avatar of Benkei rapidly. With a fast supply of clones to provide him ammunition, Naruto pounded the Quiraji leader from all three sides. Most of his clones missed him despite their speed as Benkei moved expertly away from the flying missiles, but some of them were able to pierce through and clash into his body. They didn't do much damage, but they were enough to keep Benkei on his toes and keep his attention.

While dealing with the clone projectiles, Benkei was mostly blind to Sasuke's approach from the rear, with his sword covered in lightning and his movements enhanced by select parts of his Susanoo armour. He was moving faster than most eyes would be able to track and leapt around to slice straight through Benkei's neck with enough force to slice through a small mountain. After testing the Quiraji leader's defences earlier, Sasuke knew this strike would be enough to break through.

To his surprise, his strike succeeded in removing the avatar of Benkei's head from its shoulders with no movement to dodge or even acknowledge that he was being attacked. However, there was no spray of blood and gore like he was expecting; instead the head just fell to the ground with a single bounce before disappearing with a strange shimmer. The avatar of Benkei disappeared like he wasn't even on the battlefield in the first place, leaving the last Uchiha shinobi and the clusters of Naruto clones with confused looks on their faces.

Naruto glanced around the area for a few moments, trying to work out whether the Quiraji leader had just avoided the decapitating strike by moving away, or whether they had already been successful in removing him from the mindscape.

Sasuke was not at all convinced that they had won the day. He had felt some resistance from his blade to make it a reasonable attack, but it had been far too easy to defeat the Quiraji leader that had killed them so easily earlier. He kept a tight grip on his sword and scanned the area quickly with his Eternal Sharingan; waiting for the inevitable reappearance that he was sure was coming.

After a few seconds he heard the sounds of clones exploding behind him. He turned around to see the avatar of Benkei rampaging through the clones of Naruto that had been hurling themselves at him earlier. The original Naruto tried to create some distance as heavy blows from Benkei's fists tore apart his clones with ease, while Sasuke quickly covered the distance and moved to his side.

"So much for killing him," said Naruto dryly as he clenched his fist to activate his Kattoken. "I don't think this is the real Benkei."

"It's just an image, but I think we will have to defeat it to get out."

Naruto sighed as two of his clones were able to drive two kunai past the Quiraji leader's defences into his side, only for him to disappear and reappear within a few seconds to smash their heads between his hands. "He's probably drawing his power from Shikyo, which is why we won't be able to beat him. He has too much influence in the mindscape."

"What are you suggesting then?" Sasuke's Eternal Sharingan watched their enemy carefully, preparing to light him up with black flames the second the chance arose, but he was wary of wasting chakra on a pointless technique, even if it wasn't going to make him blind anymore.

"You said you found something inside the stone structure from before, right?"

Seeing what his old friend was getting at, Sasuke turned his red-eyed gaze temporarily back into the nearby jungle, seeing the far-away stone structures near where they had entered the mindscape. The trace of chakra was tiny, barely noticeable, but it was enough for them to go on for the moment. "I've got a location, yes. But we can't just leave him here. We might not find him again."

"Something tells me he'll find us again," said Naruto as he moved back to his old friend's side. "I can take us back to where we first arrived and then we can go look into that stone structure."

After finishing off the clones, the avatar of Benkei turned his attention to the two shinobi a short distance away and began running towards them with his fists ready to obliterate them once they were in range. The two younger fighters knew they weren't a match for him at this stage, but both of them were fighting against their own pride as they had an opportunity to end the battle once and for all but didn't have the strength for it.

With a heavy sigh, Sasuke sheathed his sword and nodded to Naruto, closing his eyes to try and avoid the swirling sensation as his old friend placed his hand on his arm and activated his Hiraishin back to one of the seals he had placed on the plateau they had arrived on. It had been instinctive for him to place seals at most of the important areas that he came across, but doing two Hiraishins in quick succession in addition to all the ones he had done before they had entered the mindscape ate at his stomach and threatened to make him ill as they appeared on the plateau once again far away from the avatar of the Quiraji leader.

Sasuke shrugged off Naruto's grip and stared at the stone structure in the distance, getting a better view of what they had to aim for in relation to where the chakra source was emanating from. From where he was standing, it looked like there was a trace of chakra near the top of the stone structure that led through a variety of passageways before reaching the main source. For a moment he wished he'd had a Byakugan so that he could get a view better than just a blue light amidst a dark background, but for what they needed, it would have to be enough. Naruto asked him if he knew where the entrance to the stone structure's interior was, but Sasuke was already leaping down into the jungle to reach it as quickly as possible.

Cursing his friend's lack of understanding about the toll that constant use of the Hiraishin did to his body, Naruto caught his breath once again and leapt in after his old friend. He only hoped that the avatar of Benkei didn't follow them as quickly as it fought, otherwise they might not survive a close-quarter battle with the superior foe.

To avoid being ambushed on their way back out, Naruto recalled all of the Kage Bunshin that had been spread throughout the jungle and hadn't been involved in the short skirmish to converge on the stone structure and move into a tight net of patrols and guard positions. If the avatar of Benkei made his way to the stone structure and took out any of the clones, Naruto would know instantly and they would need to be extra-cautious.

* * *

><p>Upon arriving at the stone structure, it didn't take the two of them long to find, what they assumed was, the entrance. It was shaped like a block-based pyramid with columns and pillars keeping each section stable with scriptures and engravings that neither of them could understand.<p>

But Naruto recognised the writing. It was similar enough to the small amount of writing he had seen during Hinata and his adventure in the Quiraji homeland for him to figure out that the stone structure in the mindscape was clearly based on an object that had once existed in the past, but had been long since destroyed. Hinata had once said that she'd seen very small amounts of similar writings in the shinobi continent from the times of the Quiraji Empire's occupation, but nowhere near enough to get an understanding of what it actually said.

By following the chakra traces with his Sharingan, Sasuke found a large round door near the top of the stone structure that looked like it served as either an entrance or a passageway inside. The door was covered in the Quiraji symbols and held four circular devices along the centre with different images that the two of them figured was some type of key combination that would require them working out the code from the writing around it.

Seeing as the doorway was at the top of the structure and they weren't sure how long it would take the avatar of Benkei to find them again, the two of them decided they weren't going to open the door that way. Naruto activated his Kattoken around his right arm and slammed it straight into the centre of the doorway, while Sasuke drew his sword and lit it on fire with his spiritual energy and cut a path around where Naruto had struck.

If they had used their combination strike against a doorway at the bottom level of the stone structure, there would have been little chance that the structure would have remained standing. Such as it was, their combined attack only blasted away the top level of the stone structure and sent it flying off into the distance to reveal a large open stone floor in front of them. Near the edge of the stone floor was a single staircase that spiralled downwards, no doubt leading deeper into the structure's interior.

The two ex-Konoha shinobi shared a knowing look for a moment before breaking out into a run to get down inside and reach their target as quickly as possible. As they began their descent, Naruto gave his partner a piece of information that quickened their descent.

Two of his outer-most clones had encountered and subsequently been defeated by the avatar of the Quiraji leader as it made its way towards their position. They didn't have much time. If there were any traps within the stone structure they would just have to power through them and get to their target as quickly as possible.

To their surprise, they didn't encounter any resistance as they sped through the various passageways and corridors within the large stone structure. There were a number of false trails and doorways that they encountered, but with proper scouting by Naruto's clones and the tracking of the chakra trail by Sasuke's Sharingan gave them enough foresight to move efficiently and directly to the bottom of the stone structure that led to their target.

After nearly ten minutes of frantic running, where Naruto kept the two of them informed of how the battle outside the stone structure they came to a stone doorway in the floor that looked to be the only entrance to the final chamber below them. Naruto's clones outside the stone structure were creating their own clones with the intention of holding back the avatar of Benkei from reaching into the stone structure to the two shinobi inside. The avatar of the Quiraji leader blasted apart groups of several clones with every blow, but they were keeping him at bay for the time being.

Naruto went to blast apart the door with his Kattoken, but Sasuke kept him back and ran through a quick set of handseals before creating a small blade of concentrated blue flames and began cutting his way through the stone floor. It was a slow process at first, but as Naruto got the information from his clones outside that indicated that the avatar of Benkei had finished his slaughter of them and was moving to entering the stone structure himself, Sasuke began to cut more frantically.

Just as he finished the job and the floor doorway fell down into the chamber below with a loud thud, the entire stone structure shook like it was at the epicentre of an earthquake. The two ex-Konoha shinobi stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, both of them realising that the avatar of Benkei hadn't taken the roof entrance that they had.

He was bashing his way through from the middle entrance at the ground-level. If he didn't get through to them in time, he was going to bring down the entire stone structure down on their heads.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Sasuke and Naruto dropped down into the lower chamber and were instantly surrounded by darkness. Using a small amount of chakra, Sasuke created a small flame in the centre of his palm and illuminated the chamber.

Unlike the previous areas within the stone structure, this chamber held no Quiraji writing or symbols whatsoever. The only object they could see within the chamber was a single figure chained to the furthest-away wall.

It was the image of Kaguya that the Kyuubi had shown Naruto prior to the battle. She stared at the newcomers through her pure white Byakugan, showing no emotion as they approached her cautiously. It was clear she was being kept as a prisoner, but now that they stood in her presence it was plainly obvious how much power she was giving off.

"This is our target?" asked Sasuke with a suspicious look on his face. "This isn't Shikyo, is it?"

"No, this is her. Remember what the Kyuubi said, she was taken over by the Quiraji and changed. This is probably the real Kaguya."

"So if we unchain her, we'll free Shikyo from Benkei's control? Seems simple enough."

The chained Kaguya's face shifted upon hearing that and her deep feminine voice filled the chamber in a compelling tone, "That will not work, children. I am not the true Kaguya."

Naruto and Sasuke both sighed at the same time, they were exhausted at how convoluted the situation was getting. While Sasuke maintained his flame torch and tried to keep his footing while the stone structure continued to shake at the avatar of Benkei striking at the structure directly. Naruto stepped forward and began to undo the chains binding the large female ancestor, while Kaguya explained the situation to her apparent saviours.

"When Benkei and the Quiraji captured me and took over my mind, they had to split my mind into two parts so that I didn't retaliate and break free. I've been trying to help my children against them by reviving them and keeping my own power contained, while fighting off their control. But your presence in here has disrupted that and I cannot fight against Benkei much longer."

"So if we free the different parts of you and then defeat the avatar inside this mindscape, we'll be able to keep him from reviving outside?" Sasuke was sceptical of the idea, but it wasn't as if they had any other information to go on.

Naruto finished undoing the binds and offered his arms for the mother of shinobi to help her down, but Kaguya dropped her arms and breathed out a long breath before looking over at the last Uchiha with both her Byakugan and the Sharingan in the centre of her forehead. "You are one of the direct descendants of my sons and the wielder of my doujutsu, correct?"

"Don't hold it against him," said Naruto with a smirk. "He can't help it."

Ignoring his old friend's comment, Sasuke stepped forward with his torch burning brightly as he looked at her face. He could see the mixture of experience and strength written all over her expression, but there was pain and suffering in her three eyes. She had suffered through centuries of her children killing each other and now was at the centre of the son of her first children trying to kill her other descendants.

"This is one more thing you must find within the mindscape. I am only one part of a whole and you will need to find my body before you can escape. Take my power and seal it in a scroll before the avatar comes in to reseal me."

"Where is this body of yours?" asked Naruto as Sasuke frowned and pulled out a scroll from his pack. He wasn't convinced by the plan, but that was primarily because the sheer amount of power she was emanating surely couldn't be contained in a single scroll.

While Sasuke prepared that, Kaguya turned her attention to the other shinobi that had helped her. She noticed that he was one of the descendants of her son from a different line, fighting at the side of the other boy like a brother. "I do not know its exact location, only that it resides in the desert area. You do not have much time before the avatar reaches you."

The stone structure shook once again and a loud crashing sound echoed around them. The walls began to crumble around them and it was obvious that they were only a few moments away from engaging the seemingly immortal avatar of the Quiraji leader. Sasuke showed their target the scroll he had in his pack and Kaguya smiled at him in a way he wouldn't have thought possible from a being so powerful. She reached up and placed her hand on the scroll, infusing her power within its contents and disappearing into thin air. Naruto nearly jumped at her disappearance, but only had a moment before the chamber was torn open to the outside and the avatar of Benkei stepped in with his fists covered in stone dust and ready to crush them into tiny pieces.

Sasuke immediately transferred his chakra from the small flame to a huge flamethrower that overwhelmed the Quiraji leader momentarily, while they got a grip on the situation. They didn't need words to communicate what they clearly needed to do, with Sasuke shoving the scroll Kaguya's power had transferred herself into his pocket and maintaining his flames while Naruto looked past the Quiraji leader's body to the outside jungle. The stone structure was clearly crumbling around them as large chunks of stone fell all around them, but the main danger came from the avatar of the Quiraji leader walking through Sasuke's flames towards them.

Hating that he had to look to Naruto to get them out of the bind once again, Sasuke gave his old friend the signal to teleport them out before cutting off his chakra flow to his flamethrower and stepping back to his side. He would normally fight back with all his strength, but they had to focus on the mission at hand. He was planning on coming back and beating the avatar of Benkei into oblivion, but something about Kaguya's reaction to their presence was very troubling to him.

Not wanting to use Hiraishin three times in short succession, Naruto warned Sasuke that this transition was not going to be pleasure before grabbing his arm and line-of-sight teleporting them directly into the air exposed by the avatar of Benkei's bashing into the bottom of the stone structure.

Sasuke's body struggled with the transition, but as they fell towards the ground he had more than enough strength to bite at his thumb and speed through a set of handseals before summoning a large hawk for the two of them to land on and catch their breath. It was strange that the summoning technique worked within the mindscape, but Sasuke wasn't going to complain as Naruto pointed in the direction of the far-away desert.

"That's where we need to go, according to Kaguya."

Sasuke directed the hawk to take them to the entrance of the desert, sensing that it was struggling to hold its form within the mindscape. It lasted just long enough to get them to the edge of the desert and allow them enough space to leap down onto the sandy ground. From their earlier aerial position they could see that the avatar of Benkei's entrance to the stone structure they had just been in had been enough to destroy it, showing them just how much power they were fighting against.

"Maybe we can use Kaguya's power to defeat the avatar of Benkei," suggested Naruto as he glanced back at the jungle area behind them. "We might not have a choice."

Feeling at his pocket, Sasuke shook his head and began walking into the desert, "I don't think it works that way. Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover."

"I suppose you're right," said Naruto with a sigh. He felt bad that they hadn't had more time to speak to Kaguya, as she clearly knew what was going on, but they had to take what they could get.

* * *

><p>After escaping the stone structure, Naruto and Sasuke immediately set out towards the desert with the intention of ending their quest as soon as possible. To conserve energy Naruto held back from using his line-of-sight teleporting ability, but even at the reasonable pace they set out on it still took the better part of a day to get to the areas where the sand and the grasslands were no longer merged together into one environment. While travelling, the two of them discussed their hope that the battle outside was going to plan, though they doubted that time had passed outside in the same way it had inside. Anything that happened to their bodies while they were connected to Shikyo would happen to them in the mindscape, so if the real Benkei had defeated the others and attacked them, they would have noticed it by now.<p>

Once they got to the desert proper however, things began to devolve from there.

Unlike before, when Sasuke was able to pinpoint Kaguya's source of power from the chakra she was subconsciously generating at the bottom of the stone structure, looking for her body in the desert was similar to looking for a needle in a giant sand pit. The sand stretched out as far as they could see and they had no point of reference except the information she had given them before they had sealed her power in the scroll that Sasuke now carried.

"She could be anywhere in here," said Naruto with a depressed look on his face. "Do we even have the supplies necessary to do this?"

Sasuke knelt down and picked up a handful of sand, feeling the course texture between his fingers for a few moments before letting it fall back to the ground. He smirked and turned to his old friend, "What is it you keep saying? Just like old times?"

Naruto blanched and kicked at the sand piles near his feet, "Don't remind me. I almost died in that stupid desert in Suna, no thanks to you."

The last Uchiha ignored his complaints and began running into the desert in front of them, keeping his Sharingan activated and scanning the area as much as he could. There wasn't even a trace of chakra to be found in the expansive wastelands but it gave him a wider spectrum of sight and that would hopefully help them stop an ambush from any potential enemy forces or even the avatar of Benkei that they both knew was tracking them even now.

oOoOoOo

After two days of wandering, even their monstrous stamina pools were beginning to circle the drain while their search produced nothing more than the knowledge that both Naruto and Sasuke really hated deserts. They had searched throughout the days and the nights, with the last Uchiha scanned the area with his Sharingan and Naruto splintering off clones to check certain areas that might contain what they were looking for.

They found nothing at a consistent pace. The desert seemed to stretch on without end, as even the jungle they had started in was nowhere to be seen. Eventually the two of them agreed that they had to take a few hours to rest and catch their breath. While they began looking for a place that was safe to stay in, the two tired shinobi saw an image of the avatar of Benkei off into the distance.

"Reckon that's a mirage?" asked Naruto as his hands slowly moved to the sword at his side.

Sasuke stared at the image with his Sharingan, unable to see anything except the large man walking towards them ominously. He hated the fact that he didn't want to engage the Quiraji leader at all, it felt cowardly and spineless, but neither of them was in a particularly good condition to fight the enemy that he doubted they could really defeat in the mindscape anyway. "I don't think we should wait to find out."

"You're probably right," said Naruto as one of his hands moved to his forehead. He'd had his clones searching for any area that could contain areas of interest, even though the process was particularly draining lately with the Kyuubi's influence, but even now there were nearly a hundred moving around in every direction. One of his clones had responded with a pulse of chakra before stabbing itself with a kunai to send the information it had seen directly to the original Naruto. "Hang on, I might have a place."

"Our target?" asked Sasuke as the image of the avatar of Benkei broke out into a run while still looking like a mirage, forcing the Uchiha shinobi to draw his sword and prepare himself to accept a charge.

Naruto shook his head as he processed the information he was being given, "No, it's too small. Looks to be a cave in the side of a tiny mountain without anything around it. Still in the desert, though."

"How far away?"

"Too far by foot," said Naruto as he stepped forward to place his hand on his old friend's shoulder. The last Uchiha had complained about the mode of transportation in the past, but as the image of Benkei came closer towards them he was forced to admit that, if nothing else, it was convenient to be able to move around so easily. This was the fifth time they had detected the avatar of Benkei following them, though at times they had been able to fight him off and flee, whereas other times they had put as much distance between them as they could afford.

They got the feeling they were getting closer, but there was no way to tell until they actually found the mother of shinobi's body. Naruto teleported himself and Sasuke through his father's technique to a seal the clone had left before killing itself to give him the information.

The two of them landed on the sand bed almost gracefully, far away from the avatar of Benkei tracking them. They looked up to see the small mountain the clone of Naruto had found, it looked like a large chunk of rock about the height of the old Hokage mountain with a small opening that appeared to lead into a small cave. The ex-Konoha shinobi looked around the area to ensure that they weren't being followed before the two of them ran towards the cave opening.

They were both exhausted and needed a few hours to catch their breath. If the way their time in the mindscape had gone was any indication, they could afford to spend a night recovering their strength.

Hopefully the avatar of Benkei would leave them alone for a night, so they could continue their search in the hope of ending the conflict.

oOoOoOo

Having sealed the entrance to the cave and ensured that they had enough air holes to breath from the top, Sasuke lit a fire with his ninjutsu and began patching up his accumulated wounds. On the other side of the cave, Naruto stripped off his shirt and began fanning it over the fire, enjoying the warmth over his bare chest.

"Do you have to do that right now?" asked Sasuke with no small hint of annoyance in his voice.

Naruto ignored him and placed his shirt on a nearby rock before sitting down beside the fire and putting his hands up against it. They'd been searching and fighting for so long in the mindscape he'd almost forgotten what it was like to just rest for a few moments and recuperate his thoughts. He reached over to his pack and rummaged around for a few seconds before producing a piece of fruit that he bit into hungrily.

"Hey, where did you get that?"

"I had a clone get me some," said Naruto with his mouth full. "Seemed like a good idea, since we've been here for ages."

Sasuke glared at his old friend menacingly, hating the fact that he had thought ahead and he hadn't. He could feel his stomach grumbling fiercely in protest to how he'd been treating it since they'd arrived, but his pride demanded that he didn't cave to temptation.

But that only lasted until Naruto produced a small mango from his pack and Sasuke didn't even contain the drool that fell from his mouth. With an amused chuckle, the blonde shinobi tossed it to his old friend, watching him catch it before revealed a look of complete defeat at giving in so easily.

"I…I don't need your pity fruit," started Sasuke, but nevertheless he bit into it and let its juices flow down his throat with a sigh of relief. It wasn't enough to completely satisfy him yet, but it was a good start.

"So what do you think is happening back outside?" asked Naruto after a few minutes of silence. The fire flickered between them ominously, threatening to reveal their position or rob them of their warmth at any moment by going out.

Sasuke shrugged as he leaned against one of the cave's walls, "Hard to say. We have no way of knowing how much time has passed out there. The battle could be over, for all we know."

"I don't believe that," said Naruto stubbornly. "Hinata and the others wouldn't die so easily."

"Kakashi did," shot back Sasuke with a dark look in his eyes.

That thought kept both of them quite for a long time, trying to work out why their old teacher had tried to sacrifice his own life for theirs, only to be cut down so brutally without time for them to process it. They had been so occupied with fighting Benkei that they'd not had the time to think about what they were doing, or what it would mean. But now that they were stuck in the mindscape until they were killed or they defeated their enemy, it was hard not to take their resting time to think about the others and what they'd been doing.

Eventually one of them had to break the ice, but to his own surprise Sasuke was the one to talk first. His relationship with Naruto had changed over the years and he still thought of him as a stupid ignorant moron that had delusions of importance, but when it came down to it he was one of the only people he could really talk to.

"So what's married life like?" he asked in a manner that he tried to convey his lack of interest in the topic, failing miserably.

Naruto glanced down to the ring on his finger for a moment, remembering the quick wedding they had gone through after the battle in the Quiraji continent. "It's…nice. Yeah, I think that's the best way of describing it. Nice."

The last Uchiha stared at him for a moment before snorting and shaking his head quickly, "Only you could say something like that. Absolutely idiotic."

"Why do you ask? Are you thinking about it?" He expected Sasuke to give him a sarcastic remark, perhaps call him a moron, but to his surprise he could see legitimate consideration in his friend's dark eyes. That was enough to make Naruto whistle an impressed tone, "This woman has some power if she can get you to think about this kind of stuff. I remember when you wouldn't give Sakura the time of day despite all her pestering."

"That…was different," said Sasuke quietly. "Fiore is…I dunno…"

"Do you love her?"

That was a question the last Uchiha should have been prepared for, but when Naruto asked he wasn't able to give an immediate answer. He had thought about it in the past, but hadn't come up with a conclusive response. "It's…complicated."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to the fire to get warmer, "Well it involves you, so I don't doubt that. Love isn't exactly something that is the easiest thing to admit."

"When did you first know with Hinata?" It felt very unlike him to ask that question, but given how much they had been fighting together within the mindscape and Naruto's unfortunate expertise in the area, he had to take the risk.

His blonde friend considered his question for a moment; it had been such a long time since he wasn't in love with his wife that it was difficult to remember when the transition had occurred. "If you're asking whether there was some big moment when I noticed, I guess there wasn't. I just…noticed."

"That's not helpful in the slightest," said a frustrated Sasuke with a sigh. "I'm not looking to marry Fiore or anything…but after this…I'm sure the topic of what we are doing next will come up. It's not as if there will be more rebellions for us to fight together."

Naruto watched his friend talk with fascination, it was so rare for Sasuke to talk about his feelings that he had to resist the urge to slap himself to see if he was awake or not. It didn't matter that they were both technically in a dream-like mindscape. Seeing that he had the chance to be helpful in an area that his friend was not particularly well-schooled in, Naruto began telling him the time when he first realised how important Hinata had become to him.

"There was a time during the six-month period when Kakashi-sensei and Itachi were doing their memory-technique thing. Hinata and I had been dating for a while; we hadn't done anything too drastic or anything at that stage since we were just kids really. One day after coming back from her work, Hinata sat down beside me on a couch and fell asleep on my lap without saying a word."

Despite himself, Sasuke smiled at the sentiment. He could recall a number of instances when Fiore had done the same thing, in fact one of the first times he had really looked at her as more than just a fighting partner had been when he'd first arrived at Cascading Flow and they'd fallen asleep on the same couch together.

"I won't bore you with the details," continued Naruto, "since you probably don't care. But there was a moment when I looked at her sleeping face and had a crystallising moment of realisation. She was that comfortable with me that she was able to completely open up and be that vulnerable in front of me…she valued me that much without even saying it. I didn't stand a chance; I knew that I loved her at that moment."

Sasuke considered what he said carefully. He knew that Naruto was more experienced in this area than he was, as difficult as that was to admit, and the scary thing was that he made a lot of sense. He had always felt comfortable with Fiore, even when they'd been at each other's throats. He knew he felt something for her, but he wasn't sure what it actually meant.

"Does that help at all?" asked Naruto when he saw that Sasuke had gotten quiet after he'd finished.

His old friend stared into the fire between them for a long time, trying to process everything in his mind. Eventually he decided that it would be something he would discuss with her once the battle was over and they had a few moments to themselves. He didn't doubt that they would be busy if they were to win the war, but after that he wasn't so sure.

He'd been fighting every moment since he could remember. It was strange to think of a time when that wouldn't be the case.

"We should try and get out of here as quickly as we can," said Sasuke eventually, feeling at the scroll that sat in his pocket. "Even if the battle outside isn't over yet, we can't linger here much longer."

Naruto nodded in agreement, pulling his shirt back over his front and placing his hands together to create a pair of Kage Bunshin behind him. "Let's get some rest and keep up our search tomorrow. I've got a good feeling about tomorrow."

Seeing that his old friend had created the clones to guard them while they slept, Sasuke found a comfortable part of the cave and wrapped himself up with his cloak, while Naruto did a similar thing on the other side of the cave. There was no way to tell whether the avatar of Benkei knew where they were or not, but they were still human and needed a break every once in a while. Naruto had observed that the image of the Quiraji leader had become more desperate over the past few days and that was both worrying and comforting.

They were getting closer to their final target.

* * *

><p>Sasuke blasted out a wide torrent of flames into the area directly in front of him, while Naruto tried to figure out how to open the door behind them without bringing down the whole structure on their heads.<p>

"Good feeling, huh?! That's the last time I listen to you and your stupid plans!"

Naruto smirked as he fiddled with the mechanical moving parts of the complex ancient door. "I'm amazed you remember that. That was days ago."

"Just get the damn door open," spat back Sasuke impatiently.

They'd lucked out in finding the entrance to the catacombs in the desert after two of his clones had fallen into a giant pit created from a large sand-dwelling creature, but after stepping inside the dusty tomb a massive door had slammed down behind them and a cluster of Quiraji warriors had appeared from within the walls to attack them. They were only projections of the Quiraji leader's mind within the mindscape and didn't seem fazed by the situation at all.

Whereas the two shinobi knew that they would need some form of escape route in case things went really wrong.

Naruto eventually threw up his hands and walked back to Sasuke's side, "I can't figure it out. We'll have to find another way out."

"Lovely," said Sasuke as he cancelled his fire technique and looked at the Quiraji warriors that had survived his attack move towards them once again. The fact that they hadn't suffocated when he'd used a fire technique meant that there had to be another source of oxygen somewhere nearby, which was good since it meant that they were still going to be able to breath.

"Can you teleport us out once we have our target?" asked Sasuke as he withdrew his sword and stepped towards the approaching foes.

Naruto shrugged as he pulled out the Second Hokage's sword and activated it with his thumb, "Probably. Seems like we're in the right place though. Benkei'll probably show up at the end to stop us."

"Won't that be lovely." The Quiraji soldiers in front of them looked to be similar to the Red Warriors they had faced earlier, though clearly less powerful than what they had become. They wielded blades and physical energy against them, but neither of the ex-Konoha shinobi were particularly concerned.

Working together in a flurry of quick movements, Naruto and Sasuke broke through their ranks with relative ease and took them down quickly. As they delivered the final blows the Quiraji soldiers disappeared like shimmers in the air, but unlike the avatar of Benkei they didn't appear to return immediately.

They weren't going to wait around to see if they did. Behind where they had been fighting the Quiraji soldiers was a long passageway that appeared to be darker than the chamber they had encountered the power of Kaguya in earlier. There was no trace of chakra this time for Sasuke's Sharingan to follow, but the fact that there was a structure here in the middle of the desert that had taken them the better half of a week to find was a good sign.

The Quiraji writings on the walls around them were quite encouraging as well.

Lighting up the area with his flames, Sasuke began moving down the passageway quickly, while Naruto took a moment to look at the symbols on the wall, noticing some similarities to the ones from the earlier stone structure. He didn't understand it, but something told him that there was something to be found there. He told Sasuke go on ahead of him, wanting to figure out the puzzle while he made his way down into the underground structure.

Even with his Sharingan active and moving as cautiously as he could, there were a number of traps that he encountered that he hadn't been expecting. As he moved through the passageways large spikes and projectiles emerged from the walls to attack him directly. From years of battle experience Sasuke was able to avoid the worst of the traps, though there were the occasional projectiles that glanced his sides and tore at his clothing.

Sasuke had to resist the urge to light the entire structure on fire in frustration at the seemingly random nature of the traps. After the third spike trap scratched at the side of his face, he decided he wasn't going to risk going through his way. Putting his hands together he created a pair of Kage Bunshin and sent them ahead of himself. Having worked out the trick for himself over the years, Sasuke condensed enough chakra within the clones to avoid them disappearing after a single strike and sent them out ahead to spring any traps that might lie between him and wherever the passageway led to.

After a few minutes he was joined by Naruto, who asked why he had stopped all of a sudden. Sasuke gave him the short version and asked whether he had discovered anything useful on the walls.

"Nah, couldn't understand any of it. I think this is from when the Quiraji occupied our homeland though, judging from the look of the writings."

Sasuke waited a few moments before receiving the information about his clones deep into the structure. "There is a pair of chambers about two minutes down a path, both of which are blocked by large groups of Quiraji soldiers. She could be in either chamber."

"So we'll split up then," said Naruto, walking forward and immediately triggering a spike trap that spat a pair of long spikes directly at his face. He moved his head just in time and stared at the wall where they had buried themselves several inches in the stone. "This place is pretty crazy."

"Come on, Naruto. After seeing my clones, there is a chance those soldiers will have told the avatar of Benkei that we are here. I'm sure he's already on his way."

His blonde friend nodded grimly and the two of them moved down the passageway quickly, avoiding the traps that the clones didn't spring. There didn't appear to be any swirling areas to try and throw them off, which made them wonder if they were in the right place or not, but as they came to the split path they decided to go their separate ways with the intention of seeing which area was the more important one for them to proceed down.

Confronted by a cluster of ten Quiraji soldiers standing in front of a large stone door, Naruto decided that he wasn't about to let them slow down their progress, particularly in the knowledge that their target might be behind that door. Instead of attacking with his Kattoken as he would normally, Naruto flicked a pair of kunai at either side of the Quiraji soldier group before they got the chance to attack him. He clapped his hands together in a handseal before drawing his sword and striking it down to the ground in front of him. The Quiraji soldiers moved to charge towards him, but Naruto connected his chakra to the hilt of the Second Hokage's sword and extended it outwards into long lightning tendrils that lashed out at them with loud cracking noises. The passageway lit up as they tried valiantly to fight against his lightning technique, but with his kunai acting as redirecting nodes and Naruto controlling it directly, they only lasted just over ten seconds before each of them fell to the ground, having burnt up in their skins and disappeared like the soldiers before.

Picking up his sword and retrieving his spare kunai, Naruto stabbed his lightning sword into the door and began cutting. The energy-output of the sword struggled against the movements as it wasn't what it was designed to do, but Naruto had learnt how to feed chakra to the blade to ensure that it stayed sharp and continued its job.

In the other passageway, Sasuke saw no need to expend more chakra than he was required to. He ignited the closest Quiraji soldier with his spiritual energy flame so that the passageway was full of light for him to fight and activated his Eternal Sharingan before disappearing in a flash of movement. While the avatar of Benkei was extremely powerful and able to counter such movements, the Quiraji soldiers that existed within the mindscape were almost pathetically simple to take down and Sasuke barely even broke a sweat moving between them with his sword and cutting them in seconds. He stared at the door for a moment while stepping over the bodies, noticing a resemblance between it and the one that had closed down behind them when they'd first entered the underground structure. It likely had a similar combination lock that he simply didn't have time to figure out.

But luckily, he wouldn't have to. His red eyes noticed a small hole on the corner of the doorway, likely made by a small rodent or something similar. It wasn't something he was particularly looking forward to, but Sasuke ignored his pride momentarily and placed his hands together to transform into a small mouse. He scurried through the hole quickly into the chamber beyond.

Twenty minutes later, the two ex-Konoha shinobi reconnected in an adjoining corridor as the two chambers were connected by a split path the same as the one they had entered in. Naruto had several large cuts along his arms and was breathing heavily with a trickle of blood in his blonde hair, while Sasuke had one of his eyes closed and a heavy set of bruises along his face with one of his arms hanging at his side.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Naruto through long breaths.

"Not even a little bit," said Sasuke back, spitting a small pool of blood onto the stony ground near his feet.

The two of them continued to walk down the passageway, both hoping that they were close to the end as they had been forced to expend a large amount of energy in dealing with their mutual chambers. The passageway had slowly become lit by glowing yellow stones along the ceiling, revealing more of the Quiraji writings and giving them a better indication that they were in the right area. After a few minutes of walking they came to large doorway that, unlike the previous ones, was not blocked at all.

Inside the doorway was a massive chamber that easily dwarfed the others that they had passed through earlier, but it contained a large number of objects and architecture that were clearly Quiraji in origin.

But neither of them cared about the other contents of the chamber. They stepped inside and prepared themselves for battle as they saw the avatar of Benkei standing in the centre of the chamber with his hands crossed over his chest. Directly behind the avatar of the Quiraji leader was Kaguya, kneeling on the ground with her hands chained to the floor on either side of her body. Despite her state, the mother of shinobi gave the intruders a warm smile and watched them carefully with her Byakugan and Sharingan eyes. She could clearly tell they had succeeded in retrieving the power that had been contained in the other area of the mindscape and was hopeful they would be able to release her.

"That'd be right," said Naruto with a despondent look on his face. "It was never going to be that easy."

Staring at his ancestor's Sharingan eye in the centre of her forehead, Sasuke thought he could feel her trying to send him a message as the avatar of Benkei uncrossed his arms and began walking towards them with physical energy emanating from his fists. Following the micro-movements in her eyes, Sasuke was able to determine what she was trying to tell him and reached into his pocket to produce the scroll that the previous incarnation of Kaguya had sealed herself into.

The avatar of Benkei noticed the scroll with his first demonstration of emotion since they had entered the mindscape. His dark eyes widened upon seeing it and he shot forward to reach out and try and grab it with one of his large hands.

Sasuke dived out of the way and grimaced as he landed on his bad arm, but still rolled away back onto his feet as Benkei turned to face him, reaching out with his physical energy to grip Sasuke with his extended invisible hand.

However, before the avatar of Benkei could crush his within his grip and retrieve the scroll, Naruto teleported in front of him and slammed the heel of his foot into his temple, sending him crashing into a nearby wall. Naruto landed down on the ground with his hands up ready to fight off their attacker, "Go release Shikyo, I'll hold him off."

"I don't need…your help," groaned Sasuke, but Naruto had already ignored him and was charging towards the avatar of Benkei with his fists raised and clones appearing at his sides as a distraction. Sighing heavily, Sasuke let Naruto handle their enemy for a few moments as he turned and made his way to the captive Kaguya near the back wall. As he approached her he used the Eternal Sharingan that was still open to set the chains on fire with the black flames of Amaterasu. They only lasted a few seconds before her hands were free and Sasuke was leaning down in front of her to offer her a hand up.

"You are a welcome sight, my child," said Kaguya as she slowly stood up and stretched out her arms sorely. "It has been many centuries that I have been captive here."

"Yes and I'm sure it has been terrible, but we're in a bit of a rush," said Sasuke as he turned around to see Naruto being hurled around the room like a ragdoll. "Can you help us get out of this place?"

The body of Kaguya stepped up behind him and placed an affectionate hand on his shoulder; speaking an entire conversation with the touch along as her other hand reached over and plucked the scroll from his hand.

The moment her long fingers undid the seal and opened it up the entire room appeared to freeze as she underwent a rapid transformation. Her stature grew instantly to tower over the two of them and her long red hair extended down past her feet while two long horns emerged on her forehead. For a moment she adopted a terrifying visage as her three eyes glared at the avatar of Benkei hatefully.

In those seconds that she recovered her power and became complete again, the avatar of Benkei gave off an expression of fear while his previous opponent picked himself up from the ground with a loud groan. Both he and Sasuke watched as Kaguya stepped forward and grasped the avatar of Benkei with her hand before crushing his throat and obliterating him into tiny specks of dust, leaving little evidence that he'd ever existed.

With that done, their fight was over for the time being. Kaguya's face returned to its serene state and she turned her attention to the two shinobi that had been instrumental in freeing her from the Quiraji's grasp. She smiled widely and opened her arms up in a receiving manner, "The two of you have done well in rescuing me."

"Doesn't look like you needed much help to me," said a grinning Naruto as he struggled to walk to his old friend's side. "You handled him like he was nothing."

"It was only affection for my children that allowed the Quiraji to imprison me in the first place," clarified Kaguya with a twinge of regret in her voice. "Now the power they held over me is no more and I am finished."

"So that means Benkei won't be able to revive again outside, correct?"

The mother of shinobi nodded to her Uchiha descendent before taking a long breath and retracting the power she had been giving off so that she was only a mildly suffocating presence instead of an overwhelming one. "You have to finish it now."

Naruto went to ask her what she meant, but the look on Sasuke's face beside him told him that his original suspicion was correct. "You can't mean…"

"It's not your body anymore, is it?" asked Sasuke with a knowing look. The visual difference between the Quiraji leader Shikyo and Kaguya was obvious, but so were the similarities and that spoke volumes as to what they would have to do.

"I need the release of death, so that I can return to what I was doing before the Quiraji captured me."

The two ex-Konoha shinobi looked at each other again for a few seconds, unsure whether they would be able to do what she was asking them to do. They had spent all this time coming here to rescue her and had done exactly that, but now that they were here they didn't want to destroy the woman that had clearly overpowered the avatar of the Quiraji leader with such little effort.

But they both agreed that such power wasn't going to translate to the outside, and that was where the real Benkei was. If they left her alone they might never leave the mindscape, since the Kyuubi still hadn't recovered from their entrance in, and there was a chance that Benkei could enter and dominate her once again. There wasn't going to be a second chance.

Hating what they were forced to do, Naruto and Sasuke drew their swords and stepped towards their ancestor with steely expressions on their faces. As they approached her, Kaguya was struck by the similarities between the two of them and her youngest sons, who had fought and died against the Quiraji in ages past.

Stepping towards the young shinobi, the tall mother of shinobi reached her long arms out and took the two of them in a loving embrace, placing her face between the tops of their heads and kissing them affectionately.

"Thank you, my children. You are the greatest gift a mother could ask for."

With heavy hearts, the two ex-Konoha drove their respective blades into her chest and gave Kaguya the release she yearned for. As they did so the mindscape began to collapse in on itself, the underground structure disappearing in a shimmer to reveal the desert above before that began to disappear as well. Naruto and Sasuke shared a final look as they sheathed their swords, waiting for the mindscape to be destroyed and to send them back to the battle outside. If the fatigue they felt now translated outside though, they wouldn't be much more use.

Hopefully what they had accomplished would be enough.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

Yeah, this chapter got pretty long. I wanted to do a lot of different things here at once and it got a little bit out of hand, but I hope it was enjoyable. Just a note though, the battle isn't over yet.

I'm currently writing the Writing Tips and Tricks chapter to come after the final chapter of the story in a few chapters. If you guys have anything you would like to know about or read about, feel free to leave a review and I'll see if I can put it in.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	98. Chapter 90 Building a Better Tomorrow

**The Wanderers**

Chapter 90 – Building a Better Tomorrow

**A/N**: Sorry that this took so long to come out, though as the second-last chapter I felt like it needed to be given its proper due. The final chapter will take a little bit longer as well, for the same reason. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the ending chapters of my story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would have ended it long ago and began a Part 3, with its own bad guys and character development sagas.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

The final battle has begun.

As the Quiraji leader Benkei proved impossible to kill for more than a few minutes, Sasuke and Naruto took a big risk by using the Kyuubi's chakra to enter into Shikyo's mindscape to try and draw her from his control and prevent him from continuing to revive himself. When they arrived they were lost at the start, but Sasuke was able to pinpoint a chakra location in a nearby stone structure. However, they were side-tracked by an avatar of Benkei within the mindscape that overpowered them relatively quickly, forcing them to retreat to the stone structure. Inside they found the source of Kaguya's power, allowing her to seal her power within a scroll before the avatar of Benkei caught up with them.

Fleeing from that battle as well, the two of them entered the desert and spent the better part of a week searching for the second half of their target. They eventually found an underground structure and made their way through several clusters of traps and Quiraji soldier images before reaching the final chamber. Inside they fought Benkei and freed Kaguya's body, uniting her with her previous-acquired power. The renewed mother of shinobi obliterated the avatar of Benkei within the mindscape, and then requested the two shinobi finish her off so that they could complete the reversal process. The mindscape then collapsed and Naruto and Sasuke were hurled back into the battle outside.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p>After being pulled back out of the mindscape with the death of Kaguya, Naruto and Sasuke were nearly killed by the chakra backlash that thundered back into their systems. With the last Uchiha's chakra network still connected to Naruto's system, the Nine-Tails regulated the flow just enough to save their lives before falling silent once again within its host. It had been recovered during the internal conflict in preparation for such a backlash, as it knew that if Naruto were to be killed once again it was highly likely that it would be its end as well.<p>

The pair of shinobi blinded rapidly as they attempted to readjust back to reality, both of them looking down to see that Shikyo's body had disappeared into a small pile of pale rags just in front of Naruto's feet. Neither of them could sense her presence anymore, which they hoped was exactly what was needed for the battle.

Sasuke quickly removed his hand from his old friend's shoulder and spun around to try and get an understanding of how long they had taken from their week inside the Quiraji leader's mindscape. The moment he did so he felt a wave of fatigue come over him and his legs collapsed beneath him. His red eyes changed back to their normal black and he could feel himself falling unconscious while he tried to find where his partner might be fighting.

He caught a glimpse of Fiore's battle-face as she twirled her wooden staff and attacked Benkei viciously a fair distance away. Despite his concern over her presence in the battle against the dangerous Quiraji leader, he felt a hint of a smile emerging on his face in the knowledge that she hadn't been killed yet.

He tried to take a step towards the battle, but his body betrayed him as he'd suffered the worst from the chakra backlash and his face struck the ground hard.

Naruto fared slightly better during the recovery period after emerging from the mindscape, but that was only due to his heritage and the sheer amount of stubbornness he used to keep himself conscious. The first thing he noticed when he turned around, besides seeing Sasuke's face hit the dirt in a rather hilarious manner, was that his young wife had taken up a guard position between them and the ongoing battle with the Quiraji leader far off.

Forever thankful for her vigil, Naruto reached out to lean on her shoulder, having been struck with the same fatigue that had laid his friend low. At the touch, Hinata spun around and caught him before he fell to the ground, cradling his head carefully.

"Naruto! Are you okay? What happened?"

Her young husband took a moment to recollect his energy before looking up into her big white eyes and being reminded why he married her in the first place. He groaned and stood up properly, while keeping himself steady with his hands on her arms. "How…long were we gone? Did we lose anyone?"

Hinata's Byakugan gave her a wealth of information about Naruto's chakra network in the few moments she looked at him, which was more than enough to cause her alarm at how dangerously low his chakra levels had dropped. Despite that, she figured they had to have been successful in taking out Shikyo given the pile of rags behind him and that gave her a huge sense of relief that they weren't in danger of being instantly killed by the dangerous Quiraji leader.

"Honey, it's barely been a few seconds. You touched her and then you came back. The others are still fighting Benkei."

There was a wash of relief on Naruto's face upon hearing that, but it only lasted a moment before he got serious and tried to step forward to re-join the battle, wary of the fact that without his help others might suffer the same fate as his old teacher.

But Hinata wasn't going to let him do that. She knew her husband better than anyone in the world, and she could recognise when Naruto was going to stubbornly continue to fight until he was dead. She wasn't going to watch that again.

Muttering an apology, Hinata used some of the last of her chakra to press two fingers into the back of her husband's neck and knock him out before catching him in her arms. Naruto didn't make a sound as he fell unconscious, but he appeared to be muttered silently as Hinata carefully laid him on the ground to rest beside the unconscious Sasuke. The effort was enough to cause her to waver on her feet for a few moments before she steadied herself and retook her defensive stance.

The battle with Benkei was still being fought a long distance away, but she couldn't risk their lives by letting herself move from her position. The others would have to finish off the Quiraji leader on their own.

oOoOoOo

While keeping the Quiraji leader at bay, Neji had been using his Byakugan to keep track of their progress and the others fought off Benkei as hard as they could. Killer Bee's return to the fray had breathed fresh life back into them despite their knowledge that he could just keep reviving after each defeat and take them out one at a time. Through his black and white vision he watched Naruto and Sasuke enter the mindscape of Shikyo and then return within mere seconds with a sharp decline in their chakra levels to dangerously low levels.

However, the black void presence that had existed since the start of the battle had disappeared. The energy connection between the Quiraji leader and Benkei had been severed and Neji could feel hope coming back to him for the first time since they'd engaged the Quiraji leader in battle.

Killer Bee continued to attack Benkei with rapid-fire attacks, now wary of how dangerous their opponent was in close-quarters despite his earlier successful attack. He had done a serious amount of damage in his first attack, but the wound appeared to have healed with strange smoke from his body and Benkei had only been enraged at his reappearance. The other surviving combatants had taken a step back for a few moments to recover and let him take the initiative, but when Benkei had started to retaliate against him they had moved back into their combinations and tried to fight him coherently once again.

Seeing that their mission was a success, Neji stepped back into the front lines with the other combatants with a knowing look in his eyes. "His ally is down," he said quickly while there was a temporary lull in the fighting. "Now is the time to defeat him and win this war."

"That's convenient timing," said Fiore with a tired smile on her face. As the only non-chakra user in the group she would have figured herself best suited to fighting their opponent, but her wood-based attacks had struggled to penetrate through Benkei's armour and the Quiraji leader had learnt how she attacked throughout the battle. It was infuriating, but Benkei was starting to get sloppy with his movements. Each time he had been revived, his movements had dulled and a strange look had settled in his eyes, like he wasn't really there for longer and longer each time.

"How sure are you about this?" asked the Kazekage as he retracted his recent sand attack back into the gourds at his sides. "He doesn't seem any less dangerous."

Wiping off a collection of blood from a heavy cut on her forehead, Mei steadied herself on her feet and stared at their opponent carefully. "He isn't attacking us," she observed after a few moments.

The Quiraji leader had indeed stopped his attacks of the five remaining shinobi strike force for a moment, as he had seen the result of the two shinobi's intervention at his subject and watched her disappear into the pile of rags that now sat on the ground where she once stood.

He had no clue how they had managed it, but those two impudent shinobi had removed his one certainty in the war. So long as his shackle had lasted on the ancestor of both their races, he had been effectively immortal.

His calm demeanour was cracking. Things had not gotten this bad since the fall of the Quiraji Empire and he had taken the rank of leader from their broken nation. With power collecting in his fists, Benkei decided he was not going to take any more chances. The two shinobi that had caused his biggest problem seemed to have suffered for their role in the battle, but he wasn't going to let them live any longer.

He attempted to disappear in a flash of movement and cross the battlefield in an instant, but the shinobi remaining had seen the physical energy move enough times to know what he was trying to do. Gaara had already begun to surround the battlefield with a wall of sand to contain the Quiraji leader in the area, while Mei had been trailing water tendrils around the battlefield and pulled up a pair of them to clasp the Quiraji leader's legs to keep him from moving so quickly.

It was enough to shift Benkei's attention back to his immediate combatants and reconsider them as a threat, as Killer Bee, Neji and Fiore charged towards him hoping to end the battle right now. With a small pulse of power he broke the Mizukage's hold on his legs and pumped two quick fist thrusts towards his attackers. In that instant Fiore and Killer Bee were struck with blasts of spiritual wind energy while Neji moved to the side and opened his mouth wide with the activation of his prepared ninjutsu. It was normally difficult to perform such a complex technique with only one hand, but the pressure of the situation gave him enough motivation to go through with it.

A single pulse of vibrations moved across the battlefield in an instant, striking through the area Benkei was standing in and creating a specific area around the Quiraji leader to disrupt his hearing. It took a lot of concentration to maintain the attack, but he could see that it was affecting Benkei's abilities as he was slow to move as he went to counterattack the Otokage with a large blast of spiritual energy fire.

Seeing that her ally was about to be struck while he was maintaining his technique, the Mizukage stepped across and shielded Neji with a wave of water, though it wasn't quite strong enough to block all the fire. Despite the flames that struck his shoulders and legs behind Mei's shield, Neji kept up his debilitating ability to give the others a chance to finish the job. He disliked the notion of trusting others, but Benkei had seen all of his attacks and he knew that if he were to get in close he wouldn't survive very long as he currently was.

Fiore and Killer Bee recovered from their attacks and began charging back at Benkei with renewed gusto, while Gaara collapsed his sand around the area in hope of trapping the Quiraji leader and crushing him into a fine paste. If their estimates were right and he was no longer able to revive, they would never get another chance like this again. With Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke all out of the battle, and Rock Lee with crushed legs, it came down to just the five of them to defeat him.

Benkei was not going to let the shinobi strike force trap him like some amateur fighting coming into the arena for the first time though. In a quick sweep of his eyes he could estimate his opponents' tactics, as it was clear that the older woman and the red-haired young man had kept themselves at a distance to provide support, while the civilian and the Eight-Tails container engaged him in close-quarter combat. The hated Otokage had placed him in a bubble of silence that was throwing his balance off, but as much as he would have loved to crush his little head between his giant hands, he couldn't focus on attacking him without being countered by his allies.

The shinobi had cornered him, in a sense, but only because they believed he would be more cautious now that they likely knew he wasn't going to be able to revive anymore.

Now they were underestimating him.

Benkei took a step back with a pulse of physical energy, preventing Killer Bee from approaching him for a few moments while he turned his attention to the supporting shinobi. With a flick of his hand, he sent long tendrils of lightning directly towards them while his other hand punched the air towards the Otokage.

Gaara was able to get his sand defence up in time to cover both himself and the Mizukage, but Neji was sent flying backwards from the air blast and was forced to cancel his technique to defend himself. He landed awkwardly on the ground, feeling his shoulder come out of its socket at a painful angle. It wasn't anything worse than he had suffered before, but the mixture of frustration and pain was not helpful.

While the Otokage tried to recover, Fiore flew above on her platform of wood before transforming it into a spear and stabbing it towards the Quiraji leader's head. However, Benkei moved his gaze towards his flying foe and erected a powerful spiritual energy barrier that her wooden spear wasn't able to penetrate. Before he moved to counter attack her while she hovered in the air, the Mizukage pulled her away with a water tendril and showered Benkei with a small amount of water. It wasn't enough bother him more than a light drizzle, so the Quiraji leader didn't bother wasting energy on a defensive barrier for that, instead focusing his efforts on trying to blast the Cascading Flow warrior out of the air with air blasts.

Neji grimaced as he shoved his shoulder back into socket, wishing that he still had the hand attached to that arm before placing his hand back into a handseal and concentrating on moulding his chakra. He had enough strength for only a few more attacks, but he could feel an ending to the battle coming and that kept him going. He could see Gaara concentrating a large amount of sand at the back, while the Mizukage and Fiore kept their opponent occupied. Through his Byakugan he could see a pattern emerging with the other four combatants attacking.

There was a way for them to win, but they had to be quick about it otherwise the opportunity would no longer be in their favour.

Pushing his chakra to his throat, Neji emitted a directed pulse of high-pitched sound at the Quiraji leader. It was a technique he had learnt from Dosu and adopted to his own, and he did his best to direct it away from Fiore as she was retreating from the area and straight into the enemy's ears.

However, Benkei had seen the technique before and he clapped his large hands in front of himself to disrupt the vibration-based attack for a few moments. The attack was enough of a distraction for Killer Bee to reappear on the battlefield and slam his fists into the ground directly in front of their enemy. His arms were covered in lightning and he fuelled it straight into the small pools of water that the Mizukage had created at the feet of their enemy.

Even though his attack was chakra-based, Benkei still suffered under the electric-based attack and let out a roar of pain as he thundered forward and grabbed the Eight-Tails container's throat in both his hands tightly. His movements were far faster than Killer Bee could defend himself from and within moments he could feel his throat being crushed under the Quiraji leader's fingers.

"Die…" he said through clenched teeth, while small tendrils of lightning still flitted around his face.

Just as he was about to kill the Kumogakure shinobi, Benkei's grip lessened as he felt the half-dozen sand spears from the Kazekage drive themselves into his back from high in the air. The concentration was enough to pierce through his weakened spiritual energy armour temporarily, and the shinobi strike force converged on him immediately.

Killer Bee grabbed at Benkei's hands around his throat and pumped as much lightning as he could into his body, seeing the Quiraji leader suffer and loosen his grip further. While this happened, the Mizukage moved behind the two of them with her hands covered in molten lava, driving them straight into Benkei's kidneys. Her attack hurt her as much as Benkei, but it was enough to force the Quiraji leader to drop his grip of Killer Bee completely and turn around while she retreated backwards and blew a small cloud of acidic mist directly into his face.

Benkei roared out in rage and clawed at his face, unable to stop his skin from burning as his regenerative abilities had been due to his link with Shikyo and now he was feeling the full effects of their attacks for the first time. He flailed around his area with one of his hands, causing huge chunks of earth to emerge from the ground and hurl around the nearby area, but his attacks were unfocused and unable to hit his nimble foes as they regrouped and attacked him once again.

Neji leapt forward with his single arm and drove a kunai into the back of their enemy, unable to penetrate a renewed spiritual energy barrier, but it stayed in place as he jumped back and activated the explosion seal on it. The blast sent Benkei forward and spun him around, while Gaara rained down sand projectiles on top of him to keep his attention scattered and unfocused.

This gave Fiore enough time to concentrate her physical energy into her wood element into a single spear that she thrust from both her hands straight into Benkei's chest, at the same time as Killer Bee drove four of his swords into his back. They pierced every major organ they could reach, but even as they could see Benkei trying to retaliate they repeated their attacks with an unrelenting fury.

After a few seconds the Quiraji leader stood still and the two combatants held their weapons inside his body, unsure what they were to do now. The black eyes of Benkei had been sealed shut by Mei's acidic mist and his body bled from dozens of wounds from every angle, but all of their senses couldn't tell whether he was actually dead or not. The many revivals that they had encountered earlier had made them cautious, but Benkei's body teetered for a moment before it started to collapse.

As their enemy's body began to fall to the ground, the combination of Fiore and Killer Bee leapt back in case he were to recover immediately and retaliate at them. While they retreated, the Kazekage surged forward and slammed both his hands into the ground just in front of Benkei's body.

The ground began to collapse as he converted massive amounts of minerals into sand and drowned the Quiraji leader's body in the growing pit around him. It took all the chakra Gaara had left in him, plus the extra that Shukaku had been siphoning to him throughout the battle, but he could sense that the end of the battle had come and he wasn't going to take any more chances with their enemy.

Once he had created a deep enough hole, Gaara pumped a pulse of sand over the top and activated his technique. "Sabaku Sousou!"

The heavily concentrated sand crushed the Quiraji leader's body into a bloody mush and buried it deep into the hole he'd created, but Gaara wasn't going to believe they had finished the battle just yet. He turned his head and shouted for the Mizukage, who was already running towards him with her hands in a handseal. The moment she came into range of the deep hole the Kazekage had created and saw the sand-based grave he had made, she put her hands to her mouth and spewed a wide spread of lava over the top of the sand before rapidly cooling it into a hard rock cover.

"Did that do it?" asked Fiore as she turned on her heel and began moving back towards them.

Her combat companion clenched a fist triumphantly and grinned behind his sunglasses, "Surely that fool is dead and gone. We crushed his face in something harsh." Killer Bee hadn't been present for the Quiraji leader's revivals, but he knew that there was a reason they were being so cautious about him, considering how easily he had taken him out earlier.

The final fighter stepped forward to join the others with his white eyes staring into the grave intensely. Neji watched the Quiraji leader's body fade away within the sand and lava tomb, the black and white vision doing nothing to dissuade his fear for several moments before his chakra started to fail him and he was forced to cancel his Byakugan. There was no way to tell if he was going to return back to life or not, but the other Kages had done well sealing him into the ground and he hoped that that had ended it.

"How long do we wait?" asked Mei, having completed her sealing of the Quiraji leader's grave with her lava.

"Until we're sure he isn't coming back," said Gaara softly. He felt more tired than he'd ever been in his life, but he knew that if their enemy were to come back they would have to keep fighting and that kept him on his feet.

The five of them waited for almost fifteen minutes around the hole in the ground that held the body of the Quiraji leader. None of them could sense anything within and once they had recovered a little bit, both the Kazekage and Mizukage layered on their seals until it was at the same level as the stone ground beneath their feet. They waited for another fifteen minutes, but there was no proof that Benkei was ever coming back again.

The battle was now over.

* * *

><p>After confirming that their enemy was not coming back anymore and they had won the day, the survivors of the shinobi strike force took a few moments to recover from their ordeal and comprehend what they had done. Both Rock Lee and Hinata had been unable to participate at the end, with the former still trying to recover from his crushed legs a long way away from the battle and the latter still stubbornly standing over her husband and Sasuke's unconscious bodies with the last bits of her strength. The two sleeping shinobi were exhausted to the point of near-death, but they would survive now that the battle was over.<p>

Despite their victory however, the members of the shinobi strike force were well aware of the high cost they had paid to defeat the Quiraji leaders. The bodies of the last Inuzukas and their companions were almost destroyed beyond recognition, having been felled on the battlefield that they had once been born on. Itachi, Konan and Kakashi each lay where they respectively fell, having sacrificed themselves for the good of the battle, while Yugito's body was far away from the others, having been defeated by her own companion while she was under the enemy's control.

They had lost nearly half the strike force in their efforts. But they had won and that was what mattered.

Having created a wooden seat to rest on, Fiore glanced over at her unconscious partner for a moment before turning back to the conscious strike force members, "So, what are we going to do now? I could sleep for a century, at the least."

"You wouldn't be wrong there, lady," said Killer Bee with an exhausted grin. "But we ain't done quite yet." His voice was tiny in comparison to how it normally sounded, as part of his throat had been crushed in the final moments of Benkei's life. The chakra he was been given by the Eight-Tails within him had been helping heal him, but it was a slow process and it stung like hell to talk.

"He's right," said Mei as she ran a hand through her bloody auburn hair. "If he wasn't lying about those bombs, we have to return to our villages as soon as possible and make sure that our people are safe."

Gaara echoed her sentiment, though he was more concerned about the fact that he knew there was a huge Quiraji army that had been bearing down on his village before he had left with his force of ANBU. As confident as he was in Shikamaru and the defenders, he did not expect the village to have held and the retreat protocols to have been enacted. Still, it was at least a two day journey to his village, probably longer considered his exhausted state.

"You can't go yet, we still have battles here to fight," said Neji quickly, not wanting the two conscious shinobi leaders to leave before they had finished what they had started. "You both left shinobi at the Fire Temple to defend my people from the Quiraji army, which has no doubt struck them and is pressing the defenders as hard as they can. With their leaders dead, we have the best chance to break the back of the Quiraji once and for all and end the conflict completely."

"There are also the groups that went after the Chakra Nodes, if they are still alive," said Fiore, forcing herself up from her reasonably comfortable chair. "They were told to return to the Fire Temple after finishing their missions, right?"

Neji breathed out heavily and tried to remain steady on his feet as he made his way towards Hinata and the two unconscious shinobi that had made their victory possible. After seeing Benkei fall and their victory assured, Hinata had dropped to the ground and swallowed a soldier pill to temporarily boost her chakra so that she could bring both of them back to consciousness. She knew it would likely knock her out within minutes, but having Naruto and Sasuke back was more important to her at this stage. She smiled when Neji placed a hand on her shoulder; it spoke volumes as to how they both felt at that moment. He did his best to assist her efforts, wanting to thank Naruto and Sasuke for their help before they left the battlefield.

While they were healing the two of them, the others of the strike force used their temporarily downtime to gather the bodies of their fallen comrades to a single location. Even those that hadn't known some of them well felt the pain of each death as they laid them on the ground next to each other, recognising the sacrifice they had given so their world could go on. After a few minutes of final bone-setting that was one of the most painful things he had ever done, Rock Lee got back onto his feet before deciding that was a terrible idea and sitting back down on the ground to cradle his damaged legs tenderly. With the chakra he still had, Gaara offered him a small sand platform to sit on; recognising that the taijutsu master was feeling quite helpless while the rest of them helped get the rest of the strike force got themselves together to depart the battlefield. It felt strange that they'd only been in the ruins of Konoha for less than an hour, yet the landscape had changed massively even more than it had before.

Despite this though, the small building that the Quiraji leaders had emerged from and fired the projectiles from was still untouched. If any of them had had the energy, they would have blasted it into a thousand tiny pieces on general principle, but they had to concentrate their efforts at the moment.

"We should give them a proper burial," commented Mei after they had gathered all the bodies together. They had done a similar thing with the bodies of the Quiraji leaders that weren't in tiny pieces of buried deep within the ground, but she melted them into bloody pools with her lava just to ensure that they would never get the chance to be used by anyone ever again.

"And we will," said Neji as he walked towards the gathered group. He had transferred some chakra to his cousin and helped her get Naruto and Sasuke back on their feet, though they were still very groggy. "But we won't do it here. We don't necessarily have time for a funeral, as much as they deserve one."

"I still can't believe Kakashi-sensei is dead…" came Naruto's voice a short distance away, with his wife's arms around his shoulders. "It just doesn't seem real."

Beside the two of them, Sasuke stared silently at the body of his brother as it was placed next to the other fallen shinobi. He had felt a myriad of emotions when his brother had knocked him out of the way and saved him from Kyoukou, but now that the rush of battle was over and he had a few moments to think, he felt everything bubble up inside of him all over again. Sasuke wasn't the type to openly grieve like some of the others, but the frustratingly understanding look from Fiore next to Itachi's body was almost enough to send him over the edge.

After laying out a long scroll in front of himself, Neji pulled out a brush and began writing a long collection of seals. He reassured the others that the bodies would be perfectly safe within the scroll while they made the trip back to the Fire Temple and it was mainly so they could deal with them at a later stage. He was a little concerned that the two Otogakure shinobi groups that had attacked the Chakra Nodes hadn't entered the battlefield to assist them like he had ordered them to, in case they failed in their mission, but he hoped they had chosen to return to the Fire Temple rather than lost their lives.

"How are we going to get there?" asked Mei after checking her chakra levels. "None of us have much in the way of chakra to move at high speeds anymore."

Fiore rubbed at the back of her neck for a moment, thinking hard at what to do. "Does anyone have anything to eat? I'm suddenly starving."

Most of the shinobi strike force didn't respond, but Killer Bee surprised her by producing a small rice ball from one of his pocketed that had been slightly squished during the battle. He threw it to the Cascading Flow warrior without a word, having lost his appetite upon seeing his own handiwork in Yugito's body laid out besides the others.

Fiore thanked him quickly before shovelling the food into her mouth and feeling herself regaining some of her strength. It was mostly just so she could move around easier with a fuller stomach, since she knew that the first time they got to sit down and eat she would eat enough for six people at least. With her mind set to it, she took her wood from its seat-shape and expanded it out into a wide platform hovering a few metres above the ground. She could only maintain the specific shape as it was one she could use without much mental strength involved, though this was the most exhausted she had ever really been and it was interesting to note how much energy it actually took to manipulate the element.

"I can carry everyone for now," she said once she checked to make sure it was sturdy enough. "But I don't know how long it'll last, so we've got to go now."

Naruto and the others re-joined the group quietly, while Gaara's sand platform deposited Rock Lee onto Fiore's platform and the others joined him. On the ground Neji swiped at a small piece of blood from Nagisa's body and used it to seal the seven shinobi and two hounds inside the scroll before rolling it up and placing it into his pack. He hated treating the dead in such a manner, but it would be at least an hour or two until they reached the Fire Temple and they didn't need the weight of the dead on their minds when they had other people to protect.

All he could think about was his people and his family, hoping they were still safe. The Fire Temple was the most defended area in the shinobi world at this current stage, but that didn't mean that people wouldn't have lost their lives in the defence of it. The Quiraji had lost their leadership but that didn't mean they weren't still a threat.

Their main goal now had to be recovering from the battle and preparing themselves to return to their people and assist with their battles. If not, their victory here would be ultimately meaningless.

oOoOoOo

It took them over three hours to cross the distance between the ruins of Konoha and Fire Temple, as Fiore's wooden platform eventually failed with her strength and they were forced to walk. As they approached the areas nearby where the Otogakure people were holed up, they saw where the Quiraji army had trampled the forest in their attacks on the Fire Temple. It was clear to the survivors of the shinobi strike force that they had brought a huge army to destroy one of the last bastions of shinobi strength in the world, but from what they could see the army was no longer in the surrounding area.

Using some of the last of his chakra that he'd been recovering, Neji used his Byakugan to survey if his people still survived.

Within seconds a relieved look came over his face and he dropped his doujutsu. The others asked what he saw, but Neji didn't say anything as they came to the opening the Quiraji army had created and saw the front of the Fire Temple for the first time since the last part of the war had begun.

The eight of them were greeted by the sight of the remaining shinobi in the world, standing on the battlements erected around the sacred area, watching the strike force walk across the battlefield towards them. The ground was littered with both Quiraji and shinobi bodies, but they were more focused on the people that were surging out of the Fire Temple to greet them.

There was no cheering or fanfare for their return, as the shinobi approaching them couldn't tell whether the strike force had been successful or not overall. Their numbers had been halved and many of them bore wounds that would take weeks to heal, if not months.

But when the first elements came into contact with them and Neji confirmed their suspicions, the approaching mixture of Otogakure, Sunagakure and Kirigakure shinobi all let out a cheer of relief and embraced their leaders as the saviours of their world.

Among the Fire Temple shinobi that approached them were several elements from the shinobi squads that had gone after the Chakra Nodes that had allowed them to attack the Quiraji leadership in the first place. Neji was relieved to see Jin standing among a group of Otogakure shinobi, looking a bit worse for wear but otherwise okay, with the surviving four members of the Sound Four ordering their subordinates to begin cleaning up a path for their leader to return to the Fire Temple.

Mei looked around for any of her subordinates that had attacked one of the Chakra Nodes, but the only Kirigakure shinobi she could find were the ones that she had left in defence of this place. Their numbers had taken a beating, but they spoke nothing of it as they approached her and thanked her for saving them. She asked what had happened to the battle, but none of the Kirigakure shinobi could give her a straight answer; they were just happy to see that their leader was alive.

Once they were greeted by the surviving Fire Temple shinobi, Killer Bee took a look around to see that there were no Kumogakure shinobi in the area. He consulted the Tailed Beast within himself for a moment before stepping out of the back of their group and disappearing in a flash of movement. The only ones who noticed at the time were Naruto and Hinata who were the closest to him, though neither made a comment as they knew exactly where he was going and why. They shared a look for a moment before progressing forward with the others, hoping that he would be able to find some of friends in his village. If nothing else, they knew he'd be back for his friend's body.

Gaara wasn't an emotional person, but seeing many of his ANBU coming towards him singing his praises was something he hadn't been expecting, but there was something sombre in what they were saying. He didn't get a chance to brace himself as the invisible Matsuri appeared at his side and stopped him with a hand on the middle of his chest. She looked up at him with a look that was entirely inappropriate for a woman that had sworn herself as his bodyguard, but Gaara could tell in those brown eyes that there was something terribly wrong at the same time.

"What happened, Matsuri?"

The young ANBU kunoichi glanced around for a moment, as if checking to see whether someone was eavesdropping on them, but Gaara reached up with his hand and brought her face back to look at him.

"Tell me," he ordered in a confident tone.

Matsuri swallowed loudly as she spoke, "It's home, sir. It's…it's…"

Seeing how difficult it was for her, Gaara breathed out slowly and ordered some of the Sunagakure ANBU around to clear the area so they could enter the Fire Temple directly. The Otokage was getting a report from his head shinobi while the others were moving inside to get the rest they so desperately needed, but Gaara sensed that their day wasn't quite over yet.

With a path cleared for them, he told Matsuri to tell him what she knew. She still struggled to get it out in proper words, but Gaara could already guess what had happened when she told him that they'd found someone just after the battle had ended close to death.

Immediately Gaara demanded to see his sister and her child, to hear the tale from her mouth directly. If his home had fallen like he suspected, then he would need to go immediately.

oOoOoOo

After entering the Fire Temple and hearing about the fall of Sunagakure from Temari before she collapsed from exhaustion, Gaara was all set to return to their village immediately and free it from Quiraji control, but the combined voices of his older brother Kankuro and his bodyguard Matsuri reminded him that none of them were in particularly good fighting condition at this stage and they wouldn't be able to fight any battles right now. Rock Lee had protested the delay under concern for his fiancé, Sakura, but he was still unable to move well and would require help returning to Sunagakure regardless, so he was forced to relent with the Kazekage that a night's rest was required.

Before she had fallen unconscious, Temari had kept the details of what had happened to her husband to herself, knowing what that kind of information would do to their moral. If the projectiles flying over her head during their escape to the Land of Fire had been any indication, she had doubted that anyone in the village had survived at all, but she was only currently concerned with the fate of her daughter and she was safe for the time being.

While many of the shinobi strike force were getting rest, Neji gathered the leaders of Otogakure that had survived the battle and gotten full reports from them before relaying the events of the battle with Benkei and the Four. The two Chakra Node groups had decided to return to the Fire Temple, contrary to his orders over concerns that they would lose their friends and families and the victory would have been for nothing. Their return had struck the Quiraji from the flanks and threatened to break their ranks; the attack was enough to drive them from breaking through the Fire Temple for almost half an hour before the Quiraji had returned in force and almost overrun their position.

That was when Dosu told him about when most of the Quiraji soldiers had stopped their attacks and had appeared dazed and confused, allowing the combined shinobi force to counterattack and kill hundreds of foes within seconds. The specialist Quiraji soldiers had fought to the death, but even they had become lost another half an hour later and become easy-pickings. Neji figured that had been due to the deaths of Sensou and Benkei respectively, but he kept that to himself, praising the efforts of his shinobi and thanking them for fighting as hard as they had.

They had lost terrible numbers in the battle, including a number of civilians that had been unfortunate casualties in a Quiraji infiltration attempt, but they had won the day finally. The remaining Quiraji soldiers had surrendered upon seeing the day was lost and had been captured, while those that hadn't were slaughtered.

It was a bloody mess, but the war was almost over. After dismissing his leaders, Neji dragged himself back to the place he had been using for living quarters and opened the door to see his wife Yuko and their children waiting for him.

He managed a smile and a tight hug before collapsing into his bed and falling into the deepest sleep he'd ever managed. His wife put their children to sleep as best she could before slipping in beside him and embracing him with a relieved expression permanently etched into her face.

oOoOoOo

The next morning the Otogakure woke up to find that the Kazekage and all of the Sunagakure shinobi had already left for their home. They had taken the heavily-exhausted Temari and her daughter with them, including Rock Lee and many of their supplies that had been given to them by Jin. He hoped that his suspicion about the bombs hadn't been correct, as there was no proof that said that there wasn't going to be any residual effects, but Gaara had his own mission to complete and Neji wasn't about to begrudge him that.

After walking around a little bit to recover his strength, Neji discovered that while the Kirigakure shinobi that had helped defend the Fire Temple were still present, the Mizukage had departed on a similar mission to her home village. They had protested her going vehemently, but Mei had commanded them to stay in the area and recover from the battle properly before waiting further instructions from her. He could only guess at her motivations for doing so, but he was at least grateful to see that their other allies were still within the Fire Temple just in case any potential Quiraji threats were to return.

He didn't think they would, but being a Kage meant he had to be cautious and prepare for the worst.

Sasuke and Fiore had apparently locked themselves inside one of the shrine rooms that had been doubling as living quarters and were refusing to let anyone in no matter what anyone said. It only took a single glance through his Byakugan for Neji to be permanently scarred by what he saw, but then again he figured that everyone had an outlet for exhaustion and he wasn't going to argue with their actions. He was at least grateful to see Naruto and Hinata had recovered well enough to be walking around, though neither would let go of the other's hand, even when they were trying to do tasks that would be monumentally easier with two.

The Otokage felt like he could sleep for a generation, but their position in the Fire Temple was hardly secure and Neji had a thousand things to attend to that would determine he would be just as exhausted tonight as he had been the previous night.

oOoOoOo

After the people that had decided to leave for their original villages left, Neji and the others went to decide what they were going to do with the Quiraji soldiers that had surrendered after the battle of the Fire Temple. Jirobou had locked them all up in a single massive stone cage and a guard of Otogakure shinobi hadn't moved from their holding positions since they had put them inside; each of them held a large sound cannon that would obliterate the surrendered soldiers instantly if they so much as looked at them the wrong way.

The surrendered soldiers seemed to have become both confused and lethargic once they had stopped fighting, as if their controllers had left them to die. Many of them remembered who they had once been and began begging the shinobi to let them return to their families, but the Otogakure shinobi didn't budge. Many of them had been there while the Quiraji soldiers had attacked them with furious rage and unrelenting determination; a little bit of begging wasn't going to help them now.

While some of their ranks rested and recovered, Neji, Naruto and Hinata walked around the area to try and figure out what to do.

"We can't just release them back to their respective villages," said Naruto grimly, while Hinata gave no comment on the issue. "There's no guarantee they won't attack us again."

"That's something I am aware of," said Neji dryly as he came up to the lead guard and asked for his report.

Flipping through a chart before handing it to the Otokage, the self-appointed guard leader Dosu turned his attention to the prisoners within the large stone cage. "There are nearly two hundred prisoners, give or take a few that died to their wounds. Most seem to be civilians from around the Land of Fire, villages that were taken over by the Quiraji and they were drafted in."

"Do they regret what they have done?" asked Hinata after a few moments of consideration. "Do they remember?"

Dosu turned his one-eyed gaze to the Hyuuga heiress and his expression darkened beneath his bandages, "Remember, yes. Regret…is debatable. Many of them express their apparent regret over the killing of shinobi and how they wish they could go back and stop themselves, but none of us believe they are telling the truth. Our scientists believe that while they were under a form of Quiraji control as soldiers, they still conducted their own movements and performed actions they wanted to do."

"So they wanted to kill us," said Naruto with a shake of his head. "We tried to help them before this whole thing went down."

Dosu leaned down on his large sound gauntlet in front of his body, "There's no helping them now. They are still our enemies, regardless of what they might say."

Neji looked over the prisoners with his white eyes, taking particular care to notice the expressions on their faces. While many of them appeared to be outwardly sincere about their unwillingness to fight them any longer, Neji was a well-versed student of precise observation and he could read the emotions that lay just below the surface.

There was disappointment and resentment beneath their pitiful expressions and attempts to placate their jailors. They hated the fact that they lost, though it had been clear that surrendering was the option available to them.

As a person he didn't like it. As a leader, he knew what he had to do.

Even with his allies there, Neji couldn't show weakness in front of his people. He closed the chart and handed it back to Dosu before giving his command.

"Execute them all."

The Otogakure guards each flicked the switches on to activate their sound cannons as the prisoners began to shout and scramble in panic at the sound of his order. Dosu gave his leader an understanding nod before stepping into line with the other guards and raising his hand to give the order to fire.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" shouted Naruto, reaching forward to grasp the Otokage by the arm. "They might be our enemies, but they are people!"

Neji turned his white eyes to his cousin-in-law and glared at him coldly, "They are a threat to shinobi everywhere and are responsible for the deaths of many of my people, including many of the innocents that had nothing to do with this war."

"That doesn't give you the right to kill them, Neji," said Hinata with a serious expression on her face, dropping the honorific from his name. "Naruto is right, they are still people."

Reaching to his back to bring his hat onto his head, Neji indicated to the black and white symbol at the centre of it with his hand, "I am the Otokage and they threaten the security of my people. I will not leave a group such as this to threaten my people, my children. I have every right."

With that he turned away from them and looked back at his guards. He could see that some of them were a bit apprehensive about what they had to do, but he'd hand-picked many of them for this duty particularly because they had lost people to the Quiraji recently. It wasn't something he was proud of, but Neji had made decisions in the past that required a heart of steel. Just as when he had declared war on a fellow shinobi village to keep his people safe, now he had to do this.

And he had to watch. They would die in a relatively painless way; he wasn't going to make them suffer despite what some of them had done. This would close the book on the War in the Land of Fire.

Seeing that they had no voice to speak with anymore, Naruto and Hinata turned away and began walking away. Neither of them were happy with what was happening, but they knew that neither of them could stop him from doing what he thought was right.

Before the order was given, Naruto turned back to Neji and said the one thing he truly believed.

"If you do this, Neji, you are no different than the Quiraji."

The Otokage gave the order. Despite the fact that they were using sonic-based weaponry, there was no sound as the Quiraji prisoners died. Neji forced himself to feel every death that he inflicted, forcing himself to remember that it was a necessary step to ensure the safety of his family and his people.

"You are wrong," he said quietly, long after the married couple had left the area. "We are different because we won. I will not make the same mistake as our ancestors."

After the job was finished, Neji ordered Jirobou to bury all the bodies in a nearby area that had been cleared by another group of shinobi. The Sound Four member expressed his concern over the treatment of the prisoners and Neji reminded him of to whom he had sworn his vows to and that they had an obligation to treat them humanely.

It was not something he would look back on fondly. He hated that such action was necessary.

But he never regretted it. Not once.

* * *

><p>The Mizukage travelled across the ocean with such velocity that it looked like she was gliding along the top of the water. Her connection with the Three-Tails was getting stronger with every day, yet she still wasn't sure how she felt about being a Tailed-Beast container. The survivors of the battles in the Land of Fire had remained behind with the Otokage's forces to assist with defence and recover from their wounds, while the Mizukage departed to discover the fate of their home.<p>

She hadn't wanted to believe what Benkei had said when he revealed the nature of the bombs, but it made a twisted-type of sense in terms of the Quiraji battle strategy. When she had come to the edge of the Land of Waves she'd expected to find the trace of the Kirigakure shinobi by now, as she refused to believe that they had fallen despite the fact that they had failed their mission to destroy the chakra node.

But she had a bad feeling that she couldn't shake in her gut. She knew something terrible had happened and she couldn't delay for a moment longer.

After making landfall, Mei saw something that brought a huge feeling of relief to her heart. Standing at the end of the ocean to where Kirigakure stood, were a pair of shinobi that she knew personally. They had accompanied her into the Land of Fire and had been part of the group that had accompanied the remaining Swordsmen on their mission to destroy the Chakra Node. Normally there would be more scouts in the area, but she could see that clearly something was wrong by how relieved they were to see her in return.

As her feet landed on the sand, the pair of Kirigakure shinobi saluted her sharply. "We knew you would survive, Mizukage-sama," said one of them with a relieved smile. "Juu owes me some money."

"I'm very happy to see that the two of you are okay. What happened on your mission?"

The two Kirigakure shinobi looked at each other for a moment before dropped their heads shamefully. Seeing their distress, Mei smiled affectionately and placed her hands on their shoulders, "What happened to the village? Is Mangetsu still alive?" She tried not to sound too frantic, but she had a suspicion on what had occurred during the past day.

The shinobi shared a silent conversation for a few moments before the one that had spoken earlier offered his hand to show her to the village. The look on his face told her everything she needed to know. As a leader she knew that it might have been the case, but that was something she would have to deal with at a later point.

"Mangetsu is in the village with the others," said the Kirigakure shinobi as they began to move through the surrounding areas between the ocean and the village. "There aren't many of us left."

"We'll get through this," said Mei with a comforting smile that didn't betray what she really felt. "We are shinobi. We'll survive."

"If you say so," said the shinobi softly.

After a few minutes of travelling through the bush, Mei noticed that there was no damage to the areas around her village. It was suspicious that an area that would have been very heavily bombed was relatively unscathed. She hated the fact that she might have to accept that the village was lost, but too many things didn't add up. The Quiraji soldiers hadn't come anywhere near the Land of Water since she had taken her army into the Land of Fire with the hope of ending the conflict, and if anything it was becoming obvious that they wouldn't have been able to reach these shores anyway.

The bombs had been a final attack, and they had worked. As they came closer to the hidden area that concealed her village, they began to come across bodies that had clearly fallen where they had been working when the bombs had fallen. It broke her heart to see them, but Mei knew it was only going to get worse.

She'd been concerned that she'd been putting off starting a family for a long time, especially after her elevation to the position of leader of the village. After a while she had come to see the shinobi under her command as her family, besides a few Chuunin that she would not miss so much. But now everything was different.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" asked the shinobi accompanying her as they approached the village. "Or should I return to my post? Mangetsu gave us orders…"

Mei dismissed him with a comforting smile and watched him leave for a few moments before turning around and gathering her sensibilities. She could see several Kirigakure shinobi manning the large wall they had erected after the removal of the fake Mizukage, though to her disappointment she recognised them as part of her initial force into the Land of Fire. They saluted her sharply, as had the others, but they appeared less happy to see her. She wasn't sure whether that was due to the fact that she was alone, or the growing rift between herself and their commander. But that would be a problem for another time as she stepped into the village and took in everything that had happened.

The village was completely intact; it didn't have a single battle scar on it. The Hidden Village in the Mists had always been a beautiful place to live and even with the heavier mists that were being maintained around the area as cover during the war she was still constantly amazed at how beautiful it could be.

Even with everything that had happened, it gave her a small glimpse of hope that they would be able to recover from this war. Mei began walking into the main area of the entrance to the village, noticing immediately what was wrong with her home.

It had been a village of tens of thousands of shinobi, plus even more family members of the shinobi that lived within their borders. Even with the constant moving water flows that provided the mist cover around the village and the dozens of waterfalls that had been constructed around the inner sanctums had always given the village a loud water sound that would generally silence most of the noise that the regular hustle of the villagers themselves.

But now, the sound of the village's water features rang sadly hollow to her now. She had always thought that the sounds of people chatting in the streets of the village and children running around were the cause of many of her headaches, but the empty streets hurt her far more than anything Benkei had done to her during the last battle. Mei would have hoped that defeating the Quiraji would have given her some peace of mind, and she was grateful some of her people had survived, but the cost had been too much.

If someone had told her about what was going to happen, she would have kept herself in the village and accepted her fate. She couldn't stand the fact that she had lived while others had died.

What victory was worth this?

In the middle of the streets, she could see that the Kirigakure shinobi that had come to the village first had begun to move the bodies of the villagers out of the streets and into areas away from view, something that she respected that they were doing so, considering how they must have been feeling as well. They noticed her presence one at a time with a sweeping show of relief, but after speaking a few words with the Mizukage they went back to their duties, directing her to Mangetsu near the centre of the village.

Of the group that had departed with Mangetsu to destroy the Chakra Node, she figured that less than half of them had survived to return to their now-destroyed village. She wasn't as strong a sensory shinobi as she would have liked, but with the Three-Tails enhancing her senses she could tell that her main advisor had not been one of the group now in the village.

She would miss him greatly. He might have chastised her more than anyone else, but Ao had always found a way to keep her on track and remind her of what her duties to the village were.

With her senses extended over the village temporarily, Mei thought she noticed a strange movement in a nearby now-abandoned house on the side of the village. The Kirigakure shinobi had cleared that area for the time being; it hadn't been a residential area so there hadn't been too many bodies to remove, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something there they had missed.

As she was in no particularly serious rush to confront Mangetsu and the issues of what to do next, Mei decided to investigate the area and give herself the time to process everything that had happened so far. She stepped across one of the water channels that sectioned off the different parts of Kirigakure and looked down to see a discarded bag of groceries that had been lying there for probably a day or more, as its contents had spilt into the water channel. Whoever had owned them must have fallen where they were standing and lost their life without a movement of protest, since they looked like they had just dropped to the ground.

Mei wondered if they had suffered or not. It was difficult to think about, but of the bodies she had seen so far none of them appeared to have been burnt or torn apart by the bombs that had fallen on her village. She couldn't even find any evidence of those, though it was likely that Mangetsu's group had already removed them from the village under the fear that they might reactivate and kill those who were left. It was as if they had just…died.

Following the feeling in her stomach, Mei walked through the distinct slowly, processing the information as she thought of it. She knew they lay on the edge of a cliff and were in danger of falling off if she were to lose faith now. Those that remained needed her more than ever now, but she also needed them to support her. If they were to rebuild and continue to live their lives, she had a number of difficult decisions to make.

There were less than a few hundred of them remaining, all of whom had lost families and loved ones in the devastation. As she traced her hands along the edge of one of the buildings that had been there since she had been a little girl, Mei came to an unquestionable conclusion.

They wouldn't be able to last on their own, even if they worked with the civilians of the surrounding islands in the Land of Water. Their numbers were too few and none of the metrics added up in her head. That wasn't even to mention the mental fatigue that each of them no doubt felt at living in a place that would be frighteningly silent and a ghost town.

For their civilisation and ways of life to survive, she would have to do things that no Mizukage in the past would have been forced to do.

But she didn't have the power alone. For that, she would need the support of the remaining shinobi leaders of her village.

After passing several of the buildings in the area, Mei thought she heard a strange sound coming from one of the double-storey houses at the other side of the street. Even with her senses she could tell immediately that there were no shinobi in the area, as there were no chakra signals besides her own within a significant range. That could mean there were Quiraji soldiers within the village, or civilian bandits that had come to loot the corpse of the village, but Mei didn't think it was either of those.

It was strange to think about, but she couldn't feel any killer intent from inside the village. It wasn't a sense she relied on all the time, but it had saved her life many times when she had been a Chuunin and now it told her that she need to go look into that noise.

Thankful for the reprieve from her thoughts, Mei walked over to the building silently; her years of being a shinobi allowing her to walk across stone and water without making a sound and open the door to look into the insides of the two-storey house.

It looked like it had been well-lived-in for some time, though not because it was made as a house to live in properly. Mei recalled this had been part of the merchant's district, though one that had fallen on hard times during the war and had been forced to shut down while they concentrated on defence and other parts of their economy took priority. The main section of the house was a small hall with a trading desk and a few scattered chairs for customers to sit in.

As she closed the door behind herself, Mei noticed a tiny movement on the staircase at the other end of the hall, one that brought a frown to her face for a moment before she broke out into a relieved smile.

Trying to keep herself as calm and non-threatening as possible, Mei moved across the hall and up the stairs before stopping at the entrance to a hallway that had several open rooms and a single room that wasn't dusty and had its door shut. She walked up to the door and rapped on it gently, "It's okay, you can come out. I'm not going to hurt you."

Inside the room she could hear muffled whispering between two people, clearly trying to be as quiet as they could, but not so quiet that she couldn't hear the fear in their voices. Keeping her voice steady, Mei tried a different approach. "The village is safe now; you don't have to be afraid. There are no bad people left. We won."

She heard further muffled whispering, but after a few moments she could hear a lock being undone from the other side of the door and it slowly creaked open. Looking down at waist-level, Mei could see a pair of terrified faces standing in the doorway, looking up at her with fear and awe, though that only lasted until they recognised who she was. Even in half-destroyed clothing and non-traditional Kirigakure garb, Mei's hair and face were known to everyone in the village and even young children such as these two knew the Mizukage.

After having spent a long time for children so young, the appearance of a benevolent figure such as Mei was enough for them to drop all pretence of strength and charge towards her to embrace her legs in a fiercely tight hug that they were determined not to let go from. Mei could see that they weren't malnourished or injured, but it was obvious to her that they had been present during the bombing and had likely seen people die around them with no explanation as to what was happening.

Feeling her motherly instincts kicking in, Mei reached down and embraced the two surviving children affectionately. It warmed her heart to know that at least someone had survived and it didn't bother her in the slightest that they weren't shinobi children.

They were children of the village, and that was all that mattered.

"It's going to be okay, little ones," said Mei, trying to remember what her old friends used to say to their children. Being a mother hadn't been high on her priority list, but now it felt like the most natural thing in the world. After they finally relented and lessened their grips on her legs, Mei knelt down to their level and patted their heads with a smile, "Would you like to come with me? I'll keep you safe, I promise."

The little girl of the pair wiped her face as if she had been crying, though there had been no tears shed for a long time and spoke in a tiny voice, "But mum and dad…"

"I know dear, I know," said Mei in response. "It's a scary time, but we'll be together the whole time, I promise you."

"There were strange people around earlier," said the little boy with a slightly stronger voice than his female companion. "We didn't let them see us."

Mei figured he must be talking about the shinobi earlier. At such a young age, they would have found it difficult to distinguish between friends and foe after such an ordeal. She was amazed that they had survived as they were and were in such a reasonable state.

Giving them a few more words of encouragement, the Mizukage hefted them up into her arms effortlessly and smiled as the two children immediately fell asleep once they sensed they were in relatively safe hands. They were heavier than she would have thought, but not so much that she wasn't able to carry them around.

Having taken them into her charge, Mei slowly made her way back downstairs and back into the streets of the village. They didn't make a sound the whole way down, as she figured they probably hadn't slept the whole time. The two children were adorable in their own way, but Mei was just grateful that there was something good to have come of the ordeal.

They were something to keep fighting for.

oOoOoOo

After leaving that area of the village, Mei found a pair of shinobi waiting for her at the water channel. They offered to take the children from her hands and escort her to Mangetsu directly, but Mei didn't think she'd be able to give up holding the children even if she wanted to. She did agree that it was about time she spoke to the Kirigakure leader though, and asked for them to take her straight to him.

The escorting shinobi took her to the central fountain of the shinobi village, where she could see the last surviving members of the Seven Swordsmen standing in their own council, while another shinobi read off a report. The Mizukage's heart soared at the sight of Chojuro, sitting on the edge of the fountain with his large bandaged sword between his legs. He had a hardened look in his eyes that she hadn't seen before and a number of scars that would heal in ugly ways, but upon seeing her walking towards them he adopted a wide toothy smile and spoke a word to the others to tell them she had arrived.

The first to turn around was Ameyuri, though she seemed less than pleased that the Mizukage had only now come to them. She had admired Mei for years and that wasn't about to stop now, but she was tired and cranky after the past few days.

She'd only just buried her little sister. Ameyuri wanted to kill something with her bare hands, but there were no enemies within her reach.

Mangetsu gave no reaction as he dismissed the shinobi giving him the report and watched the Mizukage approaching silently. He noted the two children in her arms passively, figuring that they were probably civilians that she had picked up along the way and decided to bring along. That was her business and he would not fault her that.

"You took your time getting here," he said after a moment. "Having a good time wandering around?"

Mei knew he was trying to bait her, but she wasn't about to give him a reason to hate her. They had come to conflict in the past over a number of issues, but now was the time they needed to work together. "The others remained behind in the Fire Temple, Mangetsu. We are not the only survivors of this war."

She thought she saw a hint of emotion in his eyes for a moment, though it was something she likely attributed to the fact that the younger Houzuki brother was not present with the other Swordsmen. Regardless, Mangetsu took in the information and spoke a few orders to a nearby shinobi, watching her depart before turning back to their leader. "The bodies in the village have been mostly moved. I don't know what you intend to do, now that we've lost the war, but the village is not a place for us to live anymore."

"We won the war," corrected Mei, readjusting the children in her arms, "Benkei is dead and the Quiraji are broken."

Mangetsu let out a scoff and leaned on his knee with his arms, "This is certainly no victory."

The Mizukage wasn't going to argue the semantics with him; she agreed that they had lost too much to be proud of what they had achieved. "Regardless, we must decide what we are to do next. The others in the Fire Temple are waiting for word, while they help the Otokage rebuild."

"Surely you'd want them to return here so we can shore up our defences," said Ameyuri at her leader's side. "If the Quiraji come again, we don't have the numbers to stop them."

"Their leaders are dead and their armies are scattered. For now, the Quiraji aren't a factor," said Mei quickly. "I'm more concerned about our people's spirit. The shinobi here have no drive or motivation, now that our people have been killed. What reason is there for them to fight?"

"Vengeance, anger, justice, to name a few," said Ameyuri angrily. "We'll hunt down the remaining Quiraji even if it takes our whole lives to do so."

"I'm not saying that we won't do that," replied Mei back. "But many of our people are sick of fighting and want to restart their lives, even without their families. We can't do that here while they are constantly reminded of what happened to their loved ones."

"What are you suggesting then, Mizukage-sama?" asked Chojuro, who had been silent for much of the conversation. "There are no other survivors. We're all that is left."

Mangetsu put a hand in front of his subordinate to stop him from talking further as he figured out where the Mizukage was going. "Are you talking about establishing a new village outside of Kirigakure?"

"Maybe that would be for the best," said Mei with a hint of defeat in her voice. "I honestly don't know at this stage. But we cannot remain apart from our brethren if we want to survive the near future."

"You want to return to the Land of Fire?" Ameyuri tried not to sound surprised and failed miserably. They'd only just gotten back from that horrible place where so many of their friends had died in front of them, and now she was asking them to return. The idea was absurd.

"Mangetsu, our people have to be united," said Mei with an authoritative tone in her voice. "They were our allies when we needed them most and we defeated the Quiraji together. I don't believe that maintaining the village system is the best thing for us shinobi to continue doing. It was inherently flawed from the beginning."

It was an argument he had heard before from her before they left for the Land of Fire. Since the replacement of the Mizukage and the shambolic state of their nation's politics, he had brought up concerns about the direction of where the village was heading. The village system had only worked to bring together groups of shinobi to oppose other groups, thus creating a cycle of conflict that had caused their current situation. If they'd helped the other villages earlier, perhaps they could have avoided the bombs altogether, but now they had to face the situation in front of them.

Mangetsu considered her point for a few moments before dropping his gaze and letting out the breath that he figured he'd been holding since they'd discovered the ghost village. "Ameyuri, gather everyone here in an hour's time. They will want to hear what the Mizukage has decided for us."

The only female Swordsmen snarled at him as a show, but she was grateful they had some kind of direction to go off. She left the Mizukage to discuss the matter with her leader and made her way into the village to gather what few Kirigakure shinobi remained within.

"We aren't abandoning our home," she clarified when she saw the concerned look on Chojuro's face in front of her. "This is only a place that we lived in. Home is where our people can feel safe and live in peace."

The younger shinobi nodded in understanding, though he wouldn't believe it until he saw it. While Mangetsu began considering their current position, the two children in Mei's arms began to stir, asking for their parents with soft voices.

It would be a difficult journey, but she promised them with a slightly cracking voice that she would find them a new home. The little girl asked whether she was going to be their new mother, to which Mei could only stutter an awkward response.

_Give me a chance to find a nice man to marry first, at least. _

* * *

><p>It felt like it had been an age since they had left Sunagakure with the intention of taking down the Quiraji once and for all. Gaara had taken a terrible risk in leaving the village when he did, knowing that there was a Quiraji army nearby that was likely to attack. But after hearing his older sister's account of the situation and the trail of devastation that had followed, the Kazekage recognised that by taking that risk he had kept some of his people alive that would have otherwise been killed.<p>

That didn't make the trip back to their home any easier though. The entirety of the Sunagakure army rode upon a giant platform of sand to shorten the travel time, though they were not looking forward to what they were going to encounter. They'd all had families in Sunagakure when the Quiraji had struck and the bombs had fallen, and despite Temari's claims of the civilians being evacuated to the north of the village, they had found nobody alive.

They had found scattered clusters of Quiraji soldiers however, suddenly leaderless and without direction. They hadn't immediately attacked the Sunagakure shinobi on their approach, but Gaara was not as kind. In the knowledge that they had assisted in the sacking of Sunagakure even before the bombs had fallen, he was not in a merciful mood. They were slaughtered without prejudice.

They had sick and injured with them as they flew, being treated by the medical shinobi that the Otokage had lent them to potentially treat any survivors of the village, yet Gaara was most concerned about his sister and his niece. Temari was a strong woman, but they'd nearly lost her a few times after her arrival at the Fire Temple and even now she wasn't looking so strong. Kankuro had stayed by her side and looked after her daughter while she rested, though the puppet-master was discovering that he was not nearly as good at dealing with babies as he would have liked.

But Gaara put that out of his mind temporarily and directed the large sand platform across the Land of Wind desert towards their home. Since they had left the Fire Temple, his bodyguard Matsuri had stayed by his side night and day, without saying a word to him. He was immensely grateful for her presence and for the peace that she gave him, as he had too many things on his mind to deal with personal things at this time. This was a time when he had to be strong, for his people.

The one that was the most troubling was the presence of Rock Lee, sitting on the other side of his part of the sand platform. Considering the fact that it had only been very recently that he'd had his legs shattered, that he was up and around at all was freakish. He wasn't quite up to walking yet, but the Kazekage wasn't going to wait for him to heal to accompany them, and Rock Lee wasn't about to leave the fate of his fiancé to be told to him by messenger. As the reality of the bombs had struck all of them he had fallen into a sombre mood, keeping his own council and only responding with the least amount of words necessary. He wasn't quite broken, but that was because he refused to believe it until he saw her body with his own eyes. It was all he could do.

They saw the village from a distance long before any of the buildings came into view. Despite the sacking of Sunagakure having happened several days ago, the shinobi village still burned with such ferocity that the flames and smoke were visible high into the sky.

Every Sunagakure shinobi's stomach dropped at the sight of their burning village during their approach, as they knew that the rumours and talk from the older sister of the Kazekage was true. It didn't look like anyone could survive such devastation.

Despite his own melancholy over the state of his home, Gaara kept a straight face and began giving out orders to the surviving shinobi. They were all ANBU and professionals in the field, even when they were faced with such a situation. He expected them to deal with the problems at hand and deal with their personal grief afterwards. It was a harsh demand, but they lived in a harsh world and it was something they had to do.

Their main priority when entering the village was searching for survivors. They were not expecting any, but considering the fact that they had encountered several groups of civilians that had been unaffected by the bombs that had fallen around them, it was possible that some might have survived.

But what was suspicious was that since coming into viewing range of the burning village, they hadn't encountered any Quiraji forces at all. Gaara would have thought they would have at least had a few scouts posted beyond the village to warn the internal forces of their approach, but there was nothing alive outside of the village.

There were plenty of bodies though. It had looked like Shikamaru's defence of the village had been fairly effective, as there were far more Quiraji bodies littering the battlefield than shinobi corpses. It looked as though each shinobi had taken a terrible toll on the enemy army, but that didn't make the approach any easier. He knew many of the shinobi that they passed over as they came towards the broken walls of their village, having given the orders for some of the more wounded ANBU in his ranks to begin collecting the bodies and giving them the respect they deserve.

They were ordered to burn any and all Quiraji bodies they found.

As they split up and began to move into the village, Gaara immediately knew that there would be no rebuilding the village. There were no buildings that were undamaged and almost the village's entire infrastructure had been torn apart during the sacking. Even if that weren't the case, he could rightfully guess that the Quiraji had put all of their external farms to the torch and drunk the few reservoirs of water that remained dry.

He couldn't keep his people here longer than a few days even if he wanted to.

With an elite group of ANBU around him, plus his bodyguard Matsuri and the ex-Konoha shinobi Rock Lee accompanying him, the Kazekage entered his home and began surveying the damage directly. He had some of his best sensory-type shinobi by his side and his sand eyes scattered as far as his concentration could take them, but something didn't quite add up in Gaara's mind.

Where were the Quiraji attackers? If they had taken the village as they had clearly done so, why would they abandon the foothold? Even if it was a ruined mess, Sunagakure was still a moderately defensible position and it was clear that they would be returning in diminished numbers.

Yet by all accounts, they could find any living Quiraji in the village at all. As the reports came in, they all said the same thing.

_Perhaps they abandoned the village once they sensed that we had defeated Benkei. The Quiraji soldiers we've encountered so far have been scattered and confused, so that might make sense._

The Tailed Beast within him snorted in response, but Gaara hadn't been talking to him so he ignored Shukaku for the time being. With his group of twenty shinobi, Gaara rose up above the village to get a bird's-eye view of their devastated home. The stench of death was overpowering and more than a few ANBU had been forced to remove their masks to evacuate their bowels at both the sight and smell of the bodies scattered throughout the village. There were civilians, shinobi and Quiraji alike, countless thousands that would takes weeks to clear from the streets, let alone those that had died within the buildings and on the battlefield beyond.

Looking at the large building that had been his office, Gaara saw that it had taken a massive blow from some kind of siege weapon and he could see into what had once been his office. In a strangely serene manner, he could see that his desk was untouched despite all the chaos that had occurred in his home. The paperwork that had been left on top of it when he'd left for the Land of Fire was still there, stacked neatly in the piles he had left them in.

It was like a bad joke, mocking him with its presence.

"This is madness," said one of the ANBU shinobi at his side. "How can we possibly rebuild?"

Gaara couldn't respond to him. He had no words of comfort, not for them or himself. His mind was filled with darkness; he could feel himself falling deeper and deeper into a depression that would inevitably consume him.

But before that happened he felt a hand fall on his shoulder that drew him out of his depression. Looking over he saw the serious expression of his bodyguard staring into his eyes with those large brown eyes he had seen so often. She didn't have to say anything to him, the look was enough. She had reminded him of his duty and that he was a leader before he was a shinobi.

With no joy in his face, Gaara moved the sand platform towards the ground and gave out orders for the shinobi with him to join the search for survivors. They didn't question his orders, despite the fact that it left him exposed; they each understood that he had things to do that only a leader had to. Rock Lee was still unable to walk properly and stayed seated on the platform, while Matsuri flat out refused to budge, though the Kazekage wouldn't give such an order anyway.

Once his feet touched the sandy ground of the village, Gaara was struck with how unlike his home it now was. He had few positive memories of the village from when he was a child, for various reasons, but with the fires still raging and the bodies around him, he couldn't imagine how they could possibly think to live here again.

As Gaara absorbed the images around him, Matsuri placed a hand to her ear and acted as the facilitator for the reports being fed to her from the ANBU around the village. To her disappointment, much of the reports were simple casualty reports as the Sunagakure shinobi discovered fallen friends and family. Even the battle-hardened ANBU were unable to conceal their grief as time passed and they discovered more of the consequences of the battle. However, despite all the negative reports, there were reports of certain areas that had been spared the devastation of the battle, such as the school near the centre of the village and large sections of the hospital. Everyone inside those buildings was dead, but the structures were intact.

"What kind of victory did we really achieve?" said Rock Lee as he held himself steady against a ruined section of a building. "He was right…we'd lost the moment we stepped onto the battlefield."

"It might have been a pyrrhic victory," replied Gaara with his hands on the ground, feeling the vibrations from the sands that comprised the village, "But it is still a victory. We all lost people, but we survived. We'll rebuild and become great again."

"It wasn't worth it…" muttered the taijutsu master as he tenderly took a step forward and winced at the pain shooting up his legs.

Gaara ignored his last statement and took a deep breath as he felt the cracks through the sand up his arms. He shook his head and made a decision before standing up and breathing out slowly, "But we won't do it here. This is no longer our village."

He let the gravity of his statement sink in for a few moments in his own mind before Matsuri drew his attention with a wave of her hand, "Gaara-sama, they've found someone."

oOoOoOo

When they arrived at the scene, they had no idea how to react. The ANBU shinobi that had found the scene had been ordered to keep their distance and wait for the Kazekage to arrive. When Gaara, Rock Lee and Matsuri saw what they'd been told about, it was almost impossible to digest properly.

There were mountains of bodies littering a single large open area near the northern side of the village. The buildings that had been populating the area looked to have been blown apart from inside the village rather than out by some explosive force that had hurled them into the other buildings nearby. The bodies on the ground were exclusively Quiraji bodies; they looked as though they had been butchered by a myriad of different weapons or animals. It was obvious that the Quiraji had been slaughtered some time ago.

Yet as the ANBU had discovered, there was still a single living soul in Sunagakure that had been present during the sacking of the village. A lone figure stood beside a huge pile of Quiraji corpses, drenched head-to-toe in blood, to the extent that even the animal mask that it wore didn't have a single speck of white remaining at all. It hadn't seem to have noticed their presence at first, but when the Kazekage and his companions touched down on the ground its head snapped around and it glared at them with such an aura of force that it was painful to look at.

"What the hell happened here?" said Matsuri with a shake of her head. She stared at the figure for a few seconds before turning to her leader grimly, "Sir…I'm not sensing any chakra."

At that, all of the gathered ANBU in the area readied weapons and began moulding chakra, yet the figure made no motion to attack them at this stage. The Kazekage stared at the figure intently, taking in the fact that there were only Quiraji bodies in the surrounding area and he wasn't sensing any aggression towards them from the figure. If anything, it was looking past them to something else altogether.

While the Kazekage and the ANBU didn't recognise the bloody figure, it didn't even take a second for Rock Lee to recognise who the figure was. Despite the mess that was his legs, the taijutsu master lurched forward with his hands at his side, "It's okay, she's not going to attack you." He looked at the mask that covered her face with a mixture of hope and despair; he'd felt this feeling before from her. "Sakura…it's me. We've been through this already. You aren't Iceheart anymore."

The bloody doctor's head jerked unnaturally to face him as her hands clenched into fists and then unclenched as she struggled with some kind of internal conflict. The spiritual energy that had been gathered around her began to dissipate as Rock Lee approached her. Once he came within reach, she appeared to have come to a conclusion and one of her bloody hands reached up towards her face.

Sakura removed the borrowed ANBU mask from her face to reveal her pale face that was the only part of her not drenched in blood. Her green eyes looked at her fiancé for a moment before the shadow of a smile emerged on her face.

"Lee…"

The female ex-assassin's eyes quickly rolled into the back of her head and her body slumped to the ground. Rock Lee jumped forward and caught her just before she struck the stony floor, though he fell to the ground himself as his legs were still not up to such movements. The Sunagakure ANBU around them lowered their weapons and turned their attention to the silent Kazekage to wait for his orders.

Seeing her reaction to Rock Lee's presence, Gaara was able to deduce what had happened to his head doctor. The lack of Quiraji soldiers within the village now made sense, though it was a scary proposition to think that she might have killed them all herself. The fact that she'd survived the bombs was suspicious, but for now he knew that she wasn't a threat to them directly. He turned to Matsuri and began issuing orders for the ANBU to collect all of their fallen companions so they could bury them properly. It was grim work, but they had to pay their respects before they took the next step.

oOoOoOo

They stayed in the ruins of their old village longer than Gaara would have liked, but after a month of preparations and resource gathering, the remnants of Sunagakure were finally ready to depart their previous home. The bodies of their fallen had been buried in the graveyard outside the village, with both shinobi and civilians alike placed in individual graves with small stone markers giving their names. They'd held a mass funeral for their fallen and Gaara gave a speech about the importance of staying together to honour those that had sacrificed their lives so that they might live. He emphasised that they had an obligation to do the best they could for their families and build a new life for themselves.

He then told his people about an offer that had been made by their allies in the war against the Quiraji. He would never order them to follow him, but after giving them the choice to either depart now and live their lives elsewhere or follow him to their new path, he didn't hear a single word against his plan.

It filled him with pride that they had such faith in him and gave him hope that they would be able to forge a new path for them.

Standing at the back of the Sunagakure group were the ex-Konoha couple of Rock Lee and Sakura. After collapsing from the stress of accessing her inherent Iceheart abilities, Sakura had lain in a coma for nearly a fortnight before she awoke with her consciousness still intact. She had accepted her gifted power with a mixture of disgust and understanding, but was thoroughly horrified with what she had done to the Quiraji soldiers that had occupied the village. Rock Lee had reassured her that it wasn't her that did the massacre, but Sakura knew that he was wrong. She had been completely aware as she had torn them apart, relishing in their agony and bathing herself in blood. It was a part of her now and that had scarred her for the rest of her life.

Regardless, they still planned to be a family and get married when time permitted. They had sworn their services to the Kazekage for the time being and would assist him in the venture he was proposing, but beyond that they didn't really know what they were going to do with themselves.

Perhaps they would stay with the others, given the options presented to them. It was difficult to decide at this time. They both had wounds that needed healing and that would take time.

For now, they were going to return to where it all began.

* * *

><p>The leaders of the shinobi world had gathered in one place once again, though under very different circumstances from the previous time they had been forced to do so. At the Kage Summit, the village leaders had gathered to answer the growing Quiraji threat, only to come under attack by a large Quiraji army that culminated in the ascension of the Otokage and the agreement to work together to combat the enemy.<p>

But now, the shinobi world had changed irreparably since that time. Every shinobi village had been devastated by the Quiraji bombs; some like Iwagakure were gone completely with no shinobi remaining alive to continue their legacy. There had been no word from Killer Bee or any other Kumogakure shinobi, and no indication on whether they ever would either.

And now the surviving leaders had gathered to pick up the pieces of their broken civilisation and determine what they were going to do with their hard won lives. The three leaders that had been present at the Kage Summit sat in the room silently in their Kage robes, still pondering the fates of their destroyed villages.

The Kazekage had just recently returned from the Land of Wind, having led his people out of the desert with the intention of building a new home for them somewhere that had the resources to sustain them, though he was still haunted by the thousands of bodies they had buried and the unknown future that lay ahead of them.

The Mizukage had always intended to return to the Land of Fire to retrieve the Kirigakure shinobi she had left behind to get to her village as quickly as possible. However, after reaching the village and seeing what happened, plus her discussions with Mangetsu, Mei had decided that staying apart from the rest of the shinobi world was a foolish notion. They had lost too many people being apart and she knew there were likely still Quiraji soldiers that could be a threat to them and that would require a united front.

The last Kage had been pensively silent as the other two had taken their seats in his meeting room in the Fire Temple. Their victory had taken nearly everything from him and his people, but out of all the villages his people were the most numerous and had the greatest number of surviving shinobi. It gave Neji an unprecedented amount of power in the uncertain times, but he knew that he couldn't abuse such power without consequences. He had sent messages to his fellow Kages in the hopes that they would be able to forge a new alliance for the future. Regardless of what their concerns were, he would listen and offer whatever resources were at his disposal.

They were in this together, whether they liked it or not.

Besides the three Kages, there were four other people present for the meeting to decide where their society might go in the future. The married couple of Naruto and Hinata had joined their allies at the meeting room at Neji's request, as they had just as much a right to sit at the table as anyone, given their contribution to the ending of the battle with Benkei. Naruto had spoken with the Otokage privately on several occasions about his treatment of the Quiraji prisoners and they had come to an understanding of sorts. The blonde shinobi still wasn't happy with the decisions Neji had made, but he had come around to an understanding that sometimes drastic measures had to be put into place. Hinata had shared his concerns, but had been forced to confess that she couldn't argue with her older cousin because it was his right to protect his family and his people in whatever way he saw fit.

But she did warn Neji that she would hold him accountable if he got out of hand. She would not allow him to become a tyrant, even if it meant she had to fight him herself.

The last two people in the meeting were the oddly-matched couple of Sasuke and Fiore, having essentially invited themselves to the meeting. As the last Uchiha and as someone who knew much about the founding of Konoha from his study of his clan's history, Sasuke felt he would be able to contribute to the direction their people took in the next little while. He also felt that he should be present at such a gathering considering his contribution to the overall war.

Fiore had let herself into the meeting and ignored any potential protests at her presence as she sat down beside her fighting partner. She had remained in the Land of Fire even after her part in the war was essentially over, though she had communicated with her mother and the others in Cascading Flow over their victory and the results of the battle. In the response back, she heard that any of the resistance that had survived their sacking of Iwagakure had been killed by the Quiraji bombs that had fallen in the Land of Earth. The civilians of the continent had taken back much of the power that the shinobi had taken control of in the past month, which was causing a new array of problems that they were forced to deal with. She had told Sasuke that she was there to make sure that the shinobi understood their place in the world and to keep them honest.

None of them were sure how they were meant to start the meeting. Much had been discussed prior between individuals, but having gathered together as a collective it was another thing entirely.

With his Kage hat in the middle of the table, beside the other two, Gaara looked around at the faces gathered before clearing his throat and leaning forward onto his elbows, "These are difficult times."

With a smirk, Mei fell back in her chair and chuckled, "Truer words have not been said in a long time." She turned her green-eyed gaze to their host and tipped her head respectfully, "Thank you for being the host of these meetings, Otokage. It is good to have a place to hold these talks in these times."

Gaara echoed her statement, though they both knew it was only a formality. The Hyuuga leader held the most power at the table and was the greatest threat if he were to decide that only his people were to prosper. After what they had been through together, the two of them had a pretty good gauge of the Otokage's character, but that didn't mean they weren't going to approach the discussions tactfully.

"So what are we really here to discuss?" asked Naruto after a few moments of silence. "If it's just for the food, I think we're all a bit out of luck."

"I'll inform the chefs," said Neji with a dry tone, though he was grateful for the blonde shinobi's comments as he had reduced some of the tension in the room. "But no, as you are all well aware, we face an important crossroads in our world. Our villages are in ruins and our numbers are tiny. If it weren't for the defeat of the Quiraji we would be on the brink of extinction. I know my fellow Kage can echo this statement: we will not allow our race and culture to die out."

It went without saying, but the sentiment was felt throughout the room. However there was one that had a more cynical view and it was that none of them would expect it from.

Sasuke didn't need to change his position at the table to garner the whole group's attention, though he still stood up to make his point. "I know many things about legacies. My family founded a village and then tried to destroy it in an attempt to maintain their own power. The Uchiha should be an example of what not to do. I loved my family, and my brother died to give me a chance to live, but I will not see the mistakes of the past repeated. The Quiraji were once our masters and we threw off their shackles, but the reason we almost lost the war was because of our relationship with the civilians of our world. Regardless of what decisions we make now, we must not forget what we went through to come to this point."

He let his statement settle in for a few moments before sitting back down and gesturing for them to continue.

Naruto stared at his old friend with pride in his eyes, it was clear that Sasuke had grown immensely from when they were children. To come to point of understanding about his own clan in such a manner was particularly impressive.

"We are not going to establish a new empire, Sasuke," clarified Neji quietly. "None of us want to repeat the mistakes of the past."

"Even so, we still wield a lot of power in this world," replied the Mizukage. "The Quiraji are broken and scattered and the civilians know that it was us that defeated them. Even without our villages, some of them wish a return to the shinobi system so they can utilise our skills once again."

"We don't have the numbers to return to such a time," said Gaara grimly. "My people have just finished fighting a war that killed their friends and families; they have no intention of becoming a civilian's pet. We need time to rebuild our lives and figure out our place in this world."

"I think we all want that," said Hinata, having decided it was time to pitch in. "The shinobi world has seen enough war for several generations. None of us want a return to conflict, but we also cannot simply set up housing without prior acknowledgement of the war. We shinobi deserve a place to call home, and until that is the case we won't feel safe."

Naruto smiled proudly at his young wife's comments, knowing exactly where it was coming from.

"Nobody is disputing the fact that we all want a home to call our own," said Neji, grateful for his cousin's contribution. "We have the beginnings of a settlement here, both in the Fire Temple and the surrounding areas. Our home village was devastated by the Quiraji much like everyone else's, but we are committed to beginning our lives again." He cleared his throat and stood up from the table, looking around with his white eyes before saying what he had intended to offer when he first invited them to the meeting.

"We are all shinobi, regardless of origin. Now more than ever, our people are united under the same origin with the same purpose. If there was ever a time for us to unite under a single nation, it would be now."

He focused most of his attention on the two other Kages at the table, but his offer was extended to both the married couple at the table and all shinobi that had survived the war with the Quiraji. The Kazekage and Mizukage both stared at the Otokage intently, having guessed that he would make such an offer before they'd even arrived. They then turned their gazes to each other, sharing a silent conversation for a few moments before Mei chose to speak first.

"My people will not serve another, Otokage, this you should know. They are loyal to those that have gained their trust and respect, and while you might be a Kage, I will not submit myself to another either."

Neji could see that the Kazekage felt the same way, but he was quick to clarify his meaning. "I am not talking about rule under a single leader. The village system was partially at fault for our preparations for the Quiraji invasion and I would not ask your people to follow me."

"What are you suggesting then?" asked Gaara quickly. "My people are warriors, not builders or farmers. I suspect the Mizukage's people are the same. We don't have the means to create proper villages for ourselves, so as such we would be at your mercy if we were to join forces with your people."

The Mizukage started voicing similar sentiments, but before she could get too far along Naruto slammed a fist on the table and stood up so that everyone's eyes were on him.  
>"Is this really how we are going to do this? We're going to argue about the semantics over who does what at this time? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you all want to go back to fighting each other." He sighed and indicated to the young woman sitting beside him with his hand. "I love this woman and have every intention of making a home for her and the family we will have in the future. If that means I have to build a home with my bare hands, then I will do so."<p>

At his words, Hinata felt herself blushing terribly for the first time in a long time. She had no idea why he was saying these things, but she had every intention of paying him back for every word he was saying.

"What is your point?" said Sasuke shortly.

"My point, you idiot, is that we are far stronger together than we are apart." Naruto turned from his old friend back to the three Kages at the other side of the table. "We are the leaders of the remaining shinobi and there is no reason we cannot work together to build something greater."

Seeing where Naruto was going, Neji was the first to offer a compromise at the table. "Naruto is right. If we were to create a single village together, with all of us as equals, then it is within our power to do so. That way, nobody will be under the impression they are subordinate to another they do not respect and we can come together as a single people, rather than as separate villages."

Naruto sat back down as he saw Neji had gotten the gist of what he was talking about, though he jumped as he felt Hinata pinch his side to draw his gaze before kissing him on the lips lightly.

"What you offer is quite generous," began the Kazekage. "But what knowledge of governance do we know beyond the military dictatorships of the shinobi villages of old? How can we keep our people safe without such a system?"

"We still have the greatest military strength in the world," replied Mei with a sharp tone. "If any force were foolish enough to threaten us, they would not last long."

"The Mizukage is not wrong in that regard," said Neji as he sat back down into his chair. "With so many people well-versed in warfare, it would be difficult not to have our military power as the main source of our political power in the continent."

The conversation went on like this for several minutes, before one of the group that had been silent the whole time had had enough. Fiore eventually pushed her chair back and stood up while slamming a fist down on the table in a similar manner to Naruto earlier. She hadn't intended to say anything at the beginning, but as a representative of the people the shinobi had to live with, she couldn't stay silent any longer.

"I will not stand here and allow you to create a new shinobi tyranny in the world. There is a saying amongst the civilians of the world: show me a shinobi and I'll show you someone who will eventually become corrupted by their power. Nobody can deny that you shinobi possess a powerful force in this world." She pulled out the wooden pin in her hair and transformed it into a massive wooden hammer that she drove straight into the middle of the stone table between the talking shinobi. "But you are not allowed to take power for yourselves just because you want to. Cascading Flow and the civilians of the Land of Earth took down such a tyranny in Iwagakure and that was not an isolated incident."

"What are you getting at?" asked an irritated Neji, having felt he was finally making progress with his compatriots before she interrupted.

Fiore turned her steely gaze to the Otokage and he could see how determined she was to speak her piece. "More civilians died in this war than shinobi. We are still picking up the pieces of our own worlds and now you want to create something else for us to fear? I will not allow it to happen. We will bring the full force of our strength down upon you." She reached across the table and retrieved her wooden hammer, hefting it onto her shoulder. "And then there will be none of you left. Perhaps then there will be peace."

After retaking her seat, Fiore could see her words had made an impact on her audience as they were considering their positions. She wasn't going to tell them that she thought the idea of a single shinobi nation was actually a great idea, as most civilian casualties resulted from collateral damage of the shinobi civil wars. They had to come to the conclusion on their own; otherwise they would just go back to the way things were.

After almost a minute of silence, Neji finally stood up and reached for the black and white hat he had placed on the table. "Those are good points, Fiore. We shall keep them in mind. For now, I suggest we take a break and consider the direction that is best for our people."

The Kazekage and Mizukage stood up as well, reaching for their own hats and excusing themselves from the table. They had each been given a lot to think about and no decisions were going to be made after the first meeting. There had been no conflicts between their different factions of shinobi as of yet; it seemed as though any old grudges had been forgotten during the heat of battle.

After the three Kages left the meeting room to consider what they had discussed, Naruto and Hinata excused themselves as well, sensing that the others wanted some privacy.

Once everyone else had left, Fiore relaxed in her chair and grinned at her partner while putting her wood back into her hair as a hair pin. "That went well."

Sasuke felt like she was expecting him to get annoyed at her, but if anything he found himself agreeing with what she had said more than ever. Having worked with Cascading Flow for the years that he had and gotten close to civilians such as Fiore and her mother, Sasuke had to agree that only by working with civilians and understanding the impact that they had on them.

The last Uchiha stood up from the meeting table finally and offered the Cascading Flow warrior his hand, "Come on. Let's get some food before getting some training in."

Fiore looked at him with a cocked eyebrow for a moment before chuckling and hopping up and reaching around to slap his backside playfully. "Always working hard, eh Uchiha? Can't stop you even for a moment."

"Evidently not…" said Sasuke with a sigh as he followed her out of the room. Even now, he still couldn't get a proper read on the Cascading Flow warrior. It was extremely frustrating.

* * *

><p>Naruto winced as he removed his shirt and sat down on the bed, feeling every ounce of soreness accumulated over the past few years down to his bones. He let out an extended breath and looked over to see his wife walk out of the bathroom with her night dress on and her hair down. She looked as tired as he felt, yet she always seemed to have a smile for him whenever he was looking.<p>

The young kunoichi yawned widely and sat down beside him on the bed, stretching her arms out in front of her before leaning her head onto his lap. Without saying a word, Naruto began to stroke her hair, feeling each strand carefully with his fingers.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Hinata quietly, her eyes still closed as she enjoyed the attention.

"Do you mean with the settlement?"

Hinata didn't respond verbally, instead she moved her head slightly back and forth.

Understanding what she meant, Naruto placed both his hands on her shoulders and began massaging the sore muscles that he knew were there. "You mean us…of course. Well, I've been thinking about it for a while now."

"…and?"

It was simple enough to think about and now that they came to it Naruto found that it was the easiest thing to say. "First of all, we should have a baby. That should be our first priority."

For almost a minute, he got no response from his young wife. He thought she might have fallen asleep, but eventually her head turned and she stared up at him through her pure white eyes. They held that contact for a long time before Hinata nodded slowly and turned her head back to a more comfortable position on his lap. "Not right now, honey. I'm very tired."

Naruto grinned and continued to stroke her hair affectionately, "So am I, strangely enough. I'm glad that we're on the same page though."

After a few minutes he gently lifted her into the bed and covered her with a blanket before getting in himself and embracing her lovingly. It was nice to just be in the moment and let the problems of the future come.

"We'll try in the morning," muttered Hinata before drifting off to sleep.

Naruto sighed silently and tried to fall asleep, but the thought of the future now determined to keep him awake.

He could have sworn it was intentional. She was an evil, evil woman when she wanted to be.

Eventually he did fall asleep, with the thought of the hopes he knew were on the horizon.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

This may feel like the end, but it is not. There is one final Bonus Chapter to wrap up the story, plus the Writing Tips and Tricks chapter that will come out at the same time after it. That chapter will basically be my flash-forward, though it'll be at several different points and will cover every main character that has been present in this story. Basically I want to give everyone their due.

The reason I've left things a little bit ambiguous is so that the next chapter has a reason to exist. I don't just want to do a flash-forward with no middle ground. It won't be fully laid out, for obvious reasons, but there is a rhythm to these things. I hope you enjoy it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	99. Last Chapter Everything Comes to an End

**The Wanderers**

Last Chapter – Everything Comes to an End

**A/N**: I firmly believe that if you are finishing a story and don't intend to write further on it, you should give some proper closure. That is why I wanted to write a look into the future for my story. I don't have the intention of writing a sequel for The Wanderers, as it is easily long enough for probably ten novels. There could be more for me to write, as I could describe in detail everything that happens in each of these sections below, but I no longer have the time to dedicate myself to writing a fanfiction any longer. These sections will just be general glimpses into the future of the characters in the story. I've done everything I've wanted to for this story and I hope you have enjoyed it up until the end. If not, then please tell me what specific bits I could have improved so that I can learn from this experience more. If you have, I'd love to hear which parts you enjoyed.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't have written a fanfiction on it.

* * *

><p>***Previously-On***<p>

**A/N**: Yeah, I'm not writing a summary this time. Read the story if you want to know what happened.

***End Summary***

* * *

><p><strong>***Two years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

It was quiet in the house, which was a strange turn of events for Naruto. He'd been so used to people coming and going that he hadn't really been sure that they'd ever been given proper peace. However, now that it was quiet he found himself bored and wanting to get out and see people.

He couldn't, of course, but that didn't mean the desire wasn't there.

While sitting on the couch and reading one of the books he'd been given as a gift, Naruto nearly fell over himself as he heard the doorbell ring, racing to see who it was.

Opening the door, Naruto was surprised to see the former Kazekage standing in his doorway, wearing the casual clothes that his friends had picked out for him after he'd realised that he couldn't wear his shinobi garb all the time. They had spoken a few weeks ago before Naruto's temporary withdrawal from his position on the Council of Six, but the two of them had been close for years and it wasn't uncommon for them to converse for hours at a time about the progress they had made and where they were taking steps he didn't agree with.

Something told Naruto that wasn't the kind of conversation Gaara had come to have though. For someone as calm and collected as the red-haired shinobi to be so fidgety and out of sorts, it must be serious.

He offered the shinobi a seat and asked whether he wanted a drink or not, to which Gaara replied that he was fine without. They had enjoyed a fairly cordial relationship in the past, and now he felt that Naruto was the one person he could speak openly without risking his position.

"So what is the problem?" asked Naruto finally, having taken a seat opposite his old friend and leaning forward intently.

Gaara glanced around the room for a second before taking a long breath and staring his friend in the face. "I would like your advice regarding Matsuri."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion; that could mean any number of things. "Can you be more specific? Are you worried about what you guys are doing in the bedroom…or what?"

Upon hearing that, Gaara immediately put his hands up defensively, showing a more frantic side of himself that Naruto hadn't really seen before. "No, no, no…nothing like that. We haven't done anything like that. It's not like that…" He kept repeating himself over and over again, but each time was less and less convincing as he talked. Eventually Naruto got sick of it and put up his own hands to calm him down.

"Gaara, if there a problem with Matsuri, why don't you talk to her about it? I'm sure she'd be happy to talk to you."

The former Kazekage shook his head quickly, "The thing is…you know how I'm not very good with emotional things, right?"

"I may have compared you to a cold fish, from time to time," said Naruto back with his regular grin.

Gaara ignored the friendly barb and continued on, "I've been thinking about her more and more, and I believe I would like to spend more time with her on a personal level. However, I am unsure how to proceed in this regard and I was hoping you could assist me."

Naruto wasn't sure he'd heard him right the first time, but he gathered from his friend's tone that asking him to repeat it would only hurt his feelings. Regardless, he had at least one question he had to ask before he could help him. "Gaara, how have you not already taken that step? You live with the woman. Are you seriously telling me you aren't a couple?"

"It hasn't been like that, we decided that if she were to continue her assistant and bodyguard work that it would be better served in the same household. It's not as if…" His eyes began to unfocus as certain things began to come together in his mind. "…but it's not like she does my laund…or makes me di…" His sentence ran off completely as he fell back into the couch with his mouth in a big o.

Naruto chuckled as he saw his friend figuring it out for the first time, before his eyes lit up when he saw a figure enter the living room from the bathroom. He stood up and moved to help her, but was quickly shooed away back to his seat as Hinata walked into the room, clutching at her stomach with an exhausted look on her face. Her presence drew Gaara's attention despite his shocking revelation, but Hinata waved off his attempt to help her as she plopped herself onto the large seat and sighed loudly.

"I swear if I reach for any more of those noodles you have permission to kill me."

Naruto smiled widely, "I'll keep that in mind, honey."

His young wife placed her hands on her stomach and groaned loudly, though most of it was for show. Her white eyes turned to the former Kazekage and a smile emerged on her face, "Gaara, it is so good to see you again. We have missed you these past few weeks."

"You are looking well, Lady Hyuuga," said Gaara back.

Despite her current state, Hinata barked out a laugh and pointed down to her feet sticking out of the ends of her baggy pants, "Please, I'm a mess. Look at these giant hippo feet."

"Yeah, they're pretty gross," commented her husband with a chuckle.

Hinata tried to glare at him, but failed to produce any real vitriol. "It's your fault I'm in this state. If I could reach you, I'd strangle you myself." She sighed and ran her hands through the long dark blue hair behind her head. "If I don't have these children soon, I might go inside."

Seeing that she was as exhausted as she sounded, Gaara stood up from the couch to excuse himself, but Hinata waved him down quickly. "Don't be ridiculous, Gaara. I'm not disabled, I'm just with child. Well, with children. What can we help you with?"

"Gaara believes now is the time to make a move with his darling Matsuri," said Naruto with an amused tone of voice. "I was just giving him some friendly advice."

"You aren't already with that young girl? She's been asking for help for yea…ah, I see." The Hyuuga kunoichi grimaced for a moment with her hands on her stomach before regaining her composure and continuing. "That's great dear. The two of you make a lovely couple. I think you should…"

She grimaced again, and this time Naruto leapt to his feet and moved to her side. Hinata tried to wave off his concern, but from the pain in her stomach she wasn't able to concentrate. Gaara's eyes widened as he realised what was happening, though he suddenly found himself not knowing what he was meant to do now.

"Naruto, I'm fine, I'm really fine," said Hinata quickly, trying to get up from the chair before she found the strength in her legs not responding. Her husband moved around to her front and helped her to her feet, placing his arm around her waist.

"Hinata, it's time! We've got to go to the hospital!" Naruto began creating clones to make way for her and open the front door, while one of them apologised to Gaara and told him they would have to speak later.

The Hyuuga kunoichi began to moan as the pain intensified and then wavered before disappearing completely. She stood up straight and took a long breath, pointing to an object at the side of the room. "Don't forget my bag, honey." She saw one of his clones pick up the bag and place it on their shoulder before grabbing Naruto's bags and they moved to help her to the door. Hinata waved off their help again and only allowed her original husband to help her walk as they made their way out of their home and into the city beyond.

Back in the house, one of the clones of Naruto offered to escort the former Kazekage out of the house, apologising once again for the fervour of their departure.

"It's perfectly okay," said Gaara back to the clone, knowing that the original would learn of the conversation once the clones dispersed. "Tell the original and Lady Hyuuga that I wish them well and I shall visit them once the babies are born."

The clone of Naruto grinned and nodded in response, watching him leave their house before he turned and locked the door with a small amount of chakra. He looked over at the original escorting Hinata down the road towards the hospital, the realisation hitting him the same time as all the other clones in the area.

They were about to become a father.

* * *

><p><strong>***Four years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

Rock Lee wasn't sure he'd heard the man right. He asked him to repeat what he'd just told him, refusing to believe that it was as he feared.

The doctor tried to be as tactful as possible, but they were short on time and they needed the taijutsu master to make a decision. "It's what we've been discussing for the past few weeks, Master Lee. Your wife's body is deteriorating and we have to make a decision here."

"No, no, I got that," said Rock Lee, annoyed that the doctor was talking to him like he didn't know what was happening. "But this decision you are asking me to make is impossible." He glanced back into the open hospital room, hearing the loud breathing from the patient and the constant back and forth of the attending nurses. "Surely there is another way."

"We are out of time," warned the doctor quickly. "Either we finish this procedure through to its completion, or we don't and then you assume that risk."

Rock Lee clenched his fists and resisted the urge to take out his anger at the nearest wall; this was the worst situation he could possibly encounter. Instead of attacking the wall, he reached forward and placed his hand on the doctor's shoulder and stared him in the eyes, "Let me get this straight. If we go through with this, my wife won't survive. And even if we don't, our baby probably won't live?"

"That is correct. I know this is a difficult decision to make, but the next few minutes are critical."

The taijutsu master dropped his head and turned back to the open hospital room. He knew what he should do, and what she would want him to do, but asking him to make such a decision was too cruel.

"Master Lee?"

The taijutsu master grinded his teeth, before stepped back into the room as he gave the doctor his decision. He took his place at the side of the bed and took his wife's hand with a sad smile.

She had been in labour for ten hours and had been suffering for months, but Sakura still had the look of fire in her eyes despite the sweat on her face and the pain she was suffering. While the doctors and nurses went about their jobs, she focused her attention on her husband at her side.

"It'll be okay, Lee. This is how this is meant to go." Her voice was weak, but she sounded confident despite the circumstances. "I'm thankful that I was able to spend what time I had with you, and that we're able to do this, at the last."

Rock Lee tried not to cry and failed, as he saw the woman he had saved from the depths of her own madness and despair, the strongest person he knew, suffering as she had. It had been something they had known was going to happen eventually, as her body had been rejecting the power that had been injected into her from Sensou tore her apart from within. They had wanted a child before that happened, and Rock Lee had made his peace with that to the extent that he thought he was able, but now that it was happening in front of him, he kept trying to think of ways they might be able to get through this and have a happy ending.

But Sakura knew that wasn't going to happen, as she squeezed his hand as tight as she could. She gave him a small nod, as if transferring her strength to him before she turned her attention to the doctors at the other end of the bed. "Let's do this."

The doctors and nurses all acknowledged her agreement and began the procedure. They began feeding drugs into her drip and the nurses between her legs began to advise her on when she needed to push.

They say that childbirth is a beautiful process, but during the following hour Rock Lee saw very little that was beautiful. He was so immensely proud of his wife during every moment there, even when her strength spiked through her hand and nearly crushed the bones in his hand. If he hadn't fortified his hand with physical energy he doubted it would have lasted the length of the process.

It was back and forth for a long time, with a few instances of the doctors scrambling to keep her vitals steady as the baby seemingly refused to be born.

But at the end of it all, Rock Lee's mind was blown as he heard the first cry of his baby come into the world. It was bloody and tiny, with a small tuff of black hair on its head and a pair of lungs that could deafen an elephant.

He looked back at his wife with immeasurable pride on his face, to see a tiny smile on the pink-haired woman's face. Her pain-wracked expression had disappeared and she seemed just relieved to be done with it.

"Congratulations you two," said the doctor as they cleaned up the baby. "She's very healthy."

Neither of the married couple paid attention after that, as they knew it was only a matter of moments before they could no longer be together. Sakura's vitals were dropping quickly and there were a few things she wanted to share with him before it was too late.

"Can you believe we have a baby?" said Rock Lee, smiling through the tears on his face. "Gai-sensei would have been so proud."

Sakura tried to smile despite her eyes threatening to close on her forever. "Lee…I'm so happy…for the time we had together. It has made me…grateful…for my life."

"I'm the one that is grateful," said Rock Lee back to her. "You've made me happier than I ever thought possible. I can't even…"

His sentence ran off as Sakura shook her head, indicating that she was out of time. Her other hand reached up and gently grasped the side of his face, with as much strength as she could muster. She pulled his face down to hers and kissed the tips of his lips before tapping her forehead onto his as the sign of affection they had shared for years.

Then her head fell back onto the pillow on her bed and her vitals tanked. The doctors and nurses scrambled to try and bring her back, but Rock Lee paid no attention to them as he kept a firm grip on her hand and tried to keep his eyes fixed on the woman he had loved and now lost.

After a few minutes, Rock Lee finally let go of her hand, placing it on the middle of her chest as he wiped away his tears and turned to see a nurse approaching him with a small bundle in her arms.

"Master Lee, would you like to hold her?"

The taijutsu master looked at her with shock on his face, as he had legitimately forgotten about the baby for those last few moments before Sakura had died. He placed his hands out and took the tiny thing in his arms, feeling the strange warmth through the woollen clothing that the baby had been clad in. It had stopped crying a few minutes after being born and now seemed content to sit in his arms and move its tiny hands around in front of it.

He'd thought he was out of tears to cry, but holding his baby in his arms didn't even give him a chance to recover as new tears came down his face. His child was surprisingly heavy for its size, but adorably cute in a newborn-way, with a tuff of black hair poking out of the wool hat and a pair of bright green eyes staring up at him with complete wonder in its eyes.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" asked the nurse that had handed him the baby.

Rock Lee smiled warmly and shook his head as he sat down in the chair behind him and began to rock the baby slowly, "We couldn't make up our mind…she's so beautiful."

"Congratulations," said the nurse, though there wasn't much joy in her voice as they were both aware of what the cost had been. She could see that he needed some space; after reminding him that she would need to be fed in a little bit she left him in the room.

He sat there for a long time with his newborn daughter, marvelling at how much life could exist in such a tiny form and then being reminded of what he had just lost as well. He promised his daughter that he would raise her right, and that she would never want for anything.

Everything else, he'd have to figure out as he went along. He still had to grieve as well.

* * *

><p>The members of the Council of Six slowly filed into the room, taking their respective seats for the weekly meeting, each talking to the others about their lives beyond their jobs before they had to buckle down for work. Neji was the first to enter, as he generally was the first to arrive and he took his seat quietly, observing the others through his pale white eyes. It had been a long time since he'd worn the garb of the office of Kage, since they had dispensed with the village system, yet he wished he was able to wear it now.<p>

It had been surprisingly comfortable, whereas his work clothing as a Councilman was tight and uncomfortable. Each member had their own garb to wear, but his was the most formal by far.

Taking his seat beside him was the former Kazekage, looking more tired than he had seen in a long time. Gaara had been in negotiations with various Daimyos that had finally been elected, and it had taken an obvious toll on the Tailed Beast container. They were the leaders of their various sections of the city, but they were becoming increasingly blended together and the lines between what used to be Otogakure and Sunagakure had become quite blurred. It was what they had wanted to achieve when they began construction, and now that their vision was coming true it was fascinating to watch it develop.

Though it might mean they'd be voted out of office by the general vote. Such things were now possible.

The next to enter was the former Mizukage, who looked a little out of sorts despite her usual immaculate attire and appearance. There had been rumours of dissent among the former Kirigakure shinobi and she had been working tirelessly to keep their people together as a single people within their newly populated home. As much as anyone at the table, she had been a voice of reason and experience, to counter-act some of the more brash and bold ideas put forth.

The last of the shinobi representatives entered the room with a long flowing cloak behind him that he insisted on wearing despite everyone telling him that it looked ridiculous. He wore the same grin he always did, greeting his fellow Councilmembers with a smile and a handshake before taking his place.

"How are the babies, Naruto?" asked Neji as his companion took his seat.

The blonde shinobi chuckled and produced a pair of photographs that he pushed across the table, "Great, though I'm convinced my wife is going to kill me at some point."

"I think it's great," said Mei with an amused expression on her face. "Though you should give that poor girl a break."

Naruto put up his hands defensively, "Don't give me any grief; I'm doing the best I can. It's not my fault."

"Perhaps you should stop getting her pregnant then," commented Gaara as he took a long sip of the cup of coffee in front of him. He'd been working at developing a better sense of humour and his partner had told that sass would work quite well for someone of his sensibilities.

The look that Naruto gave him that him that his attempt had been successful, though he wasn't sure what the next step was so he continued to drink his coffee even though it was too hot and was burning his tongue.

The door to the Council of Six room opened up and the final two members entered the room. They were Kai Tozomu and Juu Jirachi, the representatives of the civilian population with the city. After the shinobi remnants from the Quiraji War began building a settlement within the areas near the scarred battlefields in the Land of Fire, various groups of civilians that had suffered under the Quiraji's control had offered to assist their efforts under an agreement that they could join the settlement.

After a year of building and an unprecedented level of diplomacy, the city state of Hinansho had been founded in the Land of Fire. Its name had been Naruto's idea; it meant 'haven for all'. They had started with an uneven number of shinobi and civilians, and now they were being brought up higher and higher in population numbers to the extent that the other parts of the continent were paying attention and making offers of alliance.

But their system of governance was very different from the shinobi village system. The various populations within the city had taken it upon themselves to choose representatives for their best interests, and they had elected their previous leaders and the two civilian leaders. In addition, they had decided to also elect one of the largest contributors to the building of Hinansho and someone who had brought in the vast majority of civilians to understand that the shinobi had changed after the Quiraji War.

It had felt like an odd choice to elect Naruto to the Council of Six at first, but after the first weekly meeting he had proven himself a valuable asset and worthwhile member of the Council. There wasn't a single person in the city that didn't believe that any of them deserved their positions, though even with the amount of power they held, the people of Hinansho were empowered to elect the Councilmembers every three years.

After each of them had taken their seats, the Council administrator took attendance and gave a rundown of the results of the previous meeting's decisions. They had just negotiated a new trade agreement with the new Daimyo of the Land of Water and he'd sent a response back, but that wasn't on the agenda for the week.

"What are we going to do about the rumours?" asked Tozomu after the administrator indicated he was ready to begin taking minutes. "I don't like what I'm hearing."

"None of us do," said Neji with his hands clenched in front of his chest on the table. "But this is not a time for obvious military action. Our city is still in its infancy and we cannot make such an aggressive action without knowing all the facts."

Gaara flipped through a set of documents that had been placed in front of his seat before shaking his head with a drawn-out breath. "Even so, this isn't something we can ignore. You are right in that we cannot take aggressive action, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't act. I propose that we sent in a few shinobi on an information-gathering mission and see what they can find."

Before it could be seconded, Naruto coughed loudly to get everyone at the table's attention, "If these rumours are true, that will probably only incite more problems. Shinobi will only exacerbate the anger that these rebels might have with Hinansho."

"Perhaps we can find a peaceful solution to this," suggested Jirachi, pulling up a document from his stack. "I have some diplomatic ties in that area; we have not exhausted all possibilities here yet."

"It's something that we have to monitor, before it turns into another conflict," said Mei with a nod of approval. "But until we get more information, we have other problems to face on the domestic front."

They talked for almost an hour about a variety of issues, which including the continued construction of additional schools and the resolution of conflicts between a few civilians and a group of shinobi who had previously come into contact before the end of the Quiraji War.

By the end of the meeting the Councilmembers were exhausted of talking and had covered everything on the agenda for the session. The way the meetings normally ran was that they would break for lunch for an hour before talking about the issues of the city without the administrator present. In such a volatile continent from the end of the Quiraji War, there were some things that they had to talk about off the books.

But before that, Mei indicated there was one final item she had to discuss before they broke for lunch. They had no items of office as Councilmembers; it was something that had yet to be figured out, but she had decided to symbolically produce a kunai and move it across the table until it sat in the middle between all of them equally.

"I would like to inform the Council that I am withdrawing from my position before the next election period." She looked around the room to garner the reactions of her compatriots, but it occurred to her that these were the most powerful people in the city and likely knew exactly why she was leaving. There were no secrets in the room, despite the nature of their political system. "There will be a new candidate elected from my district at some point."

"I'm sure they will struggle to fill your shoes," said Gaara with a respectful tone. "We should hold off any major decisions that require a vote until your replacement is in place. We're in a fairly good position now, regardless."

Neji stood up from the table and gestured to her with his hand, "Gaara is right, that would be best. We all wish you well on your next venture."

With that, the Council of Six meeting broke up for lunch. Mei would stay on the Council under the next election period, but she doubted that would matter too much as one was coming up relatively soon. The districts were being determined less and less by population types and more by just the areas within Hinansho that the representatives come from. She suspected within a few generations the lines between the old villages won't matter anymore, as the lines between shinobi and civilians were becoming.

During lunch, Naruto tried to pry out information on who the person was that she was leaving the Council and the city for, but Mei remained tight-lipped as she argued it was none of his business, but she kept an amused tone as she didn't want to offend him. After he had given up, she asked him how his children were and looked at the photos he showed her with a smile on her face.

It was nice to see the younger generation moving ahead as they were. She had initially been concerned that having such young shinobi in positions of power would cause instability, but they had proven themselves competent enough that she no longer felt an obligation to remain in an oversight position.

She was tired and wanted a quieter life now. She still had her own life, such as it was, to live.

* * *

><p><strong>***Five years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

Sasuke fired off a small cluster of fireballs towards his target and nearly lost his head for the effort. He fell back quickly and put up his hands defensively, trying to deflect the rapid-fire punching that was in his personal space. His Sharingan eyes gave him the advantage of ability, but his opponent was faster than he was and he couldn't deflect every strike without taking some damage. After a few moments he realised that if he kept fighting defensively he was going to lose again.

Suddenly changing his tactics, Sasuke shot forward with a leap, taking his opponent in the chin with his knee while suffering several heavy blows to his shoulders at the same time. His opponent fell back with a stumble, as his strike had been unexpected, but Sasuke wasn't going to relent at such an opportunity.

He dove forward and flicked his wrists to summon two short blades from seals he had placed on them earlier, slicing through the air towards her with an indication that he was willing to kill her to finish the fight. With his Eternal Sharingan granting him the temporary protection of Susanoo, Sasuke blazed through his opponent's final defences and placed his two blades at either side of her throat; giving the clear intention that he would remove her throat at a moment's notice.

"You are beaten," he said with a snarl. "I have won."

Her mind calculated a number of openings she could take advantage of, but none of them were feasible without the battle becoming fatal, so the Uchiha's opponent took in a long breath and motioned with her hands that she was defeated.

With a smirk of triumphant, Sasuke stepped back and held his short blades at his side while his defensive doujutsu slowly faded away. His opponent stood back up to her feet and brushed herself off, barely showing any effects from the battle while the Uchiha shinobi was breathing heavily and knew he was going to have a huge number of bruises on his body.

But he had won, and that was all that mattered to him.

Elika let out a huff and walked over to the side of the battlefield to retrieve her cloak, placing it around her shoulder and shoving her hands into the pockets. "I will admit it, Uchiha. You have defeated me. I now consider you worthy of being with my daughter, at least on a temporary basis."

"We've been partners for nine years and now you give your acceptance?" Sasuke felt a scoff was appropriate, but his ribs hurt something awful and he wasn't willing to give her the satisfaction of seeing him grimace in pain.

The leader of Cascading Flow looked away from him to see the crowd disperse with clear disappointment on their faces, amused at they had expected to happen. "It took you nine years to win. Don't sound so proud of your accomplishment."

"I'll take what I can get," said Sasuke, wary of the battle that he'd been fighting for a long time. He made his way off the battlefield and asked the nearby bartender to mix him a stiff drink. As he pumped back a few shots of spirits, he didn't take notice of what was happening at the other side of the main Cascading Flow area.

As Elika spoke to a few of her subordinates, she noticed a female figure approaching her with a small object in her hands. She would never admit it, but her vision was still a bit shaky from when Sasuke attempted to blind her with a flash of light, so seeing the figure was more difficult than she would have liked.

Yet it didn't take her too long to recognise her daughter, who she had suspected had followed the Uchiha to their current location with his mad quest to gain her approval. She hadn't seen her daughter in a year, though they had corresponded through messages as they regularly did. When she could actually see her properly, she could see that Fiore looked good, even though she still clearly had the effect of looking a little bit older than she should have.

Not as bad as her Uchiha partner, who looked closer to Elika's age than her daughters, but it was still something noticeable. She had a tired look on her face that Elika could have sworn she recognised, but she looked relatively well.

"Nice of you to grace us with your presence, dear daughter," she said with a grin, happy to see that her daughter was still doing well.

Fiore gave no verbal response, but rather she motioned to the bundle in her arms with her head while moving back a part of it to reveal its nature when she came within her mother's area.

Elika's eyes opened wide as she realised what her daughter was trying to show her. Nestled in Fiore's arms was a young child, barely more than a few months old with a thick head of black hair and a big set of rosy cheeks. All the amusement about the previous battle vanished and she smiled warmly at what her daughter was presenting her.

"Mother, I would like you to meet my son."

The leader of Cascading Flow reached forward with one of her hands and felt at the arm of her grandchild, withholding all of her questions for the time being as she was overjoyed for her daughter. She kept to herself that she'd been expecting a grandchild years ago, but she wasn't about to say anything bad at this stage.

"He's beautiful," she said after a few moments. "This explains why you haven't come here for a while. Afraid of how I would react?"

Rocking her child in her arms, Fiore matched her mother's grin, "The last time someone displeased you, you burnt down a castle with them inside it. I think my concern was justified."

"Perhaps," said Elika as she withdrew her hand. With a sly look on her face, she stepped back from her and nodded her head slightly, "If you would excuse me for a moment."

Fiore rolled her eyes as her mother moved away from her and began to march towards where her previous opponent was recovering. Sasuke barely noticed her approach in time before she grabbed him by the collar and hurled him back onto the battlefield to go another set of rounds.

At the sidelines of the battlefield, Fiore showed the gathered Cascading Flow warriors her child while keeping an eye on the battle that was now more in the background than anything. All of the fatigue that Elika had been hiding from the others had disappeared completely and she had begun thrashing the father of her daughter's child up and down the grassy battlefield. Sasuke had burnt out much of his chakra and strength defeating her previously and she now came at him with such ferocity and speed that Sasuke had to essentially take the beating he clearly deserved.

While the others circled around her and remarked about her baby, Fiore motioned towards the combatants with her son's hand in hers. "See over there, Itachi? That's your daddy. He's getting the crap beaten out of him by your grandma. This is why we didn't marry him, no we did not." She had found it hilarious that she was now allowed to use a baby-voice when she talked to her son, and it always got a smile from little Itachi when she did.

While she amused herself with her son, Sasuke lay on the ground under the hard fists of Elika's assault, regretting some of his previous actions in his life. He had chosen this path in the full knowledge of the consequences, but now that he was here he was starting to suspect that he may have taken a misstep at one point or another.

She didn't seem angry with him though, that was something he noticed as she continued to beat him into the ground. Sasuke could have responded and fought for his life, but he didn't want to cause any collateral damage and he'd already gotten his win earlier. Elika was justified and seemed to just want to prove a point.

He'd be feeling it for quite a long time; at least he hoped this was the apex of her reaction.

After nearly twenty minutes, Elika wiped her hands on her jacket and returned to her daughter to admire the adorable child in her arms. She reiterated what she had hoped her daughter had assumed; that she was immensely proud of both her and her child and that she couldn't be happier for her. She didn't promise that she'd treat the child's father any better, as it was far too much fun as it currently was.

She didn't have to ask about the name; that much she felt was right. He even looked like the long deceased shinobi. In the cheeks at the very least.

* * *

><p><strong>***Six years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

After finishing up his solo performance, the shinobi that was the container for the Eight-Tails pointed to the young men and women gathered in the room in front of him, scribbling into their notepads and asked them what they thought.

None of them seemed particularly enthusiastic about speaking up, so Killer Bee decided for them and directed his attention to the young man seated directly in front of him. "Kei, what were the main themes presented in that piece?"

The young man scrambled with his notes for a moment before standing up and coughing to get himself going. "The main theme was, as usual, about the fall of the shinobi and your experience in the streets."

Killer Bee nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"There was a few things I missed during the middle section, but I think the gist of it was about you throwing a beat-down on the Nine-Tails container and a…giant fox creature."

"You're close," said Killer Bee, turning his attention to the rest of the class. "When you are rapping, one of the most important things you need to remember is that each theme needs to flow into the next. It isn't just about keeping a beat; it's about feeling it in your soul." He placed his fist on the centre of his chest, "It comes from here."

His students ate up his words and scribbled furiously into their notebooks, while Killer Bee walked back to his desk and tapped his pen on it habitually. He was already planning the next rap that he would demonstrate for them, but before he could begin to perform his next masterpiece he saw a figure standing in the doorway, staring at him intently.

Recognising the figure with a sigh, Killer Bee cracked his neck loudly and dismissed his class for the day, giving them a short rhythm assignment for the next day and waiting until the classroom was empty to turn his attention to the intruder. "How many times are we going to do this?"

The figure stepped into the room and pulled out two angular swords from her back before giving him a sharp-toothed grin, "Until I beat you. This time will be different, old man."

Killer Bee reached into his desk and retrieved his sunglasses, placing them on his face before motioning for her to follow him outside. Despite the obvious challenge, she seemed content to wait until he was ready, her body itching to get going as he retrieved his blades from their holding place and they emerged into the training field that was attached to his little school.

"The outcome will not change, little girl. Just because I'm not active anymore doesn't mean you can take down the boss."

Ameyuri snarled at him and flicked her hands to activate the lightning along her Kiba blades, "Shut your face, old man, and fight. I am sick of my defeats by your hand hanging over my head."

Hearing his occupant egging him on, Killer Bee undid the strap containing his swords and flung them into the air between them.

Clearly she wasn't going to listen to reason. That much hadn't changed.

oOoOoOo

Ameyuri covered herself with the blanket and glanced over at her opponent, shaking her head for several moments. "How does it keep ending up like this?"

The Eight-Tails container grinned beneath the sunglasses that he had kept on the whole time and placed his hands behind his head casually, "Don't look at me, kiddo. You're the one who keeps coming back. It's hardly my fault you can't handle me."

The ex-Swordsman breathed through her sharp teeth angrily, but couldn't find any words to deny his statement. Shaking her head, Ameyuri threw the blanket off herself and launched herself out of the bed in a vain attempt to find the clothes she had so brashly thrown around his room. After a few moments of searching she threw up her hands in defeat and turned around to see Killer Bee watching her intently.

She wasn't self-conscious about being looked at; Ameyuri had a long history of using everything at her disposal to get what she needed, though that usually involved people underestimating her to their own doom. No, it was the fact that he still had the habit of looking down on her.

She hadn't won his respect yet. That might have been due to the running tally of fourteen battles between with the two of them, with none of them ending in her favour.

It was infuriating, but no more so than the fact that he was yet to take her seriously since their battle before the fall of Kirigakure. She'd trained every day against a variety of foes, but he was always the obstacle she couldn't overcome.

She still had no idea how they kept ending up in bed together though. That part still mystified her.

"You can show yourself out, whenever you are ready," said Killer Bee as he stood up from the bed and retrieved a robe from a nearby clothes-hanger.

Watching him put on the robe and cover up the numerous cuts and wounds that he had accumulated over the years was a secret indulgence of Ameyuri's, though partially because she liked to count the ones that she herself had inflicted upon him that he hadn't let heal completely. Despite the small peep show, Ameyuri still felt compelled to speak her mind on something that had been bothering her since they had begun their fight a few hours earlier. "I think I preferred you when you only spoke in rap. You seemed to have more joy in you then."

"The woman who constantly tries to kill me is going to give me life advice?" Killer Bee had to laugh at the notion. "You sound like the Eight-Tails."

"Is it because of your village?" She wasn't sure why she was making conversation with him, but it seemed an appropriate thing to do, particularly since she suspected they may have destroyed her shinobi clothes in the throes of passion.

Even with his sunglasses on, she could see his expression darken at the mention of his destroyed home. They had all lost people during the war with the Quiraji, but only Killer Bee could claim the status of being the sole survivor of an entire people. He had secluded himself in the Land of Lightning and kept himself steady by teaching his musical craft to the select few that wished to learn, despite repeated attempts from Hinansho to bring him into their nation.

He had chosen to let Kumogakure die with him and that was all there was to it. Ameyuri didn't care much about his motivations, but as someone who had tangled with him over the years it was troubling to her to see someone of such a grand stature lead such a basic life.

The fact that he could still thrash her into submission with little-to-no training involved still ate at her though and kept her coming back. He was the closest thing she had to a friend.

"I only rap to perform for my students now," said Killer Bee, harkening back to her question. "What I tell them about rap is true; it comes from the heart and the soul." He pulled up one of his large hands and clenched it for a few seconds before releasing it, "There isn't much of that left in me."

He turned back to her and saw the pity in her expression, which was enough to make him keep his gaze at her face rather than at the rest of her. He could feel himself getting annoyed at the situation and turned back around to tie up his robe, "You should leave now, kiddo. I'm not in the mood for any other games today."

Ameyuri didn't apologise, rather she decided that if she wasn't able to find her own clothes she would simply use one of his and return to her small apartment in Hinansho to reconsider her options. She rifled through his wardrobe for a little while before finding a robe that fit her that wasn't too garish.

"I'm borrowing this robe," she stated without caring whether he would let her or not, slipping it over her shoulders and letting it fall over her body before she flicked her long red hair out the back.

"Keep it," said Killer Bee shortly as he reached into a drawer in his desk and produced a small notepad that was covered in dust. He blew the dust off and opened it carefully, silently absorbing the words he himself had written down on the day he had stood in the place that had once been his home and realised how empty it then was.

The Eight-Tails within him made no comment as Ameyuri excused herself and promised that she would return when she was stronger, retrieving her Kiba blades from the outside battleground and leaving his school. The Tailed Beast had lived with Killer Bee a long time and knew when its advice was warranted and when it wasn't. It had been dealing with the grief of losing not only the Six-Tails, but also the Seven-Tails during the falling of the Quiraji bombs. The meaning behind those actions would forever change the remaining Tailed Beasts, even though it suspected it would not see the rest of them for a very long time.

Not everyone got a happy ending. Both Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails knew as much, but that didn't stop them from living their lives.

Their days of fighting wars were over and they were satisfied with their current lot. That was enough.

* * *

><p><strong>***Twelve years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

Yamanaka Ino opened up the door to her house with the silver key on her keychain and immediately felt all the tension leave her shoulders after another day at work had finished. Her body had only just gotten used to the erratic pace that the hospital demanded of her, but she made good money from it and enjoyed helping people so she wasn't going to complain any time soon.

The open air of her living room was a welcome relief though. She had about five hours before she was on call; being the second-in-command gave her a lot of responsibility and she had to make her presence felt on the floor of the hospital.

After placing her bag on the kitchen counter and fixing herself a small drink of honey to help her take a long nap before her shift, Ino turned around and leaned her back against the counter. It was then that she noticed the pair of bags sitting on top of the dining table, both of which she recognised; she'd bought them herself.

"What are those bags doing down here?" she called out to the seemingly empty house. She didn't need her sensory techniques to tell when she wasn't alone, but it also due to her knowledge of schedules.

Upstairs she could hear the movement of feet dashing from one room to the next for several seconds before a figure appeared at the top of the staircase and popped its head out to see her standing in the kitchen. Though she bore no blood relation to Ino, the only daughter of Asuma and Kurenai had grown up to look very similar to her, with her brunette hair long and straight down to her waist with a single strand in front of one of her eyes and she had started to wear similar clothing to those that Ino had worn during her time as a working shinobi.

Having seen it from the other side, Ino had baulked at the image of her daughter in such clothing, but just as she had discovered when her daughter had gotten her belly-button pierced and had gotten herself a boyfriend, Ino knew that she had little real power in compelling her to stop doing things.

"Mum! I thought you had a later shift!" It was clear by the look in the eye that wasn't covered up by hair and the tone of voice that she was trying to conceal something and failing miserably, which Ino always found difficult to work out in relation to her daughter. Airi was a walking lie-detector with her telepathic abilities, though it took up chakra for her to do so and she had, so far, expressed no interest in pursuing a career as a shinobi. Yet she was still a teenage girl and prone to lying when it suited her and Ino was accustomed to sorting out fact from fiction.

"That was yesterday," said Ino as she took a long sip from her drink. She indicated to the objects on the dining table, "Mind explaining the bags? Are you going somewhere?"

Airi made her way down the stairs slowly with a small cluster of jewellery in her hand, "I…uh…thought you knew."

Ino's daughter was not a good liar by any capacity, but the medical shinobi could appreciate the effort she put into it, however pathetic. "Enlighten me, as the forgetful old lady that I am."

Her daughter moved in front of her and slipped the jewellery into one of the bags before turning to give her a serious look, "I was given the opportunity to study across the sea at the new settlement, as I've told you a bunch of times."

She hadn't told her even once, but Ino wasn't going to call her on that just yet. "And what exactly would you be studying? Dance? Musical poetry? Literature?"

The look Airi gave her could have burnt a hole through a wall of stone. "Mother, you know that was just a time in my life when I was exploring different creative arts. I don't appreciate you making fun of me for that."

Ino put up her hands defensively, recognising that her daughter was still smarting from the previous year's studies that had caused her mother no small amount of amusement. "So this overseas study…is it something you were offered by the Council?"

"Yes it was…how did you know that?"

She didn't have to be a mind-reader to figure out what had happened and why she had been left out of the loop until now. Airi's abilities made her the perfect choice for a spy and her relatively serious attitude towards everything gave her a unique perspective on an issue that had been plaguing Hinansho since they had started to expand their influence beyond the continent they had started on.

But Airi was sixteen and not wise enough to understand when she was potentially being used for political purposes. Ino would have to see her have a bad experience and return with scars to tell a horrific story.

As if reading her mind, because she likely was, Airi sighed and turned around to place her hands on the back of one of the chairs at the dining table. "I know it's not something you are excited about, but it's a great opportunity, Mum. I'm going with a group of people that are on the same mission. Shikayuu and Hanabi are going too."

It shouldn't have mattered, but the knowledge that Shikamaru's daughter was accompanying was the most comforting thing that she had heard so far. The young woman was more mature than most people Ino's age and had sensibilities that rivalled most of their leaders.

Most of those benefits were offset by the knowledge that Naruto's hellcat was joining them, but with that much influence going she felt less concerned that Airi was getting in over her head. She was the oldest of the new generation of people that were likely to take up leadership positions in the future and Ino knew that she would have to let her little girl out into the world eventually.

She liked to think she had power, but Ino doubted she could say anything to stop Airi from going.

With that apparently decided in her mother's mind, Airi's face broke out into a grin and she turned around to kiss her on the cheek before returning to packing her bags. Ino sighed loudly as the signal of her attempt at resistance and drained the rest of her drink while Airi ran back upstairs to grab more things out of her room.

_Perhaps now might be a good time to tell her about the birds and the bees…at least give her a good education as to what to expect in relation to boys. _

The thought was enough to cause Airi to respond with a loud derisive snort within her head, though that was quickly replaced by a gurgle of disgust as Ino flooded her mind with disturbing images from her own memories of particularly graphic gynaecological examinations.

There were times when having a telepathic daughter was advantageous as well.

While Airi continued to pack in her room upstairs, Ino finished her drink and began washing up when she heard the door open behind her. Wiping her hands on her shirt, knowing she'd have to clean it anyway, she smiled widely and reached forward to kiss the man on the lips affectionately.

She heard another snort of derision in her head as she suspected her daughter had seen them from the stairs, but she paid no attention as the man placed his coat on the nearby hook and ran a hand through her blonde hair before asking her how her day was.

It wasn't a particularly complex life that Ino had now, but she was grateful for every moment she could get. She told him about Airi's trip, to which he responded that he assumed she had already known about it.

He was less forgivable than her adopted daughter was, but Ino wasn't about to argue the point at this stage.

After all, she figured Airi would want to go out with her friends relatively soon before she left for her trip, which would give them some private time that they desperately needed.

But not before scarring her daughter a little bit more so that she didn't take up smoking or other bad habits. Being Asuma's daughter gave her a propensity towards it, at least that's what Ino assumed. She had to scare her somehow. That seemed like all she did as a mother of a teenager now.

* * *

><p><strong>***Eighteen years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

Tapping his foot on the wooden surface, Sasuke sighed in boredom and leaned on the side of the ship. "Why the hell did I have to come along?" he complained for the third time since beginning the trip.

Beside him, a long haired woman came up to him and shoved him with her shoulder. "Because the world clearly hates you, that's why."

Sasuke grinned and spun around to pinch the woman on the backside. "Yet you came along. You could have stayed with the kids."

"Not on your life." Fiore took a long breath and pulled at her shirt to try and air it out. "You aren't the only one who needs a break from those two at times."

Sasuke nodded and walked her to the upper deck of the ship. "Is Eya still demanding to be taught by Naruto?"

"I think she's jealous of Itachi's training under Mother. I don't think you understand how dangerous she has been making him. Your insistence about the Uchiha clan still eats at her."

Sasuke scoffed and tapped the wooden barrier in front of them. "I don't care about that. As long as he stays away from Naruto's daughter, I don't care what he learns."

"Oh, build a bridge, Sasuke. The girl is perfectly fine; you just have that stupid rivalry with her father. He built a nation, you know. Besides, the twins are lovely children."

"Don't remind me." Sasuke looked around at the ship they were sailing on, taking a moment to glare at the sailor in the crow's nest. "Something's up."

Fiore nodded, she could feel it as she looked out across the sea. When they had set out it had been clear skies and a light breeze, it had been several hours and she hadn't been on the deck for too long.

So the encroaching fog that was drawing towards only unsettled her a small amount.

Sasuke on the other hand, had been up on the deck the entire time, and considering their mission he was highly concerned about how quickly the white fog was moving towards them.

"Fiore, signal the other ship to retreat back to the capital."

"What? We were told to only do that if the rebels were spotted. I don't see anything."

Sasuke turned to the woman he'd spent a third of his life with and put a concerned hand on her shoulder, "I know you never listen to me, but trust my instincts. Just send the signal, and then come back here while I speak to the captain."

Seeing how serious he was looking at her, Fiore gnashed her teeth and turned around to give a few hand signals to the sailor at the other side of the ship. They had only been given a few basic orders and an overriding order to take command if necessary and the sailors recognised them as very powerful fighters that had helped forge the city nation that they were all beholden to.

So when Fiore gave him an order, the sailor jumped to comply. He pulled out a small firework marker and lit it with a match, sending a long green flare spiralling into the air above the battleship they were sailing on. They had been on the water for a while now with a trail of similarly armed battleships behind them, though that was mostly a precaution as they had been sent to lay waste to a specific rebel location that had been suspiciously empty.

Upon seeing the signal, the three battleships following them sent off their own signals in acknowledgement of the order before turning around and making their way back to the mainland.

With that done, Fiore turned back around to see Sasuke staring into the approaching fog with his Eternal Sharingan activated and his chakra fluctuating around him. He was clearly worried about something; she'd known him long enough to figure that out, but she couldn't quite pick up on every cue from his back.

It was impossible to really know Sasuke completely, but she was okay with that. Part of her attraction to him was the aura of mystery that he exuded. That and other reasons as well.

"We need to go out there," he said as she came up behind him to check up on him. "Without the others."

"Is that really necessary? We have the power of a battleship behind us." Fiore tried to look through the growly dense fog and couldn't see anything, but her partner wouldn't be reacting the way he was unless he could see something with his doujutsu.

Sasuke ignored her for the moment and bit at his finger while turning to regard the ship's captain above their position on the deck. "Captain, you need to follow the other battleships back to the mainland. This is a fight where you guys will suffer too much collateral damage."

The captain wasn't about to argue with the Uchiha shinobi, having worked with him in the past and knowing that he was only thinking about saving the crew's lives rather than personal glory.

Running through the handseals, Sasuke summoned a large hawk and leapt onto its back, not needing to signal Fiore to follow him on her wooden platform as he took to the skies and flew straight into the fog. She followed behind him quickly and the two of them disappeared within the fog from the sailors' on the battleship's view.

Trusting that the two renowned fighters could handle themselves, the captain of the battleship occupied himself with keeping the ship on track to return to the mainland with the rest of the fleet, praying that the two of them returned so that he wouldn't have to explain to the Council what had happened over the past week.

Since he had no idea and didn't want to know.

oOoOoOo

The fog was more dangerous than either of them had thought; though Sasuke was glad he had thought to keep his Eternal Sharingan activated as his Susanoo extended around himself and his hawk instinctively. Fiore suspected it was just a precaution, but she flew close to his Susanoo to be safe as they followed Sasuke's eyes closer to the ocean's surface.

The fog finally broke, but neither of them saw what they had been expecting.

There was a large empty zone of ocean beneath them, with a single figure standing on the surface with his gauntleted hands pointed towards the fog-covered skies. He wore a large set of plated red armour that appeared to bellow out the fog that was expanding out around them.

They both recognised him immediately, though not because they had had previous contact with him.

He had been on their watch list for years; none of them had truly believed that he had disappeared or died during the fall of the Quiraji bombs.

The container of the Five-Tails slowly dropped his arms and shifted his gaze to the two warriors that had intruded on his sanctum.

Sasuke and Fiore shared a look for a moment before they both descended towards the ocean's surface to stand at their foe's level. Fiore wasn't able to stand on the water like the two shinobi were able to, so she stayed on her platform, but Sasuke dismissed his hawk and kept his doujutsu defensive technique active, wary of what he knew about the man before them.

"Ah, more subjects have arrived." His voice sounded strained but unconcerned over their presence, while fog continued to pour out of the back of his armour. It had originally been designed for steam, but for the moment it served his purpose as the less-harmful gas.

Fiore knelt down on her wooden platform and placed her hand over the edge in preparation, "We can't take it easy here. You know the word on this guy."

Sasuke cracked his neck loudly and reached for the sword behind his back, moulding as much chakra as he could while maintaining his Susanoo, "We'll go for Slicing Whirlwind. If he transforms, we'll have to retreat."

"Not going to say anything?" The Five-Tails container felt at his red gauntlets for a moment before clenching them into fists and taking a step back into a stance. The fog that was pouring out of his armour changed composition and began to emanate an acidic green steam.

Sasuke and Fiore engaged Han before he could set up his defences any further, with the Cascading Flow warrior segmenting off tiny sections of her wooden platform to use as projectiles while Sasuke blasted at their foe with a combination of fire and lightning ninjutsu.

oOoOoOo

Hours later, Sasuke and Fiore limped onto the mainland, flopping onto the sand with groans of exhaustion and pain. Sasuke's entire right side was numb and Fiore suspected she might lose her right hand to poison, but they had survived their encounter and that was more than they could say for their opponent.

Neither of them would ever tell anyone how they defeated Han though. Some things were better left untold, particularly when it came to finishing off someone as psychotic and delusional as he was.

In a strange way, Sasuke suspected that Han had wanted them to kill him. He had fought harder than either of them had expected, but at the end the fact that he had shown himself and fought them directly was far too suspicious.

Regardless, it was over now. At least, that's what they hoped.

They would hate to have to fight that battle again.

* * *

><p><strong>***Forty-five years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

The dust storms had settled down for the first time in two decades. It had been a treacherous place to traverse, with only scattered villages along the ocean's edge and those closest to the borders to the rest of the shinobi world able to survive.

It was as if the land itself was grieving, though only the most spiritual of beings truly believed as such. As he felt the sand moving around him, the One-Tails container felt an odd sense of peace that he hadn't felt in a long time. His senses could feel every movement within the ground beneath his feet, yet there was a great emptiness that held a strange comfort within his soul.

It had been decades since Gaara had been in the Land of Wind; he wouldn't have returned at all if not for the spurring of the young woman that had accompanied him. He had sixty-five years on his ticket and she had barely eighteen, yet his time with her had shown him that she was far wiser than he'd ever been at that age.

She pulled back her hood to reveal a long mane of bright red hair, free-flowing in the winds despite the hours she had spent previously taking care of it. The sun seemed to brighten up her wide-eyed expression and Gaara had to admit that her good mood was infectious.

"This place is amazing," she said with excitement in her voice. She knelt down and picked up a small cluster of sand, feeling it through the tips of her fingers before blowing it away into the wind. "Is this where you were born?"

Even through his wrinkles, Gaara found it easy enough to express his amusement at her excitement. "Not quite. I was born in the village, as was everyone at that time. We'll be there soon."

His companion's eyes lit up at that and she bounded ahead of him, uncaring about the fact that she was getting ahead of herself and they had to conserve their energy. Gaara smiled as he saw the spectre of her grandmother in her shadow with each step, though that didn't last long before a cloud of depression struck him once again.

That was why he had allowed her to convince him to return here. He needed some time away from the grief-helpers and well-wishers.

"Are you coming, Grandpa Gaara?" shouted his companion as he realised she had gotten further and further away from him.

The former Kazekage gave her a wave to indicate that he was okay and motioned with one of his hands to create a small sand platform to carry him towards her. As he landed beside her, he reached out and brushed a small cluster of sand from the side of her red hair, "Sorry about that, Saishi. I just got caught up in my own memories."

"Thinking about Grandma again, right?" She wasn't sure what she was meant to say, as it had only been recently that they'd lost her, but she hoped that their trip would be able to bring some light back into his eyes. She knew as much about their people's history as anyone alive, but until she saw it for herself she couldn't call herself a historian.

Gaara didn't reply to her statement, as even now he wasn't one to display his emotions openly. The two of them travelled for a few more minutes in the desert, with Gaara looking around to see that the decades of sand storms had covered much of the desert and many of the landmarks were gone. It wasn't something he would have thought possible, as there had been lots of mountains and walls that had been erected during the Shinobi Wars nearly a century ago.

They were all gone. Even as they completed the first part of their journey and came to the area of the Land of Wind that Gaara knew had held the place of his birth, there was nothing left.

The village of Sunagakure had been swept away by the sands of the desert. The graves they had dug and placed stones in them were covered under layers of sand that would take a normal person months to dig to, while the ruined buildings of the village and the rubble from the final battle was all gone.

His granddaughter asked him whether they were in the right place or not, and Gaara slowly nodded before rolling up his sleeves and placing his hands out in front of him.

He didn't regret leaving the Land of Wind to help establish Hinansho, as they had enjoyed decades of prosperity and things couldn't be better for shinobi/civilian relations. He'd wondered whether he had done the right thing as the last Kazekage, and now his son sat on the Council of Six in the same position he had sat in for a long time.

Despite those thoughts lingering in his mind, Gaara still summoned up a massive amount of chakra and blasted away the sand in front of the two of them. It took more effort than he would have thought, though Shukaku was quick to remind him that he was older now and couldn't take as many liberties with himself than he used to.

He hadn't told his old friends or family yet, but he didn't plan on returning to Hinansho. He suspected Saishi knew his plan, as she had packed far more in their backpacks than he would have thought necessary, but she'd always been the more perceptive of his descendants. That was why he'd enjoyed his time with her more than the others, and why he'd allowed her to go on such a trip in the first place.

Otherwise, he doubted she would have left Hinansho at all. She wasn't a shinobi; she had no capacity for chakra as she'd inherited from her father, a civilian, but that meant little in the modern world.

As the sand blasted away in front of them, the remnants of the village were slowly revealed in front of them. The pieces of broken siege engines and shells had been destroyed over time, though there were still small amounts that he noticed before the main sections of Sunagakure were revealed to them.

It was a profound moment for both of them. Gaara had always held onto the memory of his home before he had left it, but now that it was laid out before him he knew that such a place no longer existed.

Sunagakure had become something else, once again. He had mixed feelings about it, but that was nothing compared to his younger companion.

Saishi gasped at what she saw in front of her, it looked nothing like the paintings that former Sunagakure shinobi had made for their history. The walls that had been revealed beneath the sand were cracked and mostly destroyed, as would any place that hadn't had anyone living in it for over forty years. It had been a freak of nature that the village and most of the surrounding desert had suffered the world sandstorms in memory, yet seeing the village now and her grandfather's reaction had convinced her that she had made the right decision to come.

There was so much to learn and investigate. She could barely contain herself.

But first, they had something they had to do.

The two of them moved into the village proper, paying no heed to the obvious signs of the sacking, until they came to the place near the back of the village that had contained a cluster of statues that were now mostly destroyed.

It was the shrine to the former Kazekages and their families. Every member of their families had been buried here at one point or another, and as the last Kazekage Gaara had wanted to make the trek as a final memento to the old ways of their people.

"Would you like me to wait here?" asked Saishi as they approached the shrine, knowing that it was something very personal for him.

Gaara shook his head and placed his arm around his granddaughter, letting her walk him towards their destination before they came to the statue that represented the Fifth Kazekage. It had been destroyed down to its feet, as had all the others, but his name was still etched there and a plot had been laid out for his family.

Reaching into the backpack his granddaughter had packed for him, Gaara produced a small urn that he placed on the ground in front of the shrine's plot. With a wave of his hands he moved away the sand beneath it and buried it within, before the both of them placed their hands together and said a silent prayer.

_Goodbye, Matsuri _said Gaara within his mind, hoping that she heard him. Inside his mindscape, he could hear the One-Tails saying a similar thing, as the Tailed Beast had developed quite a good connection with his wife over the years and time they had spent in his mindscape. A little trick he had learnt from Naruto that had paid off quite well.

"I'm sure Grandma would have liked this," said Saishi after a few minutes, when she felt it was appropriate. "She really loved you; everyone could always tell."

Gaara closed his eyes and hung his head, determined not to show his grief to his favourite grandchild. They had come all this way for a few reasons, but one of those had been so that she could study their old culture and see if there were any relics that could be brought back to Hinansho for historical purposes. Her field was not a particularly popular one in the city, as much of the newer generations had little interest in remembering the past. They only wanted to focus on the future, and that frustrated her to no end.

"Where would you like to go first?" asked Gaara eventually, not wanting to bring her down with his melancholy. "I can use my abilities to remove the sand over any areas you want to explore."

Saishi smiled warmly at him, but put up her hands to deny his request. She reached into her own pack and produced a large shovel and a pair of glasses that had a detachable microscope. "As a historian, I should find things on my own, Grandpa. I know you have things that you want to do here anyway and I should do my own thing."

"If that's what you would like," said the former Kazekage softly. He was a little disappointed she didn't want his help, but he was also relieved that she understood when he needed time for himself.

There were many things that he wanted to do in his former village, though most of them would first involve making sure that a sandstorm wouldn't come back to claim his old home once again. From their discussions on the journey here, he suspected Saishi would want to be here for a while and that would be fine by him.

He had no intention of leaving again. There was too much to do here, and too little remaining in Hinansho to keep him there. After he had spent enough time setting things up, he planned on letting Shukaku out of its seals and back into the world, as it had earned its freedom and he had made his peace with the consequences.

But for now, he was going to sort out a few things and enjoy the time he had with his favourite granddaughter. There were worse ways to end a life.

* * *

><p><strong>***Fifty-nine years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

The house was quiet.

It had been this way for a long time, but he really noticed it for the first time when he sat down at the dining table and he realised that besides the place that he usually had his rice bowl, tea cup and fish plate, the rest of the table had a fine layer of dust on top of it.

There were no sounds in the house besides the slow boiling of his kettle behind him. The house had been designed to keep outside noises from entering within, but it made his ears ring at how quiet things were.

The former Otokage and founding father of Hinansho ate his breakfast in a dull silence, going about the daily routine of his life. Neji's muscles creaked with each motion of his hands and legs as he finished up his food and began washing his dishes. He still wore the faded black and white Hyuuga robes that he'd had made after they had built the house for the family, though things had not turned out how he had wished.

Despite his intentions, he had not been the one to bring about the revival of the Hyuuga clan. He and Yuko had had three children and they had subsequently had families of their own, but none of them had kept the Hyuuga name and the Byakugan had not been passed down. He suspected it had something to do with the seal he had removed, but Neji had not been the patriarch of the revived Hyuuga clan as he had thought he would have been.

That wasn't to say the Hyuuga clan was gone, however. Just that he hadn't created the legacy he had wanted to.

And now here he was, in an empty house, living out his life day-by-day.

Neji sat down on one of the cushioned seats and looked across his living room, taking notice of each of the memories that adorned the walls. He had pictures from each of his family members and various achievements they had accomplished over the years. He was particularly proud of the achievements of his three children, though he hadn't had much connection with their children.

They didn't come to visit him anymore, not since Yuko had died. She had been the main driving force between keeping the family together at gatherings, and that took too much energy for him to do anymore.

He didn't mind though. Neji's life had been full of many different interactions with a variety of people over the years, and a part of him was grateful for the quiet life that he now led.

It was lonely though, he couldn't deny that. At times he wished he had someone to talk to just so that he could remember the sound of voices that weren't his own.

Reaching onto the table in front of him, Neji opened up a book and began reading the pages as quickly as his failing eyesight would let him. It was something he knew he had read several times before, but he couldn't quite remember what it was about. Each time he read it felt like a new experience, though whether or not that was a good thing or not, he couldn't quite say.

Neji was now waiting. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. He had created a place for his people to thrive and he had led a long and mostly happy life.

For everything he had done, he had no regrets.

* * *

><p><strong>***Sixty-two years after defeat of Benkei***<strong>

It had been a logistical nightmare to organise and they had to hire a caterer just to feed everyone for the few days they would be here, but after the last person had arrived they felt completely at home in their household with all of their family around them.

They hadn't been able to fit in the living room or the dining room, so they had decided to hold the lunch in the courtyard in the middle of their housing complex, with a giant table able to hold every member of the family that had arrived and they shared in the festivities and the food provided to them.

At the start, each of them gave the two recipients a loud cheer and well-wishing tributes, with both Naruto and Hinata sitting together at the end of the table with wide smiles on their elderly faces. It had been one of their children's ideas to gather everyone in the family together for their wedding anniversary and now that they saw everyone together in one place it brought an unimaginable joy to their hearts to see everyone they cared about.

While their extended family eating the feast that had been laid out in front of them, Naruto and Hinata amused themselves by making small observations about the people in their lives.

"I think Hoyu is a little bit drunk," said Hinata while she held her husband's hand on top of the table.

Naruto chuckled and grimaced as he felt his sore ribs rubbing against his chest, "I don't blame him; I've spent time with his wife."

Besides them, their eldest children were sitting with their respective partners and watching their grandchildren running around making a lot of noise. "I still think he could take him," said Hanabi while she threw back a shot of sake and let out a loud gasp in response. "Even in his best form, I don't think he could handle the combination of ninjutsu and the clones."

Her twin brother shook his head as he generally did when arguing with his sister, "I love Father as much as the next person, but there is no proof to show that he could have defeated the former Otokage in his best form. They never fought and Neji was extremely powerful in his prime."

While their eldest children argued, Naruto resisted the urge to tell them what had happened when his cousin-in-law and he had fought after the establishment of Hinansho, primarily as an example of competitive sparring for the next generation of shinobi. His wife had been there and a few others, but in practice they had almost killed each other and decided to not use each other as a demonstration.

"I can't believe everyone came at once," said Hinata as she looked over their extended family. "It really is lovely to see them all again."

"I heard that Ginyu's wife is pregnant as well," said Naruto as he glanced down the large table to one of his grandchildren with his brothers around him. "So there might be more great grandchildren that will join the clan."

His wife didn't respond verbally, but she squeezed his hand to show her response and she tried to stay awake at the table. Both of them had been having a few problems over the past few years and this much energy in one place was exhausting even to them, so Naruto knew that they wouldn't be able to spend much time with their family before they needed to excuse themselves to take a nap.

"I heard that Minato got into Hinansho University," came one of the voices of his children, though Naruto couldn't recognise it immediately. "He'll go far, that one. Maybe even political."

"But what about Zabu's election though? We Hyuuga can't have too much influence on the Council; otherwise people will think we're trying to take over."

"Actually I heard she was going to leave her position for one of her opponents because of the controversy with her daughter."

The conversation continued, but Naruto found it difficult to follow so he turned back to his wife to see that Hinata was struggling to keep herself awake more and more, which told him that they would have to go.

He slowly rose from the table amid the chaotic conversations and he was immediately assisted by one of his great children, who was barely older than twelve, while their youngest child helped Hinata to their feet. They all understood that they were both elderly and needed lots of rest, but they expressed their gratitude to their family members for coming and promised that they would be back in a few hours to hear about all the things that their great grandchildren had gotten up to.

They were helped into bed and both of them apologised for their state, but their family members dismissed their concerns and bade them to get their rest before returning to the courtyard to continue the feast.

"We're very lucky, aren't we?" said Hinata as she adjusted her pillow and reached forward to pull the blanket over herself. "I wouldn't trade this for anything."

Naruto settled in beside her and smiled as he felt her falling asleep beside him. They had had a wonderful time with themselves up to this point and he was extremely grateful for the things they had done and experienced.

_**You don't have long, you know that.**_

He didn't need the Kyuubi's reminder to know that. The two of them were in the same situation; particularly as two of the last of their generation still alive.

He didn't have any regrets or things that he wished he'd had more time to do. He'd been blessed with the people and family that he'd always craved as a child and he could never say that he'd been bored with their lives.

But they weren't going to go now. They had more celebrations to enjoy once they woke up.

Their family was waiting.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>:

And after nearly three years, this story comes to a close. It's been an interesting experience to write such a long story within a single universe and a single big story. I tried to utilise every character introduced in the manga and incorporate them in a meaningful way, but there were times when that was probably being stretched.

The main reason I kept writing this story, besides the fact that I wanted to know how it was going to go and use a bunch of different little ideas to make a larger story, was because it gave me a reason to practice my writing and get feedback on it. I'm very grateful to everyone that reviewed my story and gave me feedback, as it has helped me write better and craft better stories for the future. I won't say that I won't ever come back to writing fanfictions again, as I have plenty of ideas, but now my first goal with my writing is to write one of the novel ideas that I've been floating around for a while and try to get that published, to compliment the short stories that I've already gotten published.

Again, thank you for indulging me with this story and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to take each review into account, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.


	100. Writing Tips and Tricks

**The Wanderers**

Writing Tips and Tricks

This Bonus Chapter is less about the story I have written and more about the lessons I've learnt over the years writing. I want to share them with you guys as a way of giving back to the community, plus if it helps you guys improve your own writing then that'll make me even happier.

Now, just as a warning, I'm not that professional a writer. I am published in a small capacity and take pride in my writing, but I'm no Dickens or Hemingway. I have dedicated myself to being a writer and have every intention of being a novelist.

The first rule of writing is that there really aren't any set rules. There are lots of guidelines and styles that you can adhere to, but some of the most creative and compelling stories ever written didn't follow traditional themes. If you want to write all in second-person about a little girl playing with her dolls, then by all means do it. Just because something isn't inherently popular, doesn't mean it isn't good or compelling.

**You should write because you want to, not because you have to. **

Now, you certainly can write well if you are pressed into it, such as for assignments for study or for obligations. But that type will pale in comparison to something that you are truly invested in. Always try to find ways to become passionate about your writing and put your passion into your writing. If you have a particular interest that you enjoy writing about, put it into the story. I can tell you that, with the exception of this fanfiction for obvious reasons, every main protagonist in my other stories has some connection to blacksmithing, regardless of time, place or character.

If you are writing about something you are passionate about, you'll find that it is easier to write and much more fun. There are times when writing can be difficult, boring, or even head-smashingly frustrating. But if you are writing about something you care about, then that is much easier to overcome and push through.

This can be either through a particular situation, such as a zombie apocalypse or murder mystery, or through specific well-known characters, like you see in fanfictions. If love Hinata or Sakura, write about them and situations surrounding them. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't expand out from your comfort zones. But rather if you are finding yourself drifting from the original purpose of your writing and not quite feeling it, go back to your core reasons for writing and you'll find that it's far more enjoyable.

**Make your characters interesting.**

Nobody remembers the red shirts from Star Trek. They remember that they existed as a concept of a sacrificial crew member, but the individual members might as well be personality-void robots. Don't ignore your background characters just because they exist in the background, give them some personality. This doesn't have to be in-depth, don't waste space unnecessarily. But give them a quality or an action that makes the reader think about them for a moment before they disappear back into the crowd or are killed horribly because it was their time. This can be as simple as giving them a quirky personality or characteristic, such as an eye-patch or a verbal-tick, or going deeper as to give a connection to the main characters and have them react to that character's existence.

But it isn't just the background characters that should be interesting by nature. When you are developing a story, every primary and secondary character should have a background and development across the story. No character should be exactly the same as when they started the story, unless they actually go through a personal arc and they make the choices to return to the way they had been after their journey.

Here are a few sample questions that you should ask yourself about your characters and the journey they go through in the story:

What is the character's motivation for the things they do?

Why do they act a certain way to a particular situation?

What would make that character fall in love? What would make them hate?

What would this character die for?

There are many more that you should figure out when creating characters, which can be a complex yet fulfilling process. There is nothing quite like creating a character from your own imagination and seeing the process they undergo throughout the story and the end result of your work. You'd be surprised when, even though you've planned every part of the story, your characters gain their own form of life and can develop in ways that you won't quite expect. There is a flow to writing characters that isn't always in your control, but you need to let that process happen. Readers can tell when this kind of process is occurring, as the characters become more in-depth and likable as they go, even if they are the villains.

When creating characters, don't just give them a trait or personality quirk and call it a day. These are what are called 'one-dimensional' characters, and you see them all the time. It's an easy trap to fall into, but also something that can be easily avoided. When creating characters write a small background and personality type in a separate area. Not only will this process help you develop your characters better, but it will give your story more depth and greatly increase the immersion in your constructed world. Become interested in your characters and you will find that your story becomes much more interesting to both read and write.

This is more of a personal tip, but write your characters on things that interest you. For example in my other works, my main characters will always have a connection to blacksmithing, either as a passing hobby or as a main profession. This is because I am fascinated by the craft and always enjoy writing about it, which conveys directly into my story-telling. If you have a particular personal interest in something, then write about it for one of your characters. In all fictional works, there are going to be elements of you the writer that seep into your characters, and this is perfectly okay. Sometimes characters will act in a certain way towards a situation in the same way that you will, and that's absolutely fine. You can even write yourself into your stories, but just be wary of what might happen to those characters and the integrity of your story if you do so. Don't just put yourself as the hero and have them solve everything and nothing ever goes wrong with them, that's a boring story if I've ever heard one.

**Edit your work. **

This is something I must stress. Editing your own work is a process that doesn't necessarily have to be pleasant or even enjoyable, but it improves the quality of your writing drastically. Edit as you go, or edit in one big lot, but don't forget to edit. I've lost count of the number of stories that I've read both here on fanfiction and in anthologies where I think it's a great concept for a story or the characters are well thought-out, but the spelling and grammar problems just draw me out of my immersion. If you aren't confident on your spelling and grammar, then you should get a separate party to look it over and edit it. This can be a difficult step to overcome, as it is certainly nerve-wracking to have someone else look over your work before it is done, but this is something that every writer has to go through.

By editing your work, it will steadily improve in both composition and structure. This is something I can guarantee as someone who has worked in the editing field and seen the progression in my own work.

There are two main forms of editing, with their own subcategories. The first is Comprehensive Editing. This area concerns itself with the Content and Form of your writing. The second is Copyediting, which concerns itself with the Style and Mechanics of your writing.

When editing for Content you need to focus on what you are actually writing and who you are writing it for. If you are writing a science fiction novel, then you should try and get some of the science technically correct, or put in some references to actual phenomena. You have to determine the purpose of your writing, why are you writing this story? Who is the target audience? You shouldn't necessarily pander to an audience, as this can lead to a boring story that they have read a dozen times. Innovate and do new things, but always take account of what your readers might want. If you want to write something complex with fancy science, by all means do so, but if you do it in a fantasy setting with no scientists around, then you'll just confuse your readers and cause problems for the readability of your writing.

When editing for Form you need to focus on the general structure of your writing and how it will be read. Plot summaries and synopsises are your friend here, they can help to keep things in perspective. When writing fiction and non-fiction, you aren't writing it like an essay. There doesn't have to be an introduction, body and conclusion. However, take into account the readability of your writing. You want to keep paragraphs short and to the point. Each chapter of your story should contain its own self-contained part of the story. It's perfectly okay to spread a part of the story over a few chapters, but if you spread it out too much then you run the risk of losing your readers among the chaos of your writing. You want your story's structure to be organised and flow from one section to the next. Each chapter should lead into the next one and characters should develop throughout the story.

When editing for Style you need to focus on the actual writing itself and what manner of writing you do. Consistency is key in this area; if you are writing in a certain perspective then you should remain that way. If you are writing as a more detail-background focused type, then you should maintain that throughout the single piece. Style editing also focuses on the type of writing that you want your readers to experience, such as writing a more exploratory-type of science fiction for that kind of story, or a more character-focused narrative for a biography. A reader should be able to follow one sentence into the next and one paragraph into the next easily. If your reader can read your entire story in one go and not get lost purely because of the writing, you've done a relatively good job in this part of editing.

When editing for Mechanics you need to focus on the nuts and bolts of editing: the punctuation, grammar, spelling and other aspects of proper editing. This is an area that you get better at through experience, even if you aren't a particularly good speller or editor at the start. The most important rule here is to be strict with yourself and thorough. Use a dictionary and follow the general rules of grammar with whatever language you are writing in. If this is an area you are not confident in then get someone you trust to read through your work and edit it for you. Nothing ruins a story more than getting immersed into the world the writer had built, and then being drawn out because there are a few missing words that don't continue the flow, or a misspelt word in a sentence. Go through every paragraph line-by-line, deconstructing them and figuring out whether your word placement conveys what you really mean. No reader can take a writer seriously if they don't edit their work for these mechanics. It's okay if there is the occasional mistake, but if they are consistent then it tells the reader that the writer is not really committed to the story and they will lose interest.

I can't emphasise enough how important editing is. It's an intimidating prospect, I know, but one that if you are able to conquer and bring under your control, will improve your writing immensely. Above everything else, you have to be patient. Good writing is mostly going back on your own work with a red marker and redoing everything. Find your own pace and then work to improve.

**Take in all feedback, whether positive or negative.**

As a writer, you are never going to be able to please everyone. At times, you might not be able to please anyone. This is the fate of any writer that puts their work out into the public sphere. Taking in the responses to your work is one of the key ways that you are going to need to improve. But as a writer, you can't just cherry-pick positive feedback of your work and ignore everything else; otherwise you'll not really improve at all. You should always encourage feedback in every form, positive and negative; because that is where you can draw the spectrum of what is working in your writing and what is not.

Positive feedback is useful for several reasons. The first is obvious: it makes us feel good. Getting a good review is like getting a piece of chocolate when you weren't expecting it, or getting a higher mark than you thought you deserved. A person you don't know telling you that you did something that enjoyed is one of the best feelings in the world. If the feedback goes into details about what they enjoyed and why, then it is all the better. For example: if a review tells you that they enjoyed a particular interaction between two characters, you can use that feedback to examine what you wrote at that section and replicate it further on in your story. I'm not suggesting for you to only take the good things and duplicate them across the board, as this is sure to bore the readers after a while. But if there are certain elements that positive feedback shows that you do particularly well, build on that and do your best to improve on it.

This is the best way to find your technique and the areas that you are a natural at writing. Positive feedback is also useful for those downtimes when you don't feel like writing, or you aren't feeling confident that you can do a particular scene in the way that you want to. Sometimes you need that little perk to keep you going, even if it's just a small endorsement of a few words. Take what you can get, because there will be times when you're getting nothing but blanks and need some extra motivation. For example, a positive review of this story by Naruto1300 made me smile for the whole day after reading it: _"__Great story keep up the awesome work mate". _This is why we write, so we can explore ideas and have other people enjoy them.

Negative feedback is extremely useful in a number of ways, but also dangerous. Before talking about the positive aspects of negative feedback, I have to inform you about constructive criticism and non-constructive criticism. All forms of feedback are useful, but not all of them should be taken 100 per cent to heart. If you get a review that is full of hate and bile about a particular thing you did, like killing off a character you like, there is something in that review that you can take away while ignoring the really bad stuff. Take the fact that the death of that character upset that person and take it into account for the story. Take a small bit of pride in the fact that you were able to bring out such a reaction in someone who you've likely never met, as bringing out emotions in people is an achievement, regardless of results. I'm certainly not suggesting you should write with the intention of upsetting people; that's a quick way to lose your readers in rapid succession and have no more feedback at all.

But also don't avoid doing certain parts of a story that you want to do just because you want to avoid negative feedback. You are a writer and that will mean that you need to take risks. Don't corrupt the integrity of your story just to please readers. Not only because you will probably lose respect for yourself, but readers are generally quite adept at noticing when they are being pandered to and begin to lose interest. There are a huge number of popular stories that choose these types of endings in the hopes of pleasing the most people, rather than taking the risky play that they really wanted to do. This is your story and you are the final person that has to vet what happens. Don't let your readers dictate everything that you do; otherwise you won't be able to maintain your motivation.

Negative feedback can certainly be useful; don't automatically dismiss it because it is negative. This is when the distinction of constructive and non-constructive feedback comes into it. You can certainly find the hate-filled comments everywhere, but you can also get lots of negative feedback that is far more useful than positive feedback.

For example, here is a review of this story by mr. cloud: _"__Totally confused on the no chakra thing and with rin I kinda glad the flashback thing is over though"._ While this is negative feedback, there are three key areas that I was able to identify and understand as areas that I did not do well and would need improvement. The confusion sections of the review told me that my explanations were either too vague or too convoluted for the reader to quite understand what I was meaning. The last bit of the review also gave me key insight into how flashbacks shouldn't go as long as I had written it. There were several reviews similar to this for this part of the story, telling me the same information. I took this into account and didn't run nearly as many flashbacks as I had intended, and eventually found ways to not do them at all for large sections of the story. This is where negative feedback can really help the development of a story, as getting information about what is working is vital, getting information about what clearly is not working and moving to correct and improve it is where you regain the respect of your readers and learn from your mistakes. As writers, we are inevitably going to mess up, but it is how we build ourselves back up and improve from that point that really defines the path that we are on and how good we really are. Work to constantly improve and learn from your experiences.

Feedback is a key aspect of writing, but it can be a chore to go through and take in properly. You will always get a mixture of good and bad writing as long as you give your work out for other people to read and critique, and with the internet now it is almost guaranteed that people are going to tell you their opinions. To be a writer is to have to sift through this chaotic miasma and draw out the information that you really need. If there is any piece of advice I can give in this regard, it is to develop a thick skin and learn to adapt.

**Every line of your story should either advance the plot or develop a character. **

Anything else from this is just a waste of the reader's time. The perfect example of where this can be both good and bad is in the problem of flashbacks. A new flashback that the reader hasn't read before can provide valuable backstory to a character or situation. But it can also be a waste of space, reminding the reader of something they have already read. Writing is not anime/manga; you can't get away with repeating yourself constantly in writing. You don't want to bore your reader with useless lines that can be put into other lines or removed entirely.

Examples:

_Lara glanced down at the broken glass, noticing the strange reflection of the light from the nearby window. _– This is a line advancing the plot; she is performing the action of glancing down, while making an observation.

_It had been a good fight, a worthy fight. _– This is a line developing the character thinking that they had fought a good fight.

_His beard was red. _– While this line does develop a character, it is boring to read depending on the surrounding context. A better way of writing something like this would be: _His beard was as red as the apple juice dripping into it._ – By adding this little element, you create the image in the reader's mind and both advance the plot and develop the character.

There are times when you can have short, punchy sentences for emphasis, but they have to follow the two settings above. Dramatic effect is all well and good, but you don't want to overdo it.

**Describe the setting, but leave some things to the reader's imagination.**

You are creating a world and giving your readers a peek into both your mind and your dreams. There are some things they need to be told, and others they can discover on their own. It may seem obvious, but if it's important to you as a writer that your main character is tall and has sandy blonde hair, then mention it. But there are ways to go about that without simply saying: "He was tall and was blonde." Work within the story to bring out those elements. Have a small child come up to the character and stare in awe at how tall he is, or when he falls to the ground describe how the dirt clung to his hair. You aren't telling the readers what is happening, it has already happened. You are the filter they require to make sense of the story. There is a fine balance between describing something and straight up telling the reader. Unfortunately finding this balance is something that only comes through practice and receiving feedback, plus discovering how it fits within your own style of writing. Some authors find they can describe some of the most remarkable settings and places with a few sentences, while others require several pages. Both are equally valid; just find the best mix for you.

With that in mind, don't tell the reader absolutely every single detail about the environments and characters that are participating in the story. The reader doesn't need to know how many knuckles are on the left hand of Nameless Guardsman A, but they'll want to know if he has a shifty look in his eyes that might betray a separate allegiance. Put in the important details, but let the readers fill in the gaps with their own imaginations. That way, they will feel much more like they are experiencing the story and this will help your story's immersion.

On the same note, there are several things that are best left unsaid, to achieve the greatest impact. Unless you are writing a gritty, realistic story, the readers don't need every detail about when a character chokes to death, how their lungs seized up on them, their muscles froze and their fingers clawed at their throat in agony for seconds before they finally died.

Okay, maybe those details are okay, but that's as far as it should go. Write how you would want to read it, don't overcrowd the pages with details that the reader can readily understand.

Some of the best things are left to the imagination. If two characters go into a room to have sex, and the scene is unimportant in comparison to the fact that they have sex, don't write the scene. Write that they entered the room and closed the door, then move on to the next morning and the aftermath. You can allude to the scene and sprinkle small details from both character's perspectives as to what happened, which will leave the readers wondering what happened and how it will affect their relationship.

However, be cautious when it comes to cliffhangers. They are related to this, in the sense of leaving out certain pieces of information for the sake of the plot. A couple of cliffhangers at specific places in a story can really give it that 'I need to keep reading to find out what happens next' vibe, but it can also ruin a story if overused. If you know that every chapter is going to end on a cliffhanger, then the tension of the story is removed and that feeling will be less likely to occur as the readers get fatigued. This is especially true for endings, where the author will leave big questions unanswered in the hopes that they will write a sequel that will explain it. Speaking from experience, this generally doesn't do much except frustrate readers, making them feel like reading the story was a waste of time up to that point. When you are writing a story, do your best to make it a single complete story, even if it is within a much larger story. Give the readers some closure; they deserve at least some for reading your story.

There are a thousand different things that you can learn about writing, and I am nowhere near qualified enough to tell you all of them properly. If you are serious about being a writer, then my biggest recommendation is to read a few books about writing and learn from some of the best in the trade. Even if you only want to write as a hobby or for yourself, there is no harm in wanting to better yourself and your writing, so that both you and your readers can enjoy it. Even if nobody reads it except for you, you will always want to give it your best and be able to look back on it with pride, would you not?

There are hundreds of good books about how to write, but these are my own recommendations that helped me get going.

The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker.

This book is about exactly what the title suggests: description and theory about the main seven plots that every story revolves around. These are: 'Overcoming the Monster', 'Rags to Riches', 'The Quest', 'Voyage and Return', 'Comedy', 'Tragedy' and 'Rebirth'. The book itself is huge and in such detail that you could almost not need anything else. If you are struggling to find a place for some of the story ideas you have, or looking for somewhere to start from scratch, then this book can help you immensely. It draws on a lot of different areas of writing beyond just plots, including some of the traps and dangers that will present themselves during the writing of a story, and has some brilliant advice for how to overcome them. It references works from ancient Greece to modern times, as a grand compilation of knowledge about writing and the art of crafting a story.

On Writing by Stephen King.

Admittedly, I'm biased in that I like King for both his material and his writing style, but this book is a great learning tool even if you don't like his works. The first half is about how and why he became a writer, and the second half is all about why people write and how to get better at it. This is more from a perspective of someone who is still currently in the writing business and making money off of his writing, though he comes out from the very beginning in stating that most writers don't see any money for their work. This is the work that really inspired me to try my hand at writing.

Don't worry if you don't have the driving passion for writing, it's not something everyone has. If you speak to writers that have been at it for years, they will tell you it's closer to a disease than a choice. I can tell you from personal experience, the moment I discovered an interest in writing I haven't been able to not do it. I write every day, not just because I want to, but because I need to. It's an obsession, a compulsion and as necessary to me as breathing. Even if nothing ever truly comes from it, I take pleasure in all the little details and bringing the stories that I've imagined to light. I'm always happy to share them with other people and see what they think about them, regardless of whether I receive good or bad feedback.

Remember, this is the Internet after all. It is dark and full of terrors.

This is a list of recommended books to help give you an understanding of good writing. Now some of these are because of the way they create worlds, while others are because of the depths of the characters. There are some here because the sheer enjoyment given to the reader from these books is something to be admired and examined.

Now this is very much just a list of my own personal recommendations, take them as you will.

In no particular order:

The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov. Read the first three: Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation.

Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein.

The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. Read the first three: Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. The next bunch of books are also good, but those three are the best by far.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. Read the first three: Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power that Preserves.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. As a side note, there is a reason the opening line to this novel is so well known.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

And these are just some of the books that I would recommend for the reasons above. In order to write better, you must read. There is a reason there are classics; books that most people have read. If you have a particular genre that you are interested in, then read the 'best' ones from that, but don't be afraid to step out of that comfort zone to expand your writing potential. You might enjoy fantasy a whole lot, but read a certain character in a romance novel that helps you develop your own characters better. There is only ways to improve from reading, not the other way around.

The final piece of advice I have to give on writing, is to go out and do it. Worrying about whether your work will be good or not, or whether it will be well-received or not should not be a deciding factor on you writing the stories you want to. Writer's block and its associated problems are excuses. Even if you can't think of anything, write something down. Once you get into the habit of writing on a consistent basis, you'll find this happens less and less. Even if what you are writing is so awful that you'd never want anyone to read it ever in your lifetime, write it anyway. This is where the editing process can help immensely and you can pump out quite a lot of writing in a short period of time. This is how I was able to write 10,000 words each week, though if you were to include the writing that I delete and get rid of it's probably closer to 15,000 words. A lot of this comes down to persistence and sticking to a set schedule. If you are releasing a story chapter by chapter, you'll want to keep up a certain pace so that you don't lose readers due to inconsistency.

At the end of the day, I hope this chapter has helped in some ways to develop your interest in writing and helped you along your path to writing the stories that need to be told. I'm very lucky to have had the opportunity to write the story I've published here and share the story that has been existing in my head and on paper. As a writer I'm always amazed that people are interesting in reading my work and I will continue to write for as long as people are interesting in reading, and beyond.


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